Our Lady Queen of Peace SUNDAY - February 8 8:30 am - MARGARET SMITH† (M/M John Horn) SOULS in PURGATORY† (Jimmy Ho) DARLENE ROGERS† (Margie Frazier) 11:00 am - PRO POPULO MONDAY - February 9 8:00am - MERRIANNE BICE-WRIGHT† by The OLQP Sixers BOB VACKER† (M/M John Horn) CODY ATCHLEY† (The Atchley Families) TUESDAY - February 10 8:00 am - Liturgy of the Hours WEDNESDAY - February 11 10:00am - ND Mass/church 6:15pm - FRANKLIN TOLENTINO† (M/M Jack Lavy) JOE KAPRAUN† (M/M John Kapraun) In Honor of The Blessed Mother (INT) THURSDAY - February 12 8:00am - ROLAND SIGLER, Sr.† (M/M John Kapraun) MARIA FRANCIA-Birthday INT (M/M Virgil Frando) GARY FRANCIA-Birthday INT (M/M Virgil Frando) FRIDAY - February 13 8:00 am - HOWARD WEIMAN† (M/M John Horn) BERNARD LAUER† (Deacon & Mrs. Jim Bindel) JOSE PADILLA† (Gilberto Jaramillo & Socorro Ortiz) SATURDAY - February 14 6:00 pm - DAVY TOLENTINO-Sp. INT (Rosalie Tolentino) FRANKLIN TOLENTINO†(M/M Larry Lebow) CHUCK LINDEMAN† (M/M Joe Lindeman ANN STEIGERWALD† (M/M Danny Lee) SUNDAY - February 15 8:30 am - HERBERT ELLIOTT† (Leola Elliott) GEORGE STUDDARD† (Caroline Studdard) FR. JIM MILLER† (M/M John Horn) 11:00 am - PRO POPULO WHEN IN DOUBT...CHECK US OUT olqpwf.org OLQP Catholic Church, Wichita Falls, Tx WEEKLY CONTRIBUTIONS February 1: .................................................... $10,866.30 Faith Direct January 4: ..................................................... $18,465.01 January 15: ................................................... $11,602.33 www.faithdirect.net (church code: TX420) Thank you for all the generous gifts that you provide for our parish. Please consider using our secure electronic giving program Faith Direct. Faith Direct will automatically process any offertory or second collection donations of your choosing. It is the most convenient way to make sure that the parish receives your gift regularly. No more checks to write or envelopes to worry about. You can sign up online at www.faithdirect.net using our church code: TX420, or by mailing a paper enrollment form available in the parish office. Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Those for Whom We Pray Parishioners, Family & Friends Ernie Adams*, Jan Albin*, Doug Allison, Nicholas Allison, Vic and Angie Allison, Dennis Anderson, Melissa Anderson, Ricky Arnold, Wanda Baltine, Elizabeth “Beth” Bater, Joan Baumann, Jo Bearden, Al Belgrado, Dick Belgrado, Tommy & Sheryl Berend, Jeanette Bilbay, Helen Bills, Pat Blake, Anna Bogart, Cyndi Boone, Glen Borgman, Francisco Borja, Rocky Bray, George Brosche, Ivy Cadotte, Marge Conklin, Joan Cook, Jeff Conrady, Ruth Copeland, Grace Ann Crocker, Mike Crumpton, Joe Cuba, Thomas Daniels, Fr. Chris Davis, Johnnie & Nellie Deal, Jenny Dixon, Faye Dominy, John & Lilian Dove, Mark Dreher, Terry Farris, Carol Faustina, Jathan Fields, Johnnie Fields, Jerry Fletcher, James & Marian Geary, Mary George, Lola Clyde Greaves, Courtney Shook Gysell, Mike Herrian, Jean Hoing, Dorothy Hughes, Don & Jean Isbell, Nelda Jansen, Eve Johnson, Jeremy Johnson, Mike Jozwiak, Jonathan Kegley, Travis Keith, John Kinsella, Bonnie Kocher, Anita Kortbawi, Marion Lauer, Marife Lee, Fred Lentz, Art Litteken, Shirley Litteken, Abel Mahesh, Cindy Majewski, Eloise Majewski, Rusty Maley, Ryan Maley, Owen & Pat Mansfield, Marilyn Marak*, Clara Mathe, Madelyn Matus*, Kristi Melsteade, Mike & Virginia Michonski, Vito Millazo, Carolyn Morath, Tina Morian, Dorothy “Dot” Myers, Dr. Sam Nilasena, Fr. James O’Toole, Geneva Pennartz, Joe Petz, Joe Petz, Jr., Nina Peysen, Michael Pitpit, Karen Poirot, Betty Pond, Mark Price, Dale Probst*, Rowdy Ramans, Aubrey Reaves, Eddie Richardson, Cathy Roberts, Lori Ross, Jaycob Rowland*, Janna Scarebrough, Nelda Schreiber, Charles Simons, Bette Skurkey, Jeff Smith, Linda Snyder, June Sphon*, Kathy Spyra, Patricia Ste. Marie, Danny Steed, Audrey Stephens, Stacey Stowe, Mary Lou Sweeney, Sister Devota Sweeney, Johanna Sweeney, Yvonne Talbot, Ida Toth, Don Thomas, Monica Vu, Dorothy Ward, Renea Ward, Josie Wheeler, Mary Wilson, Dorothy Wolf, David Lloyd Wright, Sr., Diane Wright, Signe Yelland, Adam York, Dan York, & Lucy York. * New this week Because of space limitations, names will be taken of the prayer list after 3 months. Please call the church office if you would like the name returned to the list. Thank you for your understanding. PRAY FOR PRIESTS THIS WEEK Listed below are the Priests of our Diocese for whom we are asked to pray for daily. 