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.