32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Transcription

1 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time November 12, 2017 Volume 1, Issue #13 Celebrants: Father Victor Ray and Father Martin deporres On behalf of Father Victor and to all that are with us today, Thank You for being here. Love is present among us this day, Thank You!

2 Wisdom from Father A certain young woman asked her brother to accompany her to the airport as her fiancé was due to arrive at 10pm. Unfortunately, they were told the plane had been delayed and needed some small repairs but they did not know when it could depart. After midnight there was still no way of knowing when the plane would arrive. So her brother got tired and said he would go home and be back in time. But he fell asleep and was rather embarrassed when he woke up to find that the fiancé was already in the house having arrived very late. It was because the young woman loved her fiancé that she was prepared to wait no matter for how long or at what inconvenience to herself. In the gospel today something like this took place in the parable Jesus told. In the Jewish culture of which the listeners and Jesus were a part, the custom was that the bride would wait with her bridesmaids, normally at the city gate, for the bridegroom to come and go to her house for the wedding feast. We must remember the conditions of travel then with no mobile phones either so there would have been no way of knowing when the bridegroom would arrive. It would have been a great shame for the family of the bride not to be ready when the bridegroom arrived no matter how late it was. But Jesus comes into our lives not only when we die but each day through the events of our lives. He is constantly reminding us. So when we are asked to help someone and we do, we meet Jesus in that situation. Or we can refuse. When we see so much violence on TV what is it saying to us about the certainty of a long life for us? Ultimately our only security is God. If we are honestly trying to follow Jesus then it doesn t matter when he comes. So the gospel today is a call to conversion Fr. Victor Ray Hymns 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: (SEE SONG SHEETS) GATHERING: Eye Has Not Seen OFFERTORY: As We Gather At Your Table (OFFERTORY IS PLACED ANYTIME IN THE WHITE WITNESSING LOVE DONATION BOX) COMMUNION: The Harvest Of Justice SENDING: Shall We Gather At The River

3 LET S SAY A PRAYER FOR: Wanda Jean Sutton. Friend of Dee Spano. Lady has had a cancer diagnosis just had procedure to find out if it spread. On top of the loss of her son. Prayers for Healing and Bereavement. Becky Byrley. Prayers for Speedy Recovery. Candy Sulzer. Friend of Frank Matzelle. Prayers for Healing. Uncle Norman. Frank Matzelle s Uncle. Prayers for Healing. Jesse Kovar. Prayer for Guidance. Lyn Kovar. Prayer for Healing Aura Dorene Williams. Prayer for Healing. Bill Spano. Prayers for Healing Ivy Villafana. Prayers for continued Healing and Better Health. Bill Hartwig. Prayers for continued Healing and Better Health. Mark Talboom. Prayers needed for Healing and a Return to Better Health. D A and Dee dealing with health issues. Prayers for Healing and Better Health. Birgit Wilhelm dealing with health issues. Prayers for Healing and Better Health. Any Prayer Request needed, Please, notify William Schwartz The Daily Prayer of Saint Teresa Dear Jesus, help me to spread your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with your spirit and love. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of You. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus. Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be a light to others. Amen.

4 Witnessing LOVE Donation During this Mass today, if you are motivated by any of these 4 statements: 1) You believe God LOVES the world through us through you and me. 2) Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great LOVE. 3) Every work of LOVE done with a full heart brings people closer to God. 4) Or you would LOVE to see this mission go forth! That is what the Witnessing LOVE Donation box is all about. Noteworthy: Hospitality Ministry does well with food and snacks but help is needed in the Drinks Departments. If you catch a good price on Soda or other Beverages, we sure could use some. Anyone interested in helping out the Media Ministry with Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, please contact Bill Schwartz. Search is on for a Church Location. Stand-a-lone building is #1 or if you hear of anything, let us know. Anything we can help you with, or if we need to be doing something, Please, speak up!!

