Khail Black’s game-high 14 points brought him to 105 season points, as the Varsity Horsemen easily downed St. Benedict 61-36 during Wednesday’s home game. Sean DuBose was the only Horseman to score in all quarters and had a game-high 23 points, which was one more than the total points scored by the St. Benedict JV Team, as the Horsemen triumphed 44-22 in their game. The Varsity Horsemen came out of the gate quickly, sinking four 3’s in the first quarter, and they led 32-9 at the half. Black, himself, put is four 3’s, and William Manning put in a game-high six 2’s and a free-throw for 13 points. Manning has 118 season points. Both Jose Velez and Eric Codero had two threes and a two for 8 points. Antonio Martinez had a three and a two in the second quarter for 5 points, and Kyle Austin had a pair of 2’s in the last quarter for 4 points. Jahli Ward had a three early in the first quarter, and Justin Hernandez had a two in the first, Isiah LaCasse had a two in the last quarter, and Daniel Torres hit two free throws in the second quarter to round out the Horsemen scoring. The Horsemen were 3 for 6 from the line, while St. Benedict was 5 for 12. The next home varsity game is Monday at 7PM against St. Frances de Chantal. The JV Horsemen led only by two, 9-7, at the quarter but kept steadily increasing their lead and were 23-14 at the half. Larry German was also in double digits and put in a three and four 2’s for 11 points. Maniase Manigar and Jaylen Faye Velan each had a two in two different quarters, and Richie Martinez rounded out the team scoring with a two in the final quarter. One St. Benedict player also scored in double digits with 12. The JV Horsemen were 1 for 2 from the line, while St. Benedict was 0 for 2. Congratulations to the Horsemen.

CAMP VERITAS is a week-long play and pray pilgrimage and summer camp for teens entering grades 7-12. There are five locations. The cost is $400 and limited scholarships are availabnle. Registration is now open. Go to: www.campveritas.org. FEARLESS is a weekend retreat for teens in grades 8-12. The cost is $45. The next retreat is March 29-31 at Holy Cross Parish, 1846 Randall Avenue. To register, call 845-663-1689.

There is Still Time to Give to St. Helena If giving to charity is still on your agenda for 2018, there's still a window of time for you to make that year-end donation. Please note that new tax rules have made it more difficult to get a deduction for your donations. That is because the standard deduction is so much higher — about $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for married couples who file jointly. And your donations (plus any other deductions such as mortgage interest, etc.) must push you over the standard deduction in order for you to itemize on your tax return. When giving to charity, make sure that the organization is a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) organization. Both St. Helena School and Parish are such organizations. If you plan to send your donation via check in the mail, send it early enough so that it is postmarked on or before Dec. 31. Also, note that the mailbox rule only applies to U.S. mail and not to other delivery methods such as FedEx. If you choose to give physical assets, such as artwork, the delivery and transfer of the title or deed must happen before Dec. 31. If you choose to donate stock, that transaction is only recognized as completed once the transfer request has been submitted by your financial advisor or firm. Keep in mind that if you are over age 70½, you can make a donation directly from an individual retirement account to a charity. If your gift exceeds $250, you need to get a receipt. A canceled check or a brokerage certificate showing a transfer of shares won't count. Also note that charities aren't required by law to give you a receipt, so you have to ask them for one. Contact the parish office, and we will be glad to send you one. Furthermore, you must have that receipt in hand by the time you file your taxes in April. If you file for an extension, you will need to have documentation of your gift by the time you file in October. Also, It’s not too late to set up what's known as a donor-advised fund for your charitable gifts this year. The advantage of a donor-advised fund is you can get the deduction for making the gift this year, but decide later which charities to which you want to donate the money. Most major brokerage firms can set one up for you, but they typically have a minimum requirement.

On this, the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, we honor the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  The Feast has its origins in the 17th century when devotion to the Holy Family was quite strong, but today’s feast was instituted by Pope Leo XIII in 1893 and was extended to the whole Roman Church by Pope Benedict XV in 1921. In honoring the Holy Family, we also honor all families, big or small.  And in honoring all families, we honor the family of God, the Church.  But most especially, we focus in on the hidden, day-to-day life of the Holy Family of Nazareth. St. John Paul II once reflected on the Holy Family, how it sanctifies families and what we can learn from meditating upon the life that Jesus, Mary and Joseph shared together in Nazareth. “For every believer, and especially for Christian families, the humble dwelling place in Nazareth is an authentic school of the Gospel. Here we admire and put into practice the divine plan to make the family an intimate community of life and love; here we learn that every Christian family is called to be a small "domestic church" that must shine with the Gospel virtues,” said St. John Paul II to the crowd. “Recollection and prayer, mutual understanding and respect, personal discipline and community asceticism and a spirit of sacrifice, work and solidarity are typical features that make the family of Nazareth a model for every home.”

