Bulletin for the week of November 22, 2009

RELIGIOUS WEB SITES

www.focusonthefamily.com (Focus on the family)

www.findinggod.org (Finding God)

Mission Intention for December

That children may be respected and loved and never be the victims of exploitation in any form.

ECUMENICAL CHOIR CONCERT: The 44th Annual Keeseville-Peru Ecumenical Choir Christmas Concert will have two performances: Saturday, December 12th, 7:30 PM at St. John the Baptist Church, Keeseville and Sunday, December 13th 7:30 PM at St. Augustine’s Church, Peru. Free Admission

CHRISTMAS MASS SCHEDULE

Christmas Eve, December 24

Children Hymns/Mass..............4:00 PM

Mass........................................8:00 PM

Christmas Day, December 25

Mass.......................................10:00 AM

CHRISTMAS HYMNS WITH CHILDREN: The children in Grades 1-5 who participate in the Religious Education Program on Thursdays will be invited to sing Christmas hymns before the 4:00 Mass on Christmas Eve. Practice will begin at the Parish Center on Thursday December 10th after the religion class and continue on December 17th. Parents whose child will participate are asked to pick up their child at 4:00 PM on those days.

ADVENT RETREAT FOR WOMEN: Waiting For God in Winter ~ A Retreat for Women at St. Peter’s Church December 11 – 13. To register and receive retreat details, call St. Peter Parish office at 563-1692.

CONGRATULATIONS!! According to a report from the Bishop’s Fund Office this week, the St. James Parishioners contributed $7,250 to this year’s Bishop’s Fund campaign. This was above our goal of $7,223. Your generosity is outstanding.

PLATTSBURGH CATHOLIC SCHOOLS: Seton Catholic and Seton Academy are collecting items for a Silent Auction on December 6th from Noon – 5 PM at the annual Christmas Dinner at Seton Catholic. Turkey dinner is: Adults $9, Seniors (55+) $8, Children 5-12 $5, under 5 yrs. FREE, take outs $9. There will also be a cash raffle with 1st prize of $1,000, wreath sale, and a visit from the Singing Santa from 1-3 pm. School clubs will collect toys & food for local families. Donation of any gift certificates or new items (minimum value $20) will be offered for sale. All proceeds benefit Seton Catholic and Seton Academy.

ANNUAL MARCH FOR LIFE: The 37th Annual March for Life to Washington, DC will be January 20-23, 2010. The all-inclusive cost is $125 per adult. For more information, or to get a registration form sent to you, please email: Father Timothy Canaan, rtim@broadstreetcatholics.org All registrations along with payment must be submitted no latter than December 30, 2009.

GIVING TREE: Your gifts will need to be under the Giving Tree at the end of Masses on December 13.

HOLIDAY BRUNCH: The Ladies of St. James Annual Holiday Brunch will be held at the St. James Parish Center next Sunday, December 6th, after the 10:00 AM Mass catered by Jeff and Judy Layhee. A sign up sheet is available at the entrance to the Church. Members of the Ladies of St. James are reminded to bring two unwrapped items for the silent auction to be held as part of the Holiday Brunch,

CHRISTMAS FLOWERS COLLECTION: You will find envelopes at the entrance of the church for donations for Christmas flowers and decorations. Place the envelopes with your contribution in the collection basket.

AT HOME WITH OUR FAITH: The December monthly newsletter AT HOME WITH OUR FAITH is available at the entrance to the church. More family activities can be found at www.homefaith.com.

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION: The true body of Christ our Redeemer and Lord is in this sacrament. (St. Francis Xavier). Eucharistic Adoration is held throughout the year every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 6 am to 9 pm at St. John’s Church Adoration Chapel, downstairs. Everyone is invited to spend some quiet time with Jesus anytime during these hours.

