Dear Parishioners:
- Today’s readings are about remembering, thanksgiving, healing and salvation. In the reading from the Old Testament, Naaman the Syrian remembers to thank Elisha for his cure. Naaman, the foreigner, is not a member of the Chosen People. That God’s mercy is to be extended to all the nations was a notion difficult for Israel to accept.
In the reading from the Second Letter to Timothy, Paul asks Timothy and perhaps, for all of us, to remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.
In today’s Gospel, one of the ten lepers cured by Jesus remembered to return and thank his healer. Today’s Gospel is about a foreigner with two counts against him. By his plea he is made clean, by his faith he is saved. The man was a Samaritan, a social outcast and a religious heretic suffering from leprosy. In the presence of Jesus, only the foreigner receives the full blessing of Jesus’ ministry.
Thankfulness is much more than saying “Thank you” because we have to. It is a way to experience the world, to perceive and to be surprised. Thankfulness is having open eyes and a short distance between the eyes and the heart.
Grateful hearts are the hallmark of authentic Christians. Those who possess the virtue of gratitude are truly rich. They not only know how richly they have been blessed, but they continuously remember that all good things come from God.
- It’s not too late to register your children for Elementary religious education classes on Wednesday afternoon or Sunday morning; or Junior High Youth Group; or High School Youth Group. Please check with the Religious Education Office or Parish Office for more information.
- For RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adult) who explores the Catholic Faith which meeting on Tuesday evening from 6:30 – 8:30 PM at the Community Room as our Parish Community prepares for another “Liturgical Year” with living out our Catholic Life.
- One more week until our parish traditional “Living Rosary” – everyone participates in this event on Saturday, October 19 - 1:00 PM is “a bead” of this Living Rosary. There will also be a procession from the church to the beautiful marble statue of Mary in the garden for “crowning of roses”. A reception will be served in the Community Room afterward for opportunity to visit one another on this important day in the month of the Rosary. Also, remember to pray the Rosary with your family for Life and Peace in the World throughout this month of October.
- We are called to this Eucharistic celebration – along with Catholics in every parish and the whole church through the world – to fulfill the call we first heard at Baptism, the call to be missionaries, to share our faith. “Mission is a passion for Jesus and at the same time, a passion for his people” Pope Francis said in his Pentecost remark. In Jesus’ command to “go forth”, we see the scenarios and ever-present new challenges of the Church’s evangelizing mission. All her members are called to proclaim the Gospel by their witness of life.
So, World Mission Sunday will be celebrated next weekend (October 19 & 20), we are invited to “celebrate the hope that saves” through prayer and participation in the Eucharist for the work of the whole church. Please generously support the Mission of the Church next weekend.
Christ’s Peace,
Fr. Phuong Hoang