Take a drive all across New Orleans and her suburbs today and it is an all out festival; a celebration if you will, of our Catholicism!! To be Catholic here in greater New Orleans is indeed cultural but it is first and foremost spiritual; a generous response of the majority for God's will in our lives!
First of all this is Sunday, the most important day of our week as we gather on the Lord's Day to celebrate these many little "easters" that we call Sunday. In Catholic Churches throughout the Archdiocese we are celebrating Respect Life Sunday. Hopefully, we will all hear great messgaes about the gift of life we all enjoy from God and our obligation to respect and protect life! This Sunday falls on the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time in our B cycle of readings so we have the powerful Gospel from St. Mark about marriage, divorce and dignity!
This Sunday also falls on the 7th of October, which also happens to be the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. This feast, which today is a great reminder to pray that beautiful prayer which is the Rosary, was actually the date to remember the great Holy Alliance(Christian) to defeat the invading Ottoman Empire(Islamic extremists) whose goal was to sack Rome and all of Italy and eventually conquer Europe. The hope by the invaders was to eliminate Christianity. The Pope invoked Mary's intercession and asked Christians to pray the Rosary and the defending Christian forces beat back forever these invaders despite great odds! So today, you will see many Catholics outside at many of our parish churches praying the Rosary as a visible witness. And it just so happens that today is also Respect Life Sunday. Many of these public rosaries will be offered for our right and just cause to promote all things Pro-Life!! Their are several silent gatherings and marches across our Archdiocese today to pray for an end to abortion and to be a people of life!
Today is also the Sunday closest to the feast day of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, who dies in New Orleans in the 19th century. Many stories appear throughout this blog about Seelos, my connection to the miracle attributed to him and his life. Blessed Seelos is interred at a beautiful Irish Channel Church here in New Orleans and today is the healing Mass in his honor! It is a wonderful celebration of his life, both while he served here on earth and now with God in Heaven as he continues to pray for us!
Yesterday, at our New Orleans based Xavier University, a wonderful Catholic institution started by St. Katharine Drexel, they dedicated a chapel on the campus named in her honor. Many events on the Xavier Campus are also being held today in recognition of this great Saint and the role she played in bringing Jesus to the black and Indian communities, especially here in New Orleans!
And that's just what I know. I bet if I could do this full time I could uncover a bunch of other Catholic events in and around greater New Orleans!
It's great to be Catholic in the Big Easy!!
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