|
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Happy Fathers Day, and welcome to St. Maria Goretti. I am
not here this weekend. I am with a group of our high school
students on a pilgrimage to Italy. Fr. Dale will be handling things
by himself this weekend, so please go easy on him. If everything is
on schedule, today in Italy we will have gone to Siena. Italy is
six hours ahead of us, so by the time that most of you are reading
this, we will have been there and be back in Assisi. Siena is one
of my favorite Italian cities. It is the town of St. Catherine and
St. Bernadine, two saints who profoundly influenced our Church
today. It is also the town that is famous for the Eucharistic
Miracle of the Hosts that have not decayed for centuries. I will be
praying for you there today, especially in front of the Sacred
Hosts. Please keep our group of pilgrims and myself in your prayers
also this Sunday.
Right before I left this past week, we received word that our
annual visit and appeal from a missionary order, will take place
next weekend. This was rather late notice, but we don’t have a lot
of choice in the matter. In addition, the missionary priest will
be of great help to Fr. Dale next weekend. And so next weekend, we
welcome Fr. Benedict Ko, MSC, from the Missionaries of the Sacred
Heart, who will be preaching at all of our Masses. So what’s this
all about? You may have noticed an extra envelope in your monthly
mailing this time, that was marked “Missionary Appeal”. Every year,
every parish is asked to host a different missionary order, so that
we can learn about the Church’s missionary activity, so that we can
pray for our missionaries, and so that we can join them in their
important work by helping them financially. Like all parishes, St.
Maria Goretti has hosted a missionary once a year from the beginning
of our Parish. And yes, the missionary used to come every summer on
the weekend of the Brickyard 400. It was funny how that always
worked out.
Fr. Benedict is from the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
That’s why he has MSC after his name. The Missionaries of the
Sacred Heart are an international congregation of priests and
brothers who are sent to bring the healing love of the Heart of
Christ to all people. Growing lay involvement through lay
associations dedicated to living the MSC spirituality also
characterizes the Congregation. The spirit of the Missionaries of
the Sacred Heart is shaped by desire to share the compassionate love
of Christ. Through the Heart of Christ, people find healing and
peace. The remedy for all ills that afflict the human spirit and
the injustices in society is indeed found in the love of His open
Heart. The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart try to deepen the love
of the Heart of Christ in the USA by serving in parishes, schools,
chaplaincies in hospitals and prisons, as well as other ministries.
Centered on the Spirituality of the Sacred Heart, special retreat
programs lead people to healing through the love of the Sacred Heart
of Christ! The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart proclaim the
compassionate Heart of Jesus in mission lands overseas. More than
2000 Missionaries of the Sacred Heart are active in over 50
countries, most of which are developing nations. The USA Province
has missions in Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific, and in
Colombia, South America.
In 1854, a French parish priest, Fr. Jules Chevalier,
gathered together a few priests who shared the same concern for the
spiritual indifference and apathy in society. Finding the remedy
for this evil, in the Sacred Heart of Christ, they formed the
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart congregation with the simple motto:
“May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere!” With trust in
the protection of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart they began their
efforts to restore the vitality of the Faith in France. Then, on
September 1st,
1881, the first Missionaries of the Sacred Heart left for Papua New
Guinea, beginning the foreign missionary outreach of the community.
Next week’s visit by Fr. Benedict does throw a curve ball
into our “Answering God’s Call” campaign that we begin this
weekend. We will now wrap up our seminarian appeal on the weekend
of June 28th
& 29th.
This will also mean that we will transfer our monthly HELP
collection to the first weekend in July. We are asking everyone to
please give generously to the seminarian appeal. Please remember
that St. Maria Goretti’s portion is $23,400 and together we must
come up with this amount.
Have a great week. Let us keep one another in prayer!
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
Truce is better than friction.
|
