This Sunday is a special day in which we honor the Most Holy Trinity. The Church teaches that the Holy Trinity is the community of divine persons who loves and saves us all. The mystery of the Trinity calls us to move beyond ourselves and into a deeper relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The Trinitarian grace that we receive of grace, love and fellowship allows us to move beyond our own lives to think of the lives of others. When God shares his divine life with us, then he is calling us to spread the good news of the Gospel in order for others to know this life as well.
As we continue our mission of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, I want to thank all of you who have responded to our annual Diocesan Service Fund (DSF) drive over the last few months. Soo far our parish has given $42,247 against a 2019 assessed DSF goal of $84,000 by Cardinal DiNardo. Thank you for your continued generosity.
DSF supports more than 60 ministries that serve the faithful of the Archdiocese and us here at St. Hyacinth. From chaplains at the hospitals and the Port of Houston, to religious education training for our teachers (who pass on their faith to our children), to outreach to seniors, to youth ministry, to soup kitchens, to Catholic Charities ministry to the poor and disenfranchised, and to training for seminarians, deacons and priests, the DSF provides funding for people and program that serve us all. It’s truly our baptism calling for generosity as the Cardinal tells us “Do Not Neglect to Share What You Have”
Next weekend June 22nd and 23rd there will be the Archdiocese annual Corpus Christi collection for the support of the men studying for the Priesthood for our Archdiocese. I will encourage everyone to please be generous in supporting our seminarians. Our Archdiocesan seminarians study not only at St. Mary’s seminary here in Houston, but also in seminaries in Dallas and San Antonio Texas, St. Benedict Louisiana, and Rome. This Sunday’s ENTIRE church collection this day goes towards the costs associated with the operating of St. Mary’s Seminary as well as the expenses of the education of seminarians, the continuing education of priests and the training of permanent deacons and laity. Thank you for your generosity.
We are in the process of organizing a Pilgrimage to Italy for October 2019. We plan to visit the cities of Venice, Padua, Siena Macerata, Florence, Assisi and Rome. From the dates of October 7th -18th, 2019, we will be visiting historical religious sites and museums along with celebrating Mass throughout the tour. Tour information flyers are in the Narthex, or our website: Sthyacinth.org and click Parish Pilgrimage 2019 under the Parish Life tab, and or you can contact the parish office at 281-479-4298.
Summer is here and that means Vacation Bible School. Registration has begun for this yearly event which will be held July 8-12 in Guyot Hall. This year’s theme will be “Roar: Life is Wild - God is good.” This VBS event is a wonderful time for our young people to explore their relationship with Christ and the Church. Last year VBS had over 170 kids participating along with over 50 teen and adult volunteers helping our young people grow in their relationship with Christ and the Church. Please continue to pray for the young people of our parish.
As we gear up for the summer, I want to make you all aware of the 2019 Annual Archdiocesan Youth Conference which takes place this year on July 26th -28th at the Hilton Americas Hotel/ George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston under the theme “Surrender to God” 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. Registration for A.Y.C. 2019 is currently underway.
Finally, on behalf of all of us here at St. Hyacinth, we want to wish all the Fathers of our parish a happy Father’s Day. This includes all those men who have been spiritual Fathers to us all as well.