Our annual Solemn Eucharistic Devotions last weekend gave us all the opportunity to reflect a little more deeply on this wonderful gift that God has given us; the gift of Himself. It is a gift through which God reminds us that He is always with us. He is here for us always calling us and waiting for us to come to Him.
I am very grateful to everyone who made the weekend such a special time of prayer. Fr. Joe Menkhaus gave a very beautiful homily. I am very grateful to Father Pat and Deacon Rich for preparing such a beautiful and prayerful closing Mass and ceremony. The children who are preparing for First Holy Communion and Confirmation made the procession a prayerful reflection on how we can all walk with Jesus and Jesus is with us in our daily lives. The choir added much prayerfulness and beauty to our evening prayer and procession. I am truly grateful for all that our choir adds to our worship of God throughout the year. Theirs is a very important ministry in our parish community. A special thanks to Eric Pandrea, our music director, Melissa Busson, our choir director, as well as all our liturgical ministers, especially our altar servers who did an outstanding job. I am also grateful to the Knights of Columbus who participated in the procession. The visiting clergy were very impressed by the participation of our parish community in the closing services. I am grateful too, for their presence and participation.
Again, I encourage more of you to consider committing to a holy each week or sharing an hour with family or friends. The blessing of perpetual adoration is a great source of grace for our parish and if it is to continue, we need to have more people committed to adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
We also celebrated Priesthood Sunday last weekend. Fr. Pat and I are very grateful for all your prayers and support as we go about our pastoral work here at Sacred Heart. Your prayers are very important to us, and they make a great difference because we could not do what we do without your prayerful support. We also welcomed a seminarian, Josh Stecz, who shared his vocation story with us after Holy Communion at the Masses. Josh is from St. Francis de Sales Parish in Akron and is a senior at Borromeo Seminary College. He did a very fine job in sharing his story with us and we are grateful for his time and effort. Please keep Josh in your prayers as well as all the seminarians who are discerning a vocation to the priesthood. Please pray for our seminarian, Jon Hawkins, who is presently doing an internship at St. Charles Parish in Parma. Jon is a fine young man and will make a fine priest in a few years.
Tuesday is Election Day and I hope everyone gets out to vote in this very important election. Please ask the Holy Spirit to guide us as we cast our votes. May our vote reflect God’s will for our country. Always be careful that who you vote for stands for what is good and right especially when it comes to issues of life and death, marriage and family. May we prayerfully and humbly unite our wills to the will of God so that more will know the love and mercy of God.
I recently received a letter of thanks from the Embrace pregnancy center in Barberton for our recent donations of diapers, wipes, layettes, coats, and other baby items to support their clients and families who need our help as they bring a new life into the world. It is important that we support this pregnancy center and others like it. Respect for life can be shown in many forms and charity is surely one of them. Thank you and God bless you for your generosity.
Friday, November 11 is Veteran’s Day. A day on which we honor all those who have served in the armed forces of our country. We are very grateful to them for their service in defending our country as well as our freedoms given to us by God Himself. As the Declaration of Independence tells us that we are endowed by our creator with the right to LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. Let us give thanks and pray for those men and women who gave of themselves so that we can still be the land of the free and the home of the brave. May God bless them all
