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From the Pastor – October 6, 2024

“But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” (Mk 10:6-9)

“Marriage is the intimate, exclusive, indissoluble communion of life and love entered by man and woman at the design of the Creator for the purpose of their own good and the procreation and education of children; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a Sacrament.” Gaudium et Spes, 48

Sacred Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God and concludes with a vision of the “wedding feast of the Lamb.” Through- out the Old Testament God’s love for his people is described as the love of a husband for his bride. In the New Testament, that love is revealed in person of Christ who comes as the Heavenly Bridegroom to unite Himself indissolubly to His Bride, the Church. Children are not additions to marriage and conjugal love, but spring from the heart of the spouses’ mutual self-giving as its fruit.

In a series of public audiences, Pope St. John Paul II brought about a dramatic development in Catholic thinking by exploring how God has revealed Himself in man and woman, who are made in His image and likeness. These series of audiences are now called the “theology of the body.” In a dramatic way, the Holy Father discussed how the human body reveals the mystery of God. And that mystery – which has been fully revealed in Jesus Christ – is that God is love. And since God is love in a relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the theology of the body means that the differences in the bodies of men and women reveal the mystery of divine love in the world by the call of the two to become one flesh.

Briefly stated, the mystery of the marital union is a sign on earth of the eternal mystery of love found in the Trinity. In the words of classical theology, the Father “generates” the Son, and from them both “proceeds” the Holy Spirit. The love of each person of the Trinity for each other is full and complete. Nothing is held back. The Holy Father saw the total self-giving that takes place in marital love as a reflection of the Trinity. From the total self-giving of the spouses to each other proceeds the gift of life in children.

On this Respect Life Sunday, we thank God for the gift of marriage, and especially for the gift of so many children in our parish. May we be fruitful and multiply, and may we always participate in God’s loving plan. And let us repent and fast and pray for an end of the great spiritual poverty that is legalized abortion. Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the unborn, pray for us!

(Very Rev. Msgr.) Christopher H. Nalty
msgr.nalty@gmail.com

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Masses

St. Stephen
Saturday Vigil at 4:00 pm
Sunday at 8:00 am and 10:30 am
Sunday at 5:00 pm at OLGC

 Our Lady of Good Counsel (OLGC)
Center of Jesus the Lord
Charismatic Mass
Sunday at 10 am

 Weekdays Masses
Monday – Friday 6:30 am  St. Henry
Tuesdays 6:00 pm  St. Stephen
First Fridays 6:00 pm Latin Mass

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament 
Tuesdays 4:45 – 5:45pm St. Stephen
Thursdays 7:00 – 8:00am St. Henry

Learn More about Adoration

Confession Times at Good Shepherd
Saturdays  3:00 –  3:45pm  St. Stephen
Sundays 9:30 – 10:15am  St. Stephen
Sundays 10:00 – 10:30am   OLGC
First Fridays 6:30 – 7:00pm   OLGC

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Religious Education

First Holy Communion classes begin on Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 9:15am in the Rectory.

Confirmation classes begin on Sunday, November 3, 2024 after the 10:30am Mass in the Rectory.

Please contact the rectory office to register so we can ensure we have sufficient teaching materials for each student.

Please contact Msgr. Nalty directly if you or someone you know is interested in coming into full communion with the Catholic Church through the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults.

St. Francis of Assisi – Blessing of the Pets

October 6 at 11:45 am

Feast Day – October 4

Many of the stories that surround the life of St. Francis of Assisi deal with his love for animals. Part of his appreciation of the environment is expressed in his Canticle of the Sun, a poem written in Umbrian Italian in perhaps 1224 which expresses a love and appreciation of Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Mother Earth, Brother Fire, etc. and all of God’s creations personified in their fundamental forms.  Francis’ attitude towards the natural world, while poetically expressed, was conventionally Christian. He believed that the world was created good and beautiful by God but suffers a need for redemption because of the primordial sin of man. He preached the universal ability and duty of all creatures to praise God (a common theme in the Psalms) and the duty of men to protect and enjoy nature as both the stewards of God’s creation and as creatures ourselves. On Sunday, October 6 all pets are invited into the courtyard between the church and the school at 11:45am, after the 10:30am Mass, for the Blessing of the Pets. Please make sure that your pets play “nice” before bringing them over!

Parish Wide Confessions

September 18, 2024
5 pm – 6:30 pm

As we do every year, Archbishop Aymond has asked that each parish offer the Sacrament of Confession on the nearest Wednesday to the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. This year that date is September 18, 2024.

