A MESSAGE FROM FR. PATRICK - JUNE 9, 2023
Dear St. Martin’s Parishioners,
Around this time three years ago, Fr. Kiko, the men in our ordination class, and I left to begin our retreat in preparation for our priestly ordination that was to take place that upcoming weekend. At the start of the retreat, the retreat master brought to our attention that God, in his providence, brought us on retreat between the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi in Latin) and the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (celebrated on the Friday after Corpus Christi). What a blessing it was to us as future priests to be able to pray and reflect in between these two great solemnities which have at their center the Heart of Jesus Christ – his Eucharistic Heart and his Most Sacred Heart (and to be ordained on the feast of another special heart, the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary!). Two solemnities, but nevertheless, the same Heart.
Corpus Christi is special to priests because priests have the humble privilege of making present Jesus Christ in the Eucharist – Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Several miracles suggest that when we receive the Real Presence of Jesus in Holy Communion, specifically we receive his Heart, that is, his Eucharistic Heart. The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is special to priests because we pray (and we ask that you pray) that we be ever more conformed to that Sacred Heart – that Heart that is compassionate and suffers with and for humanity.
Please continue to pray for us, your priests, and please pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, especially from our parish.
On another note, thank you to everyone who helped make our annual field Mass and parish picnic a huge success! As I was reflecting on the event – the Mass, the perfect weather, the abundance of food, the fun games, the smiling families, the laughing kids, the angelic music, the teamwork on display during palo encebado – all of these were just a foretaste of what heaven must be like. What awaits us there is that eternal wedding feast between Jesus and us, his Church, where we will experience communion in its perfection. Our parish picnic was symbolic of the communion we share as a Church, united as one Body of Christ: “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12).
And if seems like the celebrations don’t cease, please don’t forget join us next Sunday, June 18, at 2:30pm in the school gym, as we say farewell to Fr. Kiko and Sr. Providencia, and welcome back newly ordained Fr. David Langford. Please visit https://www. signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4fa9a92ea5fac61-farewell#/ to sign up to bring a dish based on your last name.
May God bless you all!
In the Eucharistic Heart and Sacred Heart of Jesus,
Fr. Patrick