Saint Joseph Parish: $1,125.00 from the Sunday envelopes; $307.50 from the Mission Sunday envelopes; $30.00 from the Dues envelopes; $75.00 from the Block envelopes; $136.00 from the loose. Thank you.

Saint Vincent DePaul Parish: $979.00 from the Sunday envelopes; $160.00 from the second collection (plate); $58.00 from the loose. Thank you.

THE SANCTUARY CANDLE burns this week in memory of Edward M. Wascavage, at the request of his parents, sister and grandparents.

THE MASS INTENTION BOOK FOR 2009 will be open as of Tuesday, 28 October. Persons who wish to request Mass intentions for 2009 are welcome to do so. The parish secretary asks that, if you call or come to the Rectory for this particular purpose, you do so between the hours of 11:00 am and 3:30 pm, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Between now and the end of the calendar year (2008), we will respectfully decline to reserve more than two weekend Masses for any one particular deceased person. Once we are into the new year, then we will lift this restriction. We do this so as to be fair and we thank you for your understanding.

IN REGARD TO ALL SAINTS DAY
Please note that this coming Saturday (1 November) is the Solemnity of All Saints.
Most of the time, All Saints Day is a Holyday of Obligation. However, some years ago, the Bishops of the United States instituted the “Saturday – Monday exception” rule.
What this means is the following: Whenever 1 January (Mary, Mother of God) or 15 August (Assumption) or 1 November (All Saints) fall on a Saturday or a Monday, the obligation to attend Mass is lifted. The liturgical feast is still observed, but there is no obligation to attend Mass. HOWEVER, even though not obligatory, it is still highly recommended and salutary for a person to attend Mass on All Saints Day.

The Mystical Meaning of Earrings

From time immemorial,
women have worn earrings,
particularly, no doubt,
for the pleasure of their tinkling.
Scripture says
that Isaac offered earrings
to the chaste Rebecca
as a first pledge of his love.
This has a mystical meaning:
The ear is the first thing of which a husband should take possession in his wife,
and that a wife must keep
for her husband alone.
Nothing but the sweet music
of chaste words ought to enter it.
Therefore, be ever mindful of this:
If the body can be poisoned through the mouth,
the heart can be poisoned through the ear.

St. Francis deSales

A reflection on these words

A husband should talk to his wife.
He should say to her the things that are beautiful and true and kind and helpful and good.
He should laugh with her every day.
He should console her when she is sad.
He should tell her about his life, his thoughts, his feelings.
He should pay her honest compliments and thank her for all the good she does for him.
He should speak words that will make her heart smile.
If she has given him children, he should, from time to time, thank her for conferring on him the awesome dignity of fatherhood.
He should enter into her soul by the simple sincerity of his words.
So that her ears might remain receptive to his words, a husband must make his own ears attentive to his wife’s words.
He should take an interest in the things that interest her.
He should never dare suggest that she is inferior to him, nor ever dare to think that she is unworthy of his attention.
He should remember that she has voluntarily handed over to him the awesome right to embrace both her body and her soul.
He must approach her with humility and must ask God for the grace never to lose his sense of wonder that she trusts him so profoundly.
He must treat his wife in such a way that her ears are delighted to hear the sound of his footsteps approaching.
Her husband’s lips must themselves be the mystical jewels that she allows to guard and to adorn her ears, those ears which are the portals into the mystery of her soul, pendants that she wears with pride in the presence of her family, of her friends and of the whole world.

EBC

MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, THIS ELECTION IS ABOUT SAVING OUR CHILDREN OR KILLING OUR CHILDREN. This life issue is the overriding issue facing each of us in this coming election. All other issues, including the economy, have to take second place to the issue of life.

SAVE OUR CHILDREN!
Many people in Germany supported Hitler for economic reasons even though, as his programs advanced, he put to death millions of Jewish people. He ended up wrecking the economy together with the country of Germany. How are we different if we vote for pro-abortion candidates for office? How can we help change our political and legal situation to protect innocent children and support a culture of life?

SAVE OUR CHILDREN!
When I speak to some so-called good Catholics, I am shocked that they are quite ready to vote for a pro-abortion candidate under almost any circumstance. I find this hard to understand. We have heard the word "abortion" so often that perhaps we no longer associate procured abortion with the killing of children, yet that is what it is. The term itself can be misleading. The dictionary tells us that it comes from a Latin word that means "to disappear or to miscarry." Sometimes abortions simply happen because of natural causes. That is why this word abortion, for many people, apparently does not really connote the destruction of children. When a human agent induces an abortion, that human agent is taking the life of one of our children.

SAVE OUR CHILDREN!
How can a so-called good Catholic vote for a candidate who supports laws that take the lives of innocent children, when there is an alternative? If there were two candidates who supported abortion, but not equally, we would have the obligation to mitigate the evil by voting for the less-permissive candidate.

