Special Prayers: Next weekend is the Women’s Christ Renews His Parish retreat. About twenty of our parishioners will be on retreat on our parish grounds. We are hoping to have another men’s CRHP weekend in the spring. So many people who have gone through CRHP have talked about how much it changed their life for the better. Please pray for our retreatants!
Guest Speaker: Dr. Monica Miller is speaking on abortion and Planned Parenthood at 2:00 p.m. in our parish hall on Sunday, October 4th. Please attend!
Our Holy Father: Certainly Pope Francis made a huge impression on our country! When he arrived in Washington D.C., I was visiting patients at Genesys Hospital. The patients were watching the pope’s arrival on television. One patient, not a Catholic, said to me: “I sure wish he was part of my Church.” Pope Francis is reaching out to everyone and is an instrument of God’s mercy and love for all people.
First Fridays: One of the best ways to start each day is to pray the “morning offering.” Each day our school students pray the “morning offering.” It goes like this: “O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my works, joys and sufferings of this day; for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world for my sins, for the intentions of my relatives and friends, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father.” The prayer gives our day, no matter what happens, to the Lord and we ask Him to redeem it—including our mistakes and failures. The morning offering is tied to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The First Friday of each month was designated by our Savior Himself as a day to be consecrated to honoring His Sacred Heart.
A little bit about Sacred Heart devotion. In 1673-1674 Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary on at least four occasions asking that she promote the Love of His Sacred Heart. He promised special graces to those who would honor His Heart. There are twelve promises that Christ made to all Christians devoted to His heart. I won’t list all twelve, but the following are several of the promises made by Jesus: 1) I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life. 2) I will establish peace in their families. (I especially like this one!) 3) I will console them in their difficulties. 4) I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings. Saying this, each grade of our school is taking turns by attending Mass on the First Friday of the month to honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We pray for our school and families!
A big trophy: A few weeks ago Fr. Gary spoke to our kindergarten students about adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. He took the monstrance with him to class. When a parent asked her child what he learned from Fr. Gary, he responded that there is a “really big trophy…with God inside of it.” Nice! We have Eucharistic Adoration each Tuesday after the 8:00 a.m. Mass until 5:15 p.m. All are welcome.
New parishioners: In September we baptized Ava Ann Hampton, daughter of Eric and Amy Hampton, and Emerson Carroll Roeser, daughter of Andrew and Lindsay Roeser. Welcome to our family!
Year for Marriage: Special prayers are needed. In summoning last October’s special meeting of the Synod of Bishops and the regular session of the Synod that will begin its work on October 5th, Pope Francis called the entire Church to an open, wide-ranging, and honest discussion of the crisis of marriage and the family in the 21st century, and to a Gospel-centered exploration of what the Catholic Church might do to respond to this crisis with greater pastoral impact, thus renewing the vocation of marriage and restoring its luster.
Saint quote of the week: In light of our pet blessing on Saturday, October 3rd, we have a quote from St. Francis of Assisi:
‘All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.’
Have a blessed week and please be assured of my prayers for you—especially in Rome.
Msgr. Jerry