Are you a high school senior and a practicing Catholic attending an Archdiocesan parish or faith community? Have you demonstrated academic achievement, leadership, and good character? Apply for the $2,000 Venerable Pierre Toussaint Scholarship. Contact your pastor to receive an application and to request a reference letter. Applications are due February 15. For more info, go to www.obmny.org

All lovers of Scripture have reason to celebrate this day. Damasus was the pope who commissioned Saint Jerome to translate the Scriptures into Latin, the Vulgate version of the Bible. Damasus was a sixty-year-old deacon when he was elected bishop of Rome in 366. His reign was marked by violence from the start when another group decided to elect a different pope. Both sides tried to enforce their selections through violence. Though the physical fighting stopped, Damasus had to struggle with these opponents throughout his years as pope. Damasus may not have won this battle directly, but he won the war by initiating works that outlasted all his opponents. Not only did he commission the Vulgate translation but he also changed the liturgical language of the Church from Greek to Latin. He worked hard to preserve and restore the catacombs, the graves of the martyrs, and relics. Damasus was a writer -- but he didn't author many-volumed treatises as other Christian writers did. Damasus liked to write epigrams in verse: short sayings that capture the essence of what needed to be said. He wrote many epigrams on martyrs and saints. And he wrote one about himself that shows his humility and the respect he had for the martyrs. In a Roman cemetery is the papal crypt he built. All that is left of him there, however, is this: " I, Damasus, wished to be buried here, but I feared to offend the ashes of these holy ones." Instead, when he died in 384, he was buried with his mother and sister.

We invite everyone to bring your Christ Child figure to one of the Masses at St. Helena during the weekend of December 15-16 for a special blessing. Our Mass times are Saturday at 5:30 PM, and Sunday at 7:30, 9:00, 10:30, NOON (Spanish), 1:30 PM, and 5:00 PM The Saturday 5:30 PM Mass will also be the First Mass here at St. Helena for our newly ordained Piarist priest Rev. Vinod Angadathu George, Sch.P. Our Father General, Very Rev. Pedro Aguado, Sch.P. is flying over from the Piarist Fathers Generalate in Rome for the celebration. A reception and the Parish Christmas Party will take place after the Saturday 5:30 PM Mass in the Parish Hall. For more information, call 718-892-3232. During his pontificate, Saint John Paul II instituted the celebration of “Bambinelli Sunday” on the Third Sunday of Advent, which is also called Gaudete Sunday and is one of only two days during the year where the priest wears rose-colored vestments. It is also the day on which the children of Rome may bring their Christ Child figures from their family crèches to St. Peter’s Square for a special blessing. For over thirty years, following the Sunday Angelus address, the Holy Father has blessed the Christ Child figures which the children then take back to homes, hiding them until they could place these figurines in the family Christmas cribs on Christmas morning. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have continued this beautiful tradition, blessing the Christ Child Crèche figures that children bring to St. Peter’s Square on Gaudete Sunday. Parishes around the world are invited to join in this celebration by encouraging young children to make the important connection between the Nativity displays in their homes and those at their churches. Saint Francis of Assisi first created the Christmas crèche in the town of Grecio to assist the local people in becoming more aware of the Christmas story. Fr. Vinod resided at St. Helena while he was a seminarian attending St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers. He was ordained as a priest at his home parish of St. Rita of Cascia in Kerala, India, and this will be his first celebration here at St. Helena. People are invited to receive his First Priestly Blessing following the 5:30 PM Saturday Vigil Mass.

The USS Helena (CL-50) was a St. Louis-class light cruiser of the United States Navy. Completed shortly before World War II, she was damaged in the attack on Pearl Harbor and was at the center of three significant battles during the Solomon Islands campaign of the Pacific War. She was sunk by three surface-fired torpedoes at the battle of Kula Gulf in 1943. She was one of three U.S. light cruisers to be sunk during the war. In March 1945, for actions in October and November 1942, and in her final engagement on July 5, 1943, Helena became the first US Navy ship to be awarded the Navy Unit Commendation Medal. On April 11, 2018, her wreck was discovered in the Solomon Islands by Paul Allen's research ship RV Petrel.

