Pastoral Messages from Fr. Rick 10/8/22

October is Respect for Life Month and Domestic Violence Awareness month

There are several resources to help you promote and share this important Catholic teaching on respect for life throughout the month of October. www.respectlife.org

RADICALLY PRO-LIFE

Moving to Kane County Utah is a statement in itself.  It says that we are pretty much done with the congestion and noise and possibly values of much of mainstream America. We have withdrawn to a ‘different world’.  If we are Catholics in Kane County, we have made the very clear decision to be 200 to 300 miles from the nearest Bishop and center of Catholic life in any direction.  Mainstream anything is not for us.  We’re also very likely to be VERY PROLIFE living in the ‘reddest’ part of one of the reddest states in the country.  This would seem to be the ideal group for rising above the provincial conventions of most Americans including Catholics.  PLUS, we are mostly elders with the type of space and discretionary time to consider more deeply the counter-cultural teachings of our Church.  Below are some websites to consider as suggested by the Office of Family and Life at the Diocese of Salt Lake.  I’m quite sure we will be impressed and edified by the profound insights offered about human nature and spirituality.  Our daughters and granddaughters especially need to understand more about their bodies (and souls) and how to better screen their prospective suitors and spouses.  Be brave.  Be RADICALLY PRO LIFE!!

Free NFP Conference for Beginners

Hosted by The NFP Collective, this conference will span 3 days answering your questions and will cover multiple methods and a Q&A session. This conference happened last week, but the videos from the conference are now available on: https://subscribepage.io/NFPEngage

FACTS is launching a free educational campaign this fall from September through December.  Each month, FACTS will provide a webinar on either fertility appreciation for mothers and their daughters (Know Your Body), or a general adult audience presentation (The FACTS about Fertility Explained) which will provide an overview of the science of NFP and an introduction to all the NFP methods. The first webinar for teens is on Thursday, September 29th at 8:00PM (ET). To register and view the full schedule visit factsaboutfertility.org/learn-more/webinars

St. Christopher’s Library

Come on in and browse during our social hour after the Sunday Mass.   Books are organized by category, plainly marked on the shelves. If your knowledge of an aspect of our faith is weak, we have books for just about every concept, including those that explain all the tenets under https://www.usccb.org/committees/evangelizationcatechesis/stewardship” Basic Catholicism”. So please check it out! No library card needed! 

Do not let a day go by without some spiritual reading.”- St. John Bosco

Homily Reflection:

The Scriptures today emphasize the virtue of gratitude.  Catholics believe that everything good comes from God and that God loved us first.  True love is reciprocal.  Everything else about life follows and builds on these premises.

The more we genuinely acknowledge and express our gratitude to God, the more we are likely to order our whole lives on God’s plan.  This could be a good reflection for the week:  Which gifts do I most recognize at this point in my life?  Health?  Peace?  Comfort? Free time?  Good job?  Loving family?  Comfort?  Church teaching?   How am I directing these gifts to God’s larger plan for the common good and toward the Kingdom of Heaven?

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“Those who are not good to others are bad to themselves.”  St. Pope Leo the Great