Hi Everyone,

Updates:

1. We have found a microphone adapter! Thanks to the generosity of Forest Johnson, we are all set tomorrow for an improved sound experience. I hope it's significant.

2. We're moving towards powerful liturgical moments, even if it doesn't feel like it. Ascension Thursday is this Thursday, and then Pentecost 9 days after that.

3. The Mass today was celebrated for the intentions of all of you, the parishioners. By the way, this is known as the pro populo Mass, that is, that Mass for the people. If I'm not mistaken, one of the Sunday Masses each week is the pro populo Mass.

Reflection (Based on Sunday readings and Homily)
(http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051720.cfm)

The first reading relates the account of Philip's preaching in Samaria. Most of the time, I assumed that this Philip was St. Philip the Apostle. It's not that I concluded it was Philip the Apostle, I just never even thought there was a question. But it turns out there is. There was just mention of another Philip in the book of Acts last week: Philip the deacon, one of the seven chosen to assist in the distribution of the collections. So, which Philip is it?

Almost certainly it is Philip the deacon. The first indication is that he is the most recently mentioned, so the account would naturally lead one to think of Philip the deacon. Second, after his successful preaching Samaria, leading to many baptisms, St. Peter and St. John hear the news and head to Samaria to confirm the Samaritans with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Does this remind you of anything? It reminds me of the fact that we wait for the bishop to travel the state to perform the confirmation ceremonies for the confirmandi! Confirmation is linked with a bishop's authority. So it would be odd if two apostles went to "finish the job" of another Apostle who was still around. But if Philip was the deacon, it makes perfect sense that two Apostles go to complete what he had started.

Third, we find out later, in Acts 21:7, that Philip the deacon is called the "evangelizer." Given the fact that the Philip in today's reading is evangelizing the Samaritans (and later in the chapter evangelizes an attendant of pilgrim to Jerusalem) it makes sense to think that the Philip doing all this evangelizing is the one called the evangelizer. And Acts 21:7 says that's the deacon.

But if he's a lowly deacon, so to speak, one might wonder why he enjoys such prominence in the book of Acts. Acts is dedicated mainly to St. Peter and St. Paul; how did Philip sneak in there?! It seems to me that St. Luke, the author of Acts, is showing the gradual, exciting progression of the proclamation of the Gospel. It began in Jerusalem to the Jews. Then, even Jews who lived outside Jerusalem were converted and became Christians. Who's next? The Gentiles? not quite. Enter Philip to the Samaritans. The Samaritans, we have to remember, were the community comprised of those Jews who had intermarried with foreigners. 700 years before Jesus, Samaria had been conquered, and the people of 5 foreign nations were brought in to settle on the land. The Jews who remained intermarried with them. So the Samaritans were not of full Jewish ethnicity. Because of this, the Jews avoided them. They traveled around Samaria. Their worship was considered faulty. But in the first reading today, we see that through Philip's preaching God's grace reaches the Samaritans. So Philip's preaching fulfills an essential mid-way point in the evangelization of all the peoples. The Samaritans have not been overlooked; God's grace, through the Jews, is offered to all.

Tomorrow, the section on the Gospel!

God bless you all!
Fr. Rensch