FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

As we all know from personal experience, our church is a very busy place. Masses daily and many on weekends, Baptisms, Marriages, Funerals, Confirmations, Penance Celebrations, personal devotions and prayers and recently Communal Anointing of the Sick. All of these sacramental encounters with God strengthen us and help us to grow in holiness. Our church truly is the House of God and where the People of God encounter the “Living God” in ways that are transformational.

Next Saturday we will gather to celebrate our greatest sacrament, the Holy Eucharist, being received for the first time by the children of our parish families. This reception of the Holy Eucharist is a significant and joy filled occasion for all of our larger parish family and for the families of our children. We are “One Body In Christ”.

This is because the Holy Eucharist is both the center of our spiritual lives and the source of our unity with each other and with God. For over 2,000 years Catholics have gathered to be fed by Word and Sacrament and to be united in Christ as baptized members of His Body. As the Parable of the Vine and the Branches reminds us, united with Christ our Vine, we flourish unattached to Him, we spiritually languish, and die. The immense privilege of being united with Christ in the most intense way possible is what we are sharing with our children. Each family present for the First Holy Communion Mass will be passing on a priceless heritage and a most important family value and practice. Families pass on, form and support faith and, like Christ, each family is itself a spiritual vine supporting the faith of all family members especially our youngest. Participation in the Holy Eucharist should be understood as the most significant moment in the faith life of the family. It should be one that completes the fabric of family prayer, scripture reading, spiritual devotions, love and forgiveness and care for neighbor. The “First Communion” is just that, the first, in a lifetime of Holy Communions that will support and nourish our children spiritually throughout their lives. Families that together participate in the Holy Eucharist faithfully will be blessed with an abundance of love, peace and joy. As important as the food that we share around our tables, is the Holy Eucharist that keeps us spiritually alive and capable of living out our Baptismal promises.

We congratulate and are prayerfully united with all of our First Communicants listed below, and their families as they take this most important step in their spiritual development.

– Msgr. Michael D. McGraw

Dominic  Aletto

Luke Alexander

Megan Aloia

Isla Alvarez

Sebastian Alvarez

Ariana Balestieri

Sofia Barrera

Camila Bartra

Lyla Batista

Harlow Bertanzetti

Sienna Rose Besner

Ariana Bitar

Emilia Bitar

Pedro Bitar

Alexander Boissinot

Kayla Camandona

Matthew Cancino

Lola Carney

Mauricio Caro-Pico

Francesca Cascardo

Miranda Castro

Jack Cavanagh

Alydia Chenal

Molly Ann Clancy

John Paul “Trey”
Claxton III

Ariana Marie Costa

Michael Costa

Kelsey Crawford

Lily Crawford

Siena Crippa

Scotty Crowe

Dapne Cruz

Kamilla Cubit

Anne D’Alonzo

Nicole Damelio

Julian Dell’Accio

Dominic Demascio

Derek Dohler

Jacob Doniger

Graham Donnelly

Olivier Douyon

Gabriela Estrada

Josh Fattovich

Michael Fernandez

Carlee Figueroa

Collin Fischer

Violet Fischer

Sadie Ruth Fortune

Mario Gibbs

Grayson Gomez

Alejandra  Gonzalez

Ivan Jr. Gonzalez

Nathalie Gonzalez

Luciano Grasso

Payton Griek

Victoria Griffith

Augusto Grimaldi

Riley Grosswald

Catherine Guariglia

Jacqueline Guariglia

Breigh Gunther

Stephanie Gutierrez

Kyla Hand

Sarina Handel

Allegra E. Hatch

Lucas E. Hatch

Hanna Hawkinson

Miguel Herrera Reyes

Drake William Hillier

Ada Jane- De Alcantara

Jack Kalmanowicz

Grace Kanige

Nathan Kaplan

Joshua Kaskey

Brooklyn Knote

Joseph Koziol

Chloe Kubenez

Valentina Labrador

Elizabeth Laurence

Adin Lee

Cristina A. Lee

Mariana Leiva Moncada

Sophia Lester

Stephan Liautaud

Gabriela Loveland

Eli Marinoff

Leonard (Lenny) Marraffino

Celeste Martin-O’Brien

Grace McFarland

Caroline Merritt

Olivia Molloy

Kasey Moore

Thomas Morales-Leiva

Joseph Mullins

Augustina Noe

Kenneth O’Dell

Dana Olson

Sabrina Olson

Joselyn Olvera

Tessa O’Neal

Brian Josue Perez

Tania Judith Perez

Rylee Kathryn Powers

James Press

Declan Quilter

Chloe Qumsieh

Sara Rangel

Tess Reilly

Avery Reynolds

Kyle Rhodes

Caden Roa

Sebastian Rogers

Jackson Rory

Sabina Rosales

Eve Sabga

Brandon Salas

Dean Sanders

Alessandra Scappaticcio

Hailey Scott

Alexander (Alex) Sequete

Evan Sequete

Isabella Simons

Brielle Snowden

Kristian Snowden

Erick Soto-Zelaya

Gianna Stazzone

Sienna Stier

Sydney Stier

Andrew Stopp

Manuel Alejandro

Subauste-Garcia

Kaitlyn Sullivan

Cristina Sweeney

Brayden A.Swisher

Jorge A Szauer

Ashley Tello-Morales

Jorge Tello-Morales

Auraya Tinney

Alexandra Toman

Lyla Tomko

William Vale

Alyssa Van Pelt

Sophia Velez

Brett Wojtecki

Alfonso Zambuto