Redeemer Revelations

A Church Open to Everyone

We pray for the Church; ever faithful to, and courageous in preaching the Gospel, may the Church be a community of solidarity, fraternity and welcome, always living in an atmosphere of synodality.

The Franciscan Crown Rosary, also known as the Seraphic Rosary, is a seven-decade rosary that recounts the Seven Joys of Mary. This makes it a great devotion to pray through the month of October (the month of the rosary) on those days of the week where one might normally pray the Joyful Mysteries of a Dominican rosary (Mondays and Saturdays).

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Franciscan rosary dates back to 1422 when a young novice Franciscan decided to leave the Order because he could not afford to adorn a statue of Mary with fresh flowers, as had been his custom. The legend continues that Mary appeared to him and prevented him from leaving the Order. She prescribed him a daily a rosary of seven decades in honour of her seven joys, he might weave a crown that would be more pleasing to her than the flowers he had been giving her. From that time the practice of reciting the crown of the seven joys became general in the order.

If you are interested in learning how to pray the Franciscan rosary, you can read more here. If you would like to purchase a crown rosary, they can easily be acquired online here.

1 St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus (Memorial)

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4 St. Francis of Assisi (Memorial)

5 St. Faustina Kowalska (Memorial)

6 Bl. Marie-Rose Durocher (Memorial) and St. Bruno (Memorial)

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10 Thanksgiving Day

11 St. John XXIII (Memorial)

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14 St. Callistus I (Memorial)

15 St. Teresa of Jesus (Memorial)

16 World Food Day

17 St. Ignatius of Antioch (Memorial)

18 St. Luke (Feast)

19 St. Paul of the Cross (Memorial)

20 St. Hedwig (Memorial) and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (Memorial)

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22 St. John Paul II (Memorial)

23 World Mission Sunday

24 St. Anthony Mary Claret (Memorial)

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28 St. Simon and St. Jude (Feast)

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31 All Hallows Eve

• For Catholic Education: That our Blessed Mother may wrap all children in her mantle of love and bring them ever closer to her Son, we pray to the Lord.

• For Catholic Education: That gratitude be our way of living and being in this world, we give thanks to the Lord.

• For Catholic Education: that the love of the Rosary and devotion to the Virgin Mary may thrive within our Catholic schools, we pray to the Lord.

• For Catholic Education: That our Catholic schools may be blessed with courage and energy to continue to live out their invaluable role in our society, we pray to the Lord.

• For Catholic Education: That our Catholic schools may be inspired by the example of the many great saints who have gone before them and who intercede for them, we pray to the Lord.

Last month our pastoral formation focused on seeing each other as the image and likeness of God. There is no more fundamental an act of pastoral care than to make sure that those created in the image and likeness of God have food to eat, and are shown the dignity and respect that is their due. Christ tells us that whatever we do to the least, we do to Him. (Matthew 25:31-46)

The Diocese of Calgary is restarting the Feed The Hungry program and, with rising costs, needs your help. Feed the Hungry offers a family-style, sit down dinner each Sunday in an atmosphere of community, warmth, safety, dignity & respect. Feed the Hungry has been providing curbside-pickup food and care packages to 300-400 guests every Sunday since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, and on October 9, 2022, will resume a sit-down dinner for guests and provide a hot meal to those most in need.

The cost per dinner is around $6500, and CTR Catholic has historically sponsored a meal. Please consider contributing to this cause by clicking on the button above and making a tax deductible donation. Make sure to select CTR - Feed The Hungry as the Fund Destination.

For more information about the Feed the Hungry program, please visit the diocesan website here, and please consider volunteering your time to this worthy charity.

It is interesting that at the end of this month North Americans will revel in ghouls and ghosts and monsters that strike fear into humanity. If we take a look at those horrors, those most terrifying tend to be the corrupted souls that are transformed into some other creature. The vampire, the werewolf, the zombie; these all share the common feature of a human becoming a solitary predator of their own kind. The true terror for a human is permanent isolation from their own kind, which is why solitary confinement is such a terrible form of imprisonment. The family, contrary to popular opinion, is the fundamental unit of humanity, not the individual.

This human reality is seen readily in the natural way that humans consume food; together, and typically with those whom they share intimate ties. Stanford Medicine has published this article that relates just how important sharing a meal with one's family is. This familial sharing is extended to social customs of hospitality where food is offered to those who come to one's home, or even something as simple as eating over at a friend's house. Think back to the feelings that ran through you when you first ate over with a friend's family. It may have felt awkward because of the degree of human intimacy that sharing a meal actually is. Odds are good though that you also had a really good time as these occasions are also prime for that laughter we mentioned last month.

Humans share food because of the type of animal we are, conformist herd animals, and sharing large amounts of one's food is seen as magnanimous, whereas hoarding food for oneself is typically looked down upon; in most cultures anyway. The sharing of food is also a major component of human religious practices, as they form community in emulation of the family. The Eucharist, and the agape meal of early Christianity, are the very epitome of this.

