Dear Parishioners,

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Relationships — even genetic ones — are a mystifying reality, and the best efforts to explain them are often poetic. They are often described in terms of their results, as in this weekend’s readings on this celebration of God as a community. God’s love, peace, truth, and hope deepen our relationship to one another, the Earth, and all creatures. We don’t need to understand this, only to believe and live it.

Next weekend we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi). Bread and wine were an ancient component in Israel’s ritual history. Jesus infused their sharing with new meaning that has sustained the church to this day. When we regularly participate in the Eucharist, we can become immune to its unifying power for the whole world. This annual feast reminds us that it is our central liturgical act as Christians. Unity is deeply needed more than ever, and the source of that unity is literally in our hands.

Father’s Day: I hope that all the dads (granddads, uncles, godfathers, etc.!) have a great day. It is a day for bar b ques, of course, but a day of prayer, too! I recently came across this prayer in honor of Saint Joseph, foster father of Jesus. I offer it to you today to invoke Saint Joseph’s help for each of you!

Oh, St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God. I place in you all my interests and desires. Oh, St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers.

 Oh,St. Joseph, I never weary of contemplating you, and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine head for me and ask him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls – Pray for me.

 Please remember that it is not too late to enroll your father, grandfather, etc., in the Annual Father’s Day Novena celebrated here at Saint Monica. Enrollment cards are at the entrances / exits of Church.

Father Mike’s farewell reception will be after the 11:30 A.M. Mass next Sunday, June 23. It will be held in the gym, so there is handicapped access available. Thanks to Father for his dozen years of faithful service here at Saint Monica. Prayers for his new ministry at Saint Joseph Parish in Clayton. I hope that you liked the cover of the bulletin … a small way of marking our appreciation to Father for his dozen years of service here.

Parish Carnival: It was a GREAT Friday and Saturday.  Actually the weather could not have been better! So thanks, again, to all who planned, executed, and celebrated the Parish Carnival. Next year’s will be June 5 and 6, the first full weekend of June..  Please mark your calendars now

Creve Coeur Days: Next weekend, Thursday – Sunday, June 20, 21, 22, and 23, our City celebrates “Creve Coeur Days,” with a carnival and festival at DeSmet Jesuit High School on Ballas Road. Of course we are all invited to be part of that celebration. The times for the carnival are: Thursday, 6:00 P.M. – 10:00 P.M.; Friday, 6:00 P.M. – 11:00 P.M., Saturday, 10:00 A.M. –

11:00 P.M., and Sunday, 12 noon – 6:00 P.M. If you want more information go to crevecoeur- days.com. Everything you wanted to know about Creve Coeur Days is there.

A message from Fr. Stephen Schumacher. I received an e-mail from Fr Schumacher, our summer Associate Pastor, on Tuesday, June 11th. He is still in Rome, but looking forward to his return to the United States and to Saint Louis. In part he wrote in his e-mail: I celebrated Mass at the altar of Saint Monica this morning, where her relics are kept at the church of Sant’ Agostino. I offered the Mass for you and for the parish. Looking forward to joining you soon!” So he is already praying for us. I had the chance to visit Saint Augustine Church in Rome a number of years ago, long before my assignment here. I didn’t celebrate Mass at the altar of Saint Monica but I did visit that altar and sent a picture of it to my classmate, your pastor at the time, Msgr. Dennis Doerhoff. I promised him that I remembered him and the parish at the shrine of Saint Monica. Parenthetically, the seventh anniversary of Msgr. Doerhoff’s death will be this coming Thursday, June 20th. May he rest in peace.

Mass Stipends: On Monday of this past week all the priests of the Archdiocese received a communication from the Archbishop. In it he wrote: “the Bishops of the Province of Missouri (the Archdiocese of Saint Louis and the Dioceses of Jefferson City, Kansas City – Saint Joseph, and Springfield Cape Girardeau), by a unanimous vote on April 14, 2019, have determined that the new established Mass offering, as of July 1, 2019, shall be ten dollars. This decision was considered and arrived at due to the different procedures utilized in assisting the priests, throughout the State of Missouri, in their everyday expenses.” The Bishops were also very clear in “reiterating and emphasizing that well-honored practice is that Mass may continue to be celebrated even if no stipend is offered.”  Of course any Mass that has been scheduled with a stipend less than $10 will be celebrated as requested. Thank you for your generosity to the priests by having “Masses said” for the deceased and for family celebrations.

The Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus has requested that each Council to sponsor CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY FAMILY, as a “Faith in Action” Program. The cards about which I wrote last weekend will be distributed this weekend, Father’s Day Weekend,” to all at Mass. The special prayer of Consecration will be said at all the Masses the weekend of June 29 and 30.

The Feast of the Sacred Heart will be on Friday, June 28th. If you want to make a Novena in His Honor, also in preparation for the Act of Consecration to the Holy Family, that Novena would begin on Wednesday, June 19th. Prayerfully consider a Novena in Honor of the Sacred Heart as we pray to “the Heart that has so loved men, but has been so little loved in return.”

Faithfully yours in our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Fr Joe Weber