Dear Parishioners:

Last weekend was special weekend for our parish! Why? Because forty of the children from our parish received Our Lord in Holy Communion for the very first time! For the past two years they had been preparing for this moment and now I am sure they were filled with excitement and anticipation prior to partaking of this Eucharistic food.

Congratulations are in order for these children! As a parish, this is cause for celebration, for as we witness these young ladies and men receive their First Communion with such eagerness, it should make us eager for the Sacrament. Do we realize how precious this Sacred Food is?

Many times I have talked to people who, for various reasons, strayed away from Mass attendance, or just simply missed Mass. One of the common refrains I hear from them when they come back is how much they missed receiving Communion.

The Eucharist is powerful in our lives. When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, he feeds us and nourishes us and helps us enter more deeply into the life of faith. Its absence from our lives leaves us feeling empty and devoid spiritually.

This can be likened to the experience of being loved. When a person feels unloved, he or she experiences great emotional pain and anguish. That person feels a profound emptiness inside. By the same token, when a person feels loved, he or she can feel deep joy and great contentment. Being aware of being loved, brings a sense of satisfaction and completeness. A person can survive without many things. But it is hardly possible to survive without love.

Likewise, when we are unable to receive the Eucharist, we sense that something is missing. Many people describe it as an awareness that something just isn’t right inside. But when we do receive Communion, there is a sense of wholeness or completeness within. It brings contentment and it affects the rest of the week.

This weekend, the Gospel recounts the Ascension of our Lord into heaven. At that moment, Jesus commissioned the disciples to go out into the nations to proclaim the Gospel. That is our Christian call. Having received the Eucharist, we are strengthened to go out into the world and transform it with out lives. We do this with the hope that one day we will join Jesus in the Heavenly Kingdom.

Our prayer as a parish family is that these children who received their First Communion will make this the first of many, many times throughout their lives that they receive Our Lord in the Eucharist. May He be their strength as they grow and mature. May he enliven them with his guidance and keep them on the path of holiness until they arrive in the Heavenly Jerusalem. Congratulations once again! God bless!

Fr. Paul