When the days for Jesus' being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him...As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head." And to another he said, "Follow me." But he replied, "Lord let me go first and bury my father. But he answered, "Let the dead bury the dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." And another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home. To him Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God."
Reflection:
The gospel is about a journey, but the end isn't something anyone would choose. The end is Jerusalem and Jesus is "resolutely determined" to get there. Jesus was resolutely determined to go to his own suffering and death, because he knew that this was the only way to establish God's kingdom. Our own decision to follow Jesus has implications. For ourselves, the implications lie in terms of our dying to ourselves so that our own actions can also bring salvation to others and help establish God's reign. Following Jesus to Jerusalem, then, isn't simply about a personal response to a divine invitation; it is the way God's reign is established.
Vincentian Meditation:
Jesus, on his way up to Jerusalem, sent, "messengers on ahead of Him." If we are to be faithful messengers of Jesus Christ, we must have grasped well the message of God. The message of Christ is caught rather than taught. Our Lord always manifested the gentleness and humility that we his followers must try at all times to show. One cannot give a message to another person unless one knows clearly what the message is. So, too, with us who are messengers of God; we must be familiar with and know well what it is God wants to say through us. (McCullen, Deep Down Things, p.488)
Discussion: (Share your thoughts after a moment of silence)
How can we become better "messengers" of God?
Closing Prayer:
As disciples on the journey, -may we travel together in charity and service. As servants of the poor and one another, -may we reach out our hands in charity and service. As we bear each other's joys and sorrows, -may we reach out our hearts in charity and service. As we daily embrace the call to greater intimacy with God, -may we reach out our souls in charity and service. Amen
The Community Assistance will be closed from June 16, 2016-June 22, 2016, will re-open , Thursday June 23, 2016. All referrals, calls, and e-mails will be responded to by close of business on June 16, 2016. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Devon Maddox.
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul Archdiocesan Council will be sponsoring the 4 Our Kids back to school program again for the upcoming school year. The purpose of this communication is to determine if your Conference wishes to participate in the 4 Our Kids back to school program.
This program is designed to assist low income children with backpacks and school supplies.
This program is funded by a grant from the Harvey Najim Family Foundation. We will do our best to allocate adequate funding to Conferences who wish to participate.
The program parameters will be the same as last year. Please see below for program requirements:
All participating children must be entered into SMS by specified date.
Please contact Rachel Esposito if you are unable to enter the data in SMS.
Please be sure that the children's full address including zip code and ethnicity are being entered into SMS.
Participating Conferences will receive funding to purchase backpacks and school supplies. All funds must be used for this purpose in full or returned to the Council.
All original, itemized, receipts must be returned into the Council office in order to comply with the requirements of the grant.
Conferences will need to provide a total number of volunteer hours spent administering the 4 Our Kids Back to School Program.
Conferences will provide a final report on specified date along with photos and stories of how the backpacks helped a family.
If your Conference would like to participate in the 4 Our Kids Program, please call or email Rachel Esposito at (210) 220-2452 or Rachel.esposito@svdpsa.org, NO LATER than MONDAY, JUNE 20TH.Please provide an estimate of how many children your Conference will include in the program this year.
Here are the guideline for this year's Project Cool Program:
ALL participating Conferences MUST enter ALL required information into SMS. If a Conference does not have a computer and/or is unable to use SMS, please contact your District Council President and they will partner you with a Conference within your district to assist.
Fans are to be given to those seniors who are 60+ years or older and/or disabled.
If an individual is unable to come pick up the fans themselves, a family member is able to pick up the fans in their place.
If there are 2 seniors or 2 disabled persons in the household, 2 fans will be given to them both.
Anyone who meets the requirements and comes to your Conference for a fan, will be given one. No one is to be turned away if they are not in your Conference Boundaries.
We do require that the Conference President or a designated representative of your Conference sign the attached MOU before we can approve you for this season. Please return to Rachel Esposito at rachel.esposito@svdpsa.org no later than Friday, May 27th, for ALL participating Conferences.
