The Sixth Sunday of Easter
Thoughts from Fr. Ryan
Even though Easter seems like a distant memory with First Communion, School Awards, Athletic Award banquets, Graduation, and the end of school, we’re still in the midst of the Easter Season.
Just as we set aside 40 days to fast to prepare for Easter, we set aside 40 days (plus ten) to celebrate Easter. The numbers themselves are symbolic, but that’s not as important as the simple fact that the Lord calls us to celebrate and rejoice.
What’s truly amazing to me is that for most of us, it’s actually harder to feast for several weeks than it is to fast! We all understand that when Lent starts, we’re going to give us something and we’re going to be cautious about our eating plans on Fridays. That’s super concrete and tangible. But we don’t make the same plan to feast as we do to fast. And so it just becomes a kind of mishmash of regular life with some occasional extras…
Still, the plan is only part of the problem. The much bigger part of the problem is that we as modern Americans are comparatively rich - even if we’re not especially wealthy in comparison to our neighbors. Most of us are Richey-Rich-rich compared to the rest of the world and to people through history. By which I mean we can afford to eat double or triple the calories we need in any given day and we can afford to indulge in sweets or in rich, savory food really whenever we feel like it. We can afford to eat daily in a way which would have been considered a “special treat” even a few generations ago. We can also indulge in luxuries like art and music whenever we like. In many ways, we live a perpetual feast day mentality.
We can and do invest a shockingly significant percentage of our time and income into entertainment and recreation. Beyond that, our whole society is ordered around avoiding unpleasant stimuli. Almost at the top of this list is avoiding boredom or tedium. If we’re lonely, we can call, text, email, video chat, or social media ourselves into comfort with little effort… When we have more than thirty seconds to wait, we take out our phones to play a game or check social media. Young people nowadays struggle with even the slightest bit of pushback against whatever idea or opinion strikes their fancy. At this point, waiting 48 hours for Amazon to deliver something seems like a real stressor. In short, we live lives of previously unimaginable luxury almost every day.
Now surely, our lives aren’t perfect! Of course not. But my point is that it’s hard for us to feast because so much of our lives are already feast. It’s easy to skip dessert for a month during Lent because it’s something different. But to eat dessert for a month in a deliberate way is something else. To feast on food or other luxuries is so much a part of our culture and way of living that it’s actually difficult to do even more.
There is a growing movement of people in the world who are proposing that mental health depends on reducing luxuries and embracing simplicities. Marie Kondo’s philosophy of less clutter is strongly correlated to happiness. Diets involving intermittent fasting are too. So are programs of limiting TV and mobile screen time. (Dr. Anna Lembke’s amazing book “Dopamine Nation” is profoundly eye opening and worth your time to read.) Dating couples and friend groups are increasingly finding joy in leaving mobile devices at home or in another room. Some coffee shops have even begun to disallow laptops and iPads.
Of course, we, as Catholics, understood this hundreds of years ago. When the very rich took their Catholic Faith seriously in years past, they were happy. Wealth isn’t saddening in itself, but today’s very rich are remarkably sad and struggling with their mental health. Too many people who are normal (by our standards) are too.
The time is always now for us to practice what we preach. These last few weeks of Easter are still a time of rejoicing. But I want to encourage us to strongly consider the place that entertainment and indulgence have in our daily lives. Maybe reducing our investment in them will make more room for happiness and holiness.
Mass Intentions for the Coming Week
- Sat 5:30 pm In memory of Vicki Morelli/Ernst
- Sun 9:30 am Pro Populo for the Living & Deceased Members of our Parish
- Mon NO MASS
- Tue 9:00 am In honor of Brittany McFall/family
- Wed 9:00 am In memory of Joe Farlow/Bellard
- Thu 9:00 am In memory of Rosa and Gus Gremshell and May DiTomasso
- Fri 5:30 pm In memory of George and Margaret Magoun/family
- Sat 5:30 pm In memory of Jason Jumonville/family
- Sun 9:30 am Pro Populo for the Living & Dead members of our Parish Family
Altar Candles this week are burning for the special intentions of Margo Corulla
Assistants at Holy Mass
| Date | Servers | Lector(s) | EMHC(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5/24 5:30p | None Scheduled | MA Gilfoil | A Keene |
| 5/25 9:30a | Annie, Thomas Meyers, & Katelyn | J Howington | - |
| 5/31 5:30p | None Scheduled | A Farlow | L Magoun |
| 6/1 9:30a | Michael, Finley, Ashlyn | M Lancaster | - |
Upcoming Events
- Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
- June 1 First Sunday Benediction following Mass
- June 6 First Friday devotions following Mass
For Your Information:
FORMED.ORG has an entire page of weekly featured videos that are worth checking out at https://watch.formed.org/this-week-on-formed. Remember to sign in using our parish’s zip code (71282) at https://signup.formed.org
ROSARY GROUP a group of parishioners is meeting on Monday at 5:30 p.m. to pray the Rosary. Everyone is invited to join the group. If you need additional information, please contact the Coordinator, Louise Magoun, at 318-341-2403.
ALTAR CANDLES Anyone wishing to provide candles for the altar in honor of their loved one or in prayer for some intention may do so simply by asking. A small donation is recommended, but not required. A list of dates is in the sacristy and a date can be reserved up to one year in advance.
MAUSOLEUM Arrangements have been completed with American Cemetery Consultants LLC to build a beautiful new Garden Mausoleum in St Edward’s Eternal Hope Cemetery (opposite the Church across Bond St). The program has the full approval of Bishop Marshal and the Diocese of Alexandria. A sales representative will be contacting families in our area over the next few weeks to answer questions about the Mausoleum and determine who is interested. The number of crypts reserved before construction will determine the size of the mausoleum. Crypts will be reserved on a first-come-first-served basis. Mr Garth Daniels, ACC Rep, will be available (starting June 1) at (318) 295-4409. More information will be available at that time at AmericanCemeteryConsultants.com/open-projects
CONGRATULATIONS … Betty and Kenny Smith will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on June 1, 2025. Their family invites all to join them following Sunday Mass that day for a reception in the Hall.
Stewardship Today’s reading from Revelation offers a vision of the City of God, the new Jerusalem. “But,” the bishops pastoral letter on stewardship reminds us, “that ‘life to come’ is in continuity with this present life through the human goods, the worthy human purposes, which people foster now.”
Our Return to the Lord
| Weekly Budget FY 2022-23 | $ 2,111 |
| April Budget | $ 8,444 |
| April Collections | $ 18,694 |
| April Total Expenses | $ 12,708 |
| May Budget | $ 8,444 |
| May 18 Collection | $ 2,704 |
| May Collections To Date | $ 11,121 |
Let us Rejoice in the Lord!
Happy Birthday Dave Collins (May 24), Anna Ginn Bigalow (May 29), Mary Katherine Marsh (May 29)
Happy Anniversary Betty and Kenny Smith (June 1)
In Our Daily Prayers
Please let us know of anyone who is ill or hospitalized and would like to receive a visit from Father. Also, help us keep our prayer list up to date by advising us of those who should be added or removed.
For Pope Leo, our Bishop, Robert Marshall; and our Diocesan leaders, our President, Governor, Mayor and national, state and local elected representatives
Our parishioners who are sick, shut-in, under full-time care and for those who care for them, and for those otherwise in need of our prayers: MaryKathryn & Nap Book, Connie & Dan Copes, Elizabeth Crothers, Leslye Ellerbee, Norman and Marie Ernst, Susan & Johnny Gilfoil, Margaret & Pat Gilfoil,Terry Farlow Hall, Sidney & Mary Jane Johnson, Frances & Bill Kennedy, Ed Mills, Susie Murphy, Bobby Reynolds, Mike & Sue Rome
Our friends and relatives who need our prayers: Ashley Alexander (Regan), Graham Allen (S Gilfoil), Marie Farlow Bellard, Nap and Martha Book, Kay Boolos (S Gilfoil), Dick & Sue Boyd (S Gilfoil), Chris Breard (Gilfoil), Sarah Cannon (Gilfoil), Fran Castile (Keene), Caroline and Albert Christman, Jeannie & Donald Collins, Teresa Carney Condra, Jami Cook (Wilks), Gene Cox, Marla Evans Cummings, Carol Dipert (Rome), Mac Donaldson (Ellerbee), Wayne Edwards, Mike Farlow, Patty Farlow, Judy Fortenberry, April Franklin (Wilks), Fred and Cathy Fulton, Thom Gilfoil, Wyly Gilfoil (Gilfoil), LaVonne Givens, Charlotte Green, Theresa Gunter, Rita Hargrave, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Charles Howington, Callie Halbach Hyams, Will Irby (P Gilfoil), Diane Johnson, Carla Leese (S Gilfoil), LaLa Lopez (Hernandez), Caroline Marcello (Watts), Ruth McDonald (Copes), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Kiely McKellar (S Gilfoil), Mona Martin (MA Gilfoil), Boyce Miller, Randy Parker, John Neill, Bailey, Scott, and Tiffney Rome, Dianne Roper (Murphy), Janie Saxon (Lancaster), Sara and Jess Shields (Keene), Debbie Kedrick Sims, Tommy Trichell, LeeAnn Rome Tranchina (Rome), Randy Watts, Jr.
Our collegiates: Aidan Collins, Preston Collins, Henry Ellerbee, Lilly Falgout, Jag Gilfoil, Bruen Johnson, Matilda Johnson, Caroline Marsh, EmmyLu Marsh, Charlize Richardson, Carter Sullivan, Walker Sullivan, Chandler Wood, Marsh Wood
