Archbishop Dolan's Thought for the Week

May 13, 2008

These weeks leave us breathless with the succession of great feastdays in the life of the Church.
 
It’s May, the beautiful month dedicated to our blessed Mother (today, in fact, is the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima), and is the season of first holy communions, confirmations, weddings, ordinations, and anniversaries.
 
A Sunday ago, we celebrated the Ascension, recalling Jesus returning to His Father is heaven, forty days after Easter;
 
Sunday was Pentecost, fifty days after Easter, as God sent the Holy Spirit upon Our Lady and the apostles, and the Church was born.

With Pentecost, the Easter season closes, but the feasts go on . . .
 
Next Sunday is that of the Most Blessed Trinity, as we recall the central mystery of our Christian faith, one God, three divine persons, Father, Son, and Spirit.

Then, May 25, bring on Corpus Christi, the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, as we confess our faith that Jesus Christ remains really and truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.
 
We can’t forget Friday, May 30, the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, or the next day, the Feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary, when Mary went to see her kinswoman, Elizabeth.
 
Face it:  the Church loves to celebrate.  And God’s lavish love, revealed in so many mysteries of our faith, always provides abundant occasions to do so in all our feastdays.

And I haven’t even mentioned upcoming feasts of popular saints such as St. Matthias (May 14), Isidore, Patron of farmers (May 15), Rita, one of the patrons of impossible causes (May 22), and Philip Neri (May 26).

Yes, the paschal candle is now unlit (except at baptisms and funerals), the Easter water is back in the baptistery, the alleluias a bit more subdued, as the Easter season is closed.

But, “his mercy endures forever!” and the Church keeps finding reasons to celebrate! 

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan

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