Glancing at the liturgical calendar

Saint Peter Catholic Church Inside 2 Drawing from the Traditions of Spirituality in Our Catholic Church 3 The Dickerman Family: A Sense of Belonging Through Service to the Parish 4 The Best Time You Will Spend on Earth 5 Ongoing Follow-up on Ministry Commitments 6 Stewardship: A Need to Give 7 Progressive Solemnity in the Liturgical Calendar A Letter from Our Pastor July 2013 Ordinary Time is Never Ordinary Dear Parishioners, Glancing at the liturgical calendar for July, I was surprised to see that each Sunday in July is a Sunday in Ordinary Time. Are you aware that the last time we had a month when all of the Sundays were in Ordinary Time was October 2012? First of all, let me make it clear that there is nothing Ordinary about Ordinary Time. If you are old enough, you may recall the term Ordinary Time did not exist until after Vatican II (actually in 1969). Prior to that, the Church called Sundays the 1 st or 2 nd or so on Sunday after Epiphany or after Pentecost. Thus, the seasons of the Church year were Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and then Advent again. What difference does it all make? First of all, we need to understand that Ordinary Time does not mean or imply that this time in the Church calendar is commonplace. You may have heard the expression that every Sunday is Little Easter, and that is absolutely true, even during so-called Ordinary Time. In our mathematics lessons in school, we learned (at least some of us did) that there were cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers. That sounds almost Catholic. Cardinal numbers were one, two, three, while ordinal numbers were first, second, third. Our Catholic term Ordinary Time actually came from the Latin, tempus per annum ( time through the year ). What is important to us as Catholics, though, is that we need to understand that our sense of stewardship and our sense of discipleship do not lessen because we call this time of year ordinary. Sometimes, our faith becomes too cerebral, too much of an intellectual pursuit. Surely you have heard the term faith in action. That is what stewardship really is; how we live out our faith by doing things. Reading Scripture, praying, Bible continued on back cover St. Peter Parish is a Catholic community of faith bringing the light of Christ to all by serving others

St. Peter Catholic Church Drawing from the Traditions of Spirituality in Our Catholic Church If you knew that the person who loves you most in the world was longing to spend some time with you, would you want to meet with them? What if this person was also the only one capable of saving your soul for all eternity, not to mention blessing you abundantly on earth? You d be crazy to say no to getting to know them just a little better, right? That being said, you may wonder how you can best go about getting to know this particular person. To do just that, as Catholics, it is important that we seek out and read things from our Catholic Christian tradition immersing ourselves in the spiritual works of those who have found Christ in a very deep way in accordance with the Church. Indeed, there are many great saints who have flowered out of the community of believers, and we can turn to them to get to know God better. Over the centuries, the Catholic Church has been profoundly touched, enriched and enlightened by spiritual masters whose works are powerful enough to convert souls. It is also important to recognize that the spiritual traditions in the Church express many of the same ideas but in different ways, bearing witness to the ineffable, mosaiclike beauty of Catholicism. St. Benedict began the first formal monastic tradition in the western Catholic Church, basing it on the Rule of St. Benedict. To this day, Benedictine spirituality is centered around the recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours, simplicity and the appreciation of the Holy Eucharist. The Franciscan spiritual tradition began with St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi. These saints brought about the Counter-Reformation that still marks the Church with splendor today. St. Francis is widely known for his Gospelcentered living, love of poverty, devotion to Christ Crucified, and mercy for all men and creatures. The Life of St. Francis of Assisi by St. Bonaventure, as well as The Little Flowers of St. Francis both help one to learn more about this magnificent saint. Similar to St. Francis, St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila also sparked a critical reformation within the Carmelite Order, which later influenced the entire Church in a positive way. Carmelite spirituality is a desert spirituality which bases itself on silence, deep contemplative prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours, outstanding penance and various traditional Catholic devotions. The Story of a Soul, which is the autobiography of renowned Carmelite St. Therese of Lisieux, the Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, and the works of St. John of the Cross all capture the essence of Carmelite spirituality. Furthermore, Salesian spirituality stems from the great life and work of St. Francis de Sales. The Introduction to the Devout Life is a fantastic primer for those desiring to enter more profoundly into a life of union with Christ. Ignatian spirituality is known for educating people on the discernment of spirits. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, as well as The Discernment of Spirits by Fr. Tim Gallagher are excellent resources for learning more about this powerful spiritual tradition. Last but not least, The Fulfillment of All Desire by Ralph Martin is a modernday spiritual work that can help those who are seeking Christ, to find Him. The rich variety of spiritual traditions we have in the Catholic Church are an indication of how diverse our Church is. There are so many different ways of following Christ and praying and to do so, we can draw from the spiritual greats. But of course, we must always pray in the way that God is leading us, in a way that we can truly encounter God in conversation. 2

