From Fr. David’s Desk
Dear Friends in Christ,
Once again I want to thank you all for your openness, support, and generous response to my financial stewardship talks the last two Sundays. These are difficult times for us here at St. Mary, but nothing that we can’t get through if we all chip in and work together as one united family in Christ. I am confident an abundance of God’s blessings will continue to flow into our parish family if we do that, for we know as his Word says that he is NEVER outdone in generosity!
As I write this on a Wednesday morning, we already received over $1,500 more gifts for the 2018 Diocesan Stewardship Appeal, and all this just from Sunday. Talk about immediate response!! That puts us now over $20,000!
Moving on….
We are now into the month of November (already!), a month especially set aside for celebrating the great Christian mystery of the Communion of Saints. We begin by triumphantly celebrating all those gone before us who through, with, and in Christ have won their eternal Crowns of glory – the Saints. Their names and faces span all times and places, but they all blend together into one harmonious chorus of faith under the universal banner of Christ and his glorious Church. This victorious throng has found their rest in Christ, but they are not resting; they are tirelessly working to assist us in the Church’s perpetual mission of building the kingdom of God, both here on Earth and in eternity. Thus we honor them, and we call upon them to intercede for us right here and
right now. Indeed we need them now more than ever!
After asking the Saints to intercede for us, we then turn to our task of interceding for all those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith, but who have not finished their final cleansing before beholding the pure and perfect vision of God and the blessed in Heaven. These are the good and holy souls in Purgatory. These souls experience the justice of atonement for their sins and from any “unfinished business” resulting from their sins, but they also come face to face with the refining fire of God’s mercy. Though they are in pain, a pain that we cannot imagine, they also experience hope as we on Earth never could. We can and should call upon them to help us grow in the virtue of hope, as we also dutifully offer spiritual bouquets and indulgences to speed up their rinsing cycle, so to speak, and escort them to the gates of paradise. It is an honor to pray for these holy souls. And rest assured they will never forget you for your help! Imagine after your passing the joy of being greeted and escorted by so many happy and grateful souls who you once helped get to Heaven. O Blessed Day!
Happy All Saints Day and All Souls Day, and a Blessed November.
God grant eternal rest to all our beloved deceased.
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. David
Here’s something to SMILE about! 🙂
St. Mary’s Church is now connected with AMAZON.SMILE! What is Amazon.Smile? Amazon is dedicated to giving back to charitable organizations like our parish. When you buy online at Amazon, you have the opportunity to have .05% of your purchases donated to St. Mary’s by Amazon. When you sign up for AmazonSmile, you’ll be asked to select from over a million of charities to support. But you can skip this step and click on our unique link. Then you’ll be taken to smile.amazon.com and then automatically asked if you want to support St Mary Church.
Our unique charity link: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/36-2182123
Hey! Don’t forget to check out our events page to see what’s coming to St. Mary’s! 😎
Our 2nd Annual Kris Kringle Market is coming in November! Check out our events page and like us on the
Don’t forget to sign up for St. Mary’s MyParish App today!
Just text App to phone number 88202 or visit myparishapp.com to download. St. Mary’s will not automatically beone of your choices because we are a national parish which means we have no boundaries. Just type in St. Mary 1407 and the site will be available for you to click on and join. Keep yourself up to date on parish events, daily readings, messages, Pope Francis messages, and programs to enhance your faith journey.
