The Body and Blood of Christ - June 14

The greatest gift that God has given to the world is His Son, Jesus Christ. As God and man, Jesus gave totally of himself, both in life and in death. Totally surrender for the sake of humanity is the basis and example of the unconditional love of the God who made us and continues to care for us until we are once again one with Him in the glory in heaven. Before Jesus left the earth to rejoin his Heavenly Father. On this Sunday, the Church celebrates the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ, as made real and present on the altar at every Mass. This doctrine of ours has been often attacked by so many who lack the faith to understand how, under the guise of bread and wine, Jesus becomes the Divine Food which nurishes us for the work of the Kingdom. We are quite aware that in our natural bodies, if we do not feed it, water it, and give it rest, we can be soon worn out. It is the same with our spiritual life. It too needs the nurishment to be in touch with the One who sustains us, and give us the strength to build up the Kingdom of God. This weekend ought to be an opportunity for us to again appreciate the gift of the Eucharist, and not to deny ourselves this precious gift.

I am grateful to Father Camille Pratt, S.J. who is helping us at Our Lady of the Sierra this and last weekend with Masses. Last week I celebrated a Basque Mass in the Bay Area on Sunday, June 7th for the San Francisco Basque Cultural Center, This past Tuesday I left for my annual vacation in Boston from June 9th to June 16th. I go every year to be with some priest friends in Cape Cod. I also visit relatives I have in Vermont.

Next weekend we have our annual Fresno Diocese Priest Retirement Fund Second Collection, taken up every year on Father's Day. We once again that you help us to be able to care for and pay a fair retirement pay. We have over twenty priests up for retirement in the next three years. The retirement fund is not under the Bishop, but is handled by an independent board made up of priests in our diocese. I have served on that board and know the hard work of making it happen. Again, we have two retired priests who have served in our parish, Monsignor Herman and Father Jerry.

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity - June 7

Today the Church celebrates the Mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity in the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. This mystery of the three persons in the One Godhead has been a foundational theological belief of the Church from her beginning. It was Jesus who commanded the Apostles to go out and to baptized all the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. As a trinitarian based church, many of the things we do, and how we pray is based on our belief in the Trinity. While we as humans cannot fully understand this most holy mystery, we accept it with faith and see how the community within God reflects our community with each other.

I want to take the opportunity at the end of the Easter Season to thank so many people who gave so much of their talents and time to the parish during these fifty days. First and foremost, to Diane Kraft who heads up the Liturgy Committee, for all the organizing, scheduling, doing art and environment, especially when feasts would change from one day to another, and for all the behind the scene work that it takes to make our Oakhurst so beautiful during Easter. To all the committee chairs, such schedulers of the EM and Lectors, Altar Servers, and all other involved in the Masses and ceremonies. To all who donated and made possible the beautiful flowers that made all three churches so beautiful and colorful. To our Religious Education Director, Peggy Stewart, as we celebrated the First Communions and Confirmation. More thanks are offered to the Women's Guild for their participations, and to the Knights of Columbus for the Tri-Tip BBQ on the day of Confirmation. Also to the great folks in North Fork and Bass Lake who labored to make Easter special in our missions.

We are most thankful also to all the Music Ministry people. I appreciate the North Fork choir coming to sing for the Confirmation Mass at Oakhurst. Thanks to Efraim for his constant drive up from Fresno to assist us, to Jim Bryant and our Oakhurst choir, and to Dianna Sullivan, who leads the choir in Bass Lake. A huge thank you to our newest member in Music Ministry, Kevin Jonas. Kevin, who recently moved from the Los Angeles, now lives here in the Oakhurst area and will be an integral part of the parish liturgy ministry.

Coming up on Father's Day, is the Fresno Diocesan Priest Retirement Fund collection will be taken up. Last year, our parish gave $2, 415 to the fund, and we hope to increase our contribution. Let us remember that we have two priests that are now in retirement who served this parish, Monsignor Herman and Father Jerry.