Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: November 07, 2018
Thanksgiving is drawing near. I hope you and your family already have plans for a wonderful Thanksgiving week. But of course don’t wait until you say grace on that Thursday – November 22 this year – to begin telling God how grateful you are for His bounty. In particular I hope you can come here to the Cathedral the day before Thanksgiving: to give everyone more “holiday sleeping & cooking time” on Thursday morning, we’ll again celebrate our Thanksgiving with a special “Thanksgiving Vigil Mass” at 5 pm on Wednesday, November 21.
A favorite part of our “Thanksgiving Vigil Mass” is something YOU do: bring your bread and wine! As part of the Mass I’ll offer a special blessing over the loaves of bread and bottles of wine which YOU will be sharing as part of your family’s Thanksgiving feast. (It also makes a nice display during that Mass, since we typically get all sorts of breads and other baked goods in all shapes and sizes!) So bring along your loaves and rolls, cookies and cakes, baguettes, boules, buns and bagels – and bottles!
As a Parish we are thankful for a lot, both obvious and hidden. Externally, we’re thankful that over the past year – finally! – the final repair and replacement of the side chapel ceilings of the Cathedral was finished. Our new Mass schedule has resulted in better attended and more vibrant worship (except for just before last Saturday’s LSU-Alabama game: the few of us who prayed instead of going tailgating just weren’t able to pray hard enough, I guess!). We have more young people in our PSR than we have had in many a year. We even have a new bishop in our cathedra! Still, those are all external things. Internally, in our hearts and souls, I think we’ve become more loving, giving, prayerful and holy, too. Thanks be to God for it all!
Finally, a supreme moment of thanksgiving is going to come after the national holiday. In a couple of weeks, on Sunday, November 25, the liturgical year comes to a close with the Solemnity of Christ the King. His Kingship will be most clearly manifest at the end of all time, of course, but each year the Church recognizes and honors Him in this world. And He is also King of our hearts! So we should often pledge our loyalty to Him and His ways. It’s not always easy to be a follower of Christ the King, but no one else can promise us the reward that He does! In a special way I always treasure the prayers and special music of this feast – look for Robbie to improvise on the famous traditional chant “Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat”* at some point! – which help us get a glimpse of Christ’s royal glory even amidst the darkening autumn’s grey weather, dormant lawns and gardens, and leafless trees.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Paul D. Counce
* “Christ overcomes, Christ reigns, Christ commands”
