St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church

Fr. Bill Melancon

Fr. Bill J. Melancon has been ordained to the Priesthood for the past 14 years, and has served as the shepherd of our community for seven and half of those years. If you would like to contact him you may do so by email .

From the Pastor

Year of the Priest

Beginning with the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on 19 June 2009 the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world will observe the Year of the Priest. Pope Benedict XVI set this year aside as a chance for renewal for priests. In this year priests will be encouraged to rekindle their fervor, to increase in holiness, and to share their fraternal bond of priesthood with other priests around the world. It is a time of fervent and heartfelt prayer on behalf of the the whole Church Universal. It is together, each member of the Church being responsible for his or her mission, that the Church nears the fulfillment of Her mission, to bring the Good News of salvation to all corners of the world.

Pentecost

     Fifty days after the celebration of the Resurrection on Easter, we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. This event is often proclaimed as the "birth" of the Church. It may be better to understand this event as the enabling and empowerment of the disciples of Christ to perform their mission of spreading the Good News of God the Father's love and the salvation He offers to us. The Holy Spirit has the power to transform anyone who allows the Spirit to do so.

     For us, Pentecost happens each day. In a special way we recall that event nearly 2000 years ago, but for us the Holy Spirit offers us the "gifts" and the "fruits" of those gifts. Let our hearts and souls be open to the new Pentecost here today.

FOCA—Freedom of Choice Act

Many have heard about the pending legislation known as FOCA. It is a threat to one’s right to life. The government would no longer limit abortions. Abortion would become an “entitlement.” This may not seem controversial, but it would take tax-payer dollars to pay for abortion, would deregulate clinics who perform abortions, would fail to recognize the faith and consciences of medical providers and religious hospital mission statements, would allow partial-birth abortions, and take away the rights of parents and guardians to be a responsible part of a young minor daughter’s abortion decision. The debate is no longer about whether the child is human, but the decision to murder the child at the whim of the mother.
The taking of innocent human life is plainly murder. Please, bring this matter to prayer. Send the cards addressed to our legislators. Let them know how you feel about abortion and the horrors that this legislation will unleash.

Ordinary Time

At this time in the Church’s liturgical calendar we get a glimpse of Jesus’ early ministry. He gathers His disciples. He performs His first miracles. These weeks before the Lenten Season show us Jesus’ work in spreading the Good News of God’s love and the salvation which is offered to everyone. Some people accept the call, while others do not accept. Some see God working in their lives with great blessings, while others choose to ignore the graces received from God. During this time we can look at God working in our lives. There are countless blessings and graces bestowed upon us. It is our task to recognize them.

Advent 2008

Advent is a time of anticipation. Advent is a time of preparation. Not as somber as Lent, Advent has similar characteristics. The fervor of reflection, prayer, penance, spiritual reading, Scripture reading, and works of mercy are renewed and reinvigorated. The Christ Child whose conception by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary (celebrated on 25 March) comes to birth on the feast of the Nativity on Christmas Day (celebrated on 25 December). The second Person of the Holy Trinity condescends to become one like us in all things except sin. This is a great gift to us. By becoming one like us, Christ can bring us to the Father.

In Advent we recall the promises given to the people in the Old Testament and how those promises are to be fulfilled in the birth of the Savior. We recall the struggles of the people. The prophets again call out after us to repent and experience conversion.

Maranatha (maranâ’ thâ’ or maran ‘athâ’)! This is an Aramaic phrase that translates, “Come, O Lord!” There is an expectation of an early return of our Lord, Jesus. This is a return that is anticipated, but the exact time and date is not known. We live in the time of maranatha. We expect, we anticipate the glorious return of the Savior!

We live in the time between the first coming of Christ and Christ’s second coming. In that time between, Christ is to be seen in the hearts and souls of each one of us. We are Christ’s hands and feet. We do His work until He comes again. “Come, O Lord!” Find us watching and working for the Kingdom!

Christ, the King

Coming to the end of the liturgical year of the Church, consideration needs to be given to this past year and to look forward to the new liturgical year. The liturgical year moves us through the events in the life of Christ and thereby deepening the life of Christ within each of us. To be aware of the celebrations of the liturgical year necessarily means an openness to the working of God within our lives.

The feast of “Christ, the King” focuses on the end of time when all of creation is given over to the Father in Heaven. That time is when Christ reigns triumphantly! Creation is returned to its previous glory and purity. The profane is transformed into the sacred. The time has come to reflect on our cooperation in that glorious Kingdom. We are to live now as citizens of that Kingdom.

Many events, people and things impinge on our time and energy. We can lose sight of the truly important. Worrying about food and security often outstrips the time and efforts placed on spiritual well-being. This feast of Christ centers us again on our own place in God’s salvific plan. The feast reminds us of our glorious goal of praising and giving glory to God! Through this action of praising and giving glory we move toward our own place in the heavenly Jerusalem.

Evangelization

One of the task put forth to all who follow Christ is to “spread the Good News” to the ends of the earth. That task is usually termed evangelization. Through prayer and witness to faith we are called to share our lives with others. Christianity is not an individual endeavor, but a social one. We work and live at this in the context of a community. Each member is responsible for some part of this action. It can never be sloughed off to someone else.