5 14th Annual Tampa Bay AIDS Walk & 5k Run Saturday, December 9, 2017 Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg. Registration: 8 A.M. We walk so that people infected today will have access to the care and support needed to keep them healthy for years to come. Come join the Saint Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Community team by going to: If you are unable to Walk or Run with us and can t crawl the path with Bill, you can help by whatever donation you are comfortable with. We will also set up a small table to hand out information if you would like to assist us in that way. Great Cause and a lot of people dealing with this disease.

6 OUTREACH MINISTRY November 6 21, Dream Center is looking for help to prepare Thanksgiving Food Boxes at their 49 th Street Food Pantry/Warehouse. For more information contact Barb Fichter or keep reading the Gazette or Bulletin for updates. Looking for assistance in cooking Thanksgiving Dinner for the Homeless on Thanksgiving Day starting at 8 a.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church, th Street N., St. Petersburg. Talk to Barb Fichter as to what times you can assist.

7 This Weeks Chuckle Celebrations Dee Spano Birthday 11/15 Bishop Peter Hickman Birthday 11/15 Al Metzger Birthday 11/28 James Meeks Anniversary 12/7 Maureen McGill Birthday 12/7 For all those Celebrations that I have missed, Forgive Me and I sincerely hope they were all Wonderful and Wishing you Many More!

8 OTHER HAPPENINGS WE HAVE COLLECTED $ FOR THE DREAM CENTER S PURCHASE OF TURKEYS FOR THE LEALMAN S AREA NEEDY RESIDENTS FOR THANKSGIVING. Saturday, December 16 th, 10:00 am, Dream Center/Lealman Christmas Festival presents will be given out to the kids in Lealman Sunday, December 17 th, Homeless Memorial Service at Trinity Lutheran, St. Petersburg. Father Victor is participating in the service. This is also the day of the Celebrate Outreach Homeless Memorial Meal at 1:00 pm. December 25 th, 9:00 am, Cooking for Celebrate Outreach Christmas Day Buffet. A PARISHIONER REQUEST: Lyn's MASSIVE! moving sale November 17th and 18th 2419 Gulf to Bay Blvd Lot #913 Clearwater, Florida If you want to help me out, you get first crack at all the good stuff! It's the holidays and maybe a good time for people coming or going to the airport not to worry about their transportation needs.

9 All of us at Saint Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Community want to take a moment to extend a very warm welcome to everyone who is visiting us for the first time this morning. Whether you are just having a look, or are searching for a place to worship, we are delighted to have you here. Enjoy the rest of your worship time with us, and May God Bless You! Have a Blessed Week! And today do us a favor, take a friend out and have Coffee and Fellowship. Saint Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Community P.O. Box St. Petersburg, Florida Phone: Website: STOCCC.org Youtube: Saint Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Community Facebook: FACEBOOK.COM/STOCCCLOVE Instagram: STOCCCLOVE Twitter: STOCCC2 YOU CAN ACCESS ALL MEDIA ON WEBSITE Bulletin Submissions due by Thursday at Midnight. to: media.stoccc@gmail.com or by calling Bill Schwartz at PH:

10 10 Reasons To Tithe! Tith While visiting in a neighborhood near our church, I met a man who responded to my introduction by saying, Oh, you are the preacher who makes everyone pay ten percent to the church. No, you are not talking about me, I replied. There is no way that I can make people pay ten percent of their wages to the church if they do not wish. I do not have that authority. The people who pay ten percent, or a tithe, of their income do so because they want to. Why do people tithe to the church? The reasons are many. As I considered my own motivation, I discovered at least 10 reasons to tithe and why I give ten percent of my income to the church. A study of these reasons will help us to understand the great blessing of tithing and the biblical responsibility to tithe. 1. To Honor the Creator. Render unto God the things that are God s (Matthew 22:21). Acquisitiveness is one of the basic drives of mankind. Children grasp their toys and cry, Mine! Someone has noted three attitudes in the parable of the good Samaritan. The priest and the Levite had the attitude, What s mine is mine and I m going to keep it! The thieves had the attitude What s yours is mine, and I m going to get it! The Samaritan had the attitude, What s mine is yours, and you can have it. There is another attitude that should permeate our thinking, even above the commendable attitude of the Samaritan. That is, Everything we have belongs to God, and we are stewards of His goods' God owns the entire world and its substance. The earth is the LORD S, and the fulness thereof (Psalm 24:1). Behold, all souls are mine (Ezekiel 18:4). The silver is mine, and the gold is mine (Haggai2:8). It is God who gives people the power to obtain wealth (Psalm 75:6-7; Ecclesiastes 5:19). We are not to glory in what God has given us, but to glory in Him (Jeremiah 9:23-24). Why should I be grudge God ten percent when everything actually belongs to Him? If it were not for Him, there would be no land, no seed, no strength, no income, and no life. How generous He is to tell us, he tithe is the LORD S! (Leviticus 27:30). 2. To Acknowledge My Heritage. And if ye be Christ s, then are ye Abraham s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:29). Abraham was the first tithe payer of record(genesis 14:20). Abraham s grandson, Jacob, paid tithes (Genesis 28:22). Scripture says that Levi, Abraham s descendant and the father of the tribe from which the priesthood came, paid tithes in Abraham (Hebrews 7:9). My heritage of paying a tithe precedes the law of Moses. As a child of Abraham and an heir of the promise of Abraham. I acknowledge my family relationship by paying tithes. Jesus said to the Jews, If ye were Abraham s children, ye would do the works of Abraham (John 8:39). It would be strange to claim to be a child of Abraham and yet to neglect one of Abraham s most fundamental and noteworthy acts. I pay my tithes as a spiritual descendant of Abraham, the father of the faithful. 3. To Fulfill the Covenant. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious (II Corinthians 3:11). In every comparison of the law of Moses and the new covenant that came by Jesus Christ, the new covenant stands supreme. The characteristic word in the Book of Hebrews is better, and everything is better about the new covenant. If the law demanded tithes, then how much more should we who are under the perfect law of liberty give our tithes willingly. (See James 1:25). If the law is written in the fleshly tables of our hearts and we follow God s commands not from outward rules but because of our new nature, then how quickly and how easily we should give the tenth that belongs to the Lord (See II Corinthians 3:3-6). Some people say, Oh, we do not pay tithes, because tithing was under the law. If that is a sufficient reason for not paying tithes, then we could also mistreat our parents, for the law said, Honour thy father and thy mother (Exodus 20:12). In actuality, we honor our father and mother and we give our tithes because the principles of the law are written in our hearts by the Spirit of God. We give willingly and liberally because the Spirit motivates us to give what God has said is His. 4. To Show My Love.

