As we near the end of the year, we have to make our lists again for “Coffee &”, Lectors and Extraordinary Ministers of Hoy Communion. Please see Jeri Smith, if you would like to be added to the “Coffee &” list. We really do need more people to participate.
With the Lector and Holy Communion Lists, please see Father Len. If you are on the list and want to stay on, no problem. If you are on the list and want off, please see me. If you would like to become a Lector or Holy Communion Minister, please see me. The new lists for January – June will be coming out in the middle of December.
The month of November is the month of All Souls. If you haven’t already done so, I urge you to put a list of your dearly departed in the basket by the altar. This gives you a chance to recall them by name and to have their names by the altar for the month. November is also Black Catholic History Month. Look it up online and read a little Black Catholic History each day. There is also a lot of Black Catholic History listed in our Josephite Parish Calendar.
The Annual Bishop’s Appeal will continue, due to a short fall in pledges. We still need $4,971.00 to make our goal. If we don’t, we will have to find the money in our parish funds. Please consider a pledge, if you haven’t already made one. We have 130 families in the parish. 32 have pledged, that means 100 have not. I still have plenty of pledge cards. As usual you can give on line, make sure you mention St. Augustine’s to give the parish credit. You can also drop your pledge card in the collection or give it to Father Len.
Today we celebrate Christ the King, the last Sunday of the liturgical year. Our ideas of a king probably vary greatly. The most notable royal family we all know is the Queen of England and her family. Even though she is the official head of the Anglican Church, I don’t think we associate a lot of religion with her or other royals. We want to be real members of God’s kingdom in this life and the next.
In today’s Gospel we have Pilate asking Jesus: “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus tells Pilate that his kingdom is not a kingdom as Pilate sees kingdoms. Instead he tells Pilate “For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
In our second reading from the Book of Revelation, Jesus says: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty.” Here he says he is more than a king, as we know kings.
In our first reading from the Prophet Daniel, Daniel tells us of his vision of the coming Messiah, “one like a Son of man coming, on a clouds of heaven, and received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.” “His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed.” Jesus is this Son of Man.
On Friday the Church celebrates Saint Andrew, Apostle. He was Simon Peter’s brother and a disciple of John the Baptist. He was the first of the Apostles to find Jesus and actually brought Peter to him. He preached north of the Black Sea and in Greece. He died on an X shaped cross in Patras, Greece.
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. Let us also pray for those who are victims of sexual abuse and mass shootings.
A Father Tolton Prayer:
Father in Heaven, Father Tolton’s suffering service sheds light upon our sorrows; we see them through the prism of your Son’s passion and death. If it be your Will, O God, glorify your servant Father Tolton, by granting the favor I now request through his intercession (mention your request) so that all may know the goodness of this priest whose memory looms large in the Church he loved. Complete what you have begun in us that we might work for the fulfillment of your kingdom. Not to us the glory, but glory to you O God, through Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are our God, living and reigning forever and ever. Amen.