There are times (thankfully many times) when I use my pastor's column to say "thank you" to those who have been generous with their financial means to various collections and causes that are put before us within the doors of the church.  I am pleased and grateful to those 100 or so people who, last week-end, made a donation to the St. Boniface School Endowment in Fort Smith which also entitled the giver to an opportunity to win up to $500 a week for each of the 17 weeks of the National Footbal League season.  Others took home forms that will allow them to make a donation by mail.  The charity of so many in this parish to the cause of Catholic school education (including those who participated in the recent golf tournament for St. John's School in Hot Springs which raised $9,500) is outstanding.  Also, the recent plea to lend an extra hand to Jackson House which feeds so many hungry families in the Hot Springs area netted $1,200 in the first week after the plea.  I ask those who did not give anything, to get in the habit (as some now are) of putting something in the Jackson House wooden container in the narthex of the church when you come for a weekend Mass.  If everyone puts just one dollar in the box each week, we would collect at least $900 EVERY WEEK, which would help so many to have at least one nutritious meal every day.  Finally, I would ask for your consideration of a special collection that will be taken up at all Masses the weekend of September 13-14 whcih will help provide humanitarian relief and pastoral support to Christians and others who are experiencing violence in the Middle East right now. Your generous and thoughtful attention to people-in-need, close-by and far away, speaks strongly of the reality of Christ touching so many hearts and filling them with the generous love which he pours out on us and everyone every day.

GOD BLESS YOU CHEERFUL AND THOUGHTFUL GIVERS!