SAVE OUR CHILDREN!
How can a so-called good Catholic vote for a candidate that supports laws that justify the killing of a child that survived a botched abortion? How can such a so-called good Catholic receive the Holy Eucharist?

IN CHAPTER 10 OF ST. PAUL’S FIRST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS, we read: "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the Blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons."

SAVE OUR CHILDREN!
Have some of our so-called good Catholics become so hardened against the Gospel of Life that they believe that other issues outweigh the Gospel of Life? Have some of our so-called good Catholics put politics ahead of the Fifth Commandment, in which God states: "Thou shalt not kill"? Do some of our so-called good Catholics, who may go to Mass every Sunday and receive the Holy Eucharist, really believe that voting for a pro-abortion candidate, when there is a clear alternative and therefore no justifiable reason for so doing, is really not voting to have children killed? This election is all about saving our children!

SAVE OUR CHILDREN!
I have no doubt that there may be some so-called good Catholics who are reading this column and who may be really angry about now. I ask the question "Why would such a person be angry?" If we do good deeds, then our conscience is at peace. If we do evil deeds, then our conscience bothers us. It is my hope that this column will lead some of our so-called good Catholics to study the Catholic Catechism.

SAVE OUR CHILDREN!
Some of our so-called good Catholics may have hardened their hearts against the real understanding of induced abortions, that they can no longer see that this involves the destruction of our children. "If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts!"

SAVE OUR CHILDREN!
Supporting induced abortions is not the greatest sin in the world. A greater sin is the refusal to repent of such a serious crime or the denial that this involves the killing of innocent children.

SAVE OUR CHILDREN!
I have used this terminology again and again to penetrate the defenses of anyone who in the past may have put personal, economic or political interests above the issue of saving our children. The right to life is our most fundamental right, and to defend this right on behalf of the most vulnerable is a great privilege and is worth giving one’s life for. Policemen and firemen always risk their lives to save human life. Why should we not risk our own reputation to save our children?

SAVE OUR CHILDREN!
You can see by now that I do not believe that this column by itself will change hearts. The issue of abortion involves serious sin, and to overcome serious patterns of sin requires grace. If you are still with me, may I suggest that you join me and many others in praying the daily Rosary from now until election day for the sake of life? Why not pray the family Rosary every night between now and the general election? The Rosary brought down the Iron Curtain. It can also help us turn around the culture of death to a culture of life.

SAVE OUR SO-CALLED GOOD CATHOLICS
who ignore Catholic moral principles when applied to our political life. Pray the family Rosary daily. Pray the family Rosary for our so-called good Catholics who could use your love and your charity. Pray for our so-called good Catholics who ignore serious Catholic moral teachings and still receive Holy Communion. Love them by praying the family Rosary for them. Don’t debate with them. Intercede for them. Praying for them is more fun than fighting with them.

SAVE OUR CHILDREN
and save our so-called good Catholics who have abandoned Church teachings in favor of personal gain. Pray the Rosary. Pray it every day. Get the whole family to pray the Rosary daily. Prayer is more powerful than contentious arguments. Spread the word to other families. In praying the Rosary, children’s votes count as much as adult votes. Sometimes they pray with purer hearts than we do. If you are disgusted with the TV news, then turn it off and turn on the prayer Internet. What we hear in prayer leaves us in peace. When we pray for our country and for our fellow citizens, we are filled with peace. St. Paul tells us that our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers and the spirits of darkness.
PRAYER IS OUR PROTECTION.
Let it also be a protection for our country. If you want to make Satan angry, pray the Rosary for the sake of Life. Pray that as a nation we will choose leaders that will say ‘no’ to the culture of death and say ‘yes’ to the culture of life.

SAVE OUR CHILDREN!
PRAY THE ROSARY!

The Most Reverend Robert J. Hermann
Bishop – Administrator,
Archdiocese of Saint Louis

“We want the struggle in the religious camps to come to an end! ……. All political action in the parties will be forbidden to priests for all time! ……. We know what millions of Germans want! They want to see in their priest only the comforter of their souls and not the representative of their political convictions.”

(Kanzeller) Adolf Hitler

(This quote is taken from a speech given by the Fuehrer to members of the Sturmabteilung (SA) in Dormund on 9 July 1933. The SA was a para-military group known as “the brown-shirters”. They were famous for their success in persuading people to be “good Germans” and to shut up. In the early years of the rise of National Socialism, the SA broke the heads of more than a few troublesome priests.)

TWO SILLY JOKES TO IN THE SPACE ON THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE

Silly joke #1 — Did you hear about the belt that got arrested?
Why would a belt get arrested?
For holding up a pair of pants!

