Dear St. Martin’s Parishioners,
This past week I felt sucker punched by the mockery of the Last Supper performed at the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics. To have that blasphemous scene displayed before the whole world made it all the more grotesque. This followed one of the most beautiful U.S. Catholic events of recent memory, the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, Indiana. There, 55,000 Catholics adored the Blessed Sacrament and jubilantly worshiped the Lord Jesus, who gives himself to us in the most humble manner imaginable.
The director of the opening ceremony defended his work by saying, “In France, we have freedom of creation, artistic freedom. We are lucky in France to live in a free country.” One of the important documents of the Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, states, “Only in freedom can man direct himself toward goodness. Our contemporaries make much of this freedom and pursue it eagerly; and rightly to be sure. Often however they foster it perversely as a license for doing whatever pleases them, even if it is evil. . . . Since man’s freedom has been damaged by sin, only by the aid of God’s grace can he bring such a relationship with God into full flower.” Indeed, freedom unhinged from God’s law and grace leads to the destruction of the human being, but freedom finds its full meaning and purpose only when yoked to God’s law and healed by grace.
Please join us for Sr. Mariana’s farewell party Saturday, August 10, at 7:00pm in the school gym. During her six years at St. Martin’s, Sister organized many a party for our parish. Now it is our turn to return the favor. May the Lord bless her in her new assignment, and may her contagious joy be a blessing for those she serves.
In Christ,
Fr. Dave
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