November Greetings fromt ehShrine Director Fr. Tom Puthusseril, M.S.

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 60^th 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 death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Faith always brings us to joy, and Mary is the Mother of joy! May she teach us to take the path of joy, to experience this joy! That was the high point – this joy, this meeting of Jesus and Mary, and we can imagine what it was like. Their meeting was the high point of burning even at times of difficulty, in moments of darkness? Do I feel the joy of Mary’s journey of faith, and that of the whole Church? What is our faith like? Like Mary, do we keep it faith?

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.

                                      Rev. Fr. Tom Puthusseril, M.S.

                                         Shrine Director