As I mentioned last weekend, today (Sunday) is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. He is one of the most well known saints because of his love for God’s creation as he is often portrayed with a wolf near him or with birds perched on his shoulders or in his hand. Our new statue of him, located between the west front entrance of the church and the rectory office entrance, shows his hands outstretched and opened, and I’m surprised I haven’t seen a bird laying in the palm of his hand yet or building a nest there (perhaps it’s too close to the ground). St. Francis was from a little town not far from Rome called Assisi, and if you’ve ever been there, it’s not hard to understand why he loved God’s creation, as the town is “perched” on the top of a hill and overlooks the cities & trees below. The buildings are made of stone and look like they’ve been there since the time of St. Francis himself. His father was a very wealthy man yet Francis wanted to live the simple life of a poor beggar so he renounced his earthly father (who once imprisoned his son in a very small space in their home for a very long time) in favor of his Heavenly Father. When we took a pilgrimage to Italy last year, we visited the tomb of St. Francis in Assisi & enjoyed the beautiful city on a hill. May Francis pray for us that we may someday share his joy and glory in God’s kingdom.
Some of the priests of the Diocese have a “Meet & Greet” with Bishop Malesic this week at St. Basil the Great church in Brecksville, with masks & social distancing of course. I look forward to meeting him (or at least seeing him) in person now that he has been installed as our new bishop. We are grateful to have this kind and gentle man with us and pray he may lead us together as a diocesan family.
Next Sunday, the well-known radio personality Trapper Jack, will be with us again to speak about Mary, God’s Messenger. We wanted him to come during this month of October which is dedicated to Our Lady. He will begin his presentation at 7pm in the church and this will also be live-streamed at that time (though you can watch it anytime on demand). He received a great response when he was here before so we look forward to the witness of his Catholic devotion to Mary.
Last weekend I asked everyone to join me in praying for a young man who was killed on his motorcycle directly in front of our school building a couple weeks ago. His father came to speak with me and I was grateful for the opportunity to express our sympathy to him on the tragic death of his son. His son’s name was TJ Cusick and was 24 years old. He was trying to warn his buddy on a motorcycle behind him about a bump in the road & that’s when he lost control of his own motorcycle which hit a tree. He was immediately unconscious and died at the hospital shortly thereafter. We will be offering a Mass for TJ in the future but I ask again that you keep and his father in your prayers, now that we know who he is. TJ was a Boy Scout who had earned all 4 of the religious patches, which is not frequently done. May he rest in God’s peace.