Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Fr. Chuck's Column, October 1, 2017

This coming Saturday, Oct. 7, has a couple of interesting things going on. First of all, we will have the annual BLESSING OF ANIMALS in the morning. Wednesday, Oct 4. is the actual feast of St. Francis of Assisi, but we always do this blessing on the Saturday closest to his feast. We get dogs and cats, and occasionally a guinea pig or a mouse. We have had police dogs, and even in the distant past a horse - or so I am told. It is a wonderful celebration, and I encourage all those with pets to come, and even if you do not have a pet you are most welcome to pray with us. 
Having recently completed a book discussion group on a book by Sr. Joan Chittister, “Two Dogs and a Parrot” subtitled “What Our Animal Friends Can Teach Us About Life,” I think this year’s blessing of pets will be more meaningful for me. Our four weeks of discussion about pets, and what the participants have received from their pets, and what they have learned about themselves and about life from their pets, will make this year’s blessing of pets a richer and more significant experience for me. God uses His creation, and especially the animals in our lives, to instruct us and help us experience positive instances of loyalty, of trust, of being needed, and especially the joy of companionship. So, I invite you to join us next Saturday for the Blessing of Animals. There are details elsewhere in this bulletin and on our parish website, www.staustin.org.
Next Saturday is also the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. This is historically an interesting feast, established by Pope Pius V in 1571 to commemorate a great naval victory of the Christian forces under Don Juan of Austria over the Ottoman (Muslim) naval forces that were planning to invade Europe. The Ottomans greatly outnumbered the Christians in men and in ships, but the Venetians had a secret weapon, a new kind of ship that basically was a gun platform. Thus, the Christians out-gunned the Turks and shot them to pieces. It was a terrible slaughter and something like 50,000 people lost their lives that day, with the Christians losing 17 ships and the Ottomans 137. It was a great victory for the Christians. Anyway, in the lead-up to the battle, Pope I had urged people all over Europe to pray the rosary to save Europe from the Muslim invasion. The Pope then attributed the surprising and overwhelming victory to the intercession of Mary, and established this Feast on the anniversary of the battle. 

Today we are unlikely to ask Mary’s help in conquering and slaughtering our enemies, though as a child in Catholic grade school we all prayed to Mary for the conversion of Russia. At least we had moved far enough to not want to kill our enemies but to convert them. Now we need to move further to learn how to live together on this one planet we have in mutual respect and harmony. Having just spent two weeks in a Muslim country (Morocco), I was impressed and grateful for their kind hospitality and welcome. I was also impressed by the public way they live out their religion in daily prayer. Their commitment to religious observance puts me to shame. Perhaps we make our religion too private and individual in the West, to the point of making it totally hidden and secret. In any case, there is plenty to contemplate this coming Saturday. It is good to reflect on all these things.   

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