Welcome my dear Brothers,
Sisters, boys and girls,
“Come Near My Children Do Not Be Afraid... I Have Great News For
You!”
As we enter the month
of November let us reflect on the All Saints & All Souls Feast days and our
upcoming 60th Christmas Festival of Lights with a special feature “Light Show” another way to help you
experience the birth of Jesus with all of these rejoicing lights here in
Attleboro, MA.
The feasts of All Saints& All Souls should inspire us with tremendous hope.
Among the saints in heaven are some whom we have known. All lived on earth
lives like our own. They were baptized, marked with the sign of faith, they
were faithful to Christ's teaching and they have gone before us to the heavenly
home whence they call on us to follow them. The Gospel of the Beatitudes, read
today, while it shows their happiness, shows, too, the road that they followed;
there is no other that will lead us whither they have gone. Spend a little time
after Mass thanking God for all the unnamed saints, some of whom could be our
own relatives.
Let us also reflect on the closing
celebration of the Year of Faith on November 24, 2013. The Holy Father’s words
on Mary and the Year of Faith:
...Mary’s faith as a journey:
The Council says that Mary “advanced in her pilgrimage of faith” (ibid.
58). In this way she precedes us on this pilgrimage, she
accompanies and sustains us.
How was Mary’s faith a journey? In
the sense that her entire life was to follow her Son: he – Jesus – is the way,
he is the path! To press forward in faith, to advance in the spiritual
pilgrimage which is faith, is nothing other than to follow Jesus; to listen to
him and be guided by his words; to see how he acts and to follow in his
footsteps; to have his same sentiments. What are these sentiments of Jesus?
Humility, mercy, closeness to others, but also a firm rejection of hypocrisy,
duplicity and idolatry. The way of Jesus is the way of a love, which is
faithful to the end, even unto sacrificing one’s life; it is the way of the
cross. The journey of faith thus passes through the cross. Mary understood this
from the beginning, when Herod sought to kill the newborn Jesus. But then this
experience of the cross became deeper when Jesus was rejected. Mary was always
with Jesus, she followed Jesus in the midst of the crowds and she heard all the
gossip and the nastiness of those who opposed the Lord. And she carried this
cross! Mary’s faith encountered misunderstanding and contempt. When Jesus’
“hour” came, the hour of his passion, Mary’s faith was a little flame burning
in the night, a little light flickering in the darkness. Through the night of
Holy Saturday, Mary kept watch. Her flame, small but bright, remained burning
until the dawn of the resurrection. And when she received word that the tomb
was empty, her heart was filled with the joy of faith: Christian faith in the
Mother, we
thank you for our faith, the faith of a strong and humble woman; we renew our
entrustment to you, Mother of our faith. Amen. Holy Father Francis
Let us continue living
our
daily lives in the spirit of Mary.
daily lives in the spirit of Mary.
Rev. Fr. Tom Puthusseril, M.S.
Shrine Director
