Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Building a Christian Community Through Gospel Values. A Catholic parish community served by the Carmelite Order

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1 Our Lady of Mount Carmel Building a Christian Community Through Gospel Values A Catholic parish community served by the Carmelite Order Fourth Sunday in Advent December 23, 2018 The Visitation - Philippe de Champaigne M S Daily Monday through Saturday Saturday Vigil Sunday Holy Days C Saturday May-December 8:00 AM 4:00 PM 8:30 AM & 10:30 AM 8:00 AM & 5:30 PM 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM P O H : Monday thru Thursday: 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM Friday: 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM Phone: , Fax: Website: P M T Pastor Rev. Frederick J. Tillotson, O. Carm. ftillotson@olmc-osprey.org Associate Pastor Rev. Richard Supple, O.Carm. rsupple@olmc-osprey.org Pastoral Minister Deacon Thomas Grant deacontomgrant@gmail.com Doris R. Brodeur Adult Faith Enrichment dbrodeur@olmc-osprey.org Darwin Reeck Pastoral Associate to the Sick dreeck@olmc-osprey.org Kathleen Lyda Music Director klyda@olmc-osprey.org Linda Whiteley Business Manager lwhiteley@olmc-osprey.org Donna Pierson Pastoral Assistant dpierson@olmc-osprey.org

2 ADVENT How do you find joy in everyday life? Michael R. Simone, SJ, America, December 2018 Mary s visit to Elizabeth, recorded only in Luke s Gospel, is a masterpiece of narra ve wri ng. By focusing on the expressions of joy at Mary s arrival, Luke took an everyday encounter and turned it into a study of contempla on. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled. (Luke 1:45) Luke wrote his Gospel in part to teach his readers how to pray and passed on some of the most beau ful prayers of the early church. Some of these endure today in the church s liturgy. Mary s great prayer that we call the Magnificat, for example, which appears in the passage that immediately follows this Sunday s Gospel reading, is prayed every day as part of the church s evening prayer. In addi on to these words of praise, Luke hoped to teach his audience internal disposi ons of prayer. Luke recounts that Jesus withdrew regularly into the wilderness to pray (for example, Luke 5:16), and that it was on one of these wilderness retreats that he taught the disciples the Lord s Prayer (Luke 11:2-4). Luke also highlighted the spiritual exercise that today we call discernment. Mary encountered grace when she kept all these things in her heart (Luke 2:51). The disciples at Emmaus recognized their encounter with the risen Christ only a er they came to trust their hearts, which had been burning within them (Luke 24:32). Teaching Chris ans to cul vate similar awareness of grace was among Luke s goals. It is one thing to find such grace in drama c events; it is quite another to catch sight of God in the everyday. In this Sunday s Gospel reading, a poor traveler arrives, and The Visitation by Fra Angelico an unborn baby s rs in the womb as his mother greets the traveler with joy. This account contains li le drama, but in Luke s recoun ng, grace saturates the scene. Luke wrote to remind his audience never to stop seeking the divine presence. Even the simplest moment has in it a world-changing significance for anyone who is ready to find the work of God. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb! Luke never explains how Elizabeth recognized the grace before her. She cries out with sudden insight like Moses sister Miriam and the other prophe c women of the Hebrew Bible. Perhaps Elizabeth knew that any moment of joy provided a matrix for grace. As she looked into the depths of the joy she felt at Mary s presence, she recognized in it the presence of God. Luke s emphasis on prayer and his ability to find God in overlooked places suggests a lifelong habit of a en on to daily gi s of grace. More than any other New Testament writer, Luke draws his readers to Christ s three arrivals among humanity. The first arrival was the na vity, the second occurs daily among his disciples in the Spirit, and the final appearance will usher in the end of me. It is that second, daily, arrival that Luke highlights in this Gospel passage. Encountering Christ in this way was the fruit of Luke s own prayer. Luke shows us how to be just as a en ve. In her joy, Elizabeth recognized the world s redemp on. Just so, we must seek the latent grace in every encounter. Thus recognizing God at work, we will learn to find the infinite poten al of every joy. Q. How has grace come to you in everyday events? Q. What prac ces help you cul vate awareness of God s presence? Q. When has joy revealed God s presence to you? Michael R. Simone, S.J., teaches Scripture at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.