In August 2007, we began to plan for this evangelization outreach. Our approach will be multi-faceted so that we can reach people in their particular situations. Prayer will be the essential ingredient. From prayer comes all good works. Please, to your prayers, add one for the “spread of the Gospel.” Be willing to participate in this work of the Lord. As plans become concretized, more information will be coming from the bulletin and from the pulpit. Praise God for all He has done for us!

Feasting on Purple

As she serves her divine mission, the pilgrim Church remains a most real, sensate, even sensuous, creature.  Few times of the year reveal this more clearly than the season of Lent.

For the next several weeks, the Church, despite her penance, will wrap herself and her prayer in the most ostentatiously imperial of colors – purple (or violet, for the more liturgically precise).  Consequently, one should notice that as Christian stomachs fast during this holy season, Christian eyes, in church at least, will continue to feast.

To know the history of this color is to become aware of the near scandalous use the Church makes of it.  On a deeper level, however, to appreciate the Church's adoption of this color for penance is to see more clearly the transformative power of her Master's grace.  Conversion lies at the heart of Lent.  Thus, we are reminded that, in the Redemption, everything can restored to the Lord and his purposes.

In ancient times, purple was the color of royalty and power.  In Egypt, Rome, and Constantinople, the purple trappings of their offices singled out the emperors and nobles.  Purple cloth, purple furnishings, and even purple ink served to distinguish visually the dignity and power they possessed.  Worthy of note in this regard is a practice once found in the Byzantine world.  Not to be outdone be their Western counterparts in imperial flair, the empresses of the East gave birth to their royal children in a purple chamber, in a room lined with porphyry, the purple stone of royalty.  Thus, the infant princes earned the name porphyrogenitus – "born to the purple" – and the first thing that struck their infant eyes was the color of their future office.  Even in ancient China the color purple gained royalty favor.  The official name of the Forbidden City in Beijing is the "Purple Forbidden City."

Scripture also speaks of the royal and decadent use of the color purple.  In the Old Testament, Daniel is promised jewels and purple garments if he would translate the mysterious writing that appeared on the palace walls (Dan 5:16).  Dives, the wealthy sinner from St. Luke's Gospel (16:19), is described as draped in purple.  So too is the cursed City of Babylon and its infamous whore in the Book of Revelation (17:4, 18:16).  Not all instances of the color in Scripture, however, are associated with prideful human power.  Elaborate instructions are given the book of Exodus for the use of purple cloth in the Temple.  And all four Gospels detail how Christ's body, the New Temple, whipped and spat upon, was in kind adorned with purple.

It is this "Ecce homo" image of Christ, depicted in so many works of art, that inspires and shapes the Church's penitential use of this opulent color.  The humiliated Messiah – beaten, bruised, and bleeding – is clothed by the soldiers in a purple robe as the King of the Jews.  The world looks on this scene with horror.  So too do Christians, but we also see in the mocked Christ the form of our discipleship and the salvific mystery that shapes our prayer.  Christ is the King of Glory, so the soldiers were indeed right to drape his shoulders in purple.  We too put on purple in Advent in expectation of the King's second coming.

Lenten purple, however, is different.  During this season, the color draws us not to Christ's kingship only, but also to his Passion.  The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that the Messiah's dignity attained perfection especially through his suffering (2:10).  Consequently, if Christ changes anything, if he infact makes all things new (Rev 221:5), it is not by royal edict.  He signs nothing with pruple ink.  Rather, as the suffering servant, he assumes the punishment for man's sins, suffers rejection and humiliation, mounts the wood of the cross, and, in obedience and love, sheds his blood for all.  Thus, Lenten purple reminds us not only that Christ is king, but also how he is king, and by what means we are converted and are made new.  Lenten purple calls us to conversion because it contains the crimson hues of Our Lord's blood.

The color purple, then, highlights the whole program of Christ's Lenten prayer.  The purple shades of Lent focus our attention on Christ's kingship and, more importantly, on the sufferings that perfect his royal dignity and merit us grace, that gratuitous gift of God's own life that transforms our sinful hearts.  It is a small sign of Christ's power that the feasting of our eyes on this luxurious color prompts our souls to prayer and contrition.  In the Redemption, the color purple no longer lifts human heads in earhtly pride, but instead it lowers our heads, bends our knees, and brings our fists to our breasts as we plead for mercy.  If, for our benefit, Christ effects this conversion in history's proud use of the color purple, imagine what greater wonders he wants to do this Lent to still prideful parts of our souls.

Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, OP
Dominican House of Studies

The Christmas Season

Merry Christmas! The Christmas season begins after Evening Prayer on Christmas Eve. The season continues until the celebration of the "Baptism of the Lord." Christmas day is the beginning of the season and not the end. The period after Christmas is the time for home celebrations. We can still send out Christmas cards and share the peace, joy and love of the Season. In her liturgies during the Season, the Catholic Church continues to celebrate the wonders of the birth of the Christ and anticipates His Second-Coming at the end of time. Let us truly celebrate for the Season and not for just a day.

Christ the King — 2007

The celebration of Christ the King on the last Sunday of Ordinary Time, brings to a conclusion the liturgical year of the Catholic Church. Throughout the year we celebrate the life of Christ, the life of the Blessed Virgin, the saints, important dedications of churches, and we keep the days holy by celebrating liturgical seasons. This sanctification of time is important to the faithful because it makes present to us here and today the life of heaven itself. To enter into the Liturgical Year of the Church makes every moment a holy encounter with God and the mystery of salvation.