Page 1. ST.
PETER’S CATHOLIC CHURCH BULLETIN:
NOVEMBER 29, 2020, FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Page 2.
REFLECTIONS: THEME: AWAITING
THE MASTER’S RETURN;
BY REV. FR. ANSELM CHIGOZIE AMADI
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Page 1.
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FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT NOVEMBER 29, 2020 |
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MASS INTENTIONS: 11/29/20 thru 12/04/20 SUNDAY: ENGLISH MASS: 9:00am. +Lawrence Rheaume, requested by Wilma Rheaume. SPANISH MASS: 11:00am. Eddy Gerlach, requested by Lora Harrison. WEEKDAY MASS INTENTIONS:
MONDAY: 9:00am. TUESDAY: 9:00am. WEDNESDAY: 9:00am. THURSDAY: 9:00am. FRIDAY: 9:00am. FINANCIAL REPORT FOR WEEK
11/22/2020 YOUR GIFTS TO THE LORD: Sunday
Offering………………………...$1003.12 Children’s Fund……………….…….….…N/A Capital Fund………………………………..$00.00 Campaign Human Develop…………$80.00 Mass Stipends…………………………..…$60.00 EXPENSES General Fund:………………………..…….$2091.54 Capital Fund:………………………………..$00.00 Children’s Fund:…………………….…….$00.00 The Quarterly Financial Report is Available in The Church Office for Review Church Secretary; Vacant Office Telephone: 928-333-4423 PRAYER TREE: Please contact Monica Boehning at 333-5539 for
prayer requests. Leave a message if no answer, include your name and phone
number, with info. THIS WEEK PLEASE PRAY FOR: Family of +Linda Kay Romero, Denia Duncan, Irene Moya, Lydia Gonzalez. Jason Pittman, Eileen Tyrrell, Rebeka
Talbot, Charles Rand, Roxanne Chavez, Ricky
Barraza, Lily Hill, Susie Apodaca, Confie LeSuer,
Liz Ketring, Pat
& Victor Rubalcaba, Bernice Chavez, Maria Morales, Teresa Barbier, Richard
Pena, Clara Archuletta, Judy Bragg, Dolores
Jackson, Jessica Williams, Eva Orona, Sophie
Montoya, Joe Tapia, Juanito Quevedo, Krystna Kocol, GIFT SHOP: Gift Shop is open every
Sunday after the 9:00 am
Mass or Contact; Dean Smith at
928-853-6307 Office Hours; Weekdays from 8:00am-12:00 noon. Closed, Tuesday. |
CALENDAR OF WEEKLY EVENTS: WEEKLY EVENTS: Weekly Events Currently Suspended Due
to COVID
Baptism
Preparation Classes to be Determined. SUNDAY: Rosary
before 9:00am mass. Sacrament of Reconciliation, 8:00am
– 8:50am. Rosary before
Mass. CCD classes after
9:00am Mass. MONDAY: C.C.D.
