|
A Note from
Fr. Pisut
Friday, September 20, 2024
Dear Parishioners,
Last Saturday, September 14 was the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This feast celebrates the finding of the True Cross, the building of several Churches at the site of our Lord’s passion in Jerusalem as well as acknowledging that the cross is the instrument of our Lord’s Passion and the means of our redemption. While this applies to the cross in a general sense, the crosses of our daily life are also redemptive if we let them be. As Christ said if you are to be my disciples you must pick up your cross and follow me. Among the many relics that we have at St. Augustin, we are blessed to have a relic of the True Cross. I meant to display it for veneration last weekend, but it slipped my mind. Therefore, we will be exposing the relic of the True Cross for veneration both before and after all Masses this weekend. Behold the wood of the cross, on which our Lord hung for our salvation.
Work is nearing completion for the renovation of our lower-level education center. As a result, we will have expanded facilities to meet our many religious education needs, as well as a designated room for our music program. Janis Falk, Mary Hemman and Dr. Scott should be quite happy with the result. With its completion, we will be able to resume religious education classes again. As part of that, we will have our new year Religious Education Welcome and Potluck on Wednesday, September 25 at 5:30 pm in the Parish Hall. I look forward to seeing the families come together again to grow in their faith.
We are nearing completion of our new corner steps which were replaced due to their deterioration which rendered them unsafe. We are just waiting for the railings to be fabricated and installed. This will be the last of the railing replacements and upgrades on our campus that have taken many years to complete. We also installed our new vintage lamp post. We actually replaced the lamp post that was situated along the serpentine steps that run from the SE corner of the church down to Grand. You may have noticed the bright orange conduit which was sticking out of the ground for months as we were waiting for the concrete base to be poured. The previous one was in disrepair, and we could tell from old pictures that it was not original to the church. Therefore, we sought to install a new one which was compatible with the style of the church. I hope you enjoy its glow.
This Friday, September 20 we celebrate the feast of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Priest and Paul Chong Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs. Andrew was born in Seoul, Korea and was a convert to the faith and the first native priest of Korea. His father was a martyr. In 1846 Andrew was tortured and beheaded along with his lay associate, seminarian Paul Chong Ha-sang. Between 1839-1867 103 martyrs gave their lives for the faith in Korea.
Saturday, September 21 is the feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. The Gospel of Matthew was probably written about 85 A.D. Intended for a Jewish-Christian audience, it portrays Christianity as consistent with Judaism and the continuation of it. Tradition holds that Matthew, a tax collector turned apostle, preached in Judea and Ethiopia where he was martyred. He is symbolized by the winged human. He is mentioned in the Roman Canon (First Eucharistic Prayer). He is the patron of accountants and customs officers.
Monday, September 23 is the feast of St. Pius of Pietreclina, Priest, commonly known as Padre Pio. He was a Capuchin priest who received the Stigmata (the wounds of Christ). He spent fifty years at the monastery of San Giovanni Rotondo. He was sought after as a spiritual director, confessor and intercessor. Despite his notoriety he was known as saying, “I only want to be a poor friar who prays.” He was devoted to the Eucharist and to prayer. He died in 1968. He is the patron of civil defense volunteers and Catholic adolescents.
Thursday, September 26 is the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian, martyrs (d. c. 300). These brother physicians are known as the “moneyless ones” for their gratuitous care of the sick. They are mentioned in the Roman Canon (First Eucharistic Prayer). They are patrons of physicians, surgeons, druggists, barbers and the blind.
Lastly, we are trying to bring our ADA (Annual Diocesan Appeal) to a close. This is the yearly collection that each parish takes up to help cover expenses for the diocese, think of it as our annual tithing to the diocese. The ADA supports our Diocesan offices, which in turn provides administrative and material support for our parish operations, educational material and guidance for our faith formation programming, retirement and health benefits for our priests and seminarian assistance. St. Augustin currently stands at $113,600 toward our goal of $151,540 (75% of goal). Every dollar that we go over our goal comes back to the parish but if we fall short in pledges the parish has to make up the difference. I know and appreciate that the people of St. Augustin are always very generous in helping to meet our many financial needs. Every gift matters and no gift is too small. Thank you for helping us to meet our goal.
Fr. Pisut
| 
