Just a word before we go...Fifth Sunday of Easter...April 28, 2024

So, earlier this week, a Holocaust survivor walked into the rectory to visit, offering a donation, and wanting to revisit the church and the school, from which she graduated in 1959.

There is more to the story, which will be included in the May parish newsletter, but what I wanted to point out today is what has been on my mind since that visit. Theresa, that’s her name, was honoring what is sorely missing in our world these days.  With the decline of mainstream religious attendance and practice, the sense of community and the feeling of belonging to something greater than yourself, has dissipated, resulting in so much social alienation and isolation.  This is evidenced in all our institutions, and is a complex issue that can’t be reduced to one factor.  However, one of the factors is the decline of affiliation with a religious body.

Theresa was determined to honor the parish that had given her a sense of identity and meaning; she is an older woman and wanted to make a gift that would allow her to feel that she had given back in some way to the community that had formed her. 

This Sunday’s Gospel of the vine and the branches spoke to me of Theresa’s continued relationship with God through the concrete connection with our parish.  Although she had not been back to St. Anthony’s for many years, having moved away, when she looked over her life, it was the bond with our parish that exemplified her connection to God.

At the 11:30 Mass this Sunday, 17 second graders will receive the Eucharist for the first time. 

They, too, are living examples of the Gospel today, beginning their walk with Jesus in what we anticipate will be a life long journey.  They are also our hope, that through the connection with our faith, they will thrive and bear much fruit in the future.

In the meantime, let us pray for them, and for all of us, that our relationship with the Lord and with one another will bear an abundance of good for our families, our church, our country and the world, as we remain grafted to that life-giving Vine that feeds us.