February 2, 2014. World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life.
February 2, 2014. Presentation of the Lord. On the weekend of February 2, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, which occurs 40 days after the birth of the Jesus and is also known as Candlemas Day. On Candlemas Day the blessing and the presentation of the candles is included in the Liturgy. Read Luke 2:22-35 for an account of the Presentation, including the Canticle of Simeon. In the Latin Rite, the Presentation of the Lord is the Fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary.
February 2-3, 2014. The weekend of February 2-3 marked the third anniversary broadcast of Jerry Usher's Vocation Boom, Holy Family Radio, 1140 AM.
February 10, 2014. Speaker and Luncheon Meeting, 12:00 Noon at the University Club. Speaker will be Fr. Mark Przybycz.
February 17, 2014. Serra Board Luncheon and Meeting, 12:00 Noon at Ss. Peter and Paul.
Note our review of Barbara King's directions to the meeting place: Traveling west on Leonard, turn right at Quarry (3 blocks west of 131. Come to a four-way stop which is Myrtle (2 blocks north of Leonard. The church is church and into the church parking lot. The school address is 1443 Hamilton, but enter the building from the parking lot from either Hamilton or Quarry. There is a sign that says SSPP School and Parish Center (or something like that). Remember that all subsequent board and 4th Monday meetings will be held at Ss. Peter and Paul.
February 24, 2014. Luncheon Meeting and Book Discussion, 12:00 Noon at Ss. Peter and Paul.
Prepare by reading Chapter 2 of the Be Happy Attitudes. John Osterhart will lead the discussion.
Looking Ahead...
April 3-6, 2014. USA Council Transitional and Incoming Board Meeting and Retreat, W. St. Paul, MN.
May 11, 2014. World Day of Prayer for Vocations.
June 7, 2014. Ordination of Deacon William Vanderwerff, 10:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Andrew.
July 9, 2014. USA Council Retiring/Incoming Board Meeting, Sacramento, CA.
July 10-13, 2014. Serra International Convention, Sacramento, CA. All convention Masses will be celebrated at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, located just two blocks from the Hyatt Regency Sacramento, the official hotel of the Serra International Convention. All convention events will take place in the Hyatt Regency Sacramento. Visit serraus.org for information, as it becomes available, about the city of Sacramento, including exclusive discounts on dining and ground transportation available to convention attendees and room information. Serra International has negotiated a room rate of US $129 per night.
November 28, 2014. National Vocation Awareness Week.
Treasures from our Tradition. Additional information regarding Candlemas.
By Candlemas, forty days after Christmas, February 2, the season of Christ's coming has depleted our candle supply. Soon, the parish will order a new paschal candle from a catalog or a candlemaker, or in some communities, wax will be collected to be melted and molded. Last year's paschal candle shows the wear and tear of the summer heat, or many funerals and baptisms. Paschal candles have been around since at least the fourth century, when Constantine's biographer Eusebius reported that the night of the sacred vigil was "transformed into the brilliancy of day, by lighting throughout the city pillars of wax, while burning lamps in every place so that the splendor of this night was brighter than the brightest daylight."
Light was a precious commodity in the ancient world, and this lavish use of precious beeswax was a sign of the Christian's call to bear Christ's light into the world's darkness. In a pre-electric age, a whole city aglow from the paschal flame must have been a glorious sight, and a reminder to every baptized Christian of our vocation to "be the light of the world."
Source: Our Lady of Sorrows Bulletin, February 2, 2014.
Priests' Anniversaries for November.
Father Phillip Witkowski, February 2, 1975.
Father William Langlois, February 24, 1974.
Pray for our Seminarians. Go to the Office of Priestly Vocations link of the Diocese of Grand Rapids website to find the names, home parishes, biographical information and current addresses of our 2014 seminarians.
Our diocesan seminarians are Douglas A. Braun, William R. VanderWerff, Thomas J. Cavera, Patrick Jegar N. Fickel, Colin J. Mulhall, Daniel P. Schumker, Stephen J. Durkee, Steven W. Geerling, Kyle J. Kilpatarick, Michael J. Goodwin, Michael M. Steffes, Jr., Mark W. West, Justin J. Wiltse, Andrew M. Ayers, Patrick R. Byars, Robert C. Mulderink, William R. Marcinkus, Andrew J. Decker, and Philip Wasinski. Our Lady of Sorrows is now publishing the names and mailing addresses of two seminarians per week on a revolving basis. This past week OLS encouraged parishioners to pray for Patrick Jeger N. Fickel, whose home parish is St. Francis deSales, Holland, and Jorge Humberto Zetino, (not a diocesean Seminarian), whose home parish is Our Lady of Sorrows. Patrick's mailing address is University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein Seminary, 1000 East Maple Avenue, Mundelein, IL 60060. Jorge's mailing address is 102 Jacoby Drive SW, Epworth, IA 52405. Let us resolve to pray for them and all seminarians and to send them a note of encouragement and support. Mary, Mother of Vocations, Pray for Us!
