Filipino Families of Skokie

“The difference between the Gospel written and the lives of the saints is the same as the difference between music written on a page and music played out loud.” – Saint Augustine

Excerpt from the Holy Father’s meaasage for the World Mission Sunday, October 24, 2010:   

Dear friends, on this World Mission Sunday in which the heart’s gaze extends to the immense spaces of mission, let us all be protagonists of the Church’s commitment to proclaim the Gospel. The missionary impulse has always been a sign of vitality for our Churches (cf. Encyclical Letter, Redemptoris missio, n. 2), with their cooperation and their unique witness of unity, brotherhood and solidarity that gives credibility to heralds of the Love that saves!

I therefore renew to everyone the invitation to pray and, despite financial difficulties, to offer fraternal and concrete help to support the young Churches. This act of love and sharing, which the precious service of the Pontifical Missionary Societies to which I express my gratitude will see to allocating, will support the formation of priests, seminarians and catechists in the most distant mission lands and will encourage the young ecclesial communities.

At the end of this annual Message for World Mission Sunday, I would like with special affection to express my gratitude to missionaries who bear witness to the coming of the Kingdom of God in the most remote and challenging places, often with their lives. To them, who are in the vanguard of the Gospel’s proclamation, every believer offers friendship, closeness and support. May God who loves a cheerful giver (cf. 2 Cor 9: 7) fill them with spiritual fervour and deep joy.

Read the Holy Father’s  full message.

Organized by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the World Mission Sunday, is a day set aside for Catholics worlwide to recommit themselves to the Church’s missionary activity through prayer and sacrifice.

Your contributions to the Propagation of the Faith on World Mission Sunday and throughout the year help support pastoral and evangelizing programs, catechists and catechetical work, the building of churches and chapels, the work of religious communities in health care and education, and communication and transportation needs. Gifts provided on World Mission Sunday or at other times to the Propagation of the Faith help to ensure that the poor of the missions receive help and the hope that comes from knowing the love of Jesus Christ. The day-to-day service of the Catholic Church in the developing world depends on such financial help.

Missionaries can only do what you make possible! Please be generous on World Mission Sunday. Thank you!

article sources: www.vatican.va, http://archstl.org/missions/and www.drvc.org

photo source: http://archstl.org/missions/

If you have half an hour, try to watch this very nice and moving short film, From Above, an entry for the Faith Film Festival  posted by the netnewyork channel in YouTube.

Watch all the 10 Faith based films and vote!

About the Faith Film Festival

Faith Film Festival showcases films that inspire, give hope, and celebrate faith. We also want to give filmmakers a platform to present their work that features a positive message. the Faith Film Festival first season  will air in May, and submissions are now closed. But the call for entries for our second season will start again in June so grab your cameras and start…

About NET

NET is a new faith-centered cable TV network based in Brooklyn, New York. The heart base of our broadcast includes news, entertainment, children’s, and music, as well as religious programs. There are even programs in foreign languages. Today, while most television accentuate materialism, violence, sex, and sensationalism, NET brings viewers back to what really matters, family, fun, and faith in God. Have no fear, NET isn’t a cloistered channel of talking heads and sermons. It’s out on the streets of New York, visiting neighborhoods, talking to the diverse members of our community of faith — listening to the music and sampling the food. NET serves the young and old, the churched and unchurched, and men and women from different social, ethnic and religious backgrounds, showing how they work together to make our world a better place. It’s good TV!

This video is posted in the observance of  ”Respect Life Sunday”, October 3 from Rome Reports channel in Youtube:

At first glance, Emma Watson looks like the average 7-year-old. She has the curiosity and laughter of any other child her age. And she holds her moms hands with the same innocence of most kids.

But the story of Emmas life is anything but ordinary. She was born with half a heart. In her young life shes already had five open heart surgeries.

Patti Watson, Emmas Mom:
Her birth mother had wanted to have an abortion and decided to back out of that and decided to give her life. And now shes with our family, husband, a huge blessing to our family.

The Watsons leave Rome with a very special moment, one they call breathtaking and that gave them a sense of awe.

Emmas mom says her condition will continue to require special attention. But its evident that she already has two of the most important things a 7-year-old could ask for: love of a family and the gift of life.

-ROME REPORTS

“… but the young, brave wife decided not to abort, and the child was born…that woman was my mother and I was the child …” – Andrea Bocelli

If not because of his mother’s will, we may never hear Andrea’s beautiful songs. As we observe the Respect Life Sunday on October 3, let us reflect on these staggering facts about abortion from abortionno.org:

Worldwide, there are around 42 million abortion each year; 115,000 each day. 1.37 million in the US alone (1996) or roughly 37,000 per day. Based on these statistics, in the US alone an average of 1 baby is lost every 2.5 seconds.

37.4% of women who’s having abortion  identify themselves as Protestants, 31.3% as Catholics. And worst of all is the main reason why women have abortion. 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient).

Read the facts about abortion at abortionno.org. (Warning: abortionno.org uses graphic images and videos of abortion in there website.)

The song at the end says:

“…I want to live like this with the sun on my face, and I sing happily, gracefully. I want to live like this, with the air of the mountains, because this enchantment doesn’t cost anything…” - Translated by a supporter of “Whole Life”

An average of 70 babies were lost to abortion while you were watching this Sesame Street video. None of the 70 babies had a chance of listening to Andrea Bocelli’s lullaby to Elmo, nor had a chance of becoming an Andrea or an Elmo…

What to do?

Support our church-level programs that help the local Women’s Centers of Greater Chicagoland  (like the Baby Bottle Project starting October 2) and/or support the USCCB Por-life programs.

Please join us, parishioners of St. Lambert Parish in Skokie and devotees of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima starting the last week of September to first week of October, for a Novena to Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima, a celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and a procession in devotion to Our Lady of Fatima. This is a St. Lambert’s yearly event in observance of:

• The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary which falls on October 7
• The day of the last appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the three children, Lúcia Santos, Jacinta and Francisco Marto in Fatima, Portugal on October 13, 1917
• And October as the month of the Most Holy Rosary.

Please check our Events Calendar for an up-to-date schedule of this devotion.

Read about the true massage of Our Lady of Fatima

Read more about Heaven’s Peace Plan at Fatima.Org

Please continue to pray the Rosary everyday.