Knights of Columbus Pope John Paul the Great Council 13784 “LOVE GOD and SERVE YOUR NEIGHBOR” EXALTATION of the HOLY CROSS OUR PRINCIPLES
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Knights in Action Newsletter September 2016 Volume 1, Issue 7 Knights of Columbus Pope John Paul the Great Council 13784 “LOVE GOD AND SERVE YOUR NEIGHBOR” EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS OUR PRINCIPLES The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, celebrated every year on September 14, recalls three historical events: the finding of the True Cross Charity by Saint Helena, the mother of the emperor Constantine; the dedication Unity of churches built by Constantine on the site of the Holy Sepulchre and Mount Calvary; and the restoration of the True Cross to Jerusalem by the Fraternity emperor Heraclius II. But in a deeper sense, the feast also celebrates the Patriotism Holy Cross as the instrument of our salvation. This instrument of torture, designed to degrade the worst of criminals, became the life-giving tree that reversed Adam's Original Sin when he ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. INSIDE THIS ISSUE Council Officers 2 After the death and resurrection of Christ, both the Jewish and Roman Ex. of Holy Cross (cont.) 2 authorities in Jerusalem made efforts to obscure the Holy Sepulchre, Christ's tomb in the garden near the site of His crucifixion. The earth had Degree Schedule 2 been mounded up over the site, and pagan temples had been built on top Upcoming Council Events 3 of it. The Cross on which Christ had died had been hidden (tradition said) by the Jewish authorities somewhere in the vicinity. From the Dist. Deputy 3 Monthly Shinning Stars 3 According to tradition, first mentioned by Saint Cyril of Jerusalem in 348, Saint Helena, nearing the end of her life, decided under divine inspiration From the Grand Knight 4 to travel to Jerusalem in 326 to excavate the Holy Sepulchre and attempt to locate the True Cross. A Jew by the name of Judas, aware of the Pics of Knights Night Out 5 tradition concerning the hiding of the Cross, led those excavating the Holy Catholic Trivia 5 Sepulchre to the spot in which it was hidden. Knight of the Year 6 Three crosses were found on the spot. According to one tradition, the Family of the Year 6 inscription Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum ("Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews") remained attached to the True Cross. According to a more Young Man of the Year 7 common tradition, however, the inscription was missing, and Saint Helena and Saint Macarius, the bishop of Jerusalem, assuming that one was the Young Woman of the Year7 True Cross and the other two belonged to the thieves crucified alongside Talents of Br. Knights 8 Christ, devised an experiment to determine which was the True Cross. In one version of the latter tradition, the three crosses were taken to a MONTHLY MEETINGS woman who was near death; when she touched the True Cross, she was Council 13784 healed. In another, the body of a dead man was brought to the place where the three crosses were found, and laid upon each cross. The True First Wednesday Each Month Cross restored the dead man to life. 7:00pm - Rosary 7:30pm - Business Meeting In celebration of the discovery of the Holy Cross, Constantine ordered the Council Officer Meeting construction of churches at the site of the Holy Sepulchre and on Mount Third Wednesday Each Month Calvary. Those churches were dedicated on September 13 and 14, 7:00pm – Business Meeting Assembly 2588 (Continued on page 2) Last Tuesday Each Month 7:00pm - Rosary Website: https://www.kofcknights.org/CouncilSite/?CNO=137841 7:30pm - Business Meeting COUNCIL OFFICERS EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS (continued from page 1) GRAND KNIGHT SK Norman R. Wood, Jr. 335, and shortly thereafter the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross began to be celebrated on the latter date. The feast slowly spread from DEPUTY GRAND KNIGHT Jerusalem to other churches, until, by the year 720, the celebration was Vacant universal. CHAPLAIN In the early seventh century, the Persians conquered Jerusalem, and the SK Rev Rodrigo C Mingollo Persian king Khosrau II captured the True Cross and took it back to Persia. After Khosrau's defeat by Emperor Heraclius II, Khosrau's own son had him WARDEN assassinated in 628 and returned the True Cross to Heraclius. In 629, SK Christian Brousseau Heraclius, having initially taken the True Cross to Constantinople, decided to restore it to Jerusalem. Tradition says that he carried the Cross on his CHANCELLOR own back, but when he attempted to enter the church on Mount Calvary, a strange force stopped him. Patriarch Zacharias of Jerusalem, seeing the SK Stephen Kondzella emperor struggling, advised him to take off his royal