June 11 - "Trinity Sunday"

My sister Annemarie, my brother Jim, and I want to thank the parishioners who have sent us cards or stopped to offer condolences on the death of our mother.  Yesterday (June 10) I was in Butler, Pennsylvania where I offered a second Mass for the repose of her soul and then said the prayers at the cemetery as she was laid to rest beside our father and our sister Katie.  May mother rest in peace!
                Yesterday, Joseph Salser was ordained a deacon at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.  I was sorry that I could attend his diaconal ordination.  I had heard that some parishioners had made plans to attend the ordination to support him in this penultimate step toward ordination to the priesthood this time next year (God willing).  Joseph has several more weeks with us in his summer placement.  But he will return again in the fall and will be with us during the next academic year and will gain some practice and experience in ministerial roles here as part of the final phase of his seminary formation.
Last weekend we recognized a number of parishioners who were here for the first Mass for the newly constituted St. Francis of Assisi Parish, which was held on June 4, 1972 at Redland Middle School.  May the Lord continue to bless those founding parishioners!  We shall celebrate our forty-fifth anniversary and our founding parishioners in a special way during our parish feast celebrations in October.
The final thing that I want to mention today is the Apostleship of Prayer and their prayer intention for June 2017.  The mission of the Apostleship of Prayer is to encourage Christians to make a daily offering of themselves to the Lord for the coming of God’s Kingdom and the Holy Father’s monthly intentions.  By faithfully praying in this way one develops a Eucharistic spirituality of solidarity with the Body of Christ and loving service to others.  The love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus nourishes this spiritual program.  Here is the Holy Father’s intention for June 2017:  That national leaders may firmly commit themselves to ending the arms trade, which victimizes so many innocent people.
Last year Pope Francis began to issue a short video commentary now available on YouTube to present his monthly intention.  We post these on the parish website as they become available.  We uploaded his commentary on the June intention several days ago.  The Apostleship of Prayer also encourages people to make a daily Offering Prayer.  Here is the traditional daily offering prayer provided by the Apostleship of Prayer:
O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month.
 
Until next week,
Fr. John Dillon