Parish Update – Friday, Nov. 19

Happy Friday, one and all, and to quote the public address announcer at the Indianapolis 500, “Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines!” Given that today is Friday of the weekend before Thanksgiving it seems safe to say that the race to the end of the year has officially started. Whether it is on the roads, in the stores, or just on our daily calendars, things are about to get fast and crowded.

Before it does, however, let me remind you to slow down. Life is not a race, and this time of the year it is especially important that we savor every moment. Thanksgiving week always marks, whether we like it or not, of the “holiday season.” Let’s resolve to greet this extra-busy time of the year with joy in our hearts. It can be so easy to allow the busyness of this time of year to overwhelm us. We stress out and worry about so much that is beyond our control. Remember to always be “thankful” for all that we have in our lives and return that thanksgiving to God first, foremost, and always. … As a reminder, our Chapel of Eucharistic Adoration will be open throughout the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. While you are out and about, feel free to stop in and spend some quiet time in the presence of the Lord in the most holy sacrament of the altar.

This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King, the final Sunday in Ordinary Time of the Church’s liturgical calendar. Next week we will begin the great season of holy waiting, Advent. But before then we honor Christ as our King. Not an earthly king of physical and political power and might, however, but a king who lays down his life in service to all.
 

A little background on this feast: In 1925, Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast of Christ the King in his encyclical letter Quas Primas in response to growing nationalism and secularism around the world. He had the foresight to realize that secularism could soon wage awful wars against the Church. During the early 20th century in Mexico, Russia, and in many parts of Europe, atheistic regimes threatened not just the Catholic Church and its faithful but civilization itself. … Pope Pius XI’s encyclical gave Catholics hope and, while governments of men around them crumbled, the assurance that Christ the King shall reign forever. Pope Pius XI said that Christ “reign[s] ‘in the hearts of men,’ both by reason of the keenness of his intellect and the extent of his knowledge, and also because he is very truth, and it is from him that truth must be obediently received by all mankind.” … Seems to me we would do well to recall that history as we honor Christ the King this Sunday.

Here’s what is happening around CtR this week:

• We invite you to please join us for Mass this weekend, either in person or via our livestream on Sunday at 9 a.m. on both our Facebook and YouTube pages. You can find the link to the livestream at www.ctrcc.com/live-stream, and in addition, you’ll find there both a worship aid and a link to the Scripture readings to follow along with Mass. And you can make your weekly offertory contribution online at www.ctrcc.com/donate. … If you’d like to join us in person for Mass, we welcome you on Saturday at 5 p.m., or Sunday at 7, 9, and 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.

 • At the 9 a.m. Mass Sunday we will welcome 10 new members into our Catholic faith. These brothers and sisters of ours have been preparing for the past several months through our RCIA program and are now ready to join us in full communion. My thanks to Julie Cook and our RCIA team who helped shepherd them in their journey to the Church. There are still many others who they are working with who will come into the Church next Easter. Let that be a reminder to all that RCIA continues throughout the year. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about how to become Catholic, please contact Julie in the parish office.

• As we offer our most heartfelt welcome to our newest Catholics, we realize their journey is just beginning, not ending. Like all of us, they will continue to immerse themselves more and more into the life and teachings of the Church and learn how to live out our Catholic faith every day. … One of the most beautiful ways we do this is by living the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. Among those principles is the preferential option for the poor and most vulnerable in society. A basic moral test is how our most vulnerable members are faring. In a society marred by deepening divisions between the haves and have-nots, our Catholic faith tradition recalls the story of the end times as we hear in the Gospel this week and instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first.
 

We all have an opportunity to be in communion with those in need this weekend through the annual second collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Your donations will help the Church solve poverty-based problems at the grass roots. CCHD invests in the dignity of people living in poverty. Programs funded by CCHD support self-sufficiency and self-determination for people who are working to bring permanent and positive change to their communities, including here in our own Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. Please be generous in this Sunday’s second collection.

• Looking ahead a bit, I invite the women of CtR to join us on Friday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. for Advent by Candlelight, an annual gathering to pray and prepare for the Advent season. This is the 20th anniversary of ABC, as we call it, a special evening for women to become renewed and refreshed before the Christmas rush begins. The program includes uplifting Scripture readings, music and reflections focused on the Advent season, and a light reception will follow. … This year’s speaker, Luisa Guzman, will reflect on the theme of “The Holy Thread that Binds the Holy Family and Us.” The event will be livestreamed for those who can’t make it in person, and childcare is available, though we ask you to reserve a spot in advance. See www.ctrcc.com/advent-by-candlelight for all the details.

• Please note that the only Mass this coming Wednesday, Nov. 24 (the day before Thanksgiving) is our regular morning Mass at 9 a.m. There is no evening Mass (or confessions beforehand) that day. … However, the next day, Thursday, Nov. 25, we will celebrate Thanksgiving Day Mass at 9 a.m. in the church (it will also be livestreamed). … Though not a holy day, it is a proper day to give thanks, and since Eucharist literally means “thanksgiving,” there can be no better way to start the day than by giving thanks to God for our blessings. … In addition, you are invited to bring items from the Thanksgiving meal you will be serving later that day for the annual Blessing of Food at the end of Mass. Bring a basket with some of the items for the dishes you will be preparing and we’ll ask God’s blessing upon them. It’s a good way to make a connection between the bounty we receive at the table of the Lord to the bounty we offer at our table at home.

• Lastly, tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 20, we will celebrate two Masses of First Communion for about 120 of our (mostly) 2nd grade children. We welcome our young children to the table of the Lord, and celebrate them along with their families. Please note that due to the double First Communion celebration with masses at 8:30 and 11 a.m. we will not hold confessions tomorrow morning. They will resume the following Saturday, Nov. 27.

St. (Mother) Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us! On Wednesday of this week, the Bishops of the U.S. approved a resolution to place her feast day (Sept. 5) on the Church’s liturgical calendar. Beginning next year we’ll get to celebrate a Mass in her honor, as is only fitting for such a beautiful servant of the poor.

Peace, Fr. Sean

P.S.: Next week’s parish update will come to your inbox on Wednesday afternoon, in advance of Thanksgiving, with all the news and notes for the Advent season.