The Most Holy Trinity
From The Font
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
Modern Jews and Muslims deny Christianity for this passage more than any other reason… It’s very easy to read today’s Gospel and to draw the conclusion that Jesus is proposing a new way of thinking about God which rejects monotheism. The most important verse of the Bible for the Jews is the Shema from Deut 6:7: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is ONE.” Muslims, too, have as the central tenet of their faith the singular nature of God. Christians propose a bizarre and seemingly contradictory belief that God is at the same time one and many… Of course, we don’t believe this at random, Jesus reveals God’s nature to us. Still, it’s easy to misunderstand so difficult a dogma and to believe that Christians have rejected Judaism and the Old Testament and replaced it with a new trinity of gods who are completely different from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
This distinction isn’t just a matter of religious vocabulary! The modern world tends to reduce nuance to meaningless wordplay, but the issue of the Holy Trinity is not just semantics. We are created in the Image and Likeness of God and if God exists simultaneously as One and Three, then we exist both as individuals and as a community. In Judaism and Islam, God’s singularity means that what happens in this world means basically nothing. God is holy and we aren’t. Christianity, on the other hand, believes that the Immanence of God matters just as much as His Holiness and so what happens here matters. That changes the way we think about the individual and the community, the way we think about morality and society and law. It affects our self-perception and the responsibility we have for ourselves and for others. In a word, our Christian anthropology is fundamentally different from Jewish and Muslim anthropology.
Theology matters a great deal more than we think. Even in our American society, the loss of religious identity has dissolved the rule of law and the way that we think about every aspect of life. We understand ourselves only in light of who we understand God to be! Trinity Sunday, then, is no mere commemoration. It’s an essential part of who we are.
Thoughts from Fr. Ryan
This Monday is Memorial Day - a day that we as Catholics are especially suited to celebrate. Unlike many Protestant Christian traditions, Judaism and Catholicism are deeply grounded in history and the remembering of past events.
Certainly, we note and celebrate the events of the life of Jesus. But we also memorialize the birthdays and feast days of beloved saints. We have special festivals associated with St. Joseph and St. Francis of Assisi. Many of our Marian feast days are actually remembrances of key events in Chruch history like the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, established on the day that the Holy League defeated the Muslim armada in the Bay of Lepanto.
The role of memorializing isn’t just about looking backward for memory’s sake. After all, God rebuked the Jews for being a “stiff-necked” people (always looking back over their shoulders). The role of memory is about recognizing the role of the Holy Spirit in our own history. It’s a recognition that as we grow in years and, hopefully, in wisdom, we need to revisit lessons learned so as to glean new insights.
In the US, Memorial Day can be reduced to an excuse for picnics and grilling. But it should also be a day to look back and revisit lessons learned. In honoring our beloved dead, especially those who fought for our nation’s armed forces, we honor what they fought for. That looking back also gives us a chance to reconsider whether the battle still needs to be fought or whether new battles must now claim the bulk of our attention.
There are few things more dangerous than the unexamined life! We see all around us the infantile idiocy of people quick to point fingers and accuse others without first examining themselves. Most of the questions of bigotry, racism, etc are far more about the emotional immaturity of the ones doing the pointing than about the actions of the ones being pointed out. Most of the harshest criticisms about “denial” of this or that science come from the most dogmatic and most of the harshest criticisms of this or that hypocrisy arise from the greatest hypocrites. Whatever may be the fate of our American culture in the coming years, we as Christians mustn’t fall prey to the same short-sightedness and emotional immaturity that has given us woke culture. Christianity thrives in any and every environment where Christians embrace the truths of Jesus Christ with Faith, Hope, and Charity. We know that because we remember and memorialize our history and we know that the only reason the Church has done so poorly in the US in the last 50 years is that Christians have cowered and compromised rather than standing firm against evil and lukewarm Faith.
The well-worn aphorism is no less true for having been overused: “those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it." Its corollary is the truth that without memorials - to both wisdom and folly - we cannot learn to recognize what the Lord is teaching us through the broad lens of history and come to see what God continually reveals through our human nature.
Mass Intentions for the Coming Week
- Sat 5:30p In memory of George and Margaret Magoun/family
- Sun 9:00a Pro Populo for the Living & Deceased Members of our Parish
- Mon No Mass
- Tue 9:00a In memory of Gus Gremshell
- Wed 9:00a in memory of Thomas Trichell/Tommy
- Thu 9:00a In memory of George Kampa/Fr Ryan
- Fri 5:30p In memory of Phillip and Nettie Scurria/family
- Sat 9:00a Private Intentions of Father Ryan (Traditional Latin Mass)
- Sat 5:30p In Thanksgiving by Magoun family
- Sun 9:00a Pro Populo for the Living & Deceased Members of our Parish
ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of Mary Anne Gilfoil
Assistants at Holy Mass
| Date | Servers | Lector(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 5/29 5:30p | None Scheduled | P Wilks |
| 5/30 9:00a | Chandler, Kathleen and Maura | D Ellerbee |
| 6/5 5:30p | None Scheduled | MK Book |
| 6/6 9:00a | Preston and Evelyn | B Sullivan |
| 6/12 5:30p | None Scheduled | M Rome |
| 6/13 9:00a | Chandler, Cooper, and Maura | C Guizerix |
Upcoming Events
- Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass at 5:30p
- Sunday Morning Catechism in the Hall after the 9:00a Mass unless otherwise indicated
- Pastoral Council meeting monthly on the third Tuesday at 6p unless otherwise indicated
- June 4 First Friday devotions following 5:30 p.m. Mass
- June 5 First Saturday devotions at 9 a.m. Mass June 18 Father Thomas Kennedy will celebrate Friday’s 5:30 p.m. Mass at St Edward. Following Mass, there will be a potluck social during which we will present the gift of our faith family to him in honor of his recent - ordination.
