185 N Oak Harbor Street, Oak Harbor, WA 98277 (360) 675-2303 Easter Sunday of the Resurrection & Sunday of Divine Mercy April 5 & 12, 2015 Je s u s C h r i s t i s R i s e n! H ow D o We K n ow? S T AUGUSTINE CAT H O L I C CH U RC H My cousin and I were watching old home movies. On the screen appeared my mother in 1963, dressed up to go to my brother s junior high school graduation. She had a perfect hourglass figure (with the sand in all the right places). She was wearing a chic white dress with a tight belt, a matching handbag, a string of pearls, and enormous sunglasses. My cousin s husband blurted out, My God it s Jackie Kennedy and he was right. If Jackie Kennedy had been a redhead, that would have been my mom in that captured moment. I had forgotten how elegant and vibrant she was. Gone were the ravages of twenty years of Alzheimer s. Gone was the frail and crumpled body, folded into a wheelchair. Gone was the person unable to speak. My mother wasn t merely alive again on that movie screen she had been resurrected into glory. The sorrows of the years past were no more. At that moment, even though I wasn t seeing my mom face to face, I knew that any woman who was so loyal to Jesus as my mom had been has to be alive now, and in that same moment I knew that, even though I have no tangible proof except what I experience the story of the Resurrection, the story of Easter, has to be true. That was what those women experienced on that first Easter morning, showing up at Jesus tomb and finding it empty. Without seeing him or touching him, they knew he was alive and not just alive, but resurrected into glory, with every sadness past. They were Jesus most loyal followers. When the angel told them Jesus wasn t there, it made absolute sense to these women that Jesus was alive. They had been with Jesus for years, they had heard his promise that he would rise again it was perfectly consistent with the Jesus that they had experienced that he would keep his promise and be alive now. Nothing could take that certainty from them, just as I, seeing my mom of the past alive again for a moment, experienced a moment of resurrection in my life and I know, beyond words and reasons, that she is alive, with Jesus, because I have experienced them both as risen into glory. In St Luke s story of Easter, the angels chide the women and us with a question: Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. How often are we caught up in looking at the old movies of our lives, focusing on our defeated moments, our past failures and errors and sorrows and what might have been, looking among the dead, because we are not experiencing the resurrection power of the one who is alive. If Jesus is alive, as we believe and, more than believe, as we experience him to be, then our trajectory is shifted, our individual stories and stories of those we have loved all those have been rewritten in joy. Jesus Christ is resurrected into glory and we with him: that was the experience of the women that could not be shaken. That is our experience that opens us up day by day to the new life Jesus is offering us. Father Paul Pluth
Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thu Fri Sat April 4th - 11th Holy Saturday 8:00 pm The Easter Vigil E V E N T S & A N N O U N C E M E N TS Easter Day 8:00 am Mass (Our Parishioners, INT) 9:30 am Mass (Manuel & Esther Hinojosa, INT) 11:00 am Mass (Amado Mendoza Sr., RIP) 6:00 pm Visitation - Veronica Cinco + 7:00 pm Funeral Vigil & Rosary Easter Monday Office Closed 10:00 am Funeral Mass - Veronica Cinco + 4:30 pm Agape, PH/K 7:00 am POETS, CH 4:45 pm Exercise Group, CR 1/2 6:30 pm Santa Cruz Choir Rehearsal, CH NO RE Classes - Spring Break 9:00 am Mass (Robert H. Gordon, RIP) 10:00 am St. Maria s Guild, CR 1/2 10:00 am Christian Meditation, CR 3/4 3:00 pm RCIA-C, PO 4:45 pm Exercise Group, PH 5:00 pm Pastoral Council, PO 6:30 pm RCIA, CR 1/2 7:30 pm Adoration 8:30 am Confessions, CH 9:00 am Mass (Peping & Edgardo Campos, RIP) 9:30 am Adoration 11:30 am Confessions, CH 12:00 pm Latin Mass 8:00 Knights of Columbus Exemplification, PH 4:00-4:30 pm Confessions, CH Hungering for Celebration! We prayed, fasted and gave alms - and now we celebrate! Our Lenten journey with CRS Rice Bowl ends in our own hearts, where Jesus reigns forever. Let us rejoice in our risen Lord - and in the lives we ve changed this Lent in Tanzania, Nicaragua, Niger, Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and all over the world! Don t forget to turn in your CRS Rice Bowl. The Parish Office will be closed on Monday, April 6 in observation of Easter Monday. There will be no Religious Education classes on Wednesday, April 8. Pancake Breakfast - Sunday, April 12 at 9:00 am in the Parish Hall. Consecration of Daughters of St. Francis de Sales - Saturday, April 18 during the 5:00 pm Mass. Parishioners Barb Dumit and Maggie Paczkowski will be consecrated in a brief ceremony during the Mass. Lola Hotard of Grace by the Sea Church will be installed as