Patron Saint of Altar Servers

St. John Berchmans

Facts

Feastday: November 26
Patron of Altar Servers
Birth: 1599
Death: 1621

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Eldest son of a shoemaker, John was born at Diest, Brabant. He early wanted to be a priest, and when thirteen became a servant in the household of one of the Cathedral canons at Malines, John Froymont. In 1615, he entered the newly founded Jesuit College at Malines, and the following year became a Jesuit novice. He was sent to Rome in 1618 to continue his studies, and was known for his diligence and piety, impressing all with his holiness and stress on perfection in little things. He died there on August 13. Many miracles were attributed to him after his death, and he was canonized in 1888. He is the patron of altar boys. His feast day is November 26.

Tomorrow is a day of prayer for persecuted Christians across the world

Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians to be observed this Sunday

• In Catholic News Agency, Church in the US
• Catholic News Agency
  Nov 23, 2017
  CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY

Cross of the Martyrs. (Credit: Aaron Groote via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).)

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has announced Sunday, Nov. 26 as a Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has announced Sunday, Nov. 26 as a Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians.
“On the solemnity of Christ the King, I ask that the entire church in the United States come together in a special way for a day of prayer for persecuted Christians to express our solidarity with those who are suffering,” says Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference.
“To focus attention on the plight of Christians and other minorities is not to ignore the suffering of others,” he said. “Rather by focusing on the most vulnerable members of society, we strengthen the entire fabric of society to protect the rights of all.”
The bishops’ conference made the announcement in collaboration with Aid to the Church in Need, Catholic Relief Services, the Knights of Columbus, and the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA).
In a statement announcing the day of prayer, the bishops’ conference said that the Nov. 26 “Solemnity of Christ the King is a fitting time to reflect on religious freedom and Christians around the world who are being persecuted in unheard of numbers.”
The day of prayer also begins a week of awareness and education, entitled “Solidarity in Suffering.” The week will run Nov. 26-Dec. 3 and will use the social media hashtag #SolidarityinSuffering.
Parishes and other groups participating in the day and week of prayer can find resources at www.usccb.org/middle-east-Christians. Resources include education materials, suggested Mass intercessions and homily notes, logos for local use, and recommended aid agencies.
Also available at the website is Aid to the Church in Need’s executive summary of “Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians Oppressed for their Faith 2015-2017.”

Our newest Christian!

All privilege today to baptize little Kate Hazel today.  Just a reminder that Deacons preside at many of the baptisms in the parish these days and I was happy to be present today for this Sacramental celebration:

Pope Francis sends condolences for terrorist attack in Egypt

Pope’s Consolation for North Sinai Terrorist Attack

Grieved by Great Loss of Life by Terrorist Attacks on Rawda Mosque

November 24, 2017ZENIT StaffFrancis

Pope Francis praying, CTV

Pope Francis expressed his “profound” grief November 24, 2017, at the “great loss of life” caused by the terrorist attackes on the Rawda mosque in North Sinai on November 24.  News agencies report more than 235 dead and many wounded.
The Holy Father’s sentiments were expressed in a telegram sent by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
The Telegram
His Holiness Pope Francis was profoundly grieved to learn of the great loss of life caused by the terrorist attacks on the Rawda mosque in North Sinai. In expressing his solidarity with the Egyptian people at this hour of national mourning, he commends the victims to the mercy of the Most High God and invokes divine blessings of consolation and peace upon their families. In renewing his firm condemnation of this wanton act of brutality directed at innocent civilians gathered in prayer, His Holiness joins all people of good will in imploring that hearts hardened by hatred will learn to renounce the way of violence that leads to such great suffering and embrace the way of peace.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin Secretary of State

A recovery update; and keep on praying

First of all, it is a beautiful cold autumn Saturday morning and that makes me happy.  At my house, no crazy black Friday foolishness and no premature Christmas decorating!  Nope, not at my house.