July 2013 The Dickerman Family: A Sense of Belonging Through Service to the Parish For the Dickerman family, getting involved at St. Peter has helped them all to grow together in the parish community, in their faith, and in service to the parish. Randy Dickerman grew up on a farm in Mendon, Ill. as a member of St. Edward parish. Mandi Dickerman grew up here in Quincy, attending grade school at St. Peter. The couple first met in a religion class during their college years at Quincy University. In 1997, Mandi graduated with a degree in social work, and Randy graduated in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts. The couple was married on Sept. 25 of the following year, in the Quincy University Chapel. Randy had previously worked at WGEM, producing commercials and videos for 13 years, and in 2005 he started his own video company, Guardian Angel Video Services. He has also worked for the United States Postal Service as a Quincy city carrier for six years. Mandi is a self-employed developmental therapist, evaluating children from birth to 3 years old for developmental delays. The Dickermans have two daughters 11-year-old Maddie is currently in fifth grade, and 8-year-old Eva is currently in second grade. Both children attend school at St. Peter. We became official members of St. Peter in January 2005, Mandi says. We wanted our children to attend Catholic schools and felt St. Peter Church was the best place for us. At St. Peter, we feel we are a part of wonderful family of believers. The people are what make St. Peter Church. We are always reminded of God s love when we are around our church family. We have made so many lifelong friends that The Dickerman family: (clockwise, from top) Maddie, Eva, Mandi and Randy we will always hold close to our hearts. Both Randy and Mandi have been involved with many different ministries and projects here at St. Peter volunteering with Sunday School Childcare, teaching Liturgy of the Word, participating in the Greeters Ministry, and attending the Financial Peace University program. They have also assisted with the Parish Picnic, as well as Coffee and Donuts after Sunday Mass. Randy has also used his experience as a videographer to help the parish in different ways. He often shoots videos for various events such as Grandparents Day performances, theater performances, and stewardship speakers. The Dickermans also produced a video for the Living Stone campaign as part of the Communication Committee. Their participation in the campaign also helped them to reevaluate the role of stewardship in their own lives. The Living Stone campaign really made us put our trust in sacrificial giving, says Mandi. Everything is God s and we should give faithfully to Him. Even when life may bring an unexpected upset or doubt, He is always there providing for every need. The Dickermans encourage all parishioners to get involved in some aspect of parish life in the best ways that they are able. Being involved in the church, you are able to share the gifts and talents God gave you while glorifying Him, Mandi says. God made us each unique in His own image and wants us to use those gifts and talents to the best of our ability. Do your best to use those gifts and talents, and God will do the rest. 3

St. Peter Catholic Church The Best Time You W The time you spend in Eucharistic Adoration Blessed Tere When you walk into St. Peter s Adoration chapel at almost any given hour, you just may catch a glimpse of Heaven. Jesus, our radiantly alive and infinitely loving God, is really and truly there. The divine peace emanating from the Sacred Host is simply impossible to ignore. The good news is that many of our parishioners have cued into this great secret of Eucharistic Adoration, and spend hour after hour taking advantage of Our Lord s presence therein. I have always been drawn to having quiet time for prayer, Sue Scully says. I lived with my grandparents for most of my life, and I witnessed the Rosary and the Eucharist being the center of their lives. I signed up to take a holy hour about a year ago. It has been working out well. It is a very peaceful time and I am devoted to it. It is also a way I can remember my grandparents. I have only missed it a few times! In fact, it has become a most important part of my life, and it s so energizing! Over and over again, our adorers are discovering that Christ in the Holy Eucharist is present for them, always, and at all times. I take a middle night hour, Sue says. Even though it takes a little more effort, I know it is important for me to be there. Eucharistic Adoration began at our parish about 26 years ago, when Sharon Zehnle, Janet Faler and Diane Wagner generously responded to a prompting of the Holy Spirit to start it. To this day, Mark and Leanne Schell praying in the chapel. The Schells have been adorers from 1-2 p.m. every Thursday since the start of our Adoration Chapel in Quincy. they are its faithful coordinators. Only God knows the countless, unspeakably profound blessings that have been showered upon our parish community since its foundation. We have worked really hard to get this together, Janet says. We now have at least one or two people praying in Adoration at every hour, nearly every day of the year. As a devoted adorer herself, Janet can testify to the tremendous power of spending quality time with Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament. I really love Adoration, Janet says. It is a very spiritual, enriching part of my prayer life that really helps my faith to grow. What keeps me going year after year is knowing it is a special, special time to be by myself with Jesus. When you walk into the chapel, you know it is a very holy place and you have an hour you can just be with Jesus. Just as you spend time with family members and 4

