The Friends of St. Jude - Shrine of Saint Jude Thaddeus

The Friends of St. Jude
2390 Bush St. P.O. Box 15368, San Francisco, CA 94115-0368
(415) 931-5919 www.stjude-shrine.org
The mission of the Shrine of St. Jude is to further the devotion to St. Jude Thaddeus, "Patron of Difficult Cases,"
and to support the education and formation of worthy students for the Dominican Priesthood and Brotherhood.
St. Jude Thaddeus Novena, October 2010
Special Points
 Letter from our
Director, Father
Martin Walsh, O.P.
 St. Jude Novena,
October 20-28
 Novena Masses:
M-Sat: 8:00 am &
5:30 pm
Sun:
11:30 am
 Novena Preacher:
Fr. Sergius Propst,
O.P.
 Rewards of Pilgrimage A-Z
 Jude , the Miracle
Worker
 How Should I Pray
 Blessings from the
Shrine
 7th Annual St.
Jude Pilgrimage,
Sat. October 23
 Spiritual Bouquet
Upcoming
Events
All Souls Day
November 2
Christmas Novena
(Not Preached)
Dec. 25-Jan. 2, 2011
St. Jude Thaddeus Novena
Dear Friends of St. Jude,
th
This year marks the 75 anniversary of our St. Jude Shrine
Apostolate, which was
founded in October 1935.
We will observe this milestone and give thanks to God
at the closing Mass of our St.
Jude Novena (October 20 –
28), celebrated by His Excellency George Niederauer,
Archbishop of San Francisco.
These seventy-five years have
been a pilgrimage of grace.
Indeed the word ―pilgrim,‖
which comes from the Latin
―p e r e g r i n u s , ‖ m e a n i n g
―foreigner,‖ or ―stranger,‖
perfectly describes us, in the
deepest sense, as Catholic
Christians. We are a people
on a journey to our heavenly
home, there to be united forever with Our Lord, the
Blessed Mother, and the
saints. In the meantime, we
are given a foretaste of this
union, in the smaller pilgrimages we undertake, as we
travel to sacred places seeking, in a special way, God‘s
truth, mercy, guidance, reassurance and strength.
―Pilgrimage,‖ not surprisingly, is the theme of our 75th
anniversary. By its light we
will honor anew all who have
―walked‖ before us in this
ministry of hope: the countless pilgrims who have visited
the Shrine since its founding,
bringing their joys, hopes and
sufferings for the mediation of
St. Jude; my fellow Dominican Friars and their devoted
lay staff who have made the
efforts and sacrifices to promote the St. Jude devotion;
and the many friends and
devotees across the world
who have joined with us
through the years with their
prayers and financial support.
Mindful of these blessings
bequeathed to us, I set off in
April this year on my own
pilgrimage, my own Camino
de Santiago (Way of St.
James), walking the 780 kilometers from St. Jean Pied de
Port in France to Santiago de
Compostela in Spain. There I
prayed for the intentions of
our St. Jude Shrine devotees,
and gave thanks to God for
this opportunity for spiritual
renewal.
In connection with our 75th
anniversary, I will give two
talks at St. Dominic‘s
Church, home of the St. Jude
Shrine, on October 15 and 17,
on the theme of pilgrimage.
Liz Trotta, author of the book
JUDE, A Pilgrimage to the
Saint of Last Resort, will join
us from New York
City, and she, too, will give a
lecture on her pilgrimage
through Turkey in the footsteps of St. Jude. In a future
newsletter, I will share with
you some of my impressions,
joys, sorrows on the Camino
de Santiago. But for now, let
me say that the journey was
for me an echo of the pilgrimage of life: sometimes
entailing a few steps back, or
to the side, but always a journey toward God. We walk
toward God, as one writer
said, not perfect, but as we
are, with all our doubts, crises, faith, thanksgiving…. but
always to offer ourselves
completely.
A pilgrimage then is for the
Catholic a personal invitation
from God. But it is not always easy to say, ―Yes.‖
One of my favorite writers,
Dorothy Day, citing St. John
of the Cross, says a pilgrimage answers our need for
occasional detachment from
the world, and our need ―to
travel light through the dark
night.‖ She adds, ―Most of
us have not the courage to set
out on this path wholeheartedly, so God arranges it for
us.‖ (On Pilgrimage - January)
(continued on next page)
Page 2
The Friends of St. Jude
2390 Bush St. P.O. Box 15368, San Francisco, CA 94115 -0368
Novena Preacher: Father Sergius Propst, O.P.
Fr. Sergius Propst, O.P.
