SAINT THOMAS MORE CHURCH
CATHOLIC CAMPUS MINISTRY
1300 Junipero Serra Blvd. (off Brotherhood Way)
San Francisco, CA 94132-2913
Phone: (415) 452-9634 Fax: (415) 452-9653
STM Mission Statement
“We are a diverse Eucharistic family united in Jesus Christ
and His Church. We accomplish our mission to spread the
message of God’s love through the gifts of the Holy Spirit
who guides and inspires us and with the prayers of our
Blessed Mother, Mary.”
www.stmchurch.com
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 12th, 2014
Revelation significant moments and events often times involve food. With Adam and Eve it was
the forbidden fruit, for Moses it was the Passover Meal as well as the manna and quail in the desert, and for Elijah it was the widow of Zarephath. In the Gospels there is the wedding feast of Cana, the multiplication of the loaves and fish, and the Last Supper. The book of Revelation ends
with the description of the Heavenly Jerusalem in all its’ splendor, including the magnificent trees
of life who each month produce fruit and whose leaves serve as medicine. There are many more
instances of food in the Bible, but the point is made with above examples that they play a significant part in the stories, prophecies and teachings in the Bible.
Two of the readings for this weekend are about banquets. The first reading from Isaiah speaks of
a holy mountain on which the hand of the Lord Rests. It begins by announcing that God will provide for his people, and food tops the list of what God will provide. Not just any food but food described with beautiful adjectives such as, rich, choice, juicy, and pure. In other words, it is the best
food one can hope for and God will provide this for His people. With this banquet comes news that
the Lord will destroy death and wipe away tears. This is a banquet of life for the body and the soul.
Tthe attendees at this banquet are those who looked to the Lord for their salvation. The message
is that if you are faithful to the Lord, he has great things planned for you.
In the Gospel we have a parable in which Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a king who is
having a wedding feast for his son. The king in the parable is dismayed when the invitees don’t
show up. He sends the invitation to a broader group and they too decline the invitation, some with
very lame excuses, and none of them come. Finally he sends word out to anyone to come, and
they do come, both the good and the bad. It seems like the parable is now going to have a happy
ending, instead we hear of the guest who arrived without the proper garment. The king has him
cast out. Jesus ends the parable with the verse, “Many are invited, but few are chosen.”
One way of looking at the meaning of these readings is to ask ourselves the questions, “Do we
want to be on the Lord’s holy mountain?” “Do we want to be at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.”
We have already received the invitation, but being invited doesn’t mean that we have been chosen. What must we do to be chosen? Two simple answers come to us in the readings. The first is
that since we have heard about the Lord and accepted him through Baptism, Confirmation and the
Eucharist, we must look to him for salvation. The second is that in accepting the invitation to the
Wedding Feast of the Lamb, we are to be in constant preparation for the day of the Feast, always
wearing the garment of faithfulness as our wedding garment.
Banquets are occasions that are meant to be enjoyed and the Heavenly banquet is no different.
The readings remind us to the joy we have to look forward to as we prepare ourselves for this
eternal banquet with the Lord.
By Father Killian Loch, O.S.B.
