THE GOOD NEWS
ARCHBISHOP BELTRAN
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August 12, 2007 The Good News ...Centro Guadalupano Dedication of Centro Guadalupano My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: The Most Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is a great gift from God. It is a perfect act of thanksgiving. Jesus offers Himself to the Almighty Father in thanksgiving. He offers Himself to us in love. “Take My Flesh and eat It. Take My Blood and drink It and you shall have life everlasting.” Therefore, our coming together today to celebrate this Eucharist unites us with Jesus and enables us to give thanks to God in a most perfect way. The Eucharistic gratitude we celebrate and share focuses on love and includes all our brothers and sisters. Remember always that Jesus Himself taught us that the love we have for God can never exclude the love we should have for our brothers and sisters. Love of God and love of neighbor go hand in hand. It is the love of God that gathers us here today as brothers and sisters. Thus how appropriate it is that we celebrate this Eucharist with faith, love, gratitude and joy. In that spirit of joy, I congratulate you, the people of Little Flower Parish. I am very proud of you and grateful for what you have accomplished. Even when difficulties or delays occurred, you did not stop. You faced this project with great enthusiasm and determination. Now we come here today after more than three years of planning, working and saving. We come to bless and dedicate your Centro Guadalupano. I thank you for your generosity, your enthusiasm and your good work. In March of 2005, I challenged you to raise the funds for this new hall. I promised you that the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City would match your contributions from then until the end of that year. You successfully raised $263,000 which was then doubled by the Archdiocese. A very generous donor later made a large gift and you continued to raise money to bring your total to one and a half million dollars. By that time, the costs had risen to over two million dollars. You continued to respond through your parish and held many activities such as the very successful parish carnival. All these activities are a sign of your faith and for this I am most grateful and I encourage you. You have given the name Centro Guadalupano to your new hall. This is wonderful. The Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of God, is the most important intercessor we have. The Church has always practiced great devotion to Mary. We are especially devoted to her under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe. When Our Lady appeared to Saint Juan Diego, she assured us of her motherly love. She promised us her help and guidance. She directed us to turn to her Son Jesus who is our Lord and Savior. Indeed, the Virgin Mary is the mother of Jesus. But Jesus is also the eternal Son of God. He is the living and true God. He and He alone can give us life everlasting in heaven. This is the reason the Blessed Virgin Mary always directs us to Jesus. This is the reason she tells us to listen to Him, to obey Him, to repent of our sins and follow Jesus more closely. This is what it means to live the fullness of our Catholic faith. When Jesus came into our world, He brought us the ultimate Good News. He told us that we did not have to be slaves of sin. He offered us new life here and life everlasting in heaven. Jesus said “Take My Flesh and eat It. Take My Blood and drink It and you shall have life everlasting.” In the celebration of the Eucharist, bread and wine are changed into His Body and Blood. Now we can receive the real food of life so that we can grow in faith, in hope and in love. In the days and the weeks and the years ahead, you will frequently enter this beautiful Centro Guadalupano. Here you will enjoy the fellowship of families and friends. Here you and your children can study and learn more about our Catholic faith. Through these activities and classes, each of you can better appreciate the many gifts of life and faith that Jesus has for us. Therefore, we are especially grateful that your Centro Guadalupano has this beautiful altar and tabernacle so that you can celebrate many of your Sunday and holy day Masses here. This is indeed a Sacred Place which we bless and dedicate today. But before I proceed, I wish once again to thank everyone here for the vibrancy of your faith. Thank you for your generosity and commitment to build this Centro Guadalupano. Also, I express a word of gratitude to the Carmelite Fathers and brothers who have faithfully and zealously served this parish for 86 years. And a very, very special thank you to Father Jenaro de la Cruz, whose vision, dedication and hard work made the Centro Guadalupano a reality. Thanks to all and God bless you. |