3 LOOKING AHEAD WITH FAITH AND PRAYER MASS INTENTIONS :00 AM Don & Louise Henderson 3:00 PM Robert Malfeteno Gary Hotka 5:00 PM The Ozog Family Kevin Kelly 7:00 PM Beth Hallman Brad Morse :30 AM Mary Harbulak Alan Morrison 10:30 AM The Glenn Family The Lauffer Family :00 AM Paul Picchioni Catherine Picchioni :00 AM Lois Manning Carolyn Denton :00 AM Edward Diggs Sandra Kleyla :00 AM The People of the Parish 4:00 PM Chuck Gonnello The O Boyle Family :30 AM John Joseph Cina Frank Barletta 10:30 AM Gary Hotka Readings for the week of December 23, 2018 Monday: 2 Sm 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Ps 89:2-5, 27, 29; Lk 1:67-79 Tuesday: Vigil: Is 62:1-5; Ps 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29; Acts 13:16-17, 22-25; Mt 1:1-25 [18-25] Day: Is 52:7-10; Ps 98:1-6; Heb 1:1-6; Jn 1:1-18 [1-5, 9-14] Wednesday: Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59; Ps 31:3cd-4, 6, 8ab, 16bc, 17; Mt 10:17-22 Thursday: 1 Jn 1:1-4; Ps 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12; Jn 20:1a, 2-8 Friday: 1 Jn 1:5 2:2; Ps 124:2-5, 7b-8; Mt 2:13-18 Saturday: 1 Jn 2:3-11; Ps 96:1-3, 5b-6; Lk 2:22-35 Sunday: Sir 3:2-6, 12-14,Ps 128:1-5 or Col 3:12-21, Lk 2:41-52 PARISH CALENDAR Mon 8:00 AM Mass \ 3:00 PM Vigil Mass 5:00 PM Vigil Mass 7:00 PM Solemn Mass of Christmas Tues 8:30 AM Mass 10:30 AM Mass Wed 8:00 AM Mass Thurs 8:00 AM Mass Fri 8:00 AM Mass Sat 8:00 AM Mass 3:00 PM Confessions 4:00 PM Mass Sun 8:30 AM Mass 10:30 AM Mass STEWARDSHIP OF TREASURY December 16, 2018 CFA Goal 2018: $205, CFA Pledge: $263, CFA Payments: $253, Offertory: $ not available Rectory Building Fund: $454, We Share is available at our website: Or call the office for assistance December 24th Christmas Eve Vigil Masses 3:00 and 5:00 PM Solemn Mass of Christmas 7:00 PM ``````````` December 25th Christmas Day Masses 8:30 AM & 10:30 AM (Choir Mass) ```````````````````` December 31st, Solemnity of Mary Vigil Mass 5:30 PM ``````````````````````````` January 1st New Year s Day Holy Day of Obligation, Solemnity of Mary Mass 8:00 AM PLEASE NOTE The parish business office will be closed Monday, December 24th, and Tuesday, December 25th, Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Saturday, January 5th, we will begin celebrating an additional Saturday Mass. The Saturday Mass schedule will be : 3:00 PM and 4:30 PM.

