ST MARY STAR OF THE SEA PARISH TWENTY SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME OCTOBER 4, 2015 MASS SCHEDULE ST. MARY STAR OF THE SEA CHURCH SUNDAY AT 7A.M. HOLY SAVIOR CHURCH SUNDAY AT 8:30AM & 10AM MONDAY THURSDAY AT 8:30AM SATURDAY VIGIL AT 5:15PM CONFESSIONS AT 4:15-5:00PM Mission Statement We the people of St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish in Ocean City, Maryland, want to respond to God s love for us by doing His will, to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to love each other as Jesus loved us. In this way, He can live, as Risen Lord, in our midst and attract all people to the Father. As part of the Church, we want to be a Home and School of Communion where, through the celebration and living out the Sacraments, and various ministries, each member can live in unity as a child of God, building up the Kingdom of God until Jesus will come again in glory.
if you have love for one another (Jn 13:35). Dear parishioners and friends, We continue our journey as disciples of Jesus and we continue to receive the Word of God as it is the revelation of God to us. The word of the gospel this week focuses our attention on the family, the fundamental relationship between man and woman. This is a hot topic in our culture these days; and, of course, we continue to keep in our hearts the words that Pope Francis gave us at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia: the first blessing by God was given to a family. And families must become factories of hope. Faced with the possible crisis of love due to the hardness of the human heart, Jesus gives us as good news not so much strict regulations, but the grace that brings people to the sanctity of the original source. It helps us to look not what we think, but what God thinks. He challenges us to resist our temptation to fly low and He reminds us that we are invited to fly to the height of God, bringing us all back, hungry of Love as we are, to the time of the origins, before the fall. Our religious education classes begin this week. We want to keep in our prayers all our young parishioners who will start their formal formation October 5 th at 7PM (at Church) we will have an opportunity to gather for an Inquiry night, where all people who are curious about the Catholic Faith can ask questions. If you have a friend who is curious, especially after the Pope s visit, make sure they know about this event. All are welcome. On October 13 th we are beginning a new series in our Adult formation series called Called to be Communion. I will focus on the basic points of our Christian Spirituality. On the weekend of October 16 th and 17 th we will host the Annual Conference of the Charismatic Movement. They will also lead the singing at the 10AM mass. Our Office will be closed Oct. 12th for Columbus Day. How many times we are tempted to "lower" the gospel to our situations and our abilities! Jesus asks us to "raise" our lives to the proposals of the Gospel, placing our lives at the service of the most profound and full happiness of others Let's try this week to build true relationships around us, knowing that in love what matters is to love. No more excuses, then let s all invest our energy in making people feel welcomed in our hearts. We are all parts of the human family, after all.
TWENTY SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME On October 21st at 11:30am there will be a luncheon in the parish hall for anyone who is interested in helping with the bazaar. Please come if think you want to help, but want to know more about it! Please know, the elves are still accepting gently worn household items, jewelry and toys for the bazaar. We ask that you bring them on Wednesdays from 9am to 11am as there will be someone to help you unload. Also, please mark your calendars that the Bazaar will be happening on November 20th & 21st with Breakfast on the 22nd. Mark your calendars, our Social Concerns Committee in conjunction with Atlantic General Hospital will be sponsoring their Flu Shot Clinic here at Holy Savior on October 15th from 10am to 1pm free of charge. The Knights of Columbus (9053) would like to thank all parishoners that volunteered to sell raffle tickets all summer on the Boardwalk. Generosity of your time and enthusiasum is greatly appreciated. God bless you and have a great fall and winter. Our Right to Life Ministry would like to remind us that October is Respect Life Month. Please keep the unborn in your thoughts and prayers. Readings for the Week of October 4, 2015 Sunday: Gn 2:18-24/Heb 2:9-11/Mk 10:2-16 or 10:2-12 Monday: Jon 1:1--2:2, 11/Lk 10:25-37 Tuesday: Jon 3:1-10/Lk 10:38-42 Wednesday: Jon 4:1-11/Lk 11:1-4 Thursday: Mal 3:13-20b/Lk 11:5-13 Friday: Jl 1:13-15; 2:1-2/Lk 11:15-26 Saturday: Jl 4:12-21/Lk 11:27-28 Next Sunday: Wis 7:7-11/Heb 4:12-13/Mk 10:17-30 or 10:17-27 Liturgical Publications Inc Faith Development: for your prayer time and meditation In Depth Read in the Bible Gen 1:26-31 Prov 5:15-20 Mat 5:27-32 Lk 16:18 2 Cor 11:1-2 Eph 5:21-33 Rev 19:1-10 Read from the Catechism CCC 1602-1617, 1643-1651, 2331-2336: conjugal fidelity CCC 2331-2336: divorce CCC 1832: fidelity, a fruit of Spirit CCC 2044, 2147, 2156, 2223, 2787: the fidelity of the baptized From the early Church Please keep those raffle tickets coming in! The Christmas Bazaar is right around the corner and we would like to make this 50/50 drawing the best in years! In order to do that, we need your participation! Thanks to all who have returned sold or their unsold tickets:) Let vanity be unknown among you. Let simplicity and harmony and a guileless attitude weld the community together. Let each remind himself that he is not only subordinate to the brother at his side, but to all. If he knows this, he will truly be a disciple of Christ. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Christian Mode of Life.