Today I realize that my recovery is moving along and I will soon be back to normal.  I will attempt a high degree of normal this weekend as I plan on presiding at a Baptism this afternoon.  Wendy will be there with me in case I need a helping hand.  Tomorrow I will assist the 10 am Mass and then see how I feel before I commit to the evening Mass.  Based on how my body reacted to the funeral Mass yesterday for my brother deacon, I think one mass might be the normal.

I won't be having the staples removed to Tuesday morning so Monday might be another day off.  I will decide Sunday afternoon/evening.

I am anxious to do a few things that still seem a few weeks off; ride the tractor, visit the prison and generally walk longer distances for the exercise I am committing to in yet another attempt to get healthy.

So everyday brings progress and everyday I feel your prayers; thank you for that.

Faithful to the point of martyrdom as a teenager

St. Catherine of Alexandria

Facts

Feastday: November 25
Patron of students, unmarried girls, apologists
Birth: 287
Death: 305

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Saint Catherine of Alexandria is a canonized saint in the Catholic Church who, per Christian tradition, was martyred around 305 in Alexandria, Egypt. Of course, the Church of the first Millennium was undivided. She is also recognized as the Great Martyr and Saint by the Orthodox Church. There are no surviving primary sources attesting to her existence, but the fact that her memory, and the stories about her, have been kept alive - and handed down in the tradition - certainly confirm her existence, and her life of heroic virtue and holiness.
The young saint was born around 287 in Alexandria, Egypt. At that time, Alexandria was one of the finest cities in the world, and a center of learning and culture as well as faith.
Christian tradition states she was of noble birth, possibly a princess. As a member of the nobility, she was also educated and was an avid scholar. Around the age of fourteen, she experienced a moving vision of Mary and the infant Jesus, and she decided to become a Christian.
Although she was a teenager, she was very intelligent and gifted. When the emperor Maxentius began persecuting Christians, Catherine visited him to denounce his cruelty.
Rather than order her execution, Maxentius summoned fifty orators and philosophers to debate her. However, Catherine was moved by the power of the Holy Spirit and spoke eloquently in defense of her faith. Her words were so moving that several of the pagans converted to Christianity and were immediately executed.

Unable to defeat her rhetorically or to intimidate her into giving up her belief, the emperor ordered her to be tortured and imprisoned.
Catherine was arrested and scourged. Despite the torture, she did not abandon her faith. Word of her arrest and the power of her faith quickly spread and over 200 people visited her. According to some legends, the emperor's own wife, Valeria Maximilla was converted by Catherine. The emperor eventually executed his own wife over her conversion. However, this is not mentioned in the historical record and may be a legend. It is believed that Maximilla was alive and with her husband at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, seven years after the death of Catherina.
Following her imprisonment, Maxentius made a final attempt to persuade the beautiful Catherine to abandon her faith by proposing marriage to her. This would have made her a powerful empress. Catherine refused, saying she was married to Jesus Christ and that her virginity was dedicated to him.
The emperor angrily ordered her to be executed on a breaking wheel. The breaking wheel is an ancient form of torture where a person's limbs are threaded among the spokes and their bones are shattered by an executioner with a heavy rod. It is a brutal punishment that results in a slow and painful death, normally reserved for the worst criminals.
When Catherine was presented before the wheel, she touched it and a miracle occurred that caused the wheel to shatter.
Unable to torture her to death, the emperor simply ordered her beheaded.
One account claimed that angels took her body to Mt. Sinai. In the sixth century, the Emperor Justinian ordered a monastery established in her name. The monastery, Saint Catherine's, remains to this day and is one of the oldest in the world.
Around the year 800, a legend spread that her body has been found with her hair still growing and a constant stream of oil coming from her body. Nothing exists to this day of her remains, and her very existence has been called into question.
Despite these questions, and the possibility that her story may be confused with that of one or more other saints, she is still venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church as a Martyr. Many Roman Catholics also venerate her to this day as one of the great virgin saints of the early Church.
During the medieval period, St. Catherine was one of the most famous saints of the Church. She has was a popular subject in renaissance art and many paintings from the period are dedicated to her.