MARRIAGE TIP: Before God and spouse we stand naked. There is no use hiding or pretending that we are something that we are not. Is there any pretense or baggage that I bring to my marriage that I need to let go of? Find more Marriage Rx at www.foryourmarriage.org

EXTEND AN INVITATION: Advent is a time of hope. Someone is hopeful in becoming Catholic – waiting for an invitation. A Catholic who has fallen away from practicing the faith is hopeful someone will extend a welcome to “Come Home.” Is God calling you to reach out to the hopeful? Remember, all are welcome in Christ. An informative web site for a seeking or returning person is www.OnceCatholic.org..

Bulletin for the week of November 1, 2009

Mission Intention for November

That all men and women in the world, especially those who have responsibilities in the field of politics and economics, may never fail in their committment to safeguard creation.

AT HOME WITH OUR FAITH: Through the generosity of the Knights of Columbus Council 6067 families in St. James Parish can nurture family spirituality with the monthly AT HOME WITH OUR FAITH newsletter. Each issue is on a different focus. It has spiritual activities for parents and children at all age levels on that theme. The November issue is now at the entrance to the church. More family activities can be found at www.homefaith.com.

CALENDARS: The 2010 St. James Parish Catholic Family Appointment calendar is available at the entrance to the church. The illustrations and reflections are based on Stewardship as a way of life. God created us in His divine image to be collaborators in the world. Life, as God’s loving gift, is to be treasured, protected, and nourished.

THROUGH DEATH TO LIFE: We pray during the month of November for our brothers and sisters whose bodies lie in rest. They have passed from death to life in company with the Lord Jesus, who died and rose to new life. They are purified now of their faults. We pray that God may welcome them among the saints in heaven. The 8:30 AM Mass on Monday, All Souls Day is in honor of all who have had a funeral Mass at St. James, or have been buried in St. James Cemetery since November 1, 2008. Those specially remembered at this Mass are:

Leonard Frenyea

Roy Rabideau

Yvonne Grigware

Salvatore Contini

Steven Baxter

Clarence Delaney

Edward Sullivan, Sr.

John Rodriguez

Doris Carter

June Perry

Ruth Nelson

Evelyn Bickford

Sharron Sample

Rosemarie Coryer

Robert Ducatte

Elizabeth LaVarnway

Brenda Goddeau

Oswald Mike Perry

PRAYER FOR VISITING A CEMETERY IN NOVEMBER

During the month of November we are invited to remember our brothers and sisters who have gone to their rest. This month, especially All Souls Day, Monday, November 2nd, is a traditional time for visiting graves of loved ones, as is the anniversary of death. The following prayer could be prayed as you visit a grave in the cemetery.

All-powerful God,

whose mercy is never withheld

from those who call upon you in hope,

look kindly on your servants

who departed this life confessing your name,

and number them among your saints for ever more.

May their souls and the souls of the faithful departed,

through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION: The saints in heaven live in perpetual adoration, because their joy is derived from eternal contemplation. (The Holy Eucharist, J. G. Trevino) Eucharistic Adoration is held throughout the year every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 6 am to 9 pm at St. John’s Church Adoration Chapel, downstairs. Everyone is invited to spend some quiet time with Jesus anytime during these hours.

MARRIAGE TIP: To learn how to help your partner save face when proven wrong, start with not "proving" your partner wrong. Find a kernel of truth or wisdom in your spouse's position. Find more Marriage Rx atwww.foryourmarriage.org

HOUSE OF PRAYER: Our Lady of the Adirondacks House of Prayer, Ellenburg Center, is showing the 2007 motion picture, The Nativity Story, on Saturday, November 14, at 12:30 p.m. This is a dramatic and compelling film that traces the perilous journey of Mary and Joseph through her miraculous pregnancy and the history-defining birth of Jesus. RSVP by November 12th to 518-594-3253. Snacks provided.

YEAR OF THE PRIESTS: To celebrate the Year for Priests in a special way, it would be inspiring to hear how our priests have touched so many lives in their service to the people of God. We would like to hear your story of your own warm memories or positive experiences with a particular priest who may have inspired your life. By the end of the Year for Priests these stories will be compiled in a Diocesan booklet called the Stories of the Priests in the North Country. Stories of the priests may be at any length to be placed on the Diocesan webpage. Stories placed in the Diocesan booklet will be edited to no more than 100 words. If you have a story to share, please e-mail your story to Sister Mary Eamon Lyngelyng@dioogdensburg.org.