Editor's Note: Founded by the Society of the Divine Word, Divine Word College is the only undergraduate Roman Catholic seminary dedicated to educating men and women for missionary service. Epworth is located 12 miles west of Dubuque and is within the Diocese of Dubuque.
Club Directory.
We are finishing up the draft of a 2014-2015 club directory. It was presented at the January board meeting, and we will finalize it within the next month. We also discussed how many copies we need and how many of our membership would prefer a paper directory, as opposed to an e-copy. E-directories would have to be scanned and sent to e-mail addresses. We do not want to put it in blog form (which we use for newsletters) because we do not want to post the information on the internet.
Please keep Nancy posted on any new information (people tend to get new cell phone numbers fairly often these days), and on your preferred mailing and/or e-mail address, by e-mail if you have it, or by phone.
Adoration Opportunities.
IHM 24/5. Code 5412
St. Isidore 24/7. Code 613.
February's Prayer Intention for Serrans United in Prayer.
On the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter on Saturday, 22 February 2014, Serrans are encouraged to attend Mass and offer the Mass for Pope Francis that he will faithfully and courageously uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church in the midst of increasing secularism in the world. In addition, pray a decade of the Rosary after Mass before the tabernacle, asking Our Blessed Mother to pray for us with said intention.
Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7.
Thank you and may God bless you abundantly!
Mary, Mother of Vocations, pray for us!
Yours sincerely in Christ,
Sean Yeo
President, Serra Internation
Vatican Outlines Plans for Year of Consecrated Life.
From Catholic World News, January 31, 2014.
At a press conference on January 31, Vatican officials outlined plans for the Year of Consecrated Life, which Pope Francis has declared for 2015. This special year, which was announced by Pope Francis in December at a meeting with superior generals of male religious orders, was an answer to suggestions made by many religious superiors said Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, the prefect of the Congregation for Religious. The year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Vatican II decree on religious life, Perfectae Caritatis.
The Church recognizes that we are experiencing a "difficult and delicate" time in religious life, Cardinal Braz de Aviz said. The Year of Consecrated Life is designed to help religious face the future with confidence, he said. The cardinal encouraged members of religious orders to rediscover the original charisms of their communities, as set forth in their founding.
Archbishop Jose Rodriguz Carballo, the secretary of the Congregation for Religious, mentioned some of the Vatican's plans for the special year, which will begin in October 2014. The solemn inauguration of the year will be marked by a Eucharistic celebration at St. Peter's Basilica, which Pope Francis likely to preside, in November. That same month will see a plenary assembly of the Congregation for Religious.
During the year that follows, the Vatican will host meetings for young religious and novice and for spiritual directors, and an international conference on religious life. The year will conclude with another major ceremony at the Vatican, probably on November 15, 2015: the 50th anniversary of Prefectae Caritatis.
Archbishop Carballo expressed the hope that before the end of the Year of Consecrated Life, Pope Francis would publish a new apostolic constitution on the topic, updating Sponsa Christi, which was released by Pope Pius XII in 1950. Note: John Osterhart forwarded this message.
Message if Pope Francis for the 51st World Day of Prayer for Vocations, 11 May 2014, Fourth Sunday of Easter.
(Excerpts). Full text can be found on serraus.org. Click on the link to the message.
"A vocation is a fruit that ripens in a well cultivated field of mutual love that becomes mutual service, in the context of an authentic ecclesial life. No vocation is born of itself or lives for itself. A vocation flows tom the heart of God and blossoms in the good soil of faithful people, in the experience of fraternal love. Did not Jesus say: 'By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another' (Jn 13:35)?....
...Let us dispose our hearts therefore to being good soil, by listening, receiving and living out the word, and thus bearing fruit. The more we unite ourselves to Jesus through prayer, Sacred Scripture, the Eucharist, the Sacraments celebrated and lived in the Church and in fraternity the more there will grow in us the joy of cooperating with God in the service of the Kingdom of mercy and truth, of justice and peace. And the harvest will be plentiful, proportionate to the grace we have meekly welcomed into our lives. With this wish, and asking you to pray for me, I cordially impart to you all my Apostolic Blessing.'"
From the Vatican, 15 January 2014.
FRANCIS
A Message from our President.
February 2, 2014.
Dear Fellow Serrans:
Today is the Presentation of the Lord. The Pope said, "The feast of the Presentation in the Temple is also known as the feast of the Encounter." It is where Jesus encounters his people. Mary and Joseph presented their first born at the Temple according to the Jewish law. In the New Testament St. Paul tells us: 'Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? Therefore, glorify God in your body.'"
I want to take a minute to thank Dan LaVille for all his work for the GR Serra Club. He is currently on theh board and has held almost every leadership position in our club. For years Dan has been instrumental in ensuring a fun event for the Sisters of the diocese. He has also been a wonderful mentor to me in my role as president. Thanks, Dan, for all you do for Serra!
Mary, Mother of Vocations, Pray for Us!
Aggie Kempker-Cloyd
A Word of Wisdom from St. Terese of Avila
"There is no such thing as bad weather. All weather is good because it is God's."
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