FROM MY HOUSE TO YOURS

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2 ST. RICHARD PARISH PHILADELPHIA, PA FROM MY HOUSE TO YOURS Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time SUNDAY JULY 20th 8:00 All Parishioners of St. Richards 10:00 Holy Spirit Anthony & Rose Campione, Linda Polidore and family requested by Campione family 11:30 Joe Fee requested by Tasca and Talamo Families MONDAY JULY 21st 8:00 Albert & Elvira DeMeo requested by DeMeo Family TUESDAY JULY 22nd 8:00 Domenica & Mario De Stefano requested by Rose De Stefano WEDNESDAY JULY 23rd 8:00 All deceased priests of the Archdiocese THURSDAY JULY 24th 8:00 Christian O Neill FRIDAY JULY 25th 8:00 Betty Conway SATURDAY JULY 26th 8:00 All deceased priests of the Archdiocese 4:30 Antonio Arcodia requested by Genoveffa Our SANCTUARY CANDLE will be burning this week In Loving Memory of the 1st Anniversary of Christian Robert O Neill Love, Mom Mom and Poppy Mass Book The 2014 Mass Book is now open. Mass intentions will be taken for July, December 31, There are still some dates available. If you are interested in having a Mass said please call or stop in the rectory to see what dates are available. All Mass intentions require a $10 stipend. Church Envelopes Please continue to use your Holy Spirit envelopes until you receive your new envelopes. All checks are to be made payable to St. Richard Church. Dear Parishioners, The Catholic, English historian and politician Lord Acton said many years ago that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Based on our experience of the world, this phrase rings true. We learn today, however, that a righteous power is kind and that mercy is the lifeblood of the Christian life. In today s Gospel reading, St. Matthew relates Jesus parable of the wheat, sown by God, which grows beside weeds sown by the enemy. The sower of the seeds is asked by his servants whether they should pull out the weeds. The servants are concerned that the weeds will choke out the wheat. Out of concern for the wheat they hope to violently remove the weeds. But the master tells his servants to allow the weeds to grow. He is afraid that if they pull out the weeds, they might harm the wheat too. So, though the master could purify the field, making it perfect, perfection is not worth hurting the innocent. The master has mercy on the innocent by allowing the imperfections to remain. We should ponder this, because perfectionism is a symptom of our culture s love of power. And there can be at least three temptations in the spiritual life with regard to perfectionism. The first we see with the servants in the Gospel. There are impurities in the field. So they seek to remove all which is less than perfect. In our spiritual lives, too, we can be overzealous in removing what we consider impure. We cut out people from our lives in the name of purity, forgetting St. Paul s words that love bears all things. We need not tolerate sin, but we ought to tolerate people. The second temptation in the spiritual life is perhaps more common. We tend to ignore the weeds in our own life and pretend we are free of sin. Or we say to ourselves that God already knows we are sorry, and so we avoid the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We live a kind of spiritual perfectionism where we tell ourselves that we are just fine and don t really need God s help. The third temptation is to wait to turn to God until we are perfect. We pray only when we have something eloquent to say to God. We read Scripture only when we have a degree in Scripture studies. We practice our faith more zealously only when we have our lives in order. What we forget is that Christ Jesus came to us precisely because we are broken. We forget that Jesus loves us so dearly because we are imperfect. He wants us to bring him our imperfections. He hopes that by turning over our lives to him, we might let him heal us and make us perfect for the next life. God Love Ya! Fr. Reilly

