On Thursday, Nov. 21, 13 high school students and 3 adults from Mount Vernon, Lisbon, and Springville will begin their journey to NCYC 2019. Our bus will leave St. John’s between 6:30 and 7am.

The Catholic Catechism says that a pilgrimage “evokes our earthly journey toward heaven and are traditionally special occasions for renewal in prayer. For pilgrims seeking living water, shrines are special places for living the forms of Christian prayer.” (CCC 1674) This week, we got to hear from some parishioners who made a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in Bosnia. Medjugorie was only recently recognized by the Catholic Church as a credible site for a pilgrimage and it joins a list of many sites, official and unofficial, that Catholics might choose to visit to experience prayer at a shrine.

We opened this Confirmation session with a video from One Time Blind titled, “little Things.” The actor wanted Jesus to “do something big,” like give him water or part the Red Sea. Throughout the video, random people popped in and gave stuff to the man – a bottle of water, money – little stuff. The actor who portrayed Jesus tried to make that point that these little things were acts of God, but the man couldn’t see that.

I thought you may take some encouragement from these words; For we all need to be encouraged to stay afloat in the sea of life. But, where can we draw any meaningful encouragement from? Well, it’s the solid, unadulterated God’s Word. 

At the start of the month of November which we acknowledge as the month of thanksgiving, I invite all parishioners to live with grateful hearts throughout the month and beyond. As members of a faith community who are recipients of the unceasing graces and rich blessings of the Father, let us remember that gratitude multiplies blessings and opens the door of greater opportunities to us.