What does it say to someone when I eat with them? It says that I value them enough to share what gives life, and myself, with them. It is so crucial, then, that teachers eat with their students; at least some of the time. While there is a great desire to have that time off the clock, to eat with my colleagues and friends (certainly not a bad thing), there is something to be said for seeking out opportunities to eat with our students. It doesn't have to happen every day, but it should happen with some frequency. Eating with our students lets them connect with us on the most basic of human levels. It tells them that you value them, beyond teaching them. That you take an interest in them, their culture, their home life, and quite literally the tastes that fuel their drives. It allows the teacher to model the faith; praying before eating, making sure everyone has something to eat, and show their joy in the bounty of creation.

Enjoying good food, and drink, and time together is a significant component of the abundance of human life that we have received through Christ.

St. Francis of Assisi

Franciscan Order, animals, merchants, ecology, stowaways, Naga, Cebu, General Trias, Cavite, and Italy

Feast Day: October 4

Francis of Assisi was a poor little man who astounded and inspired the Church by taking the gospel literally by actually following all that Jesus said and did, joyfully, without limit, and without a sense of self-importance.

Serious illness brought the young Francis to see the emptiness of his youth. Prayer led him to a self-emptying like that of Christ, climaxed by embracing a leper he met on the road. From the cross in the neglected field-chapel of San Damiano, Christ told him, “Francis, go out and build up my house, for it is nearly falling down.” Francis became the totally poor and humble workman. He gave up all his possessions, piling even his clothes before his earthly father so that he would be totally free to say, “Our Father in heaven.” He was, for a time, considered to be a religious fanatic, but genuineness will tell. A few people began to realise that he really believed what Jesus said: “Announce the kingdom! Possess no gold or silver or copper in your purses, no travelling bag, no sandals, no staff” (Luke 9:1-3).

He had no intention of founding an order, but once it began he protected it and supported it. His devotion and loyalty to the Church were absolute and highly exemplary at a time when various movements tended to break the Church’s unity. Francis favoured a life of active preaching, but always returned to solitude when he could. He wanted to be a missionary in Syria or in Africa, but was prevented by shipwreck and illness in both cases. He did try to convert the sultan of Egypt during the Fifth Crusade.

During the last years of his relatively short life, he died at 44, Francis was half blind and seriously ill. Two years before his death he received the stigmata, the real and painful wounds of Christ in his hands, feet and side. On his deathbed, Francis sang Psalm 141, and at the end asked his superior’s permission to have his clothes removed when the last hour came in order that he could expire lying naked on the earth, in imitation of his Lord.

Source: Adapted from Franciscan Media (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-francis-of-assisi)

Gratitude is the foundation of all Christian morality. Christians do not undertake good actions to earn their way into heaven. On the contrary, it is the grace of God alone that saves humanity. That outpouring of unconditional love is what wipes away our sin, bestows us with the faith we need in Jesus Christ, and fills us with His Holy Spirit to do His will. We are good, that is moral, out of gratitude for this great gift. We conform our lives to Christ to say "thank you" for the conforming of His own life to ours (see last month's newsletter). In fact, our greatest sacrament, the Eucharist, is quite literally the perfect thank you. The Greek word εὐχαριστία (eucharistia) arises from the prefix eu- (good, well, genuine, valid) combined with the root charis (grace); itself the root of "gratitude". The source and summit of sacramental Christian faith is the very best "thank you" that we can give God. To receive it we are to be with out mortal sin, since all of our own attempts at a "thank you" (that is to say our good works) need to be on the mark. Christians have been practising this for over two millennia, and naturally a predisposition of gratitude toward God will result in a greater likelihood of trusting God; that is, faith.

Lately, there has been a sort of gratitude movement in North American society, orienting oneself in gratitude. Social media is rife with memes, "Gratitude is the best attitude" or "Grateful, Thankful, Blessed", to exemplify a couple, all without a sniff of to whom such gratitude ought to be offered. It actually comes off a bit hollow not to suggest that this sense of universal gratitude ought to be targeted toward God. In academic research, particularly in psychology and sociology, work has been going on for over a decade on the effects and impacts of gratitude. An example of such work can be seen in this article from the Berkeley University Greater Good Science Center that shares the impact that acts of gratitude can have on one's brain. In addition to combating some forms of anxiety and depression, repeated expressions of gratitude were found to alter brain function toward being more sensitive toward gratitude in the future; a positive reinforcement.

This, of course, is what Christianity has been practising all along; weekly reception of gratitude in its highest form, and then living it out throughout the week, only to come back for a recharge the next Sunday. Positive reinforcement. It should be no surprise then that pre-pandemic research pointed to better mental health, and general health, among regular churchgoers. This same demographic reported the least decline in mental heath during the pandemic.

Receiving the Eucharist regularly, that perfect gratitude toward God, and then living out one's life in thanksgiving for the salvation that has been afforded to us, is an essential component of faith formation. Go every week, and if it's been a while since you've gone, start to come back. Apparently you may become happier for it, or so the science says.

Christ The Redeemer (CTR) Catholic Schools operates in seven communities throughout the province of Alberta providing authentic Catholic education to students in fifteen traditional schools, four outreach schools and one distance education school.

Email: ggay@redeemer.ab.ca
Website: redeemer.ab.ca
Location: 23 Riverside Drive, Okotoks, AB, Canada
Phone: 403-938-2659
Facebook: facebook.com/CTRcatholic
Twitter: @ChristRedeemer1