St. Veronica Church. The Epiphany of the Lord. January 6, 2013

Transcription

1 The Epiphany of the Lord January 6, 2013 They opened their treasures and offered Him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. - Matthew 2:11 St. Veronica Church Established Alida Way, South San Francisco, CA Fax: Phone:

2 Parish Office Hours Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Lunch from Noon - 1:00 p.m. Phone: Fax: Parish Staff Fr. Charles Puthota, Ph.D., Pastor Fr. Linh Nguyen, Parochial Vicar Deacon Roger Beaudry Deacon Joseph LeBlanc Jennifer Baylor, Administrative Assistant Stephanie de Prume, Finance Manager Ext. 306 Patricia Spiteri, Parish Secretary Karen Guglielmoni, Faith Formation & Wedding Coordinator Ext.305 Christopher Lindstrom, Music Director Ext. 308 St. Veronica Parish Mass Intentions WEEK of January 6, 2013 Sun 01/06 6:45 Aldo & Gertrude Bignardi 8:00 Ramona Blagg 9:30 Mike & Kevin Folan 11:00 Merci Agustin 12:30 People of St. Veronica 6:00 Angel & Patricia Sanchez Mon 01/07 Tue 01/08 Wed 01/09 6:30 Frank P. DeSalvo 8:30 Magdalena Wong 6:30 Michael Cummings 8:30 Sanchez-Sanabria Family 6:30 Charles J. Elliott 8:30 Eve Kotowicz Thu 01/10 6:30 Doree Jacinto 8:30 Charles J. Elliott Fri 01/11 6:30 Virginia Martinez 8:30 Charles J. Elliott Sat 01/12 8:30 Mike & Kevin Folan 5:00 Ricardo Moreno Sun 01/13 6:45 Gomersindo Badillo 8:00 Attilio Canpodonico 9:30 Emanuel Borg 11:00 Maria Salazar 12:30 People of St. Veronica Kathryn Lucchesi Principal St. Veronica Catholic School Phone: Pam Cavagnaro Vice Principal SACRAMENTAL PREPARATION Sacrament of Baptism Baptismal Preparation classes are held once a month. Call the Parish Office Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) Call the Parish Office to register Ext.309 Faith Formation: Ext. 305 Catechetical instructions (1st to 8th grades) Confirmation Classes: Rise and Shine! In Tennessee Williams play The Glass Menagerie, the always pushing and prodding mother, Amanda, awakens her sleeping son, Tom, by shouting at him, Rise and shine! Rise and shine! An irritated Tom yells back, I ll rise, Mother, but I won t shine. By the end of the Christmas season, many of us may have similar feelings. Winter doldrums, whether or not accompanied by freezing weather and snowstorms, often motivate little more than a slow-motion arising with little emanating radiance. But the light of this crowning feast of the Christmas season does not depend on us. Light comes to us, as it did to the magi, and as it did to Bethlehem, to Nazareth, and eventually to Jerusalem, Samaria, and from there out to the ends of the earth. The Light comes to us as gift, as grace. This Light enables people all over the world to look at each other and recognize brothers and sisters rather than strangers, aliens, even enemies. The feast of the Epiphany expresses God s will that all creation come to know the God revealed in Jesus Christ, who continues to shine forth in light and love. The promise of the feast is that all of us are capable of absorbing and reflecting this light so that the whole earth may be delivered from its darkness. Do you see yourself as a reflector of God s light, someone with the capacity to provide an epiphany for others? What helps or hinders you from recognizing all men and women as your brothers and sisters, beloved from God? Parish Office churchoffice@stveronicassf.com

