Pastor’s Letter: June 8, 2025

Pastor’s Letter: June 8, 2025

6 Jun 2025 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

I hope everyone enjoyed another beautiful week! It has been a busy week here at the parish, including beginning several projects to help keep our parish buildings and grounds in good condition. One of the compliments I have received several times this past year from visitors is how everything here really looks well cared for. Certainly that is a compliment to Fr. David for his commitment to our facilities, as well as our Finance Council for good wisdom and guidance in caring for our campus. I have seen that wisdom in action over the past several months, as we have been planning for projects that will help keep our church, school and parking lot in good condition. As we mentioned last weekend in the Mass announcement, this work may include blocking off certain driveways or parking areas…Of course these are short term situations in service to our long term goals here. I certainly am thankful for everyone’s support and generosity as we strive to keep our parish welcoming and equipped to serve God’s people!

As we celebrate Pentecost this weekend, I thought it would be fitting to review through the section of the Creed dedicated to the Holy Spirit.

“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.”

After laying out our beliefs about the Father and the Son, the Creed next turns attention to the third person of the Trinity: The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the bond of love between the Father and the Son—a love so powerful and perfect that the third person of the Trinity exists as a complete bond of unity and love between the Father and the Son. As if this wasn’t enough, the Holy Spirit is also the same bond of love and unity for us!

Calling the Holy Spirit “the Lord” helps us realize that the Holy Spirit is the one true God in the same way that the Father and the Son are God. Lord is a title that referred to God the Father and God the Son in the early Church—to call the Holy Spirit the same clearly puts the third person of the Trinity on equal footing with the other two. That is why the Holy Spirit is “adored and glorified,” again sharing in the particular praise that is reserved for the one true God alone.

Saying the Holy Spirit is the “giver of life” calls to mind the great gift of the Spirit—the breath of life. In a very real way, the Spirit dwelling within us after our baptism breathes the fresh life of God into our souls. The Holy Spirit “animates” us, strengthens us to live life in Christ, guides and directs us into unity with the Father and the Son, and protects us along the way to eternal life. In a specific way, the Holy Spirit has been present to the human co-authors of the Scriptures and God’s chosen leaders in faith, guiding their words so that they understood and communicated clearly God’s word to us. By specifically naming the prophets, the Creed makes clear that we believe the Holy Spirit was present and active long before Pentecost.

How about the phrase, “who proceeds from the Father and the Son?” Would you believe this section of the Creed has been pretty controversial through the last 1000 years? It really all comes down to three words: “and the Son.” The “proceeding” part is straight forward—we know from the Scriptures that the “Advocate” is sent to dwell with us and help us. In the original version of the Creed (agreed upon by Christians of the East and the West) the phrase only said “who proceeds from the Father.” Later on in the West, “and the Son” was added to show the equality of the Father and the Son and indicate that both the Father and the Son do the sending. This might seem like a small thing, but many Churches of the East rejected the addition, and those three words have continued to be a point of contention. In Christian history, this is called the “Filioque Controversy.” Filioque is a Latin word that means “and from the Son” and is found in the Latin translation of the Creed. I recently read an article pointing out that the controversy is not necessarily disagreement over doctrine but rather over the wording used to describe the doctrine…and the emphasis of those words—either honoring the Father uniquely or the Father and Son as consubstantial.

All of that is certainly a reminder to pray for unity…and joyfully we celebrate this weekend the Holy Spirit—the bond of love who truly can draw us all together! Know of my prayers and blessing this week!

In Christ,

Father Luke