A couple weeks ago we celebrated the 86th birthday of Fr. Vesely. And in a couple more weeks, we’ll be celebrating his 60th Anniversary of Ordination to the Priesthood. So again, mark this date in your calendar: Sunday, December 7th, Father will be celebrating the Noon Mass, and this will be followed by a reception in Lux Hall. Many hors d’oeuvres will be served…enough to make a meal out of them. Please stop over and wish Father a Happy Anniversary and thank him again for being with us here at St. Leo’s. Out of all the parishes in the Diocese he could have chosen to live at, he chooses to live here with me! OK so he was here long before I arrived, but at least he hasn’t moved out yet! I am happy to have this brother priest around to give me company and to give Michaela plenty of scraps from the table.
As it usually happens, it’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is this Thursday (Mass will be at 9am). In my homily last weekend (which no doubt you will remember so clearly), I said that daily I think of how blessed I am to be at a parish with such wonderful parishioners, a gifted and hard-working staff, and children of our school who bring their own little light to the dreary days of winter. I said that I don’t tell you that often enough so let me use this Thanksgiving week to thank you for the blessing you are and assure you of my constant prayers for you.
I was able to have a little taste of Thanksgiving even a couple of weeks before the holiday…our junior high at the school made a Thanksgiving dinner which was distributed to the homebound. Some high school alumni students also helped distributed these meals. That’s a good reminder to us to keep in our thoughts those who cannot join us here in church for our weekly worship, but who are still very important members of our parish.
Speaking of important members of our parish, this Sunday I will be baptizing Malana Witsaman in our Catholic Faith after the Noon Mass. We welcome her and her parents and pledge to them our prayers.
Finally, it was two years ago this past Friday that I adopted Michaela. It was the day before Thanksgiving that year so I’m reminded of how our pets are also gifts we should be grateful for. She’s not only a pet but a security system, a food disposal system and a pretty good dust mop when she slides on our slippery floors. All for the price of one.