The Holy Father has decided to invite all the faithful, of all the world, to pray the Holy Rosary every day, during the entire Marian month of October, and thus to join in communion and in penitence, as the people of God, in asking the Holy Mother of God and Saint Michael Archangel to protect the Church from the devil, who always seeks to separate us from God and from each other.

 In recent days, the Holy Father met with Father. Fréderic Fornos, S.J., international director of the World Network of Prayer for the Pope, and asked him to spread this appeal to all the faithful throughout the world, inviting them to conclude the recitation of the Rosary with the ancient invocation “We fly to Thy protection”, and with the prayer to Saint Michael Archangel that he protect us and help us in the struggle against evil (cf. Revelation 12, 7-12).

The prayer – the Pontiff affirmed a few days ago, on 11 September, in a homily at Santa Marta, citing the first book of Job – is the weapon against the Great Accuser who “goes around the world seeking to accuse”. Only prayer can defeat him. The Russian mystics and the great saints of all the traditions advised, in moments of spiritual turbulence, to shelter beneath the mantle of the Holy Mother of God pronouncing the invocation “We fly to Thy protection, O Holy Mother of God. Do not despise our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin”.

 With this request for intercession the Holy Father asks the faithful of all the world to pray that the Holy Mother of God place the Church beneath her protective mantle: to preserve her from the attacks by the devil, the great accuser, and at the same time to make her more aware of the faults, the errors and the abuses committed in the present and in the past, and committed to combating without any hesitation, so that evil may not prevail.

The Holy Father has also asked that the recitation of the Holy Rosary during the month of October conclude with the prayer written by Leo XIII: Saint Michael Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Rosary Rally

To celebrate the anniversary of Fatima our parish is having a rosary rally next Saturday on October 13 at 12 noon in front of the Church. All are welcome to join us.

Once again, the sun shone down on our 13^th Annual 5K Fun Run/Walk and Spaghetti Dinner. For some it must have been a hot day but for others it was a good day to be out and running. The great weather brought out more than 300 runners and walkers.

 Thank you so much to our co-chairs Bonnie Danic and Jim Soter, they along with their spouses John and Patty did an excellent job, and I cannot thank them enough for their willingness to help the parish in this way. It takes in lot of time and efforts to have a successful event and year after year our co-chairs do it. Everything was well-run and organized, and they put a lot of work in behind the scenes to make sure that we had a great day for the parish.  

A huge thank you to our great team of volunteers, as well as all our sponsors.  Without the help of all of you who stepped up to help in different ways, it wouldn’t have been as successful as it was. This event has been growing year after year and it has been a wonderful opportunity to bring the parish, school and the neighborhood community together. Thank you so much to everyone who, once again, made this event a huge success.

Blessings,

Fr. Socorro

A Prayer for Our Church

Heavenly Father, In every age, you have been our refuge. Yet again and still, we stand before you asking for your protection on your holy Church.

For the victims of abuse and their families, pour out your healing and your peace.

For the Bishops of this country, continue to inspire their decisions, and guide them with your Spirit.

For the thousands of good and faithful priests, who have followed your call to serve you and your people in holiness, sustain them by your grace.

For the faithful who are angry, confused, and searching for answers, embrace them with your love, restore their trust, console them with your clear Gospel message, and renew them with your sacraments.

We place our Church in your hands, for without you we can do nothing.

May Jesus, our High Priest and true compass, continue to lead her in every thought and action – to be an instrument of justice, a source of consolation, a sacrament of unity, and a manifestation of your faithful covenant.

Grant this through that same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (From FDLC.org)     

Are you going to serve God or not? We hear this question from Joshua in the first reading today. It should go right to our own hearts. It is a question that is part of our lives: serve God or not? The readings today put this question to us and we are asked to answer it.

 John’s Gospel reports that many of those who had been Jesus’ disciples ceased to follow him at this point. The number of people following Jesus dwindled from a crowd of more than 5,000 to only 12 people. And it is to these 12 that Jesus now turns his attention and he asks them: Do you also want to leave?” Peter speaks up for the 12 responding, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

 We have to remember that this statement, although it sounds so very clear, is not very clear. For instance, Peter betrayed Jesus. Thomas refused to believe. The Apostles are good examples to us because they are not people who just believed without having any failures or faults. They made a lot of mistakes and were not faithful always–but in the end, they decided to walk with the Lord.

We must seek to respond to the invitation of our Lord. Even if we have gone away from the Lord Jesus, He still invites us to return. Let us not be afraid of turning back to the Lord if we have left Him. If we have remained faithful, let us strive to love Him even more. And so we need to ask ourselves ‘Are we going to serve God or not’?

 Here’s just a verse and a chorus of the Gospel song sung by Bob Dylan – “Gotta Serve Somebody” – it has many more verses to it.

 You may be an ambassador to England or France

You may like to gamble, you might like to dance

You may be the heavyweight champion of the world

You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

 But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed

You’re gonna have to serve somebody

It may be the devil or it may be the Lord

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

I hope you will be able to join us for the Parish Picnic on Sunday!