2/9 - Rev. John Stasiowski 2/10 - Rev. Robert Strittmatter 2/11 - Rev. John Swistovich 2/12 - Rev. Msgr. Francis Boakye Tawiah 2/13 - Rev. Robert Thames 2/14 - Rev. Ouseph Thekkaumthala 2/15 - Rev. George Thennattil, TOR Eternal Father, we lift up to You these and all the priests of the world. Sanctify them. Heal and guide them. Mold them into the likeness of Your Son, Jesus, the Eternal High Priest. May their lives be pleasing to You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Pray for Fort Worth Seminarians 2014-2015 In your daily prayers, please include the following seminarians on your list of people to pray for. Thank you for your support and generosity. 2/9 - Deacon Keith Hathaway 2/10 - Kevin Hathaway 2/11 - Stephen Hauck 2/12 - William Hayes 2/13 - Austin Hoodenpyle 2/14 - Ed Hopkins 2/15 - Thomas Jones INTENTIONS OF THE HOLY FATHER (for the Month of February) Universal: Prisoners; That prisoners, especially the young, may be able to rebuild lives of dignity. For Evangelization: Separated spouses; That married people who are separated may find welcome and support in the Christian community. SUNDAY - February 8 9:45am - R.E. Classes (grades K-6)/NDE School Discovery (Middle School)/PH 3:00pm - First Eucharist Parent Mtg./NDE Cafe 5:30pm - Confirmation Class/PH 6:00pm - Men’s CRHP Formation/NDE Café MONDAY - February 9 3:00pm - Chaplet of Divine Mercy/church TUESDAY - February 10 Intercessory Prayer Group after Liturgy of the Hours/ church 1:00pm - ND Liturgical Singing/church 3:00pm - Chaplet of Divine Mercy/church 7:00pm - Bible Study/NDE Cafe WEDNESDAY - February 11 9:00am - Bible Study/CR 3:00pm - Chaplet of Divine Mercy/church 4:00pm - Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament (until 6pm)/church 5:30pm - Pray the Rosary/church 7:00pm - Verso L’alto/PH Women’s CRHP/NDE café THURSDAY - February 12 3:00pm - Chaplet of Divine Mercy/church 7:00pm - R.C.I.A./ NDE café FRIDAY - February 13 3:00pm - Chaplet of Divine Mercy/church SUNDAY - February 15 9:45am - R.E. Classes (grades K-6)/NDE School Discovery (Middle School)/PH 6:00pm - Men’s CRHP Formation/NDE Café (Rite of Election) (SJR-St. Joseph Room; HFC-Holy Family Chapel; PH-Parish Hall; NDE Cafe-Notre Dame Elementary Cafeteria; NDHS - NDHigh School; CR-Conference Room; WR-Workroom; BR-Brides Room; MR-Music Room) February 8, 2015 Parish Activities We are just a few months from completion of our Family Life Center and close to reaching our goal. Please continue to pray for the safety and success for this wonderful project that will help to grow the needs of our parish family. If you have not made a pledge, we ask that you prayerfully consider making a commitment. We hope that everyone will participate in this endeavor to build a space that help to increase the needs of our parish and community. To increase or extend your pledge, please use the blue Pledge Increase-Extension cards located in the Narthex. Thank you to those who have given additional above their pledged amount. If you are pledging for the first time, please use the white Pledge cards also located in the Narthex. PLEDGE UPDATE as of: December 28, 2014 GOAL: $3,000,000 AMOUNT PLEDGED: $2,869,321.68 (Includes $825,000 received in Grants) AMOUNT COLLECTED: $2,487,451.84 # of Families Pledged: 469 (includes additional pledges) All E-Giving will be done through ‘Faith Direct’ our online giving program. Online enrollment forms are available in the Narthex. Or go directly to www.faithdirect.net to enroll. For the Capital Campaign online enrollment, use Church Code: TX508. To afford the greatest tax benefits for our parish, Campaign gifts are processed through the Diocese of Ft. Worth Advancement Corporation. Prayer Shawl Ministry will meet Tuesday Feb. 17th (Fat Tuesday) at 9:30 a.m. in the Nursery and Thursday Feb. 19th at 7:00 p.m. in the Parish Hall. • • • Change of Address or Other Information Please email: [email protected] or call the church office if you are moving away, changing parishes or if any of your contact information has changed. This will help to keep our records current. • • • Year of Consecrated Life Pope Francis proclaimed 2015 a Year of Consecrated Life, which began on the First Sunday of Advent, and