February 25th, 2018 Second Sunday of Lent - Page 109 St. James the Less Catholic Church 1032 Caledonia St., La Crosse, WI 54603 608-782-7557 saintjameslacrosse@gmail.com www.saintjameslax.com Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Mk 9:2-10
The Rosary is prayed before Holy Mass M-F @ 7:35 a.m. MASS INTENTIONS Monday, February 26th 8:00 a.m. - Patrick Randall Tuesday, February 27th 8:00 a.m.- Willy Fuchs Wednesday, February 28th 8:00 a.m.- In thanksgiving to St. Joseph for prayers answered Thursday, March 1st 8:00 a.m. - Frank and Mary Bald Friday, March 2nd - First Friday 8:00 a.m.- Kathleen Scholze Saturday, March 3rd - First Saturday Saint Katharine Drexel, Virgin 8:00 a.m. - Seminarians of La Crosse 3:45 p.m. - Confessions 4:30 p.m. - Vigil - James Maney Sunday, March 4th Third Sunday of Lent 7:30 a.m. - Saint James Parishioners 9:30 a.m. - Special Intention of Jason Sauter Family 11:00 a.m. - Extraordinary Form Mass CHURCH SUPPORT February 18, 2018 Envelopes Plate Vigil SERVANTS SCHEDULE Knights of the Altar: Please volunteer to serve whenever you are at Holy Mass. Four are appropriate, six preferable: Thurifer, Cross/Book, Candles, two for the credence table. The Candle-bearers would flank the Thurifer during the Eucharistic Prayers. Saturday, March 3rd - 4:30 p.m. Knights of the Altar: Jacob Alford Ordinary Minister: Deacon Jason Hutzler Ext. Minister: Susan Schaller Lector: Jeanne Michuta Ushers: Joe Schwabenbauer/MikeMcArdle Sunday, March 4th - 7:30 a.m. Knights of the Altar: Knights Lector: Brian Sullivan Ushers: Curtis Riley/Russ Allen/Bill Rudy Sunday, march 4th - 9:30 a.m. Knights of the Altar: Martin Logue/Harrison Schaller Ordinary Minister: Deacon Jason Hutzler Ext. Minister: Veronica Brauer Lector: Bob Rusch Ushers: John Koebl/Tom McConaghy/ Gary Brauer/John Dawidowski Sunday, March 4th - 11:00 a.m. Extraordinary Form Mass Master of Ceremony: William Coppernoll Thurifer: Gabriel Poje Acolyte 1: Peter Lehn Acolyte 2: Henry Olson Crucifer: William Olson Torchbearers: Leo Olson, Joseph Korger, Nick Coppernoll $ 3,721.00 $ 684.30 $ 49.61 Total $ 4,454.91 CHURCH CLEANING March 3 ADVERTISER OF THE WEEK! VanderHoff Studios of stained glass March 10 March 17 March 24 - Cheri Rifenberg, and Joe & Mary Lehn Family - Mary & Tom McConaghy - Molly, Claire, Meg and Mary Riley - Diane Sullivan - Deb Colgan Lenten Confessions every Saturday Morning Immediately after Holy Mass St. James the Less Catholic Church Page 2 www.saintjameslax.com
February 25 February 26 February 27 February 28 March 2 March 4 March 9 March 11 March 14 CALENDAR REMINDERS Lent Vespers, 6:30 pm Doug Barry event, 6:30 pm Catholic Girls Group, 6:00-8:00 pm Pastoral Council meeting, 6:30 pm Stations of the Cross, 5:15 pm; Soup Supper to follow Lent Vespers, 6:30 pm Stations of the Cross, 5:15 pm; Soup Supper to follow Lent Vespers, 6:30 pm Confirmation candidates meeting, 6:00 pm HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS Saturday Vigil 4:30 PM Sunday Masses 7:30, 9:30 & 11:00 (Ext. Form) AM SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION Saturday approx. 3:45-4:15 PM 1st Fridays/Saturdays after 8AM Mass when possible PARISH STAFF Fr. James Altman pastor Deacon Jason Hutzler permanent deacon Maria Stegmeier administrative assistant Michael Abnet facilities manager Donna Walz director of religious education FIRST SATURDAY DEVOTIONS Please join us in observing First Saturday Devotions, as Our Lady requested at Fatima, to obtain peace for the world. On Saturday, March 3, 2018, at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, a meditation on one of the mysteries of the Holy Rosary will be given by the Friars of the Immaculate. Their talk will begin at 10:00 a.m. in the Shrine Church, followed by the Holy Rosary at 10:30 a.m. and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at 11:00 a.m. Confession will be available from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and also following the11:00 a.m. Mass. MURPHY HALL AND RESTROOMS They almost are completed! Come downstairs and look at the renovation of the floors in the lower level. Weekly Readings - February 26th March 4th, 2018 Monday Dn 9:4b-10/Ps 79:8, 9, 11 and 13 [cf. 103:10a]/ Lk 6:36-38 Tuesday Is 1:10, 16-20/Ps 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23 [23b]/Mt 23:1-12 Wednesday Jer 18:18-20/Ps 31:5-6, 14, 15-16 [17b]/Mt Thursday: 20:17-28 Jer 17:5-10/Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6 [40:5a]/Lk 16:19-31 Friday: Gn 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a/Ps 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21 [5a]/Mt 21:33-43, 45-46 Saturday Mi 7:14-15, 18-20/Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12 [8a]/Lk 15:1-3, 11-32 Sunday: Ex 20:1-17 or 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17/Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 11 [Jn 6:68c]/1 Cor 1:22-25/Jn 2:13-25 Scrutiny: Ex 17:3-7/Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 [8]/ Rom 5:1-2, 5-8/Jn 4:5-42 or 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42 FEED MY LAMBS The Diocese of La Crosse is celebrating 150 years of serving God s people. Discover the Catholic Faith of the people of West Central Wisconsin through the stories shared by its many parish communities in this first-ever coffee table book with pull-outs. Pictures and brief histories of each parish are included in the book which is available in the Parish Rectory office for $33.00. There are order forms in the church for your use. Practice the PAUSE. When in doubt, pause. When angry, pause. When tired, pause. When stressed, pause. And whenever you pause, PRAY!
ANNOUNCEMENTS LENT STATIONS OF THE CROSS AND SOUP SUPPER Please join us every Friday of Lent at 5:15 p.m. for Stations of the Cross with a soup supper follow in Murphy Hall. If you are interested in making a soup for one of the nights, please contact Natalie at: natalieelskamp@gmail.com or 608-843-9443. MANY HANDS - LIGHT WORK Your help is needed. Each week the small Altar linens need to be laundered. With enough volunteers a rotating schedule will be set up to share this service to the parish. Not sure how to do them? An informational training session is available. For more information please call Maria, at the Rectory, Phone: 608-782-7557. Thank you FROM OUR MUSIC DIRECTOR Have you been thinking about joining the choir? As we begin new music for Lent and Easter, now would be a great time! Each week we try to focus on meaningful music that support and illustrate the readings of the day. Rehearsals are every Sunday morning at 8:00 am in the Providence School Library with occasional Saturday choir workshops to prepare for the extra Masses during holy seasons. We welcome everyone with a desire to serve the parish and share their talents. Has God been prompting you? PARISH MEAL TRAIN The Family Life Committee is seeking volunteers willing to participate in a meal train program for parishioners when the need arises. If you would be willing to participate in this program and support members of the parish family in this way, please email Diane Olson: dianemarieevelyn@yahoo.com and you will be added to the Parish Meal Train list. Thank you for showing your love in this tangible (edible) way to our parish family! THANK YOU! Our heartfelt gratitude and thanks to Karla Korish for her many hours of service as money counter for our parish. Arise! A Come and See Day with the Sisters! Who: Girls ages 9-13, who are interested spending some time with the Sisters and others who enjoy spiritual things, while finding out more about religious life. When: Saturday, March 17, 2018 Time: 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Where: Mater Redemptoris House of Fomation: 3730 East Avenue South; La Crosse, WI 54601 Cost: Donations accepted Register: Online registrtaion at: www.materredemptoris.org Questions: Please contact Sister M.Consolata at: materredemptoris@gmail.com or 608-788-4530 PROMISE TO PROTECT - PLEDGE TO HEAL The Diocese of La Crosse is committed to creating a safe environment within the Church for children and youth. We continue to have a special care for and a commitment to reaching out to the victims of sexual abuse and their families. To report allegations of sexual abuse by a member of the clergy, lay employees or volunteers of the Diocese of La Crosse please fill out the report form found at: www.diolc.org/safe-environment/reporting Alternatively, you can contact: Msgr. David Kunz, Vicar for Clergy, 608-791-2679 Mrs. Karen Becker, Victim Assistance Ministry, 608-519-8002 DIOCESAN SESQUICENTENNIAL OPENING MASS To celebrate the opening of our diocesan sesquicentennial, Bishop Callahan will celebrate Mass at St. Gabriel Church in Prairie du Chien on Saturday, March 3, 2018, beginning at 10:00 a.m. Reception to follow at St. John Church in Prairie du Chien. All are welcome. If you are unable to attend the Mass you can view it via live stream at diolc.org/live. May God Bless you greatly.