TWENTY SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Focolare Word of Life October 2015 if you have love for one another (Jn 13:35). Here we have the badge, the mark, the ID card of Christians. Or at least it ought to be, because Jesus saw his community in this way. A fascinating text from Christianity s early centuries, Letter to Diognetus, recognizes that Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by country or language or customs. They do not live in cities of their own; they do not use a peculiar form of speech; they do not follow an eccentric manner of life. They are ordinary people, just the same as others. And yet they have a secret and it allows them to influence society profoundly, becoming as it were its soul (see chapters 5 6). It is a secret that Jesus passed on to his disciples shortly before dying. Like the ancient sages of Israel, like fathers with their children, he, master of wisdom, left as his legacy the art of knowing how to live and to live well. He had received it directly from his Father: I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father (Jn 15:15) it was the fruit of the relationship between them. It consists of loving one another. This is his last will and testament, the life of heaven that he brought to earth. He shares this secret with us so that it can become our very own. He wants this to be the identity of his disciples: they should be recognizable as his followers by their mutual love: if you have love for one another. Are Jesus disciples recognized by their mutual love? The history of the Church is a history of holiness, wrote St. John Paul II. Nonetheless history also records events that give a counter-testimony to Christianity (Incarnationis Mysterium, 11). For centuries, in the name of Jesus, Christians fought endless wars with one another and their divisions continue. Still today people associate Christians with the Crusades and with the Inquisition, or they see Christians as the stubborn defenders of an outdated morality, as opponents of the progress of science. It was not like that for the newly born community of the first Christians in Jerusalem. People admired the communion of goods they practiced, the unity among them, their glad and generous hearts (see Acts 2:46). In the Acts of the Apostles we read that the people held them in high esteem so that more and more believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women (Acts 5:13 14). The living witness of the community had a powerful attraction. Why are we not known today as people who stand out because of our love? What have we done with this commandment of Jesus? if you have love for one another. In Roman Catholic tradition, the month of October is dedicated to mission, to reflecting upon the command of Jesus to go out to all the world and proclaim the Gospel, to pray for and support those who are on the frontline. This Word of Life can help us focus on the fundamental dimension of every Christian proclamation. It is not about imposing our faith on others, nor proselytising, nor giving handouts of aid to the poor in order to convert them. Neither is it primarily a matter of defending moral values or taking a firm stand against injustice and war, even though these are duties the Christian cannot evade. Before all else, true Christian proclamation is a witness of life that every disciple of Jesus must offer personally. People in the modern world listen more willingly to witnesses than to teachers (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 41). Even persons hostile to the Church are often touched by the example of those who dedicate their lives to the sick and the poor and of those who leave their homelands for very distant and challenging places to offer their help and solidarity to those in most need. Above all, the witness Jesus requires is that of a whole community that demonstrates the truth of the Gospel. It must show that the life he brought really can generate a new society where we truly live as brothers and sisters, helping and serving one another, all together attending to the most at risk and needy. The life of the Church has shown these kinds of witness, for example, in the monasteries, with the little towns that grew around them and the communities established by Franciscans and Jesuits in South America. Today too ecclesial movements and communities give life to little towns of witness where it is possible to see signs of a new society, the fruit of Gospel life, of mutual love. if you have love for one another. Yet even without abandoning our homes or our friends, we can create an alternative way of living and sow seeds of hope and new life around us if together we live that unity that Jesus gave his life for. The members of a family who every day renew their will to live mutual love in a practical way can become a ray of light that penetrates the indifference of a whole neighborhood. An environmental cell, in other words, two or more persons who are truly committed to practice the demands of the Gospel in their field of work, at school, in local government offices, in administrative buildings, in a prison will cut through the competition for power and create a collaborative atmosphere that favors the birth of true fraternity, a fraternity previously unhoped for. Did not the first Christians behave like this at the time of the Roman Empire? Is not this the way they spread the transformative new life of Christianity? In our own day it is we who are the first Christians, called, as they were, to help one another, to forgive one another, to see each other as always new in a word, to love one another with the intensity that Jesus loved us, in the certainty that his presence in our midst has the strength to draw others too into the divine logic of love. Fr. Fabio Ciardi, OMI Each month the Focolare offers a Scripture passage as a guide and inspiration for daily living. Ever since the Focolare s earliest years, founder Chiara Lubich (1920 2008) wrote her own commentaries each month. Now Fr. Fabio Ciardi, OMI, theologian and close collaborator of Lubich, is writing the commentaries, reflecting her thoughts and her spirituality of unity.