Readings for the Week: October 13th-19th, 2014
Monday: Gal 4:22-24, 26-27, 31 — 5:1;Ps 113:1b-5a, 6-7; Lk 11:29-32
Tuesday: Gal 5:1-6; Ps 119:41, 43-45, 47-48;Lk 11:37-41
Wednesday: Gal 5:18-25; Ps 1:1-4, 6; Lk 11:42-46
Thursday: Eph 1:1-10; Ps 98:1-6; Lk 11:47-54
Friday: Eph 1:11-14; Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 12-13;Lk 12:1-7
Saturday: 2 Tm 4:10-17b; Ps 145:10-13, 17-18;Lk 10:1-9
Sunday: Is 45:1, 4-6; Ps 96:1, 3-5, 7-10;1 Thes 1:1-5b; Mt 22:15-21
Office Hours: 9:30pm- 4:30pm Monday through Friday; closed for lunch from 12:30PM-1:30PM. The
Pastor
Abouna Labib Kobti
Parochial Vicars
Fr. Andrew Johnson
Fr. Bernard Poggi
Fr. Antonio dos Reis
(Brazilian Ministry)
Deacons
Khaled Abu Alshaer
Arthur Sanchez
Operations Manager
Emad Mubark
Secretary
Sr. Teresa Malave, VDMF
Campus Ministry
STM Pastor & Sr. Sara, VDMF
(415) 573-9062
RCIC:
Kathy Sanford (650) 738-0646
Music
Suzanne Hockel (415) 826-6834
RCIA: Abbie Nepomuceno
(510) 363-1897
STM School: (415) 337-0100
SCHEDULE
This Week’s Events
Monday, October 13th
Brazilian Community
Scanlan Hall 7:00pm-10:30pm
STM Choir practice
In church at 7pm
Tuesday, October 14th
Legion of Mary,
6:30 PM Scanlan Hall
7:30pm Movie Night
“Song of Bernadette” in Scanlan Hall
Wednesday, October 15th
Parish Council Meeting
7:30pm Scanlan Hall
Bible Study Group
7pm Chapel
Saturday, October 11th
STM Choir practice
11am-1:30pm Scanlan Hall
St Benedicts YAG Faithsharing
2pm-5pm in Scanlan Hall
Saturday
Vigil Mass:
5:00 PM English
Sunday
8:00 AM Portuguese/Brazilian;
10:00 AM English;
11:45 AM Arabic;
8:00 PM English
First Sundays: 5:30 PM Tagalog Mass
Weekdays:
8:30 AM (Mon., Wed., Fri., Sat.);
5:30 PM (Tue., Thu.)
Holy Days:
8:30 AM & 8:00 PM
First Fridays: 8:30 AM Mass
7:00 PM Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Followed by Mass for healing at 8:00 PM
8:00pm Third Friday of the Month Adoration
Sacrament of Baptism (infants) for STM
Parishioners only: Parents should be registered in the parish. Parents and godparents
For Children and Youth: For infants, STM offers a “Crying Room” where parents must attend Baptism Preparation Class. Call
can follow Mass while babies can play. For kids over 2, we have Children’s Liturgy. the office for schedule.
We also have RCIC, RCIA and Teen FLA group Sat at 6:00 PM.
For Adults: English Charismatic group, Sundays 6:00 PM: St. Benedict’s Young Sacrament of Reconciliation: Saturdays &
Adult Group (18-late 30’s) 1st and 3rd Saturdays 2:00-4:30 PM, with Mass on the Sundays before and during Masses.
last Saturday of the Month at 5:00 PM; Arabic Youth Group, Fridays, 6:30 PM; Bra- Sacrament of Matrimony: Registered couples
zilian Charismatic group, Mondays 7:00 PM;
contact us at least 6 months prior to wedding
SFSU Campus ministry, (SF State University) Thursdays 7:00 PM (on Campus) date.
Please call Sr. Sara at: (415) 573-9062
Communion to the homebound and the ill:
For Families: Bible Study, Saturday at 7:00 PM and Monday 7:30 PM; Word of God,
Anyone who is ill and would like to receive
Thursday 7:30 PM; Legion of Mary Tuesdays 6:30 PM; Perpetual Novena to the Sto.
Communion call the office to schedule a visit.
Nino; Prince of Peace, Friday 7:00 PM; 1st & 3rd Friday Adoration &;00 PM and
8:00 PM, Holy Land Institute.org, Pilgrimage ministry. Queen of Peacefounda- Anointing of the Sick: Any time upon request.
If a parishioner is seriously ill at home, please
tion.org, An independent Foundation created to serve the needy.
Brazilian Community: Every Second Sunday of the month at 8:00 AM is the inform the parish office regarding an immediate
visit for anointing.
Dizimo (tithing) Mass and Last Sunday of the Month: Grupo de Oracao
Masses are said in English, Brazilian, Arabic and Tagalog, see schedule
Holy Land Museum & Shroud of Turin Exhibit
Open 9-4:30 Monday-Friday
Funeral arrangements: Funeral
should contact Parish Office.
