Pentecost
I call your attention to this teaching from the bishops at the Second Vatican Council:
Christ, the one Mediator, established and continually sustains here on earth His holy Church, the community of faith, hope and charity, as an entity with visible delineation through which He communicated truth and grace to all. But, the society structured with hierarchical organs and the Mystical Body of Christ, are not to be considered as two realities, nor are the visible assembly and the spiritual community, nor the earthly Church and the Church enriched with heavenly things; rather they form one complex reality which coalesces from a divine and a human element. For this reason, by no weak analogy, it is compared to the mystery of the incarnate Word. As the assumed nature inseparably united to Him, serves the divine Word as a living organ of salvation, so, in a similar
way, does the visible social structure of the Church serve the Spirit of Christ, who vivifies it, in the building up of the body.
—Lumen gentium 8
In other words: When God became man in Jesus, Jesus’ humanity served his divinity by becoming
the instrument through which God saved the world. Analogously, the Holy Spirit animates the
Church, so that the institution of the Church serves the Holy Spirit as the instrument by which the
Spirit joins us to the Body of Christ.
In the United States, our language and thought are formed by Protestant and often more generally
anti-institutional sentiments. These sentiments can incline us to scorn “the institutional Church.” But
following the analogy, that’s like scorning the humanity of Jesus: It sets us against the Holy Spirit
and his work for our salvation.
Pentecost, fifty days after Easter, marks the holiday when Jesus’ apostles received the gift of the
Holy Spirit. It’s an opportunity for us who follow Jesus to be renewed in his Spirit, and so share more
deeply life in the Church, and be rededicated to our mission.
Beginning this coming Friday, June 14, the daily Mass schedule changes:
We add a Mass every Friday at 8:30 a.m. at St. Malachy Church;
We remove the Mass every Friday at 8:15 a.m. at Holy Trinity Church.
(We’ll still occasionally have an 8:15 Friday Mass at Holy Trinity, but only when it’s required by the
adoration team or for a school Mass. Plan to check the weekly parish calendar if you’re interested.)
Next Sunday, June 16, is the feast of the Holy Trinity. It’s the patronal feast for Holy Trinity Parish, the
farewell Sunday for Brendan Barker, director of music at Holy Trinity, and the beginning of our Sundays
saying good-bye also to Fr. Michael Ruffalo, whom the Bishop has reassigned from RocKenRo to the new
shrines of Pittsburgh. Please be sure to express your appreciation for Brendan or Fr. Ruffalo as
opportunity affords you.
—Fr. Dave
