Brooklyn parish promotes life

Facebooktwittermail

To the Editor:
Wednesday, Aug. 15, was a great day in and for St. Patrick Parish of Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Community Food Bank pantry, located in a hallway linking the church and the rectory, is open Wednesday afternoons for people seeking food for their families. That same afternoon our church’s lower level was the site for Life Service blood donations.
Our parish was the host site for supplying people with bodily nourishment. We also served as the location for blood donations that will sustain human life and lead to people’s recovery of health. We were somewhat like Jesus and what he said and did for the multitudes around the Sea of Galilee. We have been and will be reading about this and preaching on this theme on the Sundays of July 29-Aug. 26.
At 6 p.m. we celebrated the Eucharist in our church. We gathered in faith and openness to the gift of Jesus who extends in sacramental form the one eternal act of the Last Supper-Calvary event. We allowed Jesus to make present to and for us his total gift of self.
“Amen, amen, I say to you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood; you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.  For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him (John 6: 53-56).”
We were part of a great giving by God to and through us. We assisted people with food needs.  Lifesaving blood was collected. We were offered the (eternal) life-giving body and blood of Christ.
Good and grand things still happen in small-town parishes. THANKS BE TO GOD!
Father Philip Ryan
Brooklyn


Support The Catholic Messenger’s mission to inform, educate and inspire the faithful of the Diocese of Davenport – and beyond! Subscribe to the print and/or e-edition, or make a one-time donation, today!

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Facebooktwittermail
Posted on