TODAY IS WORLD MISSION SUNDAY. We celebrate this day by remembering our baptismal call – to bring the Gospel to all! The collection today for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith supports the work and witness of the Mission Church, as it provides for priests, religious, and lay leaders who offer the Lord’s mercy and help to the most vulnerable communities in the Pope’s mission. Thank you for your generosity
Today we will have our Solemn Closing of our Annual Eucharistic Devotions with Mass and a procession with the Blessed Sacrament. Our guest homilist for the closing Mass will be Fr. Michael Garvin, Parochial Vicar at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Parma. Fr. Garvin was ordained to the priesthood this past May. Those preparing to receive their First HolyCommunion and Confirmation will also join in our procession to honor the Eucharistic presence of ourLord. Please make every effort to be a part of this special weekend of praise and prayer as wegive thanks to God for the gift of Himself in the Holy Eucharist.
Soon it will be November which is the month of the Poor Souls. The Feast of the Poor Souls is on November 2. You will notice in your envelope packet that there is an envelope for the Poor Souls. If you would like to make use of the envelope you may print the names of your deceased relatives and friends on the back of the envelope. The names will be placed in the book of the dead and will be in the chapel during the month of November so that we can pray for them. The donations are used to offer Masses and prayers for the Poor Souls throughout the coming year. Since November 2 falls on a Saturday this year we will have our Mass for all those who have died this past year on Monday, November 4 at 7 PM in the church. At this Mass for the faithful departed we will read off the names of all the people from our parish family who have died this past year. Everyone is welcome to participate in this Mass for the Faithful Departed.
It is very important that we pray for those who have died. The souls in purgatory cannot pray for themselves. They must rely on our prayers and sacrifices to help them complete their journey to the Father. The most important and efficacious prayer we can offer for the souls in purgatory is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It has been said that the poor souls have appeared to some individuals to beg them to have Masses said for them so that they can enter the joy of heaven. It is easy to forget the poor souls in purgatory because many people do not even think about purgatory, and some do not believe it even exists. Not too many people go straight to heaven. Most of us are probably going to spend some time in purgatory, let’s not forget these poor souls so that we will not be forgotten when we are there ourselves.
I will spend some more time next month writing about our belief in purgatory so that we can take some time to reflect on it during the month of November as well as some thoughts and directions on how we and our families can go about planning a funeral for our loved ones when they die.
We are fast approaching Election Day on November 5. I am sure in many ways we will be happy to get this over, but it is a very important part of who we are both as Catholics and Americans. We have a solemn duty to cast our votes as an exercise in the freedom that God has given us. As we prepare to exercise this solemn duty we must prepare to vote through prayer and study of who and what we are casting our ballots. We must make very certain that our vote gives glory to God and is a reflection of His will for us. As Catholics we need to do all in our power for the people and issues that respect the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception to natural death. Although there are many issues in every election, LIFE is the primary issue because if we do not protect life, especially of the most vulnerable, then the other issues do not really mean all that much. Please pray for one another as we prepare to cast our votes on November 5. May the Holy Spirit guide our minds and hearts in all things.
