During early November, we celebrate with great joy All of the Saints (November 1) who have graced the church over the centuries with their courage and witness. They are all of the Unnamed Saints that have used the gifts and graces of God to accomplish great holiness and spiritual maturity. Some of this august group may have even been our own family members who left us a marvelous legacy of virtue and good works. We know that not all saints can be officially recognized by the church but we are equally sure that they look over us and support us by their prayers. We are in safe hands and carried through trials by the army of All Saints.
We also remember all of our
Beloved Dead during early November when we commemorate the Feast of All Souls
(November 2 – Vigil Mass November 1). Here too we remember family members who
have passed over into eternal life and now rest in the Lord. We remember all
that they taught us and how much their love helped us grow and accomplish good
works. This year on Friday, November 1st at Saint Joan of Arc, we will
hold a beautiful and heartfelt Vigil Mass honoring all of our loved ones who
have died. Pictures of those who have died during the year are prominently
placed on the sanctuary steps and we are surrounded by their holy
presence.
As we reverently read their names we light candles to remind us how their
example lights our way and illuminates our world. There is perhaps no other
liturgy that so perfectly captures the grief and the joy of our faith as does
All Souls. Together we mourn and together we rejoice in their passage
into eternal life and their ongoing presence as our comforters and heroes.
May All Saints Day inspire us and may All Souls Day remind us of the mercy and saving grace of God. We are also to remember and honor the dead by keeping their stories and accomplishments alive in the quality of our Christian life.
– Msgr. Michael D. McGraw
As Catholics we support a “seamless garment” of respect life activities that serve to protect human life from conception through natural death. In our Biblical life ethic, no human being is ever disposable or to be abused. Under Catholic auspices many pro-life organizations exist to foster the dignity and worth of human life. They address needs of hunger, poverty, war, incarceration, housing and unjust wages. All are intertwined and require coordinated attention. Other most important concerns are our opposition to abortion and euthanasia.
The Birthline/Lifeline Pregnancy Care Program promotes the sanctity of life and offers pregnancy care services at its pregnancy care center locations. Services are offered free of charge to all clients who meet basic criteria. At the pregnancy care centers, women coping with an unplanned pregnancy can access compassionate counseling regarding adoption, alternatives to pregnancy terminations and more. Below are some of the services provided in their three Pregnancy Care Centers:
• Free ultrasounds and pregnancy testing
• Prenatal care referrals
• Pro-life education
• Fertility Awareness Education
• Abortion alternative counseling
• Adoption referrals
• Parenting Classes
• 24-Hour Support Hotline for clients: 561-278-0880
• Material assistance (Assistance may include maternity clothes, baby apparel and layettes. When available, car seats, strollers, cribs,
baby food, formula and diapers are provided.
Clients are provided with contact information and necessary documentation for Medicaid/medical coverage, referrals and other available services within the county and/or Catholic Charities
You can support this program by contributing next weekend at SJA’s Annual Mission Coop Appeal: Weekend of October 26 & 27.
-Msgr. Michael D. McGraw
The St. Joan of Arc Rat Pack Concert stars Michael Scaramuzzo who channels one of our favorites Rat Pack members Frank Sinatra like no other, and the band is first class. Lovers of Frank Sinatra both young and old are always amazed at the talent and quality of this show.
Mr. Michael Scaramuzzo, born in Staten Island, New York, just 16 miles from the birthplace of Frank Sinatra, has been performing the music of Sinatra since he was a child. From a bedroom in New York, to a neighborhood festival, to the Richmond County Bank Ballpark, Scaramuzzo has become synonymous with an entertaining show in the style of the Chairman of the Board.
He is also our High School Youth Group CYO leader and is a member of the faculty of Saint John Paul II Academy.
As you love these beautiful songs invite all of your friends to join you to attend as we celebrate this 60th Anniversary trip down Memory Lane.
–Msgr. Michael D. McGraw
The one symbol most often identified with Our Savior Jesus and His Church is the Cross.
This month we celebrate The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This feast Had its beginning in Jerusalem and the dedication of the church built on the site of Mount Calvary in 335. The meaning of the cross, however, is deeper than any city, any celebration, or any building. The cross is a sign of suffering, a sign of human cruelty at its worst. Christ’s love shown in the His saving death and resurrection, however, has made it the sign of triumph and victory, the sign of God, who is love itself.
