Most Holy Trinity

05-27-2018Pastor's LetterRev. Gregory B. Wilson, VF

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

First, please note the change in the daily Mass time for Memorial Day, Monday, May 28 at 9:00am. There will be no confessions or 5:30pm Mass this day.

This summer, St. Mary's warmly welcomes Rafael Ghattas, a seminarian for our diocese entering 2nd Year Theology at St. Mary's Seminary in Houston, Texas. Although originally from Egypt, Rafa's home parish is St. Andrew's in Myrtle Beach. Welcome, Rafa!

Don't forget that we will have a special Mass for our retiring school principal, Mrs. Peggy Wertz, Wednesday, June 6, at 8:30am in the church. After Mass, drop into St. Angela Hall to express your appreciation to Mrs. Wertz for her remarkable years of dedicated service to our school and parish communities.

Finally, a short reflection for Trinity Sunday: When God entered time, beginning with His conception in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we were given far more than a noble example to follow or good advice to live by. All of humanity has been granted the invitation to experience the inner life of God. Heaven will be a joyful experience beyond our imagining because we will be joined forever to the One who's inner life of love could not be contained, and who willed to share this love through creation. The love of the one God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is fruitful.

To borrow from Fr. Billy Swan, when we are baptized, we "are immersed in the Trinity as a fish in water. … We don't just pray to God but pray within God. … In that space within the Trinity, the Holy Spirit moves us to join with the Son and enter into a harmonious stream of praise and adoration of the Father. And as we participate in this stream of praise, every aspect of our being becomes aligned to the person of Christ. As we participate in worship, we take on 'the mind of Christ' (cf. Phil. 2:5) and progressively conform to his nature of self-sacrificing love."

Father Swan continues, "We are immersed in the Trinity with our brothers and sisters who, like us, bear the imago Dei [the image of God] and so partake in the divine life. In the Church, this God-likeness has been intensified by the grace of Christ that draws us together into his Mystical Body where we are joined in communion by the Holy Spirit as brothers and sisters in Him. … It means that what we do and what God does in the world are intimately connected. The work of Christians and their participation in society contributes to the realization in history of God's saving plan for the world. …When Christians witness, evangelize and serve, they extend in time and space the kingdom of God that Jesus came to establish on earth. … It calls all the baptized out of passivity to contribute their gifts towards the great missionary enterprise that is the New Evangelization."

Live your Christian life to its fullest, and you will experience life in its completeness.

Father Wilson

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