Dear Friends,
Thank you all for making such a great impression on Bishop Stephen Rotluanga C.S.C. when he visited us last weekend. He was immensely grateful to all of you for celebrating your faith and commitment to cling on to the Lord for our pilgrim journey. He carries with him indelible impressions of how your faith touched his heart and soul. THANK YOU for being such committed people about which I am particularly very proud of.
Last week we also had the privilege of honoring AL and Betty McKenna with the Family of the Month Award. The McKenna family has been with us right from the beginning of the foundation of our parish and along the way shouldering huge responsibilities with cheerfulness. Congrats Al and Betty and thank you for the numerous ways in which you have been contributing to our parish and to the larger community.
It will be our turn next Saturday, 26th October 2019 to celebrate the Blue Mass showing our gratitude to those First Responders who look after our communities with steadfast commitment. Please join us in celebrating them and also continue to pray that they and their families may experience the love of God in their lives.
The Scripture readings for the 29th Sunday Year C invite us to be fervent in our prayers following the example of the persistent widow. Despite feeling neglected she kept on knocking at the door of that wicked and insensitive Judge who did not pay great attention to the cry of this poor widow. Our God, unlike this uncaring judge, listens attentively to the cry of His people. His heart goes out especially to those who are most vulnerable. If you think your prayers are not heard do not despair. God will come to our assistance.
On October 13, 2019 Pope Francis canonized 5 saints namely: JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, GIUSEPPINA VANNINI, MARIAM THRESIA CHIRAMEL MANKIDIYAN, DULCE LOPES PONTES and MARGUERITE BAYS. A quote by Saint John Henry Newman is worth remembering: “The Christian has a deep, silent, hidden peace, which the world sees not... The Christian is cheerful, easy, kind, gentle, courteous, candid, unassuming; has no pretense... with so little that is unusual or striking in his bearing, that he may easily be taken at first sight for an ordinary man” (Parochial and Plain Sermons, V, 5). We still have a chance to become saints. Don’t give up!
Meanwhile it will also be wonderful to know that the Universal Church is celebrating this weekend as the World Mission Sunday. This year it is even more significant as we celebrate it as the Extraordinary Missionary Month. Why? Because this year we commemorate the centenary of the Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud issued by Pope Benedict XV on 30th November 1919. Making use of this opportunity Pope Francis wants to revive the Church’s missionary awareness and commitment by giving fresh evangelical impulse to her work of preaching and bringing to the world the salvation of Jesus Christ, who died and rose again. He issued a message on the solemnity of Pentecost, 9 June 2019 titled as: Baptized and Sent: The Church of Christ on Mission in the World. Here are some excerpts:
“The Church is on mission in the world… A Church that presses forward to the farthest frontiers requires a constant and ongoing missionary conversion. How many saints, how many men and women of faith, witness to the fact that this unlimited openness, this going forth in mercy, is indeed possible and realistic, for it is driven by love and its deepest meaning as gift, sacrifice and gratuitousness (cf. 2 Cor 5:14-21)! The man who preaches God must be a man of God (cf. Maximum Illud).
This missionary mandate touches us personally: I am a mission, always; you are a mission, always; every baptized man and woman is a mission. People in love never stand still: they are drawn out of themselves; they are attracted and attract others in turn; they give themselves to others and build relationships that are life-giving. As far as God’s love is concerned, no one is useless or insignificant. Each of us is a mission to the world, for each of us is the fruit of God’s love. Even if parents can betray their love by lies, hatred and infidelity, God never takes back His gift of life. From eternity He has destined each of His children to share in His divine and eternal life (cf. Eph 1:3-6).”
Let us take this opportunity then to be renewed in our resolve to rediscover the missionary dimension of our faith in Jesus Christ.
Have a Blessed week!
Love,
Fr. John