Believers have always looked to the cross in times of suffering. People in concentration camps, in prisons, in hospitals, in any place of suffering and loneliness, have been known to draw, trace, or form crosses and focus their eyes and hearts on them. The cross does not explain pain and misery. It does not give us any easy answers. But it does help us to see our lives united with Christ’s through our acceptance and intention as we struggle with our crosses in life.
We often make the Sign of the Cross over ourselves. We make it before prayer to help fix our minds and hearts on God. We make it after prayer, hoping to stay close to God. In trials and temptations, the cross is a sign of strength and protection. The cross is the sign of the fullness of life that is ours. At Baptism, too, the Sign of the Cross is used; the priest, parents, and godparents make the sign on the forehead of the child. A sign made on the forehead is a sign of belonging. By the Sign of the Cross in Baptism, Jesus takes us as his own in a unique way. Today, we look to the cross often. We make the Sign of the Cross and realize we bring our whole selves to God—our minds, souls, bodies, wills, thoughts, hearts—everything we are and will become.
“O cross, you are the glorious sign of our victory.
Through your power may we share in the triumph of Christ Jesus.”
-Msgr. Michael D. McGraw
This coming week we will begin classes again for our school and religious education. Hooray!
We will have over 800 children involved in these programs and they are a core commitment for us. Our parish is one big family made up of many families. Our educational and faith formation programs assist the families of the parish in your responsibilities as Catholic parents. We enthusiastically support our families in this most important ministry. I am very joyful to announce that we have an enthusiastic faculty, lots of new activities, new instructional programs and a stable enrollment. We know from research on the outcomes of church based ministries for children that our financial and personal resources dedicated to this cause will bear much fruit. Our children will gain a clear understanding of “where they come from ?, why they are here?, what they are to accomplish in this life? and what the ultimate goal of life really is?”. They will be secure in their identity as beloved children of God with an eternal destiny. They will be taught their Catholic faith in all of its richness and spiritual blessings.
In our grade school, children benefit from a vibrant and state of the art approach to education: intellectually, socially, physically, artistically and physically. We are all about the holistic education of our children within a safe and stimulating learning environment. We are very proud of the fact that faith formation is integrated into all aspects of the learning process. New this year is a weekly Mass for our students to keep them closely united to Jesus The Good Shepherd. So a summer of freedom comes to an end but a school year of adventure and accomplishments begins!
May God bless all of the children and the families of our diverse and ever growing parish family. May Saint Joan of Arc always look over and protect us. Amen.
–Msgr. Michael D. McGraw
I am often asked why as Catholics we make such a big deal about the saints? This is an important question worth our reflection. I would like to offer the following thoughts in answer to this question. Literally, since the beginnings of Christianity in the first century C.E. (Common Era), Christians celebrated and sought to imitate the example of the great martyr saints like the apostles and other courageous witnesses to the faith. In the oldest Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, we name and pray to the martyrs Marcellinus, Ignatius,
Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha and Lucy. These martyrs were devoutly understood as surrounding and protecting the early Christians as they worshiped in the catacombs. Most importantly, the early martyrs defined what true faith was all about. One had to be ready to risk even ones life in testimony to the truth of new life in Jesus Christ. The famous saying about the martyrs captures this ideal “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church” Martyrs were venerated, celebrated in prayers, and their remains treasured as relics.
All you holy saints of God, hear our prayers.
-Msgr. Michael D. McGraw
Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order. The first
Carmelites were Christian hermits living on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land during the late 12th and early to mid-13th century. They built in the midst of their hermitages a chapel which they dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, whom they conceived of in monastic terms as the “Lady of the place.” Our Lady of Mount Carmel was also adopted in the 19th century as the patron saint of Chile, in South America.
A 1996 pastoral exhortation from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments states that “Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel is bound to the history and spiritual values of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and is expressed through the scapular. Thus, whoever receives the scapular becomes a member of the order and pledges him/herself to live according to its spirituality in accordance with the characteristics of his/her state in life.”
According to the Church on the Brown Scapular:
“The scapular is a Marian habit or garment. It is both a sign and pledge. A sign of belonging to Mary; a pledge of her motherly protection, not only in this life but after death. As a sign, it is a conventional sign signifying three elements strictly joined: first, belonging to a religious family particularly devoted to Mary, especially dear to Mary, the Carmelite Order; second, consecration to Mary, devotion to and trust in her Immaculate Heart; third, an urge to become like Mary by imitating her virtues, above all her humility, chastity, and spirit of prayer”.
