Cornell recently informed us that we hope to break ground for the Parish Centre by the end of June/early July 2025. The Senior Leadership Team has a vision for the event: It will happen at 7 p.m. on a weeknight, after 6 p.m. Mass. We don’t want endless speeches and holding shovels with dirt—boring. We want it to be fun! Provided it’s safe, we want to use either a pile driver or backhoe actually to break the ground! We’ll have music, food, Chris Susanto, our Director of Music, will be our M.C., and then we’re going to take a ‘family photo.’ Because we have 1016 people at four different Masses every Sunday, we’re never all together. This will be a rare opportunity for all of us to gather—fitting because it’s our 100th anniversary and meant to be a transformational year.
Let’s take it a step further. At the Last Supper, Jesus also says, “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you” (14:25-26). 50 days after the Resurrection, the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples and the transformation continues. Before, they were fearful. Now, they’re fearless. The Spirit teaches and convicts them in their hearts that Jesus is literally dwelling in them, so they have nothing to fear.
I’m hoping our parish family is undergoing a similar transformation, that we’re overflowing with Jesus’ peace. The word ‘overflowing’ is a word I’m going to bring up again and again. It means we’re so full of Jesus that we bring Him to others.
And, why am I hoping the ground breaking will be fun? When we come to Mass, we overflow with prayer, worship, silence, and singing—that’s great! But, at other events, we should overflow with fun! Today is Name Tag Sunday, an opportunity to share life with each other. We all have something to give each other because Jesus is with us.
When Cardinal Prevost was elected, I knew nothing about him because he’s been a quiet cardinal. But, when he became Leo XIV and came out on the loggia, I was struck by his emotional response. Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis were more composed when elected. But, Pope Leo was clearly overwhelmed, constantly swallowing, almost on the verge of tears, yet his first greeting was, ‘Brothers and sisters, peace be with you!’
In my interpretation, the Holy Spirit transformed him at the moment he accepted his new mission. He is now overflowing with the Holy Spirit and giving Jesus’ peace to the world—his transformation has been a source of grace for me! So, our transformation happens when we say ‘Yes’ to the Holy Spirit’s mission for us.
Finally, Jesus says, “You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I” (14:28). Jesus’ mission on earth was about to finish; He would send the Holy Spirit and return to the Father where He would continually intercede for us. The apostles are to rejoice because Jesus is taking His humanity to be with the Father, the first time that human nature would enter heaven.
In a much lesser way, our parish should start preparing for when I leave and we’re given a new pastor. This will not be a sad time but a happy one because it will be a time for greater growth. Archbishop Miller asked me to think about moving on last February but it didn’t happen. Now that Archbishop Smith has come, we still don’t know. The important thing is that the mission of each of us continues to grow.
In two weeks, we’ll have our first Pentecost Challenge, where we ask: Is Jesus’ mission outside of our identity, a part of it, or at the center?
St. Paul VI, in 1975, said these famous words, “Evangelizing is… the vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 14). In St. Luke’s Gospel, when the crowds were looking for Jesus and asked Him to stay, He replied, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose” (4:43). The saints had no other mission than the mission of Christ. When they loved their family, it was to love like Christ and help their family find Christ; when they taught in schools and went to work, they chose those jobs because they were convinced it was what Jesus wanted, so that they could share Him.
We all have a mission in life, we’re all working towards something: Perhaps it’s to be happy, have a good life, have a family and a good job. The question is: Is Jesus’ mission our deepest identity? If we make this choice, we will love our families not less, but more.
I read about a 74-year-old woman whose faith had been ignited by Matthew Kelly. She thought to herself, ‘If I could live my life over again, I would do what [he] is doing.’ Health problems, however, kept her homebound. But, she said, ‘I have time and I have the desire to share the message [of Christ] with others.’ So, she ordered some Catholic books, sat down, and wrote a letter to each of her children and grandchildren, and sent the letter and a book to them. Then she asked God what was next. One afternoon, while praying the Rosary, a high school friend came to mind. She wrote her a letter and sent it with a Catholic book. Three months later, the friend wrote back saying that she had been away from the Church for 20 years because her son died in a car accident, but reading the letter and the book brought her back to the Church. From that day on, every morning, the woman who is homebound asks God to whom He wants her to write, and she’s been doing that for over three years (Resisting Happiness, 169-170). Jesus’ mission is at the center of her identity.
The Holy Spirit wants to transform our hearts so that they overflow. He wants our parish to be filled with peace and share it with everyone.