Happy Mother’s Day to all Mothers and Grandmothers!

May the blessing of the Lord
Be upon mothers everywhere
On this special day!

~Remain In My Love~

This week’s Gospel picks up where last week’s left, and we hear Jesus continuing to teach us the metaphor of the vine and the branches. And like last week, the First Reading is an example in the early Church of what happens when we remain on the vine.

While this week is certainly a deepening of last week’s themes, there is at least one new dimension. In the First Reading, we see another Pentecost take place when Peter preaches the Gospel to the first Gentiles. We see Peter’s life bearing much fruit in all of these new believers, but we also see Peter as the head of the Church discerning God’s will in that moment. Because Peter, and thus the Church, was attached to the vine, he was able to perceive the new movement of the Holy Spirit to welcome Gentiles into the new covenant.

The Catholic Church plays a vital role in our ability to remain on the vine throughout all of history. As new circumstances arise, God has given us the gift of the Church to help us recognize where his love is so that we can remain with him. We know that God does not ask anything from us without giving us the grace to respond, and that grace always flows through his Church so that we can be assured that we are truly following Christ, we too are challenged to welcome those who seek out God.

Congratulations to our second graders who received the sacrament of First Holy Communion on Saturday. May they remain in Jesus all the days of their lives.