a Friend of the Daughters. Sat Sun Mon Tues April 11th - 18th 5:00 pm Vigil Mass (Alan Boissonneault, RIP) 8:00 am Mass (Our Parishioners, INT) 9:00 am Pancake Breakfast, PH/K 9:30 am Mass 10:45 am Human Concerns Meeting, CR 1 11:00 am Latin Mass 3:00 pm Divine Mercy Prayer Service, CH Office Unavailable 10:00 am Bible Study, CR 1/2 4:30 pm Agape, PH/K 6:00 pm Bible Study, CR 1/2 7:00 am POETS, CH 4:45 pm Exercise Group, CR 1/2 6:00 pm Santa Cruzan Choir Rehearsal, CH Wed 4:00 pm RE Elem, CR 1-5 4:00 pm First Communion Practice, CH 5:30 pm Youth Choir Rehearsal, ST 6:30 pm RE MS/HS, CR 1-5 7:00 pm Baptism Class, PO Thu 10:00 am Funeral Mass - Lucille Pfeifer + 10:00 am St. Maria s Guild, CR 1/2 10:00 am Christian Meditation, CR 3/4 3:00 pm RCIA-C, PO 4:45 pm Exercise Group, PH 6:30 pm RCIA, CR 1/2 6:30 pm Hispanic Choir Rehearsal, CH 7:30 pm Adoration, CH Fri Sat 8:30 am Confessions, CH 9:00 am Mass 9:30 am Adoration 9:30 am St. Cecilia s Guild, CR 1/2 11:30 am Confessions, CH 12:00 pm Latin Mass 3:00 pm Stewardship Commission, PO 10:00 am Baptism Preparation, PO 10:00 am 6th Grade Mission Trip 4:00-4:30 pm Confessions, CH 4:30 pm Cantor Rehearsal, ST Connect with Father Paul ppluth@staugustineoh.org Facebook www.facebook.com/fatherpaulpluth Twitter www.twitter.com/@fatherpaulpluth
APRIL 2015 EASTER SEASON! Welcome to our newest Catholics! We wish to extend our warmest welcome to the newest members of our family here at St. Augustine and St. Mary! They were received into the Church on Holy Thursday and Easter Vigil. Our neophytes are: Michelle Beesley, Rhiannon and Rick DeBrosky, Beth Dion, Phillip Bercov, Willard Ling, Brisa and Tomasa Cruz-Herrera, Johnnell and Jannelle Moody, and Jada Foster. We hope you will join us for this series: WALKING TOWARD ETERNITY: MAKING CHOICES FOR TODAY -DARING TO WALK THE WALK BY JEFF CAVINS Beginning Monday, April 13 at 10:00 am and again at 6:00 pm in CR 1 In this eight part series, Jeff Cavins offers insights and commentary on key virtues, and outlines what it takes to live each of the seven virtues in your daily life. This inspiring series is designed to help you live your faith more fully as you develop and nurture characteristics that are essential to the Christian life! Optional: To further enrich your experience you may want to purchase the journal that accompanies this series. $15. ea. There will be some journals for sale at the studies. Spring Baptisms: May 9th Baptism class: April 15th, 7:00 9:00PM and April 18th, 10:00AM Noon. Both sessions are required for baptism preparation. WORLD YOUTH DAY FUNDRAISER! COMING SOON: PAPA MURPHY S PIZZA CARDS FOR SALE! During April and May BEING SOLD IN THE VESTIBULE BEFORE AND AFTER ALL OF THE MASSES BY OUR WYD PILGRIMS. OR CALL ROWENA AT 675-2303 X 4
The 2 nd Sunday of Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday! April 12, 2015 Jesus told St Faustina that this Feast of Mercy would be a very special day when all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened. Jesus promised that The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain the complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. He went on to say I want to grant a complete pardon to the souls that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My Mercy [established as Divine Mercy Sunday by St John Paul II]. One may go to Confession between April 5 and May 2 to obtain the promised pardon. The Image of The Divine Mercy, which Our Lord requested to be solemnly blessed and venerated on this day said to St Faustina I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You. The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the cross. Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him. Our Lord said I want the image to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter, and I want it to be venerated publicly so that every soul may know about it. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. About Divine Mercy Sunday, Jesus said On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon the souls who approach the Fount of My Mercy. On that day all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. The Divine Mercy Prayer Service is Sunday, April 12, 3 pm at St Augustine Church Images of the Divine Mercy may be brought to the Prayer Ser vice or to the Sacristy before the Sunday Masses to be blessed The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy (Using the beads of the Rosary) 1. Begin with the Sign of the Cross, then recite one (1) Our Father, one (1) Hail Mary, and then The Apostles Creed. 2. On the Our Father beads say the following: Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world. 3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following: For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. 4. Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades. 5. Conclude with (three times): Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world. 6. Follow with (three times): Jesus, I trust in You.