Jars for Life
Youth will be fundraising for the Pilgrimage for Life in Washington D.C. by selling hand-crafted jar mixes. Watch the bulletin for details, and thank you for your generous support! ​

NEW ASSIGNMENT
As announced at the Masses last weekend, we received word late Friday that effective Jan 28th, Fr Barry Saylor will no longer be assigned as the associate priest at St. John the Baptist and Christ the King parishes. He will be appointed Parish Administrator at Christ the King parish. (For those that might be wondering, on the surface and in regards to running a parish, Parish Administrator and Pastor are very similar. It is normal in the Diocese of La Crosse to be named a Parish Administrator initially, and named pastor after 6 months to a year). Fr Barry will retain his appointment as chaplain for Columbus Catholic middle and high schools.
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Congratulations, Fr Barry! I believe this will be a great assignment and he will continue to grow in his identity as a priest, and as his service to the people in the Marshfield Deanery, specifically to Christ the King parish and the students and families of Columbus Catholic middle and high school. 

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Pilgrimage for Life Meeting Please join us for an information meeting with light refreshments about the Pilgrimage for Life on Tues. November 5th from 6:30pm to 7:30pm in the Columbia room. There will be info on fundraising, scholarships, and time for Q+A 

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HOW TO DEEPEN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST
Prayer is central to our relationship with God; you can have the fanciest new phone, but if there is no connection, it is useless. How do we get a stronger connection to God? I believe prayer after receiving Holy Communion is an integral part of a healthy prayer life. This is one of the most sacred times of our Mass; after receiving our Lord, he is physically united as well as spiritually united within us, and taking some time at this point in the Mass can deepen our relationship with him. How do we pray? Are there words, or do we just sit quietly? There is no right or wrong answer, but to help place us in the proper frame of reference, some spiritual masters in our faith tradition may help.
God bless Fr Jim

Anima Cristi by St Thomas Aquinas
Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from Christ's side, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee From the malicious enemy defend me
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come unto Thee
That I may praise Thee with Thy saints
and with Thy angels forever and ever. Amen

Saint John Vianney
"I love You, O my God, and my only desire is to love You until the last breath of my life. I love You, O my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving You, than live without loving You. I love You, Lord and the only grace I ask is to love You eternally....My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love You, I want my heart to repeat it to You as often as I draw breath."

Saint Padre Pio:
O Lord, we ask for a boundless confidence and trust in Your divine mercy, and the courage to accept the crosses and sufferings which bring immense goodness to our souls and that of Your Church.
Help us to love You with a pure and contrite heart, and to humble ourselves beneath Your cross, as we climb the mountain of holiness, carrying our cross that leads to
heavenly glory.May we receive You with great faith and love in Holy Communion, and allow You to act in us, as You desire, for Your greater glory.
O Jesus, most adorable heart and eternal fountain of Divine Love, may our prayer find favor before
the Divine Majesty of Your Heavenly Father. Amen.

Spiritual Communion

Sometimes we are asked to refrain from presenting ourselves for Holy Communion. The following is an ancient prayer for these times:

My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already there and
unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen. ​

How do new parishioners register for an account?

Registering for FORMED is easier than ever:

1. Go to formed.org/signup
2. Select your parish
3. Register with your name and email address
4. Check that email account for a link to begin using FORMED

We’ve created a series of videos to guide your parishioners through logging in, signing up, and using the platform. Watch them here.

​Why did FORMED change?
 
In short, because our users asked us to change.

We have been hard at work these past few months listening to you, your parishioners, and all of our customers and we are excited to announce the new and improved FORMED.

In response to what you asked for, the original FORMED that you know and love now has improved performance, an enhanced search tool, new features, and new ways for our users to watch our programming, listen to audio or read e-books on their connected TVs and devices.

Watching great Catholic content at your parish just got a whole lot easier. In addition to browser, iOS, Android and TVOS, we now offer Roku, Amazon Fire and many more avenues for you and your parishioners to engage with our content.

Offline playback, My List creation and the ability to resume watching where you left off are all features requested by our users that are now on the platform.

Additionally, an improved search function will help you better discover the content you are looking for, making it easier to find our movies, programs, e-books and audio.

Lastly, our newly designed user interface, mirroring some of the best-of-breed On-Demand solutions in the market, will make navigating the experience even more enjoyable.

FEAST OF SAINTS MICHAEL, GABRIEL AND RAPHAEL
Late September and early October are the times set aside for a special devotion to the angels; with some special feast days for the Archangels and Guardian Angels. Angels are all around us at all times, and I believe it is important to acknowledge this so we can be more intentional in thanking them and asking for their assistance.

Although there are seven Archangels mentioned in Sacred Scripture, only three are mentioned by name. The feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael was Sunday Sep 29, and was superseded by the Sunday Mass. The Memorial for the Guardian Angels was October 2nd, which was a Wednesday and coincided with our school Mass, also very appropriate as children often have a deeper connection with their angels. The word ‘angel’ comes from angelus, the Latin term for ‘messenger’. The angels have a three-fold office; to praise God, to act as his messengers and to watch over mortal men and women. These are found in Sacred Scripture in the Holy Holy Holy: ‘Let us praise the Lord whom the Angels praise, whom the Cherubim and Seraphim proclaim Holy, Holy, Holy’; ‘Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared. Take notice of him, and hear his voice’ (Exodus 23); and ‘See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven’. (Mt 18:10)

The seven Archangels are God’s envoys: Gabriel is ‘the strength of God’ and bears tidings of hope to Zachariah and to Mary, and tradition identifies him as the one bringing strength to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and he appeared to Joseph and to the shepherds after the birth of Christ; Michael is ‘God’s warrior’, and in art he is represented as an angelic warrior, fully armed with helmet, sword and shield, standing over the dragon. Michael is also known as the divine physician and is one of the angels called upon for healing. Raphael is known as ‘God has healed’ and is found in the Book of Tobit, and is the patron saint for travelers. He makes himself known as "the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord.

In addition, there are classes of Angels we call upon at the conclusion of the preface, just before the Eucharistic prayer. We hear these often, but I am not sure it is common knowledge who we are praying with. Often the conclusion is very clear, ‘through him the host of Angels..., or In the Company of Angels and saints, we acclaim...There is another conclusion that claims: with the Angels and Archangels, with the Thrones and Dominions, with all the host and the Powers of heaven... And another: Through him the Angels praise...Dominions adore... Powers tremble before you. Heaven and the Virtues of heaven and the blessed Seraphim worship...

Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Seraphim, Cherubim and Virtues; these are all classes of Angels, they gather especially at the Holy sacrifice of the Mass, they intercede and take part in the holy exchange of gifts, bringing our gifts of bread and wine along with the offerings of our hearts to the altar in heaven and bear the body and blood of Jesus Christ to our altars on earth. We see this in a special way in the 1st Eucharistic prayer: In humble prayer we ask you, Almighty God, command these gifts be borne by the hand of your holy Angel to your altar on high... so we may receive the most holy Body and Blood of your Son...

May the Angels come to your assistance, protect you and guide you always.
God bless 
Fr. Jim
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