My dear parishioners, in order to provide you with Our Lord’s Precious Blood at our Sunday and Holy Day Masses, I need the help of many lay persons. We have three Masses each weekend. We offer Masses twice on holy days of obligation. For each Mass, I need four lay ministers to offer the Precious Blood and four lay ministers to offer the Blessed Sacrament. Moreover, I need four more ministers to cover absences. In short, a minimum of twelve (12) Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion (EOMS) are needed to provide for each Sunday Mass.

 The question before us is this: What will the members of St. Philip parish do? Will you step up and help? Will you do your part to help me in my priestly ministry to provide God’s people what they botrightfully need and deserve in every Eucharistic Celebration? There are more than enough single persons and couples in blessed marriages who are able to help me at each Mass. Who will open their eyes to see what needs to be done? Who will open their ears to hear my plea on behalf of our Lord Jesus? Who will say ‘ yes’ to Jesus and to your unworthy servant? 

Our Catholic religion is subjected to many misconceptions and stereotypes. One of the most powerful distortions embedded in the Catholic mind is: Someone else will take care of it. Likewise, few errors in a Catholic’s perception are so misguided as: They can don’t need me. I fear for the soul of one who enshrines these assumptions in mind and heart and defends them to the end. Many such persons could be a greater threat to God’s people than the devil himself. 

 If you step forward out of a love for God and say, ‘Yes, I’ll help God’s people in the Mass, I am thankful for you. If you step forward out of love for your neighbors and say, ‘Yes, I’ll help, I am grateful for you. Wherever love for God is conscious in the minds of his people, wherever love for him is rooted in the human heart, wherever love for God is strong and spiritual, there God is in communion with his people. In that sacred place, they drink from “a spring of water welling up to eternal life”  [Jn 4:14], for our loving heavenly father will not be outdone in generosity!

When God’s people shine with his love and strive to be holy as God himself is holy, the respect shared between neighbors is of divine origin. This divine respect is actually a deep and expressive love that points to God. Assisting one’s neighbors in the Eucharistic Celebration is the most perfect expression of divine mutual respect known on earth. Ever in our hearts we hear the echo of Our Lord’s words to all his followers: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."  [Lk 10:27] 
 
A minimum of twelve (12) Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion (EOMS) are needed to provide for each Sunday Mass!
 
My dear friends, can you, can any Catholic who is aware, caring of others and committed to action be “indifferent at this great banquet waiting to be served”?  [A. Carvajal] 

Sincerely, in the hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Your pastor, Reverend Richard Barker.
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