Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church
Hot Springs Village, Arkansas
In a "perfect parish world" (or close to it) every parishioner would, besides participating in Mass at least on the weekends (EVERY weekend) would be involved in a ministry at Mass AND in at least one parish activity or ministry outside of Mass. I dare not even dream of that being a reality, because if I did so, I
could only imagine the countless blessings that would come from it both within the parish and outside of the parish community!

Thankfully, our parish is blessed to have people like Marie Hylden, our Very Important Parishioner for the month of November who step up and get involved in multiple ministries and activities in the parish AND larger community that blesses the people impacted by her efforts and the happy, helpful and kind disposition she exudes in her interactions with others. Given all she does, it seems like she has been doing it for many years, though the reality is that she has lived in Hot Springs Village for just 8 years as she and her husband, Rick moved to the Village from Plano, Texas. For those who don't know this, Rick died suddenly about two years ago. They were blessed to be husband and wife for 44 years and have three children and seven grandchildren, (who Marie goes to see quite often) and who are the "loves'' of her life. Marie is often present on the altar as a lector and Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion and has recently started taking Communion to the homebound. She served enthusiastically as the
vice-president and the president of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart. She is the captain of Guild 2 and has recently accepted the leadership of the Spring LOSH Charity Golf Tournament. She has taken over as head of the holiday food basket effort and the Angel Tree, and works with various people and organizations of the parish to help these needy families from the area schools. She joins in the seasonal efforts of our church decorating committee and helps to take down and put up the drapes in the sanctuary when the Church seasons change. She is also a member of one of the Parish counting teams which gathers on Monday mornings to count the stewardship from the weekend Masses. In the larger community, Marie is very involved with he Hot Springs Village Symphony Guild (currently as the
president) in its efforts to support the Arkansas Symphony and the beautiful concerts it puts on (including a concert for a large group of school-aged children this month). She is a past president of the Desoto Women's Club and an active member of P.E.O. Chapter CU. As you can see, Marie is much more likely to say "yes" than "no" when asked to do something, AND she is one who I'm truly thankful for, not only because of all that she has done and continues to do, but also because she takes initiative even when not asked to give of her time, talents, treasure and faith to benefit others! God bless you Marie for being the person God calls you (and all of us) to be!