St. Mary s - Big River Catholic Church

Transcription

1 St. Mary s - Big River Catholic Church 3 r d S u n d a y o f L e n t M a r c h 4 t h, Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area. John 2:13-15 The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary W th Ave. River Falls, WI Oh Sacrament most holy! Oh Sacrament Divine! All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine. Praised and adored be Jesus in the most holy Sacrament of the Altar, now and forever. Amen Welcome to St. Mary s Mass Schedule Confessions Devotional Times Weekend. Saturday 6:00 pm Sunday 9:30 am Weekday. Mon. to Fri. 8:30 am First Friday & First Sat. 8:30 am Holy Days.See bulletin -One hour before each Weekend Mass Eucharistic Adoration 9:00 to 10:00 am every First Friday. -Thurs. before First Fri. 9:00 am -First Friday 9:00 am -First Sat. 9:00 am -Any time by appointment Militia Immaculata (MI) Prayer Group meets Thursday 6:30 to 7:30 pm in the church.

2 P a g e 2 Welcome to St. Mary s! Lent: Prayer Fasting Almsgiving This Week s News Special Lenten Events this Week: Tuesday - Mar. 6th 6:30 pm Marriage & Family Life talk by Fr. Louis Wednesday - Mar. 7th 9:00 am Confessions 7:00 pm Stations with CCD Thursday - Mar. 8th 9:00 am Confessions 7:00 pm Adoration & Stations with DTS Friday - Mar. 9th No Meat today 7:00 pm Adoration & Stations of the Cross Saturday - Mar. 10th 10:00 am - noon Confessions 1:00-3:00 pm Confessions Joint Pastoral & Finance Council Meeting Both the councils will meet together on Monday, March 12th at 6:30 pm in the rectory. Liturgical Help We are still in great need of Liturgical helpers. Please prayerfully consider helping in any way you can. Sign up forms are in the back of the church. Thank you! Attention all St. Mary's servers and young men who are of age and want to serve: There will be a required training with some new procedures March 18th after Sunday Mass. All servers are expected to attend. The server training will be about one hour in duration. Please come to the server sacristy. Easter Lily Flowers If you would like to donate to the Easter Flowers in memory of a loved one, please place your donation in an envelope with your name and the name of your loved one and drop it in the collection. The envelopes will be given to the Altar Society for deposit and the names will be posted in the bulletin over Easter. Daylight Savings Time Next weekend is Daylight Savings Time so set your clocks ahead next Saturday night. Right to Life S t. M a r y s - B i g R i v e r Essay Contest 2018 TEENS FOR LIFE Contestant must be between 13 and 19 years old and a resident of Wisconsin. Topic: Choose a pro-life issue that you care about (abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, stem cells/ cloning, assisted suicide, etc.) and write a persuasive argument. Include a paragraph stating what you have done or would like to do, to promote the value of human life. Essay must be words, typed and doublespaced. Research/sources must be cited. A cover page with your full name, age, school, home address, address, and phone number is required. You may include graphics 1st Place: $200, 2nd Place: $100, 3rd Place: $50. Entry Deadline: March 28, For more info, visit wrtl.org/essay-contest/ or call Joleigh at Culture of Life Banquet Prolife Across America Fundraiser Keynote speaker: Father Rocky from Relevant Radio RSVP is requested by March 28, 2018 When: Thursday, April 5, 2018 Where: St. John the Baptist Catholic Church 835 2nd Ave NW, New Brighton, MN Cost: Banquet dinner $60*/person Time: 5:45 Social, 6:30 Dinner Visit:

