Dear members and friends of the Sodality of Charity,
Our July game night was a big hit. Though it was a Friday night in summertime, it felt like the whole parish was there. It was the best kind of recreation as a parish family: lots of good time, great games, delicious food, and just enjoying the company of friends. And on top of all the fun, the Sodality brought in $430, thanks to the generosity of the parish members.
Our final game night of the summer will be on Friday, August 18, after the 5:45 PM Mass. For all the Sodality members, note that our August monthly meeting is on the very next day, Saturday, August 19, after the 8:10 AM High Mass. At that meeting, we’ll have a sewing class to finish the apron project. Other activities include a lesson on how to make pies. At our Sodality Fall Festival, which will be on Sunday, September 24, there will again be a pie contest. Last year Mrs. Brueggemann was the winner. I hope that some of our Sodality members will also enter the contest this year, and the August meeting will be a good chance to practice up to make the best tasting pie. At the Fall Festival one piece of your pie will be put aside for the judges to decide who will be the winner, and you could walk away with a handsome prize. And you can enter up to three different flavors of pie for the contest.
Your “membership fee” is due on this First Wednesday, August 2. Say a little prayer, receive Communion, or do an act of charity in honor of St. Joseph, our protector. Also keep in mind that on Sunday, August 13, the parish will have the Fatima Rosary procession after the evening Mass. Tuesday, August 15, is Our Lady’s Assumption, the highlight feast of the Summer, and a holy day of obligation.
Mark also on your calendars our September monthly meeting, the day before the Fall Festival, Saturday, September 23, after the (long) Ember Saturday high Mass. That meeting will be dedicated to getting ready for the festival, as you might have guessed. In September, the First Wednesday will be on September 6. Another big event will be on Tuesday, September 12, the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, when two of our Sodalists will make their final oblation as members of the Oblates of the Holy Face.
There were so many dates given, that it’s better to present them in a list form:
Wednesday, August 2: First Wednesday of August
Sunday, August 13: Fatima Rosary Procession
Tuesday, August 15: The Assumption, Holy Day
Friday, August 18: Sodality Game Night
Saturday, August 19: August Monthly Meeting
Wednesday, September 6: First Wednesday of September
Tuesday, September 12: Final Oblation
Wednesday, September 13: Fatima Rosary Procession
Saturday, September 23: September Monthly Meeting
Sunday, September 24: Sodality Fall Festival
I said Mass for our Sodality members on Friday, July 21. The Sodalists not only have many events to have fun together throughout the year, but all those who are enrolled will also have Mass said for them once a month.
I recently made a trip to Finland and Sweden. If you wish to see some photos from the trip, you can visit my website. I also put there a little review of a book named The Brothers Lionheart by the famous Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, known for her Pippi Longstocking and Emil of Lönneberga books. The Brothers Lionheart was, and still is, one of my favorites, very exciting, though also pretty scary.
In July our parish hosted the 7th annual Young Adult Get-Together. The final count was 104 attendants, with people coming from 31 chapels in 19 states. You can see many photos of the events on the YAG website.
I recently came across a nice poem about how God’s will be done. It was written by Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), an Irish Protestant missionary in India. The poem was based on an incident that actually did occur in her life when she was three. Amy had so much hoped that she would have blue eyes like her mother had, and prayed that God would change her brown eyes into blue. She was very disappointed when God did not – as she thought – answer her prayer.
But it turned out to be in the providence of God for Amy to have brown eyes. In India she became aware that some parents sold their daughters to a pagan temple, where they were used for immoral purposes. She rescued and took in one such girl. Later on she heard of more and more girls like that, and started to go undercover to find details of them. Amy would stain her arms with coffee and wear Indian dress so that she could pass as an Indian woman, looking for these poor children, and move freely in Indian society, where she never could have as an Irishwoman. She could not have done this had her eyes been blue; they would have given her away immediately. As a little child Amy didn’t know that her brown eyes had a purpose; but when she grew up, she understood, that God had indeed answered her prayer, and said: “No.”
Isn’t “No” an Answer?
Amy Carmichael
Just a tiny little child
Three years old,
And a mother with a heart
All of gold.
Often did that mother say,
Jesus hears us when we pray,
For He’s never far away
And He always answers.
Now, that tiny little child
Had brown eyes,
And she wanted blue instead
Like blue skies.
For her mother’s eyes were blue
Like forget-me-nots. She knew
All her mother said was true,
Jesus always answered.
So she prayed for two blue eyes,
Said “Good night,”
Went to sleep in deep content
And delight.
Woke up early, climbed a chair
By a mirror. Where, O where
Could the blue eyes be? Not there;
Jesus hadn’t answered.
Hadn’t answered her at all;
Never more
Could she pray; her eyes were brown
As before.
Did a little soft wind blow?
Came a whisper soft and low,
“Jesus answered. He said, No;
Isn’t No an answer?”
Yours in Christ and Mary,