Catherine is still a very popular Catholic name.
The spiked wheel is a popular symbol often associated with St. Catherine.
Her feast day is Nov. 25, and she is the patron of a great many professions and causes. Her patronage includes students, unmarried girls, apologists and many more as well as many places around the world.

Friday morning preaching with Pope Francis

Santa Marta: A Church Isn’t a Supermarket

Pope Francis Pleads for Gratuitousness

November 24, 2017Anne KurianPope's Morning Homily

© L'Osservatore Romano

A church must not be a “supermarket,” said Pope Francis during the morning Mass he celebrated at Santa Marta Residence in the Vatican, on December 24, 2017. He pleaded for gratuitousness and “God will do the rest.”
In his homily, reported by Vatican Radio, the Holy Father said: “if we enter a church often with sadness; we think of a parish, a Bishop, I don’t know . . . and we don’t know if we are in the House of God or in a supermarket.”
There are “shops there; there is also the list of recompenses for the Sacraments,” he added. “What is lacking is gratuitousness, and God saved us gratuitously; He didn’t make us pay anything.”
There is certainly need of money to maintain the churches and the communities, but “you give gratuitously God will do the rest,” assured the Pontiff. “God will do what is lacking.” Churches must be “churches of service, free churches.”
First Service, then Ornamentations
The Pontiff also invited to protect “God’s temple,” which is “our heart”: “the Holy Spirit dwells in us. But what is going on in our heart? Have I learned to watch over myself, so that the temple of my heart is only that of the Holy Spirit? . . . Are you paying attention, are you paying attention to what is going on in your heart? Who comes, who goes  . . . what feelings do you have, what ideas? Do you speak with the Holy Spirit? Do you listen to the Holy Spirit? . . . Do I know how to protect this temple?”
The Holy Father stressed that it’s about “purifying the temple, the interior temple and of watching . . . To be attentive to what is going on in our temple, in us.”
Jesus is also “present in the sick, in those that suffer, in the hungry, in prisoners.” His is a presence that calls for taking care of this temple “by my service.” “Do I approach to help, to dress, to console those that are in need?”
“Saint John Chrysostom reprimanded those that made many offerings to decorate, to embellish the physical temple and didn’t take care of the needy. He reprimanded them! And he said: “No, that’s not right. First service, then ornamentations.” Therefore, purify the temple which others are,” stressed the Pope.

Louisiana Bishop offers Mass for massacre victims from a dark chapter in Louisiana's past

Louisiana bishop celebrates Mass to remember 1887 massacre of African-Americans

• In Associated Press, Church in the US
• Associated Press
  Nov 24, 2017

In this file photo, Bishop Shelton J. Fabre speaks, while the Bishop emeritus of Houma-Thibodaux, Sam G. Jacobs, looks on. (Credit: Peter Finney Jr./Clarion Herald via CNS.)

Bishop Shelton Fabre, Bishop of the Houma-Thibodaux Diocese, decided to celebrate the special Mass in Thibodaux on Thursday after learning that the city had declared the day "1887 Memorial Day," honoring 30 to 60 people killed Nov. 23, 1887 to end a strike by sugar plantation workers.

