My dear friends,
The poetic quote above comes from Sunday's Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (typically referred to as Corpus Christi) from a special section after the Second Reading and before the Alleluia Verse called the Sequence (click here for the readings and Sequence). Written by Saint Thomas Aquinas, this Doctor of the Church put his genius, faith and love of the Lord together to provide the hymns, readings and prayers of this Feast. Intended to be celebrated on a Thursday since that is the day when Our Lord Jesus Instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper, this Feast has been transferred to Sunday in the United States and in many other places including Rome (but not inside the Vatican!). A Eucharistic Miracle in Bolsena, Italy, in 1263, was the catalyst for the Holy Father proclaiming this feast for the whole Church. That miracle seemed to be the divine response to a priest's doubts about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist when he was offering Mass; his faith had grown lukewarm. This year, following the National Eucharistic Procession that passed through IHM recently, and all our hours of Adoration that are available (until 2pm now on Tuesdays and Thursdays), may we enter into the sacrificial love of Jesus really present in the Eucharist.
Please note that Incense may be used at many of the Masses this weekend.
IHM is blessed once again to receive a seminarian for the Archdiocese of New York. We welcome Ian Mendoza to the parish this Monday, June 3rd! Ian will be spending his Pastoral Year with us. His introduction to the parish is below.
It was wonderful that a number of parishioners were able to attend the Ordination Mass and/or First Mass of Thanksgiving of Father Vincent Castaldi last weekend! They are always grace-filled moments in the life of our Church. Father Castaldi will be assigned for the summer at St. Philip Neri Parish in the Bronx, after which, he will return to Washington, DC, to complete his studies.
Over the weekend of June 22/23, IHM's Social Ministry volunteers will be sponsoring another Good Will Donation event to raise funds for our Social Ministries Account that helps those in need as well as our various Social Ministries (MIDNITE RUN, HOPE, FOOD PANTRY & others). This event will display IHM memorabilia and a variety of household items generously donated by our IHM parishioners. Please help to support the IHM Social Ministry Efforts by selecting from the various items and making a free will donation. There will also be a 50/50 Raffle.
On Sunday, June 23rd at 2pm, IHM will offer a Sensory Friendly - Special Needs Mass. This will hopefully be the first of a periodic Mass for families over the year!
This week Religious Education registration for the Fall School Year will go live. To ensure that our parish program is no longer in an operational deficit, but self-sustaining, the rate was adjusted and 2 fees will be added for the police crossing guards and for some activities. A more detailed letter will go out to the families of our Religious Education students. Please see the information page below to prepare for this week!
Give me some more time to work on the Parish Council appointments for next year (September'24-June'25). They will be announced in time so that they may join in the June Parish Council meeting and reception.
The Designer Bag Bingo looks fun this Thursday!
Next weekend we celebrate our Patronal Feast Day - The Immaculate Heart of Mary! As such, we will use not the regular Sunday readings in the Missal, but Readings and Mass Prayers that are proper for the Blessed Mother next Saturday and Sunday. Saturday evening join us for a BBQ and some fun items for the younger ones. Sunday we will have coffee and donuts thanks to our parish council! Weather permitting, we will end each Mass with a procession to our outside statue of the Blesse Mother next to the north (school) parking lot. Do join us to celebrate our parish's feast day!
A blessed Corpus Christi Sunday to you!