Christus Resurrexit,
Sicut Dixit, Alleluia!!!
Christ has Risen,
as He said He would, Alleluia!!!
Each Sunday of the Easter Season until Pentecost, the first reading will be from the Acts of the Apostles. This is the only time of the year when the first reading on Sundays is not from the Old Testament. The Church intentionally places Acts before us during this season of Resurrection and new Life because we are to bear fruit in the world just as the early Christians did upon experience Jesus’ Resurrection. If Lent is about Christians attending to their inward relationship with God, then Easter is about Christians attending to their outward relationship with the World in need of the Gospel. Hearing the Acts of the Apostles tells us what we modern-day disciples should be busy about now. Each Sunday of Easter, my homily dives into these deep and important lessons for who we are as Church and how the Church acts. It will be a little exercise in Scriptural Ecclesiology – the study of the Church taken specifically from the Scriptures. The last two weekends, we reflected on how the “Church Unites” and how the “Church Instructs”. If you want to go deeper into what faithful Christian Discipleship looks like, there are few places better than the Acts of the Apostles. The Gospel lives today by our Acts & Actions!
Today is World Day of Prayer for Vocations, we pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood, especially in places where priests are most needed. We pray for an increase in vocations to religious life, that prayer and apostolic work may be fervent in and for the Church. We pray for an increase in sacramental marriages that holy vocations and Christian disciples can be fostered and sustained. Pope Francis has asked all Catholics to intercede for vocations. Will you make a special effort to ask the Lord for more vocations to the priesthood and religious life?
- Pray for the priests who have ministered to you throughout your life, both living and dead.
- Pray for religious sisters who taught you in school, both living and dead.
- Pray for your parish priest(s) & Archbishop Thompson this week
- Encourage your children or grandchildren to consider a vocation as a priest or religious brother or sister. What does God want you to do?
- Pray a rosary for more young men and women in our archdiocese to respond to God’s call of service and sanctification.
- Offer Prayers for our own Kelli Reutman as she prepares to make the transition to religious life.
Holy vocations must come from right here at Our Holy Family Parish, or they won’t come at all.
Holy Family, the first to live the Christian Vocation, Pray for us.
~ Fr Jeremy M. Gries