Father Tom's Blog &  Video Message

The Gospel for this Sixth Sunday of Easter is rich with references by Jesus to the Father and Holy Spirit. Jesus says: Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. We are invited to dwell in the love of the Father and the Son and become a dwelling place for that love in our lives. Jesus continues by telling his disciples that he will be going away, but he promises to be with them always through the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. He reminds them that the Advocate will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. We will be hearing more about the gift of the Spirit as we approach the Feast of Pentecost in the coming weeks. May we always dwell in the love of God and share the gift of Christ’s peace with others. 

 

Our annual Parish Celebration Dinner is coming up on Saturday, June 7, beginning about 5:45pm. We are looking forward to a fun evening with great food and entertainment from some of our talented parishioners. And another performance from some of us on the staff. You won’t want to miss it! If you did not pick up a ticket last weekend, please call the Parish Office to see if any are available. If you took a ticket and your plans have changed, please return any tickets you will not use to the Parish Office this week so we can make them available to someone else. There is no cost to attend but we do ask that you have a ticket. You can make a free will donation the night of the event which will go to support our Parish Emergency Assistance Fund, which helps parishioners and others in the area who are in difficult situations. 

 

As was mentioned at Masses a couple of weeks ago, Fr. Angel will be leaving us at the beginning of July as he takes on his new responsibilities at Our Lady of Peace Parish in Kansas City. We have been blessed to have him in our parish for the last 3 years and are grateful for all the ways he has shared his gifts with our parish community. We will be hosting receptions to thank Fr. Angel for his service to our parish after all the Masses the weekend of June 28-29. Please plan to join us. 

 

We will have a special blessing of graduates from any level at all our Masses next weekend, May 31-June 1. Please invite any graduates in your life to join us.

 

This weekend marks the traditional beginning of summer with the Memorial Day holiday. As we remember our deceased loved ones, Memorial Day is especially a time to lift up those who gave their lives in service to our country to protect our freedoms. Please join us for Mass on Memorial Day, this Monday, May 26, at the special time of 9:00am. 

Many Blessings!  

 

 

In the Gospel for this Fifth Sunday of Easter, Jesus reminds us that the love He has shared with us is the model for how we are called to love. He says: I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Jesus puts love at the center of the life of discipleship because we are called to imitate the sacrificial love that has been shared with us. The extent of God’s love is manifested in the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. To love like Jesus means we have to forgive like Jesus, serve like Jesus, welcome others like Jesus, and show mercy like Jesus. This is how Jesus’ commandment of love transforms our lives into something new. This is how others will know we are his disciples. This way of love should be our focus in the Easter season as we celebrate the new life Christ shares with us through his Resurrection. May all our relationships be defined by Christ’s way of love. 

 

Tickets for our parish Celebration Dinner on Saturday, June 7, are available after Masses this weekend. There is no charge for the tickets. You can make a donation the evening of the event to support those in need through our parish Emergency Assistance Fund. This is a community building event to celebrate the blessings of our parish. Please plan to join us after the 4:30pm Mass on June 7. There will be delicious food, entertainment from some of our talented parishioners, a special staff act, and door prizes. You won’t want to miss it!  

 

This is one of our Celebrating Stewardship weekends. Please join us after Mass for donuts, drinks, and fellowship. You can also learn about some of the important ministries of our parish. A special thanks to all the volunteers who help host our Celebrating Stewardship weekends each month. We take a break in June and July, but donuts will be back in August. This is a great community builder and we are grateful to those who give of their time to make it happen. If you would like to help with this ministry, please contact Mary Grace Madrid in the Parish Office.

 

We congratulate all of our graduates this time of year. We will have a special blessing of graduates from any level at all our Masses the weekend of May 31-June 1. Please invite any graduates in your life to join us.

 

As was mentioned last weekend, after 3 years as our associate at Presentation, Fr. Angel will be moving on in July to lead Our Lady of Peace Parish in Kansas City. We are grateful for his time here and will be celebrating him after Masses later in June.

Please keep all the priests in our diocese in prayer this week as we will be on retreat with our Bishop at the monastery in Conception.

