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Dear Friends,
We celebrate this weekend one of the great feasts of the Church year, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe. This feast is also significant because it marks the last Sunday of our liturgical year, since next Sunday we begin the holy season of Advent and, with it, a new liturgical year.
Next weekend we do indeed begin the holy season of Advent. You will find within this bulletin an Advent schedule for our parishes. I would suggest that you put this schedule on your refrigerator or bulletin board so that you can participate in our liturgical celebrations and activities during this relatively short season. Also available to you this weekend in the vestibule of the church are Little Blue Books for the Advent and Christmas seasons, which contain a short meditation for each day. Many people find these books enjoyable and helpful in their prayer life as they prepare for Christmas. Please take a book home with you, and feel free to take one for a shut-in or neighbor who cannot come to church.
I would like to once again call your attention to two special liturgical events we will be celebrating over the course of the next few weeks.
On Saturday, December 3, at 4:30 P.M. we will celebrate our annual Mass with the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. At this liturgy (which will be celebrated at our regular 4:30 Saturday vigil Mass) we will offer the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick to all those who should or would like to receive it, including the seriously ill, the chronically ill, those anticipating surgery or serious medical procedures, the elderly, and those struggling with any serious physical or mental conditions. Please pass the word to anyone who should be anointed so that they can attend. We would like our homebound parishioners, who aren’t able to regularly attend Sunday Mass, to come to this special celebration, if at all possible. If you might be able to assist us in transporting these good folks to church for this special liturgy, please call the rectory as soon as possible so that we can arrange for you to transport someone.
On Monday December 5, Tuesday, December 6, and Wednesday, December 7, we will be celebrating a Solemn Triduum in Honor of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. The Miraculous Medal Novena has a rich tradition in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, since the Central Association and Shrine to the Miraculous Medal is located in the Germantown section of the city. Here at Saint Timothy’s, we pray the Novena prayers every Saturday morning at the end of the 8:30 Mass. Our Solemn Triduum in December is a perfect way for us to prepare for the great feast of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception on December 8, and is a beautiful way for us to focus on Mary during the season of Advent. Each evening of the Triduum at 7:00 we will pray the Novena Prayers, have a homily, and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. At the end of each evening’s devotions you will also have the opportunity to venerate the relic of Saint Catherine Laboure, the great saint to whom the Miraculous Medal was revealed by Our Lady herself. Please join us, and bring a friend!
I am happy to welcome Mr. Edward Town this weekend, who will speak to us about the annual Saint Charles Seminary Appeal, which officially began this month. Ed is a seminarian at Saint Charles Seminary, known to many of us from his time spent at Saint Timothy two summers ago and during the last school year.
Next weekend, November 26-27, we will be taking up a special second collection for the relief of the recent victims of the natural disasters that have struck our country, especially as a result of violent storms. The funds collected will be sent to help replenish the Bishops Emergency Relief Fund, which has been used to directly give aid to the victims of these natural disasters. I would ask you to be as generous as possible as we assist our brothers and sisters who have been directly affected by these natural disasters, many of whom have lost their homes and all their possessions.
As we celebrate this week our great national feast of Thanksgiving, I personally am humbled by all the blessings God has given me in my life, blessings for which I am truly thankful. One of my greatest blessings is the privilege to serve you as your pastor. These two wonderful parishes are the great communities of faith they are because of all of you. At this time of Thanksgiving, I thank God for the many ways in which you manifest your goodness, to our parishes and to me personally. I pray that Thanksgiving Day is an opportunity for you to gather with those you love in order to offer to God thanks for all of his blessings.
This Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, Mass will be celebrated in Saint Timothy’s lower church at 9:00 A.M. As has become our custom, we shall be blessing bread for you to take home and share with your loved ones at your holiday table. You will note that, in each loaf of blessed bread, there is a beautiful prayer, which you may use with your loved ones as you gather to share your Thanksgiving meal. Please join us for the celebration of the Eucharist on this, our national holiday. There is no better way to offer thanks to God than by gathering at the altar, the table of thanksgiving.
Know that you and those you love are daily remembered in my Mass and my prayers.
Love and prayers,
Father Olivere