3 Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL REGISTRATION IHO IMO ILM ILM IMO IMO VOTIVE CANDLES St. Richard s Seniors requested by Millie DeLisio Anna DiDonato requested by The Roverano Family Angelina Buonadonna requested by her children with love Mildred Capozzoli Love, her children and grandchildren Salvatore Camilari req. by his sister-in-law Salvatore Camilari requested by nieces and nephews Sneak Next Sunday s Readings 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12 A king wishes for a lasting kingdom. He finds it in true service to God. Romans 8:28-30 Paul reminds us that God is on the side of those who respond in love to God s love for them. From all eternity God has planned their salvation. Matthew 13:44-52 Jesus teaches that the kingdom of heaven is like a valuable treasure. The finder does whatever is necessary to obtain it. Pre-Jordan classes In preparation for Baptism Pre-Jordan classes are held the third Monday of the month at 7:00 pm in the Church. The parents of the child are required to attend the class; godparents are also welcome but not required to attend. Please call the rectory to make arrangements for the Baptism and to attend the class. After you have attended the class and acquired certificates of eligibility for your godparents, you may then call the rectory for an appointment to book the date of your choosing. Below are the scheduled dates for the class. July 21st October 20th August 18th November 17th September 22nd This year's Vacation Bible School experience will take place in Holy Spirit's Hall due to the renovations taking place in St. Richard's Hall. Holy Spirit's Hall is located at 1845 Hartranft St. The date and time listed below will remain unchanged! This year s VBS theme is Weird Animals Where Jesus Love Is One of a Kind! God filled the world with a lot of crazy creatures...including you! When kids feel weird, different, or lost in a crowd nothing compares to the extraordinary love of Jesus. Our theme this year will help kids realize just how unique and special they are. Like Jesus love for us, they too are one of a kind! Kids will discover how much they are loved by God through incredible Bible learning experiences that they will see, hear, touch, and even taste! Kids will love the teambuilding games, cool Bible songs, and tasty treats that make up just a few of unique activities that help faith flow into real life! Join us August 25 29, The fun starts at 9 AM and ends 12 PM daily. Registration forms are available online at or by calling Dennis M. Mueller at Children must be entering K 5 in September. Registration is limited to 48 participants and must be received by August 1. After August 1 contact Dennis for availability. VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS We are seeking adventuresome teens and adults to help with this year s VBS Weird Animals. Here's a listing of the volunteer opportunities available: Group Leader - lead a group of children. This is an ideal position for adults as well as teens seeking to fulfill service hours. Group Leaders assist the various activity site leaders as needed, make sure that their group stays on schedule, and help maintain a safe and well ordered environment during our VBS experience. Activity Site Helpers - another ideal position for adults as well as teens seeking to fulfill service hours. Activity Site Helpers assist Activity Site Leaders with the running of the activity site. Volunteers need to be available from 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM all week long during our VBS experience. If you or someone you know is interested in volunteering for this exciting week long program, contact Dennis M. Mueller at or via e- mail at dmueller@strichardchurch.org.

4 GOSPEL REFLECTIONS Great damage is done every day by well-meaning people who rush to judge others. And often we run the risk of destroying our own spirits if we take too harsh an approach to our weakness and limitations. In our disgust, we fail to see and nourish the good that is present. As a result, nothing that we do seems to produce good fruit. The parable of the weeds and the wheat is a good example of the tendency of the overly zealous to judge the actions and intentions of others. Only God can truly judge our hearts, as Jesus frequently reminds his followers. It seems we need those frequent reminders. It s good to remember that only God sees the big picture. We might think we know absolutely what s right and what s wrong, but too often our vision is clouded by other issues. Whether we see the wheat and the weeds as two different sets of people (the good and the wicked) or the various good and bad impulses in our own hearts, the advice about not being rash in dealing with those things that we want to eliminate holds. In the parable in today s Gospel, the slaves are eager to go into the field and tear out the weeds. But the master cautions them that in doing so, they may very well damage the wheat as well. He assures them that at the harvest, the distinctions will be far more clear than they are now. One theory about this parable suggests there was a type of weed in that area that closely resembled wheat in the early stages of its growth. Only when the wheat had set its ears was it apparent that the nonproductive plants were truly weeds. Another suggests that the roots of the plants were so closely intertwined that pulling out one would uproot the other as well. One way to approach this parable is to look at the other readings the Church has selected for this Sunday. In the first reading, a passage from the Book of Wisdom, the author praises God for his compassion, saying, For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all...though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us. This gives us an interesting insight into the underlying issues involved here. God is all-seeing, all-powerful, and so can be compassionate with the weaknesses of his creation. Often those who are quick to judge others have embraced a righteous sense of power because of deep insecurity. This quickly becomes apparent when scandals reveal that government leaders have engaged in the very actions they loudly condemned in others. But a genuine authority will recognize and allow for human limitations and weakness, working to strengthen and build up rather than simply tearing down and uprooting. In the Incarnation, God became one of us, bound by the limits of earthly human life. In Jesus, we see the compassion of God lived out on a daily basis. He understood that his followers would be slow to grasp the fullness of his message. But he patiently teaches them in ways they can understand. When we hear Jesus telling his disciples again and again not to be too quick to judge, we need to ask how we need to hear that message today. (Bringing Home the Word; Copyright 2013, Franciscan Media, 28 W. Liberty St., Cincinnati, OH 45202). July 20, 2014 VENERATION AND BLESSING WITH A FIRST CLASS RELIC OF POPE SAINT JOHN PAUL II July 19 and 20, 2014 Saturday, JULY 19, 2014 Mass 5:15 in The Basilica Sunday, JULY 20, 2014 Mass 8:00 AM in the Cathedral Chapel 9:30 AM in the Basilica 11:00 AM in the Basilica 12:30 PM in the Cathedral Chapel in Spanish 3:00 PM Divine Mercy Chaplet in the Basilica 6:30 PM Solemn Stational Mass in the Basilica Archbishop Chaput, Celebrant and Homilist