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THIBODAUX, Louisiana - A Louisiana bishop celebrated a memorial mass for victims of a massacre of African-American Louisiana residents 130 years ago.
Bishop Shelton Fabre, Bishop of the Houma-Thibodaux Diocese, decided to celebrate the special Mass in Thibodaux on Thursday after learning that the city had declared the day “1887 Memorial Day,” honoring 30 to 60 people killed Nov. 23, 1887 to end a strike by sugar plantation workers.
Fabre walked into the church wearing a bishop’s miter. He was followed by descendants of victims who wore gold and black sashes. Family members also wore red T-shirts with black lettering on the front with the words “Thibodaux Massacre 1887.”
Fabre celebrated the Catholic memorial Mass for the dead.
The service opened with a minute of silence that was called for the Thibodaux city and the Lafourche Parish proclamation, which was issued last week. Readings from the Mass included lamentations - which are typically read at funerals.
The Mass focused on the victims’ sacrifice and journey to Jesus.
“The dead aren’t gone until they are not remembered and forgotten by the living,” Fabre said in a statement quoted in a news release Tuesday from the 1887 Memorial Committee, created to honor the victims and help heal race relations. “As the Thibodaux community on November 23rd remembers those who were killed 130 years ago in the violence of the Thibodaux Massacre, we will offer a Memorial Mass for their eternal rest and peace.”
Lafourche Parish, like its parish seat, declared Thursday a day of remembrance and observed a moment of silence at noon Thursday to honor the people killed on Nov. 23, 1887.
Thursday was the first official commemoration of the killings. Descendants of victims attended the noon Mass at St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church. It was followed by a gathering including a traditional second-line procession like those at jazz funerals.
Wiletta Ferdinand of New Orleans, a retired educator and great-great-granddaughter of Jack Conrad - a man who was wounded and whose son was killed - helped organize the family commemoration.
“It is very important to us that the Catholic church is recognizing the Thibodaux Massacre. St. Luke’s has always been a family parish,” she said.
She said she had been looking forward to meeting the bishop.

“He is our newest advocate,” she said. “He is our angel. When I learned this I was elated that a real live bishop would think enough of our ancestors to acknowledge this tragedy. Then I thought how proud my grandmother would be. She was also a devout Catholic.”
John DeSantis, who created the memorial committee after publication in 2016 of his book about the strike and killings, said, “For the spiritual shepherd of this area’s Catholics to perform this memorial mass is a blessing for both the living and the dead.”
The committee is trying to raise $24,000 for an archaeological survey to learn whether many of the victims were buried in a mass grave on the grounds of what’s now a black American Legion chapter, as local tradition holds. If there’s a grave, the group wants to have the bones exhumed, studied, and buried in consecrated ground.
“As we remember and honor them, may we also remember that violence is never an answer to any of the challenges that we face as we continue to strive to achieve greater racial harmony and peace,” Fabre said.

My Day after Thanksgiving Reminder

Thanksgiving 2017 come and gone.  In the secular highly retail driven world that must mean it's Christmas.  Note to all: Today is NOT Christmas, tomorrow is NOT Christmas, December 1st is still NOT Christmas.  And Christmas is NOT jousting for things in mortal combat with your fellow man in some store at 5 in the morning.  In fact, Christmas is NOT most of what we have chosen to make it.  As a people we have fallen hard for the secular, for the worldliness and it's not our finest hour.

First of all, today is today and tomorrow is tomorrow.  In themselves, these days, like every single day, are sufficient for themselves; a singular 24 hour period of time to enjoy God's blessings and for us in return to offer Him fitting praise!  Now let's address the head first sky dive to make all things Christmas.  Thanksgiving Day isn't even over by hours and we want to move on?  Why not stay here awhile; focus on what being thankful looks like; what it means.  Focus on thanksgiving to God for all that we have; the blessings and the challenges!  Now, we will move on from this weekend but not before the Church closes out Ordinary Time with the grand celebration Sunday of Christ the King.  Just one week later we begin the beautiful and amazing liturgical season of Advent!  Oh how I love Advent.

Advent is a beautiful time to prepare ourselves, spiritually, for the coming of Jesus not as the babe of Bethlehem but as the King and center of our hearts and lives.

I hope you will journey with me through the days ahead and Advent to come before you crash head on into the lure of Christmas being now.  We certainly can do this together.  For me, on this beautiful Friday I am still following my recovery routine and soon will attend the funeral of my brother deacon, also named Michael, in a few hours at a nearby church.  I will miss him.  This afternoon I want to begin the process of gearing up for work which I have been away from 2 weeks as of today.  So again, my final reminder: Today is NOT Christmas!