Q. How should I dress for Mass?

A. Out of respect for your fellow parishioners, please dress modestly and appropriately for the Lord’s Banquet. Our clothing and style of dress should not call attention to ourselves, but should reflect a healthy respect and reverence for others and for ourselves.

Q. Are we still supposed to fast for one hour before receiving Communion?

A. Yes. Those who wish to receive Holy Communion are to abstain for at least one hour before Holy Communion from all food and drink with the sole exception of water and medicine. The elderly, the sick, and those who care for them may receive Holy Communion even if they have eaten something within the preceding hour.

Q. Why do we fast?

A. We fast because it helps us to prepare for and appreciate the sacredness of such a great gift: the Holy Eucharist. Fasting reminds us of just what we are doing: receiving the very Body and Blood of Christ. Fasting reminds us that we must prepare ourselves spiritually so that we might truly hunger for the Lord, who is the Bread of Life.

 Q. What about gum or candy?

A. Chewing gum at Mass is certainly not in the spirit of the communion fast. We should never come to Holy Communion with gum or candy in our mouth. In fact, we should refrain from chewing gum or eating candy whenever we are in church, not just before Communion. Catholics do not chew gum at Mass.

 Q. How should we receive Holy Communion?

A. After the person ahead of us has received Communion and stepped aside, we should offer a simple bow of reverence with our head and then step forward. We may receive the consecrated host either in our hands or directly on the tongue. If we receive in the hands we should take care that they are clean (as a sign of reverence) and place one hand over the other and raise them up high, forming a throne with our hands to receive the Body of Christ. As the priest or minister places the host in our hands and says “The Body of Christ” we should respond loudly and clearly “Amen.” The “Amen” is an expression of our faith—that we believe what the Church teaches about the Holy Eucharist. The “Amen” also expresses our willingness to follow Christ and to imitate Him.

 Q. Can I take the host directly from the priest or communion minister before it is placed in my hand?

A. No. The Eucharist is a gift and gifts are received, not taken. In fact, the Holy Eucharist is God’s great gift to us, and like all gifts, it is something that we receive with gratitude and respect, not something that we reach out and take or grab.

RCIA “Right of Christian Initiation of Adults” is the process through which non-Catholics are given instruction to become Catholics. The process will begin this year on October 3^rd and culminates with people receiving the sacraments of initiation at the Easter Vigil. The process includes weekly instructional gatherings, two events at the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral, and several Sunday celebrations here at St. Valentine. 

 The instructional gatherings provide the participants with information regarding our Faith, including meaning of sacraments, the Holy Trinity, the Saints, the Holy Family, Catholic prayer and liturgy, the Church itself, and many other aspects of our Faith.

 RCIA is for adults who:

· Are interested in learning about the Catholic Faith

· Have never been baptized

· Have been baptized in another Christian faith and are interested in the Catholic Faith

· Are baptized Catholics who have not yet received the Sacraments of First Communion or Confirmation

· Are married to a Catholic and attend Mass and would like to take the next step to become a member of the Catholic Church

· Are Catholic but want to learn more about their Faith

    If you know of anyone interested in becoming Catholic, please invite them to contact the Parish Office at 313-532-4394, Deacon Ron, Fr. Kishore or Fr. Socorro. If you are interested yourself in learning more about our Faith, you are also invited to attend the RCIA sessions. 

 This year the sessions will be held weekly on Thursday evenings at St. Valentine beginning on October 3^rd. 

See you all next Sunday at the picnic Mass and fun!

Fr. Kishore Battu SAC

Possessions are necessary for life. Money and possessions are very much needed to continue our life. Money or possessions play an important role in our lives. We need money to feed a family, we need money to clothe and educate children. We need a lot of money to go to college. We need money to live a healthy life. Therefore, we need to work hard and plan our future and educate our children. But possessions can assume such an importance in one’s life that they become obsessions. When one is so consumed with the things that one could have, so much so, that one no longer hears the urgent call of God, then one has indeed got one’s priorities all mixed up.

 The Word of God on this 18^th Sunday in Ordinary time invites us to “look for the things that are in heaven”. It’s an invitation to focus on God rather than material things of this world. It invites us to look at life beyond all these material things which pass away, because everything and everyone is “here today and gone tomorrow” because, life does not consist in having possessions and increasing possession. Rather the purpose of life is to become rich in God’s sight.

 The first reading, taken from Ecclesiastes, reminds us that the greedy achievement of goods and the selfish hoarding of them are useless because when the hoarder dies, he goes to eternity empty-handed, and his heir gains, and perhaps squanders, his riches.

 Today’s Gospel warns us against any sort of excessive attachment to riches and worldly pleasures. The rich man’s land yields a great harvest. He takes pleasure in accumulation. The language he speaks is ‘I’ and ‘my,’ highly insulated with selfishness and ego. It is said, “Desire is the root cause of all evil.” Beyond the rich man’s will and wish there is a plan of God which he did not discern, and this failure makes him a ‘fool’. We are called to lay up treasures for God, not for ourselves.

In our second reading St. Paul tells us that one who is raised with Christ will seek the things that are above and not the things on earth. If we are living for sensual pleasures, enjoying every occasion of luxury and passion, then we are not of the new creation and we have not yet died to our old self. On this Sunday let us pray that we may put to death what is earthly in ourselves and raise our hearts to God.

 God bless you. Have a great summer.

Fr. Kishore Battu SAC