Blessings,

Fr. Socorro

 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:51)

On the third consecutive Sunday in Ordinary Time the Word of God invites us to consider Jesus as the bread of our lives. We continue to hear the bread of life discourse from John’s gospel. In this Sunday’s gospel Jesus declares, that “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I give is my flesh for the life of the world.” Bread is synonymous with food. When we pray The Our Father we say, “give us today our daily bread, it means give us today our daily food. So, let us ask one question. What does bread do to our life?

 Bread essentially does three functions to life. First of all, bread nourishes human life. Without bread life would come to a grinding halt. It facilities all human activity. It is the source of all our energy. It makes us work and play, sing and sail. It is the essential ingredient of life. Secondly, it not only nourishes our life but also relishes us. We just don’t eat one kind of food always throughout the year. We enjoy different recipes. We try to explore varieties of food and varieties of food add flavor to life. Thirdly, we would not be alive if it were not for food. Bread not only nourishes life but also propagates and perpetuates life. Life continues from one generation to another because of bread.

When Jesus declares that He is the bread of life, He appropriates to Himself these functions of bread. As bread nourishes life, so does Jesus. As bread relishes life, so does Jesus. As bread perpetuates life, so does Jesus.  My dear friends, Jesus is the source of our energy. He nourishes us through the Holy Eucharist. He nourishes us with his own Body and Blood through the Eucharistic banquet. Jesus not only nourishes our life but also adds flavor to our life. And finally, Jesus gives us immortality. He tells us this is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.

We have the most personal experience of God in the Eucharist. He comes to us, speaks to us, and touches our hearts. Jesus, “the Bread of Life,” the “living bread,” becomes our bread. Let us appreciate Christ’s presence in the Holy Eucharist: Since the Holy Eucharist is “the Body and Blood, together with the soul and Divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ,” as the Sacrament it increases our intimate union with Christ. It preserves, increases, and renews the Sanctifying Grace we received at Baptism. It cleanses us of past sin and preserves us from future sins. Let us appreciate Jesus who comes to us as bread for our soul and be grateful to him throughout our lives.

Let us ask ourselves, how do we approach this Most Holy Sacrament? How does it change us and make us enlivened each time?

Fr. Kishore  Batu SAC

Stewardship Thoughts

In today’s Scripture reading from the Book of Proverbs, Wisdom inspires the people to forgo foolishness and eat the food and drink that God has “mixed.” This prefigures St. John’s Gospel account where the evangelist further develops Jesus’ theology of sacrifice and His institution of the Holy Eucharist — the true source and summit, strength and unity, of Catholic life. What a tremendous gift! St. Paul, in his Letter to the Ephesians, encourages us to discern the will of the Lord, and to give thanks for everything in gratitude to God through Christ. As Christian stewards, we strive for union with the Lord by regularly partaking in Christ’s Eucharistic banquet. Strengthened by the reception of Holy Communion, we embrace evangelization as we commit to stewardship as a way of life. We do this when we share His joy and peace with our parish community and those brothers and sisters who are in need of our Lord’s message of hope. Besides weekend Mass attendance, try to attend at least one weekday Mass to meet Jesus in the Eucharist.

Among the four seasons we enjoy in our State of Michigan, Summer is a beautiful season. It’s beautiful in so many ways: gorgeous sunshine, clear blue skies, awesome lakes. It’s a great time of camping and family gatherings, picnics, relaxation and rest. In this hectic world of ours where everyone is racing against the clock, some leisure is not a luxury but a necessity. “come away by ourselves into a lonely place, and rest a while.” With these words, Jesus invites the apostles to get away from the routine ministry, to rest, to relax, to recoup and to recharge their batteries! The apostles were inundated pastorally, “for there were so many coming and going that they needed a break”. So, Jesus arranges a picnic as they get into a boat to a remote place where they could be by themselves.

 Friends, we are caught up every day in a whirlpool of work. We have so many things to do that even twenty-four hours do not seem to be enough. It is said in the Scripture: “There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation, a time for giving birth, a time for dying, a time for planting.” (Eccles 3:1-2). Amidst all our activities, cares and worries, if we find a little time for reflection and mediation, we shall be more happy, relaxed, taking the word of the Lord to heart: “Come, and rest for a while.” Yes, in the midst of our hectic activities we need time for rest. We cannot do good work unless we have time to rest.

On this Sunday Jesus invites us to leave the relentless wheel of routine, our punishing schedules, and retreat to a remote place.  Without this remote place our lives are in danger; we become workaholics. In modern societies marked by ‘hurry and worry’ we have to take time off and be with God so that He may recharge us with spiritual energy and strength. To receive this strength, we need time for prayer, silence and recollection. The ministry of Jesus was born in this remote place. He retired into the hills spending the whole night in prayer, went into the desert withdrawing into silence and solitude, rose long before dawn and spent time alone with the Alone.

Ask yourselves on this Sunday: Do I take some time to have my yearly retreat and regain my spiritual strength?