The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Celebrated every year on August 15th, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary commemorates the death of Mary and her bodily assumption into heaven, before her body could begin to decay — a foretaste of our own bodily resurrection at the end of time. Because it signifies the Blessed Virgin’s passing into eternal life, it is the most important of all Marian feasts. Because the Assumption falls on a Monday this year, the Feast is celebrated but it is not a holy day of obligation. Mass for the Assumption on Monday, August 15th, will be at 7:00 a.m.

Our Parish School Building

As the restoration of our School building continues, I will keep you up to date on our progress. In the meantime, our Annunziata Learning Center and Parish School of Religion have moved to Faris Hall on the lower level of Church. The children of our Learning Center will begin their new school year on Wednesday, August 24th, and our Parish School of Religion will begin on Sunday, September 11th. Our gratitude to Men’s Bible Study, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Cornerstone Women’s Bible Study, and A.A. for all their help and support!

Vicar for Strategic Planning for the Archdiocese of St. Louis

As we pray, and continue to live our Faith, and share the gift of the “Joy of the Gospel”, I wanted to share with you some reflections from Father Christopher Martin, whom the Archbishop asked to assist Him in the critical pastoral planning for our Archdiocese: “As we continue to journey through the ‘All Things New” strategic planning process, I can sense within myself, and I hear from others, a lot of anxiety. A lot of “what if this or that” conversations taking place tend to leave people feeling more anxious. The truth is we don’t know what the future will look like in our Archdiocese. Heck, you and I don’t know what tomorrow is going to look like.

Anxiety is one way to respond. Trust in God is the other.

Anxiety’s deadly spiritual relative is discouragement, which means to be disheartened — to have your heart taken out. Trust’s spiritual relative is encouragement — to have your heart placed within you. In the Old Testament, when the Israelites were journeying from Egypt to the Promised Land and encountering all sorts of obstacles along the way, they became anxious and discouraged. Joshua reminded them of where to place their hope: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:19)

The world is full of things the devil can use to rob us of peace and to increase anxiety and discouragement within us. So what should we do when we sense these things growing inside out hearts? We can heed the words and the admonition of St. Paul who writes:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)