Pastor’s Letter: June 29, 2025

Pastor’s Letter: June 29, 2025

27 Jun 2025 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

Blessings and peace to you this day! How is it that we are already at the end of June? The summer truly has been going fast—we have continued work on the school roof, HVAC projects, and our parking lot—hopefully all of those will be finishing up soon.

We celebrate a special Solemnity this weekend—the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul. This celebration always falls on June 29 and dates back to at least the 200s AD.  St. Peter, of course, was our first pope, and was martyred in Rome in the year 64 AD. After the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus, and strengthened by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, St. Peter became a courageous witness to the life of Jesus, including giving his own life in witness to Christ. St. Paul, the great evangelist, also ended up a martyr in Rome, generally thought of around the year 67 AD. As the Acts of the Apostles tells us, St. Paul journeyed around Asia Minor and Greece preaching the gospel, eventually going all the way to Rome. St. Paul is the author of a good chunk of our New Testament letters, which we often hear during the second readings at Mass.

These two saints together did much work in helping build up the early Church. As St. Augustine says in the Office of Readings for June 29:  “Both apostles share the same feast day, for these two were one; and even though they suffered on different days, they were as one.”

Our celebration this weekend is a great lead in to our last part of the Creed where we talk about the Church…“I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” In this last part of the Creed, we profess a belief about four unique characteristics of the Church, commonly called the “Four Marks of the Church.” These characteristics are like landmarks or distinguishing features which help us to know the one true Church of Christ. Before we get into each of the “Marks” in the next few weeks, let’s take some time to review a little bit about the Church itself.

As the Second Vatican Council taught, “Christ is the light of humanity; and it is, accordingly, the heart-felt desire of this sacred Council, being gathered together in the Holy Spirit, that, by proclaiming his Gospel to every creature, it may bring to all men that light of Christ which shines out visibly from the Church” (Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, 1).  Our Catechism explains this teaching by saying “The Church has no light other than Christ’s…the Church is like the moon, all its light is reflected from the sun” (CCC 748).

We believe that the Church was founded by Christ for a specific purpose. Christ’s task was to accomplish the Father’s plan of salvation—He founded the Church to fulfill the Father’s will to usher in the Kingdom and help souls share in the life of God. Specifically, the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, is the structure that carries out Christ’s mission of salvation. As we know, the Church is built on the foundation of St. Peter and the Apostles, instituted at the foot of the cross and manifested at Pentecost. “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

The word “Church” comes from the Greek word for assembly. In our Tradition, “Church” has referred to:  the Universal Church, the local Diocese, a parish community, the People of God, the Body of Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit, among many others. Together with these ways of understanding “Church,” the New Testament and many in Christian history have added images such as: the sheepfold, a cultivated field, the building of God, the bride of Christ, mother, family of God, the anchor, and the ark safely housing the living. With so many aspects of “Church,” the last image of the ark helps us visualize how everyone can find a place in the Church of Christ and find a helpful way of relating to God and drawing deeper into unity with Him.

One of the great gifts of the Second Vatican Council was a deeper understanding of these images for the Church, along with rich teaching on how we as Christian people live together within the Church. May we all continue to grow together in Christ as His family the Church! Know of my prayers and blessing this week!

In Christ,

Fr. Luke