Classes 4:00pm. RCIA Classes: 7:00pm. TUESDAY: Church Cleaning. Spanish
Choir Practice, 7:00pm 8:30pm. WEDNESDAY: 6:30pm English Choir practice in church THURSDAY: 7:00pm Baptism classes in
Spanish, 2nd Thursday of the month. FRIDAY: Eucharistic Adoration; First Friday of the Month. ST. HELENA PARISH, ALPINE, AZ. SATURDAY: Confessions,
3:30pm
Mass 4:00 pm ---------------------------------------------- PASTORAL
STAFF
Pastoral Administrator Rev. Fr. Anselm Amadi Rectory Telephone: 928-333-4707 Emergencies Only; 505-906-8421 Deacon:
Rev. Mr. Jorge Campos 928-245-5638 Pastoral Council: Chairperson: Lora
Harrison - (928) 333-0148 Secretary: Esmerelda
Ontiveros - (928) 812-0049 Building Committee: Chairperson: Jackielyn
Harrington Finance Council: Chairperson: Jackielyn
Harrington Finance Secretary: Ed
Fritz - (928) 333-5919 PARISH MINISTRIES: Altar Servers: Tasheena James……. Eucharistic Ministers: Charles Rand………………………….…..….(928)
333-3541 Church Cleaning: Susan Ely…………. Funeral Director: Diane Fritz…………(928) 333-5919 Lectors: Mary DiFilippo……….…………(928) 333-3338 Maintenance: Vacant. Music Director: Bob Dyson………….…(928) 333-2809 Prayer Tree: Monica
Boehning………(928)
333-5539 RCIA: Deacon Jorge Campos…………(928) 245-5638 Religious Ed. Devon Ditmore…………(928) 245-5382 Sacristans: Elizabeth Ketring..……...(928) 245-6992 St. Vincent De Paul Org………………….(928) 333-4879 Ushers: Jim Morrison……………………..(928) 333-0928 |
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MINISTRY SCHEDULES FOR DECEMBER 6th. |
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Altar Servers: 9:00am. No Servers Assigned Due to Covid Phase One Reopening. |
Lectors: 9:00am. Nancy Golightly. 11:00am. To be
appt. |
Eucharistic Ministers: 9:00am. No Eucharist Ministers Assigned Due to Covid Phase One Reopening. |
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PLEASE JOIN US IN OUR STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM OF TIME, TREASURE & TALENT, VISIT OUR WEB AT www.stpeterchurch-az.com |
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Holy Father’s Prayer Intention: NOVEMBER Artificial Intelligence We pray that the progress of robotics and artificial intelligence may always serve humankind. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OUR PARISH:
· 2021 CALENDARS: Are available in the Narthex
table. One per Family. · 2021
CALENDARIOS: Están
disponibles en la mesa del Narthex. Uno Por familia. ·
NEXT HOLY DAY of OBLIGATION: Tuesday,
December 8 is the
Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mass that day will be at 9:00 am only.
Our
Community ·
BLOOD DRIVE: A blood donation drive will be held on Wed. Dec. 9th,
9am-6pm, at the Springerville American Legion. Contact Cora Bynum at
928-245-0493. Give someone your gift
of life this month. ·
SAVING BABIES: Join Living Hope’s “Defenders of Life
Club”. Just $20.00 per month can save
a life! Please contact Emily Kortan at 928-551-2206, or
visit livinghopecenters.org/defend ·
ROUND VALLEY LITTLE
LEAGUE: Needs coaches for 3rd
to 6th Grade Teams. Call or text to Terry
Shove at 928-580-7112. |
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Page 2.
SUNDAY REFLECTIONS: YEAR
B.
THE FIRST SUNDAY OF
ADVENT: YEAR A.
Is. 63: 16-17, 64:2-7;
1Cor. 1:3-9; Mk. 13:33-37
THEME: AWAITING THE
MASTER’S RETURN
BY REV. FR. ANSELM
CHIGOZIE AMADI
INTRODUCTION: Israel wandered away from
God and hardened their hearts. God as it were, allowed them to stray. Hence, in
their affliction they cried: “Why do you let us wonder, O Lord, from your
ways…” (Is. 63:16). Actually, it was not God but their free will. God allows
our free will for didactic reasons. Like the prodigal son who wandered away
from the father, that they may seek and cherish the presence of the God. In
their state of alienation, they acquired a deep awareness of their own misery
and recognized that they are nothing without God. This self-knowledge begets
humility and sincere repentance. The quest for God is the actual meaning of
advent season.
THE PAIN OF
ALIENATION:
There is an ontological gap in us that can only be filled by God. When an age
exiles God from their scheme of affairs, there ensues a collective feeling of
emptiness. The inner hunger for fulfillment pushes them to futile search for
the meaning of life. In the wake of this reality, many take to excessive
pleasure to find fulfillment, but emptiness and void multiplies. People take to
amusement parks where there is laughter without joy, excitement without peace
of soul. Money and materialism may promise to help, but after investments comes
a harvest of dissatisfaction, unsatisfied greed and exaggerated thirst for
more. Where is the fulfillment?
