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May 15, 2022
Of First Communion and Confirmation
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Congratulations to our seminarian, Chris Baker, who was assigned by
Bishop Zubik to begin his graduate studies this fall at St. Vincent Seminary.
Please keep in your prayers our 90 children and their parents and families as these little ones have received their First Holy Communion during the month of May. We are truly blessed as a parish to have these young families. Please join me in welcoming and encouraging them to become more fully involved in the life of our parish. Now that these children have received their First Holy Communion, it is more important than ever that they and their parents participate in the Holy Eucharist every weekend. I remember when I made my First Holy Communion, what seems a hundred years ago. I and many of my classmates were so excited to finally be able to come forward and receive our Lord in the sacrament. We couldn’t wait until the next time we could attend Mass so that we could come forward to receive our Lord.
Just like the sacrament of Confirmation, the sacrament of Holy Eucharist is not the end of something; it is just the beginning. It is the beginning of a new and more intimate relationship with the living God. To receive our Lord’s precious body, blood, soul and divinity in this holy sacrament is to become intimately one with Him in a new way. This is something we should all cherish and receive as often as possible. Children, of course, are dependent upon adults to provide them the opportunity to attend Mass. So it becomes even more important that all of us find ways to help our young families meet this responsibility. I pray that it is not a burden but a great joy!
The same is true for our confirmandi. 89 teens will be confirmed at two separate Masses by Bishop David J. Bonnar of Youngstown on the Feast Day of our Parish, Pentecost Sunday, June 5, 2022. The first Confirmation ceremony at St. Vitus will be at 11:00 am and the second at St. Vitus at 2:00 pm.
Bishop Bonnar’s first assignment as a young priest (like Fr. Brendan or Fr. Ben) was at St. Vitus Parish. So it is a special occasion to have him be the confirming bishop of our children when he was only ordained a bishop by the Pope on November 17, 2020 and was installed as the 6th Bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown on January 12, 2021.
What a huge difference in the life of our parish it would be if our young confirmandi, the newly confirmed, would embrace the new gift of the Holy Spirit within themselves and become true leaders in the life of our parish! There are so many saints in our history including the Blessed Mother herself who was only a teenager when she was called upon to be the mother of our Savior. Many saints were young: St. Vitus, St. Maria Goretti and St. Bernadette, who was the visionary at Lourdes, France. The children in Portugal who saw Our Lady of Fatima were very young, Francisco, 9; Jacinta, 7, and Lucia, 10. God can work amazing and powerful miracles through our youth. We need our children and our teens involved in the life of our parish! They miss out and we miss out and most of all, Christ is left out when these essential sacraments are not embraced as a lifestyle, but only as a rite of passage!
God love you,