 

As we continue our celebration of the Easter season, we hear Jesus say in this weekend’s Gospel: My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. This Fourth Sunday of Easter is traditionally called Good Shepherd Sunday. Like sheep who know the voice of their shepherd and are willing to follow their shepherd wherever he leads them, we are called to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd and be willing to go where His voice leads us. There are so many conflicting and distracting voices in our world today, we really have to pay attention to listen to the voice of Jesus. This may be a good time to reflect on the steps we can take in our daily lives to spend more time listening to Jesus. If we trust in him as our Good Shepherd he promises to protect us, keep us in his loving hands, and lead us to eternal life. May we always hear the voice of Jesus and find ways to shepherd others through our example.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all the mothers in our community!! We take time this weekend to honor the mothers in our lives and give thanks for their gift of life and love. A mother’s love is often the way we learn about God’s love – nurturing, compassionate, and unconditional. As we give thanks for our mothers, both living and deceased, may God bless all mothers and fill them with strength.

In celebration of our mothers this weekend, we will offer a special blessing of all mothers and our parish is providing carnations to all mothers. Any donations received for the carnations will go to support MO Right to Life. As we give thanks for our mothers today, let’s remember the importance of recognizing the daily ways they give of themselves throughout the year.

 

Next weekend, May 17-18, there is a second collection for the Tomorrow’s Priest Vocation Fund. The Vocation Office of our diocese has been working hard to increase the number of seminarians studying to become priests. This Fund helps support the cost of their education and formation. Please be generous and please continue to offer prayers for young people to consider priesthood and religious life.  

 

This is the time of year when many will be graduating from various schools. We hold them all in prayer as they celebrate this important step on their life journey. The 8^th graders from our parish school will gather for their final retreat this week and their graduation this Thursday evening, May 15. They are a talented group of young women and men and we are proud of all their accomplishments. The Pre-K children from our ECC will also be graduating this Wednesday evening, May 14. In celebration of all those from our parish graduating from any school and at all levels, we will be offering a Blessing for Graduates at the Masses the weekend of May 31-June 1. Please encourage any graduates in your family to join us for Mass.

 

On this Third Sunday of the Easter season, we hear another story of Jesus appearing to his disciples after the Resurrection. This one occurs on the seashore when the disciples are fishing and catch nothing and then Jesus appears and says: Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something. In the other Gospels, this story appears at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. In the Gospel of John, it occurs after the Resurrection. The disciples have gone back to what is familiar to them, fishing, but their lives have been forever changed because of the Resurrection of Jesus. He physically appears to them and shares a meal with them. A key piece of the passage is the dialogue between Jesus and Peter when Jesus asks of Peter three different times, do you love me? This contrasts with the three denials Peter made regarding his relationship with Jesus before the Crucifixion. Jesus needed Peter and all the disciples to let go of the past and focus on the task at hand: Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep. Jesus needs us to do the same.

 

We continue to celebrate the joy of new life this Easter through our young people who will be receiving special sacraments. Another group of children will be receiving their First Eucharist at a special 2:00pm this Sunday. The excitement of these children receiving Christ for the first time is a blessing to our whole parish. Please keep these children in your prayers.

 

May is the month of Mothers. We celebrate the gift of our mothers on Mother’s Day next weekend, May 10-11. We will offer a special blessing of mothers at all the Masses and also have Mother’s Day carnations available. Your donations for the carnations will support Missouri Right to Life. If you have not yet returned your Mother’s Day envelope with the name of your living or deceased mother, please do so by this Friday, May 10. The envelopes will be included in the prayers and procession at Mass. 

The entire month of May is also dedicated to our Blessed Mother, Mary. As the Mother of all the faithful, she unites us together in the love of her Son. We will pray the Rosary before each weekend Mass during the month of May, so please arrive a little early to join in prayer. There is also a special outdoor Fatima Rosary next Saturday, May 10, beginning at 11am in the Mary Courtyard on the north side of church. All are welcome.  

 

As the Easter season reminds us of the blessing of our faith, we also want to celebrate the blessing of our parish community and all our wonderful parishioners. Please mark your calendars to join us for our Parish Celebration Dinner on Saturday, June 7, beginning about 5:45pm. This is Pentecost weekend so an appropriate time to celebrate the spirit of our parish. There will be wonderful food and entertainment and it is free of charge.