This week another step towards normality has been taken with the resumption of the morning Masses that are celebrated at 7 am Monday through Saturday. The schedule is very similar to what existed here in the parish before the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.

Beginning next week, on Monday, May 25th, there will be no distribution of Holy Communion after the Holy Mass from Monday to Saturday morning. Those who wish to receive Communion on those days and, for health reasons, do not consider it prudent to participate in the Holy Mass, can always come at the end of the celebration, when Holy Communion is being distributed, and receive the Body of the Lord there.

We will continue distributing Holy Communion after the weekend Masses, although we will also make a change: Holy Communion will be distributed at all of the Sunday Masses with the exception of the Masses on Saturday at 7 pm and on Sunday at 7 pm. There will be no distribution of Holy Communion following either of these Masses.

The reason for these changes is the fact that the majority of those who wish to receive Holy Communion are now receiving it within the Mass since the public celebration of the Holy Sacrifice has been reestablished. It is also a way of giving rest to all the volunteers and staff who collaborate in the distribution of Holy Communion. I wish to thank them again, from the bottom of my heart, for their dedication, their sacrifices, and for the gift of their time over the past several weeks. You all are wonderful!

With the grace of God, on Thursdays I would like to continue, if the Lord allows, the homily series that I began in March. I have two open topics: one is the commentary on the healing of the leper that appears in the Gospel of Saint Mark, which we have not yet begun to consider. The second topic is the one that of the parish motto that summarizes in an insuperable way the goal of the Christian life: Fiat Voluntas Tua. Obviously, from now on we will go much slower, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I used to speak every day, from Monday to Saturday, now I will do so only one day of the week. In other words, in six weeks I will say what I used to say in one week. It is good that it is like that, little by little.

Fiat Voluntas Tua: Thy Will Be Done. This 4-word prayer is a gift that Jesus gave us in the recitation of the Our Father. We said that it is the heart of this prayer because it is at the center of it and because it gives life to all the other requests that are contained within it. We also said that these 4 words also appear in the Lord's prayer in Gethsemane, so they are not just words that Jesus asked us to use, but words that Jesus himself used in his personal prayer. They are the words of a son who confidently gives himself to his Father and which reveal the attitude of trust that should characterize us as the baptized, children like him and in him.

We also said that Fiat Voluntas Tua are words that we say uniting ourselves to Christ, being one with Him, uniting ourselves to the Heart of Jesus. This is true whenever we say them in faith, but it is particularly true when we say them in the Liturgy, which is the official prayer of the Church. The Lord's Prayer is solemnly recited by the Church, the Body of Christ, on three occasions every day: at Holy Mass, and in the Liturgy of the Hours at the prayer of Lauds at the beginning of the day and in the Evening Prayer. In these three moments the wonderful words of Saint Augustine become true: “The one Savior of his Body, the Lord Christ Jesus, who prays for us and in us and who is prayed to by us. He prays for us as our priest, in us as our Head; he is prayed to by us as our God. Recognize therefore our own voice in him and his voice in us. ”

Today I just want to invite you to stay with these last words of Saint Augustine: when we participate in the Liturgy of the Church, and especially when we say the words of our parish motto, "Thy Will Be Done", we make an effort to recognize Jesus' voice in ours and, at the same time, recognize our voice in the very voice of Jesus. This is expressed wonderfully in the Holy Mass: the moment immediately preceding the recitation of the Lord's Prayer is the doxology in which we say "through Him, with Him and in Him." We unite ourselves to the sacrifice of Christ and offer ourselves with Him to the Father and thus, united to Him, with Jesus, we say: "Our Father, who art in heaven, your Will be done."

May the Holy Mass teach us to always be one with Jesus and to seek like Him, in everything and always, the Will of our Father who is in heaven.

Published May 22, 2020 , Mass, Reflections, Parish Motto