Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church & School

Downloadable Weekly Bulletin

Sunday,  March 7, 2010 – Third Sunday of Lent

From the Pastor

ALTERNATE OPENING PRAYER OF THE MASS FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY OF LENT reminds us again of the discipline of Lent… Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving.  This prayer might be included in your daily prayer this week.  Let us pray to the Father and ask Him to form a new heart within us.

            God of all compassion, Father of all goodness, heal the wounds our sins and selfishness bring upon us.  You bid us to fasting, prayer and sharing with our brothers and sisters.  We acknowledge our sinfulness, our guilt is ever before us.  When our weakness causes discouragement, let Your compassion fill us with hope and lead us to a Lent of repentance to the beauty of Easter joy.  Grant this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

BISHOP KICANAS WILL SHARE AN INFORMATIVE TALK THIS WEDNESDAY EVENING:  The Consistent Ethic of Life Committee sponsored lecture will be this Wednesday evening, March 10th.  Bishop Kicanas will celebrate the 6:30 pm Peace and Justice Mass and will speak afterwards on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ position regarding Capital Punishment.  This informative talk will be begin promptly at  7:00 pm after the Mass.

            For more than 25 years the Catholic bishops have called for an end to the death penalty in our land.  “Respect for all human life and opposition to the violence in our society are at the root of our long-standing position against the death penalty.  We see the death penalty as perpetuating a cycle of violence and promoting a sense of vengeance in our culture.  “We cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing.” (Quoted from the U.S. Bishop’s Good Friday Appeal to End the Death Penalty).  While Bishop Kicanas will speak specifically to capital punishment and the death penalty, he will reflect on how the continuum of the precious gift of human life is to be reverenced, protected and regarded within the framework of the consistent ethic of life.

            Please join us and participate and learn about our Catholic Social Teaching and how we can have respect for all life and about the need to end the death penalty.

PARISH MISSION – “THE WORD OF GOD IS LIVING AND ACTIVE, SHARPER THAN ANY TWO-EDGED SWORD.” (HEBREWS 4:12):  Steve Binz, a very well regarded Scriptural scholar and lay man will present our Parish mission on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the week before Holy Week…March 22nd, 23rd, and 24th.  Steve will introduce the mission at all the Masses on the weekend of March 20th & 21st.  Details of the Mission: Monday – Wednesday morning, after the 8:30 am Mass, at approximately 9:30 am (after Mass refreshments) through approximately 11:00 am each day the morning session will be presented.  The evening Mission session will commence each of those days at 7:15 pm.  The evening Mission session will be conducted within the context para-liturgical scripture service.

            The following are the themes for each of the three days.  Monday, March 22nd: Becoming rooted in the Word of God, emphasizing the role of scripture for the life of Christian discipleship.  Tuesday, March 23rd:  Learning to converse with God in scripture, emphasizing the tradition and practice of Lectio Divina.  Wednesday, March 24th:  Experiencing God’s revelation and creation, emphasizing the ways God speaