St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish January 13, 2019 MISSION STATEMENT We Worship ~ We Teach ~ We Care 5112 Pocono Crest Road PO Box O Pocono Pines, PA 18350 570-646-6424 Mass Schedule: Saturday 4:00 pm Sunday 8:00 am & 10:30 am Saturday Confessions 3:00 pm
January 13, 2019 The Baptism of the Lord St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish Staff Reverend Sean G. Carpenter ~ Pastor Deacon Frank Gisoldi Deacon Tom Amoroso Melissa Laverty Pastoral Associate ~ St.MaxMelissa@outlook.com Coordinator of Religious Education Marion Colvin Office Manager ~ mcol@ptd.net John Marcinkowski, Jr. Coordinator of Music ~ jjm1105@ptd.net Visit us on the web @ www.stmaxkolbepoconos.org GOSPEL MEDITATION Think of what it's like to wait a long time. Can you imagine what it would be like to wait for centuries? No one person lives that long, of course. But for the Israelites, they had heard the stories from generation to generation. They had been conquered time and time again, and now "the people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ." They had been waiting for a Messiah, one who did miraculous deeds and said profound things; someone aglow with the glory of God. We all know what it's like to hope and be disappointed. But what if your hopes were fulfilled? That day at the Jordan River, an audience had gathered. Among the crowd for baptism was an unknown man. Perhaps he was dirty from weeks in the desert. His hands had the calloused palms of a tradesman, a carpenter. He and John the Baptist may have embraced with the familiarity of the cousins they were. This man wades into the Jordan for a good, solid dunking. As he rises from the water, the One who breathed life into Adam gasps for air like any other man. But then "heaven was opened." The clouds in the sky part miles above. "And the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove." An apparition with substance sails through the sky. It exudes gentleness and power all at once. "And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.'" Can you imagine the sight? For the crowd, there is no doubting what they have seen, who they have seen. Can you imagine this encounter with our God who keeps His promises? What are you waiting for?.jesus, give me the wings of a bird because I know I was made to fly - to break out of my narrow vision into yours. I need wings: the grace of prayer, of transcendence. I m not asking for the soaring strength of an eagle, Lord, with eye strong enough to look directly into the sun of your glory. A sparrow s wings are enough, so long as I can climb as high and as close to you as you will. You invite me into the open sky so I can dance and sing your praises, so I can learn your wisdom and come to see all things through your eyes and love all things through your heart. Lord, give me wings! Amen. (excerpt from Wings of a Bird ; Eric Gilhooly; LCBLOG) See more @ Catholic.net and click on Wings of a Bird
Saint Anthony the Abbot January 12th through January 20th Saturday 4:00 pm John McKenna by Mary Howe Sunday 8:00 am For The Parishioners 10:30 am Catherine Fischer by Judy Grace Monday 9:15 am Bernard Connaghan by Mike & Terry Logan Tuesday 9:15 am Virginia Sis Mulligan by Tom & Lynnette Smith Feast Day- January 10th St. Anthony (ca. 250-355) is generally considered to be the founder and father of organized C h r i s t i a n m o n a s t i c i s m, although he himself preferred to live the life of a true hermit, apart from any community, in the deserts of Egypt. Most of the known facts about this famous "Desert Father' are derived from the biography by St. Athanasius (ca. 296-373), the "Father of Orthodoxy." Wednesday 9:15 am Henry Victoria by Fr. Sean Thursday 9:15 am Nick Bolick by Richard & Mary Miraglia Friday 9:15 am Communion Service Saturday 4:00 pm Jean Havelin by Robert and Debbie Zito Sunday 8:00 am Stephen Nidweski by Ed and Roseann Nidweski 10:30 am For The Parishioners 9:15 am mass will still be celebrated when we have a funeral that day. Saturday: 1 Jn 5:14-21; Jn 3:22-30 Sunday: Is 40:1-5, 9-11; Ti 2:11-14; 3:4-7; Lk 3:15-16, 21-22 Monday: Heb 1:1-6; Mk 1:14-20 Tuesday: Heb 2:5-12; Mk 1:21-28 Wednesday: Heb 2:14-18; Mk 1:29-39 Thursday: Heb 3:7-14; Mk 1:40-45 Friday: Heb 4:1-5, 11; Mk 2:1-12 Saturday: Heb 4:12-16; Mk 2:13-17 Next Sunday: Is 62:1-5; 1 Cor 12:4-11; Jn 2:1-11 Confessions -Saturday 3 pm First Friday Adoration held after 9:15 am Communion Service each month. Weekly Donations 12/25/18 $ 5,243. Christmas Donations 12,801. Thank You for Your Generosity.
FAITH FORMATION NEWS Sunday, January 20 No Class Saturday, March 30: First Communion Retreat, 10 a.m. Sunday, April 28: Celebration of the Sacrament of First Communion, 10:30 a.m. Mass Sunday, June 9: Celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation at 10:30 a.m. Mass RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CANCELLATION PROCEDURES Parents, in the event of inclement weather, you will receive an email from Melissa, Coordinator of Religious Education, if classes are cancelled. If you do not receive regular emails from the parish, kindly contact the parish office to ensure we have your most recent email address. You may also call the parish office on Sunday morning to check if classes are cancelled for the day. LITTLE ROCK SCRIPTURE STUDY will be taking a hiatus through the winter months but resumes Tuesday, March 5th. Using both videos and written materials, this program is designed to help bring Catholics to a greater understanding of the Bible and an awareness of God s living presence in the Scriptures, as well as an appreciation of how the Bible can be applied to daily life. For more information, call or stop by the parish office. JEFF CAVINS BIBLE STUDY CONTINUES Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. and now Tuesday evenings at 6:30 p.m. For those who have not yet had the opportunity to participate, new sessions will be introduced. For more information, contact June Schott at 570-646-0379 or by email a jschott@ptd.net. Parish Life PARISH 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION 2019 marks 10 years since the creation of St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish, when Christ the King Parish in Blakeslee merged with Our Lady of the Lake Parish right here at our present worship location. To celebrate this wonderful decade, the parish will be offering several activities and events throughout the year. Stay tuned for more information! SAVE THE DATE: FIRST FREE COMMUNITY DINNER OF 2019 Mark your calendar for Sunday, February 10, as the St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish Social Concerns Committee will hold its first FREE Community Dinner on that day in Our Lady of the Lake Hall. Detailed information will be coming soon in future bulletins, including how to sign up. UPCOMING PRE-JORDAN SESSION In order to understand and appreciate the Sacrament o f Baptism, expectant parents are required to attend Baptism preparation. A Pre-Jordan session will be held for all parents preparing for their baby s baptism on Sunday, February 24, at 12 p.m. in the parish hall. Since parents are seen as their child s primary teachers, the Pre-Jordan preparation session seeks to offer parents both the support of the community and an opportunity for reassessing their own faith and responsibilities. For more information, contact Melissa Laverty in the par- CHRISTIAN INITIATION OF ADULTS Adults who would like to become members of the Catholic Church are welcomed into a process of inquiry and formation. It is open to those who have never been baptized, those baptized in another Christian Church and those baptized as infants in the Catholic Church but who have not received further catechetical formation nor, consequently, the Sacraments of Confirmation and/or Eucharist. For more information, contact the parish office.
