SOLEMNITY OF
THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD

A MESSAGE FROM

ARCHBISHOP LEONARD P. BLAIR

​

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

When we attend Mass and celebrate the Eucharist we hear the priest say, Do This In Memory of Me.  These words were first spoken at the Last Supper by Jesus the night before he suffered and died on the cross, offering the ultimate sacrifice.  In the Eucharist Jesus gives us the gift of Himself--body and blood, soul and divinity--so that with St. Paul we too can say “yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me.”  We are called to imitate what we celebrate.  As Christ has done, so must we do.

​

Do This In Memory of Me is therefore a fitting theme of the 2024 Archbishop’s Annual Appeal.  Our “gift of self” in imitation of Christ means that we are following His command to love our neighbor and to make our own sacrifices for those in spiritual and material need.  The 2024 Archbishop’s Annual Appeal presents a unique opportunity to combine all of our individual sacrificial gifts in order to accomplish even more together as one family of faith.

​

I invite you to share generously the time, talent, and treasure that God has bestowed on you, so that together we can enrich, nurture, and foster the spiritual and material well-being of individuals, families, and communities throughout Hartford, New Haven, and Litchfield Counties.