May 29, 2011
Sixth Sunday of Easter: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17; 1 Pt 3:15-18; Jn 14:15-21.

In her book, Living in Courage, Debra Oakland listed 144 qualities of love: Acceptance, Accountability, Activity, Adoration, Allowance, Attention,  Authority, Awareness, Balance, Beauty, Blessedness, Boldness, Boundless, Bravery, Calmness, Caring, Centered-ness, Charity, Clarity, Command, Commitment, Community, Compassion, Concentration, Confidence, Consciousness, , Consideration, Constructiveness, Cooperation, Conviction, Courage, Creativity, Dedication, Desire, Determination, Devotion, Dignity, Diligence, Diplomacy, Discernment, Discipline, Dynamism, Elegance, Empathy, Empowerment, Enlightenment ,Excitement ,Exemplification, Expansion, Faith, Fearlessness, Flexibility, Focus, Force, Forgiveness, Freedom, Generosity, Gentleness, Giving, Grace, Gratitude, Guidance, Happiness, Harmlessness, Harmony, Healing, Helpfulness, Honesty, Honor, Hope, Humility, Humor, Illumination, Immortality, Innocence, Inspiration, Integrity, Intelligence, Intuitive, Joy, Justice, Kindness, Knowing-ness, Leadership, Liberty, Limitlessness, Listening, Love, Loyalty, Magnetism, Mastery, Mentor-ship, Mercy, Motivation, Non-judgement, Obedience, Observing, Omnipresence, Omniscience, Openness, Opulence, Patience, Passion, Peace, Perfection  ,Persistence, Poise, Positivism, Power, Praise, Productivity, Protection, Purity, Purpose, Radiance, Receptivity, Reflection, Resonance, Respect, Responsibility, Resourcefulness, Reverence, Sacredness, Serenity, Service, Sincerity, Stability, Stillness, Strength, Surrender, Support, Temperance, Tolerance, Transcendence, Transformation, Trust, Truth, Unity, Upliftment, Victory, Vision, Will, Wisdom, Worthiness.

As much as we try to live loving lives we all fall short of completing the above list, some of us more than others.  God, however, loves us in all these ways and more.  He loves us with a perfect love.  What a wonderful meditation to read this list and reflect on each and every one of these and realize that we are loved in this way.   Also, every one of these characteristics’ can be found in the love that Jesus expressed to us through His life, death and resurrection.  It was because of Christ great love for us that He assumed our human flesh.  It was because of His great love for us that he cherished His mother and foster father.  It was because of His great love for us that he began his ministry, healed the sick, suffered all forms of depredation, accepted the cross and died for us.  It is because of His great love for us that He gave us the Eucharist and the Sacraments and established the Church.

The gift presented in today’s Gospel is the Love of the Father and the Son in the Person of the Holy Spirit.  Pope Blessed John Paul II in his book, The Spirit, Giver of life and love, writes, “The Holy Spirit as Love-Person and uncreated God is at the Origin of all other gifts poured out upon creatures, and is a souse from which every created thing derives. He is like a fire of love, which showers sparks of reality and goodness upon all things” (313).  The promise of our Lord is that we will not left as orphans and that through the Holy Spirit we will realize that, “am in my Father and you are in me and I in you” (Jn 14:19).  We experience the fullness of the Love of God the Father and God the Son through the Person of God the Holy Spirit who is alive in our lives, in the Church and the world around us.

The Commandment that Jesus gives us is to love as we have been loved.  As we allow the fire of love of the Holy Spirit to burn in our lives we will have the ability more and more to live each and every one of those qualities of love.  As humans we will always fall short, but the love of God alive in our hearts can help us achieve what is not humanly possible.

ó We have some wonderful celebrations approaching soon in our parish.  This Friday, June 3, we will be graduating 128 seniors from our High School.  The Following Friday, we will be equally proud of the 54 eighth graders who will graduate from our elementary school. These are wonderful young men and women who will always be marked by the love they received through their years at Mary Star of the Sea.  Our parish should again be very proud that we are a part of the past, present and future of Mary Star of the Sea High School and Elementary School.

ó June 12 at the 10:30 Mass we will again be celebrating our Multi-cultural Pentecost Sunday Mass with a reception following.  This Multi-cultural, multi-lingual Mass reflects who we are as Mary Star of the Sea Parish distinct from any other parish in the Archdiocese for our diverse and dynamic cultures.  We will also be honoring the recipients of the Mary Star of the Sea Volunteer Awards for 2010.  There will be no Spanish, Croatian or Italian Mass on this day so we may unite as one parish.

ó No Adult Catechism Class tonight due to Memorial Day.

ó On Monday Memorial Day,  Mass at 9:00 a.m. only(no other Masses that day)

God Bless,                                          

Rev John F. Provenza

Pastor