May the grace and peace of the Risen Lord Jesus be with you! As we continue to celebrate with joy the grace of this holy Easter Season, the Lord Jesus continues to invite us to prayerfully prepare our hearts more and more for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Hopefully we have spent at least a little time reflecting on our lives and the need we have for more of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, enabling us to live more fully for God.
There are also two groups of folks in the Parish that this applies to in a very special way. First, 34 of our own young men and women will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation from his excellency Most Reverend Carl Mengeling, the Bishop of Lansing. This will be on Mothers' Day. We invite the entire Parish to join us for that wonderful celebration. To see our young brothers and sisters choose to continue their walk with the Lord Jesus, as He draws them more and more deeply into the heart of His Church is a cause of joy and celebration for us as a Parish as well as a very special time for their families. Let us continue to pray for these young men and women during this final time of preparation.
We also have several former members of Christ the King who are being ordained to the priesthood this month. In a few short weeks, Reverend Mr. Jack Quinlan, Reverend Mr. Dan Jones, and Reverend Mr. Joe Nicolosi will be ordained to the priesthood. Next month Reverend Mr. Karl Pung and Reverend Mr. Joe Poggemeyer will be ordained. It is a great joy for us as a Parish to celebrate this gift of these men's lives to serve the Church in this very special way. Many of us have known these brothers for years and we share their joy at the long-awaited arrival of this most special event for them.
This time of year is filled with so much special grace for us. We have been rejoicing in the rich grace of the Easter Season since the Easter Vigil, remembering and celebrating in the gift of the Lord's Resurrected life for us. Shortly before this Season concludes, we celebrate Ascension Thursday. The Apostles marvel at the Lord's words to them that it is better that He go, for if He does not go, the Counselor will not come. They do not understand His words until the Fire descends. The Easter Season concludes with the wondrous event, the Solemnity of Pentecost. The Spirit Whose descent two millennia ago enflamed those fearful disciples into zealous men and women of God, once again descends on His Church, filling all the disciples of the Lord with His power and His gifts, that they may go forth and proclaim the Resurrection they have been celebrating.
The next two weekends following Pentecost are also very special feasts. The weekend following Pentecost we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity; we reverently call to mind one of the primary mysteries of our faith, that God has revealed Himself to us as Three Divine Persons and has invited us to share in the very life shared between those Divine Persons. The following weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, rejoicing in the wondrous gift of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus, "the source and summit of the Christian life" and the heart of what it means for us to be Roman Catholics. Let us plead with the Lord Jesus, as these great feasts approach, to open our hearts to the wonders He has done and is doing in our midst, that we might receive all that our loving and gracious Savior longs to give us! I commend you to the care of the Mother of God and the protection of St. Michael.
Fr. Ed