EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY in ORDINARY TIME

AUGUST 5, 2007

(M - Memorial, A - Anniversary)

 

MONDAY, AUGUST 6

TRANSFIGURATION of the LORD

6:45 THE WENZEL FAMILY          

9:00 ANN and EDWRD EGAN--M

                                    req. by Missy & Tom Wey

 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 7

SIXTUS II & companions

CAJETAN, priest

                 6:45 ANTIONETTE and ANTHONY

                        ROMINTO--M

                        req. by Ralph Santoliquido

                 9:00 BERTHE and LOUIS BREUIL--M

                        req. by the Shields Family

                     

   WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8

DOMINIC, priest

                 6:45 SPECIAL INTENTION for the LIVING: JOEY MILETI

                        req. by Maria D. Markey

                 9:00 ANTONIO and PIERINA ANTONIOLI--M

                        reg. by the children

 

      THURSDAY, AUGUST 9

TERESA BENEDICTA of the Cross, virgin, martyr

                 6:45 THE FONTANA FAMILY

                 9:00  REV. WILLIAM MC PEAK--A

                            req. by the McPeak Family

 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 10

LAWRENCE, deacon, martyr

                       6:45 MARY A. and EDWARD S. LADIN and ROSE DUDEK--M

                             req. by the Ladin Family

                  9:00 SALVATORE FERRARO--M

                             req. by the Family

                                

SATURDAY, AUGUST 11

CLARE, virgin

             9:00 LORENZO VALLARIO--M

                        req. by the Family

             5:30 MARGARET MAGUIRE--M

                        req. by Steven & Beth Carlucci

 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12

                 7:30 AGNES DORAN--M

                 9:00 FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE PARISH

               10:30 EDWARD GARBA--M

                            req. by Martha Garba

               12:00 NICHOLAS CONDRO--M

                            req. by Kim & Matt Miller

                 5:00 THE SAPORITO and LOIACONI FAMILIES

                            req. by the Saporito Family

                                             

PRAYERFUL REMEMBRANCES

Your prayers are requested for the sick at home, and in the hospitals, especially: Maria Leal, Charles Donovan, Msgr. Joseph J. Boyd,   Richardson Carrett, Marina Christopher, Terry & Amy Tucker,  Grace Welch,  Florence Leight, Joseph Maiorama, Jessy Mackey, Charlotte Neuman, Daniel Patrick Duker, Joan Porrazzo, Kayla Estelle Kelsh,  Betty Berrigan, Skylar Bahrenburg,  F. Peter O’Hara,  James Curtin,  Carmella Musumeci,  Patricia  Kuhr, Theresa Astorino, Joseph Mileti, Dotty Doherty,  Lenny Cavalieri, Jenna Mussolini, Teresa Civetta, Frank Maiola, Aileen O’Brien,  Ed Lenard, Pam Hissey,  Alice Nasta, Mildred Traub, Catherine Ann Brennan, Sarah Butler, Mimi Cosgrove, Kristen Long, Patrick Lamont, Elizabeth Kim,  for our service men and women at home and abroad; for the faithful departed,  FRANK GUILIANO, and those who have no one to pray for them; and for the honored dead of the Armed Services.

 

 

 

CANDIDATE for the SACRED ODER of DIACONATE

Patrick Felix Curley, a member of Saints John and Paul Parish, is a candidate for The Sacred Order of Diaconate for the Archdiocese of New York which will be conferred on September 1, 2007.

 

 

BAPTISM PREPARATION for PARENTS of INFANTS

To arrange for a Baptism, please call the rectory and you will be given an appointment with one of the parish priests.

Water in the Word

Baptismal Preparation Session Schedule

All sessions are offered on the following Saturday mornings from 10 AM – 11:30 AM. Please call the rectory to attend. The classes for the fall are: September 1^st, October 6^th, November 3^rd, and December 1^st.

