Pastor’s Letter & July 18, 2021 Bulletin

Pastor’s Letter & July 18, 2021 Bulletin

16 Jul 2021 | Posted by: chadmin

The July 18 bulletin is now available online.

Dear friends,

Thanks for the prayers this week. We had a nice retreat week in Springfield with the Junior Clergy of our Diocese. Former St. Philomena Pastor Msgr. Rohlfs gave the majority of the conferences. It was a win-win for the priests and for him. Msgr. Rohlfs was the Rector of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, the seminary that most of our junior priests attended. He was able to renew relationships with them and the priests were able to relate with Monsignor as brother priests and not as their boss. It was a good week of rest and prayer.

The Peoria Municipal Band will perform in front of St. Philomena Church again this year on Friday, July 23 at 7pm. I am grateful that they are willing to once again visit our area of the city. Each time they visit it is a fun community event that provides some culture and musical beauty. Special thanks to parishioner, Frank Rezac. Frank has maintained a relationship with the Municipal Band over the years that helps to secure their musical talents for our parishioners to enjoy.

In the next few weeks, I will be having meetings with our Eucharistic Ministers and Altar Servers. With our slow approach in returning to normal liturgies in Church, we have seen a continuing decrease in the threat of Covid during Mass. I think we are close to returning to a normal distribution of Communion with four Eucharistic Ministers at the weekend Masses. We will need to have some extensive training for our Mass Servers, as it’s been over a year since the children served Mass. Of course, we also need to train servers who have yet to serve. Hopefully this will be an exciting time for the kids.

The Gospel of Mark this weekend tells the story of the Apostles returning to Jesus to report on their efforts in ministry. This Gospel passage reports a somewhat humorous story, yet one with which we can all identify. Jesus invited the Apostles to go off by themselves to rest after their time of ministry. They boarded a boat to cross the lake. The people, aware that they were leaving, ran around the lake to arrive at the place the Apostles were trying to escape. There is humor and sadness to this story. We all know what it feels like to need a break. Often times when we try to get a break, the needs of others are often presented to us. When Jesus saw this event, His Heart was moved with pity, for they were like “sheep without a shepherd.” The heart of Jesus is always ready to meet our hearts when we run to meet Him. The Christian life is a reminder to run to Jesus when we need Him most. Have a great week.

God bless

Father David