Once we received the MOU, we can approve you in SMS and you will be able to place an order for fans. We do have fans in inventory and should be prepared to distribute fans to each site in preparation for the kick-off. Please note that fans will be picked up at the Catholic Charities Guadalupe Center located on1801 W. Cesar Chavez Blvd, San Antonio, TX 78207.Please note that The Guadalupe Center has addressed the parking and scheduling issues that took place last year.
If you have any questions at all, please contact Rachel Esposito at rachel.esposito@svdpsa.org or (210) 220-2452.
On Friday, June 3rd, we had a staff appreciation lunch for all of our SVDP Staff. We had posters for each employee posted throughout the room and staff members posted notes on what they appreciated most about them. After lunch, each staff member picked two notes to read aloud. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and bonding.
A Camp for Children of Active and Retired Military Families
A program of the San Antonio Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (SACADA)
REGISTRATION OPEN, SPOTS ARE LIMITED
Summer is less than a month away and the San Antonio Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (SACADA) is getting ready for our annual Little Warriors Camp. Little Warriors Camp is a FREE fun, energetic camp for children of active and retired military. Children participate in games that teach team building and communication while also taking in lessons on life skills such as goal setting. Lunch andsnacks are provided and the children take a field trip at the end of the week.
June 13th - June 17th for ages 8yrs - 10yrs. June 20th - June 24th for ages 11yrs - 13yrs.
Registration is open! Please contact Denise Smith at (210) 225-4741 or dsmith@sacada.org.
CITY OF SAN ANTONIO CAR SEAT EVENT
The City of San Antonio has two car seat events scheduled for the month of June. These will be giveaway events, meaning parents can get free car seats for their children. Please inform your families needing seats and share with anyone else who may benefit from these events. These events are not limited to HS/EHS children or children who attend these centers - they are open to everyone.
Tuesday, June 28th - 8:00am - 12:00pm
Inman Christian Center, 1214 Colima, SATX 78207 (Children with Medicaid only!)
Wednesday, June 29th - 9:00am - 11:00am
Carvajal ECC, 225 Arizona, SATX 78207
The events are by appointment. To schedule a parent for the events, I will need the following information:
Parent Name:
Child's Name:
DOB:
Age:
Height:
Weight:
Medicaid #:
Spanish or English?
Other Notes:
If you have any questions or need any additional information do not hesitate to get in touch!
Even as a young man, Joseph loved to attend Mass and was known for his humility and fervor in prayer. After his ordination he was assigned to a seminary in Turin. There he worked especially against the spirit of Jansenism, an excessive preoccupation with sin and damnation. Joseph used the works of St. Francis de Sales and St. Alphonsus Liguori to moderate the rigorism popular at the seminary.
Joseph recommended membership in the Secular Franciscan Order to priests. He urged devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and encouraged daily Communion. In addition to his teaching duties, Joseph was an excellent preacher, confessor and retreat master. Noted for his work with condemned prisoners, Joseph helped many of them die at peace with God.
St. John Bosco was one of Joseph's pupils. Joseph urged John Bosco to establish the Salesians to work with the youth of Turin. Joseph was canonized in 1947.
Saturday, June 18 - Venerable Matt Talbot
Matt can be considered the patron of men and women struggling with alcoholism.
Matt was born in Dublin, where his father worked on the docks and had a difficult time supporting his family. After a few years of schooling, Matt obtained work as a messenger for some liquor merchants; there he began to drink excessively. For 15 years-until he was almost 30-Matt was an active alcoholic.
One day he decided to take "the pledge" for three months, make a general confession and begin to attend daily Mass. There is evidence that Matt's first seven years after taking the pledge were especially difficult. Avoiding his former drinking places was hard. He began to pray as intensely as he used to drink. He also tried to pay back people from whom he had borrowed or stolen money while he was drinking.