3 3 r d S u n d a y o f L e n t Youth Events Youth Ministry Coordinator Corrie Loe corrieloe@gmail.com Dead Theologians Society DTS - Friday, March 9th 7:00-9:00pm. All youth invited! The Dead Theologians Society Meet in the church at 7 pm for adoration & Stations of the Cross. After, we will head over to the school for food & games. Please bring a MEATLESS dish to share. CCD Wed. March 7th Afternoon Session: Class 3:45 to 5:00 pm Evening Session: Class 7:00 to 8:15 pm (7:00 pm Stations) P a g e 3 Director of Religious Educ. Cindi Beurskens edibleacres5@gmail.com More Events Meals from the Heart - Thank You Thank you to all those who came to help on Saturday for Meals from the Heart. We packed all the meals and distributed them to the local food shelves. We could still use donations toward the food. If you can give any amount please put it in an envelope and drop it in the collection basket. May God bless you for your National Marriage Encounter Weekend March A National Marriage Encounter Weekend is scheduled for March 10 th and 11 th in Eau Claire. Marriage Encounter is designed for couples who are interested in having a closer relationship in their marriage. For more information contact Chippewa Valley Marriage Encounter, 127 E. Mac Arthur Ave., Eau Claire, WI 54701; phone at , at rippsk@charter.net or through our website at: chippewa.htm. Immaculée - March 7, Eau Claire - Powerful Story of Faith and Forgiveness Immaculée Illibagiza is coming March 7 to St. Patrick Church in Eau Claire. Internationally acclaimed speaker and survivor of the Rwanda genocide in 1994, Immaculée will share her incredible story. She and 7 other women hid in a tiny bathroom for 91 days as machete-wielding killers hunted for them. An amazing story of faith and the power of prayer and forgiveness. This is a rare opportunity come early. 6:30 pm, St. Patrick Church, 311 Fulton St., Eau Claire. Free will offering. Support Our Advertisers Income for February 25th, 2018 Plate....$ Adult Envelopes...2, Youth Envelopes Total....$2, Thank You!

4 A Message From Our Pastor Thank you so much for your kindness on the occasion of my 55 th birthday! I am grateful for your thoughtful cards, delicious goodies, generous gifts, and, above all, assurances of prayers. God bless you! Devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus has always been a part of my life. My spiritual home is Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Marshfield where the Lord through His Church bestowed on me His mercy and grace through the Sacraments of Baptism, Penance, Holy Eucharist, and Confirmation and where I celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving upon ordination to the Holy Priesthood. Devotion to the Sacred Heart was an integral part of my formation in the faith in the Louis household and at the parish school. Living my vocation as a Priest after the Heart of Jesus I have been Pastor of parishes dedicated to His Most Sacred Heart in Cashton, Spring Valley, and Elmwood. Celebrating Holy Mass here at Saint Mary my eyes are fixed on that statue of the Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ as I stand at the altar offering the Sacrifice in His Person to the Heavenly Father. Obviously, devotion to the Sacred Heart was so important for the faith life of the pioneers of Big River that that image was placed front and center at the high altar. During the Liturgy of the Eucharist at Big River my gaze and yours look together to the Most Sacred Heart whose love for the Father and for us sinners is revealed on Calvary which is re-presented on the altar of sacrifice. The spirituality of devotion to the Sacred Heart is deeply imprinted in my own heart. The section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding our human nature having been taken up by the Eternal Son of the Father summarizes the source and meaning of devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (478) : Jesus knew and loved us each and all during His life, His agony, and His Passion and gave Himself up for each one of us: The Son of God... loved me and gave Himself for me [Galatians 2:20]. He has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation [see John 19:34], is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that... love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings without exception [Pope Pius XII, Haurietis aquas (1956)]. Approved for publication in 2001 by Pope Saint John Paul II the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy: Principles and Guidelines. The Directory explains that understood in the light of the Scriptures, the term Sacred Heart of Jesus denotes the entire mystery of Christ, the totality of His Being, and His Person considered in its most intimate essential: Son of God, uncreated wisdom; infinite charity, principal of the salvation and sanctification of mankind. The Sacred Heart is Christ, the Word Incarnate, Savior, intrinsically containing, in the Spirit, an infinite divinehuman love for the Father and for His brothers (166). The Directory then summarizes the scriptural basis of devotion of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: Jesus, who is one with the Father [see John 10:30], invites His disciples to live in close communion with Him, to model their lives on Him and on His teaching. He, in turn, reveals Himself as meek and humble of heart [Matthew 11:29]. It can be said that, in a certain sense, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a cultic form of the prophetic and evangelic gaze of all Christians on Him who was pierced [see John 19:37; Zechariah 12:10], the gaze of all Christians on the side of Christ, transfixed by a lance, and from which flowed blood and water [see John 19:34], symbols of the wondrous sacrament of the Church [Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 5]. The Gospel of Saint John recounts the showing of the Lord s hands and His side to the disciples [see John 20:20], and of His invitation to Thomas to put his hand in to His side [see John 20:27]. This event has also had a notable influence on the origin and development of the Church s devotion to the Sacred Heart (167). The Directory next notes the theological and spiritual reflection on this scriptural witness by the Fathers of the Church. The above and other passages from Sacred Scripture present Christ as the Paschal Lamb, victorious and slain [see Revelation 5:6]. They were objects of much reflection by the Fathers who unveiled their doctrinal richness. They invited the faithful to penetrate the mysteries of Christ by contemplating the wound opened in His side (168). As an example, the Directory quotes a sermon (Sermo 311) of Saint Augustine of Hippo (d. 430): Access is possible: Christ is the door. It was opened for you when His side was opened by the lance. Remember what flowed out from His side: thus, choose where you want to enter Christ. From the side of Christ, as He hung dying upon the Cross there flowed out blood and water, when it was pierced by a lance. Your purification is in that water, your redemption is in that blood (168). The Directory continues this sketch of the history and development of devotion to the Sacred Heart observing that it was particularly strong during the Middle Ages ( AD). Many renowned for their learning and holiness developed and encouraged the devotion (169) including Saints Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153), Bonaventure (d. 1274), Lutgarda (d. 1246), Mathilda of Marburg (d. 1282), sisters Mathilda (d. 1299) and Gertrude (d. 1380) of Helfta, and Ludolf of Saxony (1380). These saints perceived in the Sacred Heart a refuge in which to recover, the seat of mercy, the encounter with Him who is the source of the Lord s infinite love, the fount from which flows the Holy Spirit, the promised land, and true paradise (169). To be continued. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us! Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us! Blessed Solanus Casey, pray for us! Father Kevin C. Louis, STL P a g e 4

