Saturday, November 15, 2014

Bulletin for the Week of November 16, 2014 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

This weekend our Gospel reading is the parable of the "talents" (a "talent" is a coin having a high but varying degree of value, depending on what metal was used to make the coin) in Matthew 25:14-30.  In the parable, the master entrusts to his servants a different number of talents before leaving on a journey.  Upon his return, his servants account for the talents given to each of them.  As we near the end of our liturgical year, when we focus on the end of our life here on earth and the judgment to come when we move into the next life, it is important to remember several things that we are taught in this parable.

First, we are all given talents in this life to be used, with the help of God's Grace, for the building up of God's Kingdom.  All of us are asked to participate in Jesus' mission of salvation, and our participation is important to His mission and our own salvation.  Second, the talents given to us are valuable.  Our world values things for the greater or the lesser, and some things are not considered valuable at all.  However, in God's eyes, every single person is given talents of the same great value, because the value of salvation cannot be measured by earthly standards.  That's the reason we all have the same dignity in Christ Jesus, even if our earthly lives are very different.  Third, we are all called to use our talents to help increase God's kingdom on earth.  The talents with which we have been entrusted are gifts from God to be used for His greater glory.  We have a responsibility to use them for that purpose, and if we live a perfect life, they will be used for that purpose alone.  Fourth, at judgment we will be held accountable  for the use of the talents given to us.  After all, they were gifts freely given to us by God after we had sinned and fallen from His Grace.  In thanksgiving we should return them to Him after using them for the purpose given, that is, our salvation and the salvation of others.  Let us pray that we remember what God has given to us, and then use these gifts to help build up the Body of Christ here on earth.

Last weekend, I was out of town in Baltimore, MD for a presentation on causes of saints given at the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) annual conference.  The purpose was to help us in determining a proper direction for The Friends of Fr. LaFleur in promoting Fr. LaFleur’s cause.  As you know, we as a community have done many things to promote devotion to Fr. LaFleur and spread the work of his heroic and holy life.  We hope to be able to determine a more concrete plan to do things that will make it more likely that a cause for his sainthood will be opened in the future.  Hopefully, the time was well spent and our hope to one day open and pursue a cause for the canonization of Fr. LaFleur will be realized.  Many thanks to Msgr. Melancon and our Deacons for holding down the fort!


      God Bless

      Father James Brady

     
The bulletin for the week of November 16, 2014 has been posted. Click here to see it.

The calendar on the website has been updated with all events for the coming week along with prayer intention information and information on the second collection for all of the masses. Take some time to look at our calendar here.

Updates are also being made to our St. Landry Catholic Church blog. You can get to the blog from the church home page under the Bulletins and News section or you can just click here to go to it.

Don't forget, we're also sending out live updates via Twitter. Our Twitter name is StLandryCath. You can see updates by clicking here.

And we're also on Facebook --- friend us! You can see our updates on our page SaintLandryCatholicChurch.

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