The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is not a Holy day of Obligation this year. The 9:00 Mass will be changed to 12:00 Noon on August 15. The office will be closed.

-In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Eternal God,
We thank You for all that You have given us. We thank You for our
weaknesses; they teach us humility. We thank You for our
struggles; they teach us perseverance. We thank You for difficult
people You put in our paths; they teach us compassion.
Almighty Father,
You brought us into existence to know, love, and serve You. It is in
uniting all our sufferings and sacrifices and surrendering them all to
You, that we grow in our love and understanding of each other.
Without our trials, we would know very little about who You are, as
a loving Father to us. Help us to continue to grow in knowledge,
love, and service to each other and to You.
In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

-In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

As I mentioned last week there will be a few more segments on the topic of the Sign of the Cross. There

 are actually 21 things we do when we make the SIgn of the Cross. Last week we covered the first 4; today a few more. Today we will start with...

Recalling the Incarnation- Our movement is downward from our foreheads to our chest/heart because Christ descended from heaven to the earth. This is what Pope Innocent III wrote in his instruction on making the Sign of the Cross. IN doing this, many of us hold two fingers together.. either our thumb with the index finger or with the middle finger, which represent the two natures of Christ-human and divine.

Remember the Passion of Our Lord- Fundamentally, in tracing the outline of a cross on ourselves, we are remembering Christ's crucifixion. This remembrance is deepened if we keep our right hand open, using all five fingers to make the Sign of the Cross ... corresponding to the Five Wounds of Christ.

Affirming the Trinity- In invoking the name of God the Fater, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we are declaring our belief in a triune God. Pope Innocence III also cited that when three fingers are used to make the sign, we are reinforcing the belief in a triune God. 

Focus on prayer on God- One of the temptations in prayer is to address it to God as we conceive Him... the man upstairs, our buddy, some sort of cosmic genie, so on. When this happens, our prayer becomes more about us than an encounter with the living God. The Sign of the Cross immediately focuses us on the true God. When we invoke the Trinity, we are fixing our attention on God, who made us, not some God we made up. We toss those images away and our prayers focus on Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Affirm in the procession of Son and Spirit- In the first lift of our hands we recall that the Father is the first person in the Trinity. IN lowering our hand we are confirming that the Son proceeds from the Father and according to Francis de Sales, in ending with the Holy Spirit, we are signifying that the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. 

We have now covered 9 of the 21 things we dare to do when we make the Sign of the Cross. Parts 3 and 4 should cover the final 12.

God Bless... Deacon Loris

'

SIN—Always a choice to make
So…we must make a choice. Do we choose the moral relativism and
slavery to sin of the world or do we choose the freedom from sin and the
promise of eternal life with God?
If we let our politics take precedent over our faith, we are “Catholics in
Name Only”. The Catholic Church is NOT a democracy. It has a
fixed/unchanging dogma established by Jesus Christ over 2,000 years ago.
By apostolic succession, the dogma cannot be changed. Period. As
Catholics, we are required to believe and follow and live the dogma of
the Church. To do/believe anything else is not only a sin, it’s not an
option. We recite all these things in the Nicene Creed every Sunday.
“Political authorities are obliged to respect the fundamental rights of
human persons…Rights cannot be suspended without legitimate and
proportionate reasons. Political rights are meant to be exercised for the
common good of the nation and the human community.” [CCC 2237]
So, do we give to Caesar what is Caesar’s?
Good Catholic citizens have three (3) responsibilities making them co-
responsible for the common good:
1. Pay taxes, 2. Vote, 3. Defend the country [CCC 2240]
We are told to offer prayers and thanksgiving for all who exercise
authority “that we may lead quiet and peaceful lives, godly and
respectful in every way.” [1 Tim 2:2]
“The citizen is obliged, in conscience, not to follow the directives of civil
authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to
the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel.” [CCC
2242]
Refusing obedience to civil authorities when their demands are contrary
to anyone with a well-formed conscience is justified in the distinction
between serving God and serving the political community. We may
defend our own rights or our fellow citizens rights when abuse of
authority oversteps their bounds within the limits of natural law and the

Law of the Gospel. [CCC 2242] “We must obey God rather than men.”
[Acts 5:29]
It is part of the Church’s mission “to pass moral judgments even in
matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or
the salvation of souls requires it. The means, the only means she may
use are those which are in accord with the Gospel…” [CCC 2246]
So…what’s the point?
The point is, if every one of the 70 million Catholics in the United States
followed the teachings of the Catholic Church instead of their feelings
and their politics, they could decide a presidential election. They could
change the direction the country has taken in the past 50 years away
from God and, instead, help to turn our nation back to God. Those 70
million could have prevented Roe v Wade from happening. But that’s
hindsight. Think of how 70 million people UNITED in the teachings of
Christ could not only change our nation but effect what happens globally.
Of the 2.38 billion Christians in the world, 1.3 billion are Catholics. If
they all chose their faith over their politics, what a wonderful world it
could be. But let’s back up. What could the possibilities be if all the
families/members of St. Francis of Assisi were united in faith and worked
for the good of our community? That would be a good place to start.
Let us pray: Almighty and Eternal God,
We thank You for the gift of Your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, without
whom there would be no forgiveness of sins. We thank You that You have
given us hope that the work we do is directed to You and the Church. We
ask for the grace of unity within our faith community to grow and unite us
as one faith with one mission—to live the Gospel in our families, our
church, our community, and in the world.
In Jesus’ mighty name we pray. Amen.
Resources: Pew Research on global populations of religion
Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC]
The Great Adventure Bible RSV 2 nd Catholic Edition, Ascension Press
Gaudium Et Spes, 2 nd Vatican Council, Pope St. Paul VI

A copy of this week's bulletin can be found on our parish website on the home page: https://d2y1pz2y630308.cloudfront.net/17334/documents/2022/8/20220802124714340%201.pdf

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