Parish Life Prayers for Military and Government Service Parish Life No man can follow Christ and go astray. HA Valerie Novak ~ Sr. Airman Charlie Maldanado Alston Smart, Jr.~ Eugene Maslar, Jr ~Sgt. Matthew Price 1st Lt. Mark Gaido ~ Lt. JG Michael Huf Airman Patrick Alminde ~TECH Sgt. William D. Olsen Seaman Nicole Beckman ~ Cpl. John P. Bramley Lt. Joseph V. Yuskaitis, Jr. - Major Thomas M. Smith 2nd Class Petty Officer DC2, Jeffrey Royall Sgt. Amber Keppol ~ Sgt. Andrew Malave Sgt. Matthew Ponce ~ MK1 Katie Stodnick But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. ~Matthew 7:14 Footprints by Margaret Fishback Powers In this Sunday s Second Reading St. Paul speaks of Baptism as the bath of rebirth." What is your reaction to this image of Baptism? Bulletin submissions can be emailed to mcol@ptd.net or brought into the parish office. Please submit two weeks prior to publication date otherwise we cannot promise publication date desired. ~ Thank You Jay Crandall ~ Daniella Maldanado Betty Colburn ~ Bill Gleason Darrin Rockefeller ~ Kyle Brennan Sr. Marietta ~ Lou Larson ~ Robyn Mappa Joseph McKenna ~ Louis Siroco Bob Ruezinsky ~ Fr. Urban Margaret Broderick ~ Cecilia McIlvenny Frank Ware ~ Richard Snell - Kim Maria Giganti Michael F. Romano ~ Vivian Kanopp Violet Sloat ~ Marin Stober ~ Kathleen Hanratty Jennifer Royall ~ David Mancuso ~ Paul Fulton Deacon Frank ~ Antoinette Gisoldi ~ John Schriever Lisa Champney ~ Rosa Santos ~ Leslie Fox Crystal Martinez ~ Penny Staph ~ Carolyn Donahue Sharon Jones ~ Terry & Jeanie Howe Gunner Gonzalez ~ Grace Bush Irene Halupa ~ Alice & Eileen O Neill Jim McLaine ~ Samson Colborn ~ Darlene Delaney Joan Harrigan ~ Jamie Nderitu ~ Maurice Berger Tom Schoettle ~ Sal Rullis Msgr. Fitzpatrick ~ Fr. Ed Kearns Sandra Carroll ~ Tom Flannery Meetings are the 1st & 3rd Mondays of the month @ 7 pm in the parish hall. ~ http://knights13752.webs.com/ INSPIRATION FOR THE WEEK At the baptism of Jesus, a voice came from heaven saying, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." Through Baptism, Jesus' identity as God's Son is revealed and understood. He knows very clearly who he is. Baptism does the same for us. It gives us our identity as daughters and sons of God. We have the wonderful opportunity, given to us as a gift, to share in the same intimate relationship Jesus has with God his Father. Being a daughter or son of God gives us a unique and focused mission to which we must be faithful. Our identity, as with Jesus, is rooted in God. This is a simple fact we all must accept. Through Baptism, we are given the power and ability to see the world as God sees and to think and act as God would think and act. This is a tall order but one that will lead us to truth and ultimately to happiness.
Parish Life RECOGNIZE GOD IN YOUR ORDINARY MOMENTS What have been the most significant moments in your life? You probably celebrate your birthday every year, so the day you were born must be pretty important. How about elementary, high school, or college graduations? Hopefully you do something special on or around your wedding anniversary if you are married. Do you have children? The birth of each child is probably near the top on the list of moments you will never forget. Then there are the sad moments of life: deaths, breakups, and tragedies. As you reflect on all these moments, you can see that you would not be who you are today without having experienced them. Of course as a Christian, you have one moment in time that has had an even greater impact on you and perhaps it didn't even come to mind: your Baptism. You might say you don't remember it because you were an infant. Perhaps you do not even know the date it took place. You might not feel like it has had much impact on you at all. However, it has made all the difference. Whether you feel the difference or not, on that day you were made a new creation in Jesus Christ. You were marked for Him with an indelible mark that no one can remove, not even you. On that day, you inherited a tradition and lineage of faith that has changed the face of the earth. Today, that baptismal grace beckons you to a real and substantial relationship with the One whose name was invoked on that day. It also calls you to respond with a stewardship way of life, where your gifts make a difference and glorify God. If today is the day you start taking all this seriously, you get to add a new moment to your list. -- Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS Week of January 13th Sanctuary Light In Memory of Stephen Nidweski by Ed and Roseann Nidweski Bread and Wine For The Unborn Altar Flowers Available for $100 for one week. Parish Life at St. Max Mon., Jan. 14th - Activities Committee Meeting - 10 am Tues., Jan. 15th - Prayer Shawl - 6:30 pm Wed., Jan., 16th - Men s Cornerstone - 7 pm St. Maximilian Kolbe is a Welcoming Roman Catholic Parish If you would like to join our parish, registration forms may be found in our church narthex and in the parish office or if you prefer, register online at www.stmaxkolbepoconos.org. You may also call the parish office (570-646-6424) and we would be happy to send you a registration form. ********************************** PARISH COOKBOOK SALE As part of our 2019 Year of Celebration of the 10th Anniversary of St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish, a second printing of our original cookbook is available for purchase. If you have enjoyed some of the delicious dishes served at our Parish Family events, you no doubt have often heard, It s in the cookbook! The original fundraiser, designed to help purchase our statue of St. Maximilian Kolbe, was a labor of love that sold 796 cookbooks that featured 450 favorite recipes of members and friends of our St. Max Family. Did you miss the opportunity to get your copy? Is your copy so well-used that you need a new one? Would you like to give friends and family a gift that is truly in good taste? Only 300 copies have been printed. Buy your copy soon; like good cooking, they will disappear quickly! Many ways to get your copy: Purchase a copy in the Parish Office; see a minister after Masses, or go to our Parish website at Stmaxkolbepoconos.org and click on events for an order form that you can drop in the collection basket or mail back to us. Questions? Call Mary at 570-234-6646 or Lynnette at 570-242-6165.
