Today, February 10, Michael S. Belzowski will be received into the Church with the Sacraments of Initiation at the 10:30 AM Mass. Mike and Nora have been coming for quite a while and we welcome Mike with great joy. Because we will have a celebration in honor of Mike, we will not have a Parochial Council Meeting today.
As we all know, this is Black History Month. Last Friday the Church celebrated one of its many Black saints, Josephine Bakhita. She was born around 1869 in Sudan and raised in the Islamic faith. She was kidnapped around the age of seven by slave traders who gave her the name “Bakhita”, meaning “lucky one.” She was sold to a number of owners until she was purchased at about the age of twelve by the Italian Consul Callisto Legnani. He brought her to Italy and, while serving as a nanny, was sent to live with the Canossian Sisters in Venice. There she was formally introduced to the Catholic faith, baptized Giuseppina, and eventually granted her freedom. In 1896 she joined the Canossian Daughters of Charity, and for some fifty years served her sisters as cook, seamstress, and portress of their houses in Venice, Verona and Schio. She was especially beloved by her students for her sweet nature and musical voice. After a long and painful illness, she died in 1947. Pope John Paul II canonized this first Sudanese saint Oct. 1, 2000 as a witness to evangelical reconciliation and a model of freedom.
Our first reading today, tells us of the call of the Prophet Isaiah. He was afraid and said “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips.” But after an angel placed a burning ember on his lips, he accepted his call saying, “Here I am, send me.”
In our second reading, Saint Paul tells us of his call to preach, “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, and then the Twelve…Last of all he appeared to me.” We call him the Apostle to the Gentiles because he travelled far and wide preaching Jesus. Before his conversion Paul persecuted the church.
In today’s Gospel we have Jesus calling Peter. Peter says, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” But Jesus says to him “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
If these great men of the Bible felt afraid, we, too, might find ourselves saying the same thing they said: I am afraid! I am unworthy! But with baptism we all become sons and daughters of God and are called by God to preach his message to all with our lives.
On Monday, the Church celebrates Our Lady of Lourdes. This is one of the apparitions of Mary that the Church has approved. During this apparition in in 1858, Mary told us she is the Immaculate Conception. This is also a world day of prayer for the sick.
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.