Our Parish Feast Day!!

Today is the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle!

To learn more about our parish's patron saint, please click here.

Thanks to all who came to morning mass and the celebration breakfast this morning! And a special thanks to those who arranged the breakfast!!

Dorothy Day

“I really only love God as much as I love
the person I love the least.”
--Servant of God Dorothy Day 

A founder of the Catholic Workers Movement, unwed mother and convert to Catholicism, Dorothy Day died thirty years ago today. Ten years ago, her cause for sainthood was opened, and with it granting her the title "Servant of God".

Here you may find a good background on a woman who lived by both a traditional piety and nontraditional lifestyle. The linked article says, "Her spirituality was very much focused on the effort to practice forgiveness, charity and patience with those closest at hand."

First Sunday of Advent

Roof boss of Noah's Ark
Norwich Cathedral, England

Here are the readings for the 1st Sunday of Advent, November 28, 2010:

Isaiah 2: 1-5
Psalm 122: 1-9
Romans 13: 11-14
Matthew 24: 37-44

We begin a new Liturgical Year, and the Sunday readings are taken from Year A.  We begin a new Liturgical season, Advent, whose purpose is to prepare us for the season of Christmas.

The readings speaking of preparation. While the Gospel speaks of us preparing as to guard against a thief or a flood, the other readings and psalm encourage us to prepare for right living, peace, and salvation. And they are all correct!

Let's think about preparation. In most households, much preparation has gone into getting ready for Thanksgiving: cleaning the house, shopping for and cooking the feast, setting the table, etc. One person's drudgery is another's joy. Then there is the anticipation of house guests: friends and family who may bring delight or trepidation by their presence.  Life's hardly ever simply simple--- mixed in with our abundant blessings are challenges and concerns large and small.

• What do the images of these readings mean to you?
• How can you prepare for the coming of Christ, both at Christmas (at Easter through the waters of baptism for catechumens) and at the end of time?

There is no RCIA session this Sunday.

Advent Wreath

Candidates and catechumen yesterday received a box of Advent candles (not dripless, may I caution you again?!), and in case you'd like a little more direction about what to do with them, please check out the blog post here .

Hope it's helpful! (And for those of you who missed the session yesterday, well.... guess you can start with the 2nd Sunday of Advent, when next we gather.)


Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! May the list of blessings you recollect that day last longer than the parade AND football game combined.  -Cathy

Solemnity of Christ the King

Here are the readings for the Last Sunday of Ordinary Time,
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King, November 21, 2010:

2 Samuel 5: 1-3
Psalm 98: 5-9
Colossians 1: 12-20
Luke 23: 35-43

• What do these readings tell us about the kingship of Jesus Christ?
• What consequence does it have, if any, in your daily life?

The topic for the Catechumenate session this week is "Christ the King"
Mystagogia will meet this Sunday in Care Center Room 214.
There will NOT be Inquiry on November 23.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

Today is the feast of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, who lived, briefly, in the 13th Century. We like to assign descriptive titles to our canonized saints, but she was neither virgin nor martyr, doctor nor foundress (and definitely not bishop or apostle). The title we've put after her name is 'religious'- and yet, she wasn't a nun, either. And in that, I think she can be a model for many of us.

Elizabeth's father was the King of Hungary.  Okay, okay: few of us are truly princesses. However, many of us live, even in these troubled economic times, lives of security and comparative wealth. She chose to live simply and prayerfully, using her position to help those in need.

Elizabeth married young, at age 14 perhaps for a political alliance with a German principality. She loved Louis (Ludwig) deeply and they had three children together before he was killed in the Crusades. A widow at age twenty, her generosity to the poor earned the disapproval of her in-laws. It took the return of her husband's friends to restore her place and status as mother of the heir to the throne. (I wonder if her in-laws were greedy or perhaps truly concerned for the future security of their grandchildren, or both... so often in family feuds, it's not clearly one side or the other, is it?)