Once again, we begin another liturgical year with this first Sunday of Advent. And with this new liturgical year, we begin reading again from another one of the four Evangelists as our primary guide in St. Luke’s Gospel. St. Luke, the tradition tells us, was a physician and was a companion of St. Paul. Luke has written most of the New Testament, with his Gospel as well as the Acts of the Apostles, which details the story of the early Church and its growth. Here’s some things to look for in St. Luke’s Gospel as we progress through this new liturgical year: The Role of the Blessed Virgin Mary – St. Luke gives us details of the Lord Jesus’ life that can only come from the perspective of the Lord’s Mother. The Nativity in his Gospel, unlike that of St. Matthew’s Gospel (who tells the story from St. Joseph’s side), is all from Our Blessed Mother. The Role of Mercy – St. Luke emphasizes the Lord Jesus, not as Matthew does as the fulfillment of the Old Testament, but as the Holy One of God who manifests mercy in Himself to the poor and the sick. The Role of Women – St. Luke tells the story of some strong female followers of the Lord. These women are not Apostles, but real disciples of the Lord. From Elizabeth to Martha and Mary, women are very much in the forefront of the Gospel. The Role of Parables – The British novelist, Charles Dickens, described one of St. Luke’s parables, that of the Prodigal Son, as the greatest short story ever written! Watch for these beautiful stories that the Lord Jesus tells His disciples. The Role of the Gentiles – Just as St. Matthew shows the Lord Jesus as the One who has come to the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel, note the number of times the Lord deals with the Gentiles in this Gospel, bringing the message of His coming to the whole world! Yes, this Advent is exciting, bringing with it a new chance to hear the Gospel, ever so ancient, ever so new as St. Augustine says, once again! Keep your ears open to St. Luke’s version, beginning this Sunday!

St. Andrew was a native of Bethsaida in Galilee, a fisherman by trade, and a former disciple of John the Baptist. He was the one who introduced his brother Peter to Jesus, saying, "We have found the Messiah." Overshadowed henceforth by his brother, Andrew nevertheless appears again in the Gospels as introducing souls to Christ. After Pentecost, Andrew took up the apostolate on a much wider scale and is said to have been martyred at Patras in southern Greece on a cross which was in the form of an "X". This type of cross has long been known as "St. Andrew's cross." Beginning today the following beautiful prayer is traditionally recited fifteen times a day until Christmas. This is a very meditative prayer that helps us increase our awareness of the real focus of Christmas and helps us prepare ourselves spiritually for His coming. +Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.

St. John Berchmans was born the eldest son of a shoemaker in 1599 at Diest, Belgium. At a very young age, he wanted to be a priest, and when thirteen he became a servant in the household of one of the cathedral canons at Malines. After his mother's death, his father and two brothers followed suit and entered religious life. In 1615 he entered the Jesuit college there, becoming a novice a year later. In 1618 he was sent to Rome for more study and was known for his diligence and piety, and his stress on perfection even in small things. That year his father was ordained and died six months later. John was so poor and humble that he walked from Antwerp to Rome. He died at the age of 22 on August 13, 1621. Many miracles were attributed to him after his death; he was canonized in 1888 and is the patron saint of altar boys.       Although he longed to work in the mission fields of China, he did not live long enough to permit it. After completing his coursework, he was asked to defend the "entire field of philosophy" in a public disputation in July, just after his exit examinations. The following month he was asked to represent the Roman College in a debate with the Greek College. Although he distinguished himself in this disputation, he had studied so assiduously that he caught a cold in mid-summer, became very ill with an undetermined illness accompanied by a fever, although some think it now to have been dysentery, and died a week later. He was buried in the church of Saint Ignatius at Rome, but his heart was later translated to the Jesuit church at Louvain.       So many miracles were attributed to him after his death at the age of 22, that his cultus soon spread to his native Belgium, where 24,000 copies of his portrait were published within a few years of his death. He was known for his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Lady, to whom he composed a Chaplet in honor of her Immaculate Conception. 

