Amazing, once again…
To all who had a part in this past weekend’s Sponsors Dinner Dance – a thousand thanks. Once again, you have been incredibly generous with your time and talents – decorating, setting up, tearing down, donating items, buying them back, running the bar, singing in the band, putting together the auction book, arranging the items – all the countless things it takes to make the evening such a delightful time for one and all. And not only were you generous with your talent, but you also were generous with your treasure as well. Though it will be a few days yet before we know final totals, as Eileen balances receipts to payments and pays the final bills that are still trickling in, it looks as though we will be very close to our financial goal for the evening. Thanks for believing in this community. You are amazing!
It is nights like this which help me to see so visibly the bonds of community that exist among us. We may go to ‘our’ mass on the weekend, know the folks from ‘our’ neighborhood, work with the parents from ‘our’ school and preschool, but on big events like this, the connections we all share are so much deeper than our sometimes limited personal experience of parish life.
This is why it is good for us to intentionally gather, every so often, to remind ourselves that we are part of something bigger. In these kind of moments, we can echo what Cardinal Newman prayed so often: God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work.
To remind us of those connections, and the mission each of us is given as stewards of God’s gifts, join us on Saturday, June 6, from 6 till 9pm in the Parish Center for a Parish Appreciation Party. You don’t need to bring anything, do any-thing, work anything for this evening. Just come. Come and celebrate all that God has done in our midst. If you have served St. Ann parish in ANY way – by your prayer, tithing, coaching, gardening, teaching, money counting; by being a lector or Eucharistic minister; a heavenly duster, or cantor, or someone who just needs an excuse to get out of the house for an evening – COME to this kid friendly event. A light meal with a kid’s buffet, conversations with folks from ‘those other masses’, and a bit of dancing will be a part of the festivities.
So that we might know how large of a fatted calf to kill, please contact Pat at the rectory with your rsvp to the Parish Appreciation Party.