robes and crown and to dress in a penitential robe instead. As soon as Heraclius took Zacharias' FINANCIAL SECRETARY advice, he was able to carry the True Cross into the church. SK Art Fritz RECORDER For some centuries, a second feast, the Invention of the Cross, was celebrated on May 3 in the Roman and Gallican churches, following a SK John Burke tradition that marked that date as the day on which Saint Helena discovered the True Cross. In Jerusalem, however, the finding of the Cross TREASURER was celebrated from the beginning on September 14. SK Salvadore Costa INSIDE GUARD It's easy to understand that the Cross is special because Christ used it as the instrument of our salvation. But after His Resurrection, why would SK Basil Orciga Christians continue to look to the Cross? OUTSIDE GUARD Robert A. Wood, Sr. Christ Himself offered us the answer: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23). 3 YEAR TRUSTEE The point of taking up our own cross is not simply self-sacrifice; in doing so, we unite ourselves to the sacrifice of Christ on His Cross. SK Ivol Sexton 2 YEAR TRUSTEE When we participate in the Mass, the Cross is there, too. The "unbloody SK Kenn White sacrifice" offered on the altar is the re-presentation of Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross. When we receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion, we do not simply unite ourselves to Christ; we nail ourselves to the Cross, dying with 1 YEAR TRUSTEE Christ so that we might rise with Him. Albino M De Castro "For the Jews require signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and unto DEGREE SCHEDULE FOR the Gentiles foolishness . " (1 Corinthians 1:22-23). Today, more than DISTRICT 3 ever, non-Christians see the Cross as foolishness. What kind of Savior triumphs through death? September 8th – 10804 September 21st – 13784 For Christians, however, the Cross is the crossroads of history and the Tree of Life. Christianity without the Cross is meaningless: Only by uniting ourselves to Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross can we enter into eternal life. November 16th - 4632 th October 15 – 13467 If you would like something posted in future newsletters, please contact Grand Knight th November 5 - Richmond Norm Wood at [email protected] 2 UPCOMING SEPTEMBER COUNCIL EVENTS Krispy Kreme Donut Sale – September 18th at All Masses st Admissions Degree – September 21 at 7:30pm (show time – 7:00pm) rd Knights Night Out – September 23 at 6:30pm (Olive Garden) Fall Bazaar – Saturday, October 15th ($25.00 per spot) FROM THE DISTRICT DEPUTY My Brothers, Thanks to Worthy Grand Knight Woody for inviting me to contribute to your newsletter. For those I haven’t met yet, I am deeply honored to have been asked to be Virginia District 3 Deputy this year. I look forward to working with your Council to continue the great reputation our District has in Virginia. There are a couple key District events over the next two months – a Formation (Second) Degree on Tuesday, September 27th and then a Knighthood (Third) Degree on Saturday morning, October 15th, both at Council 13467. This is an excellent opportunity for First Degree Brothers to achieve both exemplifications and obtain full Knighthood! These are both District events – I encourage Brothers from all of our Councils to participate. The Knights of Columbus have made some important changes over the past year. Most of those changes are related to the Building the Domestic Church initiative. Please take a few minutes to visit the Supreme website https://www.kofc.org/un/en/domestic-church/index.html to learn more about what this initiative means to our Order, your council, your Parish, and you. I also encourage all to read State Deputy Mike Gasper’s August message at http://www.vakofc.org/sd-message.html. SD Gasper provides some tremendous statistics from the 134th Supreme Convention that show just what a powerful force our Order is. As your District Deputy, my primary purpose to help all the Councils succeed. If you have an idea to make the District or Order better, I’ll be happy to take any suggestions. Keep up your great work supporting St. Luke Parish and all those who need our help. Vivat Jesus! Jim Henry District Deputy 3 757-641-2354 [email protected] “CONGRATULATIONS” TO OUR You can help our Council raise funds to help support our Parish. It is easy and doesn’t cost you anything. If you are a Amazon.com user, then we would MONTHLY SHINNING STARS FOR ask that you access Amazon.com via our Council Website at JULY 2016 https://www.kofcknights.org/CouncilSite/?CNO=13784. Once at our website, you will find this logo . Just click KNIGHT OF THE MONTH on the logo and you will be taken to another screen which will provide another link in the center of the page, click that link and it will take you to SK JOHN BURKE Amazon’s Home Page.