will continue until February 2, 2016, the World Day of Consecrated life. Let us continue to pray for an increase in vocations to the Priesthood and Consecrated Life that more young men and women will have the courage to follow a call from God to serve in the Church. St. Therese of Lisieux lived in a Carmelite convent with her older sister Pauline. Pauline was with Therese throughout her brief life, illness, and death at the tender age of 24. It is no accident that Jesus sent out his disciples in pairs. Having a spiritual companion, as Therese did, can be of great help and comfort on the sometimes difficult spiritual journey. Cultivate spiritual friendships in your own life. —-Take Five for Faith Let us pray for religious sisters, brothers, priests, nuns, and others who have chosen to consecrate their lives to God in this special way; Let us celebrate the faith, hope, and charity that their lives give witness to; Let us invite others to consider this joyful form of discipleship. Amen. • • • Men in Christ Men of the Parish: Do you have a desire to grow as a Christian man? Come join the MEN in CHRIST as we pray, explore Scripture together and support one another in our Christian walk. Meet us in the Conference Room each Saturday (except 2nd Saturday of the month) at 7:30am. Call Jack at 696-0741. Divine Mercy Chaplet is prayed Monday through Friday at 3 o’clock in the church. Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament: Every Wednesday from 4pm until 6pm in the church. Also every First Friday from 8:30am until 6pm in the church. Pray the Rosary every Wednesday at 5:30pm. • • • A Charismatic Prayer Meeting Sunday afternoons at 4:00 Youth Ministry chapel at Sacred Heart Church (upstairs in the Pastoral Annex) call Jack at 696-0741 or Manuel at 322-5958 • • • OLQP Men’s Club Next meeting: Monday - March 2, 2015 ALL Men of our Parish ages 18 and older are members and are highly encouraged to attend monthly meetings. (First Monday of the month @ 7pm in the Parish Hall). NO Membership Fees. Call Mike Carlton, President for more info: 696-9162 Daily Readings Monday - Gn 1:1-19 * Mk 6:53-56 Tuesday - Gn 1:20—2:4a * Mk 7:1-13 Wednesday - Gn 2:4b-9, 15-17 * Mk 7:14-23 Thursday - Gn 2:18-25 * Mk 7:24-30 Friday - Gn 3:1-8 * Mk 7:31-37 Saturday - Gn 3:9-24 * Mk 8:1-10 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Lv 13:1-2, 44-46 * 1 Cor 10:31—11:1 * Mk 1:40-45 INTERFAITH MINISTRIES Hunger and Food Insecurity is a Serious Fact. The Need is dire and year round. Please be generous with your donation of food. December Food Donations: 2,550 pounds Current Needs: Soup (10 ¾ oz. size), Crackers, Oatmeal, Canned Vegetables, Dried Beans (small bags), Jelly, Peanut Butter, Pasta (dry), Rice (small bags), Canned Spaghetti Sauce, Mac & Cheese, Cereal. Toiletries: Body Soap, Laundry Detergent, Deodorant & toothpaste. Paper Products: Toilet Tissue, Paper Towels, Kleenex. Eyeglasses: prescription or reading glass that you don’t need. These items go fast. Place items in the basket located in the Narthex. Every bit helps families with real needs in Wichita County and Holliday. • • • St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store 1516 Beverly Drive (723-4971) St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store is in need of Volunteers. If you have time and have been looking to join a ministry, please consider becoming a volunteer there. Come see the huge selection of items that are available. Like us on Facebook: Wichita Falls St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store. Our Lady Queen of Peace Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Parish Announcements Kid’s Corner Sister Ginny says…. Early in the morning Jesus rose to pray. Probably it was 4 o’clock, but it’s hard to really say. He tried to be alone then and allow the Father to give him peace and fill his heart with love for everyone he’d meet. But he wasn’t alone for very long Because crowds came rushing near to bring their sick for healing and for the good news they longed to hear. Can you imagine how he met them? How he treated each one with love? They knew they’d been touched and healed with grace that comes from heaven above. So, children, always look for Jesus as those folks did back then and you’ll be touched as they were for he’ll always be your friend. