Sunday, September 27th 2020 | By Rev. Michael P. Hanifin
The Easter Season ended last weekend and for us priests it had been exhausting with all the extra Masses, Sacraments celebrated, and on top of that we were inundated with weddings, quinceañeras and funerals. Many families had waited for the pandemic to subside before holding these family milestones.
Now we are in the Liturgical Season called Ordinary Time. There is nothing ordinary about Ordinary Time! It received its name from the Ordinal Numbers. We can use ordinal numbers to define their position. The numbers 1st (First), 2nd (Second), 3rd (Third), 4th (Fourth), 5th (Fifth), 6th (Sixth), 7th (Seventh), 8th (Eighth), 9th (Ninth) and 10th (Tenth) for instance tell the position of different floors in a building. We use the same ordinal number to describe the weeks of the Liturgical Year that begins with the first week and ends with the 34th week.
This weekend we are celebrating Father Randy Guillen’s 25th Anniversary of Priestly Ordination. At the 10:00 AM Mass he will celebrate a Special Mass with his fellow priests, family members and friends. At 1:30 PM there will be a special reception to honor Father Randy’s special day. His actual anniversary fell on May 25th. Father Randy is being reassigned on July 1st as the Parochial Administrator of Saint Angela Merici Parish in Brea.
This Sunday we begin celebrating all Sunday Masses indoors. Many Catholic parishes in Orange County had already done so. For those parishioners who have been fully vaccinated, wearing a mask indoors is optional. Those who have not been vaccinated are strongly encouraged to wear a mask and social distance. During the COVID-19 Pandemic the parish lost many liturgical ministers such as lectors, eucharistic ministers, ushers, and altar servers. Next week we plan to recruit and train existing as well as new volunteers. If you are interested in serving at the Altar, please contact Father Steve Correz in the parish office.
This week is the 9th week in Ordinary Time. This Sunday in Ordinary Time, we celebrate an essential doctrine of our Catholic faith — the Most Holy Trinity. It expresses God as three Divine Persons, unified in One Divine nature. It is a topic we could never exhaust nor fully understand until we see God face to face. Although it is incomprehensible, it is still deeply personal.
Our Second Reading this Sunday is from Saint Paul and expresses the relationship of the three Divine Persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. By our Baptism, we received the Holy Spirit becoming adopted children of God. It is by the grace of the Holy Spirit that we call God, “Abba, Father!” And it is with the Holy Spirit that we can unite our sufferings to Christ so that we might one day rise with Him.
Our relationship with God is right before us. As we became God’s adopted children, we received His endless grace. We can cry out to our Father in a moment of joy or sorrow, invite the Holy Spirit into all that we do throughout our days, and suffer every hardship with Christ Himself. All we need to do is invoke His name in each moment.
As we celebrate this glorious Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, may we praise God in word and deed and may we seek moments to encounter the Father, Son and Holy Spirit each day — through Scripture, prayer, sacraments, and blessings throughout our day, as Jesus tell us, “I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).