Columns 2021

On May 6, I had the privilege of celebrating the Baccalaureate Mass for St. Elizabeth’s University, in Convent Station. In the past week, in the course of five days, I participated in the commencement exercises at four high schools: Mary, Help of Christians in North Haledon and our three diocesan high schools, DePaul Catholic, Morris Catholic, and Pope John XXIII. As I was asked to share some remarks on those occasions, I encouraged the students to be grateful, especially to their parents and family, to their teachers, coaches, school staff, and administrators. I also encouraged the students to continue to live a life of faith, guided and strengthened by prayer, weekly Mass, and an openness to their vocation, or God’s plan for their lives.

As we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, I would recommend spending some time in prayer with “John 6” (the 6th Chapter of the Gospel of John), which contains Jesus’ great “Bread of Life Discourse.” In verse 60, we hear, “Then many of his disciples who were listening said, ‘This saying is hard; who can accept it?’ ”

As I thought about writing a column for the weekend on which we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity, I asked a priest for some thoughts or suggestions. Here is his reply: I always think of the Holy Trinity as the feast of community. God teaches us how to love and live in relationships of marriage, family, community, and friendship, through complete self-giving. Signs of the Trinity are all around us. We see so many who are drawn into the life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — which is love — through their complete selfless giving.

I think that as long as I live, I will remember the Feast of Pentecost in the Year 2020. I don’t particularly remember Mass that day — it was another “livestreamed” Mass, celebrated in front of an iPhone in an empty Church. I believe it was the beginning of the 11th week of the lockdown and the 70th consecutive day of livestreamed Masses. What I do remember so vividly is that afternoon, sitting outside on the porch of the rectory of St. Michael Parish in Brooklyn with the two other priests I lived with (one retired, one recently arrived from the Dominican Republic), there was an iPad on the table and we were having our first ever Zoom parish council meeting.

While Matthew’s Gospel does not specifically mention the Ascension, the Gospels of Mark (16:19) and Luke (24:51) do speak of Jesus being “taken up to heaven.” The Acts of the Apostles speaks in even greater detail in its first 12 verses of both the “Promise of the Spirit” and the Ascension.