VOL Parish Weekly Bulletin September 6, 2015 | Page 2

September 6, 2015 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2 Views From The Pews Views From The Pews Jim asks, “How did the blood drive for that baby go last week?” “The baby’s name is Sadie Guedry. We raised 50 pints of blood for Sadie. I am thrilled by the amount. Thanks to all of you who gave.” come to Mass because they are too lazy or because they say fun things, even fun things with family, are more important.” Patricia writes, “How is that teenager we prayed for doing? I apologize but I don’t remember her name.” “Her names is Ashley Code. She is a 16-yearold from St. Ann Parish who wound-up at West Jefferson Hospital. She has brain cancer. When I first saw her two weeks ago, Ashley’s parents were screaming in agony. They asked me, based on input from their physician, to give Ashley last rites, Today, Ashley’s parents say God has given them a miracle. Ashley still has cancer, but she is well enough to receive out-patient treatment. She is home. God bless!!!!” Ashley’s mom, Cassi, writes, “How Great Thou A rt! That is the song that comes to mind to summarize the miracle that happened! ...Please, please keep storming heaven with prayer for our Ashley Marie!!” “We will keep Ashley and your family in our prayers as long as you need them.” My daughter, Heidi, and her husband, David, were in town this past weekend and attended ten o’clock Mass. When Mass was over, Heidi said, “Dad, your Music Director, Clark, is excellent. So is the choir. David joined in. “Mike, Heidi’s right on. They were terrific. ” “On behalf of Clark and the choir, thank you. I love you both and I value your opinions. By the way, Heidi and David sing for a living and don’t just casually toss out compliments.” A bunch of you, including Heidi and David, have nice things to say about my homily. It’s theme was: Church rules are valuable but we, like Jesus, should always choose to do a charitable act of ministry if there is an irreconcilable conflict between loving ministry and the Church rule to attend Mass every weekend. The Church rule is, of course, an expansion of God’s commandment to honor the Sabbath. Anonymous writes, “I cried. I have unfortunately never had that conflict in my life because I don’t go to Mass as often as I should and don’t much help others. You’re right about coming to Mass to get spiritual fuel to have courage to help others when we should but don’t want to and you’re right that if there is a real conflict between Mass and helping others, we should help others but I can’t imagine there is ever such a conflict. Mostly people don’t Continue in next column continued “Thank you for taking time to write. I appreciate your thoughts. And, let me repeat what I said during my homily. We have Masses at five different times each weekend so that there should almost never be a conflict between loving service and Mass.” Anonymous writes, “Is the Vigil Mass part of the same weekend as the Sunday Mass? If it is, why are the Mass Intentions for Saturday not in the same bulletin as the Sunday Mass Intentions?” “Yes, the Vigil Mass is part of the same weekend as the Sunday Mass. So, yes, the Saturday mass intentions in the bulletin should be for the current weekend, not for the following weekend. Why have they not been so all along? I don’t know. It was, I suspect, a case of ‘that’s the way it has always been.’ Thanks! We have made this weekend the change you suggested.” Father Mike Did You Know? According to the 2015 “Open Doors World Watch List,” persecution of Christians throughout the world has reached historic levels. The following are the five worst countries when it comes to persecuting Christians. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. North Korea Somalia Iraq Syria Afghanistan Father Mike Liturgical Ministers' Morning of Reflection & Training A time to: -reflect on our service in the mass -review the ways in which we help others to enter the mass, and -see how we may better live out what the Church is asking. September 19th (9:30 to Noon) ALL Extraordinary Ministers & ALL Lectors October 10th (9:30 to Noon) Music Ministry