Christ the Divine Shepherd  

Penn Hills/Pitcairn/Monroeville 

There are a lot of great things about being Catholic, but one of my favorites is that we know how to celebrate something.  If a day is important enough, we don’t just celebrate it that day; we celebrate it for an octave – or eight days.  (Christmas and Easter are the best examples, but there are others.)  Of course, you need to prepare for a big celebration, and sometimes the best way to do that is with a series of smaller celebrations, so we sometimes celebrate novenas: eight days of preparatory celebration culminating in the major feast on the ninth day.  So if you do things right, you can get seventeen days’ worth of celebration out of one day.  Of course, sometimes an entire novena is impractical, for whatever reason, so the church might simply celebrate a triduum, or three days, for a specific feast.  (It’s not just the last three days of Lent.)
More than how often we celebrate, it’s what and who we honor with our celebrations.  Saints range from kings and queens to the homeless; they are old and young; martyrs, missionaries, teachers, doctors, priests, deacons, sisters, husbands and wives.  Sometimes we honor very specific moments in a saint’s life, like the conversion of Saint Paul, or the day Saint Francis received the stigmata.  We celebrate the days churches were dedicated.  We even have a celebration for a chair.  (It’s not really about a chair, but that’s for another time.)  And, of course, we have a multitude of celebrations for our Blessed Mother.
All of that gets to the feast we celebrate this weekend: Corpus Christi, or, the Body and Blood of Christ.  The Eucharist is already the central point of all our celebrations as Church, and we already celebrated the institution of the Eucharist in a special way on Holy Thursday. But since we’re good at celebrating things…we’re going to celebrate the Eucharist in a special way once again.  And we should.  Complacency in anything is dangerous, but perhaps especially so in our faith life.  The Eucharist, and our reception of it, must never be taken for granted.  Motivated solely by love, God humbles Himself to come to us as food.  Our only appropriate response is one of honor, reverence, and celebration.  Let’s make sure we do all three of those today.  May the Heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment in all the Tabernacles of the world, even until the end of time!
--
Fr. Jeremy Mohler – Bishop Zubik has appointed Fr. Jeremy Mohler as hospital chaplain to the patients at UPMC East and Forbes Regional Hospitals, and part-time parochial vicar at Christ the Divine Shepherd Parish, effective Friday, July 1^st.  Father currently serves as parochial vicar at Saint Joseph the Worker Parish.  Please be sure to welcome Father Mohler when he arrives.  He will be residing at the Monroeville rectory, as it is much more convenient to the hospitals.  On a personal note, I’m very excited he’s joining us – not just because I’m grateful for the extra help, but because we were next-door neighbors for a year in seminary, and I know him to be a man of prayer, and I know that he will bring many gifts to our parish family.
--
Fourth of July – Please note that the morning Mass on July 4^th will be celebrated at 8:00 AM, so as to pose no conflicts with the Monroeville parade.  Interested in representing either Christ the Divine Shepherd Parish or Divine Mercy Academy in the parade?  See pages 3 and 11, respectively, for more information.
--
Ushers – We’re always looking for more help, but there is a particular need for ushers at the 8:00 AM Mass in Monroeville and the 11:30 AM Mass in Penn Hills.  Please see page 3 for more information.
--
Flea Market – The CDS Flea Market will be here sooner than you think!  Drop-off for items is July 9 & 10; the sale will run July 15-17.  Thanks in advance for your support.
Oremus pro invicem!