Come to Me: On this 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time, we hear Jesus give us some of the most beautiful words found in Scripture: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Jesus desires to give us inner peace with His presence. I recently read a commentary on the Scriptures in which the author said, “If Christ is a present event, we meet him every day. Yet we do not realize it because we are distracted.” May we experience Jesus’ longing for us, and his desire to give us more in the midst of our distractions in life!
Mission Makeover: One of the greatest blessings that happens over the summer is Mission Makeover led by our DRE, Jan Gravel, and a great number of volunteers. During the week students from grades 7 – 12 go out on “mission” to different areas of the county. They have even done some beautiful projects on our campus, including many of the flower gardens. Thanks to all of you who serve so generously…and thanks for all who donated financially to help with their projects.
Garden: On a recent walk I enjoyed looking at our community garden which serves our Outreach Center. Everything is flourishing. Thanks to sixth grade teacher Maria Gonzalez and her students for their work on the garden.
13th day: One hundred years ago Our Lady appeared to three children on the 13th of the month from May through October. The message on July 13, 1917, is very important. She spoke of the end of World War I, but warned of another greater war (World War II) if people did not heed her call to prayer, penance and amendment of life. She warned of the evils of Communism that would start other wars, as well as persecutions of the Catholic Church. Additionally the three children had a frightening experience—a vision of hell. Why? Obviously God loves us, Jesus desires us to be saved and so too does the Blessed Mother. But it’s a reality that people choose to not follow God’s ways and the path to salvation. The vision led to the prayer that is often said after each decade of the rosary: “O my Jesus, forgive us of our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy.” What gives us hope is that Our Lady said that in the end, “My Immaculate Heart will Triumph.” This Thursday, July 13, we will have veneration of the image of Our Lady of Fatima concluding with the rosary after the 5:30 pm Mass.
Insert: Inside this bulletin is a statement from the diocese regarding the control of the finances at parishes. This comes in light of a couple recent scandals at parishes in our diocese. Those parishes are St. Joseph’s in Owosso and St. Martha’s in Okemos. Embezzlement was involved in both cases, and sorry to say, the priests were involved. A lack of internal control was at fault. In both cases the priests were writing checks and handling too much of the money (that doesn’t happen here). The diocese has really amped up their overseeing of the financials at parishes. They are making it mandatory that all parishes use ParishSoft ConnectNow for daily accounting and use PayCor as a third-party payroll provider. By using these systems the diocese is able to look at each parishs financials at any time. I am very glad that our parish has been using both of these systems for quite some time (about 1/3 of our parishes were not).
Finance Council: At a recent finance council meeting, the council approved the following: the renovation of the current music room (located next to the school cafeteria) to also fit the new band program, the selection of parishioner Brad Klein from Auger Klein Aller Architects to continue his work in designing the church renovation projects, and the alienation of the convent house (the brick house next to our Church where Sr. Sharon lives). All of these decisions need to go through the diocese for their approval.
60…not quite yet: So, on July 4 I ran a 5k race in Frankenmuth. I wore a shirt that said HFS on the front and on the back, “60 years and still running.” After the race I went to my mom’s house and some of my family members were there, including my nephew. While eating lunch people asked me about the shirt and my nephew (and he wasn’t kidding) thought the 60 years on the back was to mean how old I was!
Fr. Dan: He is really happy to be here. Thanks for your warm welcome toward him. He will be a great blessing to our parish family. He desires to serve you.
Enjoy the beautiful weather and the fresh fruits and vegetables.
With love and prayers,
Msgr. Jerry
Saint quote: “In the end my Immaculate Heart will Triumph.” – Words said to Saint Lucia by Our Lady of Fatima on July 13, 1917.