3 Mass Schedule Saturdays: 8:30AM & 5:00PM Sundays: 6:45, 8:00, 9:30, 11:00AM, and 12:30PM Holy Days: 6:30, 8:30AM, & 6:30PM Monday Friday: 6:30 & 8:30AM Spanish Mass First Sunday of each month at 6:30 PM unless otherwise announced Confessions Saturdays: 4:00 5:00PM Liturgy of the Hours Monday Friday: Morning Prayer at 6:00AM Eucharistic Adoration Monday Friday: 9:00AM 9:00PM Parish Registration Please complete and return form to the parish office, or simply drop it in the collection basket. Kindly print all information Name(s) Name(s) Address City & Zip Phone Updating Current Parish Registration Moving / Please remove from mailing list. This is a new registration Please call me. ON THE HORIZON Sunday, Jan. 6 - Spanish Mass, 6:30 PM Thursday, Jan St. Veronica Men s Club Meeting, 6:30 PM Sunday, Jan Winter Sports Mass, 9:30 AM Please remember the sick and the care-givers in our community. Pray that they may find comfort and healing in Christ. Kindly contact the Parish office if Homebound Eucharistic services are needed. Welcome Newly Registered Parishioners! Our parish continues to be blessed and enriched by the presence of new parishioners: Juvanny, Mary Anne, Jaron, Jasmine & Jayce Basilio Amado & Shirley Cruz Our parish welcomes you with open hearts and open arms. We thank God you have chosen to join our community. Please remember in your prayers the recent losses from our community. Lyla Esclamado - Died December 8, 2012 Aurora Hjerpe - Died December 20, 2012 Amado Palaad Jr. - Died December 20, 2012 Pete Cinquini - Died December 21, 2012 "Eternal Rest Grant Unto Them, O Lord " Envelopes received in the First Collection: December 15 & 16: 322 December 22 & 23: 267 December 24 & 25: 510 Collection totals for Dec , 2012 weekend Masses: 1st Collection: $6, nd Collection: $1, (Maintenance) Total: $7, Thank you for supporting St. Veronica Parish and its works. Day Mass Time 1st Collection 2nd Collection Totals Monday 12/24/12 (Christmas Eve) 5:00PM n/a :00PM n/a Tuesday 12/25/12 (Christmas Day) 6:45AM n/a :00AM n/a :30AM n/a :00AM n/a :30PM n/a TOTALS: $23, n/a $23,043.50

4 From the Pastor s Desk - A Spiritual Reflection Dear Parishioners, THOU HAST MADE ME ENDLESS Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life. This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales, and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new. At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable. Thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine. Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill. From Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore, Poet from India, Nobel Laureate for Literature in 1913 Reflection: God s infinity is an endless panorama against which the human finiteness is not even a speck. God s infinity applies mainly to space and time. In terms of space, He is limitless; in terms of time, He is eternal. God s infinity can also be applied to every form of perfection, such as beauty, power, wisdom, bliss, and love. All these qualities that we experience in a finite manner in our lives flow from their infiniteness residing in God. God s infinity, therefore, is not only an abstract, transcendental reality. It s a concrete, immanent reality as well, accessible to the human beings. God shares His infinity with us by making us participate in His perfection. In that sense, as Tagore sings, we have been made endless, limitless, eternal, infinite. God has made us in His own image and likeness. We have been made the children of God. We have been drawn into the heart of God s infinity because of what Christ has done with and for us, in taking on our nature. By God-with-Us becoming one with us, eternity has met our time; infinity has met our finiteness. Tagore employs several haunting images to help us deepen our awareness of being eternal on account of God s continuous, dynamic interaction with us in a loving relationship. We are a frail vessel God empties again and again and fills it ever with new life. God is the potter and we are clay (Jer. 18:6; Is 64:8). He is the one who has fashioned us into who we are. God has searched us and known us, and knit us together even in our mother s womb (Ps. 139). We are the earthen vessels filled with God s power (2 Cor. 4:7-10). Sadly, we keep filling ourselves often times with things that don t belong in this frail, fragile vessel. With these things exerting undue pressure on the frailty of the vessel, there is a danger of this vessel breaking and collapsing. That is why God keeps emptying this vessel, if we but allow Him. Our conversion implies the emptying of the vessel. If you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me, says Jesus. If you want to be perfect, go sell everything you have, come, follow me. Our freedoms from (emptying) will lead us to freedoms for (filling). Tagore sees our life not only as a frail vessel but also as a little flute of a reed. When God plays the flute, everything comes into existence and finds fulfillment. We exist by participating in the eternal music God makes for the world s existence and sustenance. By emptying us of our old, tedious melodies, God fills us with new ones that enthrall us. Further, each one of us is made in the manner of a flute. It is created by being emptied; the reed has to be hollowed out. However painful this process may be for the bamboo, it is the only way if it has to produce life-giving music. The bamboo has to become lighter by shedding part of itself in order to become the flute. Only then God can carry the flute over hills and dales, breathing through it eternally new melodies. When we were created, God breathed into us by giving us His own spirit. Our breath is the breath of God Himself. In our breathing is mingled God s own breath. God continues to breathe through us to renew and refresh us and to make us produce music to fill the world with beauty and joy. Tagore s symbols continue to work magic: while death is notorious for touching us mortally, God touches us immortally, making our little hearts lose their limits in joy and burst out in an inexpressible song. Our hearts are little no more because of God s healing and magical touch, which makes us transcend our finiteness and enter into the limitlessness of God. Not only our hearts, but our hands are little as well. On our tiny hands God pours His infinite gifts age after age and still there is more room in our hands for His gifts to rest. Our small hands are made to carry the eternal gifts of God for eternity! Our little hearts and our tiny hands are fashioned by God to bear His infinite gifts and blessings. Action: If you are indeed a vessel that God fills with new life and a flute He fills with enchanting melody, will you help Him in the emptying process? Drop the obsession and constant preoccupation with self and all its manifestations and attachments, making space for God to fill your life. Empty your heart and hands of clinging to people and things in unhealthy and unholy ways so that you are receptive to God s love as expressed in the love of people. Through selfless, human love, you will be led into the sanctuary of God s infinite and eternal love, but not before you are hollowed out. Your Friend & Pastor, Father Charles Puthota