Director
Regular Activities (www.STMCHURCH.com)
Parish Council
Liturgy Committee
Legion of Mary
FLA Teen Group
Bible Study, 1 & Prayer
As Announced
As Announced
Tuesday, 6:00 PM
Saturday, 6:00 PM
Saturday, 7 PM at Alma Via
Bible Study 2,
Word of God
Family Social Night
Perpetual Novena: Sto. Nino
St Benedict’s Young Adult
Monday 7:00 PM
Thursday7:30 PM
Tuesdays, 8:00 PM
Third Friday, 7 PM
Bi-monthly, Sat. 2:00 PM-5PM
I have prepared my banquet, and everything is
ready. Come to the feast! (Matthew 22:1-14 [1-10]).
Next Weekend: For 8th Annual
International Food Festival Oct
25-26, 2014.This year's festival is a
Mass Intentions:
October 12th-18th 2014
10/12 Sun 10:00am Msgr. Labib Kobti
8:00pm People of STM
10/13 Mon 8:30am Ava Black †
10/14 Tue 5:30pm Jason Charles Hans †
10/15 Wed 8:30am Joseph Raymond †
10/16 Thurs 5:30pm Souls in Purgatory †
10/17 Fri
8:30am Pilar Obispo†
10/18 Sat
8:30am Venancio Ryes †
5:00pm Evelyn Baiby Aguilar †
Attending the Mass you offer is appreciated.
collaborative effort with church and St.
Thomas More School. Enjoy Cuisine
from around the world – Mid-Eastern, us and is for taking the time and
Burmese, Brazilian, Filipino, American, putting lots effort to keep the Bible
and more – along with games, and Study.
entertainment. Space is available for
*You Can Help Your Marriage vendors and volunteers! Please Retrouvaille (pronounced retro-vi with
call the office (415) 452-9634 for a long i) helps couples through diffiresponse from a member of the cult times in their marriages. For conFood Fest committee.
fidential information about or to register for the November program beginAlso during Festival Week- ning with a weekend on November 7end: The Visiting Relics of 9
call
415-893-1005
or
email:
[email protected]
or
visit
the
St Anthony of Padua will
be present at all Masses web at www.HelpOurMarriage.com.
on Oct 26th.
Movie Night in Scanlan Hall:
Tuesday Oct 14th at 7:30pm; Bring
the family to enjoy watching “The
Song of Bernadette”; there will be
popcorn & sodas. Movie night will
be every 2nd Tuesday of the
month!
*STM Bible Study Group every
Wed from 7PM to 9PM in Scanlan
Hall. We encourage all parishioners to attend-and it will be in English & Arabic. We extend our warm
appreciation
and
gratitude
to Father Bernard who will be with
Archdiocese of SF Celebrating
Year of Consecrated Life.
Pope Francis has declared 2015 the
Year of Consecrated Life. On
Monday evening, October
20th,
2014
there will be a
special Evening Prayer at 7pm in St Mary’s Cathedral. This prayer, presided by
Archbishop Cordileone, will open
events of the Year of the Consecrated Life. All the faithful are invited to
this special occasion, priests, religious, & laity.
All the sick people (to be
read during Masses):
Msgr. Labib Kobti, Mark Anthony Fajilagutan, Alex Luna, Mary Ann Philpott, Chantha Sayyasouk Gina Carranceja, Robert Hughes,
Fred Mendoza, Carmen dela Paz, lucy
Morales, Cristina G. Picazo, Maria
O’campo, Morgan Rohaly, Alfredo & Luz
Pena and all who are ill, homebound,
elderly & alone. We also pray for all the
deceased in our parish.
(Please call the office for names of people we should pray
for. To facilitate this process, names will be taken off after 3
weeks, Everyone is welcome to call the office & let us know of
people we should continue to pray for. We encourage renewing names to pray for more who are in need after 3 weeks.
Thanks .
Sunday Collections
Sept 28th
$4692.21
Oct 5th
$Will be provided next week
2nd Collection: Tithing
$Will be provided next week
Your contribution and donation
help us run your Church.
Thank you!
REGISTRATION SLIP FOR ST. THOMAS MORE CHURCH
REGISTRATION FORM
If you are new to the area and not yet registered at Saint Thomas More Parish,
we invite you to fill this out, cut it out and return it to the parish office/rectory or drop in the collection basket.
