Parish Update – Friday, Oct. 9
A blessed Friday to one and all! I pray that you all are safe and well. It seems like it was just a few weeks ago (because it was!) that we were wishing our neighbors in Louisiana safety as they faced an oncoming hurricane, and now we are right back here doing the same thing. Let us pray that all those impacted recently by Hurricane Laura might be spared further heartache from Hurricane Delta, which is zeroing in on the same general area for landfall later this evening. Our Lady of Prompt Succor, pray for us!
On this
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time this weekend there are some classic lines in our scriptures. Isaiah tells us in the first reading,
“The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face.” That’s quite comforting, isn’t it? And then in the second reading this Sunday, St. Paul writes to the Philippians,
“I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” I know for a fact that those words have indeed given strength to many who are struggling. Lastly, in the last line of our passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew, we’ll hear an all-time zinger:
“Many are invited, but few are chosen.” Ouch!
While I like the one-liners, we have to be careful not to reduce the message of the Gospel to convenient slogans or motivational speeches. They should indeed grab our attention, but use them as a way to draw you in deeper to the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven. That’s exactly why Jesus tells the parable of the guests invited to the wedding in St. Matthew. He desires us all to respond to his invitation, but we have to remain ever ready to receive it. Then, and only then, can we join in the chorus from Psalm 23 that we will sing and cry out, “I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life!”
Let’s take a look at some of the happenings on Huffmeister this week:
• First, foremost, and always we invite you to please join us for Mass 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 9 and 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.
• Remember that we have resumed printing our weekly bulletin and you can pick up a copy after every Mass in the narthex as you leave (we have extra copies in the parish office, too, if you want to swing by during the week).
Though it’s always online on our parish website, I know many of you like the printed copy. In the coming months, we will be partnering with a new bulletin publisher, Liturgical Publications, and now is an ideal time to reserve your space to sponsor an ad. Businesses and individuals are encouraged to do so – it helps spread the word to our community about your services and it enables us to provide the bulletin at no charge to the parish. Our new bulletin representative for advertising is
Bob Swagman of Liturgical Publications. Contact him at 636-346-2058 or
rswagman@4lpi.com to reserve your ad and thanks to all who support the parish this way.
• I’m a bit bummed in that this coming Monday, Columbus Day, would normally be our annual Knights of Columbus Golf Tournament. Sadly, it’s been postponed this year – right when my game was peaking and I felt destined to win, too! That’s OK though as it is the prudent move, and best of all, we already have a new date for the spring, Monday, April 12. Mark your calendars and plan to join us then for our rescheduled tournament. My thanks to the Knights and Marty Weidemann, our tournament chairman, for the hard work on this event every year that provides scholarships for our graduating seniors.
• Looking (or really, sniffing) ahead just a bit, you can almost smell the chili that is starting to simmer for our
7th annual CtR Catholic School Chili Cook-off. We’re going virtual this year – that’s right a virtual cook-off with very real chili! It’s our chief fundraiser in the fall for the school, so I encourage you to please support this year in a new way. Though we can’t gather in person as before, you can help us by purchasing a Chili Kit, wherein we bring provide you with everything you need to make your own bowl of red at home, or by making a donation to our upcoming online auction, or by participating as a team in our “Best Bowl” competition. I’ll have more details to come in the next few weeks, but please visit
www.ctrschool.com/chili to learn about how you can participate and help support our school.
• In your charity I ask you to pray for the repose of the soul of Helen Rae Quast, whose funeral was yesterday at the parish. If ever you donated, browsed, or shopped at the flea market at our Spring Festival, then you encountered Helen Rae. She was a fixture for many years in overseeing it, and helped it grow into one of the biggest revenue generators for the parish. She dedicated countless hours sorting, pricing, and most especially, selling anything and everything, and she did it with a radiant smile and much joy. She saw value in everything, and it was hard to leave her flea market tent without taking home an item or two, even if you didn’t think you wanted anything! She loved being part of CtR and we are grateful for her tireless service over the years to our community. Helen Rae truly embodied what Stewardship was all about – serving God and serving neighbor. May she rest in peace.
• And finally, last Sunday, Oct. 4, on the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis released the third encyclical of his pontificate, “Fratelli Tutti” (“Brothers All”). The title comes from St. Francis himself in one of his addresses to his fellow friars, though it’s translated as “Brothers and Sisters” to include everyone. The Pope signed the encyclical, thus promulgating it to the world, the day before in the Italian town of Assisi, the first time he had left the city of Rome since the pandemic began. He celebrated Mass at the tomb of St. Francis, at the very altar where our CtR pilgrimage group also celebrated Mass back in 2013. What a blessing that was!
I spent this week making my way through the document (it’s 43,000 words in length!) and encourage everyone to take time to read it as well. You can find it free of charge in several languages on the Vatican website (
www.vatican.va) and we’ve put a link to it on the front page of
www.ctrcc.com. Though he began writing it before the pandemic set in, he definitely shifted the tone of it to take our current world order into view. It’s remarkable in its depth and directness, and though it’s lengthy, I think you’ll find it highly readable. Take it a chapter or two at a time and give yourself some time to pray as you read. I’m finding it to be an especially good source of reflection and a great excuse to turn off the TV or social media and spend time with the words of the Holy Father.
Our Lady of the Rosary, whose feast day we commemorated this past Wednesday, pray for us!
Peace, Fr. Sean