Christ is Risen!
He is Risen, indeed!
Retreat
Beginning Sunday, I will be on retreat. The last time I tried to take a personal retreat, I had to turn right back around after checking into the monastery retreat house and make the announcement that our bishop was transferred to Atlanta! Please pray that nothing like that happens again!
This past September, the annual retreat for the priests in the Diocese of Savannah was canceled due to Covid fears. Each of us then needed to make our own arrangements for a retreat. Mine will be this week. I will go to a cabin in the mountains that a friend from Augusta is letting me use. Please keep me in your prayers as I step away for a few days and spend some time with God.
A retreat is a time of rejuvenation, renewal, and restoration. So much has happened this past year! I am looking forward to having days of quiet conversation with the Lord to sort through it all. I will be spending time praying, reading, resting. The goal is that by the end of it, I will be refreshed and renewed in my discipleship of Jesus Christ and my priestly ministry here at St. James and in the Diocese of Savannah. There will be new resolutions that flow from the prayer and reflection which will help me become a better Christian with you and a better priest and pastor for you. Please keep me in your prayers this week.
First Holy Communion
Saturday, May 1st, our second graders from our Parish Religious Education Program and the School will be receiving their First Holy Communion! They have been prepared by their teachers and are ready to join us at the altar of the Lord! Receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord is a privilege given us by Almighty God. We haven’t earned it. By ourselves, by our own effort, we are not worthy to receive. He has made us worthy. Jesus has said the word and healed us making us worthy to receive Him. What a gift! What a treasure!
Pray for these little ones! They are precious to the Lord! We rejoice with them as they receive for the first time the Savior of the world, the Word made flesh, Divine Physician, our Lord Jesus Christ!
May the Risen Lord Jesus abundantly pour out His blessings upon each of you and your families this Easter Season!
~ Fr. Daniel Firmin