5 St. Richard Students Excel at Roman Catholic High School! Students who achieved first honors include: Richard Frisoli 14 Tyler Aidan Pizzo 15 Students who achieved seconds honors include: Alexander Cordero 14 Christian Joseph Franco 14 Tilghman Huber Moyer 16 Christian Joseph Franco 14 ranked number 9 in his class. Congratulations to these students for their achievement! St. Rita s Social Committee is sponsoring a New York trip to see the Broadway show Rocky Saturday, October 18, 2014 Cost is $ per person Price includes coach bus transportation, orchestra seating, dinner on the way home at Hometown Buffet.Call St. Rita s Parish office for reservations and more information at Day of Reflection: Grandparents Passing on the Faith July 25, 2014 Grandparents, you play a special role in your family s faith lives. Come spend the day with us as we explore ways to enrich your family s faith journey, and observe the feast day of Ss. Joachim and Ann, the patron saints of grandparents. From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Includes continental breakfast and sit-down lunch. To register for this retreat, please call or visit Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia LOUIS TAG AGENCY Instant Tags Insurance Notary 1601 Packer Ave. (215) Fax (215) CARDIOLOGY CONSULTANTS OF PHILADELPHIA 1703 S. Broad Street Pasquale M. Procacci, M.D. Mark F. Victor, M.D. Veronica A. Covalesky, M.D. Dean G. Karalis, M.D. Santosh Gupta - Bala, M.D. Salvatore P. Girardo, M.D. Barry A. Bravette, M.D Oregon Avenue Pasquale F. Nestico, M.D Oregon Ave. 2nd Flr Howard Rosner, D.O. CHRIS LORD Masonry and General Contracting RP FREE ESTIMATES Licensed and Insured LAW OFFICES OF RUTH PEARSON Specializing in Wills, Trusts, Probate & Real Estate Ruth Pearson, Esquire 3001 S. Sydenham Street Philadelphia, PA (215) rpearson@pblawgroup.com Retrouvaille Marriage Program Rediscover the Love in Your Marriage! The next program begins on the weekend of August8-10 at the Family Life Center in Malvern, PA. For more information, or to register, visit the web site at: or call The Calix Society The Calix Society is a group that serves to enhance (not replace) 12-step groups with an emphasis upon our journey in Christ. You can find information on the national website at and local meeting information at You may also contact Ken at or Amy at FRANK R. LAMANTIA, Supervisor 2501 S. Camac St. (215) JULY 8, :25 PM This Space Available For Information On Advertising, Please Call Our Parish Representative Travis Lawmaster at Ext or tlawmaster@4lpi.com ST. RICHARDS, PHILADELPHIA, PA

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