St. Anne Shrine of Fall River

The new liturgical year of 2021 begins with the Vigil Masses this evening. Our readings for the next year will be taken from Cycle B of our 3-year reading cycle, from the Gospels of St. John.

Advent is a time of preparation that is meant to direct our hearts and minds to Christ’s second coming at the end of time and prepare us for the anniversary of our Lord’s birth on Christmas Day.

We invite you to enter more deeply into the Advent season and visit St. Anne Shrine sometime during the coming weeks.

We’d like to invite your attention to our expanded Gift Shop open in the Shrine main entrance; we’re the only Catholic Gift and Book Store open in Fall River!

We’re still stocking up, but, please feel free to stop by and browse our selection of religious articles, statuary, rosaries, prayer cards, novena booklets…and if we don’t have it, our suppliers certainly will, and we’d be happy to take your order and obtain it for you. We are planning on expanding our selection in the coming months, so please feel free to check back or stop in often.

Attention all Catholics! Please read how you can have Facebook support our Catholic Apostolate.

As you may know, Tuesday, December 1, 2020 is #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving celebrated the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the United States.

What makes this so special is that Facebook is matching donations that Tuesday. This means for every dollar we raise, Facebook will give us a dollar!

St. Anne Shrine Preservation Society, Inc. will also benefit 100% of your generosity because Facebook will cover all processing fees for donations made.

Therefore this is a fantastic opportunity for us to make significant progress to fulfill our mission which is to beautifully restore this historic shrine church, located in Fall River, Massachusetts, for future generations.

Before you scroll to another post, I want to ask you one important question. Would you be willing to support our work?

Please mark your calendar — TUESDAY DECEMBER 1, 2020 — and support our work. We will be sending reminders over the coming days. Facebook will MATCH your contribution to help us make an impact, whether you donate $5 or $500.

It is once again that time of year as we prepare to welcome our beloved Savior in the season of Christmas.

What a better way to prepare for the this glorious season than to take time and pray for our families and loved ones during the season of preparation called Advent?

To help you properly prepare, we have planned for a robust Advent schedule. To keep up to date, please consult our Calendar of Events, found in the Ministries selection in the menu above.

Advent Vespers:
On the Sundays of Advent we will hold Solemn Vespers at 4:00PM in the shrine. These prayers are the official evening prayer of the church.

On Sunday December 13, we will have a service of vespers and carols as we get closer to Christmas.

Immaculate Conception Novena:
Since this shrine is dedicated to Good Saint Anne, we felt it fitting to honor her place in salvation history as the mother of the Blessed Mother with a Novena of the Immaculate Conception.

Beginning on Monday November 30 through Tuesday December 8 we will have Novena Devotions honoring the Immaculate Conception at 6:00PM in the shrine.

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION GIFT SHOP
The Immaculate Conception Gift Shop at the shrine is now open. Stop in for all your religious gift needs. For more information, please visit the Gift Shop page in the menu above.

The term “Thanksgiving” conjures up images of turkey and cranberry sauce, parades and bowl games.  These “traditions” have come to mark an event made a perpetual institution of American life by President Abraham Lincoln during the War Between the States.

But why did Lincoln proclaim the last Thursday in November as a national holiday?  Because it was clear to him that the blessings of food, land, family, and freedom enjoyed by Americans are all gifts from God.  But Americans, he realized, had forgotten this.  (Sound familiar?) A special day was needed for us to forget our differences and remember our blessings. And remembering naturally leads to giving thanks to the Source of those blessings.

The Israelites had an annual Thanksgiving Feast, as well.  It was actually a combination of two feasts, Passover and Unleavened bread, and occurred in early spring.  This is when the first grain began to be harvested and when the ewes gave birth to their lambs.

The ancients did not need divine revelation to know that God brought about the world and all its creatures. That’s just plain common sense. That we owe a debt of gratitude is justice, pure and simple.

On the night before he died, Jesus celebrated this solemn memorial by deepening its meaning yet further.  Liberation from Pharaoh’s oppression was certainly something to sing about.  But there was a crueler slavery that a change of geography and regime could not alter. 

But true thanksgiving is not just a matter of words and warm sentiments.  Gratitude for a gift means offering a gift in return.  He gave his whole, entire self to us: his body, blood, soul, and divinity.  The only adequate response would be to offer ourselves.

Thanksgiving cannot be separated from sacrifice. The Mass is a celebration of Jesus’ love and the freedom it won for us through his sacrifice. Through it, the love of God is poured into our hearts and enables us to love with his love. True thanksgiving means self-giving. This is the meaning of eucharist.

From the St. Anne Shrine Preservation Society, we wish you and your families a happy, healthy, and blessed Thanksgiving Day 2020.