Living in Unity ~ by Ronnie Archer

This Sunday, we celebrate the Feast of THE MOST HOLY TRINITY.

In our first reading from Proverbs, we learn that Wisdom existed before anything existed... and Wisdom was there, and in complete agreement with everything that God created.

The second reading from Romans gives us assurance that we have peace with God through Jesus Christ. The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus gave humanity proof of access to GOD by faith in HIM.

The Feast of the Most Holy Trinity is a very special feast day. The Mystery of the Holy Trinity is something that Christians do not need an explanation for. As Baptized Christians, we were welcomed into the family of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Sacrament of Baptism makes us a part of the Church and makes the Church a part of us. Christians do not think or work through the mind, but through the heart.

God loves family and community. He didn't intend for us to live alone... that is what the Holy Trinity is about: relationship and community. We have a deep desire in our hearts for unity with each other; and that is what God wants for us. The Trinity teaches us to empty ourselves for another.

Material things of the world will never satisfy the longing in our hearts; it is the love of God and a healthy and loving relationship with another that is the cause of happiness.

The Feast of the Holy Trinity reminds us that we have to work through love to attain unity with each other.

Among all the beauty that God created and that exists in the world, God is most delighted to dwell in a human heart. The Psalmist says that we are "the crown of creation."

Try to look at others through God's eyes; not our human eyes. Through the Holy Trinity, we have another chance to establish unity with each other.

June Birthdays at St. E's ~ by Ethel Cooley

Happy Birthday Everyone!






06/03 ~ Joyce Coy

06/05 ~ Ernest Ponton

06/06 ~ Gabriel McDonnough and Vince Neylan

06/08 ~ Angela (Julia) Gilbert

06/10 ~ Larry Williford

06/11 ~ Mary Threadgill

06/13 ~ Traven Carter

06/16 ~ Barbara Williford

06/17 ~ Lord (Senon) Davis, Jr.

06/18 ~ Angela Cotman

06/20 ~ Keira Beverly

06/21 ~ Thomas Brown and Sierra Green

06/22 ~ Deborah Moon

06/23 ~ Steven McDonnough

06/24 ~ Scott Stell

06/25 ~ Nicholas Stuart

06/29 ~ Chanda Kim Ford

Chosen, Not Frozen!

Pentecost Sunday

Do you know when the Apostles first received the Holy Spirit? Well, it was not at Pentecost!

Actually, if you read Sunday's Gospel of John, you will see that the Apostles first received the Holy Spirit soon after the Resurrection when Jesus appeared in their midst in the upper room and greeted them with "Peace be with you." As He gave them the great commission to spread His Word to the world, Jesus breathed on them: "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." By these words, you can see right away that receiving the Holy Spirit has a lot to do with being at peace with one another and in forgiving each other.

But notice, that despite receiving the Holy Spirit, the Apostles still remained locked in the upper room. They were still very much afraid of the people who might have persecuted or killed them. They were together but not yet united in mind and heart. Thus, the Holy Spirit could not be activated in them. The Spirit was present but waiting.

Finally, after fifty days of being together in prayer, things suddenly changed. The Acts of the Apostles recounts that as the Apostles prayed together, "there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one." They were filled with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit moved them into action. They left the upper room and went boldly among the people; no longer afraid but preaching the Good News. People from all over the known world heard them speaking in their own languages about the mighty acts of God!

This is what happens when we are united! Unity brings about activity. The Apostles couldn't be contained. This is how the Holy Spirit can enliven every community. Our own also. In the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians, we learn that "to each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit." We all are needed to do God's work in the world.

Where there is disunity, nothing happens. There is no forgiveness, no possibility of the gifts of the Holy Spirit being used. The community remains frozen in time.

We rely on that Holy Spirit as we go about our daily lives. We have been chosen as God's sons and daughters, His heirs. We are those chosen ones who need to be unified so that the gifts of the Spirit can be activated in ourselves and our community. After all, we have been given the same commission as the Apostles to spread the Good News of the mighty acts of God!

So, let us act as the chosen, not the frozen!

Fr. John Boddie's Headstone Blessing - 5/15/2010

Almost one year to the day of Fr. John Boddie's death, several of us parishioners of St. Elizabeth's drove down to The Church of the Visitation in Middlesex County for the blessing of Fr. John's headstone in the Visitation Cemetery.

Frances Pope, Kim Ford and I drove together and we met up with Sr. Cora Billings as we arrived at the church. Bishop Walter Sullivan participated with Pastor Fr. Robert Cummins, Jr. in blessing the stone. Fr. Robert Nash and Fr. Larry Mulhaney, an old friend of Fr. John, also took part in the ceremony.


Kim sang the same beautiful old spiritual, "How I Got Over" that she had sung at Fr. John's funeral last year. After the ceremony, the parishioners of Visitation provided a wonderful reception for the many people who came to honor their beloved former pastor on this day.

They and we are indeed thankful for Fr. John's life and ministry among the People of God.

Fr. John D. Boddie (7/11/1958 - 5/19/2009)
May he rest in peace.

The Promise to Return

Feast of the Ascension of the Lord

"Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven."

Today we celebrate that Ascension of the Lord. We know through reading the Acts of the Apostles that Jesus appeared many times to his apostles after the Resurrection and before returning to his Heavenly Father. These appearances were to prove not only that Jesus was indeed alive, but also to instruct his followers about the kingdom of God.

