St James Catholic Church

The Sunday after Pentecost is always the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.  We celebrate our triune God, one God and yet three persons.  God the Father created the world and everything and everyone in it.  God the Son was born into this world, a part of humankind, and chose to sacrifice his life to save us all.  God the Holy Spirit was sent into the world by the Father and the Son to be with us always.  In our limited intelligence we cannot hope to truly comprehend this sacred mystery, but we join together in praise and thanks to God, Father, Son, and Spirit.

Throughout the Old Testament God forgives the Chosen People for their unfaithfulness, for the many times they turn away from God, for all their sinfulness.  Jesus personifies that infinite mercy, given by God to us in two ways.  The Son was given to us in the incarnation, sharing in our humanity, and he was also given over to death on the cross, redeeming us from our sinfulness.  Our God is a forgiving God.  We again see this in the New Testament, in the way that Jesus treats sinners in the Gospels, leading to his willingness to sacrifice his life for sinners.  His forgiveness is not distant or impersonal.  He gets to know sinners intimately, which leads to him loving them more deeply, which leads to forgiveness that is true and real.  We would do well to strive to do the same. 

And now words of gratitude about the wonderful 50th anniversary celebration of my priestly ordination.  I literally could not have asked for more.  Thanks first and foremost to God for calling me to serve in the Church.  Secondly, my heartfelt gratitude to our parish staff who did most of the hard work to pull this off in such a great manner.  Thirdly, to Carl, the choir, instrumentalists, the eucharistic ministers, the great servers, ushers, and all who took part in the beautiful environment in church, the bulletin, the sign in front, and the orders of worship.  Fourthly, the fantastic dinner we enjoyed in our church hall.  The food was terrific, so I thank Brian, Karen, and their serving staff from Pulaski Inn for the great job they did.  Once again the hall decorations were great and the slide show brought back many great memories and events of the past.  Finally, much gratitude to all the parishioners, families, and friends I’ve encountered over these fifty years.  Your wonderful thoughts, prayers, gifts, and donations to various charities is greatly appreciated.

An event like this reminds me that while I don’t have a married family of my own, I have a much larger family than anyone could imagine.  Thank you one and all for being such a great part of who I am.  My thoughts and prayers are always with you, especially when we celebrate Mass.

Love, Peace, Joy,

Fr. Bob