October 20, 2019

Dear St. Martin of Tours Family,

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, unless you can kill two birds with one stone.  So here’s an idea from the Parish Council to help the poor, and also to evangelize the community.  We need you for this to work!

“BIRD ONE”: Collecting food for the Poor. 
So, we are looking for volunteers to go door to door to homes in our parish boundary (just for one day, probably a Saturday), to ask for canned or dry goods for our St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Here’s the plan:

1. Teams of two
2. Take a small section of the parish (I’m getting a map prepared)
3. Carry St. Vincent de Paul material
4. Let’s do this just before Thanksgiving (Saturday, November 23^rd?)

“BIRD TWO": Evangelization. 
If the person at the door decides to donate, then we tell them about our parish, and we would love to have them join us.  The plan:

1. If they give then we tell them about our parish
2. Carry St. Martin of Tours material

Do you see how these two parts work together from a marketing point of view?

Now for the spiritual part of this Pastor’s Pen. Novenas!  They work wonders! Do you know this great novena to St. Therese, Little Flower?  If you pray this prayer for 9 days in a row, and your request is to be granted, you actually, somehow, get a rose: a real rose, an image of a rose, some kind of rose. So if you are struggling with some prayer request, I urge you to give St. Therese a try.  She’s amazing:

O Little Therese of the Child Jesus

Please pick for me a rose
from the heavenly garden
and send it to me
as a message of love.

O Little Flower of Jesus,
ask God to grant the favors
I now place with confidence in your hands

(mention your request)

St. Therese, help me to always believe as you did,
in God's great love for me,
so that I may imitate your "Little Way" each day.

Amen

In Christ,