We had our annual confirmation retreat from October 29th to 30th at Glenwood in Santa Cruz and I can hardly believe that a whole year has gone by since our last retreat.

Once again the children were awesome in their participation. The night at the campfire was said to have been great since I wasn’t present and had to leave that evening of the 29th to celebrate my father’s 80th birthday. It was really wonderful to see all the children caught up in the spirituality of the retreat. We really have a bunch of future leaders on our hands.

I was going through the readings for this Sunday and thought to myself, Do we ever wonder how we got to where we are? And I don’t mean our life situation. I mean this place, this church. Does anyone of us ever sit and think about how remarkable it is that we were here today pledging our love, devotion and loyalty to a Jewish carpenter who lived two thousand years ago? And why we have chosen this community, the Catholic Church?

What’s interesting is that no two of our stories would be the same. Some of us have been close to our faith since birth. Others may have drifted for a while but eventually came back. Some of us are converts to our faith. Others might be here for the sake of the kids or their spouse. And then there are some of us who don’t know why we’re even here, or if any of it makes sense to us. Each of our faith journeys is unique, and in it’s own way, remarkable. But what is it, this thing called faith? How do we get it? Where do we find it?

First and foremost, faith is hard to define. If I asked 100 people what faith is, I’d get 100 different answers.

We’re in good company because the apostles did not know what faith was either. All we know is that we want more of it. In today’s Gospel the Apostles tell Jesus to increase their faith. But Jesus surprised them when he answered, “If you have faith the size of mustard see you could move mountains?”.

In other words what Jesus was trying to tell them is that faith was not about quantity but quality.

God Bless
Deacon John Meyer

TOMORROW MONDAY, OCTOBER 8TH

As a Parish Community we pray …for our Church. On this Respect Life Day, may we continue to be faithful and courageous witnesses to the sacredness of life from the first moment of conception till natural death.

WE CONGRATULATE THE NEWLY BAPTIZED

Claudine Wendy Del Campo Ladinez
Nathan Marshall Martinez-Lipton
Antonia Jaiden Cacianti
Santiago Cruz Tarango
Maya Elisa Mosteiro
Zoie Corinne McHale

We continue to ask each week that parishioners pray for the chronically ill of our parish. If you have a friend or loved one in need of our parish prayers please call the Rectory at 589-2800.

This week we pray for Josephine Muscat and Sandra Dill

CONSOLATION MINISTRY

Saint Robert’s Grief Support Group will hold a meeting on October 13th in the Convent Chapel from 3:15 p.m. (before the 4:30 p.m. Mass). Anyone who is suffering from the loss of a loved one-spouse, sibling, child, parent, friend or relative is invited to come and pray share, comfort and be comforted. You are invited to bring a companion as for support and strength. God bless and comfort you in your sorrow. Call, Sister Patricia 589-0104 or any of the consolation Ministry Committee.

Consolation Ministry Committee meets after the 8:30 a.m. Mass in Mary’s Chapel on the first Wednesday of every month. If you are interested, you are welcome to join us.

GROWNUPS COMMUNION BREAKFAST

The Grownup’s Communion Breakfast will be held in Hennessy Hall after the 11:30 am Mass on October 14th and will be catered by the In-Betweener’s. Tickets will be sold after all the Masses this weekend. The price is $12.50 per person. Call for tickets: Dolores Johnson, Dolores Moynihan, or Vera Hannon.

AIDS LUNCH
October 10th

We are scheduled for the 2nd Wednesday of each month. If you can prepare a favorite cookie, snack or lunch item for 10 to 12 people, please drop it off at the Children's Chapel, in the back of Church, by 9 a.m. on October 10th. Please pack the items in a non-returnable container. Frozen items are ok!

Thanks to everyone who contributes!

WOMEN'S GUILD MEETING
October 11th

will be holding it's October monthly meeting on Thursday in Hennessy Hall, doors open at 6:15 and all Women of the parish are invited to attend.

FIL-AM RENO TRIP
November 10th and 11th

Come and Enjoy a trip sponsored by the Fil-Am Group. A scenic drive to Reno on November 10-11. For more information please call Adelaida (Dada) Gallagher or Encar Sanchez or Rady Peredo.

MARRIED COUPLES

You can celebrate your Marriage by attending a Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend, November 9th-11th in Burlingame. It’s a positive, simple, common sense, private experience between husband and wife that revitalizes marriage. For more information, go to sf.lovemoredeeply.org. or call Paul and Yvonne at (650) 366-7093.

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL HONOREES

At the annual awards and thank you breakfast last week, two couples from St. Robert’s were recognized for the service to the poor of our area. They were Tom and Marilyn Dachauer, who received the Conference Recognition of Service Acknowledgement. Don and Jean Bisagno were inducted into the Monsieur Bailly Conference whose members have already served SVdP with Excellence. Congratulations to the Dachauer and Bisagno families.

