https://www.stfrancisxaviercatholicchurch.com/

As part of the Pastoral Care of University Medical Center of El Paso, I have been offered to take the vaccine for Covid-19. This morning, together with so many medical personnel and staff of UMC and 3 of us priests and religious from the Diocese of El Paso, we received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines! The people who were receiving the vaccines are hopeful. I am also truly grateful for this opportunity.

https://youtube.com/channel/UC9xneokv7SSzoKpAJNvtIRA

Last month a virtual meeting was held for the Lay and Religious Assumptionists of the North American Province. This was a follow-up to the meeting of tandems held in August. However, this Zoom gathering took place on a broader scale. Thirty-three participants were in attendance from Canada, the United States and Mexico (with one participant from the Philippines.) The meeting was facilitated by Fr. Edward Shatov and Patricia Haggerty with Andrew Mercado providing tech support.

The focus of the meeting was discipleship. Fr. Benoit Griere, Superior General, sent a video address for the gathering. His main message was: "We must be passionate about the mission, passionate about the good news and passionate about the Kingdom of God." This was followed by a reflection from Fr. Dennis Gallagher, our Provincial who spoke of mission, as well: "Our mission as Christians, as Assumptionists and Lay Assumptionists, is to be ready to share our faith and His Word with others."

A discussion ensued on Fr. Dennis' thoughts and with suggested questions. The closing prayers for the meeting consisted of three significant prayers for the day,one in French, one in Spanish and one in English.

The article below first appeared in the Assumptionist magazine published in France entitled Le Pèlerin (The Pilgrim). Every year they have a special campaign for one Assumptionist work in particular need of funding. This year they have chosen the Beni School Complex and its many needs.

In one of the most dangerous regions of Africa, North Kivu (Democratic Republic of the Congo/DRC), children learn to write, to count, and to live in peace. The school complex, Prince of Peace, was founded by the Assumptionists, just as this magazine was. This Advent, we call your attention to this hope-filled project.

Father Arthur Hervet A.A. (Nov 11, 1938 – Nov 23, 2020) spent much of his Assumptionist life serving the poor in various capacities. For around twenty years he was chaplain on the chapel-boat “Je Sers” (I Serve), moored in the town of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, just outside of Paris. There he founded “La Pierre Blanche,” a nonprofit association that serves those without access to housing, food and healthcare. In 2006 Fr. Arthur was transferred to Lille, a city close to France’s border with Belgium. He became well-known in his fight for the protection and wellbeing of the city’s Roma, a vulnerable immigrant population with a significant presence in France.

We pray for the repose of his soul as we remember the profound witness he gave to the dignity of every human life.

In today's Gospel, to get this last week of the liturgical year underway, we meet one of the heroines of the Gospel. We know the situation of widows in the ancient world. No laws of inheritance, no social security, no safety net at all, widows were at the mercy of those willing to offer assistance. Like “prostitutes and tax-collectors,” “widows and orphans” are conjoined in the Gospel, the latter as a kind of shorthand for the most vulnerable in our midst.

But the widow in today's reading is not honored because she belongs to a category that elicits our compassion. She’s celebrated for what she does, for something that is so deeply expressive of Gospel teaching that it foreshadows the salvific action of Christ himself.

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