Dear members and friends of the Sodality of Charity,
After very exceptional May, the days of the month of June have been relatively peaceful. But preparations are in full swing for our Girls Camp, which is less than a month away. The camp starts on July 12, the feast of St. Veronica. As usual, the older girls will do camping, and will also take part in our parish Fatima Rosary procession for peace on July 13. We are very blessed that many patrons have supported our camp very generously, and we are very grateful to them all. Our camp’s heavenly patroness this year is St. Germaine Cousin, of whom you can read more here.
The brothers of our Sodalists will be enjoying the Boys Camp, which will take place on July 26-28. Fr. McKenna will be in charge of the camp, and helping him will be our two newly ordained priests who are “natives” of our parish and veterans of the Boys Camp as participants. Our new priests have also started to assist Bp. McGuire and Fr. McKenna in doing missions. One of our missions is the Holy Face Traditional Catholic Mission in Effingham, IL, where Fr. Anthony Brueggemann went on Corpus Christi Sunday.
Some of our older Sodalists will be attending the Young Adult Get-Together in the weekend of July 8-10. This will be our sixth YAG and it will have a record attendance: over 100 people have signed up to attend. Since the number of attendants is so great, most of the activities will take place at Higher Ground Retreat Center in West Harrison, Indiana; but the attendants will still have the chance to enjoy the hospitality of SGG as well.
At the end of June, I will host the vocations weekend for young ladies who are thinking of religious vocation. This event will be under the patronage of the Holy Face of Jesus, the devotion which has protected our parish so powerfully, and will protect our whole country as well in these trying times.
Friday, June 24, is the feast of the Sacred Heart. Our church will have Solemn High Mass at 5:45 PM, and afterwards we will celebrate Midsummer feast with our annual bonfire party. Midsummer is one of the greatest feasts in Finland, and also the feast of the Finnish flag. This feast brings always in my mind this song, an old Finnish lied. I wasn’t able to find English translation of the words, but you can listen it here and at least enjoy the music.
I said Mass for all our Sodality members on June 6. Pray for the USA on July 4, e.g. with some devotion to Our Lord’s Holy Face. And pay your “membership fee” on First Wednesday, July 6, by performing some prayer, good work, or attending Mass in honor of our Sodality’s heavenly patron, our dear St. Joseph.
Yours in Christ and Mary,
Fr. Lehtoranta
READING AND DEVOTION TIPS FOR SUMMER
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Spread devotion to the Holy Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the devotion of our times, to fight to end Communism. Picture is perfect for framing and is priced low for spreading devotion!
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In Tours, France, during the 1840’s a young Carmelite nun received revelations from Our Lord about a powerful devotion. He wished to be established worldwide – the devotion to His Holy Face. the express purpose of this devotion was to make reparation for the blasphemies and outrages of the Communists – through whom God is allowing the world to be chastised for its unbelief – as well as for the blasphemies of the atheists and freethinkers plus, for blasphemy and the profanation of Sundays by Christians.
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Before the Holy Face devotion was approved formally by the Church, Leo Dupont practiced this devotion in his home, where a true likeness of Veronica’s veil was always kept venerated by a burning lamp. He would pray before it for hours. Miracles soon followed the application of the oil from this lamp upon sick and the invalid. This story in-cludes the incredible difficulties on the way of establishing the Devotion to Holy Face.
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This little manual will be an excellent aid to older high schoolers, college students, or even adults who still need direction in their life’s vocation. It covers topics such as career choice, vocation choice, whether to marry or stay single, and finally, how to discern true love leading to a life of joy and fulfillment from a dangerous marriage that might lead to painful regret.
