From the Pastor's Desk - June 21, 2025

Dear St. Martin’s Parishioners,

After my uncle Msgr. Wells’ death in 2000, I remember watching a video of someone who had interviewed him. In the video he mentioned that he first began going to daily Mass at his Catholic high school when a thought occurred to him as he walked the hallway: “If that really is Jesus in there [in the chapel at Mass], then what am I doing out here?” This thought of his really struck me, and I began to occasionally go to daily Mass at my high school. After graduation, I attended the University of Maryland, and I made sure to set my class schedule so as not to interfere with the daily Mass on campus at noon. Slowly but surely, the Lord was working on my heart to draw me towards my priestly vocation.

Both from my own experience and from seeing other Catholics grow in their faith, this awakening to the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is life-changing. On one occasion my uncle picked up a young hitchhiker who was on his way to try and make it big in country music in Nashville. As they talked, the young man admitted that although he was Catholic, he had stopped attending Mass years before. “Why do you have to go to Mass, anyways?” he innocently inquired. My uncle passionately responded, “To receive the Body of Christ!” This answer, and the vehemence with which it was uttered, changed the young hitchhiker’s life forever. He began to practice his faith again and is now a permanent deacon who teaches theology and philosophy at the high school level.

Just the other day, a man approached me outside of church and with urgency asked, “How can I be prepared to receive my first Holy Communion?” I began to tell him that our classes begin in September, and he interrupted me, saying, “I can’t wait that long.” He had experienced God’s liberating love on a retreat, and now he was awake to the reality of Jesus’ full self-gift in Holy Communion. He had a visceral longing to receive him as soon as possible.

This is the tremendous truth we celebrate on the Feast of Corpus Christi. Jesus Christ is here! He is truly here, and desires to give himself to you whole and entire in Holy Communion! We fervently pray that all people, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, may discover this life-changing truth and become one with their Lord and God in the sacrament of his Body and Blood.

In the Eucharistic Lord,

Fr. Dave