St. John Neumann
Catholic Church

Today is the octave or eighth day of Easter. The Catholic Church celebrates both Christmas and Easter for eight days. For eight days, we celebrate Easter morning! And on this octave day of Easter, the Church remembers the true gift of Easter, the Divine Mercy of the Lord. This is Divine Mercy Sunday. and we are invited to remember the incredible gift of redemption, given in and through the Passion of the Lord. By his wounds, we have been healed, redeemed, saved from the grip of sin.

In today's reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear of the incredible growth of the Church. In this story of the newly formed Church of Christ, we hear of the many signs and wonders offered the people by the apostles of the Lord; and in the Gospel proclamation, we come to understand the reason for the incredible growth of the Church: the Risen Lord bestowed upon his chosen ones his power, his authority. Though the Lord ascended into the mystery of the Father's Kingdom, He continues to be the Lord within the Church, through the Holy Spirit.

This Spirit of the Lord not only brought individual disciples the peace of God. This Spirit, in and through the teaching of the Apostles built a community, a fellowship. And the members of this fellowship devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the community life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers (Acts 2.42).

This description of the early Church should describe us as the family of St. John Neumann. We are called to dedicate ourselves to the Lord, through a dedication to the teaching of the Apostles (the Bishops of the Church), through membership in the living community of the Church, through the life of prayer. The renewal we long for is rooted in the Spirit of the Lord... the Spirit that allows us to know that He is with us still.

One of the sure signs of this renewal at SJN is with next week's Table of Fellowship Potluck Supper. On the 17th of April (from 6:00 to 7:30 pm), we will gather in Donnellan Hall, and share supper together. Our Table of Fellowship should remind every Catholic of another sharing. When he saw the multitudes and knew of their hunger, he took what the people gave, he blessed the gifts, he broke the bread so that all may have a part of it, and he gave all he had to the people (Matthew 14.1521). This story of the multiplication of the loaves mirrors what we do at our Table of Fellowship: we bring a dish or two to share; the gifts are taken in the Spirit of the Lord; the dishes are blessed in prayer; the dishes are divided, so that all may have a taste of all; the individual dishes are multiplied by the blessing of our parish family. And all have food and fellowship aplenty.

Please join me next Saturday evening, for our Table of Fellowship. Bring a dish or two of food (the bulletin will instruct all on what to bring). And as you sit down in fellowship with parishioners, know that we are living the apostolic life... the life of the Lord. We are always in need of behind the scene folks, to assist in making the Table of Fellowship run smoothly, joyfully. If you can offer a few hours in the service of love, please contact Judith Depasupil (770·923·7749; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ). Many hands make for light work!

I'll see all on the 17th, for the miracle of multiplication!

AMDG

Msgr. David Talley