Entries for July 2024

Dear Parishioners:

Every year, parishes within the archdiocese are asked to report on the spiritual and financial welfare of the parish. I also would like to report to you how Annunziata fulfilled its ministry this past year. This week I would like to share with you what has occurred sacramentally in our parish and in the next few weeks on our financial activities.

To begin with, Annunziata parish is blessed with members who care for each other and strive for holiness in their lives. This is evident in how you speak about each other and your concern for each other’s welfare.

Daily the Eucharist is celebrated here at Annunziata. Regularly, 30-40 people attend our 7:00 AM Liturgy. The Mass is our greatest prayer act; you might consider attending a daily Mass. Also, Eucharistic devotion occurs daily in our church.

Likewise, the rosary is recited daily and Marian Perpetual Help devotions occur every Tuesday.

This year our community was blessed and enriched through the following sacraments:

Baptism: 32 children and 1 adult entered into our faith community through the words spoken and the sacramental symbol of water; also, 1 new member entered our Church through reception at the Easter Vigil.

Communion: 16 children received the Eucharist for the first time this past year.

Confirmation: 29 eighth-grade students and 2 adults entered into full communion through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Matrimony: 9 couples exchanged their vows with each other and received God’s blessing as they celebrated their love and commitment to each other. The fidelity of a married couple is a wonderful reminder of God’s loving relationship with us.

The sacraments of Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick are available daily. Confession is heard during the week and again on Saturday before the 5 PM liturgy. Anointing of the sick takes place at special services and when requested.

Our parish was also honored to have celebrated the Funeral Liturgies for 22 members of our community.

Our parish PSR also provided religious education for over 100 students from our parish. We likewise provide religious education and sacramental celebrations for the students at our Learning Center.

As you can see, our parish is blessed with many gifts and a vibrant faith. Let us continue to be good stewards of our Time, Talent, and Treasure as we support each other on our faith journey. Anyone interested in being a minister here at the Church of the Annunziata should contact the parish office. We have much to thank the Lord and each other for; let us continue to pray for one another.

Blessings!

Msgr. John Shamleffer

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Dear Parishioners:

A couple years ago when I was the Pastor at St Gabriel the Archangel we held this exhibit by Carlo Acutis: The Eucharistic Miracles of the World.  Its purpose was to foster eucharistic adoration.  I appreciate all of our parishioners who regularly make visits before the Blessed Sacrament; your prayers are a gift to our community.

Last week Pope Francis declared Carlo the first millennium saint.   Carlo was a 15-year-old Italian web designer is set to become the Catholic Church's first saint from the millennial generation. Last week, in a ceremony called an Ordinary Public Consistory, Pope Francis and the cardinals residing in Rome formally approved the canonization of Carlo Acutis, along with 14 others. No specific date has been set for the canonization of Acutis, who was dubbed "God's Influencer" for his work spreading Catholicism online, but he's likely to be proclaimed a saint in 2025.

Acutis was born to wealthy Italian parents in London in 1991, but the family moved to northern Italy shortly after his birth. His family have said he was a pious child, asking at the age of 7 to receive the first communion.

He went on to attend church and receive communion every day. As he grew older, he became interested in computers and the internet, creating a website on which he catalogued church-approved miracles and appearances of the Virgin Mary throughout history.

According to the Vatican, Acutis was "welcoming and caring towards the poorest, and he helped the homeless, the needy, and immigrants with the money he saved from his weekly allowance." 

He reportedly used his first savings to buy a sleeping bag for a homeless man he often met on his way to mass.  

Acutis died in October 2006 at the age of 15 in Monza, Italy, of leukemia. Some of the city's poorest residents, whom Acutis had helped, turned out to pay their respects to the teenager at his funeral. 

His body lies in an open tomb in Assisi, in central Italy, wearing blue jeans and Nike sneakers.

"I am happy to die because I lived my life without wasting even a minute of it on anything unpleasing to God," Acutis was quoted as saying before he died.

Pope Francis declared Acutis "blessed" in October of 2020, after a miracle attributed to him was approved by the church. That miracle was a young boy in Brazil who was healed of a deadly pancreatic disease after he and his mother prayed to a relic of Acutis.  A second miracle was recently recognized opening the way to Carlo’s declaration as the first millennium saint.

God Bless,

Msgr John Shamleffer

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Dear Parishioners:

As we have entered into summer time here at Annunziata we have less meetings, no school, and hopefully more time for prayer or maybe to attend a daily mass or Eucharistic Adoration. With that in mind I have shared a reflection on the Lord’s Prayer.

It is so good to reflect upon the prayer Jesus taught us, so that we'll be less likely the "babble on" this Sunday when we recite his prayer together, in common. Even powerful words can become so automatic, that they can lose quite a bit of their power. For example, we should say, "I love you" to everyone we really love, every day. But, we have to say those three simple words, knowing what they mean and letting that meaning come from my heart to the person I love.

Abba. Jesus begins by urging us to be tender in our address to God. We may have difficulties with the word "Father" (whatever issues we might have with "paternalism" or painful experiences of our own absent or difficult father), but Jesus uses the word, Abba, which shocked his listeners for its intimacy. It is an affectionate address, closer to "Papa." It is such an act of "community" to begin with the words "Our Abba." Jesus shows us we are never alone before the God and Father of us all.

May your name be holy. I so want to give you the honor, the praise, the reverence you deserve as the one who made me and sustains me in life. Your Spirit is Holiness itself. From your sanctifying Spirit all holiness comes. By your grace, may I be able to bless your holy name today.

May your Kingdom come. All that I am and whatever I do, including all my choices and relationships are about how your Kingdom, your reign, might come into this world. May your transforming presence fill our world until it is all what you desire it to be. May I be a part of that this day.

May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. And, let me not live today in some "world" that is separated from you and from your desires for me and for others. Free our world from greed and lust for power that is the root of conflict and division, and which leads to all injustice and the indignities against human life itself.

Give us this day our daily bread. I need your nourishment each and every day. I don't need the bread of a celebration each day, but I do need daily bread. Let Jesus be bread - bread that gives life. Continue to nourish us all and sustain us in times that feel like famine.

Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Now I'm going to be bold and ask you to forgive us all. And let us all forgive anyone who has sinned against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us. Protect us from all the traps that are out there for us every day - the ones that surprise us, but also the familiar ones we fall into because they've become a part of our patterns. We beg your deliverance and freedom today.

God Bless!

Msgr John Shamleffer

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Dear Parishioners:

I pray that this summer time is one of relaxation and recreation of body, mind and soul.  As we celebrated our Independence and freedom past this week I offer you this Independence Day prayer.

We lift up our hearts, O God, on this day of celebration in gratitude for the gift of being Americans.

We rejoice with all those who share in the great dream of freedom and dignity for all.  With flags and feasting, with family and friends, we salute those who have sacrificed that we might have the opportunity to bring to fulfillment our many God-given gifts.

As we deny all prejudice a place in our hearts, may we also clearly declare our intention to work for the time when all people, regardless of race, religion or sex, will be granted equal dignity and worth.

Come, O gracious God, who led your children Israel from slavery, keep us free from all that might hold us in bondage.

Bless our country and join our simple celebration that we may praise you, our source of freedom, the One in whom we place our trust.

God Bless!

Msgr. John Shamleffer

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