- June 20 Father’s Day June 27 Potluck Picnic to celebrate an early July 4th...following 9 a.m. Mass. ALL are invited to attend. The Second Quarter Social Committee will open the doors and clean up following the event. See notes elsewhere in the - bulletin.
For Your Information:
ROSARY GROUP… a group of parishioners is meeting on Monday at 5:30 p.m. to pray the Rosary. Everyone is invited to join with the group. If you need additional information, please contact the Coordinator, Louise Magoun, at 318-341-2403.
FIRST FRIDAY…JUNE 4 ...Holy Hour and Mass....5:30 p.m. ...make a special devotion to the Sacred Heart and attend first Friday devotions for nine consecutive months.
FIRST SATURDAY …JUNE 5 … Mass and Holy Hour … 9 a.m. Our Lady of Fatima called for special devotions to be offered on the first Saturday of each month. Father Ryan will offer Mass on the first Saturday of each month in the Church. All are welcomed and encouraged to attend.
VISIT OF FATHER THOMAS KENNEDY… to offer his first Mass at St. Edward will be on Friday, June 18 at the 5:30 p.m. Mass. All are invited to join in celebrating Father Thomas’s Ordination which was May 22. Father Thomas’s first assignment is in Alexandria at Our Lady of Prompt Succor. In connection with Father Thomas’s visit, those who would like to do so should plan on joining him after Mass for supper in the Church Hall to enjoy food and conversation. If you are attending and would like to bring a dish, there will be a list at the entrance of church next week for you to record what you plan to bring.
FATHER’S DAY… JUNE 20. We invite all the dads of our community to join us for a special blessing of Fathers at each of our weekend Masses!
SECOND QUARTER SOCIAL … Mark your calendar for JUNE 27 and celebrate an early 4th of July with a Potluck Picnic following Sunday Mass. The Committee for Second Quarter (April, May, June) - Libby Bullard (Co-chair), Elizabeth Crothers*, Angel Farlow, Margaret and Pat Gilfoil, MaryAnne Gilfoil, Terry and Andy Hall, Isabell Hernandez, Ann Keene, Alyce and C.W. Keene, Frances Kennedy,* Bobby Reynolds, Delia Trichell, and Cathy VanderVieren (Co-chair).
Stewardship Today’s second reading reminds us that we are the adopted sons and daughters-the heirs of God. We are good stewards of our inheritance when we share our faith and fulfill Our Lord’s command to “go and make disciples of all the nations.”
Our Return to the Lord
| Weekly Budget FY 2020-21 | $ 2,111 |
| April Budget | $ 8,444 |
| April Income | $10,777 |
| April Expenses | $ 8,759 |
| May Budget | $10,555 |
| May 22/23 Collection | $ 2,124 |
| May income to Date | $10,036 |
Let us Rejoice in the Lord!
Happy Birthday Olivia Clare Copes (May 29), Anna Ginn (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.
Our Holy Father Pope Francis and Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI; 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, or otherwise in need of our prayers: Harper Bedgood, Connie and Dan Copes, Elizabeth Crothers, Mary Ernst, Monique Florence, Margaret and Pat Gilfoil, Susan and Johnny Gilfoil, C.W. and Alyce Keene, Bill Kennedy, Charlotte Marsh and Lance and Stephenie, Brittany and Brian McFall, Ed Mills, Kathleen Mills, Sue & Mike Rome, Delia Trichell, and Don Wood
Those under full-time care: Frances Kennedy, Carol Dunning, Sharon Hansen of Gonzales, Consuelo Marsh of Lake Providence
Our friends and relatives who need our prayers: Lee Adams (Smith), Ashley Alexander (Regan), Jenna Faye Allen (Florence), Pam Amacker (Gilfoil), James Arceneaux (Book), Marie Farlow Bellard, Molly Corulla, Hattie Brown (Lancaster), Jerry Bullard, Sara Cannon (Gilfoil), Truman and Diane Collins, Jami Cook (Wilks), Carol Dipert (Rome), Jared and Ainslie Oliver Duff, Tommy Dunning, Joe Farlow, Mike Farlow, Thom Gilfoil, Charlotte Green, Kathy Garley Hanlon (Gilfoil), Rita Hargrave, LaLa Lopez (Hernandez), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Cameron and Katie Murphy Murray, Wayne Pitre (Gilfoil), Frances Robinson, Lee and Tiffney Rome, Dianne W. Roper (Murphy), Linda Sanchez (Wilks), Theresa and Albert Thom (Rome), Meg Keene Thomas, Elaine and James Trimble (Rome), Teresa Vidrine (Wilks), George and Katie Magoun Williams, Joe Yerger
Our collegiates: Aidan Collins, Chris Hall (USMC), Nick Hall, Emmy Lu Marsh, Maddie Oliver, Bailey Rome, Brice Wood
Those Catholics residing at Christian Acres, Louisiana Transitional Center for Women, and our local Detention Centers and for their families and loved ones.