StRaphaelparish

🎉🎄 It's Time for Our Annual Christmas Raffle! 🎄🎉
Get ready for some holiday cheer! We’re thrilled to announce that our Annual Christmas Raffle is here! 🎁✨ The lucky winners will be revealed on Saturday, December 7, 2024, right after the 5 PM Mass during our festive Christmas Tree Lighting. Don’t worry—winners do not need to be present to claim their prizes!

🎉 Here’s what you could win:
- **Grand Prize:** $3,000
- **Second Prize:** $1,000
- **Third Prize:** $500
- **Fourth Prize:** $250

Tickets are just **$50**!
This year, tickets will be available in the weekly bulletin (not sent by mail), so be sure to take a bulletin ( or click the link below). Good luck to everyone! 🌟

Click the link to print your ticket: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KVGh9gRy9zTgNxIXmc2I9pr_-ZMtr4kZ/view?usp=sharing

📖✨ Join us for our upcoming Bible Study! ✨📖

Dive deeper into the Word and grow in faith with our community. Everyone is welcome!

🗓 Thursdays
🕒 7:00 pm
📍 The Good Shepherd Room

Don't forget to bring your Bible. Let’s explore God’s message together! 🙏

We can’t wait to see you there!

Bishop Robert Barron is urging Catholics to skip the new film “Conclave” — a fictional movie that depicts a papal conclave — saying that it “checks every woke box.” https://bit.ly/3CaJJ74

As a reminder, the church is open from 7:00 am - 8:00 pm today.
Mass will be celebrated at 7:30am & 9:00 am, Confessions will be heard at 12 noon & 6pm. We will have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from 6pm-8pm with a Holy Hour from 7-8 pm.
Please consider spending some time in prayer today.

Lord God, as the election approaches, we seek to better understand the issues and concerns that confront our great country, and how the Gospel compels us to respond as faithful citizens in our community. We ask for eyes that are free from blindness so that we might see each other as brothers and sisters, one and equal in dignity, especially those who are victims of abuse, violence, deceit, and poverty. We ask for ears that will hear the cries of unborn children and those abandoned, men and women oppressed because of race or creed, religion, or gender.

We ask for minds and hearts open to hearing the voices of leaders who will bring us closer to your Kingdom. We pray for discernment so that we may choose leaders who hear your Word, live your love, and keep in the ways of your truth as they follow in the steps of Jesus and his Apostles and guide us to your Kingdom of justice and peace.

We ask this in the name of your Son Jesus Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

The church will be open on Tuesday, November 5th, from 7:30 am - 8:00 pm for private prayer.

Here is the schedule for the rest of the week. Please click the link for the most up-to-date information: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_jjgNbuL5JPSuEO-f8X9JkUmjUyGrcG2vV5WaqP1rzs/edit?usp=sharing

Dear friends,

We want you to know that you are missed by your church community. If you've been feeling the tug to reconnect with your faith or have questions about returning to the church, we are here for you. Whether it's been weeks, months, or even years, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Our doors and hearts are open wide to welcome you back home. Feel free to send a message to us directly, call the rectory office at (516) 785-0236, or reach out to Fr. Leo at [email protected] or Fr. Alfred at [email protected]

Looking forward to reconnecting with you and welcoming you home!

Today, we gathered in remembrance of our faithful departed during a beautiful All Souls Day Mass. Our hearts were united in prayer, honoring those we've lost and celebrating their lives.

A special thank you to the dedicated volunteers from the Ministry of Consolation for their compassionate service and support. Your efforts make a profound difference in our community, helping us navigate our grief and find solace together.

Let us continue to pray for all souls and cherish their memories.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Piggybacking on last week’s letter, there are more new and exciting developments I’d like to briefly draw your attention to. First, our Office of Faith Formation (religious education) will be hosting a Thanksgiving family fun day on November 24th at 1pm in the Bethany Center for all our students and their families. We did something similar last month for Halloween and the plan is to continue offering a family friendly event on a monthly basis. It’s a great way for our students to get together for both faith and fun. We’re also bringing back the Christmas pageant which will take place on Christmas Eve!

Please save the date! On December 10th to 11th, Fr. Joseph-Mary and a special guest will come to St. Raphael’s to give an Advent Mission. They’ll also preside and preach at our Sunday Masses on December 8th and the 9th when we’ll celebrate the Immaculate Conception. The Mission will provide a great opportunity to delve deeper into the holy season of Advent as we joyfully prepare to celebrate Christmas. Much more info will be provided in next week’s bulletin.

That’s it for the updates for now. I’m happy to say that the new “Faith Kiosk” in our church vestibule seems to be a hit and in just a few days, we needed to order more booklets to fill in the empty spaces. I’d like to point out that these instructional materials on the faith are not meant to be taken home for a private collection/library. The point is to take and read something that interests you and then return it so that others can benefit from it as well. I ask that you kindly resist the temptation to hoard them. Another excellent way to make use of these booklets is to share them with someone who is fallen away from the Church. For example, if you know someone who doesn’t believe in the Eucharist, you could give them a copy of the booklet on the Eucharist (after having read it yourself first). Imagine if all the people in our neighborhood believed that the Eucharist was truly the Body and Blood of Christ? We would need to build a much bigger church to accommodate all the believers. Let’s share the faith one person at a time so that we have this “problem” to deal with in the future.

