Dear Parishioners,

The month of November gives us many things to reflect upon. As Fall transitions into Winter and nature falls asleep, we think about death. November is the month we pray for the souls of the dead, especially those of our family and friends. The souls of the dead are in the arms of God. God is love and everyone who enters the reality of God must be purified of all that is not love. In heaven the souls of the just are loving God and one another. Purgatory is the place where we learn to love and anything that is not God, such as selfishness, are washed away. Our prayers can help the holy souls as they journey into the perfect love of God, which is heaven.

November is also the month of the beautiful holiday of Thanksgiving. It’s when family and friends come together to feast and to give thanks. Give thanks to God who is the giver of every good gift. Gratitude is a fundamental Christian attitude
and the foundation of our worship, the Eucharist. The opposite of gratitude is entitlement. Gratitude fosters humility and happiness while entitlement fosters unhappiness and pride. Gratitude is the acknowledgement that God has given us everything we have to be used for his glory. Gratitude is the beginning of prayer and is itself a prayer. Let us take this month of November and the Thanksgiving holiday as an opportunity to grow in Thanksgiving and gratitude.

November also brings us to the end of the Church’s liturgical year with the Feast of Christ the King, the Lord of the universe. Then Advent is the beginning of the Church’s liturgical year as we prepare and journey to our Lord’s birth at Christmas. Ends are times of reflections and gratitude while beginnings offer us new possibilities, change and openness to all the gifts of grace our Lord gives as we journey in this life to our eternal reward in heaven, by the grace of God.
This year’s Thanksgiving Day mass will be at 9 am on Thursday, Nov. 23 at St. Mary’s.

ACA Update
A little report on our ACA progress… I am very happy to announce that Sacred Heart has exceeded their goal with 6 families participating, Holy Ghost is a 96% of completing their goal with 7 families participating and St. Mary’s is at 85% of its goal with 31 families participating. We are well ahead of where we were last year at this time and I hope that all can reach their goal by the first Sunday of Advent (Dec. 3). There’s only about $3,500 more to go in all. Thanks to all who have already participated and I encourage everyone to participate is this necessary support of the work of the Bishop and the Diocese, without whom we could not function as a parish. If you have not participated, please do so today. Everything over the goal will come back to the parish.