5 Note New 6:30 p.m. Spanish Mass Time The time is always right to do what is right. - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Maraming Salamat! Thank You! Thank you to all who participated in this year s Simbang Gabi celebration. In addition to those who participated in the masses as music ministers, altar servers, ushers, lectors, and Eucharistic ministers, a special heartfelt thanks also goes out to those who served on the Simbang Gabi organizing committee and to those who helped in all aspects of the dinner following the final mass on December 23, which was attended by more than 300 people! The Simbang Gabi celebration would not have been successful without the support of the sponsors and contributors listed below: Frank & Lita Acob Steve & Ofie Albrecht Romeo & Aurora Arellano Ester Baldovino Rolly & Cora Balisoro BLD Ministry Members Evelyn Broas Adelaida Catahan Jaime P. Corral Greg & Mars Corrales Chito & Cecile Crisostomo Larry & Perla Cruz Cres & Rosalinda Cuaton Alma Dela Fuente Manuel Dela Fuente Carmella Da San Martino Joe Da San Martino Garden Chapel Funeral Home Marie Evelyn Gonzales James & Karen Guglielmoni Lulu Julao (in memory of Carmelita Julao) Joey & Juvy Laurito John & Marilyn Lee Rosalinda Madrona Cynthia Mak (in memory of Ramon Pablo) Elmer & Flaviana Mamaradlo Arnel & Nellie Manosca The Mateo Family Leutele & Fatafa Matuu Linnie Monterola Maryann C. Moreno Jay & Rachel Naidu Ronaldo, Dora & Rona Luna Navales Sonia Nuñez and Family Josephine Pablo (in memory of Ramon Pablo) Joel & Maria Palacio Puni Semaia Paopao Lennie & A.J. Perreras Jim & Aurie Piguing Lisa Rimando Tessie & Hermie Roxas Luz Sobejana Romeo & Puri Soriben Samoan Catholics Trinidad Tabaldo Mario & Elaine Tuimavave Pete & Norma Zarate

6 This week s Gospel puzzle Last week s puzzle solution P E C H H E A R T I C O T R Y O L R Thanks for helping out! Girl Scout Troop would like to thank everyone who donated to One Warm Coat. We collected almost 600 coats that we took to the Shelter Network in Daly City! Thanks again for your support! The Generosity of the Giving Angel Throughout the Advent season, parishioners were asked to donate gifts & gift cards by taking tags from the baskets located near the Giving Angel in the vestibule. The organizers of the Giving Angel are happy to report that more than 100 wrapped gifts & more than 200 gift cards were received through the generosity of our parishioners. The gifts & gift cards were distributed to the Catholic Worker Hospitality House in San Bruno, the St. Vincent de Paul pantry at St. Veronica, the St. Vincent de Paul soup kitchen, Catherine Center, & the Women s Shelter in San Francisco. Thank you to all who participated in the Advent Giving Angel program. You are Angels to so many needy people in our local area! Baptism Information Registration forms are available from the Pastoral Center during regular office hours, or you may download a form from our website at Baptisms are celebrated on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month at 11:00 a.m. unless otherwise noted: January 19 February 2 &16 March 2 & 16 (Noon) April 6 & 20 May 4 (Noon) & 18 June 1 & 15 Preparation classes for parents & godparents are held monthly on Tuesdays as noted below. Classes are conducted in the Pastoral Center from 7:30-9:00 p.m. (Adults only please). January 8 February 12 March 12 April 9 May 7 June 11 Please call the Parish Office at to reserve your space for the Baptismal Prep Classes.

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