ALL SOULS DAY – NOVEMBER 2, 2021

Created: Sunday, October 31 2021 14:49

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Most Sacred Heart Church
Many cultures throughout the world observe a celebration in memory of those who have died. These celebrations remind those who participate in them of the brevity of life here on earth and also give those who are still living an opportunity to pay homage to the memory of those who have gone before them.

Each year the Catholic Church offers us an opportunity to reflect on these two truths – our lives on earth will one day end and the need to remember those who have died by offering prayer and sacrifice on their behalf. For men and women of faith, we look at death very differently than many in our secularized world. We do not see death as the fi- nal answer but rather as a part of the journey we embark on from the moment we are born and baptized. Death for the true believer is not victorious nor does it have the final word. We also know that while here on earth, we sometimes make choices that separate us from God and even though we repent of those sins, we still at times need to be puri- fied of our sins effect on our relationship with God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a “purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven”, which is experienced by those “who died in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified” (CCC 1030). The Catechism of the Catholic Church goes on to say “this final purification of the elect...Is entirely different from the punishment of the damned” (CCC1031). The purification is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclear will enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev.2127) and while we may die with our mortal sins forgiven, there can still be many impurities in us, specifically ve- nial sins and temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.” (Catholic Answers,” Purgatory” San Diego: Catholic Answers, 2004) So, as Sacred Scripture remind us it is a pious and holy thing to pray for the dead.

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MSH Altar Servers

Created: Thursday, October 14 2021 14:33

October: Month of the Holy Rosary

Created: Friday, October 08 2021 08:26

The month of October each year is dedicated to the Rosary. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was introduced by Pope St. Pius V (1504-1572) in the year 1571 to commemorate the miraculous victory of the Christian forces in the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. The Pope attributed more to the “arms” of the Rosary than to the power of cannons and the valor of the soldiers who fought there.

It all started in 1571 when the Catholic League entered into battle against the Ottoman Empire to protect Italy from invasion. The Turks were on a warpath to overthrow all of Europe, killing millions of people and forcing Islamic conversion on survivors. They had conquered the Middle East and Mediterranean islands of Cyrus and Crete; Italy was next.

As the impending battle loomed, Pope Pius V called on various religious communities throughout Europe to join him in praying the Rosary, including public recitations, to defeat the Islamic threat. Heading into battle, every man in the Catholic League’s forces carried a Rosary. Their fleet was no match for the competition; they were vastly outnumbered.

Miraculously, the Catholic League returned victorious after a daylong battle known as the Battle of Lepanto that took place off the coast of Greece. In thanksgiving for Mary’s intercession and protection, Pope Pius V declared the day — October 7 — as a feast day for Our Lady of the Rosary. To celebrate, a Rosary procession was held in Saint Peter’s Square.

After the feast day was established, the entire month of October was dedicated to the Rosary in 1884 by Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Superiore Anno:

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The Green Scapular

Created: Tuesday, May 11 2021 16:29

Let me tell you the story of how I discovered the Green Scapular. This is my only way of trying to spread a true and tender love of her Immaculate Heart and of paying my debt to her. Some years ago, before penicillin was in use, I was lying in a hospital very ill with pneumonia. I began to hem- orrhage and the doctors decided to operate as a last resource. Then a little nun came into my room.
"Father, have you great faith in the Mother of God, especially in her Immaculate Heart? If so, you can be cured."

"How, Sister?" "Through the Green Scapular." "What is that?"
"Four years ago, Father, I was operated on for cancer. I was so filled with it, that they just closed me up and sent me away to die. Then I prayed to Our Lady of the Green Scapular; grew tired of waiting to die and came back to work. I am cured, Father. Do you want me to give you a Scapular?"

 "Please, Sister." With that she put one over my head. A feeling of tremendous confidence poured into me and the bleeding stopped. Two days later, in the X-ray room, they asked me when the hemorrhage had ceased. When I replied that it was a matter of a couple of days, they expressed great surprise.
"You have a wound that is six months healed and there is no other mark." Today even the scars are gone. No wonder I speak of an unpayable debt to her Immaculate Heart. Since then I have done everything possible to foster this devotion. To my great joy and amazement, those to whom I have spoken of the Green Scapular have become more zealous than I. Never have I seen the equal of the faith and confidence of these new apostles of Mary.

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Mother's Day - the day of love

Created: Thursday, May 06 2021 08:13

Mother's Day has been celebrated as a national holiday in the United States on the second Sunday of May since 1914. But Catholics have been celebrating a sort of mother's day since the first few centuries of the Church. The fourth Sunday of Lent, or Laetare Sunday, traditionally was a time to return to your mother church (home parish) and leave an offering. For this reason, it was also called Mothering Sunday 

"The word 'mothering' came to have other associations; it became a feast day for the mothers of families. All the children who were away from home went back on that day to visit their mothers, taking with them 'a present of money, a trinket, or some nice eatable, and they are all anxious not to fail in this custom.' The 'nice eatable' was often a mothering cake." It is easy to see how this ancient tradition might have influenced Mother's Day traditions in the United States.

And devotion to Mary, the mother of God and our spiritual mother, in the month of May gives this holiday special meaning. "God, creator and lord of the universe, chose to put himself — tiny, needy and helpless — into the nurturing and watchful hands of a human mother. Since then, every act of mothering — both physical and spiritual — in every time and every corner of the world recollects Mary’s."

Pope Francis pointed out that the parallels between Mary and others mothers include love and devotion to their children, of course, but it also includes great sacrifice and suffering. "It is they, mothers, who most hate war, which kills their children. Many times I have thought of those mothers who receive the letter: 'I inform you that your son has fallen in defense of his homeland ...' The poor women! How a mother suffers! It is they who testify to the beauty of life."

Happy "Mothers Day" for All Moms

The Holy Father added: "A society without mothers would be a dehumanized society, for mothers are always, even in the worst moments, witnesses of tenderness, dedication and moral strength." And they are also crucial to evangelization. "Without mothers, not only would there be no new faithful, but the faith would "Dearest mothers, thank you, thank you for what you are in your family and for what you give to the Church and the world," concluded Pope Francis.

Mother's Day Prayer

"I thank you, Creator of us all, for my mother. I thank you that she gave me life and nurtured me all those years. She gave me my faith, helping me to know you and to know Jesus and his ways. She taught me how to love and how to sacrifice for others. She taught me that it was okay to cry and that I should always tell the truth. Bless her with the graces she needs and which you want to give her today. Help her to feel precious in your eyes today and to know that I love her. Give her strength and courage, compassion and peace. Bless her this day with your love. Amen."

May is Mary’s Month

Created: Thursday, May 06 2021 07:37

“May is Mary’s Month,” began the great poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ, in “The May Magnificat.”

For centuries, the Catholic Church has emphasized the month of May as a time of honor and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Parishes and fami- lies often celebrate with special pilgrimages, devotions, or placing a crown on a statue of Mary, traditionally called a “May Crowning.”

On April 29, 1965, Pope Blessed Paul VI promulgated his encyclical Mense Maio (“The Month of May”), which promoted May devotions to the Blessed Mother, knowing that, “the person who encounters Mary cannot help but encounter Christ likewise” (n. 2). Despite being a lesser-known encyclical, its timing and topic are revealing. Released on the eve of the last session of the Second Vatican Council and amid escalating violence and unrest of the Vietnam War and the 1960’s, the help of Mary was “a matter of top priority” considering “the present needs of the Church and the status of world peace” (n. 3). The words of Paul VI are just as relevant today. In our contentious social and political climate, focusing on Mary is not a pious distraction from real issues, but a vital source for grace, truth, and mercy.

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