My dear family of Holy Trinity Church. During this first week of July that we are going to start soon, we will celebrate two important celebrations.
The first one is the Fourth of July. In this holiday we not only gather together with our family, relatives, and friends to have a picnic and fun, watching the show if fireworks, for example. One of the questions that any Catholic can wonder is how to celebrate this holiday from a Catholic perspective because this important celebration for the United States is more than hotdogs, burgers, games, and fireworks. First, during this day, we have the opportunity to say thank you to God for allowing us to live in this country. Having a thanksgiving attitude is the best way that we can start to celebrate not only this day, but all the days of the year. Second, what about to honor the Catholic contribution to the Declaration of Independence. “Thomas Jefferson’s phrase ‘all men are created equal’ was inspired by an Italian Catholic named Phillip Mazzei who wrote to Jefferson that ‘all men are by nature equally free and independent’” (more information). The Christian ideas of equality and human dignity comes from the Bible, and Our Lord Jesus Christ always is inviting us to love our neighbors, even those who we do not know. Are we loving people who are also living in this country, regardless their religion, race, color of the skin, or language? Third, let us know about our American Saints. People who, during their lives, preached the Gospel working for the goodness of all people in this amazing country, regardless if they were citizens or not. Do you know them? What about reading the stories of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. John Neumann, St. Marianne Cope, St. Junipero Serra, St. Katharine Mary Drexel, St. Damien de Veuster of Molokai, St. Kateri Tekakwitha, and so on. If you want to know a little bit about their lives, I invite you to go to USCCB website and check their stories. These are some examples of how a Catholic can celebrate this Fourth of July.
The second celebration that we will honor this week is the passing of our beloved pastor and friend, Fr. Tim Horan. Surprisingly, he also passed away on the Fourth of July, last year. Can you believe that it has been a year since he departed to the house of our Heavenly Father? I cannot. Sometimes, I think that he just left yesterday. All of us miss him very much, but we know that he is in a better place waiting for us. The best way that we can honor Fr. Tim in his first anniversary of his death, is not only remembering him, but praying for him. He, like any person, needs our prayers. On July 4th, we not only celebrate a Mass for our country, but we too celebrate Fr. Tim’s life at 9:00 in the morning. Come, participate in the Eucharist, and let us pray for our beloved pastor who is now resting in the peace of Christ. Another way that we can celebrate the life of Fr. Tim is reading his book. Have we read it yet? If you have not, I invite you to read it. If you already did it, what about reading it again. In any case, you will discover or rediscover wonderful messages from God through Fr. Tim. Let us keep in our memory, heart, and prayers our beloved pastor. He from heaven is praying for each one of us.
God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!
Fr. Jorge Ramirez