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! Ask how you can help! Be a part of our outreach to the community in our efforts to End Poverty in our Diocese. Wednesday, Feb. 11th 12pm-1pm (Lunch will be provided - RSVP required) Sacred Heart Parish Hall Come learn about our Northwest services, expansion and programs. Bring a Friend! Contact: Susan Cronin (940) 716-9669 • • • Safe Environment Sessions for 2015 All sessions will be held in the Church office conference room at 4040 York St. Contact the parish office at 940-696-1253 for more information or to sign-up. Wednesday; April 8 @ 7pm - Initial Saturday; April 11 @ 9am - Update At Sacred Heart church (940-723-5288) Thursday; March 12 @ 6:30pm - Update Saturday; March 14 @ 9am - Initial • • • Be sure to see the back of our bulletins when you are in need of a product or service. Our bulletin advertisers make it possible for our parish to have a bulletin at no cost. If you are interested in adding your business to the spaces available, please contact Thom Miner, 512-4523413 or email: [email protected]. Christ Renews His Parish Renewal Weekend Women: Feb. 28 and Mar. 1 Men: Mar. 7 and 8 Christ Renews His Parish is designed to lead us to that friendship and to afford us the opportunity to grow in it. Through the power of the Holy Spirit the Good News of Jesus is proclaimed and lived, transforming individuals, communities and their structures, liberating them from sin through word and sacrament and by service for justice and peace, and initiating or deepening a commitment to Jesus and active membership in our Parish Community. Come and Experience this awesome invitation from your Lord! Pick up a registration form in the Narthex, call the church office or sign up online: www.olqpwf.org He’s a friend who’ll never leave you whether you are asleep or you’re awake. He cares for you no matter what. He watches over every breath you take. So trust him, allow him to love you. You’ll be glad you did! Rachel Ministries Through healing from post-abortion trauma, despair gives way to hope, isolation gives way to connectedness, and hatred of others and self gives way to the capacity and desire for authentic, self-giving love. - Forbidden Grief, by Theresa Burke, Ph.D. There is hope! We can help. Rachel Ministries • 817-923-4757 Next Retreat April 10 February 8, 2015 For more information Call Greg Brown 696-1253 [email protected] Registration forms and calendar available online at www.olqpwf.org (Please note that a Form A for 14/15 must be completed for this school year if not yet completed through our summer activities since June of 2014. Form A will be kept on file until it expires in May of 2015 so that you only have to fill it out once per year per child. Form B must be filled out additionally for each event youth participate in thought the year.) • • • Discovery (Middle School Ministry) Discovery: Feb 8, Feb 15 Verso L’alto (High School Ministry) Feb 11 • • • Confirmation sessions 5:30p-7p in the Parish Hall *please note the change of a date from the original scheduled, email Greg for a updated complete schedule Feb 8 (C) - Feb 22 (C) - March 1 (C/P) (C)-Candidates attend, (P)-Parent(s) attend • • • Middle School Diocesan Youth Rally (7th-8th graders) “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” Saturday February 21st 10:30-8:30 (Bus will leave at 8:15a and return around 10:45p) Join MS youth from all across our Fort Worth Diocese for a day filled with FAITH, games, PRAYER, music and a talk by the incrediable Catholic muscian and speaker Steve Angrisano at Most Blessed Sacrament in Arlington. $35 includes lunch, dinner, a tshirt and a day you wont soon forget! Registration and $ are due February 10th, no exceptions. See website, office or Narthex for paperwork. • • • New OLQP Catholic Youth t-shirts available in the office! Suggested Donation: $15 per t-shirt • • • YOUNG ADULTS (21-35 single and married) Please contact Greg Brown at 940 247 1721 • • • ** We are in need of 5 more adults to serve Verso L’alto as Faith Coaches (small group leaders). For more information please see www.olqpwf.org/how-to-help or contact Greg • • • Keep up with what’s going on at www.olqpwf.org/youth “The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.” — Saint Gregory the Great Adult Formation The Rite of Christian Initiation R.C.I.A Inquirer Classes meet on Thursdays at 