The Catholic Church of

St. Mary the Virgin

The hackers are at it again! We just had another instance of a parishioner receiving a text from a person purporting to be Fr. Stainbrook requesting he purchase 3 $100 iTunes gift cards.
REMEMBER - NEITHER FR. STAINBROOK NOR FR. KENNEDY WILL NEVER REQUEST ANYTHING LIKE THAT FROM A PARISHIONER.
Should you get a text or email asking for something, PLEASE IGNORE IT!  

It’s important for people to know that the SMV system is NOT being hacked.
These people who are impersonating Fr. Stainbrook are phishing (phishing the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable people or companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.)  They are not using his email address or telephone number, just one that looks legitimate but is not.

Today is the Feast of “Corpus Christi” (No, we are not celebrating the city in Texas!) The Feast of Corpus Christi, also called Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, is a festival of the Catholic Church in honor of the real presence of the body (corpus in Latin ) of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
   Today is basically a celebration of the fact that the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, (and His Soul and Divinity), is present (via the miracle of transubstantiation) in the bread and wine during the Mass. The Feast of Corpus Christi originated in 1246 when Robert de Torote, bishop of Liège, ordered the festival celebrated in his diocese. In 1264 he ordered the whole church to observe the feast. Urban's order was confirmed by Pope Clement V at the Council of Vienne in 1311–12.  The Feast of Corpus Christi is normally celebrated on the Thursday (or Sunday, depending on the local Bishop’s Conference, the USCCB has determined Sunday as our day to observe the Feast) after Trinity Sunday, which falls one week after Pentecost Sunday. Since the date of Pentecost Sunday depends on the date of Easter, which changes every year, Trinity Sunday (and thus Corpus Christi) falls on a different date each year as well.
   Today’s celebration is similar to the celebration we observed on Maundy (Holy) Thursday during Holy Week. Holy Thursday is a solemn, somber time for the Church; it is thus impossible for Catholics to honor the Blessed Sacrament with appropriate solemn and joyful rites. Such joy is precluded by the sad and sorrowful memories of the day — the betrayal of Judas, Christ's agony and arrest, Peter's denial — and by the fact that other prescribed ceremonies are already occupying the time of clergy and faithful on Holy Thursday. Corpus Christi, in contrast, allows the Church to emphasize the joy of the institution of the Eucharist. Corpus Christi is observed as a public holiday in: Austria, Brazil, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, East Timor, parts of Germany, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, parts of Spain and Switzerland, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. The celebration of the Corpus Christi feast was suppressed during the Reformation in Protestant churches and hence Protestants do not recognize or celebrate the feast. We will express our joy for the gift of the Holy Eucharist today with a Procession and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at the 10:30 Solemn Mass (which is why the last mass today has been moved from 1:00pm to 1:30pm)
A happy and Blessed Corpus Christi Day to all!
Faithfully, Your Friend and Pastor,
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook 

  Today is the Feast of Feast of the Holy Trinity, also called Trinity Sunday, a feast in honor of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most difficult ideas in Christianity, but it's fundamental to Christians because it states what Christians believe God is like, and, also,  who He is. Trinity Sunday, which falls on the first Sunday after Pentecost, is one of the few feasts in the Christian calendar that celebrate a doctrine rather than an event.     The doctrine of the Trinity although a complicated (and even difficult one to understand) is fundamental to Christians because it is that dogma, on which everything in Christianity is based. It is in the name of the Blessed Trinity that all Christians are baptized. Only in Heaven shall we properly understand what it means, in union with Christ, to share as sons and daughters in the very life of God.
    The feast of the Blessed Trinity was introduced in the ninth century and was only inserted in the general calendar of the Church in the fourteenth century by Pope John XXII. But the cultus of the Trinity is, of course, to be found throughout the liturgy. Constantly the Church causes us to praise and adore the thrice-holy God who has so shown His mercy towards us and has given us to share in His life.
   The dogma of faith which forms the teaching of the feast is this: There is one God, and in this one God, there are three Divine Persons; the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three Gods, but one, eternal, incomprehensible God! 
   The Father is not more God than the Son, neither is the Son more God than the Holy Spirit. The Father is the first Divine Person; the Son is the second Divine Person, begotten from the nature of the Father from eternity; the Holy Spirit is the third Divine Person, proceeding from the Father and the Son. No mortal can fully fathom this sublime truth. But we need to submit humbly and say: Lord, I believe, help my weak faith.
   Today’s celebration should make us mindful that actually every Sunday is devoted to the honor of the Most Holy Trinity, and that every Sunday is sanctified and consecrated to the Triune God. 
   Sunday after Sunday we should recall, in a spirit of gratitude, the gifts which the Blessed Trinity is bestowing upon us. 
    The Father created us; on the first day of the week He began the work of creation. The Son redeemed us; that first day of the week; Sunday is the "Day of the Lord," the day of His Resurrection. The Holy Spirit sanctified us, made us His temple; on Sunday the Holy Spirit descended upon the infant Church. 
   Sunday, therefore, is the day of the Most Holy Trinity. This is one reason why we in the Ordinariate call the Sundays after Trinity, “Trinitytide.” May Almighty God in His most Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, bless each of us, this Trinity Sunday, and always. 
Faithfully, Your Friend and Pastor,
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook