Fr. Perrone on Corpus Christi, Memorial Day, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the canonization of Stanislaus Papcaynski, and the summer weekday Mass schedule at Assumption Grotto

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, May 29, 2016):

Many things to relate to you today.

Today's feast day of Corpus Christi directs our minds to become more mindful of the great Reality of the Lord's sacred Body and Blood made present to us through the gift of the priesthood. Recently I spoke to the congregation about being more vigilant in their manner of reception of Holy Communion. Today's Eucharistic theme is an offshoot of this, centered more on the adoration of our Eucharistic Lord. While many communicate, too few adore the Lord in the Holy Sacrament. This makes me wonder whether the paucity of adorers is due to inadvertence, neglect, indifference, or rather to want of true faith in the Real Presence. No matter the reason, we, recipients of this heavenly Treasure, ought to reverently adore the Lord Almighty concealed in the Sacred Host.

Today's Mass and chants, its procession with multiple benedictions (following the noon Mass) will attempt to bring greater awareness of what we have in this Sacrament and what other christian believers have not. Our Ushers will offer food and beverage, for those who wish them, after the conclusion of today's noon Mass and procession.

Monday is Memorial Day. Remembering is becoming a rarity in this face-paced age when important things, on that account, are held in ever diminished regard. We are simply too busy about doing whatever is before us to pause and be mindful of the sacrifices of others which have made our relative well-being in this land possible. Specifically, we should take this time to ponder the worth of our great nation which motivated valorous deeds even unto the loss of life in defense of her. Catholics, nearly alone among Christians, will do much more than honor the dead on Memorial Day. They will pray for the eternal reward of the faithful departed. They do this by offering Holy Mass, gaining indulgences for them, making other prayers and doing deeds in supplication to God for the mitigation of the suffering of purgatory. Our two Masses this Monday (no evening Mass!) will be 7:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., the latter will include prayers in our cemetery and complimentary doughnuts and coffee offered in the lounge afterward.

Friday this week will be the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a feast we have not paid sufficient attention to in recent years. This year we hope you will make a special effort to join us for the evening Mass which will be done with due solemnity. An ice cream social will follow. These are indeed poor efforts on our part to express gratitude to our Lord for having opened the love and mercy of His Sacred Heart to us, and the grant of special graces of a more intimate kind for those particularly devoted to Him through the revelation of His Sacred Heart.

Next Sunday, June 5, there will be yet one more special observance in the 9:30 Mass wherein we will celebrate, along with the whole Order of Marians, the canonization of its founder Sanislaus Papcaynski. The canonization ceremony itself will take place in Rome. Here we will give thanks to God for the inspiration He gave for the founding of a religious order which may in God's good time enjoy a new planting in our parish. On this day we will rejoice with Brother Esteban and his companions. Those attending the 9:30 Mass will also be invited to the gym afterward for a dinner hosted by him and his supporters for which a free-will offering may be made.

I conclude with a notice from May 31 until August ` there will not be weekday evening Masses. I regret this in view of the spiritual good of the people who cannot attend Mass in the morning. The reality, however, is that with only two parish priests and their summertime schedules away from the parish, and with the restriction of Canon Law which does not permit a priest to say more than one weekday Mass unless there is a real necessity (a funeral, for example), there cannot be both an evening and a morning weekday Masses here during this period of June and July. I can offer a note of consolation in that Brother Esteban has agreed to distribute Holy Communion each evening in these months at 7:00 p.m., preceded by the readings from the scripture of the Mass of the day. This is, needless to say, a great benefit. Although it is not the offering of the sacrifice of the Mass it is a sharing in its inestimable fruit.

Fr. Perrone