Dear Friends,
Next weekend, we have two big celebrations happening! The ArchUnite event takes place on Saturday, June 8th at the CHI Center. There are 15,000 people coming to that event, so you should see lots of Catholics in downtown Omaha next Saturday. There will be no Mass on Saturday evening June 8th at the parish. Mass will be held for the 15,000 at the arena at CHI. The other event next weekend is the annual Santa Lucia festival on the riverfront. At the 11:00 Mass on Sunday, June 9th , the statue of Saint Lucy will move in procession out of the church and down to the riverfront. The festival itself begins on Thursday evening and continues through Sunday evening. There is a schedule of the events at the Santa Lucia website.
Both events highlight the importance of gathering as a community to celebrate life, our faith and our heritage. They are worth celebrating! Too often we surrender to the day to day tedium of making a living and forget how amazing life is; what an incredible gift God has given us.
A couple of years ago, the Archdiocese brought in Fr. Spitzer S.J. to talk to the priests about the incredible wonder of life. He reminded us that our sun is one of some 200 billion stars—perhaps more—in the Milky Way Galaxy alone. According to data observed through the Hubble telescope, astronomers estimate there are probably over 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe. He pointed out that the earth is exactly the right distance from the sun for the surface temperature
required to sustain life; the earth’s tilt on its axis as it travels around the sun generates the seasons and changes in the weather, producing arable soil. The tilt of the earth on its axis is precisely right for us to be able to see into outer space in the first place and the atmosphere of the earth has the perfect combination of gasses required to support life. Some scientists have made the calculation that the odds of life randomly arising, even in these perfectly suited conditions, are less than 1 chance in 10 to the 40,000th power. 10 to the 40,000th power is a 1 with 40,000 zeros after it! This not only confirms the rarity of our planet, but points us directly to a Creator who intentionally fashioned it.
If you think about the earth and the life on it as being incredibly rare, then even the ordinary things we normally take for granted— the sun rising every day, the new buds on the trees each spring, the teeming animal life, and the playfulness of children— it becomes clear that the earth, amid all the enormity of an unfathomable Creation, is set apart: unique, special, unusual, uncommon, and rare. It is extraordinary. Even the rising of the sun each day is a miracle to be celebrated.
At both of these celebrations this week we will be celebrating the incredible gift God has given
us in this amazing creation and the wonder of God’s love. St. Lucy knew this love and so was willing to
give her life for it. During the ArchUnite event, there will be laughter, song, story-telling, and a chance to give thanks to God for all the wonder God has put around us.
When you reflect on how amazing it is that there is life on our planet and how rare it is in this
vast universe, then you should also recognize how rare you are. You are an incredible creation. In all this vast universe there is not another just like you. And, my friend, you are loved by the God who created you. That is worth celebrating!
Peace,
Fr. Damian