St Matthew Parish Seattle

Today the Church honors the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, though it’s Michael, the great prince who leads heaven’s armies, pictured here.

Each Archangel is called on for something different:

🪽St. Michael — protection against evil and courage in spiritual battle. He is invoked for defense of the Church, of souls, and of the home against the snares of the devil.

🪽St. Gabriel — clarity in hearing and answering God’s call. As the messenger of the Annunciation, he is invoked for those discerning a vocation, awaiting important news, or needing help communicating truth with charity.

🪽St. Raphael — healing and safe guidance. Drawing from his role in the Book of Tobit, he is invoked for physical and emotional healing, safe travel, and for those seeking a future spouse or clarity in relationships.

Scripture describes Michael casting Satan out of heaven, a battle that continues even now for every soul.

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.

Some families mark this day by praying the St. Michael prayer together, lighting a candle for protection, or marking the turn of the season with a family meal. However this day is honored in a home, it is a good day to ask the Archangels’ protection, guidance, and healing over a family, a marriage, or a struggle only God fully knows.

How does a family honor the Archangels? Share below.

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Today, on Priesthood Sunday, this parish says thank you.

Thank you to Father Ross and Father Davis for saying yes, over and over, in ways that rarely get seen. For rising early to offer Mass. For sitting in the confessional, hour after hour, absolving sins the world tells people to just move past. For anointing the sick and the dying, often in the middle of the night, when no one else could go. For preaching the truth even when it is not easy to hear. For being present at the hospital bedside, the funeral home, the wedding rehearsal, and the quiet weekday Mass with only a handful of people in the pews.

The priesthood is not a job. It is Christ Himself, acting through a man who said yes to leaving behind an ordinary life to become a shepherd for others. Every sacrament this parish receives, every Eucharist raised at the altar, every sin forgiven, comes through their hands because they gave those hands to God.

Father Ross, Father Davis: thank you for your priesthood. This parish is praying for you today, and every day.

🙏🏿🙏🏻🙏 St. John Vianney, patron of priests, pray for them.🙏🏿🙏🏻🙏

📺 Yesterday, the Church welcomed a new Blessed.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was beatified yesterday in St. Louis, becoming the first American born bishop to reach this step toward sainthood. For decades he brought the Catholic faith into American living rooms through radio and television, at a time when most people had never heard a bishop speak plainly and directly to them.

He also understood something many still get wrong about the Church today. “There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate The Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.”

The Eucharist is where that misunderstanding runs deepest, and it is also where it falls apart the fastest. It is not a symbol and not a metaphor. It is the actual Body and Blood of Christ, raised at every Mass, in every parish, all over the world. Sheen spent his life trying to close the gap between what people assumed the Church was and what she actually is, and this is where that gap closes fastest.

Today, Adoration continues after daily Mass today through Benediction tomorrow at 8:45. All are welcome to come and sit with Him.

🙏 Blessed Fulton Sheen, pray for us.

⚔️ We need three more men to stand in the gap for our priests.

St. Mark & St. Matthew Parish is looking for three men to become Fasting Brothers, offering one day of fasting each week specifically for the sanctification & intentions of Father Ross & Father Davis.

We currently need:

🙏 Monday: one man for Father Ross & one man for Father Davis
🙏 Tuesday: one man for Father Davis

Fasting Brothers works alongside the Seven Sisters Apostolate. While the Seven Sisters each offer a weekly Eucharistic Holy Hour for our priests, the Fasting Brothers offer a weekly fast… surrounding our priests in both prayer & sacrifice.

Each man chooses the form of his fast, as long as it is genuinely sacrificial & prayerfully discerned. The intention of that sacrifice is solely for his priest… his sanctification, his needs & his growing devotion to Our Lady & St. Joseph.

Jesus Himself showed us the power of prayer & fasting. Our priests spend their lives pouring themselves out for us, administering the Sacraments, celebrating Mass, hearing our confessions, anointing our sick, baptizing our babies & shepherding our families.

This is one quiet way we can pour ourselves out for them. 🤍

The commitment is for one year, with the opportunity to renew each year on a chosen solemnity.

If you feel called to take Monday or Tuesday, please reach out to claim one of the remaining days.

And even if you’re not the man being called to this… please share this so we can find the three who are. 🙏

Email: [email protected]

✝️ Happy Feast Day, St. Mark and St. Matthew Parish!
Today, September 21st, the Church celebrates St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, one of the two beloved patrons of this parish family.

St. Matthew was a tax collector who left everything behind the moment Christ called him: “Follow me.” (Matthew 9:9) He went on to write the Gospel that bears his name, proclaiming Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises to His people.

Together with St. Mark, whose feast is celebrated each April 25th, these two Evangelists remind this parish family of its mission: to know Christ, and to make Him known. 🙏

St. Mark and St. Matthew, pray for our parish family!

PatronSaints

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

Matthew 28: 19-21

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Please see flyer for details! CYO sports are open to parishioners, too!