5 Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Pastor - Fr. Kevin Louis, STL th Ave. River Falls, WI Rectory Phone: Fr. Louis Cell: crossensis89@gmail.com Deacon - Deacon Dan Gannon gannon.dan@gmail.com Administrative Assistant - Traci Campion reginahope1917@gmail.com Bookkeeper - Pat Bjork bjork.p@outlook.com Director of Religious Education (DRE) - Cindi Beurskens edibleacres5@gmail.com Youth Ministry - Corrie Loe corrieloe@gmail.com Cemetery - John Matzek Rodney Janovec Prayer Chain Requests School Hall Office Altar Rosary Society (ARS) - Angie Dosdall Finance Council - Pat Pechacek Stewardship Committee - Andy Mishek Grounds & Building Maintenance - Danny McNamara Welcome new visitors! If you would like to be a member of our parish just call the Administrative Assistant and we will help you get registered. Mass Schedule Liturgical Roles Mon, Mar. 5th :30 am No Mass Tues., Mar. 6th :30 am No Mass Wed., Mar. 7th...St.s Perpetua & Felicity 8:30 am Lorraine Gavin By Alvin & Geri Langer Thurs., Mar. 8th St. John of God 8:30 am Special Intention By Rosemarie Yunker Fri., Mar. 9th...St. Frances of Rome 8:30 am Nathaniel Merta By Merta Family Sat., Mar. 10th... 6:00 pm Dan & Lori McNamara By McNamara Children Sun., Mar. 11th. 4th Sun. of Lent 9:30 am Pro Populo & Amanda Krause By Toby & Janice Keller Mass Intentions FYI - The Mass Intentions Calendar is full through June March 10th Saturday - 6:00 pm Mass Saturday - Mar. 10th 6:00 pm Reader... Bob Maier Ushers.Tony Matzek, Jon Matzek, Joe Matzek, John Yunker Cross... Brent Coppler Candles... Maximus Husby Music.... Joanne Maier Rosary.. Dallan & Gayle Frandrup Please call a replacement if you cannot serve. March 11th Sunday - 9:30 am Mass Sunday - Mar. 11th 9:30 am Reader...Andy Mishek Ushers/$ Counters..Dan Huppert Jr., Pat Pechacek, Craig Zuelke Cross/Incense.. Nathaniel Merta Candles Marcus Merta, Andrew & Daniel Pluth Music.. Rosary.. Toby & Janice Keller Gift Bearer... Jay Loe Family Note! Use of the Chalice has been suspended until the end of Lent.