I hope and pray that everyone had a great Easter. We had a few more people return to church for Easter. It was the biggest crowd we've had since the pandemic began. We had 25 at the 8:15 and 45 at the 10:30 and there was still room for more. Thank you goes out to La Donna and the choir members who sang and to Steve Peterson for playing the piano and to Deacon Mel for adding his trumpet at the end of Mass. It was a great celebration of the Lord's Resurrection. Let us continue to pray for an end to the pandemic. Get your vaccination as soon as you can. I've had both shots for well over a month and feel better for it.
It is hard for me to believe that on Monday, April 12, the anniversary of my priestly ordination, I will have been a priest for 52 years. I spent the last 14 years here at St. Augustine. I was also here during my deacon year way back in 1968. That gives me 15 years here at St. A's. It has been a pleasure to be here. Hopefully, we will be able to celebrate more Masses in person soon. At the end of Mass, I always bless the whole parish with my final blessing. I hope y'all bless me as well. Each Sunday I offer one of the Masses for the whole parish as well. God bless you for being you, a son or daughter of God.
This Sunday we continue to celebrate Easter with the Second Sunday of Easter also called Sunday of Divine Mercy. Our first reading gives us an ideal presentation of how the first Christians lived and shared all they had with one another. "With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them." They all shared each according to his/her need. In our second reading we are told how to live. "In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments." His commandments are summed up in two: Love God and love your neighbor!
In today's Gospel we have Jesus appearing twice. He appears on the night of his resurrection and wishes his disciples: "Peace be with you" and "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them." As the reading continues we see that Thomas wasn't there and he declares he won't believe in the resurrection until he sees and touches Jesus. Jesus comes back again and talks to Thomas, who then makes this great profession of faith: "My Lord and my God." Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." That's us that Jesus is blessing.
We continue to have Mass on Sunday at 8:15 and 10:30 AM, masked and socially distanced. We will continue to use masks, even though the state only recommends them. Cheryl and Francine continue to record the 10:30 and put it on line Sunday afternoons. You can get to it through our parish web page. The Soup Kitchen remains open MWF from 11 AM - 12:30 PM. Our St. Vincent de Paul still delivers food to the shut ins. There is still a zoom meeting on Fridays at 4 PM with Our Faith in St. Joe County parishioners. Since the diocese has us getting gas delivery from a company in Houston, TX, we had a bill for almost $1500.00 for gas during the winter storm they had in Texas. Just thought you'd want to know how connected we all are. Take care and stay well.