The Knight's Shield - August 2017

Please Keep Angelo Garavaglia’s wife Carol, who went home to the Lord June 30th, and all deceased Knights and their Spouses in your prayers.

Let me begin my remarks this month by thanking each of you for the support you have shown and the trust you have placed in me. As I look at the road ahead, I am truly excited about the opportunity of serving this Council as its Grand Knight, and promise to do everything I can to make this a spectacular year for all of us.

Our Summer Diocesan Meeting was held last month and was well attended. The meeting was focused on the declining membership numbers with suggestions on growing our councils, and “Building the Domestic Church While Strengthening Our Parish”. It combines two great traditions of the Knights of Columbus: building up Catholic family life and strengthening parish life. There are on-line workshops they are asking all Knights to take, as it is up to all of the Knights, not just officers and directors, to reach out and bring in new members. It was also conveyed to us that all councils are required to implement Domestic Church activities into their annual action plan. To do this, work with your pastor in organizing a combination of activities aimed at strengthening the bond between your council, parish and families.

Summer is upon us once again. It might be a time that many of us start to get a little careless about our relationship with God and faith life. There are lots of barbeques, picnics, outdoor activities and other distractions that may tempt us to put our faith life on a back burner...not indefinitely, of course, just until summer is over. I think we can all agree, it takes a little bit of effort to find a Catholic church while we are on vacation. Many of our good intentions to read that religious book get lost in the most current novel. With all the famous people that died recently, it might be a good time to take stock of our own mortality. We are constantly told to be prepared for the coming of the Lord, for death will come like a thief in the night, and we know not when our time is up. We all think that we will have a tomorrow to make things right, but that is not always the case, just ask “Elvis” or those others who have gone. If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans. So take some time to get your life in order now, don't wait because you might not have a second chance to get ready to meet the Lord. So ask forgiveness from those that you have hurt in any way, and go and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Make peace with your enemies, re-check your will, and be prepared! Treat every day as if it were your last. Don't forget to thank the Lord for all that you have.
Pray for others.

Thank you to all of you who have been at the meetings regularly. Please consider calling someone you haven’t seen for a while and ask how they’re doing. See if they’re in need of a ride or friendly reminder when the next meeting takes place.

Our council will have a great year, and the more that each of you – each one individually – can be involved, the better it will be. I ask each of you to adopt a program to help out with, and to ask one fellow Catholic to join this fine order.

Vivat Jesus
Art Krygowski
Grand Knight