The growing
cases of teenage suicide and terrorism are byproducts of frustration and
meaninglessness of life alienated from God. After trying every other thing:
alcohol, immorality and entertainment without a solution to inner void, some
decide to end their meaningless life. However, the Prophet Isaiah has offered
us a solution: It lies in search for God. He is the only true object of our
souls’ desire. We should earnestly beseech his speedy return thus: “Tear the
heavens and come down.”
THE GAIN
FROM THE PAIN: Since the desert leads to the Promised Land, God allows us in our
free will to wander into the desert of our own folly so that we may gain
knowledge. First, we gain self-knowledge. The difficulty we encounter in our
isolation from God makes us recognize our miserable state: “Behold, you are
angry, and we are sinful; all of us have become like unclean men, all our good
deeds are like polluted rags; we have all withered like leaves…” (Is. 64:5). As
a result, we begin to seek God in humility, like dry land without water.
The pain of
alienation generates an impatient desire for God: “O Lord, you are my God for
you I long. For you my soul is thirsting. My body pines for you like a dry land
without water” (Ps. 63:1). It is an expression of an ardent desire to see God
and never again to be separated from him. There is no medicine for the pain of
alienation except to be with the Lord. To secure this intimacy with the Lord,
the soul cannot be in idleness but be on the duty post watching and praying.
THE WATCH
AT NIGHT:
Jesus prescribes the attitude of a passionate longing for the master’s return;
when he says: “watch”! We keep awake at night for that which is of great
importance to us. Only a value of great measure is worth the night rest. When
Jesus calls us to watch, he invites us to give our utmost priority to his
second coming and to consider it a pearl of greatest value. It is a call to
shun every possible object of distraction arising from sensible attraction or
pursuit of worldly trifles.
A watchman
keeps awake while others sleep. Night time is mostly the right business time
for the sentinel In the “Dark Night of the Soul” St. John of the Cross
interprets it as a time when all members of the household are asleep. According
to him, the members of the soul’s household are the lower operations, passions,
and appetites of its soul. The night in the spiritual life is when these lower
operations are put to sleep or quelled. Hence, the words of Christ in Matthew
10:36, that “One’s enemies are those of one’s household,” is here applied to
the soul, and the faculties of our lower nature are members of its household.
(See Bk. 1, Ch. Xiv, Par. 1). So, to effectively keep watch and wait for the
master’s return, we should first put the operations and movements of these
members to sleep. Self control and mastery of our disordered inclination is the
first step in this journey. Otherwise, like discontented children who ask this
and that from their mothers without being satisfied, they will distract us from
focusing on the duty post.
To be on the
watch is to be prompt to detect and ward off inversion of the enemy and to
respond with speedy welcome to the householder. The discipline lies in
spiritual alertness and vigilance. The watchman sleeps when he loses sight of
his primary assignment and gets preoccupied with mere fancy. It calls for a
single minded attention and devotion to the one and only Master by giving no
room to distractions. This is exactly what the Magi did when they sought the
infant Jesus. They found pleasure neither in the beauty of the city of
Jerusalem, nor in the magnificence of Herod’s court, nor in the brilliance of
the star. Their hearts sought the little cave at Bethlehem and its little child
(See Francis De Sales, Treatise on the love of God: Bk. 5, Ch. 7).
CONCLUSION: The pain of alienation
we experience in our exile from God is a school master that teaches us the
lessons of spiritual life. The major regret of the prodigal son was that he
could have enjoyed enough stuff at his father’s table whereas he had eaten
filth among pigs. Likewise, our souls are made for God, and so, whenever we
seek satisfaction elsewhere we meet regrets. We conclude with St. Francis as
follows: God does not will that our heart should find a place of rest, any more
than did the dove that went out from Noah’s ark so that it may return to him
from whom it came.