CONTENTS: 1. Faith Formation Sessions this Sunday, April 28 2. The Living Water Project Ends This Sunday 3. Prayer of the Week – In Thanksgiving for our Catechists 4. Upcoming Parish Events

St. Gabriel’s Women’s Club Spring Rummage Sale (May 2, 3 & 4)

Yes, You Can Make a Card (May 4)

Blooming Plant Sale (May 10, 11 & 12) 5. Articles for Parents from At Home with Our Faith

Your 24/7 Sacrament, part 2 6. Rediscover Faith:

What are the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy? 7. News from The Catholic Spirit 8. Videos With a Message

Dove Soap “Real Beauty” Sketches

“To Believe” Sung by Jackie Evancho

Shortest Sermon on Record! 9. From Pain Comes Wisdom: A One-Minute Meditation 10. Product Recall Notice (Us!) 11. Twins

1. FAITH FORMATION SESSIONS

THIS SUNDAY, APRIL 28

SUNDAY MORNING PRESCHOOL & KINDERGARTEN Meet in St. John’s School Preschool Room during the 10:30am Sunday Mass.

FAMILY PICNIC for Sunday Morning Preschool & Kindergarten: After our final

Session, all gather in St. John’s School Gymnasium for some fun & food!

SUNDAY EVENING FAITH FORMATION SESSIONS Meet at the school at St. Joseph’s campus.

Please bring in your WATER BOTTLE with any donations for THE WATER

PROJECT!

Please turn in a competed EVALUATION FORM.

ICE CREAM SOCIAL at the end of our Sunday evening FF sessions for Grades

1 – 10: Parents, join all the students at the school cafeteria at St. Joseph’s

campus.

2. LIVING WATER PROJECT ENDS

THIS SUNDAY

Please bring in your donations THIS SUNDAY, April 28

o Also, take a look at the calendar with prayers & activities that we sent

home.

o The money we collect will be sent to our Archdiocesan Center for

Mission, who will forward it to the Diocese of Kitui in Kenya, Africa to

help them with their water projects.

3. UPCOMING PARISH EVENTS

ST. GABRIEL’S WOMEN’S CLUB SPRING RUMMAGE SALE

Thursday, May 2: from 9:30am–8:00pm

Friday, May 3: from 9:30am–5:00pm

Saturday, May 4: from 9:30am–12:00pm

We will be accepting donations of your rummage sale items from this Saturday, April 27,

through Wednesday, May 1, at 12:00pm because we need time to get the hall ready for the sale

on Thursday, May 2. We invite all St. Gabriel's parishioners to help at anytime during the

week. Come down to the social hall, St. Joseph's Campus.

We take everything except: TV sets, large stereo sets, consoles, computers, carpeting,

microwaves, appliances, baby car seats (not allowed to sell them), old tires and wheels, large

windows, box springs and mattresses, water beds, toxic chemicals/paint and hide-a-beds.

Furniture must be in good condition.

Men are needed to help with the hardware and outside area. We need help sorting and

pricing. There are many other tasks–even sit-down jobs for those who cannot stand for a

long time. Remember, it takes many volunteers from set up on Friday, April 26 to tear down

on Saturday, May 5 at 12:00pm to make this a success.

Food donations are always welcome. Our workers look forward to much needed coffee

breaks and lunches. They enjoy your great food donations. Pick up is available. Questions

or if you need items picked up, please call Suzanne at (952) 938-2401 or Janet at 952-935-5151.

YES, YOU CAN MAKE A CARD!

All women are invited to stop by for all or part of the time from 1:00-4:00pm on Saturday, May

4, at St. John's Campus to create Mother's Day Cards that will be given to our parish mom's on

Mother's Day. If you can peel the backing off a sticker, join us! All supplies provided. SO

EASY! Reserve a chair (that comes with magical creativity) by contacting Kathleen Esh at

(952) 933-7610 or kmeyesh@yahoo.com. Were you a Brownie? Do you remember: "Make

new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold!"

23RD

ANNUAL BLOOMING PLANT SALE

SPRING IS HERE!

Come beautify your home with a huge variety of healthy and beautiful plants.

Surprise Mom with a lovely hanging basket or create your own planter with a wonderful

selection of flowering plants and fillers.

Our expert staff can help you with all your gardening needs.

Friday, May 10 from 8:00am - 6:00pm

Saturday, May 11 from 8:00am - 6:00pm

Sunday, May 12 from 8:00am - 12:00pm

Volunteers are needed for this great fundraiser! Please sign up in the foyer at the St. John’s

Campus.

