Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - SEPTEMBER 9, 2018

Transcription

1 Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - SEPTEMBER 9, Addison Street, Berkeley, CA Phone (510) Fax (510) info@stjosephtheworkerchurch.org STAFF Rev. Kenneth Nobrega In Residence: Rev. Raphael Okitafumba Deacon José Manuel Pérez, Permanent Deacon Gloria Maldonado, Parish Secretary, Safe Environment Coordinator Elizabeth Oishi Comly, Parish Events Coordinator MONDAY-SATURDAY Mass: SUNDAY Mass: 8:00 am Confessions: 9:45 am Mass: 10:00 am Mass: (Spanish) 11:30 am WEDNESDAY EVENING Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament: 6:00 pm 7:00 pm Confessions: 6:00 pm 6:45 pm MINISTRIES Baptism/Bautismos Deacon José Manuel Pérez Platicas: Los domingos. Para otro dia llamar a la oficina. Lectors/Lectores Chris Notti (English) Erika Guerrero (Español) Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion Tita Brodt (English) Ruben Araujo (Español) PARISH OFFICE HOURS Monday thru Friday 5:00 pm (Closed 12 Noon 1:00 pm for lunch)

2 + + St. Joseph the Worker Beautiful Liturgy - Reconciliation - Healing THIS WEEK AT ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER Parish Office Announcement SUNDAY MASSES - September 9, :00 am Fr. John Gribowich 10:00 am Fr. Kenneth Nobrega 11:30 am (Spanish) Fr. Hugo Franca Our Parish Office will be closed Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, September 10-12, Parish Office will reopen again on Thursday. On Wednesday Evenings Holy Hour, Confessions and Rosary Prayer Group Every Wednesday evening we have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from 6:00 7:00pm with Confessions available from 6:00 6:45pm. The Rosary & Devotion Prayer Group meets at 7:00pm following the Holy Hour. All are welcome. Sunday 8:00 am 10:00 am 11:30 am Monday Tuesday MASS INTENTIONS September 9th Ady Garcia Maria De Jesus Gonzalez Familia Fonseca-Moreno September 10th Markus Notti September 11th Frank Notti + Sant Egidio Community The Community of Sant Egidio meets every Thursday at 7:00pm for prayer in our church chapel. All are invited to join for prayer and for some Christian fellowship. Special Holy Hour of Prayer at St. Joseph the Worker Friday, September 14th at 3:00pm "Hour of Mercy" Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday September 12th Rachel s Vineyard Ministry September 13th Betsy Marie Bongiovanni + September 14th For the victims of priest abuse and scandal in the Church, and for the reform of the Church. September 15th Markus Notti Would you like to have a Mass offered in honor or memory of someone? Join us for a special Holy Hour with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament to silently pray for the victims of abuse and scandal, and for the reform of the Church. It is easy, stop by our parish office or Gloria Maldonado, our parish secretary at: gloria@stjosephtheworkerchurch.org If you have a particular date in mind, let us know and we will try and accommodate you. The suggested donation is $10.00.

3 Extending Warmth Dear Visitors and Guests: If you have been blessed by your visit to St. Joseph, please consider blessing our parish with a gift. Through generous donations by faithful people like yourself, we intend on restoring this historic church back to its former glory, little by little. Today s readings offer beautiful illustrations of the joy that a life lived for others can bring. Our second reading, from the letter of St. James, teaches that all are equally worthy of our hospitality. We must welcome and serve everyone who walks through our church s doors, extending warmth and a dignified greeting to all. The person who wanders in late to Mass, who is not dressed to our personal standards, may be just the person who is most in need of Christ s love. Sometimes we can offer that love simply with a smile and offer to come and sit next to us in our pew. The Gospel reading from Mark demonstrates the connection between hospitality and service. In this passage we find Jesus on the go, and people brought to Him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged Him to lay His hand on him. These people had already heard the Good News that Jesus was preaching. In response, they reached out to a man who literally could not hear and brought him close to Jesus so that he could receive the Good News, too. This is true service and hospitality at its finest. You can make a safe, fast and easy one (1) time donation or a recurring donation with the ease of your smart phone through PUSHPAY. Follow these steps below: Step 1) Enter the number: Step 2) Enter the letters SJW in the message section. Illuminate our church with devotion and prayers. Your votive candle is a silent but visible sign of prayer and devotion. How Much Should I give? Many people recommend that Catholics consider working toward biblical tithing: 10% of your gross income. Fr. Kenneth Nobrega believes in and recommends the venerable practice of tithing 5% to the church and 5% to worthy charities. Jesus responds immediately with a miraculous healing. He blessed those whose service and hospitality had made this encounter possible, confirming their faith to such an extent that they could not stop themselves from proclaiming the wonder they had witnessed. This week, let s challenge ourselves to step out of our comfort zone to reach out to someone who needs to hear the Good News of Jesus. We may just find ourselves astonished at what miracles He accomplishes! Please Contribute as much as possible to the material needs of St. Joseph the Worker so that we can help the many people who seek spiritual help and healing and restore our church to its original glory.

