Happy Birthday! - Sunday, June 5, 2022

Pentecost is traditionally seen as the Birthday of the Church, and since we all together are the Church, it is our Birthday. If we were to have a Birthday cake, it would have to be huge for two reasons. One would be to hold the nearly 2,000 candles, and more importantly it would have to be large enough for everyone in the church to have a piece, and that would be many hundreds of millions!

Birthdays mean GIFTS! The gift we receive is the Holy Spirit. We received the Holy Spirit at our Baptism, at our Confirmation, at our Marriage if we are married, at our Ordination if we are a deacon or priest, at anytime we have received the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and also at anytime we have celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation (confession). 

But these are not the only times we receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is unpredictable in its action.  Jesus tells us “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8) Attempting to control the Holy Spirit is futile.

This means we cannot control the Spirit. We cannot even predict what the Spirit will do or where or who the Spirit will manifest itself next. I find this very refreshing, because our spiritual life must never be routine. We must always be open to being surprised by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit may bring consolations and comforts we did not expect, or the Spirit may bring us challenges, changes of direction, and whole new prospects we did not foresee, nor expect, nor probably want. One thing the Holy Spirit certainly is not is boring!

We, as a parish community, have embarked on a long, and somewhat daunting, pilgrimage to whole new buildings for our parish ministries, including a new school, new meeting rooms and gathering spaces, new offices, a new gym, and even a new rectory. We have now reached the milestone of our pilgrimage together where the destruction of all the old has been done and the rubble hauled away. Now we go forward with building something new and better suited to our needs today. It is exciting and hopeful. 
 
So enjoy your Birthday as the Church. Pray for the gifts and guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

God bless, 

You are cordially invited to
the Installation of
Very Rev. René Constanza, CSP
as President of the
Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle

Tuesday, June 7, 2022
Mass at 3 p.m.

The Crypt Church
of the
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Washington, DC

The Installation Mass
will be broadcast live
on June 7 at 2 p.m., Central.

Watch Here