Around The Diocese CATHOLIC LIFE EXPLAINED WHY DO WE DO THAT? Question: If Jesus didn't sin, why did he need to be baptized? Answer: From the earliest days of St. John the Baptist, baptism has been a sign of repentance and forgiveness of sins. Now Jesus has instituted it as a sacrament, with real power to cleanse us from original sin and adopt us as children of God. But if Jesus wasn't affected by original sin, nor did he willingly choose sin, why would he need to be baptized? The Catechism lists four primary reasons for the Incarnation. One is that "the Word became flesh to be our model of holiness" (CCC 459). St. John Paul II wrote that "all of Christ's life was a continual teaching." In other words, many of Jesus' actions were not only for the action itself, but to model certain things for us. In becoming man, Jesus is not so loft that he expects things of us he isn't willing to do himself. We see this most poignantly in his passion and death. In his baptism, Jesus identifies with sinners and gives us a model of what we ought to do - repent, be cleansed, and receive the grace of God! MARCH FOR LIFE BUS TRIP - JANUARY 18th OLQP - BRODHEADSVILLE March for Life Bus departing from Our Lady Queen of Peace church parking lot in Brodheadsville on Rt. 209. Must be at church parking lot by 5:45 am and will return home about 9:30 pm. Full service bus, dinner stop on trip home is included in $25. fee. All payments must be paid in advance and payable to K of C, Courcil #7141. Contach John Blundetto @ 570-807-7973 for more information or to make a reservation. LIHEAP - Helps low-income families pay their heating bills. To apply, you will need the names of people in your household; their dates of birth; social security numbers for all and a recent heating bill. Apply online at: www.compass.state.pa.us or request one by calling the LIHEAP Hotline @ 1-866-857-7095. After your application is processed, you will receive a written notice that will tell you if you qualify and the amount of your grant. Around The Diocese Diocesan Catholic Schools - Open House Interested students and their families are cordially invited to come experience our academic excellence and communities of faith at Open House which takes place on Sunday, January 27th. Visit the buildings, meet faculty and learn how students challenge their minds, live their faith, serve their communities and build lifelong friendships. For more details, call 570-207-2251. VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY JANUARY Thru APRIL 2019 Tax time is here! Once again, AARP together with RSVP will join forces to assist county residents complete their simple tax returns at no cost. Services will be offered at the following locations: Tannersville - St Luke s Ambulance Bldg.; Smithfield Library; Middle Smithfield Township Bldg.; Hugh Library, Stroudsburg Volunteers must be comfortable with using computer and enjoy working with people. If you are interested in learning more please contact Emily at the RSVP office by calling 570-420-3747. FOOD PANTRY NEWS : Five Loaf House 133 Fire House Rd., Pocono Pines Distributions are to qualified persons and families only. Distributions are the Second Monday of each month and the Tuesday following that Monday. Monday Hours 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. by appointment after these hours & Tuesday 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Food Donations are accepted on Mon/Tues only, from 9 a.m. -11 a.m. or call 570-646-7456. Last Date - Come and Take: On Monday, January 14th, during the Clymer Library business hours, the Library invites you to take what you need in our multipurpose room, no questions asked. Items are free of charge. These items are provided by local resident Elaine Madere, who collects and shares with those in need. St. Maximilian Parish greatly appreciates the support of the advertisers allowing our congregation to receive this bulletin at no cost to the church. While we appreciate their support, we are not liable for any of their actions, fees, or services.