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In Chapter 7 of the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus warns his followers to be on guard against following false prophets. He cautions: “You can tell a tree by its fruit.” (Matthew 7:20) In a sense, Jesus is including all of us in this teaching, saying that the fruit of our lives will reveal our true nature. Are we truly His sheep, or are we wolves in sheep’s clothing? Are we doing our part to carry out the Church’s saving mission and share the Gospel message through our words and the way in which we live our lives? Will the fruit that we bear with our lives show us to be followers of Jesus, or will it contradict what we claim to believe in?

The Parish Office will be closed on Friday, July 3rd, in observance of Independence Day! Daily Mass will be at the regular times of 6:30 AM and 8:15 AM.

In every age, Christ and his Church have been persecuted. Despite his message of love and compassion (or perhaps, because of it), Jesus was taunted by people of his time – by both religious authorities and ordinary people alike. Even his death on the Cross and his victorious Resurrection did not convince every person that he was the Son of God; the promised Messiah. Some of his own followers abandoned him. His Apostles faced ridicule and death. Countless early Christians were martyred for their faith.

The Arcdiocese of Santa Fe, Office of Worship will be hosting a Zoom Mini Workshop to answer the question: how will ministry look as we reopen our churches? The Ministers of Holy Communion, Lectors, and Ministers of Hospitality Zoom Workshop will take place on Wednesday, June 24 at 5:30 PM. RSVP to aflores@archdiosf.org no later than 12 PM, on Wednesday, June 24.

Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi). This is a time to celebrate – in a particularly focused way – what we celebrate and believe every time we gather at Christ’s altar for Mass. That is, we profess the Real Presence of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the elements of, and under the appearance of, bread and wine in the Most Holy Eucharist.

Register for updates to receive new information regarding the reception celebration for the ordination of Deacon Joseph Baltz. Visit catholicordinations.com and complete the registration form.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity – our belief that there are three Divine Persons in One God – the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As the fundamental mystery of our faith, the Most Holy Trinity permeates our identity and prayer.

n the Scripture Readings for today’s Mass, we hear two accounts of the Pentecost. The more dramatic of the two occurs in our First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-11) where the Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles, empowering them to speak in different tongues so that the Jews from different lands who had gathered in Jerusalem could hear the message of Jesus proclaimed in their own language. The second, and perhaps less dramatic account is found in today’s Gospel (John 20:19-23) where the Risen Jesus, himself, appears to the Apostles on Easter Sunday, breathes the Holy Spirit upon them, empowers them to forgive sins in his name, and commissions them to go forth and continue the mission of announcing the coming of the Kingdom of God.

There have been many changes in the past week. I am writing this column on Monday, May 18th, and there may be even more changes before you receive this bulletin at the end of the week. The Governor’s public health order currently in effect allows for houses of worship to hold services at up to 25% of their occupancy capacity as determined by the fire marshal. Here at Our Lady of Fatima, we have resumed our normal weekend Mass schedule which includes Masses at 5:30 pm on Saturday, and 7:30 am, 10:00 am and 12:00 noon on Sunday. The occupancy restrictions limit us to a maximum of 178 people in the church at each Mass. We were well within those limits this past weekend. In the event that on future weekends we reach the maximum allowed attendance at a Mass, we have set up the gym to accommodate the “overflow” with a second Mass being offered at the same time in the gym.

The Parish Office will be closed on Monday, May 25, 2020, in observance of the Memorial Day Holiday. Daily Mass will be celebrated at 8:15 AM.

Today’s Second Reading, from the First Letter of Peter (1 Peter 3:15-18), tells us to sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts, but what does that mean? In our relationship with God, how do we accomplish this? “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” Jesus says in today’s Gospel (John 14:15-21). That is how he will know that we love him. What he asks of us is not always easy, but Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to help us.

View the Fatima Parish Update letter from Father Stephen Schultz.

Running through all of the Scripture Readings in today’s Mass, is a strong sense of action, of movement by the Church and within the Church. The First Reading (Acts 6:1-7) tells of how certain widows were not being taken care of “in the daily distribution.” What was the “daily distribution”? Following Jesus’ word and example of feeding the hungry and caring for those in need, the Apostles would care for the local widows with what they had available to them – goods often gathered from the generosity of the Christian community. The number of Christians rose so quickly, however, that the Apostles could no longer preach the Word and distribute the alms to Christian widows.

Today is the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. While we pray for the encouragement of all vocations – including those of married life and single life, this day is particularly set aside to pray for those whom God calls to religious life – as priests and deacons, religious sisters and brothers – to serve God’s people. For decades we have witnessed a severe decline in the number of men and women answering God’s call to serve the Church. It is not that God has stopped calling people to religious vocations. It is that those who have been called have declined the invitation.

Church open for private prayer 8 AM to 12 noon daily * May – The Month of Mary

The Gospel today is the telling of the story of the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) in which two disciples are travelling along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus after the crucifixion and burial of Jesus, and they encounter the Risen Lord walking with them though they do not recognize him. Upon reaching Emmaus, the two invite the stranger to have dinner with them and spend the night before continuing his journey. The story concludes by saying: “While he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him.” They recognized Jesus in the action of the “breaking of the bread.” Immediately, the despair of the two disciples turned to joy; their desperation turned to elation and they rushed back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples of their encounter with the Risen Lord.

Today the Church observes Divine Mercy Sunday. The central focus is our celebration of the resurrection of Christ and the floodgates of God’s mercy being opened upon us, and is based both on Scripture and the revelations made to Saint Faustina Kowalska.

Live stream The Divine Mercy Chaplet this Sunday.

As I am preparing this column, it is still two weeks before Easter. The publisher who prints our bulletins moves up our deadlines so we must submit them earlier around the holidays. With that in mind, I do not know what the next two weeks will bring, as the COVID-19 pandemic seems to result in things being changed weekly and, in some cases, even daily. At this point, the Archbishop has moved the Chrism Mass to after Easter, and the liturgies for the Easter Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday) are to be celebrated in the parish churches, but only by the Priests, continuing the prohibition against public Masses to deter the spread of the Coronavirus. With that in mind, I submit to you the following column for Easter Sunday.

On-line Masses for Holy Week / Drive-Thru Confessions on Holy Saturday / CRS Rice Bowl Contributions / Thank you for Offerings