Please note that there will be no regular meetings during December.
November 30-December 1, 2014. First Sunday of Advent and beginning of Pope Francis's Year of Celebration of the Consecrated Life. See more below.
December 7, 2014. Second Sunday of Advent and Pearl Harbor Day (1941). December 6-7. Collection for Retirement Fund for Religious. See more below.
December 8, 2014. Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Holy Day of Obligation.
December 12, 2014. Our Lady of Guadalupe.
December 13, 2014. St. Lucy and Annual Schubert Concert, 7:30 p.m. at East Grand Rapids Performing Arts Center, 2211 Lake Drive SE. General seating $18 in advance, $20 at the door. Let Aggie know if you're interested in buying tickets. This is a great opportunity to invite friends and family to share in a wonderful Christmas program. Ask Dan LaVille or Aggie if you're interested in furnishing one or more tickets to a religious
December 17, 2014. First Day of Hanukkah.
December 17, 2014. First Day of Hanukkah.
December 25, 2014. Christmas Day. Holy Day of Obligation. "We saw the star in the East and have come to worship him." Matthew 2:2.
December 28, 2014. Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
December 31, 2014. St. Sylvester and New Year's Eve.
January 1, 2015. New Year's Day. Holy Day of Obligation.
Looking Ahead.
January 15-18, 2015. Serra Rally, Houston Texas. Go to Serrainternational.org for all needed information: accommodations, online registration, and event program.
July 30-August 2,, 2015. Serra International Convention, Melbourne, Australia.
A Season of Waiting.
"No ear has ever heard, no eye has ever seen, any God but you
doing such deeds for those who wait for him." Isaiah 64:3
This short section from the first reading of the First Sunday of Advent helps set the "table of the word," the scriptural feast spread before us as another liturgical year dawns. This verse from the prophet Isaiah reminds us that the deeds that God accomplishes in our lives and indeed well worth waiting for. During the season of Advent, we are suspended in a waiting stance, ever ready to welcome the Lord into our midst. The question, of course, is what is it for which we wait?
In our everyday lives, we wait. We wait for the next text message; we wait for the train or bus to arrive, we wait for the kids to come home, we wait for the first word from the doctor's office we wait for a compliment, we wait for the alarm to ring. During this time of your, the Church asks us to wait for the Lord.
What does it mean to wait for the Lord? Waiting, by its very nature, usually implies a sense of restlessness. We wait for the things we wish we had right here and now. I remember well the final years of my youngest sister's life. As her disease progressed and her quality of life declined precipitiously, I had the sense I was waiting for the Lord to come and take her, to help ease her pain and bring her comfort. Yet, I was not ready--deep within my heart-- for that to happen. I didn't want her to die. So waiting can sometimes mean that we want the waiting to continue, to go on so that we can still hold on.
As Catholics, let's ask ourselves the question again: What is it for which we wait? During this joyous season of expectation and fulfillment, several answers could come to mind--world peace, an end to violence, harmony in our marriages and families, more fulfilling employment, an end to illness. I believe that the great
reminder during this time of the liturgical year is that, even as we wait for all of these things, God's presence still surrounds us. We may get distracted by things for which we wait and in so doing, miss the many deeds that this God of ours is accomplishing every single day. Perhaps "No ear has ever heard" simply because we are not listening for the voice of the Lord. Perhaps "No eye has ever seen" simply because we don't have our eyes open to what God is doing all the time. May this joyful season of hope finds us watching and waiting, ears and eyes open for the One whose coming we await.
LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS ON THE SEASON BY JERRY GALIPEAU
World Library Publications, November 30, 2014 to February 17, 2015.
Note: The following three items will be dedicated to the theme of the Consecrated Life:
A Season of Waiting.
"No ear has ever heard, no eye has ever seen, any God but you
doing such deeds for those who wait for him." Isaiah 64:3
This short section from the first reading of the First Sunday of Advent helps set the "table of the word," the scriptural feast spread before us as another liturgical year dawns. This verse from the prophet Isaiah reminds us that the deeds that God accomplishes in our lives and indeed well worth waiting for. During the season of Advent, we are suspended in a waiting stance, ever ready to welcome the Lord into our midst. The question, of course, is what is it for which we wait?
In our everyday lives, we wait. We wait for the next text message; we wait for the train or bus to arrive, we wait for the kids to come home, we wait for the first word from the doctor's office we wait for a compliment, we wait for the alarm to ring. During this time of your, the Church asks us to wait for the Lord.