"The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel. Every day, 28 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver, for a total of over 10,000 deaths each and every year. The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $44 billion. We do not take away cars from sober drivers because we have a drunk drivers problem. We do not have a gun problem, any more than we have a car problem. People kill people, whether it is with a car or with a gun, a knife or a bomb. The police and the children who are being killed by guns or any other means are being killed by people who are not taught the value of life. For over 200 years, it was 100% Constitutional to have prayer in public schools and to have the Ten Commandments on display. Then the left wing socialists came along and ran roughshod over the Constitution. Until the left-wing population repents and believes in the Gospel, puts prayer back in public schools and puts the Ten Commandments back on display, and we, faithful Christians, restore Right to Life, no amount of laws will stop the lawbreakers from using whatever means at hand to kill innocent people, whether it be a car, a gun, a knife, a bomb or a plane. Tuesday of the First Week of Lent Dear brothers, the commands of the Gospel are nothing else than God s lessons, the foundations on which to build up hope, the supports for strengthening faith, the food that nourishes the heart. They are the rudder for keeping us on the right course, the protection that keeps our salvation secure. As they instruct the receptive minds of believers on earth, they lead safely to the kingdom of heaven. God willed that many things should be said by the prophets, his servants, and listened to by his people. How much greater are the things spoken by the Son. These are now witnessed to by the very Word of God who spoke through the prophets. The Word of God does not now command us to prepare the way for his coming: he comes in person and opens up the way for us and directs us toward it. Before, we wandered in the darkness of death, aimlessly and blindly. Now we are enlightened by the light of grace, and are to keep to the highway of life, with the Lord to precede and direct us. The Lord has given us many counsels and commandments to help us toward salvation. He has even given us a pattern of prayer, instructing us on how we are to pray. He has given us life, and with his accustomed generosity, he has also taught us how to pray. He has made it easy for us to be heard as we pray to the Father in the words taught us by the Son. He had already foretold that the hour was coming when true worshipers would worship the Father in spirit and in truth. He fulfilled what he had promised before, so that we who have received the spirit and the truth through the holiness he has given us may worship in truth and in the spirit through the prayer he has taught. What prayer could be more a prayer in the spirit than the one given us by Christ, by whom the Holy Spirit was sent upon us? What prayer could be more a prayer in the truth than the one spoken by the lips of the Son, who is truth himself? It follows that to pray in any other way than the Son has taught us is not only the result of ignorance but of sin. He himself has commanded it, and has said: You reject the command of God, to set up your own tradition. So, my brothers, let us pray as God our master has taught us. To ask the Father in words his Son has given us, to let him hear the prayer of Christ ringing in his ears, is to make our prayer one of friendship, a family prayer. Let the Father recognize the words of his Son. Let the Son who lives in our hearts be also on our lips. We have him as an advocate for sinners before the Father; when we ask forgiveness for our sins, let us use the words given by our advocate. He tells us: Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. What more effective prayer could we then make in the name of Christ than in the words of his own prayer?