Dear Friends in Christ:
Today, we celebrate the wonderful feast of Pentecost: the descending of the Holy Spirit upon our Blessed Mother and the apostles in the upper room fifty days after the resurrection, bestowing upon them the gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, reverence, and fear of the Lord. We will experience the Holy Spirit at work in very special ways over the next several weeks as we rejoice with our children who will be receiving our Lord for the first time in Holy Communion and, with the adults and youth who will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. We are blessed this weekend as Michael Noriega, of our parish, is ordained a transitional deacon and, on June 1, David Ramirez, also from our parish, will be ordained to the priesthood. The following day, June 2, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, Fr. David will be here to celebrate his first Mass! Thank you, Lord, for all your wonderful gifts!
We continue to make progress with our A Future Filled with Hope project. This is the purchase and remodeling of the former Carmelo’s restaurant property to become our new Caritas Center and new home for our Social Services Ministries and Joseph’s Coat and, the remodeling of the former Social Services space into Nazareth Hall for our Youth Ministry. Work is progressing; you can see photos on our website. There were some issues with the City of Houston, but things are looking up thanks to the invaluable assistance of City Council member, Mary Nan Huffman, and State Senator, Paul Bettencourt. We hope to have Nazareth Hall ready for the beginning of the school year and the Caritas Center, by January. Of course, construction projects do not always follow schedules and timelines (or budgets!). When the purchase of the property was announced last Fall, we noted that we would not have a capital campaign but instead asked that every parish household consider increasing their weekly donation by twenty dollars. We borrowed the money from the Diocesan Savings and Loan (DS&L). The DS&L is a collaboration of all parishes in the archdiocese. The parishes pool their savings and when a parish needs a building loan, they have access to the needed funds at lower than commercial bank rates. If you have not yet increased your stewardship, it is not too late and it would certainly be welcome. Also, if you would like to make a special gift to the building project, that too would be wonderful! With construction bills coming in, every gift helps.
With summer upon us, I would like to gently remind everyone that if you are blessed to be able to get some time away on vacation, remember Sunday Mass. Even when we are traveling or on vacation, God deserves and desires our love and prayers. The Third Commandment (Keep holy the Sabbath) applies to all 52 weeks of the year. That means Mass every Sunday! Plan ahead. To find a church and Mass times around the country and around the world go to www.masstimes.org. Likewise, we show our reverence towards God and others by our attire. When coming to Mass during the summer please remember to model modesty and respect. Clothes and attire appropriate at the gym, beach, or backyard BBQ, are inappropriate for church. While fashions change, we should always come to church in clean, neat, and appropriate attire. Coming to church in our “Sunday Best” is never out of fashion! We do not dress up to show off but rather to show respect and reverence to God.
While we should always be praying for others to come to know Christ and our beautiful Catholic faith, this is a good time to move that up on our prayer lists. If you know of an adult who is not baptized or is not Catholic, remember to pray for them and then invite them to consider becoming Catholic. Sharing the gift of faith with others changes lives! Take the time to let someone you care about know how much being Catholic means to you. God will give you the grace you need. Share the joy!
In Pace Christi,
Fr. Troy