Welcome back, or as my carline says in Italian, Ben tornato. As much as we love our summer break it is always nice to be back praying, learning and growing together. Again this year our 7th graders will be contributing to my faith reflection talking about putting our Catholic faith into action. This year’s idea came about from two things. First, back in May I came across copies of the DoCat and YouCat Youth Prayer Book being offered to schools and parishes in preparation for the World Youth day that took place in Poland last month. After getting copies and looking at them right after school got out I was impressed with how teen friendly they are. Immediately I wanted to do something with our Jr. High kids using these books. Then after seeing how we as a community responded after Mrs. Tibbetts and her daughter Rian were in their serious car accident, I knew that would be a good topic for the 7th graders to write about—showing our Catholic Social teaching in action. It was something very warming to see people who took turns staying with both Mrs. Tibbetts or Rian while they were in the hospital and rehab centers. Truly I can’t describe a more fitting example of our social teaching being lived out.
Jr. High camps are coming up soon so it will be a week or so until I have any thoughts from the 7th grade, but it will be worth the wait. In the meantime, while we wait to hear what our kids have to say about putting love into action, we can be doing this ourselves by joining in the National Day of Prayer Bishop Barnes is encouraging us to participate in on Friday, 9 September. As preparation for this there will be a blessing of candles at all the Masses at both sites this weekend, September 3rd and 4th. Your blessed candle can be used in a variety of ways at home to remind your family of the peace Christ brings into our lives. Please note that candles will not be provided, you will need to bring one from home. In addition to the Adoration that we have each Friday at our Columbia site, for the National Day of Prayer, confession will also be available that evening at Columbia from 5:00-7:00p. As Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said when inviting our dioceses across the country to spend a day in prayer, “By stepping forward to embrace the suffering, through unified, concrete action animated by the love of Christ, we hope to nurture peace and build bridges of communication and mutual aid in our own communities.” With Jesus lighting our way and filling our hearts with peace, may we have a most blessed and joyful year.
Thank you. Mrs. Alhadef