Born of strict Southern Baptist parents in Aiken, South
Carolina on January 4, 1942,
Father Propst was raised in
South Carolina, New Jersey,
and Tennessee. He attended
the University of South Carolina, from which he graduated
in 1960 with a B.S. Degree in
Biology.
He converted to the Catholic
faith in 1963 and served four
years in the Navy as an electronic technician.
He entered the Dominican
novitiate at Winona, Minnesota in 1967 for the Western
Dominican Province. After
completing his studies, Fr.
Propst was ordained in 1973.
Currently, he divides his time
between preaching for the
Western Province and teaching theology at the Pontifical
University of St. Thomas
Aquinas in Rome.
Letter from our Director: (continued)
I am sure to my Dominican predecessors who founded this ministry seventy-five years ago to bring hope in the midst of the
Great Depression it must have seemed like setting out into the dark night. Yet their faith and courage overrode their apprehension in service of their sacred mission.
Today, thanks to them, our mission endures amid another severe economic crisis. As we have done throughout the first
seventy-five years, we will entrust our efforts to God and to St. Jude today, tomorrow; for the next seventy-five years and
beyond.
Elsewhere in this newsletter is a schedule of our annual St. Jude Novena and 75 th anniversary program. We are delighted to
welcome back as our Novena preacher Fr. Sergius Propst, O.P. Please join with us, whether in person or in prayer, and as
always, do submit your petitions. You may use the forms at the back of this newsletter. We will offer
your prayers and intentions throughout the Novena at the altar and in the prayers of the Dominican
Friars of the Shrine. May our merciful God swiftly answer your earnest prayers and intentions through
the intercession of our holy patron, St. Jude Thaddeus. Happy 75 th birthday!
In Christ and St. Jude,
Fr. Martin Walsh, O.P., Director
Rewards of Pilgrimage, A-Z
In our research on pilgrimages, we happened upon various sources that give an overview of the reasons for and rewards of
pilgrimage. We go to seek help, these sources agree, in any number of areas, literally from A to Z. Here are a few:
A
cknowledgement—to acknowledge and give our faults to God.
E
R
B
eauty—to enjoy the view; appreciate God through beauty in nature.
P
motional Pain—to tear down
those walls that enclose us!
osary—to focus on the life of Christ; quiet
the mind, gain love and peace in the heart.
S
tress—to find relief
through faith.
S
rayer—to develop a habit of
prayer and stick to it.
S
C
P
ourage—to ask God for courage
(if you do, He will give it to you).
ride—to find the cure;
to learn to be humble.
erenity—to find inner peace, as the pace of life
quickens, as we lose jobs, homes, marriages.
urrender—to master, as much as possible, the art of trusting God in
all our daily pursuits.
Page 3
Jude, the Miracle Worker
Back when newspapers were thick with advertisements, one would find whole areas of the classified-ad section devoted to
―Thank you, St. Jude‖ notices. Some of the advertisers would give their names, others remained anonymous. And they
were not always Catholic, but instead came from many faiths. All, by their expressions of gratitude, conveyed a message
of faithful devotion to St. Jude and belief in his intercession on their behalf. Some ads carried a brief thank you; others
told stories attesting to St. Jude‘s help in a desperate situation.
Over the years we have shared in a great many of these stories. On this our
75th anniversary how we would have liked to recount some of them to you!
But space prevents us from doing so here. It is our privilege to receive them,
however, and they always inspire us in our ministry of hope.
Take a story from 2008, which Father Martin recounted for the October 17,
2008 edition of Catholic San Francisco, the S.F. Archdiocesan weekly newspaper, from which we take this excerpt: ‗ ―About two months ago I was blessing pilgrims…and a woman asked me to bless her husband with the [St. Jude]
relic. He had severe heart problems and was scheduled for surgery within the
next few days. I blessed him.‖ Two weeks later the couple was back and
Father Walsh was surprised. ―They told me the doctor reexamined her husband before the scheduled surgery and the heart problem was gone and they
cancelled the operation.‖ ‘
The biggest of wishes do come true in conjunction with the Shrine; occurrences are not documented in detail, but miracles are said to have taken place.
We have no doubt that this will continue to be the case for our Shrine devotees and friends.
How Should I Pray for the Help of St. Jude?
(Excerpted from a paper by Father Tommy Hayes, O.P.)
Every school child learns that we should pray and pray often. From earliest years we learn that when we pray we are not
informing God of our needs (I am thinking now of prayer of petition) for He knows far better than we what is good for us.
