The atrium and vestibule are adorned with our Advent Giving Trees bearing envelopes for our two charities for this year’s support. Once again, we are supporting the Knights of Malta Mobile House of Care, a Catholic organization that through mobile vans visiting neighborhoods in need will provide healthcare services to diagnose and treat all kinds of conditions and illnesses. Doctors, nurses and medical technicians treat our brothers and sisters and their families who have no access, save for the hospital emergency room, and bring them on the road to good health.

All this amazing medical care, free of charge, is provided with Christ’s love and compassion for another human person in need. Our local Hartford-area Knights of Malta have served more than 70,000 medical patients in need so far. Thank you for making this a miracle of medicine and faith all year long.

St. Catherine of Siena Neighbors in Need fund is our other charity, a fund that the parish administers to provide food, clothing, shelter, heat and light and other daily needs for local citizens in the Farmington Valley. While we do live in a comfortable area, not all people are able to meet the daily needs of family life. From devastating illnesses to unexpected job losses or a host of other unforeseen troubles, “There but for the Grace of God go I.” Never have truer words been said.

Today may be wonderful, but who knows what the future may bring. We indeed live in a transitory world, one day we are find, the next tragedy happens. Your support of the Neighbors in Need fund goes a long way to help others out in difficult times. The funds are used usually for everyday needs, sometimes we go further when a serious tragedy happens, but in all things we serve God in caring for a neighbor in need. Thank you for your support of these two local and powerfully needed support systems. May God continue to bless you and those you love.