Dear Parishioners,

Our new statue of Mary and the child Jesus has been in the church for two weeks now and the reception of this original piece of art, by our parishioners, has been overwhelmingly favorable. Like all fine art, this image of the Mother of God keeps revealing its beauty and spiritual significance the more one ponders it. I believe this is how one comes to appreciate art of any genre or medium, by standing back from it and viewing it with a contemplative eye over a period of time.

I have spent several hours at various times of the day in prayerful contemplation before this statue. I continually discover new features of its craftsmanship as well as new dimensions of its meaning. I share some of these below.

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Dear Parishioners,

On Sunday, June 11, the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (traditionally called Corpus Christi), St. Joan of Arc launched the second year of our Eucharistic Revival – a national initiative called for by our US Bishops. This second year will focus on parish communities and how they might deepen their knowledge and love of the Eucharistic mystery.

To inaugurate this year, we celebrated a festive liturgy at 9:30am on Sunday that was followed by a procession with the Blessed Sacrament around the entire parameters of our parish campus. Despite the cool temperature, challenging winds and annoying rainfall, approximately 200 hundred parishioners walked in this procession and gave public witness to their belief in Christ’s presence in the Eucharistic food.

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Dear Parishioners,

Today the church celebrates the great solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, more popularly referred to as Corpus Christi. This feast emerged in the 13th century after a Belgian nun, Juliana of Liege had a vision. In her vision, Juliana saw a disc-like image that resembled the full moon. A portion of the disc was darkened. She however, interpreted the disc to represent the church’s official Liturgical Year, and the darkened portion to represent a feast that was absent. Juliana maintained that the absent feast was one that focused solely on the Holy Eucharist. Although the annual celebration of Holy Thursday has the Eucharist and the Last Supper as its focus, she felt that Good Friday and Easter Sunday overshadowed this focus and so convinced Pope Urban IV to inaugurate the feast of Corpus Christi.

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