Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Happy Feast of Christ the King! We welcome everyone who joins us for our Masses this weekend as we come to the last week in Ordinary Time with this beautiful feast day. After a year of grace and blessings, how appropriate it is that we end by celebrating that Jesus is our Lord and King in each of our lives. It has been a wonderful year! We have so much to be grateful for this coming Thursday.

You know, psychologists tell us that people who are grateful, live more satisfied, content lives. People who are grateful have less stress. People who are grateful tend to get sick a lot less and to live longer lives. We would all do well to be more grateful, more of the time. A perfect time to start working on this is this week. As we head towards our celebration of Thanksgiving this coming Thursday, wouldn’t it be great if all of us made a list of the things and the people that we are most thankful for? I suspect that our lists would be much longer than what most of us imagine. I gave this task one time, to a Bible Study group that I was in, and we were all amazed that when everybody came back, that their lists were pages and pages long. One member of the group had actually filled an entire spiral notebook with things. That person said that once they started thinking of things that they were most appreciative of, the list of things came like a flood. What would you put on a list? What would be the first ten things that you would name that you are thankful for this year? Some of the things on your list might be big – like your spouse, or your children, or your best friends. And some of the things on your list might be small – like the smell of fall leaves or the taste of pumpkin pie with Cool Whip on top! But we should all have our own list! Wouldn’t it be nice if this week, in anticipation of Thanksgiving, before we eat Turkey, and check out the parades, and watch football games, that we all took the time to tell those in our lives that we love just how grateful we are to have them in our lives? It’s not that hard. And how important it is for all of us to let others know what they mean to us, while we still have the opportunity! Who would you say something to in your life? My guess is that once you start, you will find the lists of people also longer than you first expected.

For my part, I am so extremely grateful for each one of you! We are so blessed as a Parish family! God has sent us so many gifted and generous people, who sharing their gifts and talents, make just about anything possible here at St. Maria Goretti. I am grateful for an awesome Parish staff that works so hard to make St. Maria Goretti better every day. I am grateful for our Parish Council, our School Council, our Religious Education Council, and our Finance Council. I am thankful for our Music Ministry, our lectors, our Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, our servers, and our Ministers of Welcome. I am grateful for our school, our teachers, and our Principal. I am grateful for our Religious Education program and the army of people that it takes to make it work every weekend, and for our D.R.E.! I am grateful for our Sports Ministry, and all of our coaches and volunteers who teach our young people how to play well. I am so grateful to our young people, you inspire all of us, most especially this priest, and to all who minister to them in our Youth programming. I am extremely grateful for Christ Renews His Parish and RCIA, both of which have changed so many lives, and to everybody who works so hard to make both of these efforts work so well. I am grateful to all who work so hard in our HELP Committee and our Shepherd’s Gate Food Pantry. I am grateful to all of those who work so tirelessly in our SCRIP program and the Market Day program, to supplement our Parish income, and to all who support both of these efforts. There are so many groups and people. I could name dozens more but time and space does not allow. I thank each one of you for your commitment, your generosity, and your willingness to let God be the center of your life. St. Maria Goretti is not like most other Parishes. We have always wanted more - more from God, more from each other, and more from ourselves. Thank God for never letting us down!

This Thursday, before we eat, before we travel, before we turn the TV on, let’s come to Mass and thank God for all that He’s done. As always, we will have a special Mass of Thanksgiving on Thursday morning at 9:00 AM. I hope that you can join us. He’s the One that this was all originally about and thanking Him should be our priority.

Hey, mark your calendars now for a very special joint prayer service that is going to be held on Sunday, December 4 th, at 2:00 PM at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. As many of you know, OLMC is celebrating their 50 th anniversary as a Parish. Their year-long celebration of this is coming to a close and our Tenth Anniversary of our First Mass is coming up, so both communities will be celebrating our common roots and blessings with this special prayer service on Dec. 4 th. The history of both parishes will always be intertwined. Let us celebrate and give thanks together on Dec. 4 th. Also, don’t forget our special 10 th Anniversary of the First Mass at St. Maria Goretti, which we will be celebrating on December 8 th, at 7:00 PM. That will be our only Mass for the Immaculate Conception Holy Day.

Have a great week! If you are going to be traveling, have a blessed Thanksgiving! Don’t eat too much pie!

In Christ,

Fr. Kevin

We worship so that God is glorified, no so that we are satisfied.