Conception Abbey

Sunday, May 31, is Pentecost Sunday and so we celebrate the birthday of the Church, the coming of the Holy Spirit. This third person of the Blessed Trinity was sent by Jesus and the Father, as Jesus had promised. The Spirit would come to teach the apostles and all Christians all things that they need for salvation. Probably the Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity that is neglected more than the Father and the Son. We think of the Spirit as a dove flying around overhead. The Holy Spirit is a very intimate person who is with us at all times, encouraging us, helping us, defending us etc. In the 1st Letter to the Corinthians St. Paul reminds us that "...no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit." So our faith in Jesus Christ depends on that Spirit whose coming we celebrate on Pentecost Sunday.

Pentecost is also the conclusion of the Easter Season. After this feast we return to ordinary time. The Easter season began with Lent when we prepared for the Easter feast and the Easter Triduum, then after Easter we have spent fifty days celebrating the great feast with many alleluias.

This week has been a very busy week at Conception. We finished the work that needed to be done for our temporary infirmary and we spent most of the week moving things over to that space from the regular infirmary. We moved the residents over on Friday. They expect to begin preliminary work on the renovation of our regular infirmary on Monday, June 1.

Today is the actual day of my ordination to the priesthood. I was ordained by Bishop John P. Cody on May 30, 1959. So fifty years ago today I was ordained to the priesthood. I will have a celebration in my home parish at Brunswick, MO next Sunday, June 7. I give thanks to God for all his goodness to me and the many blessings he has given me during these past fifty years. Pray for me as I will for you.

It may be a couple weeks before I write on this blog again as I will be gone for a week of vacation along with my jubilee celebration.