Pastor’s Letter, August 11, 2019

Pastor’s Letter, August 11, 2019

9 Aug 2019 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear friend,

Happy Feast Day of St. Philomena on August 11! The body of St. Philomena was discovered on May 24, 1802 in the Catacombs in Rome. The tomb was marked with the words PAX TECUM FILUMENA, “Peace be to you, Philomena.” You can see the Latin and English translation on the wall in our church devotional candle area. The parents of St. Philomena were childless. Upon converting to Christianity, Philomena’s father, a Greek king, and her mother conceived Philomena with great joy. Her parents named her Philomena, meaning daughter of light, a birth they credited to their faith in God. St. Philomena was believed to be a princess who refused to marry the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Philomena made a vow of chastity at the age of 13. Her refusal to marry Diocletian flowed from her Christian faith, which resulted in her torture and martyrdom. Tradition holds that, prior to her beheading, several attempts were made to kill her. After scourging her, an anchor was tied to her and she was thrown into the sea. The anchor miraculously broke loose and she returned to the shore dry. Arrows were shot her direction before circling back and striking those who shot at her. Like many of the great saints, her time of death is noted on a Friday at 3pm, the time of the death of Jesus. Also in our candle area, you can see the anchor, arrows, and lilies. These are all signs of her martyrdom. Sometimes the exact details of the early Church saints are difficult to know. What we do know for sure, is that our world needs the intercession of saints living chastity and strictly dedicated to God. May St. Philomena guide and protect our young and encourage all of us to live our Catholic Christian faith.

St. Philomena is our Parish Patron Saint.  The Church assigns patron saints to give us heavenly role models. Every organization, trade, occupation, or person can entrust themselves to different saints for particular reasons. Our parish is entrusted to the intercession of St. Philomena by the Bishop naming her our patron. When children are born we entrust them to saints by giving them a saint name. At Confirmation, each student researches the saints to discover one that meets the desire of his or her heart. The Confirmation saint then becomes an intercessor and a life-long inspiration. We celebrate the saints not only because of their success and their prayers for us, but that we ourselves can become saints by imitating their holiness. St. Philomena, Pray for Us!

As a reminder, the Assumption of Mary on August 15 is a holy day of obligation. We will have the vigil Mass on Wednesday at 5:30pm, with Mass on Thursday, August 15 at 7am, 8am, and 5:30pm. The Assumption of Mary reminds us that Mary was preserved from earthly decay because of her extreme holiness. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. Sin has an effect on the body and spirit. The Assumption of Mary calls us to venerate her life, while praying for personal spiritual growth.

Brian Bastic, from Diocesan Publications, will be here the week of August 12. This is an annual visit from our bulletin publishing company as they seek to renew advertisements. If you have thought about advertising in the bulletin, call the Parish Office during the week or email us at parish@stphils.com. If you are a current advertiser, please expect a phone call to seek your renewal. The advertising allows us to produce a bulletin, free of charge to the parish.  Diocesan Publication does a great job with our publication. Rhonda has a good working relationship with the company. Thank you for your support.

God bless,

Father David