December 10, 2006

Dear friends in life and in ministry . . .

Advent in cycle C invites us to witness the work God is doing within our midst. My column witnesses to the beauty I've found in the people and events that colored my First week of Advent.

Due to a pretty full weekend, I'm getting this e-mail to you later than usual. It is Monday night and Pat and I just returned from seeing Apocolypta -the new Mel Gibson adventure story set in the jungles of the pre-Columbus Americas. Like the Passion of the Christ,this film features powerful and vivid, if extremely violent, imagery and story line and subtitled dialogue in an unintelligible native language. I liked the film primarily because of the stunning photography and driving native music. It should win an academy award for its extreme make-up and perhaps another for it minimal - yet innocently modest costuming. Today's generation of body pierced and tattooed teens have a way to go to match these folks.

Ray

P.S. In honor of Sunday's Bills win over the Jets, I'm including again the website link below. Campbell Soup has a promotion for each city with an NFL Franchise to help their local Food Pantries. Go into the website link below and vote for the team of your choice. For each vote, Campbell's will donated a can of soup to a local soup kitchen. Its a great way to help feed the hungry - and you can visit the site daily. Take 10 seconds and click a can of soup to a local soup kitchen.

http://www.chunky.com/clickforcans.aspx

Click image for printable column... (Adobe PDF file, plugin needed) (Click Here For Sent To Serve Archives)

Bulletin: December 10, 2006

December 10, 2006

ADVENT BEGINS WITH BEAUTY
The First Week of Advent came with a mix of prayerful activity and incredible beauty. The beauty included: our Church, tastefully decorated for the season, prayerful celebrations marking the beginning of the Advent Season (including the Rite of Acceptance of Catechumens and Candidates), and a beautiful Christmas CD from our choir.

A Beautiful Man
One beautiful part of my week was spending time with a good and faith-filled friend as his time on earth drew to a close. Everyone who knew Tom Madigan, loved him. His gentle, joyful countenance, his faithfulness to God, his family and this parish, and his willingness to give of his time and resources to those in need inspired many.  Even following a stroke that seriously effected him physically, Tom and his beautiful wife Janet continued their Communion ministry to the residents of the Taylor Health Facility. The word “fantastic” which Tom gave a primary place in his vocabulary during the last years of his life, will forever bring to mind fond memories of this man and his zest for life. We laid Tom to rest on Friday morning, but his memory will remain in my heart.

A Beautiful Baby
There was good news for Josh and Amanda Stuart (and grandma Lynn Snyder) on Monday as their daughter Lillian Elizabeth was discharged from the neo-natal intensive care unit of the Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira.
We’ve been praying for Lillian since her premature birth about three months ago.   At the time of her birth, she weighed only 1lb 5oz.  Now, as Lillian joins her sister Grace in their Corning home, she weighs in at a hefty 8 lbs.

Beautiful Music
The choirs new Christmas CD became available on the First Sunday of Advent.   One hundred copies were quickly purchased at the Sunday Coffee Hour.   Pat gifted me with a copy and it is terrific. Congratulations to Betty, Bill, Brad and the entire choir on a wonderful job. The CD will be available after Sunday Mass this weekend and throughout the week in the parish office. ($12 each or two for $20)

A Beautiful Evening of Prayer
Last Sunday’s Ecumenical Taize Prayer was the perfect beginning to the reflective Season of Advent.   Musicians and singers from St. Thomas Episcopal Church, First Presbyterian Church, Centenary United Methodist Church and St. Mary’s led a congregation of about 60 in song and scripture featuring beautiful melodies and lyrics. Since 1940 thousands of people have traveled to the international, ecumenical community of brothers founded by Brother Roger in Taize, France. Today, the community is made up of over a hundred Catholic and Protestant brothers from more than twenty-five nations. The evening was sponsored by the Bath Ministers Association.

Have a good week. Serve one another well.
Deacon Ray