In our petitions we pray as an act of faith, that we do believe in God‘s goodness, and to remind ourselves of our dependence
on God, creator and preserver of all things. We pray with hope, confidently expecting that God will give us what is good
for us, and we pray with love, recognizing His love for us and our desire to love Him.
If we properly understand what prayer is – simply stated, a conversation with God – and if we go to God with lively sentiments of faith, hope and charity, we know our prayer will be infallibly answered.
There is a mistake that is sometimes made in our prayer of petition and that is to confuse or distort the reason why we pray
incessantly and repeatedly. Repetition is good, if it is properly understood and practiced. But to repeat without necessity,
without reason, and without understanding is a distraction, indeed a perversion of prayer.
Take for example the admonition to ―say this prayer 9 times a day, for 9 days, leaving a copy [or 9 or any number of copies]
in the church.‖ This is not good, as it tends to superstition, if it is not already tainted with superstition. We can say our private prayers without being bound to a certain number of times, or tied up with an automatic approach to prayer.
Our prayers can be repeated, of course, and in the proper circumstances and in the proper way it can be a good and laudable
thing… but it is wrong to hold that there is some necessity to say a prayer 9 times (or any number of times) as though that
number of times would make the prayer efficacious or better. We want to keep superstitious practices out of our prayers.
So let us persevere in prayer but understand its practice and purpose.
St. Jude Thaddeus Novena, October 2010
Page 4
Blessings from the Shrine
Masses:
You can have a Mass said for
■ your intentions (e.g., recovery from illness, work)
■ a loved one (or loved ones)
Masses are offered daily by the Dominican Friars of the Shrine, and a handsome card, bearing an
appropriate sacred image is sent to the person or persons you request.
Enrollment:
You can enroll yourself, an individual, or your family (or any family) in the St. Jude Apostolate,
thereby entrusting those you love to the daily protection of St. Jude.
■ Annual Enrollment—good for one year
■ Individual Perpetual Enrollment—for an individual, in perpetuity
■ Family Perpetual Enrollment—for a family in perpetuity
Perpetual enrollment confers the blessings of Christ stemming from our participation in the redemption of our Blessed Lord won
by His passion, death, and resurrection. The enrollee(s) is remembered daily in the Dominican Friars’ prayers and good works,
and in the solemn Novenas and Novena Masses throughout the year. We send a beautiful certificate of enrollment to the person
you choose.
Votive Light:
You can request that a votive light be lit for a person or intention for
■ 9 days
■ 30 days
The beauty, the intensity, the transcendent nature of the flame before the St. Jude altar uniquely symbolize the faith, hope, and
love infusing your prayer to God. We send a notice, if one is requested, to whomever you say.
St. Jude Oil:
A sacramental (not a sacrament) of the Church, the oil is blessed with a relic of St. Jude by a priest, according to the Church’s
Book of Blessings. The oil is provided in a handsome vial bearing the identification of the St. Jude Shrine, and comes with
instructions for its use, as well as a prayer that you might offer as you apply it.
Prayers:
You may request that prayers be said by the Friars and Staff of the Shrine for a specific intention. These are offered in our daily
prayers and weekly meetings.
7th Annual Pilgrimage for St. Jude Thaddeus†Sat. Oct. 23, 2010, 9 am—1 pm
Holy Rosary:
Location:
Transportation:
Bilingual Solemn Mass:
Pilgrimage Route:
More Information:
8 am, St. Finn Barr’s Church
Walk starts at 9 am from St. Finn Barr’s Church, 415 Edna St. (at
Hearst St.), SF; ends at 1 pm at St. Dominic’s Church (home of the
Shrine of St. Jude), 2390 Bush St., SF.
Buses from St. Dominic’s to St. Finn Barr’s— 6 am to 8 am only.
1:30 pm, St. Dominic’s Church
Starting at Edna St., left on Flood Ave., left on Circular Ave., right
on Baden St., right on San Jose Ave., left on Santa Rosa Ave., left
on Mission St., right on 14th St., left on South Van Ness Ave. to Van
Ness Ave., left on Pine St., and left on Steiner St. (approximately 7
miles).
Shrine of St. Jude † 415-931-5919 † M-F 9 am– 4 pm
www.stjude-shrine.org † email: info@stjude-shrine.org
Or call Jaime or Rosa Pinto † 415-333-8730
St. Jude Novena Spiritual Bouquet
Dear Father,
Please pray for _________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
so that they may share in the Novena of Masses at the Shrine of St. Jude in observance of the St. Jude Thaddeus
Novena, October 20-28, 2010.
My donation is _________
Please place this slip with your donation in an envelope and return it to the Shrine of St.
Jude either by mail or by depositing it into the black candle collection box at the Shrine.