Since the 4^th Lateran Ecumenical Council of 1205 a.d., our Church Canon Law requires that a Catholic Christian receive Holy Communion at least once each year during the Easter Season.     This obligation binds under pain of serious (mortal) sin.    In fact, to fail to receive Jesus in His Most Holy Eucharist, as the 4^th Lateran Council noted, would be to seriously reject to use one of the greatest gifts Jesus gave us for our salvation, namely the Gift of His Body and Blood.

In our country, our Bishops at the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1870 made our fulfilling this precept as easy as possible by extending the Easter Season from the First Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday.    This year, Trinity Sunday will be next weekend.

Life-situations which impede a Catholic Christian from receiving the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist include among others:    1) not being married with the assistance blessing of the Catholic priest/deacon in good-standing;     2) living with another person in an intimate manner without the benefit of being married by a Catholic priest/deacon in good-standing;    3) enjoying habits of sin such as drug-use or alcohol-abuse without any desire to refrain from such sinful habits;   4) being intimately involved with another person even though not living with that person;    5) wanting to marry a person who has been married before whether that marriage was in the Catholic Church or not.

If a Catholic Christian is in one of these situations, then that person must first change their ways before he/she can receive the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion.    All other Catholic Christians are obliged to receive Holy Communion during the Easter Season.

On Sunday, June 25^th, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and the Blood of Christ. His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, has urged all parishes to have a Eucharistic Procession this Jubilee Year that day.      At our Holy Father's request, we will have a Procession after the 12:00 noon Mass.    Different groups will have altars around our parking lot.    Singing hymns of praise, we will process to the different altars and give the Blessing at each altar.     We will conclude with a final Benediction in the church.

Any group or family who wishes to put up an altar is asked to contact Margaret Pontius at 818 706-1842 after 6:00 p.m.   What is entailed is simple.    An altar consists of a table at least 29 inches high covered with a white cloth and with a corporal (you can use any white cloths from home, and you can obtain a corporal from the sacristy).     Place four (4) candles on your altar in glass containers, so they remain lighted; also, put lots of flowers around your altar.      In Europe, it is customary to make a religious picture on the ground in front of your altar from flower petals and leaves.     This is not necessary.    It must be noted that Jesus in His Eucharistic Presence walks over your picture in the persons of the priests.