MEMORIAL of the MARTYRS

 

Four North American women who were murdered in El Salvador

Wednesday, December 2, 7-8PM at Mount Saint Mary’s College Doheny Chapel on Chester Place in Los Angeles. Once again, 29 years after the murder of the North American women in El Salvador, we gather to remember, to pray, and to act on behalf of our Sisters and all those who because of their faithfulness, face martyrdom.

 

Your presence is witness to the belief that we continue to believe that to remember is also to hope in a future of peace with justice.

For further information or to volunteer: 626-345-1666.

First day of Advent

Begin the Advent season with a commitment to reading the Bible every day. Learn the ancient practice oflectio divina or “divine reading.” Lectio divina was developed by the early monks to make reading the Bible an attractive experience.

A common method is:

• Read the Scripture passage out loud (or read it silently if done individually).

• Highlight any words or phrases that strike you.

• Read the passage again and expand your reflection from focus on a word or phrase to an idea that you find in the passage.

• Read the passage a third time. Briefly describe how the passage speaks to you and how it throws light on some aspect of your life.

Also:

Make or purchase an Advent wreath for your family.   Many parishes and religious gift stores offer Advent wreaths for sale, but it is fun to make one from fresh greens you gather.

Learn about the tradition and significance of Advent wreaths.

What it means to be an associate in a religious community

Association in a Religious Community     Marie Prindeville

I have been asked what it means to be an associate in a religious community. I will try to articulate what is in my heart. After 2 years of formation, in 2001, I made my first covenant in the community of the Sisters of the Holy Family. The Sisters of the Holy Family were founded in San Francisco, Ca. in 1872 by Mother Dolores Armer.  Today our sisters serve in California, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Texas.  I am sure many of you from this area had the sisters for catechism, or day care..

I first remember my association with the sisters in the first grade. All through grammar school, I received my religious education from the sisters.  During my high school years at Notre Dame, I helped the sisters with release time classes.  I never lost contact through the years, or forgot the welcoming hospitable way they proclaimed the gospel message.

We are women with a simple mission – to seek out and advocate for the poor and needy, especially families, for the Kingdom of God.  As both women and men associates we try to live the charism of our community in all we do, family, parish ministry, and in our lives in the world.

In the years that I have been an associate, I have learned more fully what it means to live my baptismal call.  The strength love and support I have received from a group of dedicated holy women has been incredible.   It has helped me do my ministries here at St. Francis, especially as baptism coordinator, in a spirit of love, extending hospitality and welcoming to all families.

I feel so blessed to have been invited, and to have answered the call.  I t has truly made my life so much more meaningful, and I hope in some way you have felt the charism of our community in action.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve.

Advent: Begins Sunday November 29, 2009

The season of Advent, the time of preparation for the coming of Christ at Christmas and the start of the liturgical year in the Roman Catholic Church, begins on a different date each year.

When does Advent 2009 begin?

Answer: Advent 2009 begins on the First Sunday in Advent, November 29, 2009.

November 27, 2009: First Sunday of Advent

Jeremiah 33:14-16; Psalm 25; 1 Thessalonians 3:12–4:2; Luke 21:25-28,34-36

As human beings, we do well with “either/or,” but we maybe weak at “both/and.” In fact, one of the tasks of our lives as we grow in wisdom, age and grace may very well be to move from “either/or” to “both/and” as we encounter the diversity and complexity of our world. One example is very present during the season of Advent: our God is a cosmic God, creator of the heavens and the earth. As the Hubble telescope keeps feeding images of a complex expanding universe, that cosmic sense of God keeps growing in our imaginations. Yet during Advent we are called to prepare for the coming of a God both cosmic and so very close to us that God actually became one of us as an infant born of a woman in a small town in an obscure oppressed nation on a medium-sized planet in an off-center galaxy in this universe. From the very personal to the very cosmic, our God is a God of “both/and.” Our challenge is to embrace both extremes in One God.

How has your understanding of God grown in the last year?

Thanksgiving Prayer

 

Thanksgiving Prayer

God, when I have food, help me to remember the hungry,

When I have work, help me to remember the jobless;

When I have a home, help me to remember those who have no home at all;

When I am without pain, help me to remember those who suffer;

and remembering, help me to destroy my complacency,

bestir my compassion, and be concerned enough to help;

by word and deed, those we take for granted.

~ Samuel F. Pugh