St. Agnes Catholic Church

Transcription

1 St. Agnes Catholic Church August 5, 2018 The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Rev. Vincent L. Parsons Pastor Rev. Michael E. Wetovick Associate Pastor Sr. Vera Meis, C.S.J. Pastoral Minister I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. John 6:35 Mass Schedule: (October - May) Saturday: 4:00 pm Sunday: 8:00 & 10:30 am (June - September) Saturday 6:00 pm Sunday: 8:00 & 10:00 am Monday, Tues, Wed, Friday 7 am Sacrament of Reconciliation Saturdays one hour prior to evening Mass or by appointment ( ) Sacrament of Baptism Please call the Parish Office 2314 Third Avenue, Scottsbluff, Nebraska (308) Mailing address: PO Box 349, Scottsbluff, NE Fax: Website: Parish Office Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 9am - Noon & 1pm - 4pm

2 Saint Agnes Catholic Church Today s Readings Exodus 16:2-4, Psalm 78 Ephesians 4:17, John 6:24-35 Parish Administration (308) / (308) (Fax) office@st-agnes-church.com Pastor Rev. Vincent L. Parsons (ext. 2) pastor@st-agnes-church.com Pastoral Minister Sr. Vera Meis (ext. 4) srvera@st-agnes-church.com Director of Religious Education Mrs. Terri Calvert (ext.5) dre@st-agnes-church.com Church Office Manager Theresa Trevino (ext. 3) office@st-agnes-church.com School Head Teacher Mrs. Julie Brown ( ) office@stagnesonline.org School Office Manager Teresa Johnson ( ) office@stagnesonline.org Page 2 Year B August 5, 2018 The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time H uman nature tends to desire recognition for one s efforts. Years of service to a company may gain one a plaque of thanks. Those who persist in athletic events receive a medal or a trophy. In reality, being noticed by others is not adequate compensation for the sweat, exertion, and stress used to accomplish an endeavor. However, we are stung with despair when no one pays tribute to the work we do on a project or faithful service in a job. We can become so involved with the search for praise that we lose track of the reason for the recognition. We are misled from our mission in search of glory and praise. Jesus resists the temptation to be identified as the foretold Scriptural Prophet or to be elevated as the king of Israel. He does not forget his mission of bringing salvation to the world through His Body and Blood. The people following Jesus were connecting with the words and actions of Jesus but wrongly interpreting them. The crowd was expecting Jesus to establish a paradise on earth. The Jewish rabbis had long predicted that the Prophet would come to carry on Moses work. Moses, through God s intervention, freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. When the Israelites were wandering through the desert and starving, Moses had prayed to God and bread came down from the sky. The people had just witnessed Jesus ability to provide enough bread to feed five thousand people. Therefore if Jesus was the promised Prophet, He could save Israel from the oppressive Romans. However, Jesus takes the opportunity to teach the crowd that the food they are seeking will not sustain them. Even after filling their stomach, they will soon feel hunger again. The bread Jesus is speaking of is different from the manna that Moses provided or the bread that Jesus had given them on the mountain by the Sea of Galilee. The people, never wanting to hunger again, ask how to obtain this bread. Jesus tells them that I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst. Jesus in describing himself as the source of bread for eternal life required faith and trust of those following Jesus. Those who refused to accept the meaning of Jesus words began to turn away from the crowd of followers. Even when a significant number of people fell away, Jesus remained faithful to the truth, to His mission to bring salvation to the world. Today, like the Jews, we tend to focus on Jesus as the one who will rid us of oppression, and feed our earthly hunger. We must not forget that Jesus came into this world to prepare us for the Kingdom of God. When we focus more on earthly desires than on the salvation of our souls, we are asking for the wrong bread. Faith calls us to participate in the Holy Eucharist to sustains us for Jesus is the bread of life. In Jesus, the human heart feasts on the abundance of life for which it was made; without Our Savior, it slowly starves. Be my strength, Jesus, be my light, my food, my joy, my all. Reflecting on God s Word Unlike mortals, angels do not die. Nor do they need to eat or drink. Without corruptible bodies, they live eternally with God. But the psalm for today describes the manna that the Israelites ate in the desert as the bread of angels (78:25). As the first reading tells us, it seemed to them that it came down from heaven every night. Through the manna, God gave them life when death seemed imminent. Through the manna, their faith in God s eternal care for them was revived. In the case of the Israelites, they received life by eating the bread from heaven. And the life they were given allowed them to believe. In the case of the disciples of Jesus it s the other way around. We must believe in Jesus as the true bread from heaven (John 6:32) in order to receive the eternal life that he provides. Virginia Stillwell Copyright 2014, World Library Publications. All rights reserved.

3 Page 3 This Week s Readings Monday: Dn 7:9-10, 13-14; Ps 97: 1-2, 5-6, 9; 2 Pt 1:16-19; Mk 9:2-10 Tuesday: Jer 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22; Ps 102:16-21, 29, 22-23; Mt 14: or Mt 15:1-2, Wednesday: Jer 31:1-7; Jer 31:10, 11-12ab, 13; Mt 15:21-28 Thursday: Jer 31:31-34; Ps 51:12-15, 18-19; Mt 16:13-23 Friday: 2 Cor 9:6-10; Ps 112:1-2, 5-9; Jn 12:24-26 Saturday: Sunday: Hb 1:12 2:4; Ps 9:8-13; Mt 17: Kgs 19:4-8; Ps 34:2-9; Eph 4:30 5:2; Jn 6:41-51 Dates to Remember In 2018 Aug 5 Pre-Baptismal 1:00 in the Garden Room Aug 15 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Aug 20 First day of school for St. Agnes School Sept 19 Rel Ed. begins for grades 6th-12th Oct. 7 Rel Ed. begins for grades pre-k - 5th The Eighteenth Sunday in ordinary time RCIA: Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults Becoming Catholic: Are you interested in becoming Catholic? Is someone you know interested in becoming Catholic? Are you an adult Catholic who has never been confirmed or received the Eucharist? Do you just want to learn more about the Catholic faith? If this is the right time for you to take the next step on your faith journey, or if you want to talk to someone about the Catholic faith, please call the Religious Education Office at or office@st-agnes-church.com Please save "Best Choice" bar codes! The Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (DCCW) of the Grand Island Diocese is collecting bar codes from "Best Choice" products. The DCCW turns the codes in for cash, using it to help with their on going project for clean water wells in Haiti. "Best Choice" products have recently been stocked in several grocery stores. Please clip codes, put in an envelope marked "Best Choice," and drop in the Sunday collection basket. Thanks from DCCW! This Week s Schedule Finance Corner Sunday Collections & ATW Giving July 29, 2018 Actual $ Budget $ Surplus (Deficit) $ July Totals Actual $ ATW $ Budget $ Surplus (Deficit) $ Next weekend s 2nd collection is for Haiti/Uganda Aavin Isiah Gurrola July 29, 2018 Son of Alex Gurrola & Keleigh Hafner July CLUB WINNERS $200: Joyce Kosel; $100: John/ Karen Koch, Jack/Jean Kearns, Adam/Nichole Hoesing; $80: Lee/Jeanie Knudtson; $50: Charlene Mendoza, Rita Wagner, Tom Parks, Danny/ Tammie Winters, Michelle Johnston, Lon/Mary Hascall, Steven/Tiah Alvizar CONGRATULATIONS! Monday, August 6, 2018 Daily Mass (7:00am) Intention: Paul Moore by Phil & Colleen Kelly Communal Rosary (4:45pm) Liturgy of the Hours (5:10pm) Tuesday, August 7, 2018 Daily Mass (7:00am) Intention: Sofia Grace Canchola by Kevin Ott & Family Tuesday Discussion Group (8-9 am) Wednesday, August 8, 2018 Daily Mass (7:00 am) Intention: Evey Andreas by Eileen Young Contemplative Prayer Group (6:00pm) Thursday, August 9, 2018 Daily Mass (9:30 am) Veterans Home Friday, August 10, 2018 Daily Mass (7:00 am) Intention: Brenda S. & Family by Bill Connelly Saturday, August 11, 2018 Weekend Mass (6:00pm) Intention: Michael & David Broderick by Ann Thomas Sunday, August 12, 2018 Weekend Mass (8:00am) Intention: For the Parish Weekend Mass (10:00am) Intention: Don Young

4 Page 4 August 5, 2018 Living Our Catholic Faith Treasures From Our Tradition In 1794, a young Irishwoman befriended two widows aboard ship while emigrating to America. They bought a house in Philadelphia and began to live a community life under the direction of a priest. Soon they relocated to Washington. There, the pious ladies, as the neighbors called them, were asked by their priest friend, by then the president of Georgetown University, to begin a religious community. In 1799 they established a branch of the Visitation Order founded by Saint Jane de Chantal and Saint Francis de Sales in the 1620s. The unique vision of this order followed a sensible routine, less arduous and more flexible than most traditions, and also accepted widows and older women. Amazingly, this American outpost of the Visitation began without reference to the rule of the Order. Most of the European convents had been lost under the reign of terror, and the rules and customs of the community could not be obtained. A copy of the rule was discovered in 1812, and in 1816 the pope officially established the monastery. By then, some French nuns had regrouped, and they sent a habit and cross to be copied. (No religious wore the habit in public in the United States until after the Civil War.) From the beginning, the Georgetown nuns had an educational mission, even though they discovered in the rule that such work was officially off-limits for the contemplative life. In America, the nuns depended on a school for their livelihood, so the rule was adapted. Today, the Academy of the Visitation is a thriving example of excellence in Catholic education, and the adjacent monastery is the oldest monastic foundation in the original thirteen United States. Rev. James Field, Copyright J. S. Paluch Co. God s Work We are so busy! Most of us have more than one job to do, and we never seem to have enough time. We are workers, volunteers, parents, friends, and most of us are more than one thing at a time. But which of these is the work of God? We seldom view our ordinary work as being the work of God. We may think that we have to be ministers or priests, missionaries or charity workers, engaged full-time in works formally identified as being God s work. But everything we do with a faithful heart and with love for others is God s work. We each have our own role to fill in the world, and many gifts are necessary. We cannot always see the direct connection of our daily work to the plan of God. But we trust and we believe that God leads us to do what is needed, where it is needed. What is God s work? This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent (John 6:29). Copyright J. S. Paluch Co., Inc. All God s Children Saint Paul talks today about Christian community. He urges us to be well mannered but also to show courtesy, tolerance, and mutual forgiveness in imitation of Christ. This is hard enough in our own family, but even tougher in a parish, which exhibits such a diversity of people. We come from every walk of life, many backgrounds, and every income level. Some families founded the parish; others just arrived. For such a group to be harmonious requires recognizing and honoring different gifts, and bearing differences with grace and acceptance. As such, a Christian community can offer a powerful witness to a multi-ethnic and multicultural society that it is possible for people of different origins to live and worship together. This unity in diversity of a people gathered around the one table of the one Lord proclaims the truth that in God there are no distinctions, only the family of God s children, beloved of the One who created all. Copyright 2011, World Library Publications. All rights reserved.

