My Dear Friends:
Today the Universal Church gathers to celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. It puts a fitting and definitive punctuation on the liturgical year as we declare with one voice that Christ is indeed the King of the Universe. This solemnity is a challenge for each of us as we ask ourselves: “Is Christ truly the king of my heart and of every facet of my life?” Close to a century ago, Pope Pius XI instituted the Solemnity of Christ the King to counteract growing secularism in the world. We look around us and see that things have not changed much. Secularism continues to be the main ideology prevalent throughout the world with all of its many branches, and God no longer occupies his rightful throne in the human heart. Aside from asking our ourselves the question of the kingship of Christ in our lives, we must also use this day to pray for Christ to be enthroned again above everything on this earth. Humanity must turn to him who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” for when Christ ceases to be the center of our lives and the true King of our lives, then things truly start to come apart. May Christ reign always in our hearts, our family, our homes, and our Church, and may our voices join those courageous martyrs who died yelling, “Viva Cristo, Rey!”
This week we also celebrate our annual Parish Fair. It is a wonderful opportunity to gather together to build community, catch up with old friends, and meet new ones. Our Fair Committee has been hard at work to plan a memorable fair especially for our children. There is a wealth of information on the website: parishfair.org. There you can buy ride bracelets for the kids (pre-sale for discounted bracelets ends this coming Tuesday, November 28th!), buy VIP parking passes so you can have a reserved parking spot, buy food tickets (also discounted during presale), and buy tickets for our digital raffle with all sorts of great prizes! This year we will also have a Christmas Marketplace in our fair with all sorts of creative Christmas items to purchase. You can find more information about our Fair on page 7 of the bulletin.
Finally, as we conclude Thanksgiving Weekend, I want to thank all our parishioners who have already made a pledge to our Centennial Campaign. Thanks to you, we have already passed the halfway mark of our goal less than two months after launching this campaign publicly. This was accomplished in no small part to the generosity of one of our families who this month pledged $1 million to the Centennial Campaign. When they informed Sister Rosalie and I of this extraordinary gift, the two of us were moved beyond words. And we know that the generosity of our parishioners and school families will shine during this season of giving. This coming Tuesday is Giving Tuesday throughout our country. I encourage you to not only make your pledge on this Giving Tuesday, but to share our social media posts on Giving Tuesday on your Instagram and Facebook accounts so that others may contribute to the work of the gospel of our parish and school. Together we will meet our campaign goal and the new century of Church of the Little Flower and St. Theresa School will find us forever grateful for the generosity of this extraordinary community.
God bless you all,
