This weekend, we celebrate the culmination of our fifty-day Easter season with the celebration of Pentecost Sunday. The Acts of the Apostles tell us: "When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly, there came from the sky a noise like a strong, driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim."

We gather as a parish community almost 2,000 years after that first Pentecost, and once again, we open our hearts to the power of the Holy Spirit in our midst. In this Easter Season 2003, we have welcomed many new members into our faith community, both infants and adults, through the Sacrament of Baptism. Several adults have completed their initiation into the Church through the reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation. We have had thirty children in our parishes make their First Eucharist. We have celebrated the Sacrament of the Sick, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the Sacrament of Matrimony with our parishioners and have witnessed the healing presence of the Holy Spirit among us. Fr. Fergus recently commemorated the 48th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, while every Pentecost I remember my own ordination at St. Joseph Church on Pentecost Weekend, 1988. On this Pentecost Sunday, let us all open our hearts to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and let us continue to use our gifts to build up the Body of Christ here present at Immaculate Conception and St. Joseph!

As we have entered the month of June, our Second Annual St. Joseph Germanfest, Saturday night, June 28, is not far away! We will have a German Heritage Mass at 4:00p.m., with liturgical music from the Ethnic Choir of Kansas City, Kansas, under the direction of Ed Grisnik. Immediately after Mass, we will be serving a German Dinner from 5:00p.m. until 7:30p.m., with an outdoor German dance in our "parish beer garden" from 6-10:00p.m.! For a $10 donation for adults ($4 for a special children's meal), you can feast on German Sauerbraten, Bratwursts, Sauer Kraut, Red Cabbage, German Potato Salad, Veggie Trays, German-American Desserts, and a beverage, plus listen to Ed Grisnik's German Band all evening! This year, we will raffle three great prizes, 1) A hand-made quilt from St. Joseph's Quilting Group, 2) A German specialty basket, and 3) A gift certificate to a local German Restaurant. You can buy your raffle tickets after any of the weekend Masses this month. We will also have a special collection at all Masses this Sunday to help defray the cost of the band and the rental of an extra-large tent to keep us cool and shaded this year! Plan now on joining us on June 28!

God bless you always!