Pastoral Messages from Fr. Rick – 9/5/21
How we get back to normal – Pfizer Covid 19 Vaccine is FDA Approved!! – Every Utahn who is able to should choose to get vaccinated for COVID-19. If as many people as possible get vaccinated and we continue to follow health recommendations, we will win this fight against this virus. Pase la palabra. https://coronavirus.utah.gov/vaccine/
PLEASE GIVE US ALL YOUR MONEY. SEE BELOW…..
Bishop’s Annual Appeal: Please make a donation to the Diocesan Development Drive. So far only about one third of our community have made a donation…. We are part of a Diocese and a global mission in which we play a very important role. Donating is EASY AND FUN!!
Help Haiti from Catholic Relief Services: Many are suffering once again from Haiti’s most recent series of catastrophes For more information and to make a donation go to crs.org .
Afghan Refugees Catholic Community Services of Utah is helping to resettle the many refugees from Afghanistan as they begin to arrive at various places around the country. For ideas on how to help, see: https://www.ccsutah.org/news/item/262-how-y
Priests’ Retirement Fund – Next week is the annual collection for the Priests of the Salt Lake Diocese Retirement Fund. We currently have around 20 priests who are retired and at all different levels of mobility and involvement. There is no ‘retirement home’ for our priests so they all ‘piece together’ their own living and community needs according to their station in life. Your contributions help them maintain an active and self-enabled life as possible and into their final years. THANK YOU FOR YOUR USUAL GENEROSITY!
A Time to Grieve
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks on our homeland which triggered our deep involvement in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. With our recent departure from Afghanistan we are left with an enormous variety of questions and concerns about the implications of our military power and its usage around the world. Amidst all the analysis and accusations, we need to remember to grieve at a level sufficient to heal and learn from our actions. Anger is often easier than sorrow and often leads to more conflict. This week let’s make a special effort to take some quiet time and feel whatever we’re feeling, share those sentiments primarily with God and ask Him to help us see the way forward with the eyes of HIS heart. Recall that we also have Mass throughout the week at 8:00 AM including Saturday (September 11).
The following prayer was prayed by both Pope Benedict XVI (on April 20, 2008) and by Pope Francis (on September 25, 2015) when each visited Ground Zero in New York City.
O God of love, compassion, and healing, look on us, people of many different faiths and traditions, who gather today at this site, the scene of incredible violence and pain. We ask you in your goodness to give eternal light and peace to all who died here– the heroic first-responders: our fire fighters, police officers, emergency service workers, and Port Authority personnel, along with all the innocent men and women who were victims of this tragedy simply because their work or service brought them here on September 11, 2001. We ask you, in your compassion, to bring healing to those who, because of their presence here that day, suffer from injuries and illness.
Heal, too, the pain of still-grieving families and all who lost loved ones in this tragedy. Give them strength to continue their lives with courage and hope. We are mindful as well of those who suffered death, injury, and loss on the same day at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Our hearts are one with theirs as our prayer embraces their pain and suffering. God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world: peace in the hearts of all men and women and peace among the nations of the earth. Turn to your way of love those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred.
God of understanding, overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy, we seek your light and guidance as we confront such terrible events. Grant that those whose lives were spared may live so that the lives lost here may not have been lost in vain. Comfort and console us, strengthen us in hope, and give us the wisdom and courage to work tirelessly for a world where true peace and love reign among nations and in the hearts of all.
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament Thursdays from 4 to 5 PM.