4 ADULT FAITH ENRICHMENT The Adora on of the Shepherds by Domenico Zampieri, 17 th cent. Confounded Expectations Mary Elizabeth Sperry, Give Us This Day, December 2018 As evening begins to fall on December 24, Advent becomes Christmas. The season of hope and expecta on ends as we celebrate the Incarna on, God among us, the Word made flesh, the eternal God entering human history. Jesus was born into a par cular me and place. He was born in Judea, into a people of hope and expecta on wai ng for a Messiah, but a people who lived under the thumb of the Roman Empire. What did these people expect? What did they hope for? Many of Jesus contemporaries expected the Messiah to be a poli cal leader who would throw off the yoke of Roman domina on and reestablish the Davidic monarchy. They hoped the Messiah would come in power to restore Israel to its glory days. But, as the prophets warned, God s ways are not our ways. God is not bound by our expecta ons. The Gospel readings assigned to the Masses of Christmas show how God confounds our expecta ons, favoring the poor and humble over the rich and powerful, offering not earthly glory but eternal life. The Gospel of the Vigil Mass comes from Ma hew. It begins with a genealogy, recoun ng Jesus ancestry all the way back to Abraham. But this genealogy is unusual in several ways. Most of the names recorded are otherwise unknown. The list includes the names of five women. The pregnancies of these women were unusual, even scandalous. Yet, most unexpectedly, here they are, listed alongside some of Israel s most illustrious names. The reading then turns to Joseph and Mary, neither of whom behaves as expected. Mary has become pregnant, though not by her betrothed spouse. Joseph, though he must have been dismayed by the pregnancy, accepts the word of an angel and takes Mary as his wife, raising her child as his own. The Gospels for the Mass during the Night and the Mass at Dawn present Luke s account of the birth of Jesus. For people expec ng a military or poli cal leader, Luke piles on unexpected event a er unexpected event. Instead of introducing a revolu onary leader, Luke recounts that Jesus was born a er Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem in obedience to an edict from the Roman emperor. Moreover, once Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, they had no place to stay. Jesus entrance into human history could not have been more unassuming as his parents were forced to take shelter in a stable as the birth drew near. Who would look for a king in a manger? This inauspicious birth was not celebrated by family and friends. Instead, the first people to recognize the Messiah s birth were lowly shepherds, called from their dirty work in the fields to worship the incarnate God. The final Gospel of Christmas, for the Mass during the Day, is the prologue to the Gospel according to John. This text does not men on Jesus birth explicitly. There are no angels or shepherds, not even a men on of Bethlehem. But what John relates is the most unexpected and glorious mystery of all: that the God who existed before me chose to become human and enter history. By making his dwelling among us, the only-bego en Son revealed God to us and brought us salva on. Now that s a Christmas gi beyond our wildest expecta ons! Mary Elizabeth Sperry holds a master s degree in liturgical studies from the Catholic University of America. She has worked for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops since 1994 and is the author of numerous ar cles and books, including Scripture in the Parish: A Guide for Catholic Ministry. Her blog may be found at maryelizabethsperry.com. Immokalee Food Drive We had a wonderful collection for the Immokalee Food Drive. Thanks to your generosity, a great amount of food and a donation of $ were delivered Monday, December 10th. The next collection will be held on the 12th and 13th of January. Grocery bags will be distributed at all Masses on the 5th and 6th January.

5 Saints and Other Holy People St. John the Evangelist Apostle, 1 st century His feast day is December 27. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. St. John in the Donne Triptych, Hans Memling (ca. 1480) St. John, one of the earliest of the twelve apostles, plays a prominent role in all four Gospels. He and his brother James, both Galilean fishermen, were called by Jesus sons of thunder. John was a privileged witness to many significant moments in Jesus life, including the Transfigura on and the agony in the LIVING OUR FAITH Garden. By tradi on, John is also iden fied as the author of the Fourth Gospel. If not actually wri en by his hand, this text is certainly the product of a community that traced its iden ty and spirituality to the apostle John, referred to throughout as the disciple whom Jesus loved. He alone, among the Twelve, is described in this Gospel as a witness to the crucifixion. There, Jesus, in his par ng moments, takes care to entrust the disciple and his mother to each other s care. For the community that honored the Beloved Disciple, the Gospel message was succinctly summarized in the charge to love one another as Jesus loved us. According to tradi on, John outlived the rest of the Twelve. He escaped martyrdom and was sent into exile on the island of Patmos. Later, he re red to Ephesus, where he presided over the local Church un l the end of his days. -- Robert Ellsberg, Give Us This Day Merton and Bono The Road Ahead Christopher Pramuk, Give Us This Day, November 2018 My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude In their 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, the Irish rock band U2 mined the roots of American blues and Gospel music to produce a work of art haunted by spiritual yearnings. One hears echoes of Thomas Merton s most famous prayer in the album s iconic second track, I S ll Haven t Found What I m Looking For. It is a kind of restless postmodern spiritual, lead singer Bono s version of St. Paul s lament, The good which I would do, I do not do; and the evil which I would not do, that I do, or perhaps St. Augus ne s anguished, and deligh ul, Give me chas ty, Lord, but not yet. About the song s composi on, producer Daniel Lanois says, I ve always liked gospel music and I encouraged Bono to take it to that place... I think it opened a door for them, to experiment with that territory. [Bono] is singing at the top of his range and there is something very compelling about somebody pushing themselves. It s like hearing Aretha Franklin almost. It jumps on you and you can t help but feel the feeling. Indeed, rhythmically and lyrically the song both kicks you in the gut and li s you into the heights, invoking one s own passages of yearning and tastes of fulfillment, foretastes of communion, when all the colors will bleed into one. In many ways, I think Merton s prayer has had a similar kind of impact on people across the genera ons. Like the song, the prayer pulses with desire, a yearning that few pilgrims will not recognize. Like Bono, Merton is singing at the top of his range which is to say, at his most vulnerable, naked and human before God stripped of all religious posturing. I have no idea where I am going. Nor do I really know myself. But my desire to please you to live into the gi s you have given me, to discover my calling is sincere. Desire cedes to hope, and hope cedes to trust in God s abiding companionship, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. Too o en the language of prayer keeps us hiding behind a veneer of formalism. Merton s prayer gives us permission to step out from behind our masks and get very real with God. Like Bono or Aretha Franklin or the saints in their most unrehearsed and anguished moments, there is something very compelling indeed about somebody pushing themselves. And I expect God would agree. Why not let s open that door, says God, let s experiment with that territory. Christopher Pramuk is University Chair of Igna an Thought and Imagina on and Associate Professor of Theology at Regis University in Denver, where he resides with his wife, Lauri, and their four children.

