In the Gospel, Jesus says that He has come to set fire to the earth—the fire, that He longs to set, is the fire of divine love, the fire of the Holy Spirit, in each human heart. One prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus says, “Oh Heart of Jesus, burning with love for us, inflame our hearts with love for You.” The Sacred Heart of Jesus is aflame with love for you and for me, and in this month, He wants to set our hearts on fire with His love, to consume all that is not His love, and for this fire of His love to spread to others who so need to know God’s love for them.

This month we celebrate two Ordinations to the Priesthood at St Eugene’s. Do you ever wonder if there are some things that you can do to help promote vocations to the priesthood? Well, it turns out that there are some practices that do seem to help. It's helpful to remember that the number one most important practice is our active practice of the faith that includes an active prayer life and support for vocational discernment in general. Looking at data from men getting ordained over the last decade, there do seem to be some common threads. They are much more likely to come from larger families where they attended Mass every Sunday and occasionally daily Mass also. Additionally, families that partook of regular confession, the recitation of the Rosary, Eucharistic Adoration, altar serving, and regular prayer were more likely to produce a vocation. Other practices that appear to help produce vocations are home schooling, attending a Catholic grade school, attending a Catholic high school or college, and having a relative who is a priest. Let's all keep our youth in prayer as they discern their calling.

There is no second collection today, June 2nd. The Second Collection for the weekend of June 8 & 9 will be for our Parish Maintenance Fund. Maintenance of the Cathedral’s aging buildings and extensive landscaping needs are funded by parishioner donations.