Faithfully yours in Christ,
Fr. Leo

P.S.
As we approach Election Day, let us pray:
Lord God, as the election approaches, we seek to better understand the issues and concerns that confront our great country, and how the Gospel compels us to respond as faithful citizens in our community. We ask for eyes that are free from blindness so that we might see each other as brothers and sisters, one and equal in dignity, especially those who are victims of abuse and violence, deceit and poverty. We ask for ears that will hear the cries of children unborn and those abandoned, men and women oppressed because of race or creed, religion or gender.

We ask for minds and hearts that are open to hearing the voice of leaders who will bring us closer to your Kingdom. We pray for discernment so that we may choose leaders who hear your Word, live your love, and keep in the ways of your truth as they follow in the steps of Jesus and his Apostles and guide us to your Kingdom of justice and peace. We ask this in the name of your Son Jesus Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

🌞⏰ This Sunday, November 3rd, don’t forget to “fall back” and set your clocks one hour behind for Daylight Savings Time! ⏰🌙

Let’s make sure we’re all on time for our Sunday Mass. Enjoy that extra hour of sleep! 😴💒

See you in church! 🙏❤️

Today we celebrate those members of the Body of Christ who have gone from this life. A day of Prayer for all the departed, not in heaven. Consistent with teachings and traditions, Catholics believe that through the prayers of the faithful on Earth, the dead are cleansed of their sins so they may enter into heaven.

All Saints Day and All Souls Day remind us that we are part of a family that is wider and deeper than our physical world. This family of faith is a reality by which we are connected with all of the faithful who have tried to walk in the way of Christ through the ages. This is our community of faith. In Christ, we all form one mystical body.

There is no Mass in which the Church does not pray for the faithful departed, but today her thoughts are directed toward them in a particular fashion.

Let us take a moment today to offer a prayer for those who have died but who have not yet reached the full glory of paradise. On the feast of All Souls’ Day, let us pray for the souls in Purgatory and all the faithful departed.

Today (11/2) at 2:00 pm, the Ministry of Consolation will be hosting our annual Mass for the over 150 souls who died in our parish this past year all are welcome to attend.

All Saints’ Day, commemorates all those who have died and are now in Heaven. The Solemnity of All Saints is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Catholic Church.

The word “Saint” often refers to those men and women whom the Catholic Church has canonized. When a person’s cause for canonization is first opened they are known as a Servant of God. The title of Venerable is bestowed once evidence of heroic virtue is shown. After one church-approved miracle attributed to the intercession of a venerable, that person is then beatified and becomes a Blessed. The blessed is canonized after another miracle and becomes a Saint. Not all holy people are canonized and there are many saints in Heaven who are not officially recognized by the Church.

While every canonized saint has their own feast day, All Saints Day is the celebration of all Catholic Saints, including those we may not know about. It is also a time to honor those saints who have interceded for us in times of need. All Saints Day is a day to recognize the exceptional spiritual intercession of the saints in our lives. We honor their contributions and sacrifices to the Catholic faith and recognize that we share a communion with Christ. It is estimated the Catholic Church has canonized more than 10,000 Saints.

Holy Men and Women, pray for us!

Friendly reminder that our Bible Study will resume next Thursday due to the All Saints Vigil.
Please bring your Bibles and join us again on Thursday, November 7th, at 7 pm in the Good Shepherd Room.

🎃👻 Did you know that Halloween has roots in Catholic traditions?

October 31st is also known as All Hallows’ Eve—the “eve” before All Saints Day, or “All Hallows.” The term “hallowed,” means “holy” and “e’en”, a truncation of the word evening. Important feast days in the liturgical year are marked by a vigil celebration the night before: Christmas Eve and the Easter Vigil for example.

Many of today’s Halloween customs come from the harvest festival traditions and Christian traditions that developed around Allhallowtide in France (costumes) and Ireland (trick-or-treat). When these immigrants came to America, they brought with them traditional "Hallowe'en" practices, which many of their American neighbors also embraced.

While today's celebrations include costumes and candy, the holiday’s origins remind us of the connections between life, death, and the spiritual journey. ✝️✨

🎉🎄 It's Time for Our Annual Christmas Raffle! 🎄🎉
Get ready for some holiday cheer! We’re thrilled to announce that our Annual Christmas Raffle is here! 🎁✨ The lucky winners will be revealed on Saturday, December 7, 2024, right after the 5 PM Mass during our festive Christmas Tree Lighting. Don’t worry—winners do not need to be present to claim their prizes!

🎉 Here’s what you could win:
- **Grand Prize:** $3,000
- **Second Prize:** $1,000
- **Third Prize:** $500
- **Fourth Prize:** $250

Tickets are just **$50**!
This year, tickets will be available in the weekly bulletin (not sent by mail), so be sure to take a bulletin ( or click the link below). Good luck to everyone! 🌟

Click the link to print your ticket: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KVGh9gRy9zTgNxIXmc2I9pr_-ZMtr4kZ/view?usp=drivesdk