Pastor's Corner: Corpus Christi and Sabbatical Details

Today we celebrate what is commonly known as "Corpus Christi," or more formally "The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ." In today's celebration we rejoice in the gift of The Eucharist and the fulfillment of the promise Jesus made to be with us until the end of time (Mt 28:20). In today's celebration, let us deepen our devotion to The Blessed Sacrament, recognizing this beautiful Gift of Grace to us! Of course, we receive The Blessed Sacrament for the Grace provided to strengthen us in our journey of faith. However, we also venerate and adore Jesus in the Eucharist, as He is the presence of God Himself. Today, we will celebrate this feast with a Eucharistic procession in the church after the 10:30 a.m. Mass and then silent Eucharistic adoration until benediction and reposition at 3 p.m. The Eucharist is the "source and summit" of our sacramental faith, and our devotion to Jesus cannot be complete without devotion to His presence in the Blessed Sacrament. I hope you are able to make some time today to pray before The Blessed Sacrament. As most of you know, my sabbatical will begin August 3. I will be out of the parish beginning then and return Thanksgiving week for the First Sunday of Advent. A couple of weeks ago I provided some of the general parameters of a sabbatical and my schedule this summer as the sabbatical approaches. As promised, the following provides a little bit more information about the specific purpose and activities of the sabbatical. A sabbatical is intended to help a priest take time to develop the four pillars of priestly formation, namely Spiritual Formation, Intellectual Formation, Pastoral Formation and Human Formation. My sabbatical activities all revolve around developing these four pillars. The sabbatical will consist of a silent retreat in Maryland followed by a few weeks visiting family in the Philadelphia area during August. After that, I'll fly to Rome in early September to participate in a program studying the life and writings of St. Augustine. I will then make The Camino in October, beginning in Madrid and ending in Compostela, Spain. Finally, I will return to Rome in November to study Renaissance Art before returning home Thanksgiving week. I will certainly miss St. Pius during the sabbatical, but hope, like in my last sabbatical in 2017, that I return to you a better pastor.