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Christ is Risen; He has indeed Risen! A glorious and joyous Easter to all of you! My sincere gratitude to everyone who assisted in all of our Lenten, Holy Week and Easter liturgies. We are particularly grateful to those who led the Stations of the Cross, decorated our churches throughout the entire Lenten and Easter season and all those of you in sacred ministry, including those assisting in the parking lot and as Ushers, Greeters, Eucharistic Ministers, Altar Servers, Sacristans, as well as Musicians and Cantors. I am always personally very grateful to our parish staff for all the hard work they do behind the scenes to keep our parish on track and caring for everyone’s needs. Thank you also to all of our Volunteers who worked the Mardi Gras, Raffles, Lenten Fish Dinners, Easter Bread making, and finally Easterfest.

Today we begin the one week of the year which we call HOLY. This week was made Holy, not by anything we have done, but by what our Savior did 2,000 years ago. We call it Palm Sunday, or Passion Sunday. We remember the Passion of our Lord, his burning and unwavering determination to fulfill his Father’s will. All the temptations of the devil could not sway him from embracing the brutality and cruelty of the cross out of love for us and his Father’s will.

On Thursday, March 11th, Bishop Barron gave a short reflection on the day’s Gospel, Luke 11:14-23, where Jesus casts out a demon and the people accuse him of doing so by the power of Beelzebub. This is what Bishop Barron writes:

On this joyful Sunday, we are called to rejoice in God’s love for us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16) This famous verse is a summary of our cause for joy. If you have ever been to the Heinz History Center in downtown Pittsburgh and watched the video of the immaculate reception by Franco Harris, you will notice, in the crowd, a person holding a sign that says “John 3:16.”

On this third Sunday of Lent, the Gospel concludes with this very disturbing sentence, “But Jesus would not entrust Himself to them because He knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.” Jn 2:24-25 The plots against Him are growing stronger and stronger. He who comes out of love and with a desire to save humanity will be put to death by the very people He desires to save.

Did you call AAA to help you get your car started or for a tow, lately? Hopefully not—but there is a AAA that can help rescue us during this Lenten season. Attitude, Attachment and Action are the three A’s of the spiritual life.

On this first Sunday of Lent, it is my joy to share with you our Parish Pastoral Plan recently developed by our Pastoral Council. As we begin the Lenten season with our personal plans to reform our lives and recommit ourselves to Christ, so as a parish community may we do the same through these strategies and goals. Holy Spirit Parish Mission Statement: Know Christ, Love Christ, Serve Christ and invite others to Christ through word, Sacrament and Service.

As you know, this Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season. The liturgies for Wednesday are as follows: 7:00 am: Mass at St. Vitus 9:00 am: Mass at St. Camillus and St. Vitus 12 Noon: Mass at St. Mary 4:00 pm: Service with Ashes at St. Mary 7:00 pm: Mass at St. Camillus and St. Vitus. COVID-19 restrictions apply at all locations.

Last week, we celebrated Catholic Schools Week. We are very blessed to have Holy Spirit Academy in our parish. It is the only surviving Catholic elementary school in all of Lawrence County. Many of our former parishes had their own schools. This makes Holy Spirit Academy all the more precious. Since we are all one parish now, we all can benefit from this singular school.

In commemoration of the Feast of St. Blaise this week, priests will give the Blessing of Throats at all Masses this weekend by extending their hands over the entire congregation for the blessing, instead of the traditional use of crossed candles, in order to stay in COVID-19 compliance. As we conclude the month of January and begin the month of February, we are reminded and encouraged through the sacred scripture of God’s desire to save us. During these cold, dark days of winter, we can easily become discouraged and depressed. As we face the unrest in our nation and the long suffering of the corona virus, we can forget that we are not alone in our struggles. The Lord Jesus is the light shining through the darkness.

