May 31, 2026: Feast of the Visitation

Even though today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, I find it worthwhile to recognize the wonderful feast of the Visitation that is usually on May 31.

God has truly come to be with His people to bring them salvation. May we, like St. John the Baptist, leap for joy.

May we know the blessing of acknowledging God's presence and following His leading, having faith that in His way, God will unfold His plan.  It is a marvel how we can participate.

May 31, 2026: Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

God has acted so wondrously in our lives and in our world, revealing the great Mystery of the Trinity, the relationships in Himself.

Father, Son, and Spirit share an immense love with one another, which we come to know as God shows mercy upon us.  God revealed the fullness of His love in sending His Son so that we wouldn't perish, but have Eternal Life, experiencing union with Him.  

We experience His grace so that we may live abundantly in His life as we build His Kingdom, putting faith in our Triune God into action.

May 25, 2026: Feast of Mary, Mother of the Church

We rejoice that Mary consented to her part in God's plan to bring about the salvation of the world, and she continues to support us.

Christ, from the Cross, offered His mother to the Beloved Disciple, and to the whole Church.

Just as she joined the first disciples in prayer as they awaited the Holy Spirit, so she intercedes for the Church now that we may faithfully do our part to uphold the Church to make Christ known.

May 24, 2026: Pentecost Sunday

The promise of the Risen Christ became real on Pentecost Sunday when the Holy Spirit came in wind and fire upon the Church.  The disciples then began to proclaim the Good News and the mighty acts of God.

Reversing what happened at Pentecost, they could speak other languages so that the multiplicity of peoples present could understand what they said.

Truly, the Holy Spirit is the Presence of the Risen Christ active among us, bringing us together as one in God, as we experience reconciliation and forgiveness, like what Christ said when He appeared on Easter Sunday evening, breaking through fear to bring peace.  Furthermore, He sent the apostles forth on mission, with the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We, too, continue to experience these graces today.  The Spirit manifests Himself in various ways that we may fulfill our purpose in the Body of Christ, with each of us playing an important part.  We remain united in this mission through the One Spirit that we experience in baptism.

I think back to my ValpU graduation, which was on Pentecost Sunday 13 years ago.  The Holy Spirit was doing a great work in me during college as I gained new knowledge in academics and faith.  It was fitting to be sent forth on that Pentecost Sunday into the next phase of life to do great works as a blessing to others, just like when I graduated with my MLIS degree 10 years ago this month.

The Spirit is the great power that sends us into the world that we may make God known.

May 17, 2026: 7th Sunday of Easter

We hear God's promise that He will abide with us in the Holy Spirit.

So we look to God as He unfolds this promise.

Furthermore, we ground ourselves in the revelations of God made in Jesus Christ.

Even now we experience Eternal Life because through these revelations, we have come to know God, and we can trust God and count on Him to continue making Himself known as He leads us deeper into the Mystery of Himself.

May 17, 2026: Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

Christ appeared to His Apostles and disciples for 40 days after His Resurrection, so that they would embrace the reality of His Risen Presence.

It was a mystery that they would still need to understand more, since they asked Jesus about the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel.

Even in the scene in the Gospel reading, the Apostles go to the mountain in Galilee to meet Jesus, doubting, yet also worshipping Him.

He instead told them to seek the great power that would come upon them, which would send them on mission to build God's Kingdom over all the world.

Then Jesus was lifted up from them.  He was out of sight, and their relationship with Him entered a new phase, in which they would experience His mystical Presence abiding within them as they carried out His mission.  The men in white came to help point them to this new reality.

So Jesus continues to abide with His church, and that is our hope.  By His Ascension, He is our Exalted Head, and He is at work as we heed His command stated in the Great Commission at the end of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, to make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them.  We do this because He remains powerfully with us so that the world may know the reality of God with us.  He Who came as the promised Emmanuel, God with us, makes this promise clear again as He makes Himself mystically and powerful present.

May 10, 2026: 6th Sunday of Easter

We continue to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ because His Risen Presence abides with us in the Spirit, Who enables us to be in tune with God's Presence, so that we always know that God has not left us orphans.  And we proclaim what Christ has done, and, as St. Peter writes, we may "sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts" as we live in hope and testify to it with reverence and gentleness, thus showing how God is active in us.

Furthermore, we truly experience God's love when we obey His commandments, which keep us in tune with God's life.  It is the love we share in our earthly relationship that makes God real, especially as we celebrate Mothers' Day.

He further supports us by the Spirit He sends to be our Advocate, so that we know that as the Father and the Son are in each other, God is in us.  (Truth is something I have in mind as I celebrate the 10th anniversary of my MLIS graduation in the Dominican University community.)

The Spirit is the great revelation of how God is alive in us, and we can live in joy, testifying to God's marvelous works.  This joy truly comes from the Risen Christ, and it is our joy that has no end.