Wow, what an incredible 2 year journey it has been! I cannot find the words to properly express my heartfelt gratitude. From the day I arrived, I have felt nothing but love and welcomed into this wonderful parish community. St. Robert's is a very unique and special place and it has been my honor to serve as Youth Minister here. I will always have a special place in my heart for St. Robert’s and I will always consider it home. There is a lot of love in this Parish and the Holy Spirit is constantly moving, keeping us a progressive Parish.

“St. Bob’s” as I affectionately call it, has been very good to my family, my friends, and me. Today I enter this farewell liturgy filled with mixed emotions. I am very sad to be leaving, but am filled with pride that I was able to work here. I thank everyone who has supported me and the Youth Ministry Program. We have some wonderful Youth in this parish and in my short time with them, I have seen that greatness is in a lot of their futures. I thank my Core Team and Core Teens, who stood by me and supported me when the program was up and down.

I am thankful for the friendships and memories I have made here at St. Robert's. We are privileged to have such wonderful Priests, Nuns, and Parish Staff. I am thankful for their friendships, love and support. It has been tremendous working with them, to try and make St. Robert’s a better place. They have inspired me, taught me, guided me, and help shape and mold me to be a better person. I am thankful to them all, but in a special way I thank Deacon Duffey for his unending love and support. He made my job and my a life a whole lot easier.

This never felt like work and I thank God for sending me this way for just a short while. This is only farewell for now, never goodbye, If you’re ever by St. Peter's in the city, come by and say hello.

Thank you very much - you’re will always be in my heart, mind and prayers.

As a spiritual gift to your father, you will find cards in the vestibule of the Church to have him remembered in the Holy Sacrament of the Mass offered at St. Robert’s in observance of Father’s Day, June 19th

Even though it’s Ordinary Time, we’ve tried to keep the church beautiful with flowers. Many of our parishioners live in apartments and don’t have the luxury of a garden, so they especially appreciate seeing the flowers in church. If you have some, could you please bring them to share, especially on a Tuesday or Friday when we refresh them for the days ahead? If you’d like to help arrange them, please give Sr. Sheral a call at the rectory.

As both Sister Sheral and Father Bruce have noted in their messages last week, we are now in Ordinary Time. We have marked the new season with a few changes in music. There will be three different psalms over the course of the next 5 months. They are settings of three popular psalms that we are all familiar with. The psalms are the oldest form of church music that we have, and some of the most beautiful music has been set to these texts.

I am pleased that the new setting of the Lord’s Prayer has been received so well. I have noticed many of you singing with great vigor. I know this will continue after Ordinary Time, but for now we will speak the prayer.

As you know, the choir rehearses on Wed. nights, but for the summer, we will not be meeting. Although they will have a sabbatical from rehearsal, the choir will continue to sing on Sundays. Due to vacation schedules, our numbers will be light. The choir would appreciate reinforcements from out in the pews. Some of you have joined us on occasion, and I hope that you can do so again. We will meet at 9:00 AM prior to the 9:30 Mass. Any week the spirit moves you to come and sing we would be glad to have you. For those of you who regularly attend the 11:30 Mass, I’m sure Manny would welcome you to sing with his group.

I will also be taking some vacation time this summer. This will give you a chance to hear different pianists, as well as one or two visiting cantors. I hope that you will take this opportunity to lend your voices to the choir. This should be a time to be refreshed and renewed, but it also can be one of growth in the Spirit of God. I hope you find both in your travels this summer.

President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair are discussing three important issues in preparation for the G-8 summit next month. The first is forgiveness of the debt of the most desperately poor nations which every leader of the major religious traditions strongly supported in 2000 when the idea was first suggested. The second is an increase of aid to Africa, especially to help combat the HIV/AIDS crisis there. The third is support for the Kyoto Treaty on global warming, the U.S. being the only industrialized country refusing to sign it. The President has indicated his opposition to all three of these initiatives. If you believe in any or all of these initiatives, you might want to contact the President or your representatives and express your support.

This weekend’s readings speak to our hearts. In the Exodus reading, taking place after the crossing through the Red Sea, God has Moses tell the people: “You have seen for yourself how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagle wings and brought you here to myself.” (The song, “On Eagle’s Wings,” comes from this passage.) God wants the people to remember their experience of God’s care for them. “If you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people.” How touching! God is choosing this nomadic, often straying group of people and establishing a unique relationship with them.

The gospel we hear says Jesus’ heart was “moved with pity” for the people. The translation in my Greek/English New Testament is, “Seeing the crowds, he was filled with tenderness.” What a lovely phrase! Jesus cares about the people – believers or not, regardless of their personal holiness or social standing. He sends the apostles out, not just to preach to them, but to help them physically: “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons.” And they should proclaim that “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” so the people know that it is the authority of God through Jesus which lets them do these wonderful things.

The word “authority” is an interesting one. We may think of it as meaning power or even coercion. Its true meaning as Jesus uses it has to do with authoring life; Jesus never forces anyone to believe in him or to reform his/her life. He speaks the truth, he loves the person into the possibility of being more fully human, but it is always up to the person to respond or not. It is an invitation to a different way of being to which Jesus invites us. Even in the Exodus reading, God tells Moses to tell the people, “You shall be my special possession.” That’s the level of conversion to which we are called: to be different in our very person. Then we will act out of that new being and anyone who cares to look will see the presence of God through us. Perhaps, this week we could be conscious of being followers of Jesus as the apostles were and try to make our everyday decisions out of that consciousness. May God help us during this Ordinary Time to be extraordinarily open to the transforming presence of the Spirit.