It was with some sadness that I read the rubrics following the final prayer of Vespers this Sunday: “The Easter Season ends with the conclusion of Evening Prayer.” While I am grateful – and not a little relieved! – to enter into the normalcy of Ordinary Time, I found myself slightly deflated that we must now leave Easter season behind. Just the smallest taste of how the Apostles must have felt at Jesus’ ascension, but it poked my heart nonetheless.
Pentecost is not without its own fervor, of course. Though we have yet to explore its richness (next year, perchance?), the extended vigil of Pentecost is particularly powerful. I understand it as a kind of mini-Easter, with four readings from the Old Testament – each accompanied by a responsorial psalm and proper prayer – an epistle, and the gospel reading. The rubrics also allow for Vespers (Evening Prayer I) to be celebrated in choir or in common immediately before Mass. As on Easter, the double alleluia is added to the dismissal and response. The Church makes sure that we go out (into the world) in style!
And go out we will, I daresay! Though the intensity of our liturgical celebrations now eases, this summer promises to be a full one. In Port Townsend – thanks to the generous response of several folks already – we are putting together a committee to assist with the capital campaign to pay off the new roof at Saint Mary Star of the Sea, across all of our communities our budding Parish Family Advisory Council is taking shape (nearly there!), and at each parish (and between them) work is beginning in earnest to build (or rebuild) leadership in both faith formation & consultative bodies. The hard work is going to be fitting in summer relaxation between everything! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Please join me in asking the Holy Spirit to descend on our communities, that the work the Lord has entrusted to us may be inspired and guided according to God’s will!
P.S. This week we celebrate the anniversaries of two of our parish priests: Father Ed White celebrates 20 (!) years of priesthood this Wednesday, June 10th and I will likewise thanking the Lord for 16 years of priest this Friday, June 13th. Many – perhaps most – of the priests of the archdiocese celebrate their ordination anniversaries in June. Please pray for us as we enter into a new year of ministry!
June 8 – Having spent forty days in Lent and fifty days celebrating Easter, we finally arive at the birthday of the Church: Pentecost. The promised Holy Spirit arrives in Jerusalem, descending upon the waiting Apostles (having stayed in Jerusalem according to Jesus’ command), who find themselves (newly!) empowered to speak such that all understand. We, too, have received the Holy Spirit and speak the universal language of God’s love – and we are likewise sent out into the world to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Now we enter into Ordinary Time, the Lord hopes to work through us in words, works, and example to bring about extraordinary graces! The Vatican website has Pope Leo XIV’s homily on the solemnity of Pentecost.
June 9 – Easing us back into Ordinary Time is today’s memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church. The title was decreed by Pope Paul VI in 1965 and a votive Mass in honor of Beata Maria Ecclesiae Matre was inserted into the Roman Missal in 1975. On February 11, 2018 Pope Francis made the celebration an obligatory memorial within the liturgical year, desiring that “this devotion might encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious and faithful, as well as a growth of genuine Marian piety”. Read more at the Vatican News website.
June 11 – Today we celebrate Saint Barnabas, apostle and martyr. What little we know of him comes from Saint Luke, who references him as ‘a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith’. It was Barnabas who advocated for Paul’s reception in Jerusalem after his conversion. The two preached together in Antioch and were united at the Council of Jerusalem in asserting that circumcision was no longer necessary. Scripture also testifies to the divisions that arose between them (Acts 15:39), though later letters of Saint Paul indicate that they eventually reconciled. Read more at Franciscan Media.
June 13 – Today is the memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua. I have a special affection for Saint Anthony – as a teenager I chose him as my confirmation saint, I was ordained a deacon in the church (Holy Trinity, Bremerton) where I was confirmed under his patronage, and I was ordained a priest on his feast day in 2009. A man known for his (excellent!) preaching, he was first tapped by his religious superior to do so unexpectedly when all other options had fallen through – a trial by fire if there ever was one! His fervor and oratory skill were immediately evident. To this day, his tongue remains incorrupt and is venerated in Padua. Despite being known as ‘The Hammer of Heretics’, he is often depicted holding the Child Jesus, the two tenderly gazing upon each other. Read more about him at Word On Fire.
Priests celebrating their anniversaries this week
- Rev. Patrick W. Freitag (June 8, 1996)
- Rev. David T. Mulholland (June 8, 2002)
- Rev. Armando S. Perez (June 8, 2002)
- Rev. David H. Young (June 8, 2002)
- Rev. Mark M. Kiszelewski (June 8, 2013)
- Rev. John C. Madigan (June 9, 1974)
- Very Rev. Gary F. Lazzeroni (June 9, 2007)
- Rev. Mel V. Strazicich (June 9, 2007)
- Rev. Jose M. Alvarez (June 9. 2012)
- Rev. Trung H. Pham, S.J. (June 9, 2012)
- Rev. Louis R. Cunningham (June 9, 2018)
- Rev. Justin M. Ryan (June 9, 2018)
- Rev. Anh B. Tran (June 9, 2018)
- Rev. Paul Thanh Vu, S.D.D. (June 9, 2023)
- Rev. Phuong V. Hoang (June 10, 1989)
- Rev. K. Scott Connolly (June 10, 1995)
- Rev. James O. Johnson, Jr. (June 10, 2000)
- Rev. Derek J. Lappe (June 10, 2000)
- Rev. Bryan E. Dolejsi (June 10, 2006)
- Rev. Peter G. Mactutis (June 10, 2006)
- Rev. Duc C. Nguyen (June 10, 2006)
- Rev. Khanh D. Nguyen (June 10, 2006)
- Rev. Michael E. Radermacher (June 10, 2006)
- Rev. Ryan J. Rallanka, S.J. (June 10, 2017)
- Rev. Simon Zachary, S.J. (June 10, 2023)
- Rev. Hung T. Nguyen (June 11, 1994)
- Rev. Edward G. White (June 11, 2005)
- Rev. Paul J. Brunet (June 11, 2011)
- Rev. Bradley R. Hagelin (June 11, 2011)
- Rev. Dwight P. Lewis (June 11, 2011)
- Rev. Bryan A. Ochs (June 11, 2011)
- Rev. Kevin J. Moran (June 12, 1965)
- Rev. Josef Venker, S.J. (June 12, 1987)
- Rev. Michael Bayard, S.J. (June 12, 1998)
- Most Rev. Frank R. Schuster (June 12, 1999)
- Rev. Thomas J. Nathe (June 12, 2004)
- Rt. Rev. Marion Nguyen, O.S.B. (June 12, 2004)
- Rev. Philip H. Raether (June 12, 2004)
- Rev. Vu P. Tran (June 12, 2004)
- Rev. Joseph F. Altenhofen (June 12, 2010)
- Rev. Francisco J. Cancino (June 12, 2010)
- Rev. Matthew T. Oakland (June 12, 2010)
- Rev. Nicholas F. Wichert (June 12, 2010)
- Rev. Michael J. Batterberry (June 13, 1970)
- Rev. Gerald T. Cobb, S.J. (June 13, 1981)
- Rev. Robert A. Camuso (June 13, 1992)
- Rev. Tuan V. Nguyen (June 13, 1992)
- Rev. John J. Wilkie (June 13, 1992)
- Rev. Kevin F.X. Duggan (June 13, 1998)
- Rev. Bryan L. Hersey (June 13, 1998)
- Rev. Donald J. Perea (June 13, 1998)
- Rev. Jeffrey N. McDougall, S.J. (June 13, 2003)
- Rev. Gerald Burns (June 13, 2009)
- Rev. Bryon A. Dickey (June 13, 2009)
- Rev. Jacob M. Maurer (June 13, 2009)
- Rev. Todd O. Strange (June 13, 2009)
- Rev. Aaron Engebretson, S.J. (June 13, 2015)
- Rev. Eugene P. Delmore, S.J. (June 14, 1969)
- Rev. Anton Harris, S.J. (June 14, 1975)
Remembering our deceased priests
- Fr. Redmond Burke (June 8, 1979)
- Fr. Patrick McNerney (June 9, 1963)
- Fr. Thomas L. O’Brien (June 9, 1979)
- Fr. John O’Hagan (June 11, 1938)
- Fr. James F. Lanigan (June 12, 1962)
- Fr. Thomas J. Phelan (June 12, 2012)
- Fr. Thomas Hanley (June 13, 1983)
Adding the extended vigil of Pentecost would be awesome!
I think so too! I’ve only done it once before, and that was without Vespers beforehand.
To stack a little enthusiasm on top of enthusiasm, I would add that my long-term dream is to have Vespers before every vigil Mass. It would be such a neat way to prepare our hearts and to more actively engage in the liturgies of the Church.