Some of you have expressed concerns about the coronavirus vaccine. Fr. Brendan Dawson is the head of our COVID-19 Safety Team, charged with keeping our parish in compliance with all of the coronavirus precautions. The members of the Holy Spirit Parish COVID-19 Safety Team are: Fr. Brendan Dawson, leader, Pastoral Team; Deacon John Carran, Pastoral Team; Marla Brown, Pastoral Council; Dr. Joseph E. Ross, Healthcare Professional; Dr. Sheila Burick, Healthcare Professional; Rose Butch, Maintenance Team; and Susan Dexter, Communications Team.

2020 is behind us, and here we are January 2021! Unfortunately, the turning of the clock, the passing of the year has not changed the reality of the continuous battle between good and evil. The church begins this new year always remembering the dignity of human life from conception to natural death. Respect for human life is at the heart of a peaceful society. Why do we still see all this unrest in our country? When the fundamental dignity of the human person is disregarded, there is always injustice and violence.

On this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we have a theophany, the manifestation of all three persons of the Blessed Trinity. The voice from the heavens declaring, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” illustrating God the Father. We have the dove descending from the heavens illustrating the Holy Spirit, and the Son, Jesus Christ, coming out of the baptismal waters of the Jordan River.

On this Feast of Epiphany, we celebrate the manifestation of the Lord. We know the story of the Wise Men, coming to the Christ Child and presenting Him gold, frankincense and myrrh. These gifts are very specific and symbolize something of the nature of the Christ Child. The gold symbolizes that He is a king, frankincense that He is divine and the myrrh that He will suffer and die for us. The fact that the Magi are not Jews, but come from the East also proclaims that the Christ Child has come to save all people not just the Jewish people. He is the Savior of the world!

On this Feast of the Holy Family, we wish to celebrate the family of Holy Spirit Parish. You are an amazing family and you are doing amazing things in the name of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph! In this special bulletin, you will find a listing of the amazing number of accomplishments you have achieved through your selfless service in the name of Christ. We have tried to make this as complete a listing as possible, but we are sure there may have been a few things we have missed—plus, space is limited. 

On this fourth Sunday of Advent, in the name of the entire staff, I wish to express to all of you a very blessed Christmas which we will be celebrating on Thursday and Friday of this week. A huge thank you to our wonderful staff who have been so dedicated throughout the pandemic and have served me and all of you so faithfully. We are extremely blessed with the personnel we have at Holy Spirit Parish. Our priests, deacons, religious and laity truly are a fabulous team. The caring and concern they have for each other is truly Christ-centered and makes our working together a peaceful and joyful experience.

This is Gaudete Sunday! We have a reason to rejoice! Jesus is our Savior. He has conquered sin and death! We know these are challenging times. But we also know that as people of faith, we are not alone in facing the challenges of life. Thanks to all of you for stepping up and living your faith by persevering in praying for others and for doing what you can to assist those most in need. Living our faith when it counts is a joyful thing. Now is the time; it counts more than ever!

Why does the Advent season seem to pass so quickly? Before you know it, we are celebrating Christmas. It seems to me, it is very much like our lives. We are born, we learn to walk, we go to school, and in a blink of an eye life is over.

On this 1st Sunday of Advent, we begin the new liturgical year and move from Year A to Year B liturgically. That means we will be reading primarily from the Gospel of Mark throughout this new year. On this special weekend, we also begin our new Mass schedule which is as follows: Saturday, 4:00 pm Mass St. Camillus; 4:00 pm Mass St. Vitus; Sunday, 8:00 am St. Mary; 9:00 am St. Vitus, 10:00 am Sears parking lot, weather permitting; 11:00 am St. Camillus.

How appropriate for us to celebrate this feast of Christ our King. It is a powerful reminder that our citizenship is not in this world but in the next. In spite of all the unrest surrounding the election and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the McCarrick report, we Catholic Christians should still have great inner peace. You might say, or ask, “Father, how can this be?” It should be and is possible because the source of our peace is Christ and not the world in which we live, or the powers that rule the world.