From the Pastor's Desk - June 7, 2025

Dear St. Martin’s Parishioners,

People sometimes ask, “What’s more important, Christmas or Easter?” And the answer is . . . Pentecost! I joke, but in a certain respect Pentecost is the most important feast of the Church’s year. This is because Pentecost is the culminating event of God’s plan of salvation. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and Mary fifty days after Easter, which signifies the birth of Holy Mother Church, puts the final seal on God’s redemptive action. God set about redeeming the world beginning immediately after the Fall of Adam and Eve. Today marks his finishing touch. Adam and Eve lost communion with God, and now God restores that communion in the most marvelous way. He lives in us and we live in him through grace, and that grace will be fully revealed as glory in heaven. At Pentecost God reveals himself as the most Holy Trinity, an eternal communion of love between three divine Persons. The love which is God’s life is poured into our hearts, so we can now love as God loves. At Pentecost, we become divinized, that is we partake of God’s nature as adopted sons and daughters of the Father. We celebrate joyously our new life today: sanctifying grace, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the charisms and fruits of the Spirit, as well as the all-important virtues of faith, hope and love. I have barely skimmed the surface of the immense power and grace of this event, which is not confined to the past, but is ours today through the Church’s liturgical celebration

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who helped plan and pull-off our annual Parish Field Mass and Picnic! Our Sisters and Miguel Hernandez coordinated an awesome Parish Activities committee, for whom I am especially grateful. I am thankful for all who helped set up for the Mass, the servers, those who provided such wonderful food, beverages, and desserts, the musicians, activities coordinators, ticket sellers and all who helped to cleanup afterwards! It was a fun and joyful event, and really displayed the dynamism and spirit of our parish. It was St. Martin’s at our finest!

In the Unity of the Holy Spirit,

Fr. Dave