Lord we pray "Help me to continually increase parish vitality and reflect the presence of Christ in the world."

Browsing News Entries

Browsing News Entries

Jun. 14 Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sunday

From Today's Gospel: At the sight of the crowds, Jesus' heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest." (Matt 9:36-38).

Pope, in message, calls on the world's priests to be holy (CWN)

In a message for the Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests, which takes place each year on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Leo XIV addressed the world’s priests with the “words that God spoke to the people of Israel: ‘Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy’“ (Lev 19:2; cf. 1 Pt 1:16).

Jun. 13 Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Memorial

In the midst of the World War II, Pope Pius XII put the whole world under the special protection of our Savior's Mother by consecrating it to her Immaculate Heart, and in 1944 he decreed that in the future the whole Church should celebrate the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is not a new devotion. In the seventeenth century, St. John Eudes preached it together with that of the Sacred Heart; in the nineteenth century, Pius VII and Pius IX allowed several churches to celebrate a feast of the Pure Heart of Mary. Pius XII instituted today's feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the whole Church, so as to obtain by her intercession "peace among nations, freedom for the Church, the conversion of sinners, the love of purity and the practice of virtue" (Decree of May 4, 1944).

Jun. 12 Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Solemnity

Catechism of the Catholic Church 478:

US bishops consecrate nation to Sacred Heart of Jesus (USCCB)

The bishops of the United States consecrated the nation to the Sacred Heart on June 11, the vigil of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The consecration, offered during the nation’s 250th anniversary year, took place during a Mass in Orlando, at the Basilica of Mary, Queen of the Universe (video).

“In a culture that prizes independence and self-reliance, we gather publicly to acknowledge that our deepest identity and our truest hope come, not from ourselves but from the Lord,” Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore preached. “Today we place the Church in the United States, and this nation we love, into the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

In preparation for the consecration, three archbishops offered reflections on the Sacred Heart.

Pope celebrates Mass in Sagrada Família, 100 years after Gaudí's death (CWN)

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass in the famed Basilica of Sagrada Família in Barcelona on June 10, the 100th anniversary of the death of its architect, Venerable Antoni Gaudí (video).

Jun. 11 Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle, Memorial

Today is the Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle, who was designated by the Holy Spirit to share the charge and mission of the twelve Apostles, is venerated by the Church as one of them. He played an important part in the first extension of Christianity outside the Jewish world. It was Barnabas who presented St. Paul to the other Apostles when, after his long retreat in Arabia, he came to Jerusalem for the first time after his conversion to submit for Peter's approval the mission to the Gentiles entrusted to him by the Master Himself. Barnabas was Paul's companion and helper on his first missionary journey and returned with him to Jerusalem, but left him when he set out on his second journey and went to Cyprus. The name of St. Barnabas is mentioned in the Canon of the Mass.

Jun. 10 Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time, Weekday

The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Landericus, or St. Landry (d. 661), who was the Bishop of Paris from 650 to his death. He is best remembered as the founder of the first hospital in Paris, known as Hotel-Dieu.

Jun. 9 Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time; Opt. Mem. of St. Ephrem, Deacon and Doctor, Opt. Mem.

The Church celebrates the Optional Memorial of St. Ephrem, Deacon (306-373), called "the Harp of the Holy Spirit." Ephrem is the great classic Doctor of the Syrian church. As deacon at Edessa, he vigorously combated the heresies of his time, and to do so more effectively wrote poems and hymns about the mysteries of Christ, the Blessed Virgin and the saints. He had a great devotion to Our Lady. He was a commentator on Scripture and a preacher as well as a poet, and has left a considerable number of works, which were translated into other Eastern languages as well as into Greek and Latin. He died in 373. Pope Benedict XV proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church in 1920.