THANK YOU for your participation!
Thank you for answering your baptismal call to witness for mission on World Mission Sunday!
Our parish offered $ 1008.00 to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith for the missionary work of the Church; a real blessing for the Missions! Please continue to pray for missionaries, and for the people to whom they bring the “Good News” of Jesus. May God bless you for your generous missionary spirit!
Family Fun Night: last Saturday night Family Life Center was filled with lots of life. What a FUN, SOUNDS and TASTES!!! We had a turnout of 125+ kids, teens and adults. Little ones were playing with other little ones, teens and tweens were getting to know each other and playing games, grownups were playing with their kids and adults were getting to know one another and also play games around the tables. As one of the parishioners noted: Not a head was seen down in a tablet or smart phone because there was too much fun stuff going on in the “real world”! Music went on all night and the FOOD—-WOW! What variety and quantity!
I have to express my sincere appreciation for many people who worked so hard to make that night so joyful. First of all, Pastoral Council for coming up with such a great idea especially Kelly Moneyhan. At least a dozen individuals and ministries contributed games and food and set up especially Jerry Robichaud and Fred Slayton. Special thanks to Linda Byer, the person who was on the scene from start to finish, directed and organized the whole event. Scouts, you rocked it again, setting up whole event and then clean up, you did it gracefully. God bless you all.
THANKS to all who participated! If you didn’t make it to this Fun Night, don’t miss the next one!!
All Saints: All Saints’ Day is a solemn holy day of the Catholic Church celebrated annually on November 1. The day is dedicated to the saints of the Church, that is, all those who have attained heaven. What does it mean to be a saint? Surprisingly, it is much more down-to-earth and obtainable than we might think. Francis de Sales says, it’s all about faithfully doing what you are called to do…” We will celebrate this Holy Day with Mass at 8:30 AM and 7 PM.
All Souls: The day after All Saints, November 2, is All Souls. And is dedicated to those who have died and not yet reached heaven. We honor our loved ones who have died. We will celebrate a Mass at 8:30 AM in the Church. And at 11 am we have a Mass at Hardage Giddens (Chapel Hills) on Saint John’s Bluff and blessing of all the graves. If you have a loved one buried there, we will visit the grave.
Today’s Gospel parable reminds us that we are justified only by the grace of God. God’s gift of grace can take root in us only when we have the humility to acknowledge our need because of our sins.
The Pharisee is a very good person. He has obeyed all the laws of God. His efforts have even gone beyond the law; he fasts twice a week and pays tithes on his whole income. There is much about him that we might admire. But Jesus wants us to focus on his attitude. The man sees himself as better than the rest of people. He’s proud of his goodness.
The tax collector approaches God at a distance. He is aware of his sinfulness, his need for God’s mercy. We’re told that his humble prayer pierces the clouds and reaches the heart of God. God does not delay in responding. The tax collector went home justified – at peace with God who reads the heart.
Honesty and humility are very basic foundations for developing a deeper relationship with God. No matter how good we strive to be in our daily living, our eternal salvation is always a gift of God’s saving grace and mercy. When it comes to pleasing God, we must learn never to become self-sufficient. We cannot earn salvation no matter how much good we do. We can only accept saving grace with great humility and respond thankfully by doing the good we are able to do each day.
Let us willingly acknowledge our need for God’s mercy each day. We can be confident that God will hear our humble prayer. Our merciful God will always lift us up and send us home justified.
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