July 2013 ill Spend on Earth... is the best time you will spend on Earth. sa of Calcutta friends to get to know them, it is important to take time to get to know Jesus. It is a commitment that is enriching for us and praises God at the same time. So often, new people are invited to try it, and they say they will but they are not sure how it will help them. Later they say they won t give their hour up until they are old and ready to die! Those who would like to sign up to enjoy the best time they will spend on earth may contact Janet Faler at 217-223-7823 or Sharon Zehnle at 217-223-6279. Mark and Leanne Schell do some spiritual reading in our Adoration Chapel. Ongoing Follow-up on Ministry Commitments An essential part of the stewardship way of life is knowing that God is the one providing for us and our families. When God asks us to do something, we deny our personal wants and trust in Him. As St. Clare of Assisi said, Love God, serve God: everything is in that. The Stewardship Committee of the Church of St. Peter is hopeful that we will continue growing to our fullest potential by being a fully alive stewardship parish. However, we know of a possible hindrance to getting there, and we would like to address that now. Each fall in recent memory, parishioners have responded to an invitation to become more involved in parish ministries on our Time, Talent, and Treasure Commitment Card. We want to ensure that our ministry leaders have contacted EVERY parishioner who has First & Last Name (one card per family) Street Address City State ZIP Telephone (Important) Email Address Lift Up Your Hearts St. Peter Catholic Church 2012 Stewardship Commitment Card Please bring this card to Mass on November 17th or 18th, or mail using the envelope provided. Thanks and God bless you! made a new commitment to become involved in a parish ministry. Past or present, if you have volunteered to serve and have not heard from someone in the parish, we ask that you now contact Bill Siebers or Ginny Camacho. Our intention is clear we do not want human error or oversight to prevent our parish from growing to its fullest potential as a stewardship parish. If you have not been contacted, PLEASE let us know. We want to make sure that you are welcomed into every parish ministry where you feel called to serve. Contact info: Bill Siebers wsiebers@slpsd.com Ginny Camacho gmacho17@comcast.net, or by phone at 223-1807 or 257-2689 5

St. Peter Catholic Church Stewardship: A Need to Give When the church needs a new roof or the local food bank needs donations, we jump at the chance to give for the sake of the need. It s part of our human nature we identify a need, and we want to give of our time, talent and treasure to help. But as a stewardship people, we are called to give of ourselves not simply because the Church has needs, but because each of us has a need to give. As the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops states in its pastoral letter on stewardship, Stewardship: A Disciple s Response, We need to give our money to individuals and families in need, to the Church, and to other worthwhile charitable organizations because giving money is good for the soul and because we need to return thanks to a loving God for all of the many blessings each of us has received (67). As fellow members of body of Christ, created in God s image, we should strive to go beyond simply coexisting with one another on earth. The life we live should be fueled by love for each other. This love should dictate how we live by giving of ourselves. Jesus Christ showed us the perfect example of this self-giving love when He died on the cross. His death was a completely selfless act. He gave of Himself for our sake, offering us through that gift life everlasting. As Christ s disciples, we follow His example, and we give of ourselves for the sake of others, out of love and an inherent need to give. That s not to say that we gain nothing through our gifts. In fact, in His goodness, God sees to it that we do. Most of us have experienced what happens when we give of our time, talent or treasure. We feel as though we get more out of it than we give. If you speak to someone who serves at the soup kitchen or someone who has made it a regular practice to tithe to the Church, you are likely to find that he or she feels blessed to be able to give. As the U.S. bishops point out, To be a Christian disciple is a rewarding way of life, a way of companionship with Jesus, and the practice of stewardship as a part of it is itself a source of deep joy. Those who live this way are happy people who have found the meaning and purpose of living (Stewardship: A Disciple s Response, 21). Find out for yourself. Get involved in a ministry. Make a commitment to put some money in the collection basket next Sunday. Don t wait to find out if there is a need give of yourself right now. You will be richly blessed for doing so. We need to give our money to individuals and families in need, to the Church, and to other worthwhile charitable organizations because giving money is good for the soul and because we need to return thanks to a loving God for all of the many blessings each of us has received (Stewardship: A Disciple s Response, 67). 6

