CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY

Transcription

1 CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY MASSES Monday-Friday Saturday Saturday Vigil Sunday 6:30 & 8:00 AM 8:00 AM 5:30 PM 8:00, 9:30, & 11:00 AM 12:30* & 6:00 PM (*Spanish) March 3, 2019 Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time EXPOSITION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT Monday-Friday Thursdays ROSARY Daily 7:00-8:00 AM & 8:30-9:30 AM 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM 7:40 AM SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION Saturdays at 4:30 PM Monsignor Jude O Doherty, Pastor Father Alex Rivera, Associate Pastor Deacon Don Livingstone Deacon Norman Ruíz-Castañeda Deacon Thomas V. Eagan Deacon Marcos Pérez Deacon Eduardo Smith SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM Call the Parish Office two months in advance. SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY Call the Parish Office one year in advance. CHURCH ADDRESS 8235 S.W. 57 Avenue Miami, Florida RECTORY/MAILING ADDRESS 8080 S.W. 54 Court Miami, Florida Telephone: Fax: info@epiphanycatholicchurch.com epiphanycatholicchurch.com MINISTRY OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION & PASTORAL SERVICES Mrs. Isabel Prellezo, Director Telephone: MINISTRY OF MUSIC Mr. Thomas Schuster, Organist Mr. Georgi Danchev, Choirmaster Mr. Eddie Valdés, Cantor Telephone: SCHOOL Ms. Ana Oliva, Principal Mrs. Dolores Alea, Vice Principal 5557 S.W. 84 Street Miami, Florida Telephone: Fax: epiphanycatholicschool.com CONVENT Sister Carmen Teresa, IHM, Superior Telephone:

2 PASTOR S PEN If Lent is to mean anything in our lives, it has to be a season of renewal. The word itself means "springtime." So above everything else, it's a time for new life, for fresh beginnings and growth. The idea is that we die with Christ, like the seed in the ground, and rise with Him to more abundant life! We die to sin and rise to integrity. We die to selfishness and rise to generosity - especially towards the poor. We prune ourselves through penance, growing thereby into stronger, more healthy Christians. "If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself, take up this cross and follow me" (Mt 16:24). And we put ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday as a sign of that death to the selfish self that we are prepared to undergo. So, Lent is a challenging time, a seasonal reminder of the intrinsically challenging nature of the Christian life. Lent is a time when we make a fresh start, when we try again, a little bit more earnestly, with sincerity and honesty, to live up to the responsibilities and challenges of our Christian lives. And what does all that involve? What are these challenges and responsibilities? Easy to touch on, too substantive to develop. Things like conscientiousness in our work, honesty in our dealings, dependability in our assurances, truthfulness in our assertions, humility in our judgments, purity in our life-style, generosity in our giving. Lent is Christianity dug deep. Lent is Christian earth newly broken. Lent is blowing hard on dead embers. Lent is shaking awake sleepy hypocrisies. Lent is taking on again, with commitment and vigor, the imitation of Christ; Lent is Christ made real. Sometimes, in my experience, a distance can develop between myself and somebody else. The somebody else can be a friend or a relative. The distance has its origin in lack of contact. Because I'm otherwise busy or burdened or preoccupied I don't make the extra effort needed to keep in touch. Time passes, apartness becomes a pattern. I know I should be seeing the person; I sense his or her disappointment, even resentment, and experience my own guilt. The longer it goes on, the more difficult it is to close the gap, to make the contact. Distance in itself becomes an obstacle. But when contact is eventually made, when communication is restored, there's regret that it didn't happen sooner. There's the experience of renewal, of life shared, of a relationship worth sustaining from now on. The distance that develops between ourselves and somebody else can so easily happen with Our Lord. He's there in our lives already but too much in the background. It's a distance He feels and that He wants us to close: "Come to me, all you who labor and are overburdened" (Mt 11:28). "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often have I longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you refused" (Mt 23:37). Because He hates the distance between us and because He is Our Lord, it is imperative that we be close to Him because we need His love, His truth, His guidance, His salvation, His meaning. Somebody said that Christianity is not so much a religion as a relationship. The relationship has to be there. In his book The Eternal Year, Karl Rahner says that, for modern people, Lent begins long before Ash Wednesday and goes on long after Easter Sunday. Lent is not so much a season as a condition. A condition in which modern people suffer - because God seems far way. Distance again. So let's try during this Lenten season to narrow the distance if only a little - to inch closer to Christ in our thought, our prayer and our love. I said earlier that Lent is Christ made real. I say to you now with even greater emphasis that Lent is Christ made near. Think about it. If each of us can draw closer to Him during the coming weeks, Lent will have been a real springtime in our lives.

3 S E A S O N O F L E N T Lent is the season that prepares us to celebrate Easter. The main reason Lent is important is that Easter is our most important feast. On Easter, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose passage beyond death into life offers redemption to believers. The resurrection is the cornerstone of Christian faith. The mystery of Christ s rising from the dead is so deep that the Church invites us to six weeks of preparation before we fully celebrate it. We call that period Lent. For the faithful, Lent is a time of penitential practices and spiritual discipline. During this time, we acknowledge our sins and seek God s help to overcome them. Traditionally, we engage in acts of prayers, fasting and almsgiving. Together these actions show our dependence on God, our renunciation of the fascinations of this world, and our desire to better the lives of others. For the elect, those preparing for baptism, Lent is a time of intense spiritual preparation. They will celebrate baptism at Easter because in this sacrament they enter the mystery of Christ s dying and rising. They die to their former way of life and open their hearts fully to discipleship in Jesus. For the elect, this is a season of purification and enlightenment. The prayers of this season help scrutinize and purify their intentions, removing whatever might block their commitment and strengthening their resolve. They will become fully illumined with the Light of Christ when they celebrate initiation at the Easter Vigil. Lent began on Ash Wednesday and ends before the Mass of the Lord s Supper on Holy Thursday. Let us use these days of Lent to grow closer to God. P O W E R O F P R A Y E R All of us pray once in a while. Many of us pray some of the time. Some of us pray most or all of the time, and few of us do not pray at all. In wondering what category you belong in, you may come to realize that in your lifetime, you belonged to all four categories. That should not shock or amaze you because you are human. Our humanity has a way of directing our prayer life, and for that reason we must make prayer an integral part of our lives regardless of the direction of our humanity. In other words, our prayer life must exist in good and in bad times, in good health and in bad health, in riches and in poverty, in joy and sorrow, in success and in failure, in life and in death. Why is prayer important? Suppose a husband and a wife never talked to one another; suppose your children never talked to you as parents, what would become of these relationships? They would fail. Communication talking to one another is the only way we have to show our love and commitment. Prayer is talking to God... from the heart. Tell Him how much you love Him, ask him for the graces you need in your daily life, and above all how sorry you are for having offended Him. Prayer brings you closer to God, and it brings your family together in a way that all the riches in the world cannot. Talking to God brings peace, happiness and love. During Lent talk to God. Pray with Him during Mass. The more you pray the more your true stewardship to the Lord will be manifested. Above all, when you get home tonight, talk with your family and before you go to sleep, ask God to bless your family. Remember, if God is with you, no one can be against you.

4 MASS INTENTIONS Date Time Mass Intentions Requested by Saturday March 2 5:30 PM Eduardo & Manuel Jorge Cutillas Dimas Pelayo Gutierrez Elena Wilson & Sunday March 3 Monday March 4 8:00 AM Alex Carrion Humberto Gonzalez, Jr. 9:30 AM Roberto Suero Carlos Rodriguez 11:00 AM 12:30 PM Rev. Madre San Luis/Luisa Antonia Rendiles Ari Artiaga 6:00 PM Sante De Leo Jose A. Linares, Jr. 6:30 AM Fr. Francisco Hernandez United States of America 8:00 AM Lila Abdou Bill Lorson Beatriz Suero His Loving Cisneros Gonzalez Jose & Alexa Linares Pistorino Pistorino Shahin Tuesday March 5 6:30 AM 8:00 AM Andrew Jacobs Virginia Henderson Johnathon Perez Jeanne Anne Moorman Mother Gloria, Monique & Adele June McNally Wednesday March 6 6:30 AM 8:00 AM 9:30 AM 4:00 PM 7:30 PM Thursday March 7 6:30 AM Lourdes, John Cooper & Pistorino 8:00 AM Ignacy Grocholski Rita Campos Ayala Robert & Adamarie Baker Friday March 8 Saturday March 9 6:30 AM 8:00 AM Silvia Tolon John Moorman, II 8:00 AM Maria H. Pistorino Ana Alicia Fernandez Gallinal & Tolon Pistorino Pistorino Saturday March 9 (Sunday Vigil) 5:30 PM Soldiers in Harm s Way Nancy Nasimos Shahin Sunday March 10 8:00 AM Almerinda Lucente Henry & Ada Rosaly 9:30 AM Harry, Edward & Brendan Tiernan Anthony Romeo 11:00 AM 12:30 PM Martiza Gomez Janine Chevrel 6:00 PM Melissa C. Rodriguez Teresa Azrack Lucente Robert & Adamarie Baker Felicia Christin Martha Restrepo Francis Chevrel

5 MASS SCHEDULES Extraordinary Ministers March 9/10 Lectors Altar Servers Of Holy Communion C Mirza Collazo 1 Mirza Collazo T Miller 2 Al Collazo Sat 5:30 PM Carolina Tamayo-Ragolta R Sampedro 3 Phil Prellezo Msgr. O'Doherty Debra Menegay A Watkins 4 Elena Wilson 5 Lilliam Arguelles 6 Alfredo Arguelles 7 Lynn Arguelles C Frank Acosta 1 Martha Osorio Sun 8:00 AM Kellie Montoya A Illa 2 Frank Acosta Msgr. O'Doherty Montserrat Morrison J Illa 3 Juan Farach 4 Mariana O'Naghten 5 Juan O'Naghten C Maria Juncadella 1 Maria Juncadella E Villamil 2 Annamaria Sacher Sun 9:30 AM Jason Johnson A Alfano 3 Richard Sacher Fr. Rivera Pat Parker A Atrio 4 Donna Alfano R Bummanglag 5 Tom Alfano 6 Raphael Bastian 7 Pedro Toro C Louise Villalba S Valdes 1 Louise Villalba S Alvarez 2 Katerina Velikopoljski Sun 11:00 AM Emily Loos A Arteaga 3 Roberto De Leo Msgr. O'Doherty Guillermo Castillo N Baboun 4 Cristi Vonder Haar E Cardenal 5 Gloria Barbier A Cooper 6 Janet Armstrong A Cosculluela 7 Cesar Armstrong G Cruz 8 Ben Villalba C Carmen von Reitzenstein 1 Carmen von Reitzenstein 2 Bernd von Reitzenstein Sun 12:30 PM Gisela Cacciamani G Rivero 3 Jose Martinez Elejalde Fr. Rivera Adriana Giuffredi C Sabathie 4 Raul Rosell 5 Titi Pujals-Rosell 6 Marta Rosales 7 Adolfo Rosales B Garza C Javier Ruiz E Garza 1 Annie Cooper-Hernandez R Griese 2 Javier Ruiz Sun 6:00 PM Jorge J. Pérez S Hernandez 3 Jorge Echenique Fr. Rivera Tamara Clavero J Ibarra 4 Jorge Diaz-Silveira S Lamelas 5 Renee Diaz-Silveira P Llorens 6 Nuri Gaston S Lombard 7 Jose Gaston

6 ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM TINSEL TO ASHES It s always mystifying how quickly the Christmas Season turns into the Lenten Season. It seems like yesterday we were running around like crazy, buying, exchanging, opening gifts, playing Christmas music, shooting videos of the grandchildren, going to Christmas Mass, and then settling down to a delicious dinner. Then you look at the calendar and believe it or not this Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, and the season of Lent begins. The word Season in our church liturgy actually means that we celebrate the different stages in the life of Jesus Christ... His birth, death, resurrection and His establishment of the Church on earth. In other words, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost. On Ash Wednesday, all of our foreheads will be marked with ashes. This practice goes back many centuries, and it is a special day in the life of the church. The wearing of ashes on our forehead and the words, Remember man that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return, reminds us of our mortality, and equally important reminds us that we are the children of God, and our life is just a preparation for an eternity in heaven with God. The season of Lent is a time to grow closer to God, making positive changes in our life, and a time to ask God for the forgiveness for our sins. During Lent, let us all reflect and evaluate our lives. Let us be sure that we are, not only friends of God, but truly spiritual holy men and women. What does that mean? It means that God places an important role in our lives. It means that we pray every day, receive the Sacraments regularly, worship God faithfully, support and care for our families, remain true to our vocation, and above all accept the will of God in our lives. The season of Lent is also a time to practice mortification and make sacrifices... Most people always look to give up something... alcohol, candy, ice cream and so on. Why not be positive this Lent... Pay more attention to your family, be aware of the homeless, visit the sick, go to daily Mass and receive Holy Communion. Be positive! You know what s best for you. So, in a few weeks, we went from Tinsel to Ashes. Let us all have a prayerful Lent. At the start of each Mass we are invited to examine our conscience and to call to mind our sins. This means, of course, calling to mind our own sins, not the sins of anyone else. And we must not blame others for our sins, but accept full responsibility for them ourselves. Let us confess our sins to God and to one another. First reading (Sirach ). A person s talk shows the kind of person he or she is. Second reading (1 Corinthians 15.54:58). The resurrection of Christ takes the sting out of death for those who believe in Him. Gospel (Luke 4:21-30). A blind guide cannot lead others. A person s words flow from what fills his heart. Guidelines for Fasting & Abstinence Fasting is observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, by all Catholics who are 18 years of age but not yet 59. Those bound by this rule may have only one full meal a day. Two smaller meals are permitted as necessary to maintain strength according to one's needs, but eating solid foods between meals is not permitted. Abstinence from meat is observed on Ash Wednesday, all the Fridays of Lent and on Good Friday, by Catholics 14 years and older. Contemplative Cenacle of the Divine Mercy Monday, March 4 at 7:30 PM The next session of our Baptism Preparation Program will be held next Saturday, March 9. The program runs from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM at the Epiphany Parish Center. Attendance by the parents is a pre-requisite to the child s baptism.

7 ANNOUNCEMENTS Congratulations to the families whose children were baptized during the month of February: Emma Isabella Maranges Child of Matthew & Giselle Maranges Emilia Lucia Alvarez Child of Juan & Danielle Alvarez Fernando Andres Plasencia Child of Michael & Danielle Plasencia Daniel Jorge Canelas Child of Alexander & Cassandra Canelas Ella Vivienne Romberg Child of Brett & Emily Romberg Presley Ann Sanchez Child of Remberto & Tyler Sanchez Zachary Edward Perdomo Child of Steve & Carmen Perdomo Calling all Young Couples! Next meeting will be on Wednesday, March 13 at 7:30 PM in the Parish Center. Couples post-college to mid-30s who are married, engaged, or in a serious dating relationship. If you have any questions please Call Father Alex at the Rectory The Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary Invite you to join us for an Eucharistic Cenacle at Epiphany. Friday, March 29 Rosary at 7:30 PM and Mass at 8:00 PM. Bilingual Holy Mass, Adoration and intercessory prayer for the sick. Parish Pilgrim Virgin Ministry Congratulations to those who were married during the month of February: Jesse Sanchez & Priscilla Andrea Steel Alvaro Sanchez & Maria Alejandra Valderrama During the week of March 3 the Parish Pilgrim Virgin will be in the home of: Martha Gonzalez Rudy & Yvonne Nuñez To schedule your visit, please call Luis & Patricia Siman at THE MASS by Bishop Robert Barron Starting on March 12 through May 14. This study of THE MASS will help you understand how to fully, consciously, and actively participate in the source and summit of the Christian life. Walk though through the liturgy with Bishop Barron and be transformed through insights on this most privileged and intimate encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ. We will gather every Tuesday, from 9:30 to 11:30 AM in the Parish Center. For more information, please contact Mirta Robelo at PRAY FOR THOSE WHO ARE ILL: Michael Bier; Dean Carr Calleja; Francesco Torres; Jeannette Conner; Ana Alicia Fernandez; Robert Garcia Esquerro; Stephen Hohauser; Cesar Izique; Paige Klekner; Melvin Law; Daniel Manichello; Nicolas Moore; Pamela Moreno; Christopher Sanchez; Esther Suarez; Paulina Tawil; Virginia Walden. PRAY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE DIED: Lois Engels; Roberto Espin; Carlos Fiallo; Maria del Carmen García; John Luzzi; Maria C. Negrin; Carolyn Nuin.

8 BLOW THE TRUMPET, PROCLAIM A FAST, CALL AN ASSEMBLY..." Schedule of Masses: Wednesday, March 6 6:30 AM 8:00 AM 9:30 AM 4:00 PM 7:30 PM ASH WEDNESDAY IS A DAY OF FASTING AND ABSTINENCE Ash Wednesday and the days leading to the first Sunday of Lent are, in a sense, the time the church gives us to separate ourselves from Mardi Gras and ease ourselves into a new way of life marked by praying, fasting, and almsgiving. The liturgies for these days are rich in images that call us to this conversion: Return to me with your whole heart... Gather the people... Be reconciled to God... Now is the acceptable time. With the sign of ashes, we begin our journey to Easter. With the sign of the ashes we are summoned to die with Christ and we are summoned to live with Christ. We make a beginning with ashes on this day, and we will end this season in the fire of the Easter Vigil. 1. We have Mass every day at 6:30 and 8:00 AM. There is no better way of turning towards God than attending daily Mass. 2. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed every day here in the church, Monday through Friday, from 7:00 to 8:00 AM and again from 8:30 to 9:30 AM. 3. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed every Thursday from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. 4. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available every Saturday from 4:30 to 5:30 PM. 5. Making the Stations of the Cross is a spectacular way of meditating on this part of Christ's life in preparation for Easter. Join us every Friday after the 8:00 AM Mass.