The instructions were important because through them, the apostles were given the Great Commission; that is, they were to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins until such a time when Christ would come again. Jesus handed over to his apostles everything they needed to continue his work here on Earth. In a real sense, by this Commission, the apostles were given the responsibility of becoming his co-workers in the vineyard; and by this action, all creation was now placed in man's hands!

Because Christ rose from the dead, we know that God has forgiven humanity. Our sins were washed away by the Blood of Christ. Since God has forgiven us, we must forgive others. By this forgiveness, we mean a total acceptance of a person in spite of what has been done to us. When we forgive in this way, we are participating in the perfection that is God.

With joy, we sing with the psalmist:

All you peoples, clap your hands,
shout to God with cries of gladness,
For the Lord, the Most High, the awesome,
is the great king over all the earth.

Do not let your hearts be troubled...

Sixth Sunday of Easter









In today's first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we see what happens when there is confusion about the use of ritual in the early Church. We see that the Jewish Christians are still tied to the Mosaic practice of circumcision and wish to impose these and other Jewish traditions on the Gentiles who are converting to the Faith. The Jewish Christians believed that these rituals and traditions were important to overcome sin.

However, when the Apostles and the elders met with Paul and Barnabas in Jerusalem about these very questions, the Holy Spirit intervened and a new understanding developed about the use of ritual. Ritual was not to overcome sin, but to raise our minds and hearts to God.

As we proceed to the second reading from Revelation, John relates how he is transported to a high mountain overlooking the holy city of Jerusalem. In his vision, John describes the scene below. There is no temple in the holy city! "...for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb." This is further recognition that even appropriate religious rituals would play no role in the heavenly kingdom.

In today's Gospel reading, John tells us what God desires. He wishes to come and dwell in us. Jesus explains how this can occur when he reveals, "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him."

It is interesting to note that God has placed a corresponding desire in the hearts of the people He created. Eve could be tempted by Satan because she wanted to be like God. To be like God is to be in union with Him. Eve's sin came about because she pursued this unity in the wrong way.

The right way to unity with God and to receive His indwelling in us is to act under the obedience of God. In other words, God tells us, "if you love me, do as I say." God's way is for us to receive the word that Jesus teaches; because that word can change us.

When we make that word a part of our lives, we open ourselves to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Those gifts help us to know ourselves and to grow into the unity with God that we are seeking.

Sometimes events in our lives threaten to defeat us and we become discouraged. In this Gospel reading today, Jesus seeks to comfort us by promising us the peace that only He can give. His peace is an eternal peace that remains within us even when the world in which we live is in chaos.

As we begin to experience that peace, we come to realize what Jesus meant when He told His disciples: "Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid..." He would be going to His Father; but He would return...

Love One Another ~ by Ronnie Archer

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Jesus gave us all a new commandment, which is to "love one another."  That is a challenge for us all, but "love" is what we must do!

After the "chosen" people had rejected the Word, Paul and Barnabas travelled from city to city, inspiring and converting the Gentiles.  This was quite a feat for them to achieve, considering the dangers and difficulties they faced in traveling, and the animosity of some of the people towards them.

Paul reminds us that we will "endure hardships" on the journey to the kingdom of God.

The Revelations reading tells how John saw a "new heaven and a new earth."  We hear that "God's dwelling is with the human race"... and that God Himself, will be with us always.  There will be no more tears, death, mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.

In today's Gospel, Jesus gives us a new commandment... to love one another, as He has loved us.

To listen to this Sunday's reading on love... and then to hear today that in certain parts of our world even young innocent children are being persecuted and oppressed because of their Christian faith... is extremely tough to handle and even tougher to feel "love" for their perpetrators.  It's much easier to feel disdain!

We all know how hard it is to love someone who we might feel is unlovable; especially someone who has hurt us, or someone that we know and love.  That is the type of "challenge" we'd rather not have...but God is LOVE, and He loves us all, even those who persecute others, and if we love Him, then we must ask for His strength to overcome our own human feelings and perceptions to forgive, and love and care about each other.

Jesus reflects the Father's Glory, and the love of Jesus is glorified in our love that we show for each other.  If we cannot love, then nothing else matters to God.

I pray for strength that we may be able to forgive those who we don't feel like loving, and to be able to share our faith and love with all.

We should not lose courage or hope, because Jesus accompanies us on this journey!

May Birthdays at St. E's ~ by Ethel Cooley

Congratulations, Everybody!





05/01 ~ Minnie Davis and Sabrina Thompson

05/04 ~ Sam Walker

05/08 ~ Chansay and Kenise Ford; and Jerimah Henderson

05/09 ~ Betty Alexis and Yolanda Dandridge-James

05/11 ~ Robert Fitzgerald and Annella Kaine

05/14 ~ Angela Stuart

05/17 ~ Ya-Sin Miller and Gwendolyn Woodruff

05/18 ~ Sr. Maureen Carroll and Tyler Jones

05/19 ~ Anitra Green and Jacqueline Hall

05/20 ~ Maeola Strother

05/22 ~ Phil Barbato

05/23 ~ Danielle Smith

05/26 ~ Robert Fitzgerald (jr)

05/29 ~ Timothy Lamb and Robert Shannon