I received a rather late notice, actually on Wednesday afternoon, of the 37
th Annual Hazel B. Hunter Scholarship Luncheon, sponsored by the NAACP. The luncheon will be Friday, Oct. 6, 2017 at the South Bend Century Center, Discovery Hall, 120 South Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., South Bend, IN. Tickets are $35.00. Please call Rebecca Johnson at 574-233-8624 for tickets and more info.
Just a reminder to participate in the 31
st Annual Bishop’s Appeal! Your pledge and payment are important to the work of the diocese. If you couldn’t sign a pledge card last week, please pray over your pledge this week. If you have already made a pledge, thank you!
I have been informed that after a great deal of work our web-site is up and running. Check it out and tell others about it. The address is on the front page of the Bulletin.
Check out
Today’s Catholic for an article about the parish.
As I’m sure we have all heard, President Trump has ended the DACA program with a six month leeway. That means that if congress does nothing about it, 800,000 young people brought here as small children can be deported from the only country they remember and grew up in. Let us pray for a quick solution that these 800,000 American children can stay here where they grew up.
We are about to begin our 90
th 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 priests 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 readings today tell us that people change. That’s much of a surprise, is it? In our first reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, we are told that that change can be for the better or for the worse. We are encouraged to change for the better, to repent of our faults and sins and grow closer to God. But because of our nature and Original Sin, we can and often do go the other way. Repent and turn closer to God.
St. Paul, in our second reading, tells the Philippians and us how to get closer to God. “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others.” He then goes on to talk about Jesus emptying himself to take on the form of a slave, coming in human likeness and humbling himself to the point of death on the cross. The Son of God became man and died for our sins!
Our Gospel parable today deals with a father and his two sons. The father asked each of them to work in his vineyard. One said yes and didn’t, the other said no, but did. This continues today’s theme that people can change. Jesus is talking to the “good” people, the chief priests and elders, but he points out that the “bad” people, tax collectors and prostitutes, believed John and changed, but they rejected John and did not change. Jesus is asking for repentance. Part of our spiritual growth is change. Our prayer needs to be from the responsorial psalm: “Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior.” If we do this the psalm concludes, “He guides the humble to justice, and teaches the humble his way.”
On Monday, the Church honors The Holy Guardian Angels.
On Wednesday the Church honors a very popular saint, St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscans. In his honor, pets and animals are blessed this day. Give your pet a blessing in his honor.
Saturday the Church celebrates Our Lady of the Rosary. This is why October is the month of the rosary. As we all know, the rosary is a good traditional prayer in the church.
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
.