July 2013 Progressive Solemnity in the Liturgical Calendar Imagine going to a relative s birthday party with other friends and family. Wouldn t it be downright odd if, instead of singing, everyone recited Happy Birthday to You? It needs to be sung, or not done at all, right? Liturgical feasts are like that. In this article, I want to briefly look at something we call the progressive solemnity of the feasts of the Church. By this, we mean that not all celebrations during the calendar year carry the same importance or weight. Some are more solemn than others. As such, liturgically, we do more for the days that we consider more important. These practices vary in certain content from parish to parish, as some try to work out the notion of progressive solemnity more or less than others. In what is called The Ordo, which is the official publication of all Church feasts, all of the feasts of the Church and their significance are delineated. It tells us how many readings there will be, what color the vestments will be, whether or not the Creed will be said, whether or not the Gloria will be sung, etc. How does this work? Let s start with the day that happens most often in the calendar the ferial day. A ferial is a normal day during Ordinary Time where no particular feast is celebrated locally. This is daily Mass. At a ferial day, one reading is read with a responsorial psalm, then the Gospel acclamation, and finally the Gospel. The next type of liturgical day up the ladder is what s called an optional memorial. For instance, during the week of this writing June 7 we see that St. Norbert, bishop is an optional memorial. The priest can celebrate it or not his preference. Fr. Leo likes to do most optional memorials as they occur. So if you go to daily Mass, you probably heard him mention St. Norbert, whose feast is June 6 each year the calendar is cyclical, repeating every year starting at Advent. Coming this same week on June 8 is the The Immaculate Heart of Mary. Its rank is a memorial, and it must be celebrated. On memorials, there is one reading, a psalm, and a Gospel. Next, we have feasts. This is a bit confusing, because we tend to refer to all days greater than a ferial as a feast. But feasts properly are the next type greater than a memorial. A feast demands a Gloria to be recited or sung. On the week we are looking at, there are no feasts. Any day celebrating an apostle is a feast day. The Feast of St. Matthias was recently celebrated on May 14. Feasts of the Lord are also in this category. The Presentation of the Lord is on Feb. 2 it is also a feast day. Going further up the ladder in this progression is, properly, a solemnity. Today, as of this writing, is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, June 7. There are actually three solemnities in the month of June. They carry a Gloria, a Creed, two readings plus the psalm, and Gospel. At St. Peter Parish, I try to show by Scott Fitzgerald The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which is celebrated on Aug. 15, is a Holy Day of Obligation up and play music on all solemnities, as I did this morning. Finally, there are Holy Days of Obligation, which are solemnities that require all Catholics to attend Mass. Christmas, Easter and even the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Aug. 15, don t forget! are examples of these. So some days in the Liturgical Calendar are celebrated as more solemn than others. The more solemn the celebration, the more we do, liturgically speaking. Now you know, when we say feast, we may mean an optional memorial, a memorial, a feast, a solemnity, or even a Holy Day of Obligation. Don t get caught reciting the liturgical Happy Birthday song! 7

St. Peter Catholic Church 2600 Maine Street Quincy, Illinois 62301 Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 105, Quincy, IL 62301 Mass & Reconciliation Schedule Sunday Masses Saturday: 5 p.m., Sunday: 8, 9:30 and 11 a.m. Weekday Masses Mon-Sat: 8:00 a.m., except for Wednesdays during the school year: 8:30 a.m. Reconciliation Saturday: 7:30-7:50 a.m., 3:30-4:30 p.m. or by appointment Ordinary Time is Never Ordinary continued from front cover study, and trying to study our faith from a deeper perspective are very important. However, it is equally important that we do something specific to show that our perception of stewardship is alive and active. We are not necessarily talking about preaching on street corners or praying in public places. It may be something as simple as looking in our closets and identifying things we no longer need nor use. Give them away. Ordinary Time should be an incentive for us to do extraordinary things. It is worth noting that the color of liturgical garments (what we priests wear at Mass) during Ordinary Time is green. Green is the color of life. Green is the color of hope. Green is the color most of us associate with positives, with planting and nurturing and with the rhythms of life. It is with a smile that I note that my message for Ordinary Time is not too different from my message for Advent or Christmas or Lent or Easter. As Catholics, and as good stewards, every day is a challenge to live out our lives as disciples of Christ. Every day is a challenge to truly be a good steward. There are peaks and valleys and meadows and pastures. Perhaps this (Ordinary Time) is not a mountaintop (Christmas and Easter), but it is certainly a verdant field, and we are called to plant, nurture, and harvest now as much as any time. May God bless you in your stewardship journeys. Rev. Msgr. Leo J. Enlow Pastor