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The Pastor’s Corner
We come to the end of the Christmas Season today in celebrating the Baptism of the Lord. The Baptism of Jesus reminds us of our own baptism. By our Baptism the Gates of Heaven are thrown open to us and we received the Grace to live a Christian Life. However, we must cooperate with our Baptismal Grace, that is, we must accept the Grace and act upon it. God never forces Himself into our lives. The heart of our life as Christians is that we freely give ourselves to God for His purpose.
Although Grace is a free gift given by God and as such is nothing that we merit or can earn, we can dispose ourselves to receive fully His Grace by undertaking prayer and the study of our faith and by practicing virtue. In this way, we are "formed" into the life of Christ. Christian Formation is a combination of study, prayer and worship (both formal and in the lives we lead) that directs and leads us towards Christ.
Our church parish provides opportunities for such activities. We have two Come, Lord Jesus! groups that meet on Tuesday's at 6pm and Wednesday's at 5:15pm. These groups combine prayer and scripture study that focuses on the Mass readings for the following Sunday. For men, we have "That Man is You" which is directed by Deacon Joubert that meets Wednesday mornings at 5:45am. We also have a formal bible study directed by Deacon Miller which meets at 10am and 6pm on Mondays. Also, I highly recommend a yearly retreat for all as part of our continuing formation. It is a time of quiet and reflection, something critical to a good spiritual life. A men's retreat from our parish is held each year at Our Lady of the Oaks in Grand Coteau, and there are woman's retreats as well. In addition to these things, we also have charitable and fraternal organizations, such as The Catholic Daughters and the Knights of Columbus who provide plenty of opportunity to put our faith into action in activities such as the monthly breakfast at New Life Center. We all should have activities that help us continue to learn about Jesus and express our beliefs in our actions.
With the beginning of Ordinary Time this week, we again thank all those who made our celebration of Christmas so beautiful here at St. Landry. The music was wonderful throughout, and we thank our musicians and singers: The Adult Choir and their director J.P. Porrier, the Youth Choir and their director, Rafael Henry; and Marla Faust, Megan Wilkes and Millie Boudreaux. Our Altar Society did a wonderful job in decorating the church, and they were coordinated by Deacon Joubert and Yvonne Normand. We thank our various ministers at the liturgies, our readers, extraordinary ministers, servers and sacristans who volunteered their time and made adjustments to their personal schedules to serve us. We thank those who donated to the flower fund, making it possible to beautifully decorate
our sanctuary and church. Thanks to all!!
YEAR OF MERCY – PLENARY INDULGENCE
The Year of Mercy began on December 8, 2015, and will continue until November 20, 2016. The Diocese of Lafayette has designated ten sites as places of pilgrimage for the year. Books have been printed with the locations and days of the week and times when the locations are open to visitors. Visiting the places of pilgrimage and following the guidelines listed on the Diocesan Website (diolaf.org), one can obtain plenary indulgences. Stamps are available at each site for you to stamp the location on the booklet so that you have a keepsake at the end of the year. The Acadiana Catholic will also have the list available in their next edition so one can use either the booklets printed or the magazine when visiting the sites. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to visit churches and shrines in our diocese and lift each other up in prayer as we show mercy during this very special year.
Although Grace is a free gift given by God and as such is nothing that we merit or can earn, we can dispose ourselves to receive fully His Grace by undertaking prayer and the study of our faith and by practicing virtue. In this way, we are "formed" into the life of Christ. Christian Formation is a combination of study, prayer and worship (both formal and in the lives we lead) that directs and leads us towards Christ.
Our church parish provides opportunities for such activities. We have two Come, Lord Jesus! groups that meet on Tuesday's at 6pm and Wednesday's at 5:15pm. These groups combine prayer and scripture study that focuses on the Mass readings for the following Sunday. For men, we have "That Man is You" which is directed by Deacon Joubert that meets Wednesday mornings at 5:45am. We also have a formal bible study directed by Deacon Miller which meets at 10am and 6pm on Mondays. Also, I highly recommend a yearly retreat for all as part of our continuing formation. It is a time of quiet and reflection, something critical to a good spiritual life. A men's retreat from our parish is held each year at Our Lady of the Oaks in Grand Coteau, and there are woman's retreats as well. In addition to these things, we also have charitable and fraternal organizations, such as The Catholic Daughters and the Knights of Columbus who provide plenty of opportunity to put our faith into action in activities such as the monthly breakfast at New Life Center. We all should have activities that help us continue to learn about Jesus and express our beliefs in our actions.
With the beginning of Ordinary Time this week, we again thank all those who made our celebration of Christmas so beautiful here at St. Landry. The music was wonderful throughout, and we thank our musicians and singers: The Adult Choir and their director J.P. Porrier, the Youth Choir and their director, Rafael Henry; and Marla Faust, Megan Wilkes and Millie Boudreaux. Our Altar Society did a wonderful job in decorating the church, and they were coordinated by Deacon Joubert and Yvonne Normand. We thank our various ministers at the liturgies, our readers, extraordinary ministers, servers and sacristans who volunteered their time and made adjustments to their personal schedules to serve us. We thank those who donated to the flower fund, making it possible to beautifully decorate
our sanctuary and church. Thanks to all!!
Father James Brady
YEAR OF MERCY – PLENARY INDULGENCE
The Year of Mercy began on December 8, 2015, and will continue until November 20, 2016. The Diocese of Lafayette has designated ten sites as places of pilgrimage for the year. Books have been printed with the locations and days of the week and times when the locations are open to visitors. Visiting the places of pilgrimage and following the guidelines listed on the Diocesan Website (diolaf.org), one can obtain plenary indulgences. Stamps are available at each site for you to stamp the location on the booklet so that you have a keepsake at the end of the year. The Acadiana Catholic will also have the list available in their next edition so one can use either the booklets printed or the magazine when visiting the sites. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to visit churches and shrines in our diocese and lift each other up in prayer as we show mercy during this very special year.
The bulletin for the week of January 10, 2016 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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