SECOND
SUNDAY in ADVENT
DECEMBER
9, 2007
(M -
Memorial, A - Anniversary)
6:45 RAY
O’CONNELL--M
req. by Nancy Hardart
9:00 ROCCO FAZIO--M
req. by Bianca Fazio
TUESDAY, DECMEBER 11
DAMASUS I, pope
6:45 MURIEL HEMMINGWAY--M
req. by the Clergy &
the People of Sts. John & Paul Parish
9:00 BERTHE and LOUIS BREUIL--M
req. by the Shields Family
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12
OUR LADY
of GUADALUPE
6:45 THE FONTANA
FAMILY
9:00 DECEASED MEMBERS
of the HALPIN FAMILY
reg. by Alice Mulderrig
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13
LUCY,
virgin, martyr
6:45 ROY BAKER--M
req.
by Maureen F. Morris
9:00 SPECIAL
INTENTION for the LIVING: JOEY MILETI
req. by Maria D. Markey
JOHN of the CROSS, priest
6:45 MARY A. and EDWARD S. LADIN and ROSE DUDEK--M
req. by the Ladin Family
9:00 ARTHUR E. QUINN--M
req. by Virginia L.
Quinn
6:45 ANNE MARIE O’MEARA--M
req. by Ann Lyons
5:30 AGNES IAROCCI--M
req. by the Family
SUNDAY, DECEMBER
16
7:30 AGNES
DORAN--M
9:00 FOR
THE PEOPLE OF THE PARISH
10:30 PATRICK
J. MAHONEY--M
req. by Virginia L. Quinn
12:00 THE
SAPORITO and LOIACONI FAMILIES
req. by the Saporito
Family
5:00 ANN and EDWARD EGAN--M
req. by Missy & Tom Wey
PRAYERFUL
REMEMBRANCES
Your prayers are requested for
the sick at home, and in the hospitals, especially: Bruno Mazzari, Robert O. Walcovy, Bill Sabia, Rev. Robert Gannon, Beth
Hersh, Charles Donovan, Msgr. Joseph
Boyd, Joey Mileti, Patricia Kuhr, Theresa Astorino, Dotty Doherty, Joan
Porrazzo, Lenny Cavalieri, Jenna
Mussolini, Teresa Civetta, Frank Maiola, Aileen O’Brien, Ed Lenard, Pam Hissey,
Tricia Eigo, Skylar Bahrenburg, Mary
& Tony Fraioli, Hank Lawlor, Sarah Butler, Mimi Cosgrove, Kristen Long,
Patrick Lamont, Elizabeth Kim, for our
service men and women at home and abroad; for the faithful departed, JOAN
DAPOLITE and DEACON DANIEL GALLAGHER, and those who have no one to pray for them; and for the honored
dead of the Armed Services.
SUNDAY COLLECTION
Last week’s collection (12—02—07)
$10,241
Maintenance: $ 3.202
Attendance: 880
The parish of Saints John and Paul thanks you for
your support. We are grateful to our parishioners who use our envelope system.
If you wish to receive Church support envelopes, please call the Rectory at
834-5458.
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 Saturday mornings from 10 AM – 11:30 AM. Please call the rectory to attend.
Classes in 2008 will be: January 5th, February 2nd, March
1st, April 5th, May 3rd and June 7th.
10:30 AM
MASS MUSIC NOTES
Today we celebrate the
2nd Sunday of Advent of Advent and anticipate the coming of our Lord
with Anthem “Veni Jesu, Amor Mi” (“Come Jesus, My Love”) by Luigi Cherubini
(1760 – 1842). Cherubini’s music was immensely admired in his time; in fact,
Beethoven regarded him as the greatest of his contemporaries. There are, however,
many allusions to Cherubini’s personal irritability among his peers. Adolphe
Adam, composer of “O Holy Night” said of Cherubini: His temper was very even
because he was always angry.”
FOOD BANK
NEWS…
Your generosity at
Thanksgiving was as always overwhelming. Christmas will be here in just a few
short weeks. The sign-up sheets for Christmas Baskets can be found on the
bulletin board between the church and the school.
YOUTH
GROUP MEETING
The Youth Group will
have their annual Christmas Party in the rectory meeting room on Sunday,
December 16th, after the 5:00PM Mass. All the high school students
of the parish are invited to attend.
GIFT
SUNDAY – DECEMBER 9th
It has been a
tradition here at Sts. John and Paul Parish to have a “Gift Mass” on the second
Sunday of Advent. Last year we began a new tradition. Each Mass this weekend
(December 8th and 9th) will be considered a “Gift Mass”.
Parishioners should bring wrapped gifts for children, marked on the outside of
the package whether it is for a girl or boy and the age. When you come to Mass
that weekend, you can place your gift directly on the altar. The gifts will be
distributed to needy children. This year the gifts will be given to the
Franciscan Handmaids of Mary and Fr. Benedict Groeschel. Thank you in advance
for your generous support of this project.