6 Gifts for Young Readers Shhh... God Is in the Silence by Fiona Basile, illustrated by Alice Mount (Loyola Press, 2018). Ages 2 6. Shhh...God Is in the Silence reminds us that we are all loved by God and were created with the spark of God s love in our hearts. Through the gentle repetition of simple yet profound truths, this book will help children realize that silence is itself a form of prayer the part of the prayer conversation when we quiet our minds to listen to God in our hearts. For families looking for affirming resources to show children that we are all loved by God, for teachers and catechists entrusted with the spiritual formation of young children, and for anyone looking for a meditative reminder of silence as prayer, Shhh...God Is in the Silence will help create the space to listen to the voice of God gently guiding us and speaking to us. Love by Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Loren Long (G. P. Putnam s Sons, 2018). Ages 3 5. In this heartfelt celebration of love, Newbery Medal-winning author Matt de la Peña and bestselling illustrator Loren Long depict the many ways we experience this universal bond, which carries us from the day we are born throughout the years of our childhood and beyond. With a lyrical text that s soothing and inspiring, this tender tale is a needed comfort and a new classic that will resonate with readers of every age. The Year of the Perfect Christmas: An Appalachian Story by Gloria Houston, illustrated by Barbara Cooney (Penguin Young Readers Group, 1996). Ages 4 8. The Armistice has been declared, but still there is no sign of Ruthie's father in their little Appalachian town. So, in accordance with the traditions of Pine Grove, it falls to Ruthie and her mother to bring home the perfect Christmas tree to donate to the town. Their trip becomes the basis overnight of a new town legend. An accomplished, fluid telling garnishes this simple story, as do Cooney's moonlit paintings of wintry evenings and the welcoming glow of fire and lanterns. Ruthie is more or less an observer; her mother is the real heroine. But the way they work together to keep their family's duty is rendered in a harmonious blending of text and pictures. The Book of Catholic Signs & Symbols by Amy Welborn (Loyola Press, 2018). Ages For centuries people learned about the Christian faith through paintings, sculptures, objects, and gestures. Simple images still convey deep messages if we learn how to see and understand them. Amy Welborn has created a friendly and fascinating sourcebook on the signs and symbols of the Catholic faith. The exquisite illustrations throughout will inspire conversation and prayerful reflection for readers of all ages. Each image appears with a brief, child-friendly explanation coupled with a more detailed description on the opposite page. Books of Interest God Isn t Finished with Me Yet: Discovering the Spiritual Graces of Later Life by Barbara Lee (Loyola Press, 2018) As we see fewer years ahead than behind, it can be easy to ques on our value or what we have le to contribute to our communi es. How can we con nue to give back and live with purpose in our later years? Barbara Lee is living this reality every day, and in this book she describes the intersec on of aging with the melessness of Igna an spirituality. God Isn t Finished with Me Yet shows readers how God meets us with unexpected grace. In five succinct chapters, Lee shows how Igna an prayer and discernment offer those in later life a path to discovering previously unknown voca ons and new ways of living and being of service. You re s ll living your life, and God is s ll revealing His grace. Barbara Lee is a prac cing spiritual director who lives in New York City. She is a re red a orney, a former U.S. magistrate judge, and a long-serving member of the Igna an Volunteer Corps.

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