Twilight Twitches

Dear Family,
On Thursday we will gather for our Thanksgiving Mass at 10:00. That’s the only Mass that day.

The word “thanks” and all the ways in which we use it... I enjoy going and looking at the source of words. "Thanks" finds roots in old Germanic use with the idea of "remembering fondly, thinking of with gratitude." That works for me.

The history lets us celebrate the idea that thanks has long been a part of our lives and activities. You know that there’s a sermon in here somewhere about how much more grateful we could be in our lives, but I’m going to try and resist that temptation.

Dear Family,
First, my thanks to Msgr. Michael Hippee, Fathers Pedro Lleo, Dennis Rausch, and of course Father Gary Wiesmann for pinch-hitting for me during my recent medical inconvenience. Thanks also to Annie for being the gracious guider who reached out to find and schedule the celebrants.

There is nothing worse than getting caught in a lengthy discussion of someone else’s medical adventures, so I’m not going to sweep you up into mine... (unless, of course, you really want to hear about it...) Suffice it to say, thanks to Dr. M. Angela Madden and the folks into whose orbits she pushed me, especially Dr. Alan Niederman and Dr. Ahmed Osman.

In two short paragraphs I already named eight people who touched my life and for whom I am grateful. As you well know, there are many more people backing them up. For a moment, I am at the center of this whirling care-community, all collaborating to keep me working.

Dear Family,
On the weekend of DECEMBER 6-8, throughout the Archdiocese of Miami will have our second WELCOME WEEKEND. Archbishop Wenski has challenged us to invite another person to come to our parish and parishes throughout the Archdiocese.

The intent of Welcome Weekend is simply to open the doors of the parish wide and encourage parishioners to personally invite others they know to “come and see” the Catholic Church for themselves, as their guest. These guests may be family members, extended family, friends, neighbors, or those “the world may consider ‘the least, the last, and the lost’.” They may be Catholics, drifted away Catholics, members of another church, or the rapidly increasing “nones.” (“Nones” are none-of-the-above.)

Dear Family,
Time seems to rush by. That means we are having fun, right? Well, if Oktoberfest is any measure, the word ‘fun’ is just right.

Saying thanks to all who made it possible isn’t something that’s obligatory. “Thanks” seems overwhelmingly inadequate, especially when little glitches raise their heads.

Our Brewmeister, the Keeper of the Kegs, Fred Schmid, had one of the challenges when he went to a lot of trouble to get an authentic Oktoberfest beer, only to discover it came with some mold. SO... necessity is the mother of invention and he quickly found another brew, which I thought was really good.