7pm in the NDES Cafeteria All are Welcome (even if you are already Catholic) to the Inquiry Sessions to learn more about the Catholic Faith. Call Deacon Jim at 696-1253 if you are interested. Feb. 12 - The Sacrament of Holy Orders Rite of Sending, Election and Call to Continuing Conversion - Observance of Lent Feb. 15 - Rite of Sending - 8:30am Mass (OLQP church) Rite of Election & Call to Continuing Conversion - 2:30pm (OLQP church) Feb. 18 - Ash Wednesday (attend 8am or 7pm Mass) Feb. 19 - The Temptation of Jesus in the Desert Feb. 26 - The Transfiguation • • • Divorced and Re-married? If you are divorced and remarried outside of the Catholic Church without a Decree of Invalidity, or if you are married outside of the Catholic Church, you may not partake of the Sacraments, including the reception of Holy Communion. Until it is shown otherwise through the ministry of the Tribunal, no person is free to enter into another marriage without the appearance or occasion of serious sin. A divorce alone would not affect, or hinder in any way, your participation in the Catholic Church. A divorced Catholic is free to receive the sacraments. However, if you are divorced and have remarried, or if you are divorced and in a new relationship, or if you are living with someone without a Decree of Invalidity (and your former spouse is still living) you may not partake of the sacraments, including the reception of Holy Communion). Consider seeking a Decree of Invalidity which will enable you to return to a full participation in the sacramental life of the Church. For more information contact Deacon Larry Bills at the Church office at 696-1253. • • • Worldwide Marriage Encounter This Sunday is World Marriage Day which honors husband and wife as the foundation of the family. Commit to making your marriage a priority in your lives and let your marriage relationship give glory to God. Strengthen, renew, and rekindle your marriage sacrament by attending a Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend on Apr. 10-12, 2015. Dates fill fast. To apply, visit our website at: http://www. dfwme.org/apply. For more information e-mail [email protected] or call 469-444-0904. Para mas informacion de Encuentro Matrimonial en Espanol, escriba a [email protected] o visite http://www.seccion15.org/ Natural Family Planning Classes Did you know that… when used properly, Natural Family Planning is 99% effective at postponing pregnancy? The Couple to Couple League is offering NFP classes at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Wichita Falls, Texas. This is a 3-part class, and the next class series will take place on Sundays from 1:30-4:30pm in the Berend Room. If you would like to sign up for this class or any other upcoming classes, please go to www.ccli.org and fill out the online registration form. If you have any questions, you may contact Lauren Morath at (940)544-2515 orlmorath@ srcaccess.net. Intercessory prayer - a double blessing When we pray for others, we offer powerful help for someone in need. It’s the best action we can take for others. Intercessory prayer is also a gift for the one who prays. Prayers of friends can save. Remember when a groups of friends lowered a paralyzed man through a roof so Jesus could cure him (Mark 2:1-12)? Jesus was clearly touched by their devotion. His usual response when asked for healing was, “your faith has saved you.” This time he said, “The faith of your friends has save you.” Place friends’ needs before Jesus. In the Gospel story, Jesus changed the man’s life and amazed all who watched. Imagine the kind of difference we can each make when we ask Jesus to help our friends. Prayer blesses both the one who prays and the one prayer for. Those for whom we pray are blessed by the positive effect of our prayers. We are also blessed by the connections prayers gives us to God and by seeing the results of our prayers. Our Lady Queen of Peace Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Growing in Faith Dear Padre! What does the Church teach about predestination? A friend told me not to worry about salvation because we’re predestined to be saved or condemned. Why try to be a good person if God has already decided where I’ll end up? The idea that some people are predestined to be saved and others are damned is contrary to Catholic teaching. