The Grace of Remembering Your First Holy Communion 

Dear Friends in Christ,

            I am happy to report that after intentional preparation over the past year through prayer, study, and the reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, 72 children from our parish received their First Holy Communion on Saturday.  While the primary educators of our children are their parents, our parish also has a role to play in their formation.  Preparing our children for their second Sacrament of Initiation has been a team effort, and one I pray continues for years to come, as they grow in their faith.

            I want to begin by thanking our Director of Religious Education, Sherrie Palmateer, for leading our Sacramental preparation program.  I also want to thank Erica Stemski, our Administrative Assistant, for the various ways she supports our program throughout the year.  A special word of thanks to our St. Joseph School 2nd Grade teachers, Amy Thomas and Becky Bennett, and their assistants, Von Hayes and Lucy Steck.  I am also grateful that Maria Zelaya and Nicole Pielago volunteered to teach our 2nd Graders in our Wednesday night religious education program.  Finally, I want to thank the St. Joseph Sodality for their generous gifts of sacramentals to our First Communicants.  This is a longstanding tradition here at St. Joseph Church, and a reminder that our parish is truly interconnected. 

            We also have a tradition of inviting our First Communicants to attend our 10:30 am Mass on Sunday and to entrust their new life in Christ to Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.  It is quite a moving moment and one I pray inspires their parents to recommit to keeping the Lord’s Day holy, by attending Mass on Sundays.  But I also hope this moment of grace will bring you back to your own First Holy Communion.  Think back to that day of grace and the many subsequent years since then.  The Eucharist means “thanksgiving.”  Over the coming week, I would encourage you to pray each morning around that moment of your own First Holy Communion and each day of the week reflect on something you are grateful for and invite the Holy Spirit to lead you in that meditation.  May Our Lady, Mother of the Eucharist, help us all to become ever greater witnesses to the love of Jesus Christ, made possible through our worthy reception of the most holy Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

In Christ,