For more information contact: Mary Rivers at (952) 210-2161 or mermerrivers@yahoo.com

4. PRAYER OF THE WEEK.

A Prayer in Thanksgiving for our Catechists.

O God our heavenly Father,

you have given us the gift of our catechists to be heralds of the Gospel to our parish family.

We lift them up to you in thanksgiving

and intercede for them concerning their hopes and needs.

May we be attentive to the presence of your Word in them, a Word that lifts up and affirms,

calls forth and challenges, is compassionate and consoles.

We pray that our parish family will always be blessed

with those who respond to the call to share in Christ’s prophetic mission as catechists.

May we too be open to the universal call to service

that Christ addresses to all of his disciples, contributing our gifts to the communion of faith,

the Church. We ask this in Jesus’ name.

Amen. (From the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops)

[I am already aware of some of this year’s Catechists who are moving or retiring. So please continue to pray that we have more dedicated people like them come forth to offer their gifts in this important ministry!]

5. ARTICLES FOR PARENTS from At

Home

With Our Faith

Your 24/7 Sacrament, part 2 Dealing with: Giving your marriage the commitment and hard work it needs.

The need to take advantage of the grace provided by the Sacrament of

Marriage.

We’ve learned to pray together. Franciscan Father Mike Bertram,

pastor of St. Francis of Assisi in Milwaukee, feels that part of his responsibility as a priest preparing a couple for marriage is to help them feel comfortable praying together. He has noticed that on the Catholic pre-marriage inventory, most couples say they are uncomfortable praying together. “It is my belief that prayer is the most intimate activity of our lives,” Bertram says. “Many couples agree with me that they’ll tell God something that they wouldn’t tell their spouse. If that could be shared with a spouse, think how it might strengthen a couple’s relationship.” One couple whose wedding Bertram celebrated now takes time at the end of each day to light a candle and mention someone or something from their day for whom or for which they’d like to pray. They then together say an Our Father and Hail Mary for each of their intentions.

We still talk about our hopes and dreams. For some couples,

the heartfelt discussions of dating and early marriage become distant memories as the daily grind of work and family takes over. A husband or wife may become afraid to even ask a spouse if he or she is happy with a career or an aspect of marriage or family life, for fear that the answer will be no—and then what? But couples who regularly discuss important issues find that they are more nimble and able to navigate their marriage. Problems are less likely to become a full-blown crisis. Arthur and Denise find that two to three long car rides each year provide the perfect venue for these discussions. “We may spend most of a five to seven-hour trip talking about where we are and where we want to be. We do it so often, most of the discussions just lead us to readjust our path or refocus a bit,” Denise says. When Jim and Pam, parents of two teen girls, found that their weekends were becoming consumed by the girls’ activities, the two decided on a Thursday date night to reconnect. “When we have taken that time, we always find out something that the other person was feeling or thinking,” Jim says. “The discussions definitely help us to understand each other and our wants and dreams for our family better, which I think makes us a stronger couple and family.”

—by Annemarie Scobey, from the pages of At Home with Our Faith, Claretian Publications’ print newsletter for parents on nurturing spirituality in the home. Winner of the 2012 Best in Class award from the Associated Church Press, as well as a First Place General Excellence award from the Catholic Press Association for the past three years running.

6. REDISCOVER FAITH

Want to more about your faith? Check out http://rediscover-faith.org/ for their large collection of answers

to

questions of importance to all of us.

Here’s a sample of a short 1-page answer to the question:

What are the Corporal and Spiritual works of mercy? http://rediscover.archspm.org/belonging/topic.php?id=7969

Rediscover the joy of living a Christ-like life!

7. NEWS FROM THE CATHOLIC

SPIRIT (Our Archdiocesan Newspaper)

The April 19 edition:

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=qpa4ffcab&v=001YqL8bqhr7N5l6aHQGt8h1QTs6HAH

mGTEEt-PjK4wB_1bB_LqHE6OhAPSWqTD-KG9D4ipJcDuFa4pR-8dDHPfHzba-

8a8NYU0jJfLnb86x8nfc7D9AJnRoHvcd3h2Um4g

8. VIDEOS WITH A MESSAGE

DOVE (Soap) “REAL BEAUTY” SKETCHES

The Most Responsible Ad On The Internet?