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that “When therefore [God] establishes his eternal plan of ‘predestination,’ he includes in it each person’s free response to his grace [600; emphasis added]. The Catechism (1038) also cites the parable of the separation of the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31-46), in which the sheep and goats are separated not randomly, but based on their actions: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory,…all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father’.…And [those on the left] will go off to eternal punishment.” God wants to save all people. The way we respond to God’s gift of salvation is called free will. Unfortunately, not everyone accepts that gift. FR. PATRICK KEYES, CSsR [email protected] GOOD NEWS! FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Jb 7:1-4, 6-7 / 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23 /Mk 1:29-39 Illness, depression, and misfortune can make us feel alone and afraid. We wonder whether anyone can understand what we’re going through or help us. The first five chapters of Mark’s Gospel give us several healing stories in which Jesus, by touch or word, restores individuals to wholeness. He casts out demons, as we heard last week. He cures the sick, like Simon’s motherin-law. The stories confirm what our faith tells us—that God’s healing power is for all people and that Good News lifts us and gives us joy. But for those touched by the loneliness of infirmity of mind, body, or spirit, the stories alone might not be enough. Instead, the fervent prayer of the psalmist might be our grace: “The Lord…[heals] the broken-hearted” (Psalm 147:2-3). Or, our peace might rest in the simple knowledge of two often overlooked lines in the Gospel: “They brought him many who were possessed by demons” (Mark 8:16) and “The whole town was gathered at the door” (Mark 1:33). Simply put, everyone came, and no one was alone. No matter what our condition, we are not alone. Christ is there in our pain and suffering to give us the grace to endure. We’re not always cured by human standards, but Christ helps us find wholeness no matter what we suffer—and in him we find our peace and our joy. Isaiah told us that the name given to the Messiah was Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” In Christ, we see the evidence that God’s promise has come true. Mary Katharine Deeley [email protected] Bulletin News: (Please note NEW deadline) Bulletin items must be submitted by NOON on the Friday prior to the following Weekend (or the Thursday before if Friday is a holiday/ holy day). Items MUST have proper approval for publication. FREE MASS TIMES APP - for when you’re away! The Catholic Directory iPhone App is FREE and will quickly find the churches nearest to you, including Mass Times, Web sites, Maps, Directions, Staff, Bulletins, and other important information. Powered by TheCatholicDirectory.com FEAST and CELEBRATIONS February 10: St. Scholastica (patron saint of Nuns) Twins often share the same interests and ideas with an equal intensity. Therefore, it is no surprise that Scholastica and her twin brother, Benedict (July 11), established religious communities within a few miles from each other. Scholastica and Benedict gave themselves totally to God and gave top priority to deepening their friendship with him through prayer. They sacrificed some of the opportunities they would have had to be together as brother and sister in order better to fulfill their vocation to the religious life. In coming closer to Christ, however, they found they were also closer to each other. In joining a religious community, they did not forget or forsake their family but rather found more brothers and sisters. “All religious are under an obligation, in accordance with the particular vocation of each, to work zealously and diligently for the building up and growth of the whole mystical body of Christ and for the good of the particular churches. It is their duty to foster these objectives primarily by means of prayer, works of penance, and by the example of their own lives” (Vatican II, Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops, 33, Austin Flannery translation). February 11: Our Lady of Lourdes (patron saint of Bodily Ills) Lourdes has become a place of pilgrimage and healing, but even more of faith. Church