Pentecost
Today, on this day of Pentecost, we celebrate a transformational event in the history of our salvation, namely the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Upper Room that took place fifty days after the Lord’s Resurrection (pentekoste in Greek means fiftieth). Jesus promised us an Advocate to be with us always, to give leaven to the world, and to grant us the gifts we need to carry the Church through to Christ’s Second Coming. In fact, it’s in the coming of the Holy Spirit that many see the birth of the Church proper, meaning that today we celebrate the inauguration of the Body of Christ here on earth! It’s a big deal!
The Holy Spirit often gets short shrift for all of our focus on Jesus and God the Father (not that it’s a competition). But the Holy Spirit is a powerful and necessary part of each of our stories. I’ll leave you with some words of St. Irenaeus describing to the early Church the importance of the Third Person of the Trinity, and His effect upon us and upon the Church:
When the Lord told his disciples to go and teach all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, he conferred on them the power of giving men new life in God.
He had promised through the prophets that in these last days he would pour out his Spirit on his servants and handmaids, and that they would prophesy. So when the Son of God became the Son of Man, the Spirit also descended upon him, becoming accustomed in this way to dwelling with the human race, to living in men and to inhabiting God’s creation. The Spirit accomplished the Father’s will in men who had grown old in sin, and gave them new life in Christ. Luke says that the Spirit came down on the disciples at Pentecost, after the Lord’s ascension, with power to open the gates of life to all nations and to make known to them the new covenant. So it was that men of every language joined in singing one song of praise to God, and scattered tribes, restored to unity by the Spirit, were offered to the Father as the first-fruits of all the nations.
This was why the Lord had promised to send the Advocate: he was to prepare us as an offering to God. Like dry flour, which cannot become one lump of dough, one loaf of bread, without moisture, we who are many could not become one in Christ Jesus without the water that comes down from heaven. And like parched ground, which yields no harvest unless it receives moisture, we who were once like a waterless tree could never have lived and borne fruit without this abundant rainfall from above. Through the baptism that liberates us from change and decay we have become one in body; through the Spirit we have become one in soul.
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of God came down upon the Lord, and the Lord in turn gave this Spirit to his Church, sending the Advocate from heaven into all the world into which, according to his own words, the devil too had been cast down like lightning.
If we are not to be scorched and made unfruitful, we need the dew of God. Since we have our accuser, we need an advocate as well. And so the Lord in his pity for man, who had fallen into the hands of brigands, having himself bound up his wounds and left for his care two coins bearing the royal image, entrusted him to the Holy Spirit. Now, through the Spirit, the image and inscription of the Father and the Son have been given to us, and it is our duty to use the coin committed to our charge and make it yield a rich profit for the Lord.
Keep spreading joy!
Fr. Friedel
PLEASE NOTE: Beginning Monday, May 25 all Daily Masses—Monday through Saturday—will begin at 8am until school resumes in August.
Our parish Feast Day takes place on Sunday, June 7— the Feast of Corpus Christi. We will commemorate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ with a Eucharistic Procession through our neighborhood following the Sunday 10:30am Mass. Can you help? We are in need of men, high school and older to be canopy-bearers at the procession on Sunday, June 7, after the 10:30am Mass. Our procession will end around noon. Please call the Parish Office at 217-528-7521 if you can help us or sign up on our website.
Come on out and cheer on the Blessed Sacrament School students at the Horseshoes game on Wednesday, May 27!
98th Annual Garden Party
Tuesday, June 23rd - Preview Night 5 PM to 9 PM
Wednesday, June 24th - The Big Night!
Rides and Fair Food open at 3 PM
DJ starts at 4 PM
Games and Dunk Tank open from 5 PM to 8 PM
Get together as a group and run one of the games/booths at the Garden Party! We're bringing back old favorites like the dime toss, fishing pond, cake walk, basketball toss, ring toss, and, of course, the cane game! The Garden Party committee will provide the actual game and all of the prizes.
You can volunteer as a family (multiple generations are encouraged!) or with your neighbors, or with your graduating class! (B.S.S. Class of 1979 has already claimed a booth!)
Groups would be responsible for staffing their game/booth on Wednesday, June 24 from 5 PM to 8 PM.
Set up of the games will take place on Tuesday night, June 23. Adults can get their booth organized while the kids enjoy the games and Fair Food at Preview Night.
You can volunteer as a family (multiple generations are encouraged!) or with your neighbors, or with your graduating class! (B.S.S. Class of 1979 has already claimed a booth!)
Groups would be responsible for staffing their game/booth on Wednesday, June 24 from 5 PM to 8 PM.
Set up of the games will take place on Tuesday night, June 23. Adults can get their booth organized while the kids enjoy the games and Fair Food at Preview Night.
To find out what booths are still available, contact Suzy Ganey at sganey13@hotmail.com or Ashleigh Sommer at ashleighsommer74@gmail.com.
Mark your calendars! Vacation Bible School will return to Blessed Sacrament this summer. Join us June 22—26, 2026 from 8:30 am to 11:30 am. All children entering Preschool through Fifth Grade are invited to join us for VBS.
We are so exited to bring Summer Camp back to Blessed Sacrament School! Families can enroll for the whole summer (June 1 through July 31) or for individual weeks. This program is for students entering Preschool through students entering 5th grade in the 2026-2027 school year. Summer camp includes fun field trips, nutritional morning and afternoon snacks and theme weeks. Don’t forget! Vacation Bible School will take place June 22—26 and will be incorporated in to our Summer Camp curriculum. Camp hours are 7:45am to 5:00pm daily.
Would you prefer to read the actual bulletin online? Click on the button to the right for a virtual copy of this week's bulletin.
From other parishes...
There are many events coming up on the Springfield Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (SDCCW). Follow them on Facebook for more information.
Plan now for their fall meeting on September 3, 2026.
Plan now for their fall meeting on September 3, 2026.
Sign up for Called and Courageous Women’s Conference in Springfield
What is preventing you from trusting God more deeply?
Life is full of highs and lows, and it can be hard to see where God is in the middle of it all. At this year’s Catholic Women’s Conference, discover how to trust God in the messy, real moments of everyday life. Learn how your emotions influence your spiritual life and how to challenge the lies that lead to self-criticism, comparison, and discouragement. You’ll leave with practical tools to learn how to recognize God in your daily life, grow in prayer, and live with greater confidence in your identity as a beloved daughter of God. No matter what your season of life – single, married, divorced, widowed, young adult, or retired – you’ll find encouragement, community, and hope. When? Saturday, October 10. Christ the King parish Center, Springfield. Women ages 18+. Cost $30. Even if you are on the fence about God, remember: God is not on the fence about you. Questions? Contact Gracie Ortiz at gortiz@dio.org or 217-321-1124.
What is preventing you from trusting God more deeply?
Life is full of highs and lows, and it can be hard to see where God is in the middle of it all. At this year’s Catholic Women’s Conference, discover how to trust God in the messy, real moments of everyday life. Learn how your emotions influence your spiritual life and how to challenge the lies that lead to self-criticism, comparison, and discouragement. You’ll leave with practical tools to learn how to recognize God in your daily life, grow in prayer, and live with greater confidence in your identity as a beloved daughter of God. No matter what your season of life – single, married, divorced, widowed, young adult, or retired – you’ll find encouragement, community, and hope. When? Saturday, October 10. Christ the King parish Center, Springfield. Women ages 18+. Cost $30. Even if you are on the fence about God, remember: God is not on the fence about you. Questions? Contact Gracie Ortiz at gortiz@dio.org or 217-321-1124.
Protect Your Kids Online – Do you wish that someone had told you early on about the dangers of pornography? Do you ever wonder how to introduce the topic to your kids and when? The average age of first exposure to porn is 8 to 10 years old. When girls internalize the harmful images in porn, they are likely to have issues with self-esteem, body image, and relationships, and 58% of girls have seen porn by age 12. The resources at go.dio.org/2XY will help your children learn about healthy intimacy and understand healthy sexuality as well as protect them from the damage that pornography can do to their brain and to their relationships. Questions? Contact Gracie at 217-321-1124 or gortiz@dio.org.
Blessed Sacrament will be offering VBS for kids ages Preschool through 5th grade in June, 2026 - but what about OLDER kids?
Sign up your child for Totus Tuus, popular weeklong summer program and will be held at other parishes in Springfield. Totus Tuus is a weeklong Catholic youth program dedicated to sharing the Gospel and promoting the Catholic faith through evangelization, catechesis, Christian witness, praying the Rosary, attending Mass, and praying at eucharistic adoration. The program inspires in young people a true longing for holiness, a deep desire for daily conversion, and an openness to their vocation.
Teams of missionaries, comprised of college-aged students and several diocesan seminarians, will travel to a different parish each week, hosting the five-day catechetical program for grades 1-12. The week is filled with faith, fun, and friendship. There are messy games and crazy skits, in addition to daily prayer, Eucharistic Adoration, learning the Sacraments, and going to Mass. The missionaries also provide a witness to being an authentic disciple of Christ. The popular program sees hundreds of children participate every year in the diocese.
Note, grades 7-12 are from Sunday-Thursday each week and the program is in the evenings. For grades 1-6, the program is Monday-Friday each week and starts in the morning and finishes in the afternoon. Families will receive the specific start and end times later this spring through the parish communications.
June 14 – June 19
St. Katharine Drexel, Springfield
July 12 – July 17
Christ the King, Springfield
Sign up by going to dio.org/totus-tuus-camper-registration
Sign up your child for Totus Tuus, popular weeklong summer program and will be held at other parishes in Springfield. Totus Tuus is a weeklong Catholic youth program dedicated to sharing the Gospel and promoting the Catholic faith through evangelization, catechesis, Christian witness, praying the Rosary, attending Mass, and praying at eucharistic adoration. The program inspires in young people a true longing for holiness, a deep desire for daily conversion, and an openness to their vocation.
Teams of missionaries, comprised of college-aged students and several diocesan seminarians, will travel to a different parish each week, hosting the five-day catechetical program for grades 1-12. The week is filled with faith, fun, and friendship. There are messy games and crazy skits, in addition to daily prayer, Eucharistic Adoration, learning the Sacraments, and going to Mass. The missionaries also provide a witness to being an authentic disciple of Christ. The popular program sees hundreds of children participate every year in the diocese.
Note, grades 7-12 are from Sunday-Thursday each week and the program is in the evenings. For grades 1-6, the program is Monday-Friday each week and starts in the morning and finishes in the afternoon. Families will receive the specific start and end times later this spring through the parish communications.
June 14 – June 19
St. Katharine Drexel, Springfield
July 12 – July 17
Christ the King, Springfield
Sign up by going to dio.org/totus-tuus-camper-registration
How to Live in the Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit is the most mysterious of the persons of the Trinity, and His work in our lives is not always apparent - for example, can you answer the question, "How am I living out of the gifts given to me at the sacrament of Confirmation?" If you want to know and understand more of what God desires for our relationship with the Holy Spirit, join Fr. Daniel McGrath at 7:00 PM in the Cathedral Atrium after the feast of Pentecost, on June 8, 15, 22, and 29, as we dive into the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the effect of the Holy Spirit on our lives!
Mid-life Singles (mid-30s to 50s): Are you looking for a renewed sense of purpose & belonging? Register today for a life-changing REFLECT weekend retreat at the Pallottine Renewal Center, Florissant, MO (30 min from downtown St. Louis), on July 17-19, 2026. Take a chance and get involved... you won't regret it! Cost is $290 including meals. Visit www.ReflectRetreat.com, e-mail reflect.stlouis@gmail.com, or call (630) 222-8303 for details.