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Prayer Corner
The repose of the soul of the Grand Father of Capt. Jeremy Allen of the M/V Major Bernard F. Fisher
The repose of the soul of Mary Reynolds Volk, the sister of AOS USA Administrative Board Secretary, Fr. Bill Reynolds |
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AOS USA Bringing Christmas Joy to the Docks, the Feast of the Patroness of Sea Services, & the New Look of the AOS USA Web Page
 Dear Friends,
It is late this Tuesday evening, but I wanted to get this supplement out to our Christmas newsletter. After I sent out the last issue, I received two Christmas stories about AOS USA members bringing Christmas joy to the seafarers at our ports.
The first of these stories appeared on KTRK-TV (Houston). Entitled: Seamen remembered during holiday season, the feature noted that as mariners arrived in Houston from all over the world, they found that they were not alone, especially during the holiday season, thanks to the apostles of the sea.
See story and video The second story appeared in the December 23, 2011 issue of the Port Arthur News. It featured the good work of AOS USA members, staff and volunteers at the Port Arthur International Seafarer Center
Read Story
During the month of January, the AOS USA web site, www.aosusa.org, will be undergoing a complete facelift. We hope that you will find it easier to navigate, and be a better resource for our members.
Finally, tomorrow, January 4, 2012, is the Feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Cardinal O'Connor proclaimed her Patroness of Sea Services, including the merchant marine. In the next section, I have included two prayers for the feast, and two links. One link gives background on why she is the Patroness for Sea Services, and the second is a report on the 2011 Sea Services Pilgrimage.
May the Blessings of this Holy Season be with all of you,
Fr. Sinclair Oubre, J.C.L.
President - AOS USA |
 The Feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton - Patroness of Sea Services
Prayer by Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton
Lord Jesus, Who was born for us in a stable, lived for us a life of pain and sorrow, and died for us upon a cross; say for us in the hour of death, Father, forgive, and to Your Mother, Behold your child. Say to us, This day you shall be with Me in paradise. Dear Savior, leave us not, forsake us not. We thirst for You, Fountain of Living Water. Our days pass quickly along, soon all will be consummated for us. To Your hands we commend our spirits, now and forever. Amen.
Prayer in Honor of St. Elizabeth Seton
Lord God, you blessed Elizabeth Ann Seton with gifts of grace as wife and mother, educator and foundress, so that she might spend her life in service to your people.
Through her example and prayers, may we,
whose Faith Community is dedicated in her honor, learn to express our love for you in our love for all your children.
We ask this through Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.
Story of Why St. Elizabeth is Patroness of Sea Services
Report on 2011 Sea Services Pilgrimage
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 Will We Miss the Holy Family?
Over 2,000 years ago, the Holy Family would have passed any number of good people who didn't have room for them and didn't have time to stop and help. Most of us have probably wondered if we would have recognized them had we been there. We will never know.
What we can do is work to recognize the Holy Family in today's world.
The Apostleship of the Sea is a unique ministry of the Church, which is exactly where one might encounter the Holy Family if they arrived today.
On the national level, our church has been prioritizing it's mission, but most of those priorities seem to be focused on Parish life, and helping new immigrants to feel welcome in those parishes. This is important work, but it leaves ministries like ours in the margins, since our mission is outside the parish structures.
And yet, the Holy Family themselves were not looking for a Parish to take them in, offer Mass in their Language, or provide Baptism classes. They were just passing through town. They simply needed basic human services and a couple of friendly people to give them hospitality.
Such is the work of the Apostleship of the Sea: offering hospitality, human services and Pastoral Care to people who are "just passing through".
If we wait for these people to knock on our parish doors....we may miss them entirely.
Today's Holy Family may arrive in the form of a foreign seafarer who has been away from home for 9 months, and needs an escort out of a local dock and a place to call home, so he can speak to his wife who has been raising the family and maintaining the house on her own.
Or perhaps they will arrive in the form of a Vietnamese shrimper and his wife, who are seeking assistance to fill out complicated government forms in order to get assistance after a poor year in the shrimping industry. The Holy Family may even come in the form of an elderly couple onboard a cruise ship, who are taking one last trip together, knowing that one has a terminal disease.
If a friend called you and told you that the Holy Family would be arriving in your Diocese today, wouldn't you drop everything you're doing to run and greet them? Imagine some informed voice calling you to tell you that the parents of Jesus Christ Himself were arriving onboard a ship at your local port and needed a ride to a hotel, and perhaps a meal from the local soup kitchen. I think it is safe to say that most of us would stop in the middle of Christmas dinner, leave our own families, and volunteer to serve them.
The trouble is, there never is that informed voice telling us what's really going on. This Christmas, we invite you to welcome the Holy Family into your hearts, and to look for them in your own ports. They are out there, and are in need of your hospitality.
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Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of
Migrants and Itinerant People
2011 Christmas Message
Dear People of the Sea,
On Christmas Day we are invited to reflect on the mystery of the Incarnation of the eternal Word of God, as we read in the first chapter of the Gospel of Saint John:"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth" (Jn 1:1-14).
The mystery of the Incarnation brings first and foremost a message of universal Love which we are invited to share in the increasingly international, multicultural and multireligious maritime world. A Love that embraces all the people of the sea without barriers or discriminations and becomes the foundation of a new way of living together respecting the diversity and dignity of every human being.
This mystery is the celebration of Emanuel, the "God with us", which invites us to be Jesus' witnesses in the ever more varied world of the sea to become instruments of a new evangelization showing how the Christian prospective enlightens, in an unprecedented way, the great problems of history. (Synod of Bishops, XIII Ordinary General Assembly, Lineamenta, 7).
Moreover, Christmas announces that the Word of God was incarnated in our divided and imperfect human reality in order to bring it to perfection. With the power that comes to us from the Lord Jesus who walks together with all of us, we want to commit ourselves in finding lasting solutions to the different problems you have to face every day, including exploitation and abuses in the working environment, the criminalization of your actions, the abandonment in foreign ports, the separation from your families and the ever more threatening danger of piracy.
As I wish you a Holy Christmas, I hope that the gifts of joy, peace and serenity brought by the Baby Jesus will reach you wherever you may be, and will be shared by your families and bear fruits of love and happiness.
With all best wishes,
X Antonio Maria Vegliņ
President
X Joseph Kalathiparambil
Secretary
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Christmas Greetings from our Friends at the Pontifical Council
Dear friends in the maritime world,
I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year full of the graces and blessings of the Lord.
While we rejoice for the recent release of the crew of the M/V Savina Caylyn, we cannot forget the seafarers that are still in the hands of the pirates and all the seafarers sailing in the seas and oceans of the world that will spend Christmas and New Year far from their loved ones.
To all chaplains, volunteers and supporters goes my sincere gratitude for your commitments and dedication in providing material and spiritual assistance to seafarers, fishers and their families.
May the Lord continue to give you strength and courage to minister to the people of the sea standing at their side, upholding their rights giving voice to their demands.
Have a great Holiday Season!
Best regards, Fr. Bruno Ciceri My Dear Friends, May the wonder of His birth fill your heart. May the Joy of the season bring you peace. May the gift of His life bring you hope. May sweet memories of Christmas past and joyous blessings of today bring you joy,peace and love.
Christmas Blessings, with love
Antonella Farina
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Important Upcoming Events for
AOS USA Members
AOS-USA Annual Meeting
Houston, Texas
May 15-17, 2012
XXIII World Congress of the Apostleship of the Sea
November 19-23, 2012 @ The Vatican
AOS World Congress Invitation
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