Dear Assumption families,
After a tumultuous spring, we have arrived at my favorite month - and not just because my birthday is in June! The Church just yesterday celebrated the great feast of Pentecost, and now we have returned to the season of Ordinary Time. In June, we have many memorable feasts to celebrate, including the following:
Mary, Mother of the Church
(June 1, moveable)
Just 3 years ago, the universal Church added the Feast of Mary, Mother of the Church to the calendar, falling on the Monday following the feast of Pentecost.
We honor Our Lady, who was with the Apostles at the birthday of the Church, knowing that Jesus, as he was dying on the cross, said to St. John, "Behold your mother."
This invitation was for every member of the church to embrace Mary as our heavenly mother. Let us ask for her intercession as we come back to church to find unity, encouragement, and strength for the faithful.
St. Anthony
(June 13)
St. Anthony is best known as "patron of lost objects". But do you know the background of the story?
Anthony had a book of Psalms that had notes and comments that he found helpful for teaching new members of his abbey, and he greatly valued it. However, when a novice left the community, he took that book with him, and Anthony prayed it would be returned to him.
In a wonderful moment, both the book and the former novice returned to the community!
"Tony, Tony, come around...
Something's lost that can't be found!"
Read the attached doc - A Family of Faith - for fun ways to celebrate Anthony's feast day!
Corpus Christi
The phrase Corpus Christi does not just refer to a town in Texas. It really refers to the Body and Blood of Jesus, the Eucharist, which is commemorated on a Sunday after Pentecost. This year, we honor the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ on Sunday, June 14. Typically there is an outdoor procession with the Eucharist, and we hope to have a small procession this year!
Ways to honor the gift of the Holy Eucharist:
- Decorate your table with wheat and grapes
- Learn about Eucharistic miracles
- Check out the activity pages in A Family of Faith that focus on the Bread of Life discourse (John 6)
- Participate in Assumption's procession
- Visit the Adoration chapel and spend time with Jesus!
Sacred Heart of Jesus / Immaculate Heart of Mary
These two feast days, celebrated on a Friday and Saturday (this year, June 19 and 20), honor the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
We have a beautiful statue of the Sacred Heart in church which helps us to remember the burning love Jesus has for His people. What is most amazing to me is that Jesus loved with a human heart - He has a heart that beats and bleeds for me! And for you! He greatly desires us to return his love.
Celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus by baking a heart shaped cake and decorating it to look like the Sacred Heart! (Then enjoy it on a feast day Friday - or as I like to say, a MEAT FRIDAY) This feast day is not a day we need to abstain from meat, because it is a solemnity.