Most of his life Matt worked as a builder's laborer. He joined the Secular Franciscan Order and began a life of strict penance; he abstained from meat nine months a year. Matt spent hours every night avidly reading Scripture and the lives of the saints. He prayed the rosary conscientiously. Though his job did not make him rich, Matt contributed generously to the missions.
After 1923 his health failed, and Matt was forced to quit work. He died on his way to church on Trinity Sunday. Fifty years later Pope Paul VI gave him the title venerable.
Sunday, June 19 - St. Romuald
After a wasted youth, Romuald saw his father kill a relative in a duel over property. In horror he fled to a monastery near Ravenna in Italy. After three years some of the monks found him to be uncomfortably holy and eased him out.
He spent the next 30 years going about Italy, founding monasteries and hermitages. He longed to give his life to Christ in martyrdom, and got the pope's permission to preach the gospel in Hungary. But he was struck with illness as soon as he arrived, and the illness recurred as often as he tried to proceed.
During another period of his life, he suffered great spiritual dryness. One day as he was praying Psalm 31 ("I will give you understanding and I will instruct you"), he was given an extraordinary light and spirit which never left him.
At the next monastery where he stayed, he was accused of a scandalous crime by a young nobleman he had rebuked for a dissolute life. Amazingly, his fellow monks believed the accusation. He was given a severe penance, forbidden to offer Mass and excommunicated, an unjust sentence he endured in silence for six months.
The most famous of the monasteries he founded was that of the Camaldoli (Campus Maldoli, name of the owner) in Tuscany. Here he founded the Order of the Camaldolese Benedictines, uniting a monastic and hermit life.
His father later became a monk, wavered and was kept faithful by the encouragement of his son.
Monday, June 20 - St. Paulinus of Nola
Anyone who is praised in the letters of six or seven saints undoubtedly must be of extraordinary character. Such a person was Paulinus of Nola, correspondent and friend of Augustine, Jerome, Melania, Martin, Gregory the Great, and Ambrose.
Born near Bordeaux, he was the son of the Roman prefect of Gaul, who had extensive property in both Gaul and Italy. Paulinus became a distinguished lawyer, holding several public offices in the Roman Empire. With his Spanish wife, Therasia, he retired at an early age to a life of cultured leisure.
The two were baptized by the saintly bishop of Bordeaux and moved to Therasia's estate in Spain. After many childless years, they had a son who died a week after birth. This occasioned their beginning a life of great austerity and charity, giving away most of their Spanish property. Possibly as a result of this great example, Paulinus was rather unexpectedly ordained a priest at Christmas by the bishop of Barcelona.
He and his wife then moved to Nola, near Naples. He had a great love for St. Felix of Nola, and spent much effort in promoting devotion to this saint. Paulinus gave away most of his remaining property (to the consternation of his relatives) and continued his work for the poor. Supporting a host of debtors, the homeless and other needy people, he lived a monastic life in another part of his home. By popular demand he was made bishop of Nola and guided that diocese for 21 years.
His last years were saddened by the invasion of the Huns. Among his few writings is the earliest extant Christian wedding song.
Tuesday, June 21 - St. Aloysius Gonzaga
The Lord can make saints anywhere, even amid the brutality and license of Renaissance life. Florence was the "mother of piety" for Aloysius Gonzaga despite his exposure to a "society of fraud, dagger, poison and lust." As a son of a princely family, he grew up in royal courts and army camps. His father wanted Aloysius to be a military hero.
At age seven he experienced a profound spiritual quickening. His prayers included the Office of Mary, the psalms and other devotions. At age nine he came from his hometown of Castiglione to Florence to be educated; by age 11 he was teaching catechism to poor children, fasting three days a week and practicing great austerities. When he was 13 years old he traveled with his parents and the Empress of Austria to Spain and acted as a page in the court of Philip II. The more Aloysius saw of court life, the more disillusioned he became, seeking relief in learning about the lives of saints.
