Weekly message

Christmas Message – 2018

Kathy Weekly message

On behalf of Fr. Kishore and our parish staff I wish you a Christmas full of peace, gratitude, joy and love. May Jesus hold you close to His heart during this Blessed Christmas Season and throughout the New Year- 2019. And may the blessings of this holy season descend on all of you in abundance. “For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.” (Lk.2:11) With these words an angel of the Lord announced to the shepherds the good news of the arrival of the long awaited Messiah. Christmas is a time to reflect upon the great love of our heavenly Father and His great gift to all.  There is no greater gift that anyone could give than the gift of one’s only child. The celebration of the birth of Jesus is therefore a celebration of the infinite love of our heavenly Father. As we experience this love let us pray that we may have love for one another, be reconciled with each other and accept one another. Let this Christmas be special – let us try to experience deep within us that the Love our Heavenly Father has for us and try to share it with others.

Welcome

Christmas has a way of bringing to Church individuals and families who, for various reasons, have not been to Mass or the Sacraments for months or years. What a wonderful and grace-filled opportunity to put aside past differences and old habits and begin anew that prayerful relationship with the Lord and His Church community. Together, may we grow in strength and grace to know and celebrate God’s presence in our lives and His dominion over all things of this world.

As our Archbishop mentions in his letter “Unleash the Gospel” – “For evangelization to have its effect we must ensure that our communities extend a warm welcome to everyone who walks through the door.”

I would like to extend a warm welcome to all those who will be returning back to St. Valentine Parish even though you have not been here regularly – you have 2019 to look ahead and to make new decisions. 

 We also remember those who may be sick, lonely or bereaved and we pray for those who have died. May we share in the Peace and Joy of God’s presence.

Christmas Blessings to all,
Fr. Socorro Fernandes SAC.

 


Lessons & Carols 2019

As a way to close out the Christmas season in January, our parish Worship Commission has scheduled a “Festival Of Lessons & Carols” – on Sunday, January 6, at 7pm in the church.  For more information on this special program, please see this flyer.

 

 

 

St. Valentine Catholic School Open House

St. Valentine Catholic School welcomes all families to our Open House on Thursday, February 7, 2019 from 5:00-7:00pm. Please join us to find out the many benefits our school can provide for your child. Our school offers faith based educational excellence for Preschool through Grade Eight. At our open house you will have the opportunity to tour the school, meet the teachers, and gain valuable information about how our school can help your child. Our school is located in Redford on Hope St. just off of Beech Daly between Schoolcraft and Five Mile. If you would like more information please call 313 533-7149 or visit our website @ www.stvalentineschool.com

Honoring, Praying for the Dead

Kathy Upcoming Event, Weekly message

One of the ways we as Catholics remember our dead is to pray for them.  The Bible offers several accounts of prayer for the dead, the earliest of which is seen in the Second Book of Maccabees.  Other early evidence of the Christian practice of praying for the dead can be found in the Roman catacombs, where inscriptions include both prayers for the dead and requests for prayers. Early Church Fathers such as Tertullian and Augustine also witness to the tradition of praying for departed family and friends.

Prayers for the dead begin as soon as the person dies.  Among its various rites, the Order of Christian Funerals includes “Prayers after Death” and “Gathering in the Presence of the Body.”  Both of these rites are to bring comfort to the mourners at the time of death or shortly thereafter.

 As the Order of Christian Funerals (OCF) states, “At the death of a Christian, whose life of faith was begun in the waters of baptism and strengthened at the Eucharistic table, the Church intercedes on behalf of the deceased because of its confident belief that death is not the end nor does it break the bonds forged in life” (4)

The funeral liturgy, especially the celebration of the Mass, is the primary way the community offers prayers for their dead: The OCF states, “At the funeral rites, especially at the celebration of the       Eucharistic sacrifice, the Christian community affirms and expresses the union of the Church on earth with the Church in heaven in the one great communion of saints”(6). 

 After the funeral liturgy, the community continues to remember and pray for the dead at “Masses for the Dead,” on special anniversaries and occasions, on solemnities such as All Saints and All Souls’ Day, and during the Eucharistic Prayer. 

 We offer our prayers for the dead to commend them to God’s   merciful love, to ease their transition from this life to the next, and to keep them close at heart. As the Order of Christian Funerals  states,” Though separated from the Living, the dead are still at one with the community of believers on earth and benefit from their prayers and intercession” (6).

www.PastoralLiturgy*magazine,November/December2018, Kathy Kuczka

First Annual St. Valentine Christmas Holiday Walk

Saturday, December 15th

Dinner 4 pm—7 pm

The Holiday Walk Homes will be open at 5 pm until 8 pm

Come join us back at the gym for caroling, cookies and raffles

8 pm – 9:30 pm

Adults $15

Teens 13-17 – $10

Children 12 and under $5

Tickets may be purchased  in the back of Church after all the Masses.

 

Pope Francis invites the faithful to pray the Rosary in October – Vatican News.

Kathy Weekly message

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.