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Parish Hoedown

by Filed Under: Family Night, Parish, St. Stephen the First Martyr 2 Comments

We ended the summer with a splendid family event at our parish.  The SS annual pig roast and square dance was a glorious way to end the summer and have Rose say farewell to her parish community. 

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You can’t take the girls out of the dance tent.  The “hoedown” is one of their highlights of each year. 

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P8041259The boys saved their first dance for the last dance.     P8041281

They danced the night away, 10 PM to be exact. 

Rogation Day

by Filed Under: Parish, Prayers, Rogation Day

May 11, 2010

"Rogation" comes from the Latin "rogare," which means "to ask," and these are days on which we seek to appease God’s anger, ask His mercy, avert His chastisements, and ask for His blessings, particularly with regard to farming, gardening, and other agricultural pursuits.  ~FISHEATERS

a farmer and his field

Farmer & Field

The liturgy, during which the priest is vested in purple, begins with Psalm 43:26, which is followed by the Litany of the Saints. At the Litany’s "Sancta Maria," all stand and the procession begins, which in older times was usually around the border of the parish, giving to the procession the name of "beating the bounds."
The Litany is followed by Psalm 69, a series of petitions, and the Mass, with readings from James 5:16-20 and Luke 11:5-14.

procession into dairy

processionprocession v2procession to field  little GFG in processionfather afte blessing

Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.   Eli’jah was a man of like nature with ourselves and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.   Then he prayed again and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.   My brethren, if any one among you wanders from the truth and some one brings him back,   let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. ~ James 5:16-20

~~~

And he said to them, "Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, `Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;  and he will answer from within, `Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything’?   I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him whatever he needs.  And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.   For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.   What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent;  or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"   Now he was casting out a demon that was dumb; when the demon had gone out, the dumb man spoke, and the people marveled. ~ Luke 11:5-14

In places where the Rogation Days are not kept, all Catholics should pray that God blesses the earth and renders it fruitful for us.

ROGATION FUN

Social Time With Father father with sweetie

Animal Feeding

more feeding 

Cows Wanting to Join The Procession

cow collage

New Life

new birth

Milking Cows

little GFG milking cow  

Animal Feeding II

little GFG feeding

Friends

friends

Family In Shades

(following mom’s lead to fighting allergies)

family in shades

Finding of the Relics of St. Stephen the First Martyr

by Filed Under: Family Night, Parish, Patron Saint, St. Stephen the First Martyr

This post is a tad late but I had to share. On Sunday, Aug 2 our parish celebrated the Finding of the Relics of St. Stephen the First Martyr – for the Parish’s patron. We celebrated with an annual pig roast and square dance. Yee haa!

St. Stephen the First Martyr – Pray for Us!

Litany of St. Stephen, Protomartyr
St. Stephen, the first Deacon and the Church’s first martyr for Christ, whom St. Luke calls “a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,” was stoned to death by order of the Jewish Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, and among those taking part was Saul of Tarsus, the future St. Paul. As first of the witnesses of Christ, it is only right that St. Stephen should appear first in the procession of Saints who surround the cradle of the Saviour: his Feast is December 26. The finding of his relics at Kafr Gamala c. 415 is commemorated August 3 throughout the Western Church. His name is in the Canon of the Roman Mass. The above litany is in Sadlier’s Golden Manual of 1851; the Antiphon (from Acts 7: 54-60) and Versicle and Response (from same, sung after the Gradual in the Mass of Dec. 26) have been added and also the Collect for his Feast has been substituted in place of a prayer formerly attached to the litany.

Antiphon: And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling on his knees he cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord.

V. I see the heavens opened,
R. And Jesus standing on the right hand of the power of God.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Saint Stephen, First Martyr, Pray for us. St. Stephen, who suffered for preaching the Name of Jesus Christ, Pray for us. St. Stephen, who so closely imitated Jesus in that great virtue of charity for thine enemies, Pray for us. St. Stephen, who when stoned by thine enemies, didst cast forth sparks, Pray for us. not of anger, but of love, to set on fire their hearts, harder than the stones which they threw, Pray for us. St. Stephen, having recommended thy soul to God, cried for mercy on the souls of thine enemies, Pray for us. St. Stephen, most zealous for the glory of God, b St. Stephen, most patient and constant, Pray for us. St. Stephen, pattern of chastity and purity, Pray for us. St. Stephen, whose heavenly fortitude caused admiration in all, St. Stephen, by whom so many miracles were wrought, Pray for us. St. Stephen, who, in the love of God, was not inferior to the Apostles themselves, Pray for us. St. Stephen, who didst convert many to the faith of Christ, Pray for us. St. Stephen, by whom the Church has received and continues to receive such singular benefits, Pray for us. St. Stephen, of whom it is said, that the Holy Ghost, Who inhabited thy soul, shone and darted forth His rays into thy body, Pray for us. St. Stephen, whose face shone like that of an angel, Pray for us. St. Stephen, filled with the faith and the Holy Ghost, Pray for us. St. Stephen, dear to the Heart of Jesus, Pray for us.
V. Obtain for us, O blessed Stephen, the virtue of holy charity:
R. For which thou wast so eminent and we are so needy

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.

Let us pray. Grant to us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, so to imitate what we revere that we may learn to love even our enemies: for we celebrate him who could even plead on behalf of his persecutors with Thy Son Our Lord Jesus Christ. Who with Thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest God, world without end.

R. Amen.
Prayer Source: Kyrie Eleison — Two Hundred Litanies by Benjamin Francis Musser O.F.M., The Magnificat Press, 1944

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