Welcome!

As many of you know on October 1 at 10am, we are celebrating Welcome Home Sunday here at Assumption. — Do you remember the first time you felt welcomed at Assumption Church? — Maybe it was being greeted by one of the hospitality ministers or when you were personally handed a bulletin. Maybe it was being acknowledged by one of the friars or while enjoying one of our dinners.

Just recently a member of our Assumption family told me how she felt welcomed on the frst day she attended Mass at Assumption. “It was pretty simple, I just walked in, and someone stopped the conversation he or she was having to make eye-contact with me and say Hello. This is was frst church I visited that this ever happened to me and I have been coming back ever since.”

This now parishioner, lector, and volunteer at our Food Pantry and Soup Kitchen could not even tell me who the person was today, but as she told me “that doesn’t mater, the very fact that I felt acknowledged was enough.” Well, how can you and I be welcoming today? We can simply acknowledge that there is someone new sitng around us or near our pews

We can make eye contact while giving the sign of peace at Mass. We can approach someone afer Mass and say welcome to our parish “My name is….” We can invite parishioners to coffee and donuts on Sundays.

And if nothing else, you and I can smile. Last Sunday we heard from the Prophet Isaiah: “make joyful in my house of prayer.” You and I are called to be joyful people. As Pope Francis said in his Apostolic Exhortaton The Joy of the Gospel “The Church must be a place of mercy freely given, where everyone can feel welcomed, loved, forgiven and encouraged to life the good life of the Gospel.”

If you are new to our Assumption parish family, welcome! Know that you are loved and forgiven. May you be encouraged by us living out the Joy of the Gospel.

If you are a regular here at Assumption, welcome back! Know that you are loved and forgiven. May you continue to encourage others to live out the Joy of the Gospel.