TWENTIY SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Religious Education classes will start s today for Pre k through 6 on October 4, 2015 and On October 11, 2014 for grades 7 through 10 th. ALSO Today Important parent meetings will be held October 4 ~ ~ Parents of children from pre k to 6 th it will begin at 11:45 to 12 30 ~ Parents of 7 th to 10 th Grade students it will run from 6 to 7 Registration Papers are available in the Hall and in the back of the Churches! Planning for the Future Mark your calendars now!! The 4th Annual Parish Bonfire sponsored by St.Mary, Star of the Sea TYP will begin at 6 PM at 17 th and the Beach! This is a great evening of fun, food and fellowship! We dig the pit, start the fire and put out the Goodies! You bring your chairs and you blankets and Join in!! Donations of water bottles, chocolate, marshmallows, graham crackers, hot dogs and rolls gratefully accepted!!! ~Saints Alive Parade ~ Join us November 1, 2015-10 AM Mass for The children s ~ All Saints Parade With presentations after Mass! All (from Little Disciples up!!) Religious Education Students are invited to take part in the fun! There are two ways to join in the fun The costume parade and fact share or the Poster contest!! This is a family affair so parents, grandparents older siblings my feel free to assist with all parts. If you like to sew or create but don t have children or grandchildren here feel free to help anyway!! We have many young parents that would welcome a helping hand!! Or if you have a special Saint that you would like to share with the children after Mass at the presentation just get in touch with me and I ll give you the info!!! Do you have Questions? Do you ever ask yourself What am I looking for in life? What is the meaning of my life? How can I be a better person? What can I do about the loneliness I feel? How can I come to know God s love? How can I know the right path God has in store for me? If you are asking these questions, or questions like them, the Catholic way of life awaits you. For centuries, people have turned to the Church to find the answers to the deepest and hardest questions of everyday life. Are you interested in finding out more about how to become a Catholic? Sessions are always held on Monday at 7PM. This first session which will be an informative session to answer all your questions is Monday, October 5 in The Fr Connell Center at Church 1705 Philadelphia Ave. Feel free to come any Monday! Please give Rita a call if you have questions, would like further information, to talk or need directions, at 410 289 7038 or email at religioused@stmarystaroftheseaocmd.com Or check out our church s website http://stmarystaroftheseaocmd.com Dear MBS Community, From the desk of Mark J. Record, Principal Thank you for all of your prayers and concern. My surgery was successful and my slow recuperation is going well. Each day, I realize that my strength and stamina, with God's goodness, are gradually returning. I ask that you please continue to keep me in your prayers and that you continue to support our staff with your prayers and customary cooperation. I am looking forward to my return to MBS as soon as I am cleared by the surgeon to do so. Thank you, again, for all of your concern and cooperation. In His peace, M. J. Record, Principal
MASS INTENTIONS October 3 5:15p.m. October 4 St. Mary s 7:00a.m 10:00a.m. October 5 October 6 October 7 October 8 October 9 October 10 5:15p.m. October11 St. Mary s 7:00a.m 10:00a.m. Saturday Richard Beall Sunday Tom Hipszer Marian Plott Parishioners Monday Joanne Koval Tuesday Mrs. C. Pottee Wednesday Michael Grimes Thursday Henry J. Slagle Friday No Mass Saturday Parishioners Sunday Patricia & Lugene Cleary Michael Grimes Frank Kolarik First Collection Second Collection $6,454.55- - - - - - - - - - $1,875.31 Thank you to all of you for your most generous donations The Second Collection for next week will be for Building & Maintenance Pastor: Rev. Stanislao Esposito pastor@stmarystaroftheseaocmd.com Deacon: Wil Pinder Administrative Assistant: Donna Santoni, office@stmarystaroftheseaocmd.com Faith Formation: Rita Danhardt, Religioused@stmarystaroftheseaocmd.com 410-289-7038 If you would like a Sanctuary Candle lit for the week for a special intention or in memory of a loved one, please contact the parish office. A donation of $10.00 is appreciated. The Candle at St. Mary s will be lit for special intentions of Larry Jock, Sr. this week. s candle will be lit for Patricia Dolan. I If you are interested in having flowers placed for a special intention or memory, please contact the parish office. Music Director: Jordan Pantalone jspantalone1018@gmail.com Facilities Manager: Tony Dicken, maintenance@stmarystaroftheseaocmd.com PARISH OFFICE HOURS Mon., Tues, & Thurs. 9am to 3pm Wed. & Fri. 9am to 12pm 410-289-0652 1705 Philadelphia Avenue Ocean City, MD 21842 Website: Stmarystaroftheseaocmd.com Facebook: Saint Mary Ocean City, MD Parish Pay: Automated Giving 1-866-727-4741 x 4 Parishpay.com