Tree of Life

This past weekend we had some of our youngest parishioners receive their First Communion. I was very impressed with their knowledge of the faith. In the Eucharist, Jesus is made really present in His Body and Blood. In the beginning, Adam and Eve disobediently ate from the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, thereby separating themselves from God. Today, we eat from the fruit of the Tree of Life, the Cross, and thereby bring ourselves back into communion with God.
              This past weekend we also had our first youth group gathering. I have to hand it to our youth group volunteer leaders - Emily Casto and Ann Marie Hines. We had about 25-30 rising 9th-12th graders at our first gathering! It was about four times what I expected! As I listened to our youth, I became aware of just how challenging it is for them to maintain their Catholic identity today. For our next meeting, I am going to spend fifteen minutes offering some easy philosophical rational proofs for the existence of God from St. Thomas Aquinas so that they can at least know how theism is more logical than atheism. Then, we will have some fun, eat and pray as is our developing custom. Hiking trips, Bowie Bay Sox games, community service projects and other excursions are also in the works. Please keep our growing youth group in your prayers!
 
               God bless,
               Fr. Scott