I.  Founders’ Day Mass, Dinner & Raffle:  our Saint Stephen Cathedral picnic is being transformed into a Founders’ Day Mass*, followed by a Dinner with Raffle! The Raffle is a major fund raiser and we need everyone to participate. All parishioners are invited to the 5:00pm Mass on Saturday, September 16, 2017, followed by a BBQ and burgoo dinner. There will not be games or special events but a great meal and camaraderie.  Raffle prizes will be awarded at our parish dinner as well. Please pick up raffle tickets on the tables around church. The Vacation Raffle tickets are available for purchase in the parish office. Mark your calendars! (*The anniversary of the dedication of the current church building on Locust Street)

II.  The Identity Card of a Christian:  On November 1, 2016, during Mass for All Saints Day in Malmö, Sweden, Pope Francis took the creative step of offering six new Beatitudes “to confront the troubles and anxieties of our age with the spirit and love of Jesus”.  His new Beatitudes include:

¨ Blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others, and forgive them from their heart.

¨ Blessed are those who look into the eyes of the abandoned and marginalized, and show them their closeness.

¨ Blessed are those who see God in every person, and strive to make others also discover God.

¨ Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home.

¨ Blessed are those who renounce their own comfort in order to help others.

¨ Blessed are those who pray and work for full communion between Christians.

Calling the Beatitudes the “identity card of a Christian,” Pope Francis emphasizes the spirit of those original Beatitudes Jesus gave us (cf Matthew 5:1-16). Would Jesus not emphasize these priorities today? “The Beatitudes are the way of life that the Lord teaches us [and the saints set as their path and their goal], so that we can follow in his footsteps.”

Meditate on these new additions and apply them to daily life, your ‘daily life as appropriate.’

(By Gretchen R. Crowe, “Our Sunday Visitor,” Nov. 13, 2016)