A book about the experience of Jesuit missionaries in India suggested to him the idea of entering the Society of Jesus, and in Spain his decision became final. Now began a four-year contest with his father. Eminent churchmen and laypeople were pressed into service to persuade him to remain in his "normal" vocation. Finally he prevailed, was allowed to renounce his right to succession and was received into the Jesuit novitiate.
Like other seminarians, Aloysius was faced with a new kind of penance-that of accepting different ideas about the exact nature of penance. He was obliged to eat more, to take recreation with the other students. He was forbidden to pray except at stated times. He spent four years in the study of philosophy and had St. Robert Bellarmine (September 17) as his spiritual adviser.
In 1591, a plague struck Rome. The Jesuits opened a hospital of their own. The general himself and many other Jesuits rendered personal service. Because he nursed patients, washing them and making their beds, Aloysius caught the disease himself. A fever persisted after his recovery and he was so weak he could scarcely rise from bed. Yet, he maintained his great discipline of prayer, knowing that he would die within the octave of Corpus Christi, three months later, at the age of 23.
Wednesday, June 22 - St. Thomas More
His belief that no lay ruler has jurisdiction over the Church of Christ cost Thomas More his life.
Beheaded on Tower Hill, London, on July 6, 1535, he steadfastly refused to approve Henry VIII's divorce and remarriage and establishment of the Church of England.
Described as "a man for all seasons," More was a literary scholar, eminent lawyer, gentleman, father of four children and chancellor of England. An intensely spiritual man, he would not support the king's divorce from Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Nor would he acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church in England, breaking with Rome and denying the pope as head.
More was committed to the Tower of London to await trial for treason: not swearing to the Act of Succession and the Oath of Supremacy. Upon conviction, More declared he had all the councils of Christendom and not just the council of one realm to support him in the decision of his conscience.
Thursday, June 23 - St. John Fisher
John Fisher is usually associated with Erasmus, Thomas More and other Renaissance humanists. His life, therefore, did not have the external simplicity found in the lives of some saints. Rather, he was a man of learning, associated with the intellectuals and political leaders of his day. He was interested in the contemporary culture and eventually became chancellor at Cambridge. He had been made a bishop at 35, and one of his interests was raising the standard of preaching in England. Fisher himself was an accomplished preacher and writer. His sermons on the penitential psalms were reprinted seven times before his death. With the coming of Lutheranism, he was drawn into controversy. His eight books against heresy gave him a leading position among European theologians.
In 1521 he was asked to study the question of Henry VIII's marriage. He incurred Henry's anger by defending the validity of the king's marriage with Catherine of Aragon and later by rejecting Henry's claim to be the supreme head of the Church of England.
In an attempt to be rid of him, Henry first had him accused of not reporting all the "revelations" of the nun of Kent, Elizabeth Barton. John was summoned, in feeble health, to take the oath to the new Act of Succession. He and Thomas More refused because the Act presumed the legality of Henry's divorce and his claim to be head of the English Church. They were sent to the Tower of London, where Fisher remained 14 months without trial. They were finally sentenced to life imprisonment and loss of goods.
When the two were called to further interrogations, they remained silent. Fisher was tricked, on the supposition he was speaking privately as a priest, and declared again that the king was not supreme head. The king, further angered that the pope had made John Fisher a cardinal, had him brought to trial on the charge of high treason. He was condemned and executed, his body left to lie all day on the scaffold and his head hung on London Bridge. More was executed two weeks later.
Does your Conference have any news, events, or any other information that you would like to share in the Friday Five? **Please note, that events can be advertised if they ONLY support the SVDP Conference. Any events that are put on by a parish can no longer be advertised.**
If so, please email Rachel Esposito at rachel.esposito@svdpsa.org to be include in the next edition of the Friday Five! All information must be submitted by 3:00 pm on Wednesday. Thank you.
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Please continue prayers for Council Treasurer, Langston Rodge, during his difficult illness.
Please continue praying for Yolanda and Ramiro Ramirez, Angela Angel and Gloria de Luna, all from St. Ann's Conference who are experiencing health issues.