Presence: The Mystery of the Eucharist will explore the truth and beauty of Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist, from its origins in Sacred Scripture, to its profound role in the life of the Church and her members. The word EUCHARIST in Greek means “presence,” for it really is the presence of Christ among us. It is the crescendo of the entire story of salvation. We will begin our five-week study of The Eucharist on November 20. The study will take place both in English and in Spanish and both online and in the classroom. The classroom option takes place on Tuesdays at either 1PM or 7:30PM in the Green Building, and another session is held on Sundays at 11:30AM. You may take the entire course online (in either English or Spanish), on your home computer, or your cellphone. To do so, all you need to do is access the internet and then go to www.churchofsthelena.formed.org. If you have never been to Formed before, they will ask you to enter your email address and to create a password (usually at least 6-8 characters with at least one uppercase, one lowercase, and a numeral). Once you have done so, look for a tab at the top of the page (on a computer) or on the bottom of the page (on a cellphone) that says COMMUNITY and click on it. You will then see two studies, one that says THE EUCHARIST and another that says LA EUCHARISTIA. Select your study, and you will see that there are five sessions in this study. We will do one session per week until Christmas. There will also be a tab which you can click to either ask a question or leave a comment. It is that easy. I hope you will all join us for this very important and fascinating study on one of the most important and fundamental mysteries of our faith - The Eucharist.

Presencia: El misterio de la Eucaristía explorará la verdad y la belleza de la verdadera presencia de Cristo en la Eucaristía, desde sus orígenes en las Sagradas Escrituras, hasta su profundo papel en la vida de la Iglesia y sus miembros. La palabra EUCARIST en griego significa "presencia", porque realmente es la presencia de Cristo entre nosotros. Es el crescendo de toda la historia de la salvación. Comenzaremos nuestro estudio de cinco semanas de la Eucaristía el 20 de noviembre. El estudio se llevará a cabo tanto en inglés como en español y en línea y en el aula. La opción de clase se lleva a cabo los martes a la 1 PM o 7:30 PM en el Green Building, y otra sesión se lleva a cabo los domingos a las 11:30 AM. Puede tomar todo el curso en línea (en inglés o español), en la computadora de su casa o en su teléfono celular. Para hacerlo, todo lo que necesita hacer es acceder a Internet y luego ir a www.churchofsthelena.formed.org. Si nunca ha estado en Formed anteriormente, le pedirán que ingrese su dirección de correo electrónico y que cree una contraseña (generalmente de al menos 6-8 caracteres con al menos una mayúscula, una minúscula y un número). Una vez que lo haya hecho, busque una pestaña en la parte superior de la página (en una computadora) o en la parte inferior de la página (en un teléfono celular) que dice COMUNIDAD y haga clic en ella. Luego verás dos estudios, uno que dice LA EUCARISTÍA y otro que dice LA EUCARISTIA. Seleccione su estudio y verá que hay cinco sesiones en este estudio. Haremos una sesión por semana hasta Navidad. También habrá una pestaña en la que puede hacer clic para hacer una pregunta o dejar un comentario. Es así de fácil. Espero que todos se unan a nosotros en este estudio tan importante y fascinante sobre uno de los misterios más importantes y fundamentales de nuestra fe: la Eucaristía.