She joined the Secular Franciscan Order (adopting the lifestyle of Franciscans while continuing to live outside a religious community) and founded and worked in a hospital for the poor until her death in 1231- just before her 24th birthday.  (You don't have to wait until you get older to accomplish good things)

Taking into account the Gospel reading for today about ten gold coins and the upcoming Feast of Christ the King this Sunday, Elizabeth's example presents us with an opportunity for reflection on our own use of whatever 'power' and resources that have been entrusted to our care.

Elizabeth of Hungary, pray for us!

Thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time

Here are the readings for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, November 14, 2010:

Malachi 3: 19-20a
Psalm 98: 5-9
2 Thessalonians 3: 7-12
Luke 21: 5-19

Here's the typical question, given this Sunday's gospel:

• If you knew that the world was going to end in one week, what would you do?
• Would it differ at all from what you're doing now? If so, how?

There will be a Rite of Acceptance and Welcoming at the 9:30 Mass this Sunday.
Our dismissal happens right after the intercessions.

Thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time

Here are the readings for the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, November 7, 2010:

2 Maccabees 7: 1-2, 9-14
Psalm 17: 1, 5-6, 8, 15
2 Thessalonians 2: 16- 3:5
Luke 20: 27-38

None of us living today know the full story or can accurately describe what life will be like after our earthly death. And so we use images that make some sort of sense to us from our experiences. And we look to the words of Jesus and our ancestors in faith for some guidance.

In the creeds that we profess, we declare a belief in the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. How might you describe 'resurrection', 'heaven', 'hell'?

The topic for our Catechumenate Session this Sunday is the "Last Things" (Heaven, Hell, Purgatory)

NOTE: Please turn your clock BACK one hour this Saturday before you go to sleep. Otherwise, you'll be at Sunday mass an hour too soon!

Feast of All Saints

As promised, here is the link to the page about patron saints.

I found this today on another blog, and thought it was worth sharing:

What God wants most of all for each one of you is that you should become holy. He loves you much more than you could ever begin to imagine, and he wants the very best for you. And by far the best thing for you is to grow in holiness.

Perhaps some of you have never thought about this before. Perhaps some of you think being a saint is not for you. Let me explain what I mean. When we are young, we can usually think of people that we look up to, people we admire, people we want to be like. It could be someone we meet in our daily lives that we hold in great esteem. Or it could be someone famous. We live in a celebrity culture, and young people are often encouraged to model themselves on figures from the world of sport or entertainment. My question for you is this: what are the qualities you see in others that you would most like to have yourselves? What kind of person would you really like to be?

When I invite you to become saints, I am asking you not to be content with second best. I am asking you not to pursue one limited goal and ignore all the others. Having money makes it possible to be generous and to do good in the world, but on its own, it is not enough to make us happy. Being highly skilled in some activity or profession is good, but it will not satisfy us unless we aim for something greater still. It might make us famous, but it will not make us happy. Happiness is something we all want, but one of the great tragedies in this world is that so many people never find it, because they look for it in the wrong places. The key to it is very simple – true happiness is to be found in God. We need to have the courage to place our deepest hopes in God alone, not in money, in a career, in worldly success, or in our relationships with others, but in God. Only he can satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts.

Tapestries by John Nava in the
Cathedral in Los Angeles, CA

Not only does God love us with a depth and an intensity that we can scarcely begin to comprehend, but he invites us to respond to that love. You all know what it is like when you meet someone interesting and attractive, and you want to be that person’s friend. You always hope they will find you interesting and attractive, and want to be your friend.

God wants your friendship. And once you enter into friendship with God, everything in your life begins to change. As you come to know him better, you find you want to reflect something of his infinite goodness in your own life. You are attracted to the practice of virtue. You begin to see greed and selfishness and all the other sins for what they really are, destructive and dangerous tendencies that cause deep suffering and do great damage, and you want to avoid falling into that trap yourselves. You begin to feel compassion for people in difficulties and you are eager to do something to help them. You want to come to the aid of the poor and the hungry, you want to comfort the sorrowful, you want to be kind and generous. And once these things begin to matter to you, you are well on the way to becoming saints.”

--Pope Benedict XVI
Greeting to Catholic Pupils of the United Kingdom
St Mary's College, Twickenham
17 September 2010