Silly joke #2 — Who was the Knight who gave King Arthur the idea of having a round table?
Sir Cumference

(a) SUNDAY
and
(b) BREAKFAST
Put them together and what have you got?
That’s right!
You’ve got
SUNDAY BREAKFAST!
But we’re not finished!
Preface “SUNDAY BREAKFAST” with “ALL YOU CAN EAT” and then what do you have?
Right again!
You’ve got
ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT SUNDAY BREAKFAST!
What could be better than that?
When? Sunday, 16 November
What time? 8:00 am to 12:30 pm
Where? St. Joseph School Building (IHES)
How much? $7.00 for adults

There will be a meeting of all those who are willing to help with the breakfast.
It will be held on Wednesday, 12 November, at 7:00 pm in the school hall.

THERE WAS A RATHER BIZARRE INTERCHANGE on the front steps of St. Vincent dePaul Church last Sunday (19 Oct). Allow me to describe it.
I was standing on the top step of the church after the 8:30 am Mass, as I customarily do, in order to greet the persons exiting via the front door. A man came out and, with considerable anger, told me that I had lied from the pulpit. I asked the man what he was referring to. The man said that I had lied by saying that “pro-choice” was the same as “pro-abortion”. I made an attempt to reason with the man. However, there was no opening for rational conversation. He walked away in anger. There was at least one other person who witnessed the entire exchange. There were a few others who caught snatches of it and who might have wondered — indeed, might still be wondering — what it was all about.
I would like the man to know that I am willing to forgive him for insulting me. At the same time, I want him to know beyond the slightest shadow of a doubt that he is grievously mistaken. I invite him to reconsider his position. And I reiterate what is obvious to anyone who is not blind to the truth:

Never Insist On Your Own Way

A few years ago I was given a list of secrets to a long life that was the philosophy of life of a Chinese Trappist priest in Taiwan, Father Nicolaus Kao. Father Kao died last year at the age of 110, having served many years as a priest in Hong Kong and then as a Trappist in Taiwan and Macao. He was devoted to Our Lady of Fatima and established several shrines to her in the Far East.

His rule of life includes things like never eat too much, never drink too much, never smoke, never stop praying and never stop exercising. But the one that caught my attention and made me think was: “Never insist on your own way.” There is an immense amount of human, practical wisdom in that principle. Subsequently I discovered, while reading St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians (13:5), that he says basically the same thing: “Love does not insist on its own way.”

Because of our limitations and concern about self, because of self-will and stubbornness, most of us, beginning in childhood, tend to insist on our own way of doing things. We may do it without realizing that it irritates others, or we may do it precisely because it irritates others. The effects of such self-will are often conflicts with others that could easily be avoided. It is not easy for any two people to live together peacefully, because we are all different and have our own goals and priorities in life. If two people living together, whether married or not, both insist on doing trivial things their own way, there will be conflicts, anger, resentment, harsh words and sometimes even violence.

The point I want to make this month is that each of us should consider our daily activities to see if we can give way on various things that do not involve a matter of principle. I am not arguing for absolute tolerance of everything—such a position is immoral and spineless. When it comes to basic principles of truth regarding doctrine and morals, we must take a stand. Like the martyrs, we must be ready to shed our blood for the faith if we are put in a position where, to preserve our life, we must deny our faith.

Many people come into conflict with each other, or else cause silent resentment, because they insist on doing things their way. A few examples that occur to me are the following: critical comments about others, rude behavior, arranging furniture in a room, choosing colors of paint and rugs, whistling or singing that bothers others, driving a car in a way that irritates others, and so forth. There are hundreds of examples along this line that could be given.

The point is that, in order to get along with others and to live peacefully with them, it is better not to insist on one’s own way of doing things and to do indifferent things the way others prefer to do them. This takes a certain amount of Christian self-denial, but the rewards are substantial.

Occasionally we hear stories of couples who divorce because the husband does not like the way his wife cooks his eggs or burns his toast. This may be extreme, but it is an example of a small thing that becomes a large thing because of self-will and the failure to give way.

As St. Paul says, true love does not insist on its own way. Nature requires us to do many things we would rather not do, for example, when we come down with a serious disease or suffer an accident because of a drunken driver. Some of those evils are unavoidable.

But there are many conflicts in human living that can be avoided by not insisting always on doing what is pleasing to oneself. Kindness and consideration in such dealings with others, whether friends or not, tends to make living with others more pleasant and peaceful. One result of peaceful living is to reduce stress—in today’s world we can all use more of that. Living in peace and reducing stress tend to extend one’s earthly life. We might not reach 110 as Father Kao did, but our days will be happier and we may reach a ripe old age.

Kenneth Baker, S.J., Editor
Copyright © 2008 Ignatius Press -- Homiletic & Pastoral Review