With the feast of Pentecost which we celebrated last weekend, comes the end of the 50 day long Easter Season which means that we are back into the Ordinary Time of the liturgical year. The liturgical year, different from the calendar year which begins January 1st & ends on December 31st, begins with the first Sunday of Advent, usually at the end of November or very beginning of December. The liturgical year also ends about a month before the calendar year with the feast of Christ the King, which again is celebrated toward the end of November. But you will not yet see the green vestments of Ordinary Time for a couple more weekends as the Church always celebrates two feasts at the end of the Easter Season. This weekend we celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Trinity and next weekend, the feast of “Corpus Christi” or of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. So I invite you to join with us this weekend as we give thanks for God’s self-revelation whereby we can come to know Him as He truly is, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three persons yet One God.                                                  

     Our annual bill for the live-streaming technology we use just came in. To be honest, I am tempted to cancel the use of that technology, at least for the weekend Masses. It was a true godsend during the pandemic, and it is still very useful for weekday Masses, funeral Masses, and weddings, especially when someone is out of town and really wishes to view the prayerful celebrations for a funeral or wedding. But the time to physically return to Mass has truly come. There are still many people who are watching us at home instead of joining us in the church. If you know of someone who continues to do that (and they don’t see this column without a bulletin in hand), please invite them, or even challenge them, to return to Mass. This deep concern of mine is shared by many (most?) priests in the Diocese and this issue is being discussed in priest meetings that are held regularly with the Bishop. I cannot stress enough the importance of participating in Mass in person. Again, it is acceptable to use the live-streaming technology if you are in a nursing facility, assisted living, or even at home, if you do not go out into public at all due to age, mobility issues or serious illness. But as suggested in the video I posted a few weeks ago, not attending Mass physically when you are able to do continues to remain a mortal sin. This is because not participating in the Church’s most important prayer is mortally dangerous to your spiritual life. It is based on the commandment that you shall keep holy the Sabbath. It is based on the Church’s centuries-long tradition that Sunday Mass is vital to one’s relationship with God and to the Church community. Jesus made this very clear when he said, and he meant this literally, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, you will have no (spiritual) life within you.” Hopefully you know me well enough by now to understand that I don’t seriously challenge you without cause. But I truly believe this to be a widespread dilemma post-pandemic, and that many people will suffer spiritually as a result of it. Again, how clever of the devil to use a situation that seemed at once to be a blessing in order to turn it around and use it as a curse against us. So please consider seriously and prayerfully this challenge to return to Mass if you have not yet done so, and strongly encourage others to do the same. More on the live-streaming technology next week.                              

     Thanks to the assistance of Macrina Dodson, a longtime school teacher, pastoral minister and cantor here at St. Leo’s, we have uncovered some pictures of past graduations from our parish school which are now on display in the church vestibule so please take a look & see if you can find yourself or other parishioners you know in the pictures. And thanks again to John & Jeannie Sabol for doing the work of setting up this display case every few weeks. We also look forward to the next edition of the News & Views newsletter where you can enjoy some pictures from our recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land.