Homily for the week of November 1, 2009

ALL SAINTS DAY, 2009

Every 7 years All Saints Day comes on a weekend like this one. On this all Saints Day we are reminded of our connection with a great crowd of believers of every age and generation who have been called holy persons and who have been given the name of saint. They show us ways of responding to God and Jesus that we would never think of by ourselves. Their single minded focus on the will of God shows us parts of ourselves that we haven't had the nerve to look at.

The feast of All Saints also provides us an annual reminder that there are many more saints in heaven than the relatively few who have been officially recognized by the church. For every St. Francis of Assisi or St. Rose of Lima there are thousands of unknown and long forgotten mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles, cousins, friends, neighbors, co-workers, nurses, teachers, manual laborers, and other individuals in various kinds of occupations who lived holy lives that were consistent with the values of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I often met persons, who, perhaps jokingly say there is no way I’ll become a saint. Many people think there is no way they can become a saint. They are not Mother Teresa nor do they want to be Mother Teresa. They do not want to spend a life of poverty caring for the destitute. Many admire St. Francis of Assisi, but at the same time they do not want to or are not able to renounce all earthly goods in order to live a life of austerity.

The feast of All Saints began as a way to honor those who died because of their religion. Then it was extended to all those people who live with God in heaven yet do not have a special ''saint's day'' on the calendar.

Not every saint lived a life of complete faithfulness and holiness. In fact, some did not acknowledge God until the moment of death, such as the prisoner who died on the cross with Jesus and simply asked that Jesus would remember him. Though he was a sinner he still possessed a faith that recognized holiness when he saw it.

The saints were ordinary persons who gave God the chance to form them into his own likeness.

Some of them were women and some were men

Some were teachers, spiritual directors and heads of religious orders

Some were teenagers

Some were peace workers, journalists, farmers, human rights activists

Some were labor organizers, baby sitters, athletes, scientists

Some were married, some single, some were priests, nuns and brothers

Some died young and some died old

Some have the word Saint in front of their name like Elizabeth Seton, and others don’t like Dorothy Day, Mahandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Oscar Romero, Teresa of Calcutta. Some of them, as mentioned in our reading today from the book of Revelation, have washed their robes in the blood of Lamb because they lost their life because they refuse to follow the crowd, and some did not. Saints are like us, ordinary persons, who tried to live as they thought God wanted them to live.

I just finished reading a list of 9 ways by which Jesus tells us we can be happy. They ways are called the Beatitudes. The beatitudes give us a blueprint for living right. Saints are persons who took the beatitudes seriously. And because of this all saints have been poor in spirit, merciful, and peacemakers. Through the beatitudes Jesus issued a Bill of Rights for those who would follow him and want to be holy.

All Saints day is also a day when we celebrate the union we have with all the saints in heaven and on earth. All of us were made a saint at our Baptism. Being a saint is not so much something for us to gain, but it is something for us to lose. Trying to live as God wants us does not isolate us from hardship, but it can make us happy.

The Catholic Church has an important tradition of honoring men and women whose holy life has been and inspiration to others. These are the official saints of the Catholic Church, and there are hundreds of them. At our Baptism our parents gave each of us a name. Often this name relates to a member of our family by that name, but our name also relates to a person whom the Catholic Church has declared a saint. That is known as our patron saint. On this All Saints day find out a little more about your patron saint and let that saint be a model for your life. Those of you with young children can tell your children the story of the life of their patron saint and why you gave them this name. Tell them the story of your patron saint.

Also, take one of the beatitudes which you feel you live out fairly well, and then continue to live it out in your life. Then, consider the beatitude which you find has been the most difficult for you to live out. With all honesty, promise yourself today that you will give it a try.

In memory of today personally talk to God and tell God that he can

USE YOU to tell the poor you love them.

USE YOU to light the darkness of despair.

USE YOU to breathe a gentle word of peace.

USE YOU to show someone that you love them.