2ND SUNDAY, OCTAVE DAY OF EASTER; DIVINE MERCY, POPE JOHN PAUL II BEATIFICATION DAY, IS SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION DAY @ OLOL...........

We are just two and a half hours away, from the Sacrament of Confirmation being conferred here today at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, in Sacramento on our Religious Education 8th graders and those of the Polish Catholic Community, at Our Lady of Czestochowa; being administered by Bishop Jaime Soto, at the 10:30 am Mass.  On this Octave Day, Second Sunday of Easter, now designated the Feast of Divine Mercy, is also the Beatification of Pope John Paul II, Day in Rome.  The Gospel of this 2nd Sunday of Easter reminds us our Faith God, and of Jesus the Christ as our Redeemer is steeped in the Holy Spirit.  It is Faith, that does not require seeing to believe, but is grounded in believing that as He promised, Jesus Is Risen !!!, that He Is Truly Risen !!!, a cause for rejoicing and sing praises to God.  Thomas the Apostle doubted in Jesus' Resurrection, until he saw with his eyes the authentically Risen Christ, in Jesus' second appearance to His Disciples in the upper room, following His rising from the dead.  We who are today's Catholic-Christian Disciples in the Church and the World, must believe in the same way; not because we have seen or directly witnessed the Resurrection occurring, but as persons of a Living, Practicing, Belief, that God is True to the Divine Word, and that Jesus The Christ, the Co-Eternal Son of the Father, conquered the bondage of sin and death, and opened the gates of Everlasting Life to all Believers in His New and Risen Life.  May The Holy Trinity Of Divine Mercy continue to fire up in You, the power to be fervent advocates of the Resurrection.  And as our young people receive the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit sacramentally today, may they and their families affirm and commit themselves to, Authentically Share Daily In Proclaiming as did St. Thomas, "My Lord And My God", by Living and Practicing Their Faith and Gospel Values...........Fr.  Troy