I’ve never known a people more grateful. You are ministers of the Eucharist every time you extend gratitude to one another.
Knowing Jesus and Loving Jesus
May 11, 2020
For today’s touchtone I have actually chosen tomorrow morning’s Gospel reading because it is one of my favorites and because I think it is the most beautiful of the week. Jesus’ promise of the gift of peace has become a familiar scriptural phrase to many. Certainly Catholics recognize the paraphrased version of it that is in our liturgy every week when, after the our father, the celebrant says, “Peace I leave you, my peace I give you.”
First Communion and Confirmation
June 8, 2019
Peace may seem a distant hope for many just now. I feel we are in a “moment within a moment.” What I’m referring to is that, within this time of Covid, we are in a smaller sub-moment of transition. As are all of the pastors in the archdiocese, I am juggling and balancing many things in order to figure out how and when we will resume public mass and what exactly that may look like. I suspect any and all decisions made in this regard will disappoint some and please others and at a time like this that may simply be the nature of my job.
n my reflection I explore a little bit of our plans for the future, although specifics at this point simply aren’t available. For now we will continue online as we carefully layout and explore the possibilities. We will also figure out which parts of our online outreach will continue even if and when public services start to look more like those we remember.
This gospel challenges our faith in the promised peace of Jesus. It is a tough challenge because we are in tough times. I have come to believe that he gift that Jesus offers is not simply received in an entirely passive way, but must also be pursued. I hope to offer one way that I believe we can do that.
This week the front plaza is being updated with new concrete so there will be no steps leading into the hall!
For our musical offering today, I have chosen a song from the Music Ministry's 2017 Advent Concert entitled “I Will Be A Child Of Peace.“ I love the way the choir sings this piece, but more importantly I love the message and the tone. It uses the phrase not simply as a fulfillment of Jesus’ promise, but as a personal promise we give back to God. We promise to God and to one another that we will be a people of peace.
On a different note, I am asking for a favor from the parish today. As the staff and I are busy putting out these Touchstones as well as online mass, one of the more time-consuming tasks is to find photos, small video clips and other types of media to use. It’s always especially great to see photos of our own community, when we can find them. And this is where all of you, hopefully, come in.
I have set up a special email account where I’m asking parishioners to send photos. Of course, I would ask that any photos or videos you send are ones that you are OK with us using. Unless you specifically would like, we are careful not to use names with the photos (this has been deemed especially protective for children’s photos). I would also ask you to use the system that I’ve explained in the final paragraph here to help us sort. It’s very simple.
There are four categories that we could really use.:
- The first would be photos of the community-worship here at church. Many of you have taken great photos or videos of sacramental celebrations over the years: baptisms, first communions (especially with the children up around the altar), confirmations, weddings and celebrations of life at every stage. Also you may have shots of social events and outreach programs and classroom settings, anything that has happened here in the church community). These photos show the soul of our community.
- Secondly, if you have shots of social events, educational moments, outreach programs or any of our parish life that goes on here on the campus or at an MPB sponsored event anywhere, these pics and videos let people see the heart of our community.
- Thirdly you may have great shots of family life photos at home that you are willing to share. These too would be wonderful for the community to see and help us connect during this time. These could include anything from family reunions to birthday celebrations. If it helps you to decide, know that sometimes in a touchstone one of the staff or myself are conveying hope or gratitude or peace or prayer. Anytime you see a shot that you think conveys one of those ideas, that would be a great gift to us. These pics and videos from your family show the daily embodiment of our community.
- And finally, some of you are just amazing photographers! You may have video or still footage of nature or cityscapes or architecture (churches, etc.…) or other various moments. These always enhance what we’re doing. Any of these you would be willing to share would be such a gift to me and those of us who are putting out these videos at this time for our community. They would, of course, be a gift to the entire community as well. These show the amazing talent of our community.
And so here is the system: I would ask you to send all of these photos or videos to fpdden@gmail.com and in the subject line simply put one of the following depending on which category of the ones above you think they would fit into:
- For shots of anything that is sacrament or worship oriented: “MPB prayer”
- For shots of other parish activities (formation, outreach, music, etc…): “MPB parish life”
- For any photos of family gatherings, daily life the subject line would be “MPB family life"
- For any of you just sending in shots that you really love, simply use: “MPB photographers”
- And if your file is too large to send, just send us a note with the “would have been” subject line and we can get you a link to a shared space to drop it.
Thanks to all of you who can participate in this!
God Bless all of you,
Fr. Pat
Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
You heard me tell you,
‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’
If you loved me,
you would rejoice that I am going to the Father;
for the Father is greater than I.
And now I have told you this before it happens,
so that when it happens you may believe.
I will no longer speak much with you,
for the ruler of the world is coming.
He has no power over me,
but the world must know that I love the Father
and that I do just as the Father has commanded me.”
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
You heard me tell you,
‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’
If you loved me,
you would rejoice that I am going to the Father;
for the Father is greater than I.
And now I have told you this before it happens,
so that when it happens you may believe.
I will no longer speak much with you,
for the ruler of the world is coming.
He has no power over me,
but the world must know that I love the Father
and that I do just as the Father has commanded me.”
MPB Livestream Mass Continues!
- Join us for our Livestream Masses every Saturday at 4:30pm.
- All parishioners are invited to be a part of the "safer-at-home" virtual assembly. Sign up by Friday and you will be sent a Zoom videoconference link and instructions by Saturday morning. "Seats" are limited to 450 households per Mass.
- Watch the weekend Mass on your own once it's posted online (by Sunday morning) for the remainder of the week.
Please send any questions to tstone@mpbdenver.org.
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