Dear Parishioners,
This weekend we celebrate the Last Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Feast of Christ the King. Christmas Eve is still a month away from today, but one wouldn’t know it, with just listening to ads on the radio and seeing various ads on television. Some of the department stores are in “full holiday mode.” But this weekend we are asked to celebrate a very different holy day and listen to a passage from the end of Saint Luke’s Gospel: “Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom,” Dismas, the traditional name given to the criminal executed with Jesus asks. With all the hustle and bustle around us, may we keep our eyes on the kingdom of heaven. (The Advent reflection books from the Diocese of Saginaw will be available beginning this weekend. They are very popular and I know that many of you use them.)
Thanksgiving: Where has this year gone? Anyhow, Thanksgiving is this week, on Thursday. My how many things can we be thankful for? OBVIOUSLY there are issues in society and there are ups and downs in our own lives. BUT, we have SO MUCH for which we can be thankful. And I hope all of us are very thankful for ALL that we have … life, faith, liberty, and countless blessings. What a better way to celebrate this unofficial Holyday by attending Holy Mass and thanking God for ALL that He has given us! Our morning Mass this Thursday will be at 9:00 A.M., and I hope the Church is FULL! Please bring something you will be using at your dinner that night to be blessed at Mass. In my previous parishes we had many things brought forward … even canned beans, cream of mushroom soup, and onion rings … before they were mixed together … to be blessed! The Saint Vincent de Paul Society will, of course, be collecting food and monetary gifts that day.
Next weekend will be HAPPY NEW YEAR for Western Christians, with the First Sunday of Advent. It is hard to imagine that next Sunday will be December 1. When we enter into December, we know that we will begin the season of PREPARATION for Jesus’s coming into the world and into our lives. But Advent is not only a time in which we wait for the Lord to come to us; we are reminded that our lives should be a journey … a journey to God. Even as we prepare for the Lord’s coming at Christmas, let us also continue walking our own path to the Lord. (The Advent reflection books from the Diocese of Saginaw will be available again this weekend. Also 2020 Catholic Calendars, courtesy of Ortmann-Stipanovich Funeral Home will be available the weekend of November 30 – December 1.)
Unbound: Thank you for the hospitality offered to “Father Mac” when he was here last weekend to speak of the very fine ministry, Unbound. I haven’t spoken with him at the time I’m writing this, but I’m sure that everything went well. It is very worthwhile and the fact that he was here on the “World Day of the Poor” added to his message!
Archdiocese for the Military Services: Last weekend we had the “triennial” national collection for the Archdiocese for the Military Services. Thank you so much for those who gave. Your generosity will assist the Archbishop and his Auxiliary Bishops and staff in the mission of “Serving Those Who Serve.” Your donations will help make it possible for Catholic men and women, and their families, currently serving in the U. S. Military to receive the Sacraments and Pastoral Care no matter their location around the world. Your support also provides the Sacraments and Pastoral Care to those who are wounded, or as veterans, those being cared for in one of the 153 Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers.
Thank you for supporting the men and women, and their families, from our own parish and this Arch- diocese who serve and protect this great nation, and who defend the freedoms we hold dear. There are plenty of envelopes at the entrances of Church for this special collection.
Advent Penance Service for our parish will be on Wednesday, December 11, beginning at 7:00 P.M. This will be in conjunction with our PSR. I hope to have at least six priests available for confessions that night.
West County Interfaith Alliance will have its annual THANKSGIVING FESTIVAL at the Hindu Temple Community Center, 725 Weidman Road in Town and Country TODAY, Sunday, November 24th, It will be from 2 until 4. Please come for an afternoon of fellowship, food, music, and service! The goal is to pack 100 “winter break baskets” for Parkway School District’s Food Pantry. Besides the Hindu Temple and us, participating faith communities include Christ Prince of Peace Parish, Saint Anselm Parish, Good Shepherd, Trinity, and Holy Cross Lutheran Churches, Saint Martin and Saint Timothy Episcopal Churches, the Islamic Foundation of Greater Saint Louis, and the United Hebrew Congregation. If you are free next Sunday, please consider attending and helping.
The Building: Progress continues. That’s about all I can say. Each time the Fire Protection District inspects the building they find something else that has to be done … unfortunately delaying the building’s completion even longer. (I realize that their primary goal is the safety of all who are in the building, but since we have been planning this since last winter, and building it since last May, why do they have to find so many “new things” to be done each time they come for an inspection!) So, please, God, by Christmas I hope we can use the hall (yes, unfortunately, “Breakfast with Santa” (December 14) and the next K of C Pancake Breakfast, (December 8), will have to be in the School Cafeteria, sorry. In the meantime, as we come close to the end of the year, PLEASE pray that the people who have pledged to the “RRR” Campaign for our parish renovation and the Archdiocese’s “Beyond Sunday Campaign,” will continue to make their donations in a timely manner. Thank you.
As the “Cristeros” faithful Catholics said during the persecution of the Church in Mexico, “Viva Cristo Rey!” “Long Live Christ the King!”
Faithfully yours,
Fr Joe Weber