This Tuesday is the Feast of St. Francis who has a special place in my heart! I don’t know what you recall about him, but he seems to speak so strongly to our present situation. He is probably one of the few saints honored and imitated by people outside our Catholic family. Born in 1181, he lived a rather wild life, reared into a well-to-do family with the money and the personality to party indefinitely. He went away to fight in a conflict with one of the other city-states and came back sick and defeated. In his illness, God got through to him and the two of them began a process which would radically change Francis’ life. He renounced his father and his prestige, dramatically stripping before the bishop and his family and claiming God as his father. Robed as a peasant and often accused of being crazy, he started preaching of God’s goodness to anyone who would listen.

God spoke to him through his dreams, giving him the charge to “Rebuild the Church which, as you see, is falling down.” Taking the Lord’s words seriously, he began by physically rebuilding the church of San Damiano, only later realizing that it was the Church as the people of God that he was called to rebuild by the example of his gospel way of life. Other people were attracted by his integrity and poverty, made all the more radical by the extravagant way of life lived by the clergy of the time. He built the first crèche to help the people understand the miracle of Christmas. He reached out to lepers, seeing in them the Crucified Christ. Perhaps especially instructive for us, Francis went to talk with the Sultan during the third Crusade while his army was fighting the Christian armies over the Holy Land. According to Franciscan sources, the Sultan was not converted, but definitely was inspired by this man of peace.

“ADOPT A PARISH”

Just over the past week we have learned of 2 parishes on the Mississippi Gulf Coast where Presentation Sisters work as Pastoral Associates. St. Thomas the Apostle and St. John the Evangelist are in Long Beach, Mississippi and both sustained major damage in Hurricane Katrina. While these parishes are working to repair the damage to their churches and schools, we have become aware of parishioners who have lost all or nearly all, of their possessions.

We have a list of about 20 families who are in particular need, several of whom are teachers from these schools who have lost their homes. They remain in the area but are in need of lots of help.

The Sisters have given us a list of stores in the area to which the families have access. These include: Sears, Penney’s Lowe’s and Home Depot. While we realize that many of you have already made donations to Hurricane relief efforts, if you have the means to give something to our Sister parishes, it would be greatly appreciated. We will be collecting cash and checks on the weekend of October 8th and 9th and October 15th and 16th which we will use to buy Scrip to send to the Sisters to distribute.

Classes for Children Grades 6th, 7th and 8th begin on Tuesday, October 4th from 6:45 to 8 pm. in Hennessy Hall.

Confirmation classes for 10th graders started on Sunday, August 28th.

Thank you all for your full support cooperation in the success of the San Lorenzo Ruiz celebration.
DaDa Gallagher, chairperson Fil-Am Group

As a Parish Community

Silver 25th-Wedding Anniversary
Martha and Cyrous Navarrete

The Consolation Ministry Committee will meet on Wednesday, October 5th at 9:00 a.m. in Mary’s Chapel.

New Members Are Welcomed!!!

November is traditionally the month set aside by our church to commemorate and celebrate the memories of our departed loved ones. This year we will have a special Mass on the feast of All Souls, Wednesday, November 2nd. All are invited to this liturgy. The names of those buried from St. Robert’s and relatives of parishioners buried from other churches will be read aloud by members of the Consolation Ministry and a special candle will be lit and places on the altar in their memory.

We will have a special shrine erected in Our Lady’s alcove (in the church) with their names inscribed in a Memorial Book. Please, bring pictures, memorial cards or flowers to place in this shrine all during November. We will also post their names around the walls of the church, so that the faithful will be reminded of our departed loved ones each time they enter the church.

We are asking a special favor from you, the parishioners. We have recorded all those buried from Saint Robert’s but would like to remember all of your departed loved ones that are buried/cremated from any other church or Funeral Home during the past year. Information needs to be received to us no later than October 26th. Please either call the rectory at 589-2800 or Sister Patricia at 589-0104 with the name of your loved one along with the date of their burial.

The readings these weeks about the vineyard are difficult to hear! The reading from Isaiah is very confrontational: the household of Israel is breaking the covenant with God by not doing what God commands. The people are being unfaithful to Yahweh and their leaders are trusting in alliances with other nations instead of trusting God. They are producing wild grapes instead of the good grapes to be expected from such fine vines. Isaiah’s community has the vineyard owner ask, “What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done?” How similar this question is to the psalm we hear on Good Friday: “My people, what have I done to you or in what have I offended you?” The disappointment is heart-rending. The prophet Isaiah calls a spade a spade in the hopes that the people will repent and turn to the God who is still faithful to them.

Likewise, the Matthew passage may surprise us with its mention of violence and death. Yet it was written some 55 years after the violent deaths of John the Baptist and Jesus himself. Still, we can imagine Jesus engaging the chief priests and leaders in dialogue in the hope that they, too, might recognize themselves in the parable and repent.

We are used to hearing the more comforting words of Isaiah in his community’s description of the Savior’s coming and of Matthew’s community relating Jesus’ miracles and healing. The Jewish people had the covenant and the prophets to guide them; we have the new covenant made in Jesus and the Spirit to guide us. We are called to live out of our experience and relationship with our God. Our gratitude for the gift of faith ought to impel us to faithfulness, prayer and action for the honor and glory of God and the good of all humanity. If we are trying to respond to God’s love for us, we will bear good fruit. Peace, S. Sheral

Today in Parishes throughout the United States, Catholics are celebrating Life from the first moment of conception till the last breath is drawn. “The human person is Central, the clearest reflection of God among us.” (U.S. Catholic Bishops) Let us affirm the goodness of God’s creation by valuing the unborn, providing for the economically disadvantaged, rooting out the causes of violence and war and protecting the elderly and infirm.

Saint Roberts Church Library

Spiritual Reading will be available at St. Robert’s after the Masses on Sundays. Please, take a few minutes either before or after Mass and check out a book or two that interest you. You may keep the books until you have them read. We have some books on the Library cart but we have many more in the Library/Reconciliation room.