Our Lady of Hope Blog

My Dear Friends,

This past Friday, June 27th, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This solemnity is always the Friday after the Corpus Christi (the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ), which is always after the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. These days are all united in some way that focuses on the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ. I did write some bulletin articles on Pope Francis’s encyclical on the Sacred Heart.

My Dear Friends,

Today is the great feast day commonly called Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Not only do we receive our Lord’s Body and Blood, but we also receive his Soul and Divinity. The word concomitant is used in our theology to explain that since we receive our Lord’s Soul and Divinity we also receive the Divinity of the Father and the Holy Spirit. We participate in the life of the Trinity when we are baptized, but as we are nourished with the Holy Eucharist in Holy Communion, we also participate in the life of the Trinity every time we receive Holy Communion. The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is a central article of our Catholic faith and a great mystery.

My Dear Friends,

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. It is the greatest of all mysteries in our faith precisely because it is the life of God himself, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All other mysteries flow from this mystery. God existed for all time because he exists outside of time. Indeed, he created time when he created the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon and all living creatures. God did not need to create; he chose to create because of love.

My Dear Friends,

Today we celebrate the great feast day of Pentecost, the commemoration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the beginning of the Church. During the Easter season we focus, of course, on the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ. It is true that Jesus speaks of the Spirit throughout the Easter season in our Scriptures, but it is only today that we have a specific day in our liturgical calendar devoted to the third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

My Dear Friends,

In our Catholic faith, certain months are devoted to certain saints or to our Lord. March is for St. Joseph. May is for our Blessed Mother. October is for the Rosary. January is for the Holy Family. September is for the Archangels. The month of June is devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Sacred Heart is a beautiful devotion in order to foster a love for our Lord’s heart and his love and for reparation for our own sins as we call upon our Lord’s heart for mercy.