Father Hathaway’s Column — May 28, 2023

PENTECOST

Today, May 28, is Pentecost Sunday, 50 days after the Resurrection of Christ – 40 days plus the nine days of prayer (the first novena) of Mary and the Apostles as they awaited the arrival of the Spirit that Jesus promised to send as their guide and Advocate. Our Gospel reading today describes the arrival of that Spirit as Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Veni, Sancte Spiritus (“Come Holy Spirit”), known as the Golden Sequence, part of the Roman Missal since the 16th century, is the sequence for the Mass today. The opening words are “Veni, Sancte Spiritus, et emitte caelitus lucis tuae radium,” or “Come, O Holy Spirit, come! And from Your celestial home shed a ray of light divine!” This beautiful prayer/hymn asks the Holy Spirit to dwell within each of us and inspire in us a stronger relationship with Christ, as it did in Christ’s disciples at that first Pentecost.

MOTHER OF THE CHURCH

Tomorrow, Monday, May 29, is the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, celebrated every year on the Monday after Pentecost. “Mary, as Mother of Christ, must also be regarded as Mother of all the faithful … that is to say, of the Church,” according to Pope Saint Paul VI, addressing the conclusion of the third session of the Second Vatican Council in November 1964. Mary, Mother of the Church, we pray that, with your loving help, your Church may be more fruitful day by day.

MEMORIAL DAY – MAY 29

May 29 also is Memorial Day, a secular holiday devoted to remembering all those who lost their lives, offering the ultimate sacrifice, while defending our country and the freedoms we enjoy, including the freedom to worship God in our Catholic Faith.

We will have just one Mass on Memorial Day, at 9 a.m. in the Basilica. (Due to ongoing construction of the new Queen of Heaven Columbarium, there will be no Mass in the cemetery this year. Our traditional Memorial Day Mass in the cemetery will return next year.) Our Parish Offices will be closed that day. The Knights of Columbus Assembly 2204 will sponsor a Memorial Day ceremony at 12 noon. Please see page 8 of the bulletin for more information on that event.

EIGHTH-GRADE GRADUATION

Keep in your prayers in a particular way this week the 74 eighth-grade students graduating from The Basilica School of Saint Mary on June 2. We pray they will follow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, not only during the coming summer months but also as they begin a new and exciting chapter in their lives with high school in the fall. Congratulations to each of these young people, their parents, their families and teachers. Congratulations also to our CCD students and the many others of our parish who are graduating from junior high, high school and college.

May Your hand of protection be about them
O Lord, and may Your Word continue
to be a light unto their path.
Help them to make wise decisions
and to always keep You first in everything they do. Amen.