Next Sunday:  Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time          Fr. Schmitz

Feast of All Saints

The Feast of All Saints falls on a Sunday this year.  We will read names of the deceased whose funerals were celebrated at St. Ann since last November.  Monday (November 2) is actually the Feast of All Souls, but we will be memorializing our recently deceased (and indeed all our deceased loved ones) at the Masses on November 1.  

Giving Tree

This year we will not have request cards and collect donated gifts as such, but we will be asking for donations of gift cards (which do not need to be sanitized as gifts would.)   More specificity will follow.

Communion on the Tongue

I ran this article last week, but it bears repeating:   Here is what you must remember:  If you want to receive communion on the tongue, you MUST come only to me.  I will not ask any visiting priest or distributor to put themselves at risk of illness.  I am the only one who will distribute on the tongue.  If I am at St. Ann that week; then you must come to St. Ann.  If I am at Sacred Heart that week, then you must come to Sacred Heart to receive on the tongue.

If you choose to receive on the tongue, you may not come to me in my line until the end of the line.  At the end of the line, I will carefully place the host on your tongue without touching your tongue.  I have done it for over forty years so I have practice.  If I were to accidentally touch your tongue, I will stop, go and sanitize my hands, and then come back and resume.  I offer this by my discretion as pastor.  The safety of everyone in the church is my priority and thus the reason for the rules from the Bishops of Ohio.  Please do not present yourself to any assisting priest or lay distributor for communion in the hand.  You must come to me alone, and at the end of my line.  This is for the safety of all involved.

Live Streaming a precept Mass from St. Ann and Sacred Heart each week 

At the time I am writing this article, we have still not diagnosed all the problems with our live streaming system, but are working diligently to correct new problems as they arise.  Please remember to access the Sacred Heart / St. Ann Pastoral Region You-tube site by clicking on the following link:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVLLqbEY5hKWinwz069MVcg

First Communion for those who could not last May

I wish to reiterate from former communications that as soon as we have assurance from the authorities in Ohio and from the Archdiocese that we can reduce the requirements of social distancing and masks so as to have a traditional large Group First Communion celebration, we will do so for St. Ann and Sacred Heart. 

In the meantime, if any parent wishes their child who was looking forward to First Communion last Spring to have the opportunity to make an “informal” First Communion at any Sunday or Weekday Mass that I celebrate at St. Ann or Sacred Heart (Saturday at 4:00 p.m. excluded), please contact “Lauren” the Parish Secretary at Sacred Heart (513) 858-4210.  She has my schedule and will help you in choosing a regularly scheduled Mass when your child can begin receiving the Most Holy Eucharist. 

Feel free to choose the aforementioned option or to wait for the formal First Communion Mass (which cannot happen until current Health Department restrictions are lifted.)   This is a parental decision.  Whatever you think is best for your child; that is what I want to do.

Reflection on Scripture: Twenty Ninth  Sunday in Ordinary Time 

“Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God, what is God’s!”  Even those who rarely attend any church have familiarity with this gospel passage.  Was Jesus simply showing up the Pharisees?  Was he using his skills at argumentation to impress the onlookers?  No, Jesus does not need to play games to show his intellect or define who he is.  He is the Divine Son of God. 

Jesus is articulating a reality encountered by every believer.  We have our hearts in Heaven with Jesus, while we worry ourselves with the transitory concerns of this world.  To paraphrase the words of Jesus: ”Go ahead, try to entrap me anyway you choose!  If you could see Heaven, your answer to the political conundrum you raise would be obvious.”  For one who is baptized, the appropriate answer to the posed question would be, “Who cares!” 

The question seeks to entrap Jesus.  If he says they should pay taxes to the government behind the army of occupation, he will seem a traitor.  If he says not to pay the tax, he has automatically become a criminal.  The Pharisees think they have fashioned for Jesus an intellectual “Gorgian Knott.”     Jesus answers by telling his disciples to be detached from all physical wealth in this world.  Therefore, give it to Caesar or whoever wants it.  God’s children should be focusing their attention on the things of eternity, not temporal matters.    

Next Week:  Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time     

Ex 22:20-26

1 Thes 1:5c-10

Mt. 22:34-40

Theme:   You discover a new element; but you make a new compound!