Our Annual Town Hall will be held today, November 12th during “Coffee and” at 12:15 PM. Please plan on being there with ideas to make our parish even better.
Thank you to all who made the Harvest Festival a big success. A good time was had by all.
We have been doing well with the Annual Bishop’s Appeal. We have reached just over 100% of our goal with 46 pledges. Thank you to those who have made a pledge. There is still time to make a pledge and if you haven’t it would be good to do so. Things happen during the year and sometimes those who made pledges cannot fulfill them, so a few extras would be good. All pledges have to be in by November 19th.
We are about to begin our 90th year as a parish. We are looking for more history of the parish as well as ideas on how to celebrate this great anniversary. Why not spend a little time looking at the pictures of the priest and deacons who have served here? Maybe you will be enlightened by the Holy Spirit to contribute a great idea or two for this coming year.
Our first reading today from the Book of Wisdom is written in poetry. Wisdom is personified as a beautiful woman, who “Resplendent and unfading is wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her.” God’s wisdom is all around us, sometimes we just have to open our eyes to see her and God’s message for us. Let’s open our eyes today!
Our second reading today addresses a problem the Thessalonians had. They thought the Jesus’ Second Coming would come during their lifetimes, but they started to die. So, the question arose of what happens to those who die before Jesus comes again. Saint Paul tells them and us not to worry. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Paul says plainly there is life after death and that all will rise at Jesus’ second coming.
Today’s Gospel uses a parable to say what Paul said. The wise virgins will get into heaven with the bridegroom for the wedding banquet. “Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” We do not know when we will die, so we need to stay awake seeing and accepting all the invitations Jesus gives us to grow closer to him.
On Monday, the Church honors St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin. She died in Chicago Dec. 22, 1917. She was from Italy but became a US citizen and was the first one to be canonized. She founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. For 28 years she labored in the US and South America establishing some 67 institutions (schools, hospitals and orphanages. She is patroness of immigrants and migrants.
On Saturday, the church honors St. Rose Philippine Duchesne. From France, she founded the first American free school west of the Mississippi, known for her courage and desire to serve Native Americans, especially the Potawatomi who called her “the woman who prays always.” She died in 1852 at St. Charles, Missouri.
Let us continue to pray for peace in the world. Let us also pray for vocations to the church. Let us pray for the sick of the parish. Let us pray that all will come to respect life. Let us pray for one another and for the canonization of Father Tolton.