Willwoods Faith and Marriage Married Couples Retreat

September 21-22, 2024

Attention all married couples: We invite you to a weekend getaway designed to bless and enrich your faith and your marriage at the beautiful St. Joseph Abbey in Covington. You and your spouse will spend time growing closer through inspiring talks, private couple time, individual prayer time, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Eucharistic Adoration and the celebration of the Mass! Through God’s grace, you will walk away with a renewed strength and a deeper commitment to each other and to God. To register for your relaxing and rejuvenating retreat, visit FaithandMarriage.org. A suggested donation is requested but not required. Cost should never be a reason why a couple cannot make a weekend! Scholarships are available! If you have any questions, please call (504) 830-3716 or email Jason@FaithandMarriage.org. Limited spaces are available.

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

On the week when we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Archbishop Aymond has asked that every parish offer Confession for an hour and a half. To that end, on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, Confessions will be heard in the Basilica of St. Stephen beginning at 5:00pm until 6:30pm.

Our Lady of the Rosary

October 7

In 1571 Pope Pius V instituted “Our Lady of Victory” as an annual feast to commemorate the victory of Lepanto, where Christian forces successfully thwarted an attempted invasion of Western Europe by the Muslim forces of the Ottaman Empire. The victory was attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, as a Rosary procession had been offered on that day in St. Peter’s Square in Rome for the success of the mission of the Holy League. In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII changed the title of this feast-day to “Feast of the Holy Rosary”. This feast was extended by Pope Clement XII to the whole of the Latin Rite, inserting it into the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1716, and assigning it to the first Sunday in October. Pope Pius X changed the date to 7 October in 1913, as part of his effort to restore celebration of the liturgy of the Sundays.

Respect Life Sunday

A Prayer for Life to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament

O Jesus, you came that we might have life—and have it in abundance. Together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, you form us in our mothers’ wombs and call us to love you for all eternity.

As your most precious gift of human life is attacked, draw us ever closer to your Real Presence in the Eucharist. Dispel the darkness of the culture of death, for you are the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

By the power of your Eucharistic Presence, help us to defend the life of every human person at every stage. Transform our hearts to protect and cherish all whose lives are most vulnerable.

For you are God, forever and ever. Amen.

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos Feast Day – October 5

Born in Füssen, Bavaria, in 1809, Francis Xavier Seelos was well educated and had a special gift for languages, but his most outstanding characteristic was his humility. He was ordained a Redemptorist priest in Baltimore, Maryland in 1844. Always loyal to the Order’s charism, he was at heart a “missionary with a constant smile on his lips and a generous heart, particularly toward the needy and outcasts,” his followers said. His confessional was always open to everyone, and he heard confessions in German, English, and French, from anyone, regardless of their ethnicity. As a priest, he was distinguished for his “simple lifestyle and language,” so much so that his sermons were heard and understood even by the most simple. Of all the souls entrusted to his care, the ones he was especially fond of were the children. He considered the catechesis of children “fundamental for the Christian growth of the parish community.”

In 1860, when Bishop Michael O’Connor of Pittsburgh was leaving the diocese, he “nominated” Seelos as his most reliable successor. However, Father Seelos wrote Pope Pius IX, begging him to free him “from this act of God.” When the Civil War broke out in the United States new laws were passed regarding military service. In 1863 all men were obliged to be available for active duty. At the time, Seelos was Superior of the Redemptorist Seminary. He went to Washington to meet President Abraham Lincoln and was successful in releasing the Seminary students from being sent to the front. Seelos lost his position as Prefect of Students shortly thereafter, for being “too lenient” with youth. As a result, from 1863 to 1866 Francis Xavier Seelos devoted himself to itinerant missionary work, preaching in English and German in many parts of the United States. He died in New Orleans on October 4, 1867 of yellow fever at only 48 years of age, spending several weeks “patiently and light-heartedly tolerating the illness.” His mortal remains are in our neighboring parish of St. Mary’s Assumption at the National Shrine of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos.

Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels

October 2

Angels are intellectual beings created by God with a natural higher dignity than man; they have intelligence and will, are personal and immortal. Good angels serve God and help man. They always behold the face of God in heaven (Matt. 18:10).  Christ is at the center of the angels. Each one of us has a Guardian Angel to accompany us through life and shield us from the assaults of demons and even temporal evils, except what God permits for spiritual advancement.  Keep close to your Guardian Angel!

Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom His love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, too rule and guide. Amen.

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