Dear Friends in Christ:
On Sunday, August 4, our parish will celebrate the annual feast day of our patron saint, St. John Vianney, the Curé (pastor) of Ars. Each year the entire church throughout the world recalls the wonderful life of this extraordinary human being who loved God with such fervor and gave his whole life to being a holy priest. St. John Vianney brought God’s love and mercy to people and he brought people to God. This past spring, I along with a group of our parishioners were able to spend a few days living and praying in the beautiful village of Ars. Our group stayed in la Providence, the house established by St. John Vianney for orphan girls and is now a retreat center. We were able to meet the parishioners of Ars including some of the descendants of the parishioners at the time of the great saint. We spent time in prayer and Eucharistic Adoration. I was kindly welcomed by Fr. Patrice to stay in the Presbytery (priests’ house) along with the other priest serving in Ars. We were honored to celebrate Sunday Mass with the parishioners and Fr. Patrice asked me to preach! Being ever so gracious, he translated for me as my French is very limited. It was truly a wonderful, spiritual and peaceful time!
Next month for our feast day, we will have as always Holy Mass and a wonderful celebration after the 9:30, 11:00, 12:30 and 2:00 masses. It will be an old fashion cookout with hot dogs, hamburgers and more. This will be for all of our parishioners and will be free for everyone. In anticipation and preparation for the feast, we will need the help of everyone. Our Parish Life Department will be asking various groups to assist with the cooking, serving and cleaning. If you are asked, please say “yes!” There is one other area where everyone is being asked to contribute and participate. In the days between the feast of SJV and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin,
we will offer 5000 hours of Eucharistic Adoration and 10,000 rosaries.
Every family is asked to come and spend one hour in Eucharistic Adoration and to pray two rosaries. Our prayers will be for our parish families that they will always be strong in the Catholic Faith and close to God, for an increase of converts to the Catholic Faith, for the return of those who are away from the Catholic Faith and for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and religious life from St. John Vianney parish. As many people are on summer vacation, while others are infirm or homebound and others just simply away from the church, you may wish to offer more than one hour and instead offer an extra hour in adoration or pray a couple extra rosaries for those who cannot.
The Adoration Chapel is open 24/7, but we will have adoration during the day in the chapel (old church). I ask that we really try to do this as a family. Husbands and wives come together. Parents bring the kids. College students come before you go back to school. Engaged couples come as a couple. If you know of someone who is single or widowed invite them to come and pray with you. For those who are homebound, we ask that they pray for us from home and we will keep them in our prayers. People constantly ask what the secret is to why our parish is so blessed in so many ways. It is no secret at all. It is God’s grace and the power of prayer!
In pace Christi,
Fr. Troy Gately