Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
 
May our Risen Lord give you His peace!
 
What a grace and a blessing for us to be celebrating the Fifth Sunday of Easter this weekend! Notice that it’s the Fifth Sunday of Easter, not the Fifth Sunday after Easter. The Church’s joy at the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead cannot possibly be contained to one mere 24-hour day, Easter Sunday. It extends through all 50 days of this glorious season of new life and hope and the promise of eternal life for all those who believe in Christ.
 
The Church has identified the Easter Season as being an especially appropriate time to celebrate those sacraments whereby people are initiated into the life of the risen Christ and are conformed ever more perfectly to Him. This weekend we so blessed to have a “marathon” of such celebrations taking place in our parish. At the 5:30 P.M. Saturday evening Mass, the Most Reverend Shawn McKnight, Bishop of the Diocese of Jefferson City, will confer the Sacrament of Confirmation on a number of young members of our parish family. Then, on Sunday morning, Monsignor Mak will celebrate with a family who are presenting their infant for the Sacrament of Baptism. And as though all that would not be special enough, at the 11:00 A.M. Mass on Sunday, a number of girls and boys will be receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord for the first time as they make their First Holy Communion. Are we blessed, or are we blessed?
 
Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist – these are the three sacraments of Christian Initiation through which a person becomes a fully-initiated member of the Catholic Church. I remember from my Sacramental Theology classes the repeated exhortation that, if we want to understand the Church’s theology about a particular sacrament, we should always read the praenotanda given in each ritual book: the Decree(s) of Promulgation and Publication, the Prefaces as well as the introductions to each sacrament. In the General Introduction to Christian Initiation, we find the following for our reflection:
 
“Through the Sacraments of Christian Initiation all who have been freed from the power of darkness and have died, been buried and been raised with Christ receive the Spirit of filial adoption and celebrate with the entire People of God the memorial of the Lord’s Death and Resurrection. For, having been incorporated into Christ through Baptism, they are formed into the People of God, and, having received the remission of all their sins and been rescued from the power of darkness, they are brought to the status of adopted sons and daughters, being made a new creation by water and the Holy Spirit. Hence they are called, and indeed are, children of God.
 
“Sealed with the gift of the same Spirit in Confirmation, they are more perfectly configured to the Lord and filled with the Holy Spirit, so that bearing witness to Christ before the world, they bring the Body of Christ to its full stature without delay.
 
“Finally, participating in the Eucharistic assembly (synaxis), they eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Son of Man, so that they may receive eternal life and show forth the unity of God’s people. Offering themselves with Christ, they take part in the universal sacrifice, which is the entire city of the redeemed offered to God through the great High Priest; they also pray that, through a fuller outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the whole human race come into the unity of God’s family. Thus the three Sacraments of Christian initiation so work together that they bring to full stature the Christian faithful, who exercise in the Church and in the world the mission of the entire Christian people.”
 
In his 1971 Apostolic Constitution on the Sacrament of Confirmation, Pope Saint Paul VI expressed the Church’s faith and understanding about these sacraments in this way:
 
“The sharing in the divine nature given to individuals through the grace of Christ bears a certain likeness to the origin, development, and nourishing of natural life. Born anew by Baptism, the faithful are strengthened by the Sacrament of Confirmation and ultimately are sustained by the food of eternal life in the Eucharist. By means of these Sacraments of Christian Initiation, they thus receive in increasing measure the treasures of divine life and advance toward the perfection of charity.”
 
Then quoting Tertullian, one of the Fathers of the Early Church, the Pope concluded this section of his document with these words: “The flesh is washed, that the soul may be cleansed; the flesh is anointed, that the soul may be consecrated; the flesh is signed, that the soul too may be fortified; the flesh is overshadowed by the laying on of hands, that the soul too may be enlightened by the Spirit; the flesh is fed on the Body and Blood of Christ, that the soul too may be richly nourished by God.”
 
This weekend we have so much for which to give thanks to the Lord, especially the gifts He is bestowing on those who are being Baptized, Confirmed and receiving First Holy Communion. We pray that the gifts of faith and of new and deeper life in Christ which they are experiencing may continue to grow within each of them, transforming them into the likeness of Christ and conforming them to Him ever more perfectly.
 
And for all of us who have already been baptized, confirmed and regularly receive the Lord in Holy Communion – and who likely have celebrated other sacraments of healing (Penance and Anointing of the Sick) and vocation (Matrimony and Holy Orders), let’s not neglect to take stock of ourselves this weekend as well. How have we fostered our own growth in the faith? How have we used the sacramental graces we have received as good stewards to build up the Church and to offer the world a convincing witness to the truth of our faith? Are we living as more than just CINOs (i.e., “Catholics In Name Only”)? How do we make present the love and mercy of God in our families, our community, our school, our workplaces? My life experience has convinced me of this: there are at least some people who either will or will not encounter the presence of the Risen Lord Jesus depending on how we act toward them. If they can see Him in us, they will know that God loves them.
 
With a brother’s love in our Lord and Mary Immaculate,
 
Deacon Dave, O.F.S.
 
T    In Persona Christi Servi