THANK YOU BLOOD DONORS

Once again we met our goal of 20 pints. 23 pints were donated. Blood Centers of the Pacific greatly appreciates our participation. If you were unable to participate this time, you may wish to drop by their new office in Millbrae next to In-N-Out Burgers. We expect they will return here in February. Thank you to all who participated.

GETTING READY FOR ALL SOULS
November 2nd

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, November 2ndat 7:30 p.m. 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 placed 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. Call, email or fax their names and the date of burial to the Rectory or to Sister Patricia by October 26th or a.s.a.p.

“It is a Holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead.”

RESPECT LIFE SUNDAY

Today in parishes throughout the United States, Catholics are celebrating Life...Life from the first moment of conception till the last breath is sighed. Our Liturgy today reflects that our faith calls us to open our hearts to hear God’s Word and to act upon it. Faith is God’s gift—so also is Life! Our thoughts are to be directed to all that is true, all that deserves respect. Human life deserves respect. Let us affirm the goodness of God’s creation by valuing the unborn; providing for the economically disadvantaged; rooting out the cause of violence and war and protecting the elderly and infirm. The red rose imprinted on our Pro-Life banner that is hanging in our Church symbolizes life at all its stages. May it help to raise our consciousness about the wonder and awesomeness of all human life.

     
The feast of St. Francis, Oct. 4, was this past Thursday. He is the patron of our archdiocese along with St. Patrick; amazingly, with all the towns named for saints, there is no San Patricio in California! Francis is one of the most popular saints, whether because of his love for animals and nature, his conversion from a life of wild living, or his wholeheartedness in following Jesus, the crucified One. We don’t know when he writes of turning from a life of sin what exactly he means: Is this the statement of an (overly) sensitive and possibly scrupulous person, looking over his past faults? Or was he often violent as the young men of his town and time were, their passions ignited by alcohol? At any rate, after two embarrassing attempts at being a soldier defending his town from the young men of the neighboring town, he returned dejected and, in his depression, heard the voice of God. It took a while for him to figure out what the voice meant when he heard, “Francis, rebuild my house, for as you see, it is in ruins.” Only after literally replacing the scattered stones of several small roadside chapels, did he understand that the Church, the Body of Christ, needed rebuilding, not the small gathering places.

His reading of the gospels literally changed his life. He gave away his clothes, scandalized his family and disowned his father, and began speaking of a beautiful lady whom he was courting. His relationship to Lady Poverty, as he would later call her, freed him from material things which might cause him to stumble in his following in the footsteps of Jesus.

What does his life say to us? His “Canticle of the Sun,” also sung last weekend as “All Creatures of Our God and King” celebrates all of nature as a gift of God, a reflection of God’s beauty. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the papal ambassador to the United Nations and heads of many religious bodies are encouraging us to see global warming as a moral issue. In www.preacherexchange.org, S. Sharon Therese Zayac, OP writes: Planet Earth is not only a gift, but a manifest expression of God’s goodness and love…Earth is home to all that we know and are yet to discover. As we have an obligation to care for any good entrusted to us, we have that same moral obligation to care for the entire community of life on earth.” We’ve all read about our carbon footprint. Carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for 100 years. The average U.S. household emits one ton every two months.

What can we do? Go on line for suggestions from PG&E or do as many of the following as you can: replace an incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent; wear a sweater and lower the thermostat; unplug any appliance you’re not actually using: TV, VCR, DVD, computer, coffee maker, toaster; wash clothes in warm or cold water; shorten your shower time by 2 minutes; plant a tree. If you have children in your household, give one of them the task of saving energy. They’ll love it!

Catholic Worker Support
On Wednesday, Oct. 24 at 6:30 pm, Kate Chatfield and Peter Stiehler will share with our Social Concerns group the needs of the San Bruno Catholic Worker. They are trying to expand their services to those who are homeless. Please call me for the address where we’ll be meeting.

Peace, S. Sheral

SUNDAY COLLECTION

Thank you for your generous donation of $3,812.23
to our St. Vincent de Paul Society

    
SIGN UP FOR E-CONTRIBUTIONS

Go to www.saintroberts.org and click on the e-contributions button. The first page explains the details. There is a button to take you to the e-paluch registration page. You can register online using either your checking account or credit card.

There is no cost to you for this service.

     
NEXT WEEKEND
October 13th and 14th

We will have a 2nd collection for St. Anne's Home Little Sisters of the Poor in San Francisco. Sister Clare and Sister Joan will speak to us about the needs of today's elderly and their work at Saint Anne's Home.

FINANCIAL REPORT AND BUDGET OF ST. ROBERTS PARISH

2007 CENTERPLATE SIGN UP

Saturday, 4:30 p.m. Mass

Sunday, 7:30 a.m. Mass

Sunday, 5:00 p.m. Mass