From the Desk of Fr. Mike

May 5, 2024

      Depending upon your ethnicity, certain foods may have deep significance in your family meals and in your family celebrations. Frequently treasured recipes are passed down from one generation to the next, that is, if you can get the unwritten recipe to become a written archive. Food brings people together. Food is not only a basic, physical necessity but also a means to socialize and cultivate relationships with other people. In our digital world, food content on social media always draws much attention, regardless of the type of food or who is preparing it. Food content can range from home-cooked recipes, restaurant and bar recommendations, unique food across cultures, and so on.

When we read the New Testament, we see the importance of food, of gathering with people, and sharing time together in Jesus’ day. Jesus performed a number of miracles around the dinner table. His first recorded miracle was the wedding at Cana in Galilee, where people gathered together. Later in the Gospels, we know that Jesus fed five thousand people with only five loaves and two fish. All these miracles led to Jesus’ greatest miracle; the Eucharist, in which Jesus himself became the Bread of Life.

Jesus’ sacrificial love allows us to be spiritually and physically fed. It is his love that gathers and unites people of all backgrounds at the table of the Lord. As I shared in my article last week, we will be needing more hosts and wine for our weekend Masses. Saturday, May 4 is the celebration of First Holy Communion for our second graders. In this year of Eucharistic Revival may the families of our children draw upon the graces offered in receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus at Mass.

Our students, children of the parish, have been prepared over the months leading to this special celebration of their First Holy Communion. Some of the children who come to the altar for the first time Saturday morning will be back Saturday evening or Sunday for their second Holy Communion. Some of the students “Count their Communions” for the first couple of months. After a while, the counting ceases as they rely on the Eucharist as a source of spiritual sustenance and nourishment as they grow in their faith and in their relationship with Jesus.

A number of people are able to vividly describe memories of their First Holy Communion. I am not able to do that. I tell the students that while I may not remember my first Holy Communion, I am looking forward to my next Holy Communion and pray that the students will always be excited about and know how soon their next Holy Communion will be.

Families enrolled in our Blue-Ribbon School of St. Mary (SOSM) come from many different faith backgrounds. All students enrolled in the SOSM are taught and instructed in the truths of the Catholic faith. All students learn about the seven sacraments and how we stay close to Jesus in celebrating the sacraments of the Catholic Church.

We share with parents from different faiths that we respect their decision to raise their children in a faith other than the Catholic faith. We educate parents that sacraments are celebrated and received by members of the Catholic Church, not all of the students enrolled in Catholic schools. We respect the family’s decision to be active members of other faith traditions while having their children learn the Catholic faith in the SOSM.

Sometimes conversations lead to a desire and decision for families to convert to the Catholic faith through the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA). It is a beautiful witness of faith when we welcome an entire family at the Easter Vigil, where children, alongside their parents, have been fully initiated into the Catholic Church. Join me in prayer that some families that are currently sending their children to the SOSM may be moved by the example and faith witness of parents, children, and families in our school to convert to the Catholic faith. If you can encourage a neighbor or parent of a student in the school, please have them reach out to Lore Nugent, our Pastoral Associate, to learn more about the process and support offered to people desiring to learn more about the Catholic faith. Lore Nugent can be contacted by email at Lnugent@churchofstmary.org or by phone at (847) 234.0205.

As Easter people, how can we gather more people at the table of the Lord? Perhaps the invitation you extend may be the means for someone who has allowed too many months to pass since their last Holy Communion to return to the Lord’s Table. May we be a welcoming community, a Eucharistic community, that calls others to live Eucharistic-centered lives as followers of our Risen Lord, the Bread of Life.

May God bless us with prayerful, compassionate, and joyous hearts this Easter season,

Past Letters: