Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Mary’s of the Lake: 

 This year our two parishes (St. Mary’s and St. Ambrose’s) had four First Communicants; and our four parishes (St. Mary’s Lakewood, St. Ambrose in Wabeno, St. Leonard’s in Laona & St. Joseph’s in Crandon) had 21 Confirmands. Please continue to pray for our First Communion & Confirmation students.


When offering the Holy Communion, the priest or a Communion minister said, ‘The Body of Christ’ & ‘The Blood of Christ’ each First Communicant responded Amen. When Anointing with Sacred Chrism, the Bishop said to each Confirmation student, ‘__ Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit’ (i.e. ‘Receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit’). Each responded Amen. Numerous times during Mass, as well in prayers, we also say Amen. Have you ever paused and asked yourselves, What does ‘Amen’ exactly mean? 

In general, Amen is an interjection associated with the Hebrew words for truth and dependability. It conveys the idea of agreement or emphasis, and its meaning can be translated different ways depending on the context. The two basic contexts are the following:

◆  In the liturgical context, when we say Amen at the end of a prayer, it serves as an affirmation of agreement with the content of the prayer (cf. 1Cor 14:16)  --in which case it is sometimes translated as ‘So be it’ (cf. Catechism #2856) or as an expression of faith that God will hear and act on the prayer. When we say Amen before receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord, it has been known as an expression of faith or as ‘I believe’. In Confirmation, as a response to ‘Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit’, Amen means ‘So be it’ or I agree & want to receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit.

◆  Jesus used Amen frequently at the beginning of a sentence. For example, ‘Amen, Amen, I say to you.’  In this context, it is understood or even translated as ‘Believe me’,  ‘Truly’, ‘Very truly’, or ‘in truth’. This use of Amen by Jesus (at the beginning of a sentence) is found 13 times in Mark, 31 times in Matthew, 6 times in Luke, and 25 times in John. It is also observed that this way of using Amen is not found on the lips of anyone else in the New Testament except Jesus. Nor is it used by any of the early Church authors. Isn’t that interesting?

Fr. Philip