authorities have recognized over 60 miraculous cures, although there have probably been many more. To people of faith this is not surprising. It is a continuation of Jesus’ healing miracles—now performed at the intercession of his mother. Some would say that the greater miracles are hidden. Many who visit Lourdes return home with renewed faith and a readiness to serve God in their needy brothers and sisters. There still may be people who doubt the apparitions of Lourdes. Perhaps the best that can be said to them are the words that introduce the film The Song of Bernadette: “For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.” February 14: Sts. Cyril and Methodius (patron saint of Slavic Peoples) Holiness means reacting to human life with God’s love: human life as it is, crisscrossed with the political and the cultural, the beautiful and the ugly, the selfish and the saintly. For Cyril and Methodius much of their daily cross had to do with the language of the liturgy. They are not saints because they got the liturgy into Slavonic, but because they did so with the courage and humility of Christ. “Even in the liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters which do not involve the faith or the good of the whole community. Rather she respects and fosters the spiritual adornments and gifts of the various races and peoples.... Provided that the substantial unity of the Roman rite is maintained, the revision of liturgical books should allow for legitimate variations and adaptations to different groups, religions, and peoples, especially in mission lands” (Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 37, 38). Why Catholics Fast But emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross. Philippians 2:7-8 WHENEVER WE ARE invited to a banquet or to someone’s home for dinner, we do not eat a big lunch late in the afternoon or stop for a hamburger on the way to their house. Instead, we hold back from eating so that we have room for and can enjoy the “feast” our host puts before us. In the same way, we fast before receiving holy Communion as a symbolic way of preparing ourselves to appreciate the spiritual nourishment of the Lord’s body and blood. • • • Why do Catholics follow bishops? After his resurrection, Jesus sent his Apostles on a universal mission: “’Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…and teaching them to observe all the all I have commanded you’” (Matthew 28:19-20). The Apostles left bishops as their successors to continue teaching the faith. The pope and the bishops form the Magisterium, guided by the Holy Spirit, protects Church teaching from serious mistakes and teaches us how to live our faith. February 8, 2015 Community News Counseling Services Working in partnership with Sacred Heart and Our Lady Queen of Peace, Catholic Charities Fort Worth provides counseling services at Sacred Heart Monday through Friday from 5:30pm to 7:30pm to assist individuals and families: -Through the challenges of raising a child -Resolving marital conflict -Coping with depression, anxiety, and the stresses of daily life Let us help you find hope and healing. Contact the Clinical Counseling program with Catholic Charities at 940-716-9669 or speak to your parish office for more details. • • • The St. Joseph Health Care Trust assists individuals who are medically uninsured/underinsured and who meet eligibility criterion. This includes assistance with prescriptions, dental services, physician visits, and other services. For more information please call Stella at (940) 552-0347. (This program is administered through Catholic Charities, Diocese of Fort Worth.) • • • Immigration Consultations in Wichita Falls This opportunity allows you to have an immigration consultation with an immigration attorney or a Board of Immigration Appeals accredited representative without traveling outside of Wichita Falls. Our professionals will serve you via video from our main office in Fort Worth. You will be speaking privately and confidentially with an authorized person qualified to evaluate your situation and give immigration legal advice. Location: Sacred Heart Catholic Church (1504 Tenth Street, Wichita Falls) Open by appointment: Thursdays and Saturdays Schedule an appointment: 817.289.2801 Cost of the consultation: $30
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