One week from today the whole Church will celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  This feast acknowledges that Mary was taken up into heaven body and soul.  Notice the word assumption.  Forty days after Easter we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension, where our Lord ascends by his own power as God into the heavens.  Mary, however, is assumed.  While she is not divine, she certainly is marked out with special favors as the Mother of God (one of the earliest titles of Mary in the early Church, Theotokos, Greek for God-bearer).  And so her assumption is the work of God.  The Assumption of Mary was celebrated long before it was solemnly defined by the Church in 1950 by Pope Pius XII.  It had been a part of the Sacred Tradition of the Church from her earliest days that God did not allow any decay to touch the body of the Mother of God, but that she was taken up into heaven body and soul.  The only thing that really happened in 1950 was that Pope Pius XII defined something that had been the ancient belief of the Church.  Mary is often called the first disciple.  In fact, the large chapel at the Spiritual Life Center in Wichita is called the Chapel of Mary, the First Disciple.  Mary’s willingness to accept the Divine plan, her willingness to say yes is something that we should always look to for strength in our own lives of discerning God’s plan for us.  Her last recorded words in Sacred Scripture are found in the second chapter of St. John’s Gospel at the occasion of the Wedding Feast of Cana: “Do whatever he tells you.”  Mary, Queen of the Universe, Pray for us!

In Christ’s Love,

Fr. John N. Hay

Slowly I have been sifting through some of the historical information from the beginnings of a simple Newman club on the WSU campus in 1949 to the establishment of our parish in 1970 and everything in between.  In the near future we would like to create a historical wall in the hallway by the parish office.  If you would be interested in helping put this together or if you have any information or pictures please let Janet, JP or I know.   Many parishioners and students have told me that one reason they love to be a part of St. Paul’s/Newman Center is because there is such a friendly and communal atmosphere.  I will say that this has been my experience too.  And so, we need to honor and celebrate the 40 years that our parish has been around.  So many lives have been touched throughout these 40 years.  We are planning a parish dinner on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, which is on January 25, 2011.  So please mark your calendars!!!  Dinner will be at 6:30 p.m. and I will ask some of the Newmanites to wait tables and serve so that the parishioners can meet some of the students (and this will hopefully be an annual event!)

We have been busy this summer, but the summer updating is winding down.  You will notice the image of the Pious Pelican that adorns the Altar in the adoration chapel.  There are several images and symbols that emerged in the early Church to communicate different aspects of Christian life and worship.  This particular image, where the mother pelican pecks her flesh to feed her young with her own blood became a symbol to acknowledge the self-sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and His giving of His flesh and blood to us in the Eucharist, the Sacrifice of the Mass.  And the two quotes from the Book of Psalms surrounding the Chapel of Divine Mercy calls to mind the loving care that God has for each of us and that all our hope and trust is in Him.

In Christ’s Love,

Fr. John N. Hay