Dear Parishioners of Mary Immaculate and Saint Rose,
The days since Easter have been very full here at Mary Immaculate. The children in the school are preparing for the end of another school year and looking forward to the adventures of summer vacation.
We have celebrated first Holy Communion for our children in the second grade. We have said goodbye to graduating Truman students and soon ATSU students who have been a part of our Newman and Mary Immaculate community. We offered a baccalaureate Mass to congratulate our graduating high school seniors. By the time this is printed, we will have had graduation for Mary Immaculate eighth graders. We have baptized new members and prayed for the sick. We have anointed those in the hospital and nursing homes. We have mourned the dead and prayed for the comfort of their loved ones. Life is a series of beginnings and endings.
We even had one of our parishioners, Chris Korte, ordained as a deacon. This was a particularly moving event for me as I taught Chris for four years at St. Thomas Seminary in Hannibal. This was not quite the ordination I was thinking of all those years ago, but God has a way of bringing things around to the way He had in mind. Anyway, it was a proud moment to see Deacon Chris ordained for the service of the Church. He is now at the end of his preparation and at the beginning of his ministry as a deacon.
Here at Mary Immaculate we are always welcoming a stream of new people who are coming to join our community. They come here for school, jobs, to be close to family. There is such a richness to be a part of such a divers community. On the other hand, education comes to an end, jobs change, and people retire. So we also have a constant bidding farewell to people who have been an important part of our parish. Life here is a series of hellos and goodbyes.
In the Holy Land, the River Jordan flows into two seas. One is the Sea of Galilee. This sea teems with fish. It is surrounded with green landscape. It is a beautiful place. The other sea is the Dead Sea. The water is so filled with salt and dissolved chemicals that nothing lives in it. The surrounding landscape is barren, dry and desolate.
The difference is that the Jordan River flows into the Sea of Galilee, but it flows out the other side. The Jordan River flows into the Dead Sea but it stays there. It evaporates and leaves the Dead Sea growing more and more saline so that it is unable to support life.
In our lives we are engaged in a constant state of change. We are always beginning and ending, saying hello and good-bye, giving and receiving. As difficult as that is for us, it is what makes up our life.
Salvator Mundi, da Vinci (c.1500)
In the midst of all this change, the one thing that stays constant is the love that God has for us. May the love of God be your comfort and strength in the midst of our constantly changing lives!