4 Need A New Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation or Marriage Certificate? Sacramental certificates from St. Joseph the Worker can be obtained from our parish office usually within one or two business days. We kindly ask for a $25 donation for each requested certificate which will go towards the support of St. Joseph the Worker Church. Please contact Gloria Maldonado our parish secretary at (510) or gloria@stjosephtheworkerchurch.org TEXT: Why Light a Votive Candle? A Votive Light is a "silent sentinel" and can burn for your special intentions or for someone who is in need of prayers. This is a thoughtful expression of your sentiments and best wishes for any occasion. Your Votive Light can be an act of faith and charity - the light is a symbol of the sacrifice you have made in behalf of someone else - and it is a silent reminder of your prayers for them. Unlike a regular purchase, a votive candle donation is an "offering" made to God through the intercession of the Saints which also helps support our St. Joseph the Worker Church's mission of beautiful liturgies, reconciliation and healing. Your prayerful votive offerings are "lighting up" our church with beauty and prayer. Thank you, and may God bless you. Parish Office Hours Gloria Maldonado, our office secretary is ready to welcome and assist our parishioners and visitors. St. Joseph the Worker Parish Office Hours are from Monday thru Friday to 5:00 pm (closed noon to 1:00 pm for lunch).

5 The connection between liturgical abuse and abuse of minors. By Peter Kwasnieski We know that there are good and holy priests, images of the great High Priest and Good Shepherd, who serve us tirelessly, who work earnestly for our salvation, and who are part of the reason why being Catholic is the greatest joy in the world. Each of us may know one, several, or many such good priests. And we know that they are often underappreciated, and are subject at times like this to undeserved skepticism and suspicion just because of the faults of some of their clerical brethren faults that they themselves repudiate and condemn just as much as the laity do. All of us, laity in the pews and clergy in the sanctuaries, must nevertheless ask ourselves hard questions. Perhaps the most important of these tough questions is: What has made it possible for so many men of God, including bishops, to become pawns of the devil? Apart from general causes like the fall of Adam, disordered concupiscence, and the dangers that accompany positions of authority, can we identify any cause that is specific to the past 50 years to the period, that is, to which the vast majority of clerical abuse cases are confined? A systemic cause of clerical deviation from duty, moral laxity, and debauchery is the atmosphere of Woodstockian antinomianism or lawlessness that accompanied the liturgical reforms and deformations of the 1960s and 1970s, a time when unruly self-celebration replaced the Catholic ideal not everywhere achieved but everywhere required of a priest who submitted himself to the discipline of a demanding liturgical form with its reverential rubrics and inculcation of the fear of God. The priest used to be a man consecrated to the strict and sober service of the sanctuary. As everything rapidly changed in these decades, he was suddenly the vernacular center of attention, the presider who manipulated the congregation. Priests were thrown into the lion s den of vanity, popularity, sentimentality, and relaxation, and not all were Daniels who escaped unscathed. There was no asceticism in sight; whatever evil might have been suppressed by the former code of honor was now given free rein. Catholics of a certain age know exactly what I am talking about. Born in 1971, I can remember plenty of creative liturgies and not surprisingly, the clergy responsible for such things were among those later investigated for moral corruption. It took me a long time to see the connection (perhaps I m just slow on the uptake), but it finally crystallized for me: the decades-long abuse of the Holy Mass and all the rest of the sacramental and liturgical rites and therefore, by extension, the violence done to faithful Catholics who have a right to the sacred liturgy in its fullness, as the instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum declares constitutes the first and fundamental form of clerical abuse of the laity, of which sexual abuse is a particular and more demented variety. Clerical sexual abuse is linked to clerical liturgical abuse and sexual perversion is a mirror-image of liturgical perversion. Continued>>