5 Page 5 Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time dre@st-agnes-church.com R_ligious E^u][tion Progr[m Religious Education Office Celebrating Sunday for Catholic Families Enjoy a Holy Summer with these family daily activities! Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel: John 6:32-35 On the Way to Mass: How does Jesus feed us? On the Way Home From Mass: What could you eliminate from your life diet to feel healthier and full of life? Living the Word: Take some time this week to bake a loaf of bread together as a family. Point out the role of the different ingredients and how yeast is used a as a growing agent. Ask the children about the things that surround them and aid growth. Discuss how God s presence is always with us, surrounding us, and in us, providing us with a lifetime of material for growth. It is in and through God that we can truly be fed an feel full. Celebrating Sunday for Catholic Families Find Us On Facebook Twitter: stagnes-church Instagram: st.agnescatholicchurch Parish Website Stewardship Opportunities Over 200 children and young people, preschool through grade 12, will sign up this fall to learn more about Jesus and the Catholic faith. You can help them learn and grow by becoming a catechist. We are currently looking for grade school catechists on Sunday mornings, middle school catechists on Wednesday evening. As you nurture the faith of our young, you will learn and grow as well! As one long-time catechist put it, I learn so much from the children! We provide you with training, materials, and support. Classes begin in September. If interested or for more information, contact Terri Calvert at (RE Office) or dre@st-agnes-church.com Looking for a movie to watch as a family? Go to Formed.org today and search the video library. If you haven t signed up yet - go to: and sign up today! Sunday - August 5th St. Martha served Jesus with love. After Mass today, prepare a treat or snack for someone else in her honor. Monday - August 6th Pick a Beatitude and live it all day (Matthew 5:3-11). Tuesday - August 7th Play a card game together. Wednesday - August 8th St. Alphonsus Liguori loved the Eucharist. In his honor, visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle in your parish. Thursday - August 9th Watch a science program together on TV. Marvel at the wonders God has created. Friday - August 10th Send a note to your pastor or favorite priest to than him for his guidance and sacrifice. Saturday - August 11th Attend Confession as a family, then have a family dinner afterwards to celebrate. Partners in Faith-June 2018

6 Page 6 August 5, E[rly R_gistr[tion It is registration time! This year we are requesting registration for the St. Agnes Religious Education and CYM programs as soon as possible so we can prepare for the upcoming year. Once again the early registration fee will be $30.00 per child if paid by August 31, The registration can be mailed or put into the collection basket. If registration is completed after August 31 st the fee will be $40.00 per child. The Sunday Religious Education program will be held from 9:15 a.m. 10:15 a.m. in the St. Agnes School building. This morning is for the elementary grades (Pre-School- 5 th ). The Sunday program will begin on October 7th, The Wednesday Religious Education classes will be held from 7:00 p.m. 8:15 p.m. in the St. Agnes School building. This evening is for the graders. The Wednesday program will begin on September 19, High School CYM Groups (9-12 grades) will be held on Wednesday evenings from 7:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m. in the leader s home. The CYM program will begin on September 19, Confirmation for the 11th grade CYM groups will be held in the Garden Level twice a month on Wednesdays from 7:00 9:00 p.m. The parent/youth meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 12th at 7:00 p.m. in the Garden Level. Please return the bottom portion of this form Family Name Address Address Phone Number Cell Number **Parent Volunteer during the formation sessions of RE and/or CYM** This year we are asking parents to volunteer during the formation sessions (minimum of once during the year). I can help on Date(s) and Grade. Media Permission Slip I give St. Agnes Catholic Church permission to use my child s picture and name in conjunction with the following: { }weekly parish bulletin { }parish website { }television coverage { }newspaper articles Signature of Parent Date

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