What does it mean to wait for the Lord? Waiting, by its very nature, usually implies a sense of restlessness. We wait for the things we wish we had right here and now. I remember well the final years of my youngest sister's life. As her disease progressed and her quality of life declined precipitiously, I had the sense I was waiting for the Lord to come and take her, to help ease her pain and bring her comfort. Yet, I was not ready--deep within my heart-- for that to happen. I didn't want her to die. So waiting can sometimes mean that we want the waiting to continue, to go on so that we can still hold on.
As Catholics, let's ask ourselves the question again: What is it for which we wait? During this joyous season of expectation and fulfillment, several answers could come to mind--world peace, an end to violence, harmony in our marriages and families, more fulfilling employment, an end to illness. I believe that the great
reminder during this time of the liturgical year is that, even as we wait for all of these things, God's presence still surrounds us. We may get distracted by things for which we wait and in so doing, miss the many deeds that this God of ours is accomplishing every single day. Perhaps "No ear has ever heard" simply because we are not listening for the voice of the Lord. Perhaps "No eye has ever seen" simply because we don't have our eyes open to what God is doing all the time. May this joyful season of hope finds us watching and waiting, ears and eyes open for the One whose coming we await.
LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS ON THE SEASON BY JERRY GALIPEAU
World Library Publications, November 30, 2014 to February 17, 2015.
Note: The following three items will be dedicated to the theme of the Consecrated Life:
Pope Francis Declares Year of Celebration of the Consecrated Life.
In 2013 Pope Francis laid the groundwork for a year of celebration of consecrated life in the Church. This year of celebration is slated to begin on the First Sunday of Advent and will come to a close in February of 2016 on the Sunday of the World Day of Prayer for the Consecrated Life. The theme of this special year: "Wake up the World!"
1). The celebration aims to look to the past with gratitude,
2). to live the present with passion, and
3) to embrace the future with hope.
U. S. bishops have defined the role of religious as follows: To serve God in whatever way He commands.
Prayer for the Year of Consecrated Life.
O God, throughout the ages you have called women and men to pursue lifes of perfect charity through the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience. During this Year of Consecrated Life, we give you thanks for these courageous witnesses of Faith and models of inspiration. Their pursuit of holy lives teaches us to make a more perfect offering of ourselves to you. Continue to enrich your Church by calling forth sons and daughters who, having found the pearl of great price, treasure the Kingdom of Heaven above all things. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with, you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Appeal for the Retirement fund for Religious.
Our readers will recall receiving the November 19 letter appearing as an insert in their bulletins reminding us that our parishes will soon be conducting the appeal for the Retirement Fund for Religious. This collection has been scheduled for the weekend of December 6 and 7. As our Bishop reminds us, "Most elder religious worked for years for small stipends, leaving a substantial gap in retirement savings. With the ever-rising cost of health care and the increase in the number of those needing care, many religious communities now struggle to provide for their senior members...
This annual collection is an opportunity for each of us to be the presence of Jesus to our senior religious...Please join me in supporting the Retirement Fund for Religious and for God's continued blessing on our nation's elderly sisters, brothers, and religious order priests."
A Visit from a Religious Sister
This past weekend Sister Susan Del Gado of the Grand Rapids Dominican Sisters visited Our Lady of Sorrows to talk about the consecrated life. In keeping with next weekend's collection for retired religious, she recalls that in her childhood parishioners were often asked to participate in a food drive for the Sisters who taught in the parish school. At the time she thought that was a nice idea, but in later life she came to realize that the Sisters were often not paid a salary at all or were paid a very small amount. The food drive was conducted so that the Sisters could eat.
She also reminded us of the beginning of the Year of Celebration for the Consecrated Life and reiterated the history of the Grand Rapids Dominicans. The official brochure of the Grand Rapids Domicans reports that in 1853, four cloistered Dominicans nuns left Regensburg, Germany, to go to New York to minister to the German immigrants. In 1925 the Dominicans came here from Traverse City to administer the newly founded St. John's Home, which was a diocesean institute for the care of orphans and children whose parents could not care for them. Additional missions were quickly added.
Sister Susan also pointed out a distinction between nuns and sisters which most people are not aware of: nuns are cloistered, whereas sisters are on active duty and work in a variety of capacities. As the brochure says, our Sisters serve in schools and institutions of higher learning, health care, hospice and social service ministries. We are leaders in liturgical reform and activity. We support and foster life in parishes and lay communities. We provide spiritual direction and guidance. We are artists: poets, painters, authors, sculptors, photographers and more.
Finally, Sister Susan invites us to invite someone we know to think about the religious life.