6 CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Given the absolute centrality and infinite dignity of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist, abuse of the liturgy and the sacraments is the worst crime against God and man possible. If the highest and holiest thing in existence does not deserve our utmost veneration, why should mere human beings deserve any respect? We are mere dust and ashes compared to the divine Sacrifice of the Altar. On the other hand, if we profoundly reverence and fear Christ, true God and true man, we will acknowledge and care for His image in the souls and bodies of all human beings. Reverence for Him goes hand-in-hand with respect for the little ones. At his popular blog, Fr. Zuhlsdorf quoted this message from a reader: If we can t treat the body of our Lord and Saviour with respect, why would we treat the bodies of our neighbors with respect? Is there a short, slippery slope that runs between sloppiness at Mass and sin?... When we take Mass and the Eucharist seriously and let all our relationships flow forth from that first, essential relationship as Christ, we cannot use other people as objects. When the Mass goes, everything else starts to go too.... I think that a reverent liturgy flows naturally from a love of Christ in the Eucharist and a realization that we re in the presence of God.... Father Z is right. Save the Liturgy, Save the World. It s not a coincidence that the pope (Benedict) who is focused on cleaning up the filth of abuse in the Church is also focused on cleaning up the liturgy. If we can t respect God, we won t respect each other. church, makes an enormous difference. Do we believe the consecration really does something? Or, do we believe what is said and how, what the gestures are and the attitude in which they made, are entirely indifferent? For example, will a choice not to kneel before Christ the King and Judge truly present in each sacred Host, produce a wider effect? If you throw a stone, even a pebble, into a pool it produces ripples which expand to its edge. The way we celebrate Mass must create spiritual ripples in the Church and the world. So does our good or bad reception of Holy Communion. So must violations of rubrics and irreverence. At times, a Catholic feels the urge to say to the secularizing and liberalizing clergy of the past five decades: You and your minions wrecked theology with modernism; you wrecked the liturgy with your reform; and, as the coup de grâce, you wrecked the lives of children. This is a ghastly inversion of the Kingdom of God. A time will come when all this evil is purged, if not while yet there is time for repentance, then assuredly when the Lord prepares for us a new heavens and a new earth. We also say to our good and holy priests: Keep doing what you are doing right. Love the sacred liturgy, celebrate it with awe, devotion, fear, silence, and beauty. Lead us with you, eastwards, in pilgrimage to the Lord. Remember and cherish our Catholic inheritance. In this way, you will bring about a real change in the culture of the Church, restoring the institution, its personnel, and its ceremonies to the honor that they deserve. Father Zuhlsdorf himself has said, with characteristic vigor: The Eucharist, its celebration and itself as the extraordinary Sacrament, is the source and summit of Christian life. If we really believe that, then we must also hold that what we do in church, what we believe happens in a

7 Bad news getting to you? Here s how to de-stress to stay healthy. from the 24-7 news cycle. So take a fast from the news. Whether it s just a morning, a day, a week, or a regular change to your daily news intake habits you ll experience lower stress levels if you give yourself a break. Consider not turning on the news first thing in the morning and instead, taking a quiet walk and pray. Instead of listening to the news in the car, tune in to an inspiring podcast. Instead of turning on cable TV news at night, - Zoe Romanowsky In times of crisis, it's important to take care of yourself. It seems everywhere you look today there s a crisis including the Church, which we often rely on to be a refuge from all the other bad news we encounter. Whether it s crises with institutions and people we have put our trust in, what s happening on the political and societal front, or our own personal crises that we can t seem to escape, it s important we take breaks to refresh ourselves. If we let stress overwhelm us it can send us down a rabbit hole of constant worry or despair, which read a book or watch something light or funny. Take a break from social media Likewise with social media you can t really get away from the news if you re on social media all the time. Neither can you get away from relentless negativity. It s everywhere. Just like with news media, make some changes to your social media habits to get a break. Fast from it for a day or a few days, or check in only at certain times. Unfollow negative people, or block them. Put limits around what you re taking in and when it will go a long way in helping you de-stress. hurts us and our loved ones and doesn t help us be part of the solution. Here are 5 things you can do to help destress from all the bad news out there Fast from the news Never in history has the human brain had to absorb so much information. The news never stops and much of it is tragic, disheartening, sad, frightening, and frustrating. While it s good to stay informed about what s going on around us, we need to give ourselves breaks Continued >>

8 CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Find a sacred space to pray and reflect A beautiful church or sacred space can lift your soul and mind to higher things. There s nothing quite like being in a place where Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist to calm our minds and hearts. If you can find a church with Eucharistic adoration, stop by an hour or Take care of your body When we re stressed it takes a toll on our bodies. Our blood pressure goes up, our hearts beat faster, our immune systems get weaker, we are more tired, and we have less patience and resilience. So when you re overwhelmed by stress, get a little more sleep, take more naps, let your body rest. And pay extra attention to your diet drink more water, and don t let yourself stress-eat, which only exacerbates stress levels. whatever you can spend. Or perhaps there s a church near to you that s open during the day for visiting. And if you can t find that where you are, find a quiet corner at home, light a candle, and take some time to read Scripture or do some spiritual reading. Taking time to pray and reflect every day helps the stress to melt away as it gives us the chance to rest in God s presence and give him our cares, concerns, and fears. We can t avoid all the stresses in this life, but if we learn to take care of ourselves in the midst of trials we can maintain our hope and peace and be better equipped to respond in whatever ways we are called by God. Get out into nature every day Nature can be another kind of sacred space because it helps connect us to the wonder of creation and to the Creator Himself. Studies show that even just a short time in natural surroundings can lower our blood pressure and calm our minds. So whether it s a walk in a nearby park, or just some time in your own backyard, take a little time in nature every day Addison Street, Berkeley, CA Phone: (510) Fax: (510) info@stjosephtheworkerchurch.org