If you are away that
weekend, you could drop your gift off at the rectory.
CALENDAR
of EVENTS for the WEEK
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9th:
10:10 AM SCH: Religious Education classes
12 Noon GYM: Basketball
12 Noon CH: Confirmation Enrollment Mass
3:00 PM AUD: Cub Scouts
MONDAY, DECEMBER 10th:
3:00 PM GYM & O.S. AUD: PSPA
4:00 PM GYM: Basketball
7:00 PM AUD: Play practice
TUESDAY,
DECEMBER 11th:
3:00 PM GYM & OUTSIDE AUD: PSPA
3:00 & 8:00 PM AUD: Choir
4:00 PM GYM: Basketball
6:00 PM AUD: Cub Scouts’ Pack Meeting
7:30 PM REC: Fr. Brian’s class
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12th:
10:30 AM SARAH NEUMAN: Service followed by Mass
12:45 PM RMR: 4th grade Girl Scouts
12:45 PM GYM & O.S. AUD: PSPA
2:50 & 7:15 PM SCH: Religious Education classes
4:00 PM GYM: Basketball
7:00 PM AUD: Play practice
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13th:
4:00 PM GYM Basketball
7:00 PM AUD: Play practice
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14th:
4:00 PM GYM: Basketball
7:30 PM AUD: Religious Ed. Christmas Pageant
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15th:
9:00 AM GYM: Basketball
6:30 PM: Lighting of the crèche followed by a reception
CHRISTMAS
FLOWER MEMORIALS
This year envelopes
for Christmas Flower Memorials are in the special Christmas packet that all
parishioners received last week. Once again, we suggest a $15.00 donation for
each memorial (In Memory Of) or dedication (In Honor Of). There are additional
envelopes in the rear of the church. The list of Flower Memorials will be
published in the bulletins throughout the Christmas season.
IMPORTANT
NOTICE for ALTAR SERVERES
Mrs. Ronan is
beginning to plan the Christmas and New Year’s schedules. As these are very
family oriented holidays and perhaps some Altar Servers will be away, please
let Mrs. Ronan (834-1052) know what Masses you are available to serve. Thank
you.
RELIGIOUS
EDUCATION NEWS…
The annual Christmas
Pageant presented by the Religious Ed Program is on Friday, December 14th,
at 7:30pm in the auditorium. Please join us for this touching reenactment of
Jesus’ birth in a stable in Bethlehem. Mary, Joseph, a tiny, many angels and
shepherds are expected. There will also be carol singing and afterward, sweets
for all.
Kindly share God’s
love this Christmas season by
bringing along an unwrapped gift for another child.
ADVENT
CANDLES and WREATHS
Due to a glitch by the
shipping company, the Advent candles did not arrive for the First Sunday of
Advent. We apologize, and would like to announce that they have now arrived and
will sell for $5 at the inside of the church this weekend.
Also, the Salesians
have replenished their wreath supply! They will be selling wreaths for $10 this
year at the inside doors of the church after all the Masses.
May your family enjoy
this ancient tradition of the Advent Wreath during this holy season of waiting.
ADULT EDUCATION
Classes for Adults on
the Catholic Catechism produced by the American Bishops will continue on
Tuesday evenings at seven-thirty in the Rectory Meeting Room. The next class
will be on December 11th. Come and enjoy coffee, fellowship, and faith sharing.
Bring copies, if you have them. If not, they will be provided.
CONFIRMATION
ENROLLEMNT
Today at the 12 Noon
Mass, we celebrate the enrollment of 86 candidates for the sacrament of
Confirmation. We ask all of the parish to keep these young people in your
prayers and thoughts as they begin the preparations for the May 17th
ceremony, marking the beginning of a lifelong commitment to their Catholic
faith which begun at their baptisms.
SONGCATCHERS
13th ANNUAL
CONCERT
for PEACE
Come join us for the
Songcatchers 13th Annual concert for Peace on Sunday, December 9th,
at 4:30 PM in the Chapel at the College of New Rochelle. There is no charge for
admission. Free will offering only. For more information, please call 654-1178,
email:bdowdmus@aol.com and web site: www.songcatchers.info.
CAN YOU
HELP?
Fr. Benedict
Groeschel, CFR is in need of volunteers to help the Friars send out their
semi-annual appeal and newsletter. The work will be done at Trinity Retreat
House in Larchmont on Monday, December 10th. We will start at 9:30am and hope
to finish by 12:30 or 1:00. If you are able to come on that day, please call
Cathy Hickey, 834-6907, and leave word on her answering machine.
THE
CATHOLIC WIDOWS and WIDOWERS ORGANIZATION
All widows and
widowers are cordially invited to attend the monthly Mass for deceased spouses
on Monday, December 17th, at 7 PM followed by the monthly meeting at
St. Pius X in Scarsdale. For more information, please call 948-4682.
