A Note From Father Eickhoff

May 26, 2024

It is a strange oddity that school graduations and the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity occur each year around the same time. These two events have a common theme, though you might wonder what these two events have in common. That theme is found in the Gospel reading for today. In today’s Gospel Jesus gives to the disciples what is sometimes called the Great Commission. That command to go out into the world and spread the Good News of salvation to all the world in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In a somewhat similar fashion school graduations direct the graduate to go out into the world and use the knowledge they have gained in the service of their lives and their community.

For us as Christians the knowledge we have gained is of the true nature of Almighty God, who is one God in three Persons. This knowledge comes to us from God’s own revelation to us and in gaining this knowledge we learn of how we are saved from our sins and how we are sustained in living our lives as children of God. Since this knowledge is a gift to us from God that we must learn about it is important that we in turn pass this knowledge along to others. Hence the Great Commission. Graduates from any school (whether formal or informal) will quickly grasp that the knowledge they have gained is not meant to be hoarded away like a pirate’s treasure, but rather put to good use and given out in turn to others. The common theme that links school graduations and today’s Solemnity turns out to be the need to share with others the knowledge we have gained throughout our lives.

There are a couple of announcements that I am going to add to today’s bulletin article.

The first is that St. Anne Parish will hold a special 24-hour Eucharistic Adoration on June 21-22. This special event will mark the end of the Year of the Eucharistic here in the parish. In a short time, there will be a sign-up asking parishioners to commit to spending one hour with the Holy Eucharist during these days.

The second announcement is that I will be on retreat between June 3-8. There will not be confessions on June 5th. We are still working on getting priests to cover all the normally scheduled Masses that week so please check next week for the daily Mass schedule during June 3-7.

 

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Stephen Eickhoff
Pastor