Weekend of November 25-26, 2023

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 remind you that on Monday December 4, Tuesday, December 5, and Wednesday, December 6, we will be celebrating our annual 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!

You should have received by now the mailing for our annual census/block collection (if you do not receive it, please call the rectory and let us know). Please remember that the census information is very important in order for us to update our records and to keep our data accurate. The block collection is equally important for us, since it is one of the single largest sources of income we receive in the course of the year. I ask that wage earners be as generous as possible in this annual collection, if possible donating $200. Your generosity in this collection is especially important as we face the winter months and the inevitability of high utility bills. It is also important given the fact that our collections are becoming increasingly less, especially due to the continued deaths of some of our most faithful givers. Of course, in light of this, our bills NEVER decrease, but on the contrary continue to rise! I am completely aware of the fact that your bills also continue to rise, and so the sacrifice you make in giving a sacrificial gift to our parish is a reality that does not go unnoticed. Your generosity is always humbling to me, and so I thank you in advance for your goodness to your parish.

Know that you and those you love are daily remembered in my Mass and my prayers.

                                                                                    Love and prayers,
                                                                                    Father Olivere