CSA is Underway

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From 6/2/24 - This weekend our parish is launching the 2024 CSA Campaign which is the annual drive that reminds us of our missionary mandate and our connection to the greater Archdiocese of Detroit. In addition, this Sunday is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Corpus Christi Sunday. These two realities might seem to be at complete odds with each other, but not if we look at it through the lens of loving sacrifice and giving.

Each year, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi offers us the chance to contemplate the mystery of the Eucharist which is so deep that no one could ever truly grasp the depth and richness of what Jesus offered. We try to understand, which we must. We ask the Lord to know and to love Him more deeply each day. But in the end, it’s hard to wrap our minds and hearts around the reality that Jesus gave us everything. Yes, everything. Even when He was tired, He did not hold back. Even when He was being ridiculed, He did not hold back. And even when He was being scourged and crucified, He did not hold back. Jesus did not hold back because He knew that His sacrifice, His offering, would not leave Him empty but rather be the cause or our salvation. New Life! The gift of the Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus in the Eucharist is the eternal gift of love, a gift of love that comes to us by means of the Lord’s true and complete sacrifice.

Just a few days ago on Memorial Day, we recalled as a nation the sacrifice made by courageous soldiers, who gave the ultimate gift of their lives for the preservation of freedom. Their unselfish sacrifice allows us to pray and worship freely, especially today in Kellogg Park with Praise Fest.

When a sacrifice is given in love, the gift is never something that empties us or leaves us with “less.” Not at all. By offering a sacrificial gift in faith, we are recognizing and entering a mystery of love which brings new life. It’s the amazing mystery that the evil one so desperately wants to keep from our eyes, that is, the great paradox of love: where to lose is to gain, to give is to receive, and to surrender is to be set free. When our eyes are fixed on Jesus, we have confidence that what we give does not leave us empty.

Last year we exceeded our CSA goal for the first time in a number of years, and for that I thank you! I see our collective sacrifice and offering as part of a larger family on mission. Our deepest desire is to give joyful witness to Jesus in the world and to do that with complete faith and trust in the Father’s Providence, and part of that is our collective commitment to our missionary activity through CSA. This year, our CSA goal is $413,000. That is a significant goal for us as a parish, and I acknowledge the sacrifice entailed in reaching that goal. But I am also very confident that there is nothing we could give that could match the overwhelming generosity of our God in the loving sacrifice of Jesus, through whose Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity, we are saved. I ask for your continued generosity in achieving/exceeding our 2024 goal. As a reminder, every dollar raised in excess of our goal directly benefits us as those funds remain within the parish for our needs. Thank you in advance for your gift and together, let’s keep our eyes fixed on Jesus!

Msgr. Todd and Mission Advancement Committee