The Solemnity of Christ the King The Liturgical Year Comes to an End This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. It is one of many opportunities the Catholic Liturgical Church year offers to each of us to consider really living differently. Yet, for many Catholics who commemorate the Feast, it is just one more somewhat esoteric celebration which we go through every year at this time. The feast is a relatively recent one. It was instituted in 1925, by Pope Pius XI. During its celebration, many Catholics go on procession, singing praises, while a priest carries the Eucharistic in a monstrance to pray for peace. The Catholic teaching of receiving time as a gift from God is one of the many things which make us counter-cultural. In fact, the number of things which make us counter-cultural is increasing as the West abandons its foundations in Christendom and embraces a secularist delusion. Our actually choosing to live the Christian year, in a compelling way, can become a profoundly important form of missionary activity in an age which has become deluded by the barrenness of secularism. A robust, evangelically alive and symbolically rich practice of living liturgically can invite our neighbors to examine their lives and be drawn to the One who is its source - Jesus Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End - as the emptiness of a life without God fails to fulfill the longing in their own hearts. In a particular way, Catholics are invited to mark time by the great events of the Christian faith in a Liturgical calendar. However, like so much that is contained within the treasury of the Catholic Church; the practice must be understood in order to be fully received as a gift. Jesus Christ is King and we are the seeds of His Kingdom scattered in the garden of a world which is waiting to be born anew. The Church, as a mother and a teacher, invites us to live the rhythm of the liturgical year in order to help us walk into a deeper encounter with the Lord and bring the whole world with us into the new world of the Church. The Church really IS the Mystical Body of the Risen Christ. That Body is inseparably joined to the Head. Jesus Christ is alive; he has been raised; and he continues His redemptive mission now through the Church, of which we are members. The early Catholics, before they were even called Christians, were referred to as the Way. (Acts 9:2, Acts 11:26) That was because they lived a very different way of life. A Way of Life which drew men and women to the One whose name they were soon privileged to bear, Jesus the Christ. We do not really go to Church; we live in the Church and go into the world, to bring the world, through the waters of new birth, into the Church as a new home, a new family. There, people will find the grace needed to begin a whole new way of living.  Christians believe in a linear timeline in history. There is a beginning and an end, a fulfillment, which is, in fact, a new beginning. The final Sunday of the church Year, the Feast of Christ the King, is the day when we are invited to commemorate His sovereignty over all men, women and children. Jesus Christ has come. Jesus Christ is coming. Jesus Christ will come again. Jesus Christ is Lord of All. Next week, we will celebrate the First Sunday of Advent, and begin the time of preparation for the great Feast of the Nativity of Our Savior. We are moving forward and toward His loving return. The Church, to use the beautiful imagery of the early Christian fathers, was birthed from the wounded side of the Savior on the Cross at Calvary's hill. Our Catholic liturgical year follows a rhythmic cycle which points us toward beginnings and ends. In doing so, it emphasizes important truths that can only be grasped through faith. Our Catholic faith and its Liturgical practices proclaim to a world hungry for meaning that Jesus Christ is the "Alpha", (the first letter of the Greek alphabet) and the "Omega" (the last letter), the beginning and the end. He is the Giver, the Governor, and the fulfillment of all time. In Him, the whole world is being made new and every end becomes a beginning for those with the greatest treasure, living faith. Those Baptized into Jesus Christ continue His redemptive mission until He returns to establish His Reign. We do this by living in His Body, the Church, and drawing the whole world into the New World beginning now. The Church is, in one of the early father's favorite descriptions, that "New World". This new family of the Church was then sent on mission. In our celebration of a Church Year, we not only remember the great events of the life, ministry and mission of the Lord, we also celebrate the life and death of our family members, the Saints, who have gone on before us, in the worlds of the Liturgy, "marked with the sign of redemption" as we pray in the Liturgy. They are models and companions for the journey of life and are our great intercessors; that "great cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1) whom the author of the letter to the Hebrews extols. This is the heart of understanding the "communion of saints". As St. Paul reminded the Roman Christians, not even death separates us any longer. (Romans 8:38, 39) They will welcome us into eternity and help us along our daily path through both their example and their prayer. As we progress through liturgical time we are invited to enter into the great events of faith. So, on this last week of the year, through our readings and liturgical prayer, we are invited to reflect on the "last things"- death, judgment, heaven and hell. We do so in order to change, to be converted; to enter more fully into the Divine plan. Today, as the Western Church year ends, we celebrate the full and final triumph and return of the One through whom the entire universe was created - and in whom it is being "recreated" - and by whom it will be completely reconstituted and handed back to the Father at the "end" of all time. That end will mark the beginning of a timeless new heaven and a new earth when "He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death." (Revelations 21:4). As we move from one Church year to the next, we also move along in the timeline of the human life allotted to each one of us. We age, and the certainty of our own death is meant to illuminate our life and the certainty of the end of all time is meant to illuminate its purpose and culmination in Christ. For both to be experienced by faith we must truly believe in Jesus Christ, who is the beginning and the end. And when we do, death can become, as we move closer to it, something wonderful - a second birth. The Church Fathers were fond of a Latin phrase "Carpe Diem", which literally means "Seize the day." For we who are living in communion in Christ Jesus, that phrase can take on a whole new meaning. We always journey toward the "Day of the Lord", when He will return as King. We should seize that day as the reference point for all things on this last week of the year, and we can live our lives as though His day is the milestone and marker for all that we do, revealing the path along which we become new - beginning now.

