Let me continue to thank you for supporting the parish during this difficult time. As you know we have been having Sunday Masses for the past two Sundays. Last Sunday we had 15 people at each Mass. That was up from the previous Sunday. We will continue with our usual Sunday Masses of 8:15 AM and 10:30 AM. The church is roped off for social spacing and is cleaned between Masses. The bishop's dispensation is still in effect until August 15. We will use masks for the foreseeable future. Keep praying for an end to the pandemic.
This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This day is also called Corpus Christi in the Latin. We celebrate as an Eucharistic People. Jesus offered his Body and Blood for us. He gave his Body and Blood to us in the Eucharist at the Last Supper. Our Mass revolves around his great sacrifice and gift. At the Last Supper Jesus took bread and wine and told his disciples that was his Body and Blood. We do the same at every Mass. The bread and the wine become his Body and Blood as food for our journey home to God in heaven. There are still many processions celebrated today throughout the world as the Body and Blood of Jesus is shown to the world. We also have the opportunity to actually eat his Body and drink his Blood, inviting Jesus himself into our hearts and minds.
Today is also "Flag Day", a day to honor the stars and stripes. The USA has come a long way throughout history, but we still have a long way to go. We sometimes forget that there is no "I" in USA, but there is only "us". We are all in this together. When we finally recognize that we are all brothers and sisters, made in the image of God, we will see the "us" in USA. Pray for peace, especially in the USA this Flag Day.
Later this week we celebrate Juneteenth. June 19th was the day the news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached Texas and so the day is celebrated as the day all the slaves in the USA knew they were free. Many call Slavery, the Original Sin of the country. There was slavery in the Americas before the USA came to be and it continued until the Civil War. The effects of slavery are still felt today through racism and white privilege. Let us pray, especially on Juneteenth, that we may see the beauty of God's image in each other and a wonderfully colorful mosaic of God's love.