Dear Parishioners,
Please keep in prayer Jiana & Juliani Robles whom I will be baptizing this weekend. We welcome them into the Church and we pray that they may grow in their relationship with God through Christ.
Our new microphone and speaker system in the church has been installed so please always feel free to offer us feedback (excuse the pun) on the volume, clarity, etc. One of the advantages of this system is that we have a device that is able to help those who are hard of hearing. Our Music Minister, Angela Kovic, is able to assist you with that if you think it may be beneficial and I will learn more about it myself. I want to say that there is a way it can benefit those who watch us via livestream as well but I don’t remember the details about that so I’ll find out & let you know about it here.
Here is another call (or at least a written invitation) to all who are watching us from home to please call us to let us know that you are watching us via livestream at home because of your inability to be physically present with us at Mass and that you would like someone to bring you Holy Communion. I cannot stress this enough: receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion is extremely important for your spiritual health. All I really need to do is to quote the words of Our Lord himself: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you will not have life within you.” It is wonderful that so many are connecting with us at home via livestream but I am saddened that so many believe that is simply “enough” without receiving Holy Communion. So if you would like someone to bring you Holy Communion, even if it’s only once a month or by request, please give us a call & let us know. We have several parishioners now who are willing to bring the Eucharist to you. It will be a short visit and you don’t need to do anything special to prepare. It need not be on a Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning either. Ministers are willing to go on other days which may be better for you. Just let us know your preference. Please accept the offer of this great gift of Christ’s presence into your home and into your life.
For those who have expressed an interest in bringing Holy Communion…I invite you to join me in the church after any of the Masses next weekend, July 20th & 21st. We’ll just need a few short minutes for me to explain the process and then I’ll give you a blessing to commission you in this ministry & we can begin to coordinate home visits. If you would like to be a part of this ministry but have not yet let me know that, please join us and let me know you’re interested.
This past Tuesday I said goodbye to Father Felipe & to Tim Johnson & Angelo Calderon, the two seminarians, who have been living here in the rectory the last few months. They were a joy to have here and we will miss having them around. I will be celebrating Mass once a month on a Saturday evening for the small community that they have formed here at St. Leo’s and I am confident that they are doing the work of the Lord. Please keep them in prayer. Below is a picture of some pilgrims of the Neocatechumenal Way who stayed overnight in our gym on their way home from their retreat in Boston.
Fr. James P. Schmitz