The Adult Faith Formation office invites you to join Cardinal Dolan at an upcoming conference celebrating the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae: Join us! Fifty years ago, Pope Saint Paul VI offered a vision for the world that continues to deepen our understanding of families in the 21st century. On December 1st along with medical professionals, women’s health advocates and clergy, we will celebrate this teaching and hear about opportunities and new paths forward in the dynamic world of women’s fertility awareness. Reserve your place today! ADNYHV50.eventbrite.com

St. Helena Music Director Daniel Ambe will star in the upcoming opera Savitri on Thursday, Nov. 29 at 7:30PM and Saturday, Dec. 1 at 7:30PM and Sunday, Dec. 2 at 2PM at the Flea Theater, 20 Thomas St., New York. The New Camerata Opera Company will perform both John Blow's "Venus and Adonis" and Gustav Holst's "Savitri." Tickets are $37 and are available at www.ci.ovationtix.com. Both shows are in English. Gustav Holst was quite taken with Hindu writings in his early career and it was as a result of his studies in Sanskrit that Sāvitri emerged in 1908. Based on a story from the Mahābhārata, the one-act opera depicts a devoted wife (Sāvitri) who, through unusual fortitude and pointed acumen, releases her husband (Satyavan), played by Daniel Ambe, from the supposedly irrevocable call of Death. This production will honor the Indian culture that gave us this story and feature singers of South Asian heritage. St. Helena parishioners are eligible for a special discount. Contact the rectory for details.

St. Helena Boy Scout Troop 65 Scoutmaster Mr. Jose Carballo received the James E. West Award for Service to Youth at the Bronx Good Scout Event held this week at Yankee Stadium.

Bishop Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou has been taken into custody by police and expected to undergo 10 to 15 days of compulsory indoctrination. Bishop Shao is an “underground” bishop, whose status has never been recognized by the Chinese government. His arrest comes on the heels of a Vatican-Beijing agreement, in which the Holy See recognized bishops who had been appointed by the government without approval from Rome.

The Catholic Church in the United States will celebrate National Vocation Awareness Week, November 4-10. This annual event is a special time for parishes in the U.S. to foster a culture of vocations for the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life. Pope Francis, in his message for the 2018 World Day of Vocations, emphasized that it is at the loving initiative of God, and by His personal encounter with each of us, that one is called. “Even amid these troubled times, the mystery of the Incarnation reminds us that God continually comes to encounter us. He is God-with-us, who walks along the often dusty paths of our lives. He knows our anxious longing for love and he calls us to joy. In the diversity and the uniqueness of each and every vocation, personal and ecclesial, there is a need to listen, discern and live this word that calls to us from on high and, while enabling us to develop our talents, makes us instruments of salvation in the world and guides us to full happiness.” National Vocation Awareness Week, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, is designed to help promote vocation awareness and to encourage young people to ask the question: "To what vocation in life is God calling me?" Parish and school communities across the nation are encouraged to include, during the first week in November, special activities that focus on vocation awareness and provide opportunities for prayerful discernment. Contemporary society is all too often saturated by constant activity and noise, so it is important this week to encourage young discerners to take time for silent, contemplative prayer. Results of studies conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), notes that 72% of those ordained to the Priesthood or solemnly professed within the last year cited participation in Eucharistic Adoration as a prayer experience that proved influential in their discernment. Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations echoes this finding, stating: “Quiet reflection and prayer are essential elements for vocational discernment. It is in the interior depths of our heart where we hear the voice of Christ, where he speaks to us, and where he reveals his will for our lives.” Observance of Vocation Awareness Week began in 1976 when the U.S. bishops designated the 28th Sunday of the year for the celebration. It was later moved to the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord in January. The USCCB Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations moved the observance of National Vocation Awareness Week to November to engage Catholic schools and colleges more effectively in this effort.

An indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful, who devoutly visit a cemetery and pray, even if only mentally, for the departed. The indulgence is plenary each day from the first to the eighth of November; on other days of the year, it is partial. A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful, who on the day dedicated to the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed [November 2 {as well as on a Sunday preceding or following, and on All Saints' Day}] piously visit a church. In visiting the church it is required that one Our Father and the Creed be recited. To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary also to fulfill the following three conditions: sacramental Confession, Eucharistic communion, and prayer for the intention of the Holy Father. The three conditions may be fulfilled several days before or after the performance of the visit; it is, however, fitting that communion be received and the prayer for the intention of the Holy Father be said on the same day as the visit. The condition of praying for the intention of the Holy Father is fully satisfied by reciting one Our Father and one Hail Mary. A plenary indulgence can be acquired only once in the course of the day.