11 Many waters cannot quench love (Song of Solomon 8:7). Love is the strongest motivation in the world. I have seen bumper stickers that say, If you love Jesus, honk you horn! Anyone can honk his horn. But David said, Neither will I offer unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing (II Samuel 24:24). Someone should print a sticker that says, If you love Jesus, pay your tithes! For someone who genuinely loves the Lord, the tithe is only the beginning of his giving. He gives not only his tithe, but also offerings (plural), not grudgingly and not of necessity, but cheerfully with love. 5. To Fulfill an Obligation. Ye pay tithe :these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone (Matthew 23:23). Jesus did not criticize the Pharisees for paying tithes. He commended them. He said it was something they ought to have done. The word ought expresses an obligation or duty. It is one of the strongest words in the English language. To pay tithes is something every Christian ought to do. The word ought has three meanings: (a) obligation or duty; as in, He ought to pay his debts, (b) desirability; as in, You ought to eat more slowly, (c) expectancy or probability; as in, I ought to be through by Monday. Each one of these meanings puts an obligation upon the Christian. It is desirable for him to pay his tithes, he is expected to pay his tithes, and he has a duty to pay his tithes. 6. To Escape Condemnation. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me in tithes and offerings (Malachi 3:8). How sad it is that people who are honest in business and who pay their debts to the bank, the store, and the government will not pay God what belongs to Him! Sometimes people quibble about whether they are paying or giving tithes, but both terms seem appropriate. The tithe is the Lord s and He expects us to pay it to Him; at the same time, He does not receive it until we give it to Him. He does not give us the authority to use His tithes for other purposes, but we have the power to spend it as long as it is in our hands. Nevertheless, a person is condemned if he spends God s money. 7. To Spread the Gospel. So hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel (I Corinthians 9:14). God has ordained for people to be saved by the preaching of the gospel (I Corinthians 1:21). How shall they hear without a preacher? (Romans 10:14). Tithing is God s way of supporting the ministry. In the Old Testament, the Levites and the priest were God s minister to the nation of Israel, and they were supported by tithes. In the New Testament, God has called people to minister the gospel. These ministers can be more effective if they do not have to provide for their livelihood by working on a secular job but can devote themselves full time to the work of God. They need time to give themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. It is not wrong for a man to labor with his hands, nor should a minister feel too good to engage in honest labor. Yet God s plan is for those who preach the gospel to live of the gospel. When God inspired Moses to write that the people should not put a muzzle on the box that labored, God was not as concerned with the ox as He was with the principle that a laborer should receive his livelihood from his work. The application of this principle is that the minister of the gospel should earn his living from his ministry. (See I Corinthians 9:9-14). Some ministers have endured financial hardships and deprivation in order to proclaim the gospel in needy areas. If the tithing income insures that the minister can live in a good house, drive a good car, and buy sufficient clothes for his family, why should I begrudge providing these things to a man who would preach the gospel even if he had to work on a secular job to do it? It is a disgrace to a church if the pastor has to take a secular job to supply his family s needs when there should be sufficient tithing income available to allow him to do God s work on a full-time basis. My tithing ca help to spread the gospel. 8. To Avoid a Curse. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me (Malachi 3:9). Someone has said, You can t outgive God, and you can t outsqueeze Him either. Some people put their money into a big with holes (Haggai 1:6). They do not give God His tithe, bit they eventually spend the money for automobile repairs, medical bills, and a thousand other things that they might have avoided if they had been faithful to God in their giving. God said that the whole nation of Israel was cursed because they had not given God His due. God asked Israel to dedicate the gold of Jericho to Him, but Achan took a wedge of gold and hid it in a tent. It became a curse to him and his whole family. I do not want God to curse my blessings. I want to give Him His tithe. 9. To Enjoy God s Blessing. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it (Malachi

12 3:10). (See also Luke 6:38). God blesses the people who pay tithes. They do not always have the most money or the best clothes, but they are blessed. However, I am wary of those who promise, If you give God a dollar, He will give you back four. The expectation of a return should not be our motivation for giving. And His richest blessings are not necessarily monetary. But I do want God to notice me and remember me. He noticed that the window put money into the treasury at the Temple. He noticed what Cornelius was giving. He noticed what Israel was not giving. He knows what we give and He notices when we give. God has asked us to prove Him and see if He will not give us His blessings. I have trusted Him, tested Him, and tried Him, and I have concluded that it is better to give God what belongs to Him. 10. To Be Consistent. Be thou an example of the believers (I Timothy 4:12). For most of my ministry. I have lived on tithing income. How could I receive tithes and not pay tithes? I could not do so and be consistent. The Levites, who received tithes, also paid tithes on what they received (Nehemiah 10:38). Preachers who receive tithes should be most faithful to pay them. Paying tithes will not save a person-everyone must be born again to be saved. But paying tithes will reap a blessing. Genuine Christian not only pay tithes, but they willingly pay tithes. Tithes and Offerings are accepted through the Website by Clicking on the Blue Witnessing Love Donation button. Your Generous Contribution will go a long way in helping us at Saint Teresa Of Calcutta Catholic Community to continue our Ministry and our Outreach. By your donations, you are helping us in feeding the Homeless and those that do not have the luxuries that both you and I take for Granted. May God Bless You and Continue to Walk with You!