 

 

FOOD BANK NEEDS

Now that summer is here, please do not forget to bring non-perishable food items when you come to Mass.

 

 

RELGIOUS EDUCATION REGISTRTION

Classes are currently being formed for the 2007/08 school year. Please register NOW to ensure prompt placement.

 

 

 

FAREWELL to FATHER DARIUS

Fr. Darius will be returning to Poland on Monday, August 6^th. As always, it was a delight to have him here in our parish even though it was for such a short time.

We wish him a safe flight and will keep him our prayers and thoughts.

 

 

KNIGHTS of COLUMBUS

Reserve your foursome. Our Annual Golf outing will be held on Monday, September 24^th, at the Pelham Bay Golf Club, check-in & lunch 11:00 – 12:00, shot gun start 12:30pm, dinner at the Davenport, 6:30pm. Golf, cart, lunch, beverages, prizes, cocktail hour, buffet dinner w/open bar, all for only $175. Bring a foursome if you can or come alone or with a friend and we will make the foursome. Call Craig Skolnick to reserve your spot 212-319-0871 or 914-235-2264.

We need your support so we can continue the good work of our Council; sponsor a golf hole at our golf outing for only $125.00. You can also show your support by sponsoring the golf carts, cocktail hour, or golf prize. This is a great way to give to our council or to advertise your business; contact Craig Skolnick to reserve your hole sponsorship or for more information; 212-319-0871 or 914-235-2264.

 

 

MARIA REGINA HIGH SCHOOL

50^th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Calling all Maria Regina High School alumnae! Please join us as we celebrate 50 golden years as the first archdiocesan Catholic high school for girls in Westchester County. The event will be held on Friday, September 21, 2007, from 6:00 – 10:00 pm at the Westchester Marriott, Tarrytown, NY. Tickets are $110.00 per person. For further information, please contact N. Mitrione, Director of Development, at 761-3300, x-217 or nmitrione@mariaregina.or. The website is: www.mariareginea.org.

 

 

 

SUMMERTIME BEBNEFIT and SCHOLARSHIP to HONOR

MARGARET MAGUIRE

On Friday evening, August 17, 2007, Desda’s Grate will launch a new Scholarship Fund to honor the life of Margaret Maguire and to reflect on her service to others. Please join with friends at a cocktail hour plus dinner at the Davenport Club in New Rochelle.

Desda’s Grate is a home for women with children in need in our neighboring parish of Holy Family in New Rochelle. This fund raising dinner will seed a work scholarship fund and continue an existing campaign to build a second home named after Joan Pierce.

The dinner will be held at the Davenport Club at 7:30 P.M. on Friday, August 17^th. Tickets are $100.00 in advance. Please call Ann or Gene Doherty at 636-6099 or email at genedoh56@aol.com to reserve a seat or send a check made out to Desda’s Grate and mail it to 70 Paine Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10804

Please reserve now to help with the seating plans.

 

 

 

 

THE PASTOR’S COLUMN

   We continue our examination of the Pope’s work on the life of Christ with his reflections on the first three temptations the Savior faces after His Baptism. I used the word “first” because too often the believer fails to take seriously the Pauline inscription:  “He was like us in all things save sin.” Throughout His ministry, Jesus would face discouragement and be tempted to despair. He would be tempted to despair in the face of the rejection of the leaders of the religious and civil communities. And at the other extreme, He must have been tempted to forget the mission bestowed on Him in the face of the adulation of those He healed. And let us not fail to recall the ultimate moment when He could have refused the cup of suffering in the garden. The evangelist sets the scene in which the Lord of all will confront the Prince of falsehood. In witnessing this struggle to overcome evil, we take hope that we too will be able with the grace of God to withstand the lure of sinfulness.

