Seeing the BIGGER Picture: A week ago this past Friday, we had a rather large wedding. The wedding party itself had 10 couples. By today’s “standards” it was a bigger than normal wedding party. It so happened that because of my schedule, I wasn’t able to do the rehearsal; Deacon Tom took on that task for me. I like taking wedding rehearsals myself because it gives me a chance to meet and see people before the wedding. I also look at it as a form of evangelization because with weddings, especially when working with the wedding party, you tend to get younger people who may not be too churched. This way they get to see a priest in action on a personal level rather than just see him from afar at the altar. With this wedding then, outside of the bride and groom, they didn’t have a chance to meet me until the day of the wedding.

With our wedding set up we use the Cry Room for the “staging area” for the bride and bridesmaids; the Youth Room gets used for the groom and the groomsmen. With this particular wedding, they had a little boy and girl serving as the ring bearer and flower girl respectively. I had everything set up and ready to go. I even roped Dina, our new business manager, into service because of the wedding party size. She had her people all lined up and I just had to get the groomsmen and groom. As I approached the Youth Room fully vested in my nice white gold threaded shiny chasuble, I could tell the ring bearer was holding court; his back was to the door so he couldn’t see me coming. It was crystal clear this young lad was keeping the groomsmen entertained while they waited for the magic signal to move into the Church. As I got close to the room, I heard someone alert people that I was on my way. Once at the Youth Room door, I remember clapping my hands and telling the crowded room, “Okay, it’s time to go.” At this point the little ring bearer (who was probably about 7 or 8) made this quick 180 towards me and then slowly titled his head upwards to look me in the eyes. You could tell the little guy, with his mouth slightly ajar, was completing caught off guard and was studying my glittery vestment. Just as his eyes finally locked on my eyes, he said with much amazement, “WHOOOOOOOA you must be an angel!” I didn’t want to burst his bubble but I responded, “No, I’m not an angel but I do work for the Big Guy in Heaven.” “WOWWWW.” At this point the whole room burst out into laughter!

Capital Campaign Update: This weekend was “Commitment Weekend” as part of our Maintaining God’s House Capital Campaign. I’m grateful for so many who have already responded so positively to the campaign. I hope to share more details of our results in the next two weeks. Your gift of $1, $2, $3, $5 or more per day over the next 3 years, will allow us to enrich our parish for years to come.

Our parish was built on the sacrifices of our families and friends many years ago. Through our sacrifice we can reach our goal and maintain our parish buildings for years to come. There are many ways to help sacrificially in addition to a few dollars a day. We have seen many different types of gifts to the church such as: stocks, bonds, CDs, real estate or property, IRA roll overs and qualified retirement plans, and more. Please contact the Parish Center for any questions you may have about different types of gifts. You can make payments using your credit card or an ACH automatic withdrawal through our Online Giving program. More information can be found by clicking the Maintaining God’s House link on our parish website.

The Solemnity of All Saints: While there are many wonderful feasts and solemnities in the Church’s calendar, the celebration of all the saints is one of my favorite. We will have a vigil mass on Wednesday, October 31 at 7:00 p.m. and then masses on Thursday, November 1 at 7:00 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 12:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. It is a holy day of obligation.

The Solemnity of All Saints celebrates all the saints, the known and unknown ones now in heaven. Through this great communion of saints we help one another achieve sanctity. Whether you recognize it or not, each of us is on a journey toward holiness and these saints stand as role models for us. They, like us, were often pretty normal people who answered God’s call to serve in some capacity. They had struggles. They had ups and downs. They doubted. They had dark nights of the soul. But they persevered in their commitment to Christ.

Pope Francis in his Angelus message on the Solemnity of All Saints in 2013 said, “The Saints are not supermen, nor were they born perfect. They are like us, like each one of us. They are people who, before reaching the glory of heaven, lived normal lives with joys and sorrows, struggles and hopes. What changed their lives? When they recognized God’s love, they followed it with all their heart without reserve or hypocrisy. They spent their lives serving others; they endured suffering and adversity without hatred and responded to evil with good, spreading joy and peace. This is the life of a Saint. Saints are people who for love of God did not put conditions on him in their life; they were not hypocrites; they spent their lives at the service of others. They suffered much adversity but without hate. The Saints never hated…. Being holy is not a privilege for the few, as if someone had a large inheritance; in Baptism we all have an inheritance to be able to become saints. Holiness is a vocation for everyone. Thus we are all called to walk on the path of holiness, and this path has a name and a face: the face of Jesus Christ. He teaches us to become saints…. Today, through this feast, the Saints give us a message. They tell us: trust in the Lord because the Lord does not disappoint! He never disappoints, he is a good friend always at our side. Through their witness the Saints encourage us to not be afraid of going against the tide or of being misunderstood and mocked when we speak about him and the Gospel; by their life they show us that he who stays faithful to God and to his Word experiences the comfort of his love on this earth and then a ‘hundredfold’ in eternity.”

Enjoy the week. Know of my prayers.

In Christ,

gmb
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