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love tenderly, and walk humbly with God. I will commit myself to this mission by my active & consistent presence at worship and financial giving even when I can’t be present.
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WORD OF LIFE OCTOBER 2014
“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to
me will never be hungry,
and whoever believes in me will never be
thirsty.”
A friend of mine did his doctoral dissertation on
food in the Bible. He pointed out that from Genesis
to n his Gospel John narrates that Jesus went to
Capernaum after the multiplication of the loaves,
and there, in his discourse on the bread of life, he
said: “Do not work for the food that perishes, but
for the food that endures for eternal life, which the
Son of Man will give you” (Jn 6:27).
For those who were listening to him it was
evident that he was speaking of manna and the
expectations of a “second” manna that would come
down from heaven during the Messianic times.
Shortly afterwards, in that same discourse, Jesus
presents himself to the crowd, which has not yet
understood, as the true “bread that comes down
from heaven” (Jn 6:51), which must be accepted
through faith: Jesus already sees himself as bread.
This, then, is the ultimate purpose of his life on
earth: to become bread in order to be eaten. To
become bread in order to communicate his life to
us,
to
transform
us
into
himself.
Up to this point the spiritual significance of
these words, with their references to the Old
Testament, is clear. But the discourse becomes
mysterious and difficult when further ahead Jesus
says of himself: “the bread that I will give for the life
of the world is my flesh”’ (Jn 6:51), and “unless you
eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you have no life in you”(Jn 6:53), It’s the
announcement of the Eucharist that scandalizes
and distances many disciples.
Yet this is Jesus’ greatest gift to humanity:
this intimate union with him present in the
sacrament of the Eucharist, which satisfies body
and soul and gives the fullness of joy. When we
are nourished by this bread, we no longer hunger,
in the sense that our every desire for love and truth
is satisfied by the one who is love itself, truth itself.
It is true, this bread nourishes us with him even
here on earth, and it is given to us in order that we
in turn satisfy the spiritual and material hunger of
the people around us.
Christ is proclaimed to the world not so
much through the Eucharist, but through the lives
of Christians nourished by the Eucharist and by the
Word. They preach the Gospel with their lives and
words, thereby bringing the presence of Christ in
the midst of other men and women.
The life of the Christian community, thanks to the
Eucharist, becomes the life of Jesus — a life
capable of giving love, the life of God, to others.
By using the image of bread, Jesus teaches us
the most authentic and most Christian way to love our
neighbor.
What does loving really mean?
Loving means “making ourselves one” with everyone,
making ourselves one in what others want, in the
smallest and most insignificant things, in things that
might not be very important to us but that others are
interested in.
Jesus gave us a stupendous example of this
way of loving by making himself “bread” for us. He
makes himself “bread” in order to enter within everyone,
to make himself edible, to make himself one with
everyone, to serve, to love everyone.
So we too should make ourselves one to the
point of allowing ourselves to be “eaten.”
This is love: making ourselves one in a way that makes
others feel nourished by our love, comforted, uplifted,
understood.
Chiara Lubich
****************************************************************
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
The confessional is a familiar se ng in literature
and drama. Everyone from Doestoevsky and
Shakespeare down the line to Seinfeld has used the
sacrament to tragic or comic eﬀect or to reveal
aspects of character otherwise hidden. All of this
theater, from world classics to slaps ck, has had a
numbing eﬀect on our own expecta ons, and has
skewed how the culture looks at us and our
struggle with sin and forgiveness, hope and healing.
Yet the ar sts are on to something. The
reconcilia on chapel is a place where hearts are
laid bare, where honesty is the watchword, and
people confess their deepest needs. It is also a
place of rebirth, or at least realignment. It is, like
the bap smal font, a place where something dies,
and where something else is born. Today, although
literature has barely caught up, the place is usually
not the dark and gloomy cabinet of old; rather it is
a chapel that speaks of peace, serenity, and the
comfort of a welcome home. People in one parish
were astonished recently to see their children
skipping with delight as they le the place of their
first confession. We have to wait a bit for world
literature to catch up with this reality, but at least
we can experience the joy of penance, the thrill of a
new beginning, the assurance of God’s love. —Rev.
James Field, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.
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