Letter from the Pastor
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September 26, 2021Welcome back to PREP! It is exciting to welcome back our students, teachers, aides and all those who help to teach our children our beautiful faith. Last Sunday was Catechetical Sunday, when we prayed for all our catechists. Starting tomorrow, we will have in-class instruction or an online course for those who wish to stay at home. It is not a zoom class, rather like many of the more advanced schools and classes; the full instruction is done from the computer. In our online course of study, the parent and child together complete the course. The content of both in class and online is the same. However, if you come to class, our school is fulfilling all the safety protocols suggested by the CDC and the Archdiocese of New York.
Our parish is grateful to Vincent McAllister. He is a young man who beautified the front of our Church with a shrine to our beloved Patroness, St. Margaret of Antioch. Vincent’s Eagle Scout Project was to design and execute, with the help of adults and fellow scouts, a stone pathway, a bench to sit and meditate in an outdoor shrine to St. Margaret surrounded by a garden. The new shrine is near the front sign and the flagpole. It is well done.
Over the years our Church and School property has been enhanced by projects of other Eagle Scouts and Girl Scout Gold Award (equivalent to the Boy Scout Eagle Award). We are indeed grateful for all the hard work it takes to fulfill an Eagle Scout Award and Gold Award Project. Thank you, Vincent and all your co-workers. Vincent has written you a thank you note, which you can read on page 4.
This past Wednesday at 3:20PM, the autumn equinox took place. It is the equilibrium of day and night; the long summer nights have passed and we are now in a season of transition.
I enjoy all the four seasons, some more than others. Each season has its special characteristics: the fun of the summer days and nights, the stark beauty of the winter snows, the newness of life at springtime, but for me autumn is the best of the seasons. Great memories of football, raking and then burning leaves in metal garbage cans, the cool weather and early darkness. All of the senses are heightened during autumn, the beauty of the changing leaves, the smells of cinnamon and spice, the crisp morning air, the taste of cakes and soups and the sounds of crackling firewood.
It seems even the Church enjoys autumn with significant feast days and celebrations. It is the beginning of the Church’s Year at Advent. There is the feast of the Guardian Angels and the Archangels, Our Lady of the Rosary, All Saints, All Souls, Christ the King, the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Guadalupe, not to mention a number of popular saints (The Little Flower, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Francis of Assisi, two Popes, John XXIII and. John Paul II, some of the Apostles, St. Luke and for us here in New York, the North American Martyrs).
And of course, the celebration of the secular holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving add to the season. So, enjoy autumn, take a ride see the foliage and the falling leaves, cook some pumpkin pie or spice cake, enjoy a nice fire.
Be grateful to God for giving us such beauty in nature.
Prayer for the Beginning of Autumn
O God of Creation, you have blessed us with the changing of the seasons.
As we welcome the autumn months,
may the earlier setting of the sun
remind us to take time to rest.
May the brilliant colors of the leaves
remind us of the wonder of Your creation.
May the steam of our breath in the cool air
remind us that it is You who give us the breath of life.
May the harvest from the fields remind us
of the abundance we have been given and bounty we are to share with others.
May the dying of summer’s spirit remind us
of Your great promise that death is temporary and life is eternal.
We Praise You for Your Goodness Forever and Ever.
Amen.
