Sixth Week of Easter

May 1, 2018

by Fr. Reginald Samuels

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

          Continuing from last Week’s theme in the Gospel of the vine and branches, Jesus speaks of the love of God as the main item that bonds himself to the disciples and to all of us. This model of love is total and complete. The love of God is the source of our lives and in God’s love we have meaning and purpose.
          Not only are we called to acknowledge the love of God, we are commanded by Jesus to love one another. Loving on another is much more than simply a feel good moment. In order to love one another we must each day give up our own wants and needs and sacrifice for the other. Many times we have to die to our own point of view if we want to love others as Jesus loved us to the cross.
Today we continue with the last day of our two day is our annual Parish Spring Festival. This will be our sixth festival for our parish in close to 20 years and the first time that it is being held over two days. The Springs Festival theme this year is ‘Cinco De Mayo’. I hope everyone had fun at our kick off celebration yesterday with Bingo and fun. This weekend is shaping up to be a big weekend for our parish.

I want to thank everyone who has been involved in bringing this festival to our parish. Please come out and join us for what is shaping up as great festival for our parish family. I want to give a special thank you to our Spring Festival Chairman Raul Turner. Raul has worked very hard this year to make our Spring Festival a joyous event.

I want to say congratulations to all of our young people who have received their First Eucharist this past Saturday in the first of two First Eucharist Masses here at STHY. I want to thank Mrs. Pamela Johnson Director of Faith Formation and Evangelization, and Mrs. Jessica Casados, Formation Assistant, along with our team of Catechist and Assistants for their work of religious formation in First Eucharist preparations.

          As we gear up for the summer, I want to make you all aware of the 2018 Annual Archdiocesan Youth Conference which takes place this year on July 20^th - 22^nd at the Hilton Americas Hotel in downtown Houston under the theme “Chosen” The primary focus for A.Y.C. is to rejuvenate the faith life of our youth, to help them get serious about life in Christ and His Church, and to learn the truth of the Gospel. All who participate will be blessed with powerful witness and messages from major presenters including our own Cardinal DiNardo. The A.Y.C. 2017 was a major success with a record number 2500 young people participating in the event from throughout our Archdiocese. For A.Y.C. 2018, we are hoping to send a number of our young people to this event so that we can help them grow in their faith.

          Registration for A.Y.C. 2018 is currently underway. If you would like to sponsor a young person for this event, contact our Faith Formation. For our young people who are eligible to attend the conference, registration for A.Y.C. 2018 ends soon. Please continue to pray for the young people of our parish.


Thanks to all those who have made their pledges for the capital campaign. Thank you for your generosity and sacrifice. As your pastor I am also a fellow parishioner, and I needed to make a sacrificial pledge for the capital campaign myself and I am asking you to prayerfully consider doing the same according to your means. We will be making our pledges throughout the year and they will last for a three year period. This is a wonderful parish and faith community and I assure you that I am very fortunate to be your Pastor. I know that you will do whatever you can to make this campaign a success. We entrust this campaign to the intercession of Our Blessed Mother and our patron St Hyacinth. Thanking you in advance for your response in faith. As your pastor, I invite you to discern how best you are able to support the new sanctuary.. to build Family, Faith and Future….our Sanctuary …. Our home.

God Bless,
Fr. Reginald Samuels