The Catholic Churches of Emmons County , North Dakota

Dear Parishioners,

“Brothers and sisters, I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you.”  These words from St. Paul at the beginning of our second reading this Sunday summarizes the last three months for me.  I have been praying for all of you every day.  I have missed you and I am greatly looking forward to being back in our parishes and seeing all of you!

I hope your Advent journey is off to a great start.  What a wonderful time for us to focus on our relationship with Jesus and prepare our hearts to welcome him anew.  One of the most important ways to prepare a welcome for Our Lord is by making a good confession.  The Lord in his tremendous love for us wants us to be always with him and not apart from him in any way.  I hope we long to be always with Him too! Unfortunately, our sinfulness gets in the way and separates us from God and one another.  The Lord knows our struggles and our weaknesses and so provides the wonderful sacrament of reconciliation to restore our right relationship with him.  I encourage you during this Advent season to come and receive the gift of Our Lord’s mercy in the sacrament of reconciliation.  Along with our regular scheduled confession times (listed in the bulletin), I am providing several special opportunities for the sacrament:

Dec. 9^th: 5:30pm-7:30pm at Sts. Peter & Paul-Strasburg
Dec. 12^th: After Mass at St. Michael’s
Dec. 15^th: 7:00pm Penance service at St. Anthony-Linton
Dec. 17^th: 6:00pm-7:30pm at St. Mary’s-Hague

This week we celebrate The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  It is a Holy Day of Obligation for us.  The Mass schedule is:

                Tuesday, Dec. 7^th:            5:30pm at Sts. Peter & Paul-Strasburg
                                                            7:30pm at St. Michael’s
                Wednesday, Dec. 8^th:     7:00am at Sts. Peter & Paul-Strasburg
                                                           7:00pm at St. Mary’s-Hague

With Christmas Day falling on a Saturday this year, our regular weekend schedule has a couple changes.  The Mass schedule for Christmas weekend is:

                Friday, Dec. 24^th:              4:00pm Sts. Peter & Paul-Strasburg
                                                            8:00pm St. Mary’s-Hague
                Saturday, Dec. 25^th:         8:45am Sts. Peter & Paul-Strasburg
                                                          11:00am St. Michael’s
                                                            7:00pm St. Mary’s-Hague
                Sunday, Dec. 26^th:            8:45am Sts. Peter & Paul-Strasburg
                                                          11:00am St. Michael’s

Simply put, I had a wonderful and grace-filled sabbatical.  I thank all of you for your prayers for me during my time away.  I want to express a special thank you to Nicole in the parish office for keeping everything running smoothly (and to all who assisted her in any way!).  And finally, my deepest and sincere gratitude to Fr. Bruce for so generously giving of his time to make my sabbatical time away possible.  Your tremendous love for Our Lord and your generosity in caring for His people is so greatly appreciated!  We will all miss your presence here, but we look forward to welcoming you back any time!

Fr. Shannon      

             During this time of pandemic, here are some additional resources for prayer:

• Sunday on EWTN (BEK cable channel 600): Rosary 6:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.  Mass 7:00 a.m., 6:00 p.m. and 11:00pm.  Chaplet of Divine Mercy 2:00 p.m.
• Real Presence Radio (FM 91.7 KPHA): Sunday Mass at 7:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sunday Family Rosary at 8:30 p.m.  Daily Mass is broadcast at 9:00 p.m.  Chaplet of Divine Mercy is said every day at 3:00 p.m.
• BEK Television broadcasts live the Sunday Mass at 10:30 a.m. from St. Anthony in Linton.
• Fr. Jason Signalness is videoing and streaming Mass from his parish at Stanley, ND.  You can access this at: https://holyrosarystanley.com
• Consult the Dioceses of Bismarck's Website at: bismarckdiocese.com. for more resources and information.