THE SPIRIT UNITES ALL TONGUES IN PRAISE OF THE ONE GOD

Beloved parishioners,

Last weekend we celebrated Pentecost, when we commemorated the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples with the Blessed mother. It was the birth and manifestation of the Church, which until then had been in hiding for fear of the Jews. Jesus sent the promised gift of the Spirit from the Father to console, confirm and strengthen the disciples so they can be his witnesses to all of Judea and the entire world.

Our parish celebrated this great feast, for the first time, in a grand style. Beginning with a workshop, Called & Gifted the preceding Friday and Saturday, when 38 parishioners gathered in the parish’s Upper Room to pray and discern the gifts and charisms they have received from the Holy Spirit, then the Extended Vigil at the 5:30 p.m. Mass when we celebrated unity in our diversity. We had the readings done in various languages: Igbo (Nigeria), Spanish, Tagalog (Philippines), Portuguese and English. We also had, after all the Masses, the special opportunity to pray over people for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. About 200 people were prayed over. Our choir was excellent, and the liturgy was so moving and spirit-filled. At the 9am, 11:30am and 8pm Masses, we also prayed the petitions in various languages, Spanish, Vietnamese, German, and Portuguese. Our celebration culminated in our cultural and food festival themed “Tongues of Fire.” All these speak of the beauty of our parish in our diversity and richness. God has blessed our parish with people from various nationalities. And Pentecost was a unique opportunity to acknowledge this gift and to celebrate it.

My gratitude goes to our staff and their teams for coordinating the events that made our Pentecost a unique and memorable one. We thank Ablaze Mission for partnering with us to host Called & Gifted this year. We are also grateful to all those who participated in the prayer teams at all Masses, our choir and all our liturgical ministers, our lectors who beautified our liturgies with the gift of their languages, everyone who generously provided food and cultural articles from their respective cultures. Let us always remember, what unites us is certainly more than what, if anything, that divides. The Holy Spirit is the principle of unity; and our parish celebration of Pentecost highlighted that.

On another note, I wish to share a letter from our future NET missionary, Ally Brown. Please keep her in your prayers as she embarks on this new journey of discipleship that she would continue to grow in her love for Jesus.

May Jesus bless you, and may Our Lady protect you!

Fr. Julius