“The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the hierarchy of the truths of faith” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 234).

 God is mysterious. We have to accept this fact. We cannot think that we can completely understand God. St. Augustine was once confronted by a pagan leader who showed him his idol and said, “Here is my god; where is yours?” Augustine replied, “I cannot show you my God; not because there is no God to show but because you have no eyes to see him.”

However, although we cannot even begin to fathom the mystery of God, we do know that he is always with us. The gift of faith that we have received at our baptism helps us to live in his presence and know that he is always with us.

 Therefore, the more important question for us to ask today is: What does the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity tell us about the kind of God we worship and what does this say about the kind of people we should be? On this, two points of significance can be noted.

 (1) God does not exist in solitary individualism but in a community of love and sharing. God is not a loner. This means that a Christian in search of Godliness (Matthew 5:48) must shun every tendency to isolationism. The ideal Christian spirituality is not that of flight from the world like that of certain Buddhist monastic traditions where the quest for holiness means permanent withdrawal to the Himalayas away from contact and involvement with people and society.

 (2) True love requires three partners. You remember the old saying “Two is company, three is a crowd.” The Trinity shows us that three is community, three is love at its best; three is not a crowd. Taking an example from the human condition we see that when a man A is in love with a woman B they seal the loving by producing a baby C. Father, mother and child — love when it perfected becomes a trinity.

 Our Christian life then is to experience God as the Father, the Son and the Spirit. Our community life then is an invitation to that experience – our life is perfected when we try to live our life in communion with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. 

Stewardship Thoughts

A Trinitarian theme — three persons in one God — connects today’s Scripture readings. In the First Reading from Deuteronomy, Moses professes that due to God’s uniqueness, people should be inspired to follow His directives. According to St. Paul’s Letter to the Roman community, the Spirit permits us to become adopted children and heirs through Christ — Roman society held adopted children in high esteem. In a powerful evangelization message from St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus commissions His Apostles: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Do we, as faithful stewards, realize our baptismal call, our gift of discipleship from the Lord? Moved by the Holy Trinity, do we express this discipleship in a spirit of evangelization by welcoming home our brothers and sisters who have left the faith, and those who do not know Christ? Please read Archbishop Allen Vigneron’s pastoral letter, Unleash the Gospel, at unleashthegospel.org, to review the guideposts for evangelization in the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Memorial Day Weekend Parish

The Parish Office will be closed Monday, May 28 for the holiday weekend.

Mass will be celebrated in the Church Monday, May 28 at 9:00 am

The parish has a voicemail system that will take messages when the office is closed. Messages will be returned in a timely fashion.

313-532-4394

Staff phone extension directory:

Fr. Socorro – 105

Fr. Henry – 102

Mrs. Sue Daly – 100

Mrs. Bonnie Danic – 101

Kathryn Potts – 103

This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost, the culminating feast of the entire Easter season, which we have kept already for a full fifty days. Today is observed as the “birthday” of the Church. The same Holy Spirit Who hovered over the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation was sent by the Risen Christ into the hearts of the first disciples gathered in prayer together in the Upper Room with Our Lady, making them witnesses of the Lord’s promises to the ends of the earth. The Holy Spirit bestows and liberates gifts.

  We receive the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Baptism and Confirmation strengthens them. As we celebrate Pentecost, Jesus wants us to rekindle those gifts in our hearts and lives. It’s good to remind ourselves today the 7 Gifts of the Spirit, what they are and what effect they have in our lives:

 · Knowledge – the gift of knowing the truth; knowing the Father and Jesus the Savior whom He sent among us.  

· Wisdom – the power to see all things as God sees them.

· Understanding – the gift of understanding God’s revelation.

· Counsel – the gift of helping us to see just what we should do in a difficult situation.

· Fortitude – the power to carry through joyfully what we know to be right.

· Piety – the gift that leads us to feel for God the love that a child feels for a loving parent and enables us to see all others as our brothers and sisters.

· Fear of the Lord – the gift that enables us to be willing to respond to the impulses of the Holy Spirit and gives us a fear of being separated from God. 

 It is important to remember, though, that being a Christian is the first gift of the Holy Spirit, and that each person has special gifts which the Holy Spirit uses for the good of the whole Church. 

High School and College Graduates

Class of 2018 The St. Valentine community wishes to congratulate you on your graduation; and would like to recognize your accomplishment at our Noon Mass on Sunday, June 10th, 2018.

We invite you and members of your immediate family to attend the Mass; and join us afterwards, for light refreshments in the School Meeting Room.

Please R.S.V.P. to the parish office (313-532-4394) by June 6th, if you plan on attending. Include the number of people who will be joining you; and, if you would like to participate in the Mass (as either a Eucharistic Minister or Lector), let the office staff know when you call.

Stewardship Thoughts

On this Pentecost Sunday, the Scripture readings reveal the powerful works of the Holy Spirit in the early Christian community. On this occasion of Pentecost, the Church “is made manifest to the world” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1076). In other words, it is at Pentecost that the Catholic Church is born. In the Acts of the Apostles, we observe the power and authority that the Holy Spirit bestows upon the disciples through the symbols of wind and tongues of fire. In St. John’s Gospel, Jesus gives His followers the gifts of the Spirit: peace and the power to forgive sins. In his First Letter to the faith community at Corinth, St. Paul persuades them to strive for unity and to acknowledge one another’s gifts, service, and works given by the Most Holy Trinity as one Body in Christ. As faith-filled stewards, what God-given gifts and services do we offer weekly at the altar of the Lord to uplift our parish communion? In a spirit of evangelization, are we building up the Body of Christ by inviting our brothers and sisters to a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior? To build a relationship with the Holy Spirit, please visit the Franciscan website, The Wild Goose, at thewildgooseisloose.com.

Go Tigers!!!!!!!!

 We have a total of 16 tickets left for the Tiger Game on Friday, July 20^th. This is the Detroit Tigers versus Boston Red Socks,  we will travel in a fine motor coach, the bus driver is able to park close to the gates, so there isn’t much walking. The cost is very reasonable $39 per ticket and that includes the motor coach and game. There are fireworks afterward, we do stay to watch. So please come and join us, you will be glad you did! Let’s fill the bus and root for our Tigers!

Your money is due now. If you have ordered tickets and still owe please send a check payable to “St. Valentine” drop it in the collection basket marked “Tiger Game.”

Call Cecilia Gallagher for tickets or information on 313-613-7463 or email cecgall@ameritech.net.

Everyone is invited to our Parish Picnic next Sunday, August 27th. We are grateful to our Men’s Club for providing the meat and corn on the cob. We would appreciate if you could bring a dish to share. There will be at least 100 people at the picnic, so please bring enough to feed approximately 15-20 people.

Those who bring a dish will automatically be entered into a raffle to win a nice prize!

 We changed things up a bit for those donating dishes.

· Last names A-G—Desserts or Fruits

· Last names H-O—Appetizers or Dips

· Last names P-Z—Salads—Greens, Pasta, Coleslaw, etc.

If you could drop off your dish at the food table prior to the noon Mass that will help our organizers get the food ready in a timely fashion. We will have a 50/50 raffle and games for the kids. We hope to see everyone! Any questions, feel free to see one of our Parish Council members.

Beatification Mass of Father Solanus Casey

Are you interested in going to the Beatification Mass of Fr. Solanus Casey at Ford Field on November 18^th?  If so, we are sharing 100 tickets with Our Lady of Loretto Parish. We have chartered 2 buses to help with your transportation. The cost is $15 per person. This is a first come first served basis. You must call the parish office at 313-532-4394 to secure your reservation and your money must be paid by September 11^th. If you have any questions, please call Bonnie at the Parish Office.

Parishioner, Albert Betzler, is a student at Sacred Heart major Seminary. His Professor Tamra Fromm, suggested he submit his reflections to our Sunday Bulletin. Below you will find the fifth in the series.

 Sense of Sin

My friend, Diana, is my theological arch-nemesis. I say that fondly as we have charitably debated each other for years. She calls me “Paladin” because I “drink the Catholic Kool-Aid”. I call her “Ranger,” after a morally ambiguous anime character that doesn’t believe in the existence of sin. Like Ranger, Diana believes that everyone should follow their own moral code. As she once told me (rather theatrically), “I’ve thrown off the yoke of the Catholic Church. No one tells me what to do anymore. I’m free!”

But that’s just it. She’s not free. Sin is an illusion of freedom, a great lie of slavery perpetuated by the greatest liar of all. Unfortunately, many people believe as Diana does. How, as Christians, do we convince them sin is real? I start by appealing to their reason, by making a connection between the physical and the spiritual, the tangible and the intangible. I begin with creation. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). Clearly God made a good and ordered world. This is evident in the physical laws that govern the universe. After all, everyone believes the earth revolves around the sun or in Newton’s Laws of Motion. They are physical, undeniable, and they affect us.

But man is not just a material being. He is also a spiritual one. Of all God’s creations, man is the only one who is a composite of body and soul made in in the image and likeness of God. We belong to both realms. I think it’s reasonable to say that if God gave us physical laws that affect our bodies, He would also give us moral laws to govern our souls.

For example, if I ignore the Laws of Gravity my body is going to regret it. If I commit adultery, I blacken my soul by breaking my friendship with God and by damaging my relationship with my wife, regardless of whether she’s aware of the affair or not. When committing a wrong, most people feel the sting of conscience. Why? Jeremiah 31:33 comes to mind: “I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts.” I think deep down people intrinsically know what they are doing is wrong but willfully choose to ignore it under the misconception that they are free to do as they please regardless of moral consequence. The more they engage in this behavior, the less their conscience stings them. Eventually it ceases to protest. Their vice has now become a habit and their perceived freedom is, in reality, slavery. Pornography is that way; even if you come to intellectually realize it is wrong, the sin is so powerful and has the will so enslaved, it takes God’s grace to break free.

In the same way my intellect uses fear to warn me away from the edge of a cliff because I might fall, I think our conscience serves as an early warning system, a whisper from God that we are about to violate one of His moral laws.

In other words, we are about to commit a sin. Otherwise, why would we feel that way?

My advice? Heed your conscience!