FEAST DAY OF CECILIA: COME AND CELEBRATE WHO WE ARE
Greetings!
As our nation ushers into a new beginning with our newly elected leaders, let us pray together for unity and healing in our land. We lift our new leaders up to God that they may govern guided by the values of the Gospel and the promptings of the Holy
Spirit knowing that, in the end, our good Lord is the one in charge and ultimately things will be accomplished according to his will. Wherever we are/were in the political landscape, it is time to “go back to our own Galilee,” which for us is our own baptism. The command of Jesus to his disciples after his resurrection was to go back to Galilee, and it’s there that they would see and encounter him anew. The toxic of the recent election campaigns might have disoriented some of us. It’s about time to re-center ourselves once again to our baptismal call to Christ. The words of Pope Francis on the need “to go back to Galilee” resonated with me as we finally reached the end of the election season—“The Gospel is very clear: we need to go back there, to see Jesus risen, and to
become witnesses of his resurrection. This is not to go back in time; it is not a kind of nostalgia. It is returning to our first love, in order to receive the fire which Jesus has kindled in the world and to bring that fire to all people, to the very ends of the earth. Go back to Galilee, without fear!” Yes, let us return to our first love to be refreshed and renewed once again after a long and tiring journey!
Most of you have probably seen and read the flyer for our upcoming celebration for our
patronal feast of St. Cecilia on Sunday, November 20. The actual feast day of St. Cecilia in the universal church is on November 22. But as our patronal saint, there is an allowed “liturgical accommodation” to celebrate her feast on the nearest Sunday of her actual feast day, which is November 20
th this year. This is to ensure that a lot more people would be able to celebrate St. Cecilia as our patroness, a fitting homage to the saint who has guided our faith community for more than a century and has been a source of inspiration in our own unique call to Christian discipleship. This celebration is a great start on our “way back to Galilee”!
There are three reasons why November 20
th this year is an extraordinary day. Aside from
being our patronal feast day celebration, it is also the Solemnity of Christ the King, which closes the liturgical year and ushers us to a new liturgical season of Advent the following weekend. And this year, it is extra special because it is also the end of the Jubilee Year of Mercy. Truly a magnificent day to celebrate, not just in the context of our local community, but also in solidarity with the universal church!
As we celebrate the feast of St. Cecilia, we also celebrate who we are as a faith family here in Beaverton, so I invite all of you to come and celebrate who we are as one community on Sunday, November 20, from 1:30pm to 5:30pm. There will be cultural foods, fun and enjoyable entertainments. I would like to thank in advance the crews who have been working very hard for this event led by Michelle Hallett and Cora Franklin. They have been mobilizing different groups to make sure that everyone is included. I look forward to seeing you all at this event, thanking the Lord for the wonderful things that he has done in our community under the patronage of St. Cecilia and, at the same time, celebrating the kingship of Christ that has been sublimely and powerfully shown on the cross, the transformative seat of true power, love and mercy. – Fr. Cary