Sam Ferrigno shared these thoughts on HooplaHa: “A recent video

created by Dove will change how you see your own face for the

better.” It is a profound message and if you are intrigued by what

Dove and Sam have to say, you might want to watch the three (3) minute video at Check it out

at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk. Or http://dove.com/realbeautysketches

A message from Dove (Soap):

Women are their own worst beauty critics. Only 4% of women

around the world consider themselves beautiful. At Dove, we

are committed to creating a world where beauty is a source of

confidence, not anxiety. So, we decided to conduct a

compelling social experiment that explores how women view their own beauty in contrast to what others see.

With the above video especially, the company features our collective anxiety about

physical appearance in a way that is refreshing and uncommon. Not once does a bar of

soap or a bottle of shampoo appear on screen. It is as if the company is using its media

clout to relieve that anxiety by improving our perceptions of our physical selves. …What

we’ve got to remember is that even if Dove is being tricky, there are plenty of

advertisements that manipulate us into thinking we’re not good enough and therefore

need their products to be better. Dove’s campaign to sell their products is different

because they’re not urging us to give them our money. Instead, the urgency is placed on

loving the bodies and faces we were born with. That’s not just good advertising; it’s

refreshing and responsible.

“TO BELIEVE” sung by Jackie Evancho.:

Jackie Evancho has a voice much more mature than her years. I

understand she was second in America's Got Talent a couple of

years ago at age 10. You can watch this five minute video at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foUrBztgzZA or

http://www.staged.com/video?v=NtK.

SHORTEST SERMON ON RECORD!

More of a meditation on Jesus in our lives.

This lady can say more in 2 minutes than I can say in two days!

One Minute & 39 seconds sermon. Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/embed/WGnEuGwvXqU?rel=0

9. FROM PAIN COME WISDOM – A

One-Minute Meditation

Should you shield the valleys from the windstorms, you would never see the beauty of their canyons.

--Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Time teaches us about the twofold connection of suffering and wisdom. For every loss,

we've gained something new. We are learning that our pain makes us wise over time, but while we are in its midst we often feel alone and entrapped. We sometimes can make no sense out of our suffering - neither its depth nor its seeming unfairness - and we may even turn our backs on God when this happens. In situations like that, we only survive the darkness by stumbling through it each day. But our Faith teaches us to gradually allow ourselves to accept comfort from others, and to let their words help us in times of desolation. We are learning that some pains can't be healed, but instead must be endured until they run their course. Sometimes the only hope we have is the deep knowledge that God will give us no more than we can handle today. With that help and comfort, we can endure and find peace.

Today let me trust that - even though life may feel painful – God still walks with me on my spiritual journey.

You are reading an adaptation from the Hazelden book:

Body, Mind and Spirit by Anonymous

10. PRODUCT RECALL NOTICE (Us!)

The Maker of all human beings (GOD) is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to a serious defect in the primary and central component of the heart.

This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype units code named Adam and Eve, resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. This defect has been identified as "Subsequential Internal Non-morality," more commonly known as S.I.N., as it is primarily expressed. Some of the symptoms include: 1. Loss of direction 2. Foul vocal emissions 3. Amnesia of origin 4. Lack of peace and joy 5. Selfish or violent behavior 6. Depression or confusion 7. Fearfulness 8. Idolatry 9. Rebellion

The Manufacturer, who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect, is providing factory-authorized repair and service free of charge to correct this defect.

The Repair Technician, JESUS, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs. There is no additional fee required.The number to call for repair in all areas is: P-R-A-Y-E-R. Once connected, please upload your burden of SIN through the REPENTANCEprocedure. Next, download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, Jesus, into the heart component. No matter how big or small the SIN defect is,Jesus will replace it with: 1. Love 2. Joy 3. Peace 4. Patience 5. Kindness 6. Goodness 7. Faithfulness 8. Gentleness 9. Self control Please see the operating manual, the B.I.B.L.E. (BEST Instructions Before Leaving Earth) for further details on the use of these fixes. WARNING: Continuing to operate the human being unit without correction voids any manufacturer warranties, exposing the unit to dangers and problems too numerous to list, and will result in the human unit being permanently impounded. For free emergency service, call onJesus. DANGER: The human being units not responding to this recall action will have to be scrapped in the furnace. The SIN defect will not be permitted to enter Heaven so as to prevent contamination of that facility. Thank you for your attention! - GOD P.S. You may contact the Father any time by 'Knee mail'! Because HE Lives!

11. TWINS

See this little reflection at the end of today’s email.