Pastor's Letter

In today’s gospel, Jesus shares an incredible truth. He lets us know that he will never leave us abandoned—orphaned. Instead, he will send the Holy Spirit to us, who he insightfully calls an “advocate”.
 
If you ask Siri or Alexa what an advocate is, she’ll tell you it’s someone who pleads the cause of another; someone who supports another. So what Jesus is saying to us is telling. The name Jesus means “the Lord saves.” The name Jesus gives the Holy Spirit is Advocate. Both are descriptions.
 
What I also find so meaningful is that Jesus tells us he is an Advocate, too. He says the Holy Spirit is “another Advocate” who is just like himself. Both are with us to plead our cause, to support us, to travel through life with us. And, what Jesus says is true of himself, is also true of his Father. So, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit exist in the essence of who they are together, and together they give themselves fully to us. 
 
That’s truly meaningful on this day we remember and celebrate our mothers. We realize so much of the identity of a mom is that of someone who advocates for her children; someone who pleads their cause, someone who just instinctively gives herself fully to them. In fact, when we say “my mom” in the fondest of ways, it most likely takes us to a place in the heart where we feel loved, held, cared for and, hopefully, simply accepted for who we are. A mom cannot help but love her children. They are a part of her very being.
 
It’s no wonder that God tells us he created us in his image and likeness. Just as God is an advocate for us, we’re meant to advocate for each other. If anyone shows us that, most likely, it’s our moms. If we’re blessed to be able to talk with our moms today or visit them, we hopefully will see it as a true blessing. If our moms go before us in faith, we know that we can ask them to continue to pray for us—to advocate for us—to the Advocate who understands.
 
Good News

• Congratulations to all our Confirmandi who received the gift of the Holy Spirit on Saturday. Their names appear on our front cover, which gives them pride of place. That’s because we’re truly proud of them as they travelled through the past two years getting ready for this very important moment. They became God the Father’s children in Baptism, united themselves with God the Son in the Eucharist, and now have received God the Holy Spirit in Confirmation. That’s a full initiation into the life of God and into the life of the Church. Congratulations! 
• Effective May 11, the Archdiocese has lifted all their remaining COVID restrictions. This means a couple of things for all of us. First, the wearing of masks that we’ve asked our liturgical ministers to wear at certain times during the Mass, is now at the option of each individual. The second is that the Archdiocese is allowing us to resume the practice of sharing the Precious Blood of Christ in the common cup. We have to work out some logistics before we re-implement this, but are hopeful we can resume in time for Pentecost. Of course, receiving from the cup is not obligatory. We receive the fullness of the Body and Blood of Christ in the host; but for those who have longed to receive from the cup again, it will be available to us when, and if, you’re ready. We’ve been through a long journey with each other, holding on to all that we’ve been asked to do by the Archdiocese to keep everyone as safe as could be. We now move forward in that same hope.

 
Together, we’re in the hands of our Advocates! 
 
               —Fr. Mike