May 14-15
Saturday, May 14th
- 7:00 am Cathedral Open for Private Prayer and Devotion
- 8:00 am Mass
- 1:30 pm Confirmation
- 3:30 - 4:30 pm Holy Hour - concluding with Evening Prayer and Benediction
- 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm Confessions
- 5:00 pm Mass
- 6:00 pm Cathedral Closes
Sunday -Fifth Sunday of Easter
- 7:00 am Cathedral Open for Private Prayer and Devotion
- 8:00 am Mass - will also be livestreamed
- 9:00 am - 9:50 am Confessions
- 10:00 am Mass -
- 11:00 am - 11:50 am Confessions
- 12:00 Noon Mass
- No Tour following Mass
- 2:30 pm Confirmation
- 5:00 pm Mass
- 6:00 pm Cathedral Closes
Dear Parishioners,
The Gospel takes us back into the upper room and has us listen again to the first words of the long sermon Jesus spoke to the disciples. Jesus knows that if his disciples keep his words they will not give in to fear and they will defeat evil. He speaks with them at length the night of the last supper, and at the end, he entrusts them to the Father.
And as to summarize in a few words the entire Gospel, he tells them, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." In sum, the entire Gospel is summarized in loving one another with the same love of Jesus. The love that Jesus' disciples are called to live among them, is not any love, is not a feeling that starts from them or their measures, it does not spring from one's character or strength. The love the disciples are called to live is Jesus.
That love is spoken about elsewhere in the Gospel: "Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." Jesus does not simply repeat what is written in Leviticus: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (19:18), but he specifies: "Love one another as I have loved you," that is, with a love that knows no limits and that goes as far as giving one's life for others.
Only by welcoming and living with this love will the disciples be recognized as belonging to Jesus. We too, like the disciples at the last supper, receive his word and the Eucharist. Every time we gather around the Altar we are transformed in his body to live his same love.
It is the Eucharist, his love, that transfigures us, making us a holy people capable of making new all things, consoling those who are in sadness, healing those who are sick, sustaining the poor, giving hope to those who have lost it, welcoming those who are refused, and opening humanitarian corridors in the hells of war. With this love we can change the world.
An ancient Christian wise man, Tertullian, said, "It was the practice of love, more than anything else, that branded Christians in the eyes of pagans, "See how they love each other' they say, (while pagans hate each other), and see how they are ready to die for one another' (while they prefer to kill each other)."
Msgr. Breier
This Weekend's Pulpit Announcements
The faithful of the Archdiocese will give witness to the special gift of the Holy Spirit on Saturday, May 28, when Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski ordains two men to the priesthood at a special Mass here at the Cathedral Basilica. A reception of “First Blessings” will be held at Rosati Kain following the ordination. Please see your bulletins for further information.