{"id":7486,"date":"2020-11-07T12:00:55","date_gmt":"2020-11-07T17:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/?p=7486"},"modified":"2020-11-19T15:33:02","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T20:33:02","slug":"from-fr-tom-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/2020\/11\/07\/from-fr-tom-14\/","title":{"rendered":"From Fr. Tom!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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HOPEFULLY YOUR WEEK WAS HOLY AND BLESSED.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A few words about the Gospel passage for this Sunday. Imagine the bridesmaids leaving their homes to go and await the arrival of the bridegroom. The following conversation takes place among them:<\/div>\n
\u201cDo you think we need to take some extra oil?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy? The bridegroom will arrive at sunset anyway. That\u2019s what the program says.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBut what if he is delayed. Then we shall not have enough oil for the night?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cC\u2019mon! Why are you so negative? Why do you always complicate things? You want us to carry extra oil that we are not going to use? Why can\u2019t you see the bright side of things?\u201d \u201cYes, but you never know! Me, I am taking extra oil, just in case…”<\/div>\n
We know the rest of the story. The bridegroom is delayed, and the bridesmaids who took extra oil prove to be the wise ones. Wisdom here has little to do with personal intelligence or IQ. Wisdom is a choice \u2014 a choice to do all it takes to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. The foolish ones only hope for the best and do not prepare for the worst possibility.<\/div>\n
In the Parable, the bridegroom was delayed and arrived at midnight. Meanwhile, the five bridesmaids who took no extra oil had discovered that they were running short of oil, and they went to the village to get some more. While in the village, the procession left for the bridegroom\u2019s house. By the time they got the oil and found their way to the bridegroom\u2019s house, the party had started, and they were locked out. They must have gotten the shock of their lives when they called out, \u201cLORD, LORD, OPEN TO US!\u201d<\/strong> and heard the voice of the bridegroom, \u201cI DO NOT KNOW YOU.\u201d <\/strong><\/div>\n
Is Matthew\u2019s message to his fellow Christians still relevant to the Christians of our time? Very much so! As we draw close to the end of the liturgical year, the church, through the gospel, invites us to contemplate the end \u2013 the end of our lives, and the end of the world. The way to prepare for the end is not to live in fear and anxiety or to go after prophets and visionaries who claim to have access to God\u2019s secret calendar of how and when the world will end. Jesus told us that the Son of Man will come back on the Last Day to judge the living and the dead. How and when that will be, we do not know for sure. How then is the wise Christian to prepare for the end-times? Today\u2019s parable gives us the answer: The best way to prepare for the end is to follow the example of the wise virgins. The wise virgins took enough oil to keep their lamps burning. In the same way, we should engage and persevere in good works to keep our faith alive. This is the best way to make ourselves ready and prepared for the Lord\u2014no matter when the Lord chooses to come.<\/div>\n
Families of Parishes update<\/h5>\n
\u201cWe are wrapping up our fifth month since Archbishop Vigneron announced the move to Families of Parishes. Over these months, much work has been done to prepare and plan for this historic transition. Our Governance, Mission Direct, and Mission Support teams have been working diligently for the past several months to prepare proposals for new family leadership structures. Our missionaries have totally pivoted the focus of their work to support this transition. <\/em><\/div>\n
But it\u2019s not just about the hustle of these groups \u2014 this is spiritual work, Holy Spirit-led work. The structures of our parishes must be renewed not just for viability and sustainability, but so that they may be aligned with our shared mission: the work of a generation to unleash the Gospel in southeast Michigan. <\/em><\/div>\n
As Archbishop Vigneron reminded his priests in a meeting about Families of Parishes earlier this month, \u201cWe are doing all of this for the sake of becoming a local Church on mission.\u201d I ask for your continued prayers for our diocesan leaders and all those involved in this very important step in the life and mission of our local Church\u201d. <\/em><\/div>\n
Deacon Mike Houghton <\/em><\/div>\n
Director, Department of Missionary Strategic Planning<\/em><\/div>\n
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P. S. Our parish has been participating in the Vicariate monthly meetings. Recently, the parish staff and the leaders of our parish community have been asked to participate in a survey for the AOD to evaluate the weaknesses and strengths of our parish. On November 16th at 6 pm, we have planned a meeting with our \u201cMissionary Strategic Plan\u201d Missionary to discuss our hopes and concerns. At the beginning of Advent, we are supposed to know what Family of Parishes our Parish will be belong to.<\/span><\/div>\n

If you want to know more, please visit this website<\/div>\n
https:\/\/www.aod.org\/families-of-parishes<\/a><\/div>\n
May God bless us, our Diocese and Parish, on this, not easy, but needed journey of the transformation into the Family of Parishes.<\/div>\n
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CONGRATS TO KATIE AND DANIEL<\/strong><\/div>\n

I\u2019d like to share with you such joyful news. On Saturday, November 7th, Katie Morasso whom you know as a parishioner of St. Genevieve \u2013 St. Maurice parish, but also as the Youth Minister and Pastoral Assistant, got married to Daniel Cavitt. Together with Fr. Howard Vogan, and many distinguished guests, we had the privilege to be a part of their celebration.<\/div>\n
Dear Katie and Dan, we wish you both, a HAPPY, HOLY, and filled with God\u2019s Grace life. And of course, we promise our prayers to accompany you on your new life journey.<\/div>\n
P.S. Don\u2019t be surprised if in the next bulletin her name will be changed\u2014no more Katie Morasso, it will be Katie Cavitt. \ud83d\ude09<\/div>\n
You have a blessed week,<\/div>\n
Fr. Tom<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOPEFULLY YOUR WEEK WAS HOLY AND BLESSED. A few words about the Gospel passage for this Sunday. Imagine the bridesmaids leaving their homes to go and await the arrival of the bridegroom. The following conversation takes place among them: \u201cDo you think we need to take some extra oil?\u201d \u201cWhy? The bridegroom will arrive at sunset anyway. That\u2019s what the program says.\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fr-tom","ctfw-no-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7486"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7528,"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7486\/revisions\/7528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}