Let us give thanks for the work that our Sisters and Religious do.
Call to the Priesthood in Fowler, Michigan, in the Diocese of Lansing.
John Osterhart calls to our attention a CNN program, "Called to the Collar."
He writes, "A total of 22 vocations to the priesthood have come from the small community surrrounding Fowler, Michigan over the years. On November 16 a program on Channel 1202 or 202 om AT&T U-verse, a program called "This is Life" with Lisa Ling featured an hour long segment titled, 'Called to the Collar.' The program was rebroadcast at 11 p.m. on Sunday, November 23 and may be shown at additional times and dates.
"Dennis Leiber alerted me to the program, which I thought was well done and presented a very objective picture of young men recently ordained or discerning for the priesthood...Although several people were interviewed, including Lansing Bishop, Most Reverend Earl Boyea, the program focused on one Fowler area farm family with twin 26-year-old sons, both of whom were recently ordained and serving in nearby parishes, and a third 19-year-old son who was studying in the seminary at St. Thomas University in St. Paul, MN..."
An article about the twin priests also appeared in the September 21-October 4, 2014 issue of the National Catholic Register:
Born Together, Ordained Together
FOWLER, Mich. The New York Times doesn't normally write about priestly vocations.
Then again, it's not often that two brothers--identical twins, at that--get ordained to the priesthood on the same day.
"We knew it would make some news," said Agnes Koenigsknecht about her sons Gary and Todd. "But even we were surprised by all the attention it received."
Reporters and television camers were on hand at St. Mary's Cathedral in Lansing, MIch., to witness the twins getting ordained together on June 14. For a family raised with a strong sense of German-Catholic humility, all lthe attention has been a little embarrassing at times.
"We were ordained with three other classmates, and we apologized to them for stealing any limelight. We knew that there was nothing particularly special about us, beyond being twins. But we do pray that God uses our being twins for his glory," says Father Gary....
As surprising as it is to see twin brothers both become priests, perhaps even more amazing is how small villages in central Michigan have produced so many vocations. The Koenigsknechts live in Fowler, which has a population of just 1,214. Nearby Westphalia has 972 residents.
And yet these tiny towns have given the Church 44 vocations to the priesthood, along with dozens of religious sisters as well. Parishes and dioceses might wonder what's in the water here.
"There's no silver bullet, no secret recipe," said Father Todd. He did acknowledge that all the neighboring villages are German, Catholic, and full of farmers.....
Father Gary agreed that communal prayers is a crucial component. Every Wednesday, the parish has a Holy Hour for Vocations, followed by an evening Mass.
The Koenigsknechts come from a family of 12 children...
Editor's Note: I have for for many years, from 2004 through 2012, ridden a bus to the March for Life in Washington, D. C. which has meant an all-night ride and an early morning arrival. On several occasions my bus stopped at Fowler to pick up a sizable group of marchers, which consisted not only of people from the community but also students from the local parish school I can attest that the people from Fowler seemed especially "On fire for the Lord," so to speak. One year I even learned about a whole bus full of students who boarded before midnight, rode all night, marched in the march, and boarded the bus for home when the march was over. Now THAT is dedication of a special kind. Let us pray for the community, for the Parish, and for the school.
A Thank-you Note.
On November 14 we received this note from Thomas McEnhill, treasurer of the Serra Club of Greater Muskegon:
Thank you very much for sponsoring a table at our annual Serra Vocation Dinner Fundraiser. Your support of $340 allows us to provide financial assistance to our current seminarians and promote vocation opportunities for our youth through mission trips and youth conferences.
A Message from our President.
Dear Serrans:
Please pray for me and the officers of our local Serra Club, as we work together on the vocations mission as well as our spiritual growth. We have a wonderful opportunity to socialize together as a club this month at the Schubert Concert. If you have not received tickets, or would like additional tickets, please call me at 890-8403 and leave a message or e-mail me at aggcloyd@aol.com. Thisw is a great way to come together as a club for a relaxing and fun-filled evening which is sure to raise our spirits and our treasury. Many Serrans make this concert a part of their holiday tradition.
I want to acknowledge and publicly thank Weldon Schwartz for running numerous meetings when my work schedule required me to be out of town. He is always willing to step in on a moment's notice and is generous with his time and talents.
May the love and peace of the baby Jesus be with you throughout Advent and the Christmas season. The celebration of His birth is a joyful occasion and cause for celebration. Mary, Mother of Jesus and Vocations, pray for us and guide us to bring dedicated leaders to the call of service in the Holy Catholic Church.
Agnes Kempker-Cloyd
