Pentecost XVIII

zelusdomustuae
✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
It’s good to have a Corner, just to reconnoiter a bit and recall all that has happened over the last eight days. Ember Saturday is observed with fasting and prayer, to usher in Autumn. This is the Church’s preferred way to bring in new clergy, prayerfully and one step at a time. The beautiful Pontifical ceremony was quite well attended, and our four new subdeacons honored at a very nice lunch afterwards. One more step to the altar.

But Mike Briggs had died, and his Requiem Mass remained to be offered on Tuesday. The attendance impressed me. It was the most “parish family” funeral I can recall. What a lovely tribute to this faithful fellow Catholic and usher, who waited weekly at the posts of our doors. Family get-togethers demand food, and for a second time in four days the ladies of the parish stepped forward with a beautiful meal. Mike’s memory will be held in benediction.

The rains had started by then, three days of darkness and wet which ushered in the Fall, with its beautiful days, and falling temperatures. Soon the leaves will follow.

The new bishop elect, Fr. Rodrigo da Silva, arrived late Thursday night after a long and gruesome trip from Brazil, which entailed a two week “quarantine” in Mexico City and many “Covid tests” before he could be admitted to the Land of the Free. Of course, he also could have just waded across the border in Texas…These adjustments and sacrifices in the line of duty are nothing new for our priests. I admire their perseverance, but still we must all pray for them.

Pray, too, for those faced with the threat of unemployment for noncompliance with the death jab. There is far more resistance to the imposition of tyranny throughout the world than one would realize, for news is strictly censored. It is a communist revolution, after all. But still, truth has a way of breaking forth, and courage still animates even the unlikeliest heart. Pray.

Wednesday’s Consecration of a new bishop is a step for tomorrow, but you may participate in it today. You are welcome to assist at the Mass on Wednesday, feast of great St. Michael, our protector. A nice dinner follows.

Our seminarians are helping to teach Catechism this year as well as assisting with the Divine Office, serving, singing, sacristy, Knights of the Sacred Heart, and managing meals, even as they take classes three to four hours a day. This gives them a pretty good academic and pastoral preparation for the priesthood.

Don’t miss our little Rosary Procession before the 9 AM Mass next Sunday (about 8:45) as well as the traditional Rosary Confraternity Breakfast afterwards. We’ll get to know the new bishop a little and reinforce the Catholic ties which bind us to faithful throughout the world.

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us! Holy Guardian Angels, protect us. Keep us and our children safe from sin, and secure under your wings.

– Bishop Dolan