Michele Bays

“I have not stopped giving thanks for you in my prayer.” – Ephesians 1:16

Although today, in many ways, is a very sad day, yet it is a day to rejoice in the Lord; a day to thank and praise God for the countless ways He has blessed the people of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston through the ministry of the many Capuchin Friars who have served here for over a hundred years, as well as a day for us Capuchin Friars to thank God for the many people that we were privileged to serve, to form friendships with, and to preach the Gospel to here.

Pleased be assured of our continued prayers for you. Pray for us. Together let us give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His Love endures forever!

I thank all of you in this parish for the kindness and generosity you have shown toward me these past four years. I leave here with many fond memories. I will miss you all. Let us not stop giving thanks for one another in our prayers to our good and gracious God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And may the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother and our Queen pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

Today we celebrate the Feast of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi). It is a feast on which we give thanks to God for the gift of the Body and Blood of Christ. Jesus said: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; … he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life … abides in me, and I in him.” –John 6:51,54,56

St. John Vianney (1786-1859), the patron saint of priests said this about the Holy Eucharist: “God would have given us something greater if he had had something greater than himself.” Yes the Holy Eucharist is Jesus, His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. It is God’s gift of Himself to us. The Holy Eucharist shows us how much God loves us.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ increases the communicant’s union with the Lord, forgives his venial sins, and preserves him from grave sins. Since receiving this sacrament strengthens the bonds of charity between the communicant and Christ, it also reinforces the unity of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ.”

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of The Most Holy Trinity. In the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church we read: “The Church expresses her trinitarian faith by professing a belief in the oneness of God in whom there are three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The three divine Persons are only one God because each of them equally possesses the fullness of the one and indivisible divine nature. They are really distinct from each other by reason of the relations which place them in correspondence to each other. The Father generates the Son; the Son is generated by the Father; the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.” (48)

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

On this last day of May, Mary’s month, we ask Mary who is the Daughter of God the Father, the Mother of God the Son and the Mystical Spouse of God the Holy Spirit to intercede for us so that we may have an ever-deepening, personal and loving relationship with the One God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” – Luke 1:35  “ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance … Each one heard them speaking in his own language.” – Acts 2:4b,6  “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” – John 16:12-13a

Fifty days after his Resurrection, on Pentecost Sunday, the Lord Jesus poured out his Holy Spirit upon his disciples who were praying with the Blessed Virgin Mary in the upper room. The fearful apostles were transformed on Pentecost into dynamic witnesses of Christ. The Church was birthed on that day and her universal mission of proclaiming the Gospel to the world began. Today we ask the Holy Spirit to come down upon us anew to enlighten, guide and transform us into courageous witnesses of his love. May we be able to produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)