   Benedict begins his discussion with the first temptation: “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ (MT 4:3)…’If you are the Son of God’ – we will hear these words again in the mouths of the mocking bystanders at the foot of the Cross – ‘If you are the Son of God, come down from the Cross’ (MT 27:40)…Christ is being challenged to establish his credibility for offering evidence for his claims. This demand for proof is a constant theme in the story of Jesus’ life; again and again, he is reproached for having failed to prove himself sufficiently, for having hitherto failed to work that great miracle that will remove all ambiguity and every contradiction, so as to make it indisputably clear for everyone who and what he is or is not. And we make the same demand of God and Christ and his Church throughout the whole of history.” (30) How many times I have made the inquiry to someone: “I don’t see your sister at Sunday Mass anymore, where has she been?” The response varies but in essence it is sadly stated: “She is angry with God for having taken our mother.” Too often people have a “quid pro quo” relationship with God. As long as we receive, we will give. Such an understanding certainly has been nurtured by some Christian evangelists who promote the surety of prosperity if we are generous but who warn if we do not receive a cure then our faith must be flawed.

   In regard to the first temptation, the gospel writer focuses on the place of nourishment in our lives. Having fasted forty days certainly Satan perceives what might be a chink in the spiritual armor of Jesus. The Holy Father tells us that His response can be effectively perceived only when we contemplate the totality of the scriptural references to man’s hunger and the food provided. We will meditate only upon Benedict‘s reflection on the multiplication of the loaves. He asks why He would do that which He refused to do in the isolation of the desert. (My personal thought when I read this passage was that all too often we consider sin as private. We think no one else will ever know. Jesus could have yielded and who would know. But He realized as we must that we must face the Father in the end and ourselves each day.) For his part, the Pope writes:” The crowds had left everything in order to come hear God’s word. They are people who have opened their heart to God and to one another; they are, therefore, ready to receive the bread with the proper disposition. The miracle of the loaves has three aspects, then. It is preceded by the search for God, for his word, for the teaching that sets the whole of life on the right path. Furthermore, God is asked to supply the bread. Finally, readiness to share with one another is an essential element of the miracle. Listening to God becomes living with God, and leads from faith to love, to the discovery of the other. Jesus is not indifferent toward men’s hunger, their bodily needs but he places these things in the proper context and the proper order.” (32) Ah, there is the rub. Satan wanted the Lord to put aside His relationship with the Father: His spiritual mission to be subjugated to the pursuit of narcissistic purposes. Jesus frustrates the devil’s vision. But when it came to the occasion of the feeding of the five thousand, circumstances were radically different. Many of the people had left their homes, put aside their daily chores, and set out to hear the Rabbi who they had heard cured a blind man, driven out demons, and even it was said, raised the dead. Oppressed by the restrictions placed on them by the occupying forces of Rome, limited in their opportunities for economic security by a caste system and lack of basic skills such as reading and writing, and most destructive of their lives: the alienation they experienced from their God motivated them to hang on every word from the lips of the charismatic leader. No longer did they have to suffer the burdens of the unrelenting requirements of the temple leaders and their scribes. As their ancestors received manna in the desert from God through the instrumentation of Moses and Aaron, so they now sat before the One who gave them not only a word which encouraged them but also a bread which nourished and strengthen them. As He went through the crowds, the Master helped all to realize that God’s love for them knows no bounds. He desires to lift their spirits and assist them in understanding that God desires mercy and not sacrifice. But His concern for them is not limited to the eternal verities and their fulfillment. He wanted them to have those things necessary for a fruitful earthly existence. This reality makes his listeners realize that He means for them to exhibit the same concern He showed them to their neighbors no matter who they are and what their need. The stones of the desert remained just rocks the Lord desired that men’s stony hearts become sensitive to the call to holiness and service of those who are hungry, naked, homeless, sick, imprisoned and in mourning.

   Next week we will conclude our discussion of the temptations and examine the miracles of Christ. This week I will be attending the Knights of Columbus Supreme Convention. I will remember you and your families at each of the liturgies. Please remember me as well as our parish in your prayers.

     Jesus vivat,

Fr. Brian