The prayer shawl
ministry will be started soon. If you need yarn or need a prayer shawl
for someone, please contact me. We are hoping to get some of the workers
to do a baby afghan from time to time so we have them when a new baby is born
in the parish. Also if you have a college student that you think would like
a prayer shawl or someone in the service, my number is:
867-3870 Sharon VandeCastle
There will be a
potluck after 10:30 mass on November 9th to celebrate Fr. Bert's
birthday. Please bring a dish to pass if you can make it. Milk, coffee, and
lemonade will be furnished. More details will be coming.
Still need names and
addresses of servicemen and women and their "wish lists." We
only have information on one so far. Please call me.
Sharon
VC 867-3870
Thought for the
day: "Give until it hurts.....then give "of yourself."
Anyone from the
parish that has a relative in the service they would like us to include on
our Christmas pkg. list, please give us their name, address, and "wish list."
(That could include a phone card.) Please call me: Sharon
VandeCastle 867-3870 We are on a deadline, so please call me
ASAP. Thank you
EDUCATION COMMITTEE
The Education committee meeting is October 30th at
6:30p.m. If anyone is interested please
contact Carol Sambs or Ray Kalunzy.
DAYLIGHT SAVING TIMES ENDS
Don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed on
Saturday, November 2nd.
WORKING WITH THE SCRIPTURES –
October 26, 2008 (Ex. 22:20-26; Mt. 22:34-40)
Every time I read this Gospel I think of a gathering I attended a few years ago when I had the good fortune to speak to some 300 Secular Franciscans in La Habra, California. The group included people recently arrived from Vietnam, Korea and Mexico, as well as native Californians. The organizers had even arranged to have my talk translated beforehand so that non-English speakers could also participate. Participants had been asked to bring their own lunches. These we ate at outdoor tables, where some of the Koreans invited me to sit and share what they had brought. “What’s this?” I kept asking, finding each new item more delicious than the last.
But exciting as it was to see my words translated into various languages and to eat dishes I had never tried before, it was the Mass that brought me to tears. Our opening song was in Vietnamese, the Preparation of Gifts in Korean, the Communion Song in Spanish and the Song of Sending in English. I didn’t understand the words of the first three but the final hymn, the words with which we were sent out on mission, was “Let There Be Peace on Earth…”
These people were not Americans of various ancestries; these were recent immigrants – people so recently arrived that many of them spoke little or no English, depending upon the younger among them to translate. These were people from countries with which we have been at war within my lifetime, people from Korea and Vietnam. These were people from Mexico, a country bordered by walls and barbed wire fences in an effort to keep others like them away.
“You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once
aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.”
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” In another place the question is asked, “Who
is my neighbor?” I’ve never had lunch
with a Samaritan, and I doubt that I would know one if he or she sat down next
to me, but I do know that on that day I had lunch with my neighbor – “…and let
it begin with me.”
ANOINTING OF
THE SICK
Sacrament of Anointing will be offered at Masses on the weekend of November 8th & 9th.
Did you know? In reality, the Anointing of the Sick is to offer prayers for possible recovery, but the more important intention is to give strength to the soul of the sick person. Often, when people are sick, they get discouraged, depressed, angry, annoyed and afraid. The Church believed that the sacrament offers a special grace to calm the spirit. If physical recovery is God’s will, so be it. If not, then the person needs the grace, strength, and encouragement to bear the illness with dignity. Deacons can’t anoint only priest and bishops can.
Anointing with oil is not a magical or good-luck gesture but a sincere sign of supernatural assistance to coincide with the physical medicine and treatment already being given.
Because many sick and injured people recover nowadays, or at least go into remission, Catholics are able to receive the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick more than once – as many times as needed. The elderly, people with many ailments, and those with a deadly or serious disease, chronic pain and suffering, or recurring illness, can and should be anointed often.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
COLLECTION
We will be taking
a second collection next weekend, November 1st & 2nd
for Religious Education. Envelopes were
mailed to everyone in the monthly report.
Extra yellow envelopes are at the entrances to the church.
BIRTHDAY POTLUCK
There will be a potluck after the 10:30a.m. Mass on Sunday, November 9th,
to celebrate Father Bert’s birthday. Our
parish is full of wonderful cooks, so bring your own special dish and a healthy
appetite!
BIRTHDAY WINE & CHEESE SOCIAL
We will be having a Wine and Cheese Social after the 4:00p.m. Mass on
Saturday, November 8th to celebrate Father Bert’s birthday.