What a month!
What a month it has been, and I am not talking about the geopolitical situation in the world but rather the number of feast days we celebrated during the month. There were 7 solemnities and 6 feast days.
We started the month with the Solemnity of the Ascension and will be ending the month with the Solemnity of St Peter and St Paul and in between we have celebrated Pentecost Sunday and our own Parish feast day of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on Friday.
St Peter and St Paul are two of the great leaders of the Church who answered God’s call. In the modern world, Peter would not make it as a leader. He was temperamental and uneducated. Paul was well educated and powerful whose job was to persecute the first Christians.
Despite Peter denying Jesus, not once but three times and Paul persecuting his followers, God never gave up on them. Peter was the first to acknowledge Jesus as the Son of the living God and Paul would become the greatest missionary the Church has known spreading the word of God to other parts of the world. Both their lives ended violently, Peter was crucified, and Paul beheaded. The legacy of these two great leaders lives on now more than ever and is a reminder to each one of us on how to live our lives and of the mercy and love God has for us even though we may be sinners.
Another Solemnity we celebrated this week was the feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. Unlike Peter and Paul, John was born into greatness. His birth was a miracle, and he leapt for joy while in his mother’s womb when Mary, his relative, visited. John remained united to God and was filled with the Holy Spirit.
So while the tensions across the world over the last month has been worrying, these feast days where we honour our great Saints should be an opportunity for us to reflect on their great lives and how we should live ours.
Clint Ramoo – Parish Finance Committee Chair
