Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 28, 2024 Column Father De Celles
DAILY ROSARY. This Tuesday we begin the month of October which the Church keeps as the “Month of the Rosary.” In her various apparitions, the Blessed Mother has repeatedly begged us to pray the Rosary, an exhortation echoed by Popes and Saints for centuries. And one of the best ways to pray the Rosary is as a family—it can be a tremendous blessing.
With this in mind, two years ago we started the practice of having a public Daily Family Rosary in our church, every Monday to Friday-6:30pm, and Sunday – Saturday a few minutes after the 9am Mass.
I’ve been very pleased with the results: from what I’ve seen and heard at least 10 people attend and pray this Rosary every day. But we can do better: we have almost 6000 parishioners….
All are invited to attend, but I ask for ONE FAMILY TO VOLUNTEER TO LEAD the rosary each evening. By “family” I mean members of the same legal or blood related family. It can be as few as 2 members of a family (husband and wife, mom and son, etc.), or as many as you like. And a family may volunteer for more than one evening if they want to: e.g., you could volunteer your family to lead every Monday night.
The Rosary is informal: we will just pray the Rosary out loud and together. No fuss or ceremony, just prayer.
Please, prayerfully consider participating, especially by signing up to “lead.” It’s very easy to sign up: just go to the parish website (straymonds.org) and on the pop-up menu (“Important Announcements”) click on the link for the “Daily Rosary,” which leads to SignUpGenius.
Invitation to Women: WAY. As you may know, I am the Chaplain for “The Women’s Apostolate to Youth” (usually called “WAY”). As their website states:
“WAY is an inter-generational lay Association of Christ’s Faithful for Catholic women in the Diocese of Arlington. We take as our heavenly patroness and model of spiritual maternity the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Incarnate Love. Our spiritual mentors are Saints Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Therese of Lisieux, and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross — holy women whose lives and works offer perennially valid inspiration and guidance to women seeking an authentically Catholic and feminine form of spiritual practice.
“[Their Mission is] To promote the spiritual well being of children and youth and to provide spiritual formation and moral support for women who are called to work in a variety of ministries dedicated to this end, whether as mothers, teachers and catechists, youth ministers, social workers or as relatives, godparents and friends. WAY recognizes that such women have their own particular spiritual needs and therefore seek to foster a helpful pattern of personal and communal spiritual practice as well as a philosophy of Christian formation that will be especially helpful in work with children and youth.”
WAY has several very active apostolates. Most people don’t realize it but these apostolates play a very important role in our parish. Besides operating Angelus Academy (50% of AA students are St. Raymond parishioners), WAY also leads/organizes 4 retreats here at the parish every year: 2 retreats for girls and their moms (“Daystar”), our Women’s Lenten Retreat, and the Christ the King Men’s Retreat in November (formerly led by Fr. Paul Scalia, this year led by Fr. Francis de Rosa).
Way also holds their meetings here every week, and on the last Wednesday of the Month, they have a guided holy hour with adoration and confession beginning at 7:30pm, followed by Mass. This Holy Hour and Mass is open to all women who might be interested in simply joining in their prayers and reflections.
I encourage all women of the parish to consider attending this sometime. You don’t have to be a member to pray with them on these nights, but you might find the Lord calling you to become a member.
For more information about WAY you can go to their website, www.waywomen.com, or call or email the parish office and we’ll put you in touch with a member to talk to.
Early Voting. Election Day is November 5, but this year both political parties are urging us to vote early. This way you make sure you vote, in case something prevents you from voting on November 5. For example, you could get sick or have a family or work emergency or, or there could be technical problems at the polls, or long lines might prevent you from casting your ballot.
There are two principal ways to vote early: 1) “In-Person” at certain official early vote locations, or 2) “Absentee.” But there are two ways to vote “Absentee”: you can mail in your completed ballot or drop off your completed ballot in an approved “absentee Ballot Dropbox” at one of the early voting locations.
Early Voting has already begun—you can do it any time between now and November 2. Personally, I’d vote “In-Person” or use the “absentee ballot drop box,” since I’m always concerned about the potential problems of sending a ballot through the mail.
Currently there are 3 voting locations open: Fairfax County Government Center, Mt. Vernon Governmental Center, and the North County Governmental Center. But on October 17 more locations will be opened.
Also: for college students, the “Permanent Absentee Ballot” is yet another good option. They use their (parents’) home address rather than the school address, send it back to the parents (in a sealed envelope), and then the parent drops it off at their early vote drop box.
Remember: you must be registered to vote. For more information see the table in our narthex or go to https://vote.elections.virginia.gov. The deadline to register to vote is October 15th.
Bishop’s Lenten Appeal. A few weeks ago I mentioned that we had not reached our BLA goal for the year, and asked you to try to make that happen. Well, thanks to those who made last minute contributions so that the final totals showed we raised $287,305, or 101% of our goal.
On the Lighter Side. My personal wardrobe is pretty small, mostly a lot of black stuff, and a few things for golf. But one aspect of my wardrobe that is more diversified and attracts some comments are my hats. Hats are important to me: in the summer they protect my bald head from burning, and in the winter they help keep me from catching the colds and sinus maladies I am so prone to.
While some of you like the Stetsons I sometimes wear, the hats that provoke the most comments are my “clerical hats” (Fr. Bergida wears these too). And the most common comment is the question, “what’s that?” So…
The “biretta” is the black square cap with three peaks, and a tuft on top, which can be worn both during Mass and outside of Mass with a cassock. I also sometimes wear a “cappello romano” (“Roman hat”), more commonly called a “saturno” because its wide, circular brim and rounded crown it looks a bit like the ringed planet Saturn. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI used to wear theirs pretty frequently.
Oremus pro invicem. Fr. De Celles