Parent Teacher Talk
October 29, 2017
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Matthew 22: 34 - 40
The first reading warns that those who are unkind to the less fortunate will face the wrath of God. The Psalm praises God for His Protection - an important facet of the Israelite's relationship with God while lived among worldly-viewed nations. In the Second Reading this idea expands as Paul reflects that our actions lived as God wills bring others to desire to know more about God. The Gospel brings it all together and elevates it to a higher, more "Godly," standard with the Golden Rule. First, we must love God more than anyone or anything, including ourselves. His principals must be held above the world's and our own. Second, we must love others above ourselves in that we are willing to give up personal pleasures and comfort to help another along....And we all know that we should love our enemies.
Important Dates
October
26th.. 6:30 pm Fr. Bill presents-First Reconciliation! For children making their First Reconciliation
November
5th................ Daylight Savings! Set your clocks back one hour - Extra Sleep!
5th....1:00 pm All Soul's Reception in Parish Dining Hall
11th - 12th .... Women's Christ Renews His Parish Retreat - Join us to recharge your life!
16th...7:00 pm First Reconciliation Celebration! Gather in your assigned pew before 7:00 pm!
19th... 9:00 am - 1:00 pm.. 8th Grade Pancake Breakfast
26th............... Thanksgiving Holiday! No PSR, CLOW, or RCIA Gatherings.
NEWSY NOTES
"Father Bill Presents" at our next First Reconciliation Gathering!
Children and one or more parents should attend - you do not need your folders.
We'll Gather in the Parish Dining Hall at 6:30 pm.
Meditation
“The Rosary is a long chain that links heaven and earth. One end of it is in our ends and the other is in the hands of the holy Virgin...
The Rosary prayer rises like incense to the feet of the Almighty."
--St. Therese of Lisieux
Greetings Parents,

We have our pumpkins! My sister-in-law started the tradition of going to Shaw’s Farms the year our oldest was born. From “no clue” about what was happening through his excitement of exploring the decorations, climbing on hay bales, and looking for the next giant fuzzy spider dangling from a tree on the hayride, we’ve progressed to including a girlfriend and conquering the corn maze. I see the other families with their little ones and have some longing for their uncensored excitement and joyful surprise with each new event. I wouldn’t however, give up what we have. We DO want them to mature, but we do find ourselves wishing the caution and concern for “how they look to others” wouldn’t stifle their expressions of joy.
            
   Considering our God as parent, we can recall Jesus’ words that unless we become like little children we cannot enter the Kingdom of God. This is difficult to fully comprehend! We need to be responsible and plan. How do I act like a child but still mature in fulfilling God’s Plan for me? 
             
  Recent events remind us how little control we have over our lives. We set up schedules, but natural disasters and medical crises can pull all of that out of our control. We become fully dependent on others or on what the next moment brings. We live moment to moment, not knowing the long-term consequences. It can be nerve wracking! As people of faith, we should have no worry. St. Padre Pio said, “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.” That was much easier when I was single without children than when I became the “primary contact” for others. 
              
 How do I be the primary caregiver and not worry when illness or social crises arise? We don’t know the outcome, only sometimes the probabilities. Somehow we are to subdue worry and be trusting in the Lord that all will be well. But what if God’s “well” is far from well in our minds? Expecting that my confidence in Him means He will bring things to MY desired outcome is assuming a power over God that we don’t have. It also springs from an arrogance that we know better than an all-knowing and all-loving God. 
              
 A friend once struggled with the peaceful acceptance her neighbor couple had over the husband’s diagnosis of terminal cancer. "How can they just accept this? How can they not be angry and scared?" I could grasp it somewhat because they were very devout. They faced a temporary separation, not a permanent one. Their vocations were gifts from God and their vocations were about to change from spouses to (hopefully) saint and widow. They trusted God would see them through until both were saints and reunited in His Presence.
           
    Here is where the worldly ways and the Christian ways do not meet. A worldly view of life can’t understand the acceptance of suffering and death with a sorrowed, but trusting calm. Some Protestant faiths struggle to accept suffering, not having the Catholic understanding of redemptive suffering. As the children in Fatima learned and lived, our suffering can save souls of strangers, friends, and family from eternal, tortuous separation from God, love, and hope. 
             
  During my children’s various crises over the years, I have recalled their example often and at times had no choice but to yield in prayer, “Please God, heal my child, keep him safe if that be not opposed to Your Will, but if nothing else, please see us all together in heaven with You one day.” A part of me is shrinks away and is appalled to think of them leaving earth before me, but it is a real possibility. God promised the cross, not personal pleasure. Accepting that reality – even imperfectly - brings with it an acceptance of His control and an acceptance that I can pray, hope, and not worry. I hope that before I leave this earth I can do all three as I should. Until then, I’ll pray for help to do it reminding myself what I ought to do and try to quell that stomach knot and nausea when our physical world turns upside down.

Hug those precious responsibilities tight, revel daily in the joy of having them near, and may God bless you and your family abundantly. 

-- Linda Bader, St. Thomas More
Articles for Parents

Tools or traps? Entertainment or escape? Freedom or enslavement? These are a few of the questions continually being asked about the use of media technology today. Technology is not really a "necessary evil" because it is saving lives, reducing suffering, helping invalids and home-bound, connecting far-flung family and friends, and helping in many aspects of education. But, like any good thing, when is it all too much? The author at the link below offers practical ideas for helping to balance technology in your family with your children. It is not a Catholic site, but the article has great family values at heart.
Mary is the physical mother of the Incarnation of God, Jesus. She is also, however, a spiritual mother as well, giving her assent before the Incarnation to God to be a vessel, the new "Ark," for the Living Word of God. She is not given the title of "Mother of God" for her honor, but to assert the Jesus was both fully human and fully Divine. Just as humanity came to know God through Mary's cooperationin the Incarnation and birth of Jesus, so too can we come to know God, to know Jesus, through her constant intercession (prayers) on our behalf and her ongoing God-ordained activity in our world. The tilma from Our Lady of Guadalupe's visit to Mexico is but one tangible piece of evidence to help us in our unbelief
Video clips capture much of my boys' (including the husband's) on-line time. Most often they like the lists of the "greatests" and "leasts," be it athletics, dangerous animals, or cutest animal babies. Below is a link to a YouTube that isn't any of those, but is one of many faith-education clips from Ascension Press that is brief (less than 9 minutes) but in which the dynamic Fr. Mike Schmitz answers one of the "Why Be Catholic?" questions almost every Catholic asks at some time in their life.