Dear Parishioners and Friends,
In last week’s letter I wrote about the Walk Against Hunger which took place on Saturday morning, May 4th. Coincidentally, just several blocks away, another event was taking place at the Cathedral of St. Joseph. Over 140 young people from ten parishes, together with their sponsors and families, celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation with Archbishop Christopher Coyne – his first Confirmation ceremony as Archbishop of Hartford. I have to admit to feeling a bit like a proud papa as I presented our candidates to be Confirmed.
I hope that the young men and women who were Confirmed found the Archbishop’s words meaningful and inspirational as they enter a new stage of their Christian vocation. By completing their initiation into the Christian faith, they are called to be mature and authentic witnesses to Jesus Christ. The words Jesus speaks to us in today’s Gospel are very appropriate to our newly Confirmed parishioners, as Jesus prays to his Father: “Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth” (John 17:17-19).
This weekend, our children will receive their First Eucharist at the 4:00 and 10:00 Masses. I join their parents, families, and all our parishioners in offering my prayerful good wishes as they share in the Body and Blood of the Lord for the first time, and enter a new stage in their Christian life as well. The Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation) are steps that every Catholic person takes as they enter more deeply at each moment into the life of Christ and as a member of the Body of Christ, the Church.
The Eucharist, by its very nature, is the focal point around which our lives as Catholics revolve. Baptism and Confirmation are celebrated just once in a person’s life, but Eucharist is a weekly experience of Christ’s self-giving sacrificial love for us. May we never go hungry!
Blessings on your week ahead!
Fr. Tim Shreenan, O.F.M., Pastor