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May 6th, 2022

Father Johnson • May 7, 2022

Dear Friends in Christ,

May 6, 2021

From the Desk of the Pastor


In the month of May and especially this Mother’s Day weekend, we remember Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, as well as our mother. By her “yes” to the mission entrusted to her by the Angel Gabriel, she bore the Savior, Jesus Christ, into the world and became the first disciple of the Lord. On the cross, when Jesus entrusted her to the St. John saying “Behold your mother, behold your son,” she became our mother too. In May we crown her with flowers to remind us that she reigns in heaven with her Son.  We can call upon her intercession and aid, and we especially need to do in these challenging times.


In particular, the Holy Father, Pope Francis has called upon us all to pray the rosary daily during this month for an end to the invasion in Ukraine. Last week at his Regina Coeli address, he said:

I would like to invite all the faithful and communities to pray the Rosary for peace every day in May. My thought goes to the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, “Mary’s city”, barbarically bombed and destroyed. Once again, from here, I renew my request that safe humanitarian corridors be arranged for the people trapped in the steelworks in that city. I suffer and weep, thinking of the sufferings of the Ukrainian people, and in particular, the weakest, the elderly and children. There are even terrible reports of children being expelled and deported.

And while we are witnessing a macabre regression of humanity, I wonder, along with so many anguished people, if peace is truly being sought; whether there is the will to avoid a continued military and verbal escalation; whether everything possible is being done to silence the weapons. I beg you, let us not surrender to the logic of violence, to the perverse spiral of weapons. May the path of dialogue and peace be taken! Let us pray. POPE FRANCIS


FIRST COMMUNION

This is also the time of year we rejoice with our second graders as they receive the Body and Blood of the Lord for the first time. Saturday, May 7 is First Communion at St. Jude and Sunday, May 22 is First Communion at Holy Innocents, and I know many who have relatives and friends receiving First Communion this time of year.  First Holy Communion is a very special time not only for the first communicants and their families, but also for the whole Church and especially our parish.  We congratulate them and we pray for them. The specialness of this day reminds us of how important this holy food, the bread of life, is for us as Christians. The Lord Jesus told us that “unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood we will not have life within us.” This was a difficult saying for many who heard it. It startled those who heard it, and judging from the statistics, which show our sometimes erratic Mass attendance, it remains a challenging statement today.   Nevertheless, Eucharist is the most important of the sacraments. It is the source and summit of the Christian life as the second Vatican council proclaims.  It is the font of the Church’s strength and vigor and it is the way the Church returns its thanks and praise for all God has done for us. May the wonder, awe and joy of these First Communicants renew us in our love for this sacrament and give us new fervor in giving thanks and praise to God.  It is right and just, our duty always and everywhere to give God thanks and praise!


Thank You to all who helped with Work Party!

Many thanks to all the wonderful volunteers who came out for the Work Party at Holy Innocents last Saturday. They did an amazing amount of work and moved loads and loads of bark among many other things. A big thank you to all who helped make our parish shine. Your efforts reflect the wonderful “can do!” spirit that has filled our parish for over a hundred years. Again, heartfelt thanks to you all!



Blessings on your week!

Fr. Johnson


FROM THE DESK OF THE PASTOR

June 10th, 2022

By Father Johnson • June 11, 2022
Trinity Sunday Dear Friends in Christ, Here are some words of Pope Benedict to help us ponder this mystery which we celebrate this Sunday and is so central to our faith: On this Sunday that follows Pentecost, we are celebrating the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, who helps us understand Jesus’ words and guides us to the whole truth (see Jn 14: 26; 16: 13), believers can experience, so to speak, the intimacy of God himself, discovering that he is not

June 2nd, 2022

By Father Johnson • June 4, 2022
PENTECOST This Sunday we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, the birthday of the universal Church, when the Holy Spirit bestowed wonderful gifts upon his disciples. I have seen those gifts wonderfully manifested in you as disciples of the Lord. And one of the things that has really built up our parish of Holy Innocents over the years is the wonderful generosity of parishioners like you sharing your gifts and talents. We would not be able to do what we do and spread the Gospel effectively without your willingness to serve. Each of us, as baptized members of the Church, is a part of the Mystical Body of Christ. St. Paul tells us that this body is made up of many members with different gifts which are essential to the functioning of the Body of Christ. Put simply, our Church, our Parish, would not be here if generation after generation had not responded to the call of the Lord Jesus to serve. First of all, I want to thank all of you who have served or continue to serve in so many ministries so selflessly and generously over the years. If you are new to the parish, we are delighted to have you here, and especially need your gifts and help. We invite you to serve in some of the many ministries. We are grateful for your help! St. Paul tells us that, “To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” I have found that to be so true in my ministry. Everyone really does have something to give, whether that is prayer for the Church at home, teaching the faith to their children, or an active ministry at the Church, or something else in the community. On this Feast of Pentecost, as we begin to emerge from the pandemic, I invite you to prayerfully reflect on how God is calling you to use your gifts. I am constantly amazed at the stories that parishioners tell me about how their ministry and service has touched them and changed them and enriched their lives. If you haven’t been involved in a ministry here at Holy Innocents, I really want to invite you to guide you in discerning a way to use your gifts as the service of the Church and the larger community. Even more today, this world needs the witness, presence and action of us, as believers, cooperating with God’s grace to further God’s kingdom. We need your gifts and talents to tell the good news and to serve God’s people. In the coming months we will be calling upon your help in many ways. I invite you to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Let us open our hearts and respond with the same kind of yes, faith and trust of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Thank you again for all you do to build up our parish and our Church in such wonderful ways! You are a great blessing. I am so very grateful for your service, your generous spirit and most of all your prayers. A WORD FROM POPE FRANCIS ON THE HOLY SPIRIT AS COMFORTER “When the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father…” (Jn 15:26). With these words, Jesus promises to send his disciples the Holy Spirit, the ultimate gift, the gift of gifts. He uses an unusual and mysterious word to describe the Spirit: Paraclete… The Paraclete is the Comforter. All of us, particularly at times of difficulty like those we are presently experiencing due to the pandemic, look for consolation. Often, though, we turn only to earthly comforts, ephemeral comforts that quickly fade. Today, Jesus offers us heavenly comfort, the Holy Spirit, who is “of comforters the best” (Sequence). What is the difference? The comforts of the world are like a pain reliever: they can give momentary relief, but not cure the illness we carry deep within. They can soothe us, but not heal us at the core. They work on the surface, on the level of the senses, but hardly touch our hearts. Only someone who makes us feel loved for who we are can give peace to our hearts. The Holy Spirit, the love of God, does precisely that. He comes down within us; as the Spirit, he acts in our spirit. He comes down “within the heart”, as “the soul’s most welcome guest” (ibid). He is the very love of God, who does not abandon us; for being present to those who are alone is itself a source of comfort. POPE FRANCIS Happy Pentecost and blessings on your week! Fr. Johnson
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