THE
PASTOR’S COLUMN
Last week our Holy Father demonstrated once
again the desire to be the clearest of teachers so that all might understand
the essence of humankind’s relationships with the Divine and vice versa. Having
focused on the theological virtue of love in his first encyclical Deus
Caritas Est, he now turns his attention to hope as he publishes Spe
Salvi. Benedict XVI begins by stating: “Redemption is offered to us in the
sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can
face our present: the present, even if it is arduous, can be lived and accepted
if it leads towards a goal, if we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is
great enough to justify the effort of the journey.” (1) How appropriate these
words are in the Advent season as we look forward to Jesus coming again as well
as commemorating His birth in Bethlehem! But they also speak to a modern
mindset that all too often lacks hope. It is paralyzed by the threats of
terrorists or the scare tactics of opportunistic leaders. It becomes
overwhelmed by rumors of medical crises or the lack of cures for terminal
illnesses. It is colored by pessimistic philosophical stances or by driven
behavioral actions. On the other hand, there are those who place trust in the
ephemeral. They seek after economic stability with the larger house and bigger
bank account. They crave peace and comfort through alcohol and other
substances, prescriptions or otherwise. Relationships with the rich, famous
and/or powerful are sought over grace-filled contacts with the Trinity of
Persons. Describing the human situation, the Pope writes: “Day by day, man
experiences many greater or lesser hopes, different in kind according to the
different periods of his life…Young people can have the hope of a great and
fully satisfying love; the hope of a certain position in their profession, or
of some success that will prove decisive for the rest of their lives. When
these hopes are fulfilled, however, it becomes clear that they were not, in
reality, the whole. It becomes evident that man has need of a hope that goes
further. It becomes clear that only something infinite will suffice for him,
something that will always be more than he can ever attain. In this regard, our
contemporary age has developed the hope of creating a perfect world that,
thanks to scientific knowledge and to scientifically based politics, seemed to
be achievable. Thus Biblical hope in the Kingdom of God has been displaced by
hope in the kingdom of man, the hope of a better world which would be the real
‘Kingdom of God’. This seemed at last to be the great and realistic hope that
man needs…In the course of time, however, it has become clear that this hope is
constantly receding…Let us say once again: we need the greater and lesser hopes
that keeps us going day by day. But these are not enough without the great
hope, which must surpass everything else. This great hope can only be God, who
encompasses the whole or reality and who can bestow upon us what we, by
ourselves cannot attain The fact that it comes to us as a gift is actually part
of hope. God is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has a
human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in it
entirety. His Kingdom is not an imaginary hereafter, situated in a future that
will never arrive; his Kingdom is present wherever he is loved and wherever his
love reaches us. His love alone gives us the possibility of soberly persevering
day by day, without ceasing to be spurred on by hope, in a world which by its
very nature is imperfect. His love is at the same time our guarantee of the
existence of what we only vaguely sense and which nevertheless, in our deepest
self, we await: a life that is ‘truly’ life.” (30-31)
Benedict XVI then shows us three
“settings” in which we can learn to deepen our hope and practice it daily. He
reminds us: “When no one listens to me any more, God still listens to me. When
I can no longer talk to anyone or call upon anyone, I can always talk to God.
When there is no longer anyone to help me deal with a need or expectation that
goes beyond the human capacity for hope, he can help me…When I have been
plunged into complete solitude…; if I pray I am never totally alone.” (32)
While this prayer “must be on the one hand be something very personal, an
encounter between my intimate self and God, the living God, on the other hand,
it must be constantly guided and enlightened by the great prayers of the Church
and of the saints, by liturgical prayer, in which the Lord teaches us again and
again how to pray properly…Praying must always involve this intermingling of
public and personal prayer. This is how we can speak to God and how God speaks
to us.” (34) The second venue for learning hope is action and suffering in
human existence: ‘Our daily efforts in pursuing our own lives and in working
for the world’s future either tire us or turn into fanaticism, unless we are
enlightened by the radiance of the great hope that cannot be destroyed even by
small-scale failures or by a breakdown in matters of historic importance.” (35)
Benedict XVI goes on: “Like action, suffering is a part of our human
existence….(H)ope…gives us the courage to place ourselves on the side of good
even in seemingly hopeless situations, aware that, as far as the external
course of history is concerned, the power of sin will continue to be a terrible
presence.” (36)
Finally, the Pope writes of judgment as an
area for practicing hope. As the individual moves beyond our sight, hope
penetrates the situation of the dependent sinner that we who remain can
effectuate their ultimate bliss.
In the encyclical’s conclusion, we read:
“Who more than Mary could be a star of hope for us? With her “yes” she opened
the door of our world to God himself; she became the living Ark of the
Covenant, in whom God took flesh, became one of us, and pitched his tent among
us. (49)
May the hope of Advent heal and strengthen
our lives in Christ.
Jesus vivat,
Fr. Brian