Let’s us all remember and pray for our neighbor Carmelite friars at Saint Jude Church. They are an inspiration to us and models of devotion to Mary and to her virtues. May they always enjoy her assistance and love.
-Msgr. Michael D. McGraw
Now that school is out and the warmer weather has arrived in South Florida, it is time for most of us to head out on vacations. We are all looking to get out of the routines of our regular schedules and relax a little. There is nothing quite as refreshing to me as a day without the habits of scheduling and organizing everything. It seems just as healthy for human beings to break away from routines as it is to live within them. So, we pack up the car or get on the plane or ship and head out into the unknown that we anticipate with great enthusiasm! It is comforting to know that however far away from home our vacation travels may take us, God is always traveling with us. The beauty of God’s creation surrounds us and God’s loving concern is everywhere. We may even be able to pray together as a family “on the road”. New worship opportunities also present themselves and we can appreciate the unity but also the diversity that exists among Catholic churches throughout the country. Different homilists, different music and different church architecture can liven up summer worship and also make us more appreciative of our vibrant faith life back at Saint Joan of Arc. Extended time together as family also gives us the chance to connect at a deeper level and to really enjoy each others company. There is nothing like being trapped in a car, van, plane or train to create new opportunities for family sharing. It is hard to refrain from talking to others in the family when the alternative is silence or fights over the radio, stereo or video selections. New opportunities for compromises and shared decisions also emerge as decisions have to be made about where to eat or what movie to see. It’s probably also a good idea to spend some time together alone as parents or kids so that serious over-exposure is limited. Vacations are for us God-given down times and to be enjoyed to the max. God enjoys them as much as we do so let’s make sure God gets some good laughs this summer!
-Msgr. Michael D. McGraw
On July 4, we will celebrate our Independence Day. In addition to barbecues and family gatherings, it is a day during which we reflect on freedom and its responsibilities. We remember the cost of the Revolutionary War and the courage of the Patriots that risked so much for an ideal and a dream. The victory of the Revolutionary War and the break from England were only first steps in a in a
“serious enterprise” that ended with a Union, Constitution, Branches of Government and division of powers. We borrowed much from our “Mother Country” but also differentiated ourselves in very important ways. Without Monarchy or Parliament, the architects of our “Holy Experiment” placed much hope and responsibility upon the “common man” and upon a vision of a true democracy. Representative democracy has an inner optimism and commitment that human beings are free, responsible and capable of selfgovernance. The “freedom from” England was understood as a “freedom for” the creation of an entirely new way of governance and use of power and authority for the common good.
Today it is still very important that we remain committed to our Nation’s foundational goals and purposes. We have a “freedom from” many types of tyrants and abuses but we have not freed ourselves from racism, poverty, hostility toward immigrants and abuses against life such as war, abortion, capital punishment. Nor have we found our place as a leader of the free world without a dependence, however reluctantly, upon war and violence. We still have much work to do in order to use our “Freedom for” in the best way. May God grant us discernment and wisdom to do so.
An often quoted proverb reminds us that “those who are apathetic and uninvolved deserve the government they are subjected to”. May God continue to bless our great nation, keep us as a beacon of freedom and a torch for liberty.
-Msgr. Michael D. McGraw
When Jesus instituted the Eucharist during the Last Supper, . He took the sacred elements of bread and wine,
which were part of the Passover Meal and gave them a new significance and reality. The bread and wine would not only symbolize the miraculous feeding of the Hebrew people in the desert but now they would symbolize and become His saving presence. “This is my Body given up for you, This is my Blood poured out for you, Do this in remembrance of me”. Jesus Christ, Our Risen Lord is truly present to us in the totality of His being and in such a way as to be our saving and sanctifying food each time that we gather as His Body during the Mass.
The bread and wine transformed by the will of Christ and the ministry of the priest is God’s way of transforming us, too. When we are really present and receptive in mind, body and spirit at Mass, we become more perfectly the Body of Christ and continue His presence for the “salvation of the many”. Reverencing and receiving the real presence of the Lord in the Eucharist is our highest form of worship and the deepest experience possible of what it means for us to be “a new creation in Christ”. As this “new creation” we continue His mission and dedicate our lives to the furtherance of His Father’s Kingdom.
May God bless us all with a deeper experience of Jesus Christ’s transforming and sanctifying presence in the Holy Eucharist.
-Msgr. Michael D. McGraw