From the Pastor's Desk | June 22, 2025

Congratulations Fr. Jack Jobst

Congratulations to Fr. Jack Jobst who is with us this weekend at the 8 am and 10 am Masses celebrating a Mass of Thanksgiving! Please commit to praying for him as he begins his priestly ministry within the Diocese of Lansing particularly at St. John the Baptist in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The chasuble he is wearing this weekend was gifted to him by the parish/school, Knights of Columbus, and the Council of Catholic Women! In addition, the papal blessing you might have seen as you walked in from the south entrance was also gifted to him by the parish/school. We are most grateful to God for his time with us and we wish him many happy years as a priest ministering to the People of God! 

Los Angeles, CA

This is by no means meant to be political. That being said, I would like to encourage all of us to pray for those in Los Angeles (and elsewhere) - everyone including migrants, refugees, the undocumented, law enforcement, and our political and civil authorities. Everyone needs our prayers in this time of great division and uncertainty. Pope Leo XIV, in his papal motto In Illo Uno Unum (In the One We Are One), reminds us that we are one in Christ. In Christ there is no division. Christ gathers what has been scattered. It is the Evil One who seeks to divide and we see that division playing out quite clearly and remarkably. 

Division becomes all the more a reality as we become either more and more skeptical of both the media and our elected officials or all the more certain that one side is right and the other is wrong. What is the truth? In most cases, truth is probably met somewhere in the middle. Nonetheless, it is easy for us to take sides and see our brothers and sisters as enemies. Make no mistake, we have no human enemies. Our only enemy is the Evil One and his minions who continually seek to divide us and separate us from Christ, who is Truth itself, and His Church.

Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:10-17).

The Michigan Bishops in February 2025 issued A Pastoral Note to Migrants. I have linked to that note here and encourage everyone to read it and to continue to pray for everyone affected and involved in the ongoing immigration debate, actions, and controversy. Our immigration system is clearly broken and in need of reform. Most of us are incapable of effecting such reform ourselves. We can, however, pray for our elected officials. Prayer is not empty rhetoric. Prayer is real and it moves God’s heart.

If you would like to get involved more locally and help support our immigrant and refugee populations, I encourage you to contact Catholic Charities of Ingham, Eaton, and Clinton Counties, particularly CCIEC’s Refugee Services. Visit their website here.

In addition, I am linking out to an article recently published by Archbishop Edward Weisenburger, Archbishop of Detroit here. All links are available above. 

Vacation Bible School 

Thank you Jackie and all of the volunteers who helped with Vacation Bible School! VBS always draws a crowd! It is both exciting and worthwhile to have all the kids on the campus for the week. I am very proud and very happy! 

Summer Mode

In the bulletin last week I mentioned that I was tired. So are the staff. Now that most of the programming is finished for the year we will move into planning mode for the fall and the year ahead. We will have our annual calendar meeting on June 23 to begin the planning process. We will also be moving offices around now that Kimberly Keefe has joined the staff.

Please be aware that beginning July 4 the office will be closed on Fridays. The office will reopen on Fridays beginning on August 15. This allows the staff just a little more time to enjoy summer, relax, and get some rest. Thank you for your patience, understanding, and flexibility.

Feast of Corpus Christi

Have you ever heard of the Didache (pronounced Didakhé)? Didache, in Greek, means teaching. The title of this document is also called The Lord’s Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations taken from the very first line of the document. The Didache is the earliest teaching document we have (dated to the first century) of the first Christians. It is the oldest catechism we have from that early period and includes three sections that mainly deal with Christian ethics, rituals (e.g. baptism and Eucharist), and Church organization. Much more can be said about the Didache but my point is that it is considered authoritative and part of the Tradition (capital ‘T ‘intended) of the Church. 

I want to highlight a few sections of the document here as we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi - the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. These sections provide a glimpse into how the early Church celebrated the Eucharist on the Lord’s Day.

Celebrate the Eucharist as follows: Say over the cup: “we give you thanks, Father, for the holy vine of David, your servant, which you made known to us through Jesus your servant. To you be glory for ever”.

Over the broken bread say: “we give you thanks, Father, for the life and the knowledge which you have revealed to us through Jesus your servant. To you be glory for ever. As this broken bread scattered on the mountains was gathered and became one, so too, may your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom. For glory and power are yours through Jesus Christ for ever.

Do not let anyone eat or drink of your eucharist except those who have been baptized in the name of the Lord. For the statement of the Lord applies here also: Do not give to dogs what is holy.

When you finish the meal, offer thanks in this manner: “We thank you, holy Father, for your name which you enshrined in our hearts. We thank you for the knowledge and faith and immortality which you revealed to us through your servant Jesus. To you be glory for ever.

“Almighty ruler, you created all things for the sake of your name; you gave men food and drink to enjoy so that they might give you thanks. Now you have favored us through Jesus your servant with spiritual food and drink as well as with eternal life. Above all we thank you because you are mighty. To you be glory forever.

“Remember, Lord, your Church and deliver her from all evil. Perfect her in your love; and, once she has been sanctified, gather her together from the four winds into the kingdom which you have prepared for her. For power and glory are yours forever.

“May grace come and this world pass away! Hosanna to the God of David. If anyone is holy, let him come. If anyone is not, let him repent. Maranatha. Amen.”

My point in bringing this up is that from the earliest of days in the Church, the Eucharistic meal was seen as something much more than mere symbol or remembrance. The Eucharistic meal has always been understood as the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ really, truly, and substantially. That particular level of understanding (body, blood, soul, divinity, really, truly, and substantially) as professed in the Council of Trent (1545-1563) would certainly develop over time. Our understanding of the theology of transubstantiation has always been there but was further developed, explained, and synthesized by St. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century. Nonetheless, the early Church always understood that the Eucharist was, in fact, the body and blood of Christ himself under the forms of bread and wine. It was no common meal as evidenced by the oldest surviving authoritative text that we have outside of the Scriptures and the Church Fathers.  

It is quite interesting that the Didache is a document taught in every seminary throughout the world including Protestant seminaries. It is fascinating that the doctrine of the real presence has been rejected by so many when, from the earliest days of the Church, it has always been understood. 

Last Monday, I attended the funeral of Archbishop Byrnes in Detroit. Fr. John Riccardo preached the homily. At one point he spoke just to us priests and he talked about the danger of being a priest, something Archbishop Byrnes knew so well. We get used to what we do. There is nothing more dangerous than getting used to the magnificent. We have such a magnificent gift in the Eucharist - Jesus Christ really, truly, and substantially present to each and every one of us. 

As we pray today, on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, let us never get used to the magnificence of the Mass or the Eucharist. It truly is the source and summit of the Christian life. 

Know of my prayers for you all! 

Fr. Ryan