Pentecost Sunday
From The Font
“When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled…”
All ancient societies took the passage of time very seriously. In the broad scale, the seasons of the year were essential for agriculture and to prepare for flooding and rainy seasons. The seasons were subdivided into lunar months which were important religiously and for the purposes of government, especially taxation. From there, the week - lasting four to ten days, depending on the society and culture - organized community and family life. The day is the most ancient measurement of time and it organized life in the most fundamental way. The light was for work and interpersonal activity and the dark was for barricading one’s family into the home for safety and sleep. The ancient world had various systems of hours dividing the daylight and the darkness into “watches'' based on sun\moon position.
All that is relevant because Pentecost is the Feast of Weeks. It takes place seven times seven days after Easter. For the Jews, 7x7 is an important religious number. It’s a sabbath of sabbaths sort of thing. Every fiftieth year was a “Jubilee” in which debts were forgiven, grudges put aside, pawned property given back and everyone basically made a bunch of super-mega new years’ resolutions about life, the universe and everything. Everyone who lived through a Jubilee thought it was the best year of their life.
Pentecost, then, was a mini-Jubilee that happened every year and it was the same sort of thing. If you had rented or borrowed something, you were expected to at least offer to vacate it back to the original owner. If you had done someone wrong, you were expected to try to make things right. It was a time of personal and religious excitement and a time when everyone was expected to be generous with food and booze. That’s why so many people were in the city for Peter and the Apostles to preach to after the descent of the Holy Spirit. It was a party with a New Years’ vibe and a sense of the most hopeful and joyful parts of religion.
And the Lord chose this feast - the sabbath of sabbaths - as the birthday of His Church and the moment for the Holy Spirit to descend into the world.
Thoughts from Fr. Ryan
June is traditionally a time for devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In our age of broad religious indifference, when religious enthusiasm and charity have grown cold for so many, Jesus exhibits to the world His Sacred Heart as the symbol of God's infinite love - the symbol of His own generous self-sacrificing love for us. Jesus shows His Divine Heart as a furnace whose burning rays of love are able to reanimate faith and rekindle love in hearts grown cold and ungrateful.
But why His Heart? Because in every language, in every age, the heart is regarded as the natural symbol of love and affection. What more natural and expressive symbol is there, then, of the excessive love of Jesus than His Sacred Heart? The visible object of devotion to the Sacred Heart is the real, physical Heart of Jesus - the Heart of flesh, the living and loving Heart of our Blessed Lord; the Heart that beat in His Divine breast at the moment of the Incarnation; the Heart that loved us during the life of Jesus on earth, that poured forth its blood to the last drop on Mount Calvary; the beatified Heart now glorious in Heaven and still dwelling among us in the Blessed Sacrament; the Heart ever united to the Person of the Divine Word, to whom is due supreme homage and adoration.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. – Matthew 11:29
There is in the Sacred Heart the symbol and express image of the infinite love of Jesus Christ which moves us to love in return. – Pope Leo XIII
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is devotion to Jesus Christ Himself, but in the particular ways of meditating on His interior life and on His threefold love – His divine love, His burning love that fed His human will, and His sensible love that affects His interior life. Pope Pius XII wrote an entire encyclical on it in 1956: Haurietis Aquas. Here are a few great passages:
It is the symbol of that burning love which, infused into His soul, enriches the human will of Christ and enlightens and governs its acts by the most perfect knowledge derived both from the beatific vision and that which is directly infused.
It is the symbol also of sensible love, since the body of Jesus Christ, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, possesses full powers of feelings and perception, in fact, more so than any other human body.
Traditionally, devotion to the Sacred Heart has two components: Consecration & Reparation.
We consecrate ourselves to the Sacred Heart by acknowledging Him as Creator and Redeemer and as having full rights over us as King of Kings, by repenting, and by resolving to serve Him.
We make reparation for the indifference and ingratitude with which He is treated and for leaving Him abandoned by humanity.
To carry out these general goals of consecration and reparation, there are quite specific devotions authorized by the Church, the most popular of which is attending Mass on the First Friday of each month specifically to pray in reparation for my personal sins and those of the whole world.
Mass Intentions for the Coming Week
- Sat 5:30p In memory of Pat Bullard/family
- Sun 9:00a Pro Populo for the Living & Deceased Members of our Parish
- Mon NO MASS
- Tue 9:00a In thanksgiving by the Magoun family
- Wed 9:00a In memory of Gus Gremshell
- Thu 9:00a In memory of John Johnson/family
- Fri 5:30p In memory of Lee Rome/Lancaster
- Sat 5:30p In memory of Inez, C.B., and Claude DeMoss/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) |
|---|---|---|
| 6/4 5:30p | None Scheduled | A Farlow |
| 6/5 9:00a | Henry & MaryKatherine | C Guizerix |
| 6/11 5:30p | None Scheduled | MA Gilfoil |
| 6/12 9:00a | Chandler, Kathleen, Maura | A Oliver |
| 6/18 5:30p | None Scheduled | MK Book |
| 6/19 9:00a | Preston, Evelyn, Courtland | Youth |
Upcoming Events
- Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass at 5:30p
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 the group. If you need additional information, please contact the Coordinator, Louise Magoun, at 318-341-2403.
HURRICANE SEASON…begins June 1 each year and lasts through November.
PRAYER FOR HURRICANE SEASON O God, Master of this passing world, hear the humble voices of your children. The Sea of Galilee obeyed your order and returned to its former quietude; you are still the Master of land and sea. We live in the shadow of a danger over which we have no control. The Gulf, like a provoked and angry giant, can awake from its seeming lethargy, overstep its conventional boundaries, invade our land and spread chaos and disaster. During this hurricane season, we turn to You, O loving Father. Spare us from past tragedies whose memories are still so vivid and whose wounds seem to refuse to heal with the passing of time. O Virgin, Star of the Sea, Our Beloved Mother, we ask you to plead with your Son in our behalf so that spared from the calamities common to this area and animated with a true spirit of gratitude, we will walk in the footsteps of your Divine Son to reach the heavenly Jerusalem where a stormless eternity awaits us. Amen (Fr. Al Volpe, Cameron Parish, LA, originally dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Audrey in 1957)
Our Return to the Lord
| Weekly Budget FY 2020-21 | $ 2,111 |
| April Budget | $ 8,444 |
| April Income | $ 8,532 |
| April Expenses | $ 9,717 |
| May Budget | $ 10,555 |
| May 29 collecltion | $ 1,399 |
| May Income To Date | $ 13,190 |
Stewardship One miracle of Pentecost was that, despite their diversity, each listener heard God’s word in his or her own language. The meaning for stewardship is that, by sharing the gifts poured out on us by the Holy Spirit, we will be empowered to meet the needs of our brothers and sister, wherever they may be.
SECOND COLLECTION supports our once a month Building Fund.
Let us Rejoice in the Lord!
Happy Birthday Billy Marsh (June 8)
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 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: Libby Bullard, Connie and Dan Copes, Elizabeth Crothers, Leslye Ellerbee, Mary Ernst, Monique Florence, Susan and Johnny Gilfoil, Jamie and Cindy Howingston, C.W. and Alyce Keene, Bill Kennedy, Ed Mills, Kathleen Mills, Terry Murphy, Sug Regan, Sue & Mike Rome, Delia Trichell, and Don Wood
Those under full-time care: Frances Kennedy, Carol Dunning
Our friends and relatives who need our prayers: Lee Adams (Smith), Ashley Alexander (Regan), Graham Allen (S Gilfoil), Kathryn Wood Allsopp (D Wood), Jenna Faye Allen (Florence), Pam Amacker (Gilfoil), James Arceneaux (Book), Judy and Danny Beard (Keene), Marie Farlow Bellard, Sarah Cannon (Gilfoil), Ruthie Coenen (Wilks), Molly Corulla, Truman and Diane Collins, Jami Cook (Wilks), Don Deweese, Carol Dipert (Rome), Mac Donaldson (Ellerbee), Ashley and Chuck Edwards (Keene), Joe Farlow, Mike Farlow, Patty Farlow, April Franklin (Wilks), Thom Gilfoil, Charlotte Green, Rita Hargrave, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), John and Carlyle Ashly Hoogland, Melissa Jennings (Gilfoil & Keene), Dee Jones (Keene), Lyn and Calvin Lisonbee (Keene), LaLa Lopez (Hernandez), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Mona Martin (MA Gilfoil), Caryn Oliver, Sue Perrilloux (D Wood), Wayne Pitre (Gilfoil), Frances Robinson (Wilks), Bailey, Scott and Tiffney Rome, Dianne W. Roper (Murphy), Beverly Sibille (Gilfoil), Albert Thom (Rome), Meg Keene Thomas, Lucy Thomason (gr-dau of Bentley Curry)(Book), Paul Wayne and LeeAnn Rome Tranchina (Rome), Elaine Trimble (Rome), Joe Yerger
Our collegiates: Aidan Collins, Callie Ezell, Lilly Falgout, Chris Hall (USMC), Nick Hall, Bruen Johnson, Caroline Marsh, Emmy Lu Marsh, Maddie Oliver Bridges, Blake Sullivan, Carter Sullivan, Walker Sullivan, Brice Wood, Marsh Wood.