Dear friends in Christ,
Greetings from Ireland! Our group of 54 parishioners is in the middle of our pilgrimage to the Emerald Isle and while we are missing our friends back at CtR, we are enjoying this beautiful and faith-filled country. We will try to bring some of the cool weather home with us!

Dear friends in Christ,

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, or as we more commonly call it, Corpus Christi Sunday. The Eucharist is the life of the Church and today we call to mind the great gift of Christ’s own body. When Christ surrendered his spirit on the cross, water and blood flowed from his side and the great outpouring of the Body and Blood was made complete. We celebrate that gift every time we gather at the table of the Lord.

Dear friends in Christ,
Having culminated the great season of Easter with the Feast of Pentecost last Sunday, the Church now turns her attention to Ordinary Time, weeks so named not because of their “ordinariness” but because they are numbered. Today is the beginning of the 8th week of Ordinary Time, and we’ll continue in Ordinary Time all the way to the end of November and the beginning of Advent. The first two Sundays following Pentecost are given special recognition with today being the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, or as it is most often called, Trinity Sunday. Next week is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, or Corpus Christi Sunday.

Dear friends in Christ,
On the Feast of Pentecost this weekend we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus and what has come to be known as the “birthday of the Church.” Gathered together in Jerusalem, the followers of Jesus, who were comprised of every race and tongue, soon discovered themselves to be “filled with the Holy Spirit.” It was a microcosm of what the Church would become: faithful believers in the saving work of Jesus Christ who are empowered by the Spirit to go and spread the Good News. That work continues today. We, too, come from different backgrounds and ways of life yet we are united by the Spirit of God to build up the Body of Christ in all we say and do.

Dear friends in Christ,
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord. We remember Jesus’ ascension to the right hand of the Father where He sits in glory until He comes again, a belief we profess every Sunday in our Creed. This feast is celebrated 40 days after the Easter resurrection which by tradition would have put it on the calendar for last Thursday. Some of you may remember “Ascension Thursday” holy days from your youth. It is still celebrated on that Thursday in a handful of the dioceses in the U.S., but several years ago nearly every other diocese, including the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, transferred the celebration to Sunday to highlight its prominence and give more people an opportunity to celebrate. So to be clear – you did not miss a Holy Day of Obligation! It just moved a few days down the calendar so that we might celebrate it in all its glory today.

Pablo and Odelia Amador have been serving together in catechetical ministry for a number of years. They serve at both the high school and elementary level. Following his own profound conversion experience, Pablo recruited Odelia as his aide. Read more about their story.

Dear friends in Christ,
As I write this the remnants of yet another successful Spring Festival weekend are being swept from the parking lot, the Community Center is being cleaned, the games and booths are making their way back to storage, and the receipts are being tallied. Like all of the core committee and our hundreds of volunteers, I’m exhausted. But the overwhelming emotion I am feeling is one of profound gratitude. I’m so very thankful for the gift of the people of Christ the Redeemer. What a tremendous weekend we experienced as the parish came together for the 33rd time to celebrate as a community of faith.

Dear friends in Christ,
Welcome to our 33rd annual CtR Spring Festival weekend! If you are reading this on Saturday night or any time on Sunday, I hope you will make plans to stop by the Festival and enjoy everything that it has to offer. And I do mean everything. We’ve got plenty of space to spread out and a few new rides and games this year. The food booths and auction tent are back in the usual spots, but take time to wander around the grounds to see all there is to offer.

Dear friends in Christ,
By this time next week our 33rd annual CtR Spring Festival will be in full-swing. Those of you who have been previously know well what a great weekend it is – truly a community event. And if you’ve never been before then you are in for a real treat! Our chairpersons Mike and Camille Havelka and their dedicated core committee of volunteers have been hard at work preparing for a great weekend. Let’s review some important information that you will want to keep handy.

Kaitlin Rinker has sensed her baptismal call since she was child during her second open heart surgery. In spite of all of hardships, Rinker held her faith close to her heart and believes that her faith is what has seen her through all of it. With her stepmother as her champion, Rinker was able to go through her faith formation with CtR Youth Ministry and be baptized at the Easter Vigil.

Brittny Smith discovered that she wanted to know God more through her late husband, Justin. After the tragedy of his passing, Brittny relied on her family, Justin's family and the Rite of Christian Initiation team at Christ the Redeemer for support and love. Through the mercy of others, Brittny was able to come to the waters of baptism during the Easter Vigil and will continue walking in faith as she guides her daughter to live like Christ.

Dear friends in Christ,
On this 3rd Sunday of Easter we hear today from St. Luke a continuation of the Road to Emmaus story from the day of the resurrection. You will recall how Jesus walked alongside the two disciples as they were leaving Jerusalem. They were heartbroken and fearful, not knowing where to turn, when the Lord appeared to them and opened the Scriptures. They recognized who it was when He broke bread with them.

Cielo Topper has had the desire to teach and be with others since she was a child in Monterrey, Mexico. She responded to the call with humility and began telling simple children’s stories to help kids in her community learn valuable life lessons.

Dear friends in Christ,
Happy Easter! Christ is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia! Our celebration of Easter continues for 50 glorious days so let us continue to praise God with hearts and minds renewed in the Risen Christ.

While in formation for the Permanent Diaconate, Greg Hall had an incredibly unexpected experience while in a drive through at a McDonald’s restaurant in Chile. At the age of 46, Greg’s subtle kindness and awareness of serving a homeless man requesting to get something to eat allowed him to have an encounter of a lifetime – one that still brings him to tears.

Nicole Driscoll tells the story of how she found hope in spite of the loneliness she felt in her single life. Encounters with Christ in her loneliness led her to a deeper understanding of God’s mystery, creativity and providence.

Dear friends in Christ,
“Alleluia! Alleluia!” That double “Alleluia” is a hallmark of today’s great celebration of Easter. Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, has risen from the dead! The stone has been rolled away and the empty tomb lets all know without a shadow of doubt that death has been overcome. The appearance of the Risen Christ to the disciples brings to fulfillment what had been foretold of Him in all of the Scriptures. The Messiah had to first suffer and die but he will rise again on the third day. Today is that day, and so we raise our voices in glory to God and to Christ the Redeemer, our Savior and King!

Dear friends in Christ,
Our celebration today on Passion (Palm) Sunday leads us into the most sacred and special season of the Church’s liturgical calendar, Holy Week. The palm branches we bless and carry today remind us of the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. He comes not as a victorious king as some had hoped for, but rather as a willing servant that lays down His life for all. Truly He is a new type of king, one that the world had never seen. May these palms remind us of that entrance and, most importantly, what follows. Are we willing to go to the cross with Christ and die to the sin in our lives? If so, then this will indeed be a triumphant journey that ends not in death but victory and life-everlasting. But we must be willing to embrace the one and same cross of our Lord.

All of our parishioners were invited to attend the Redeemer Activity Center (RAC) Beam Signing Party! The steel girding beams are all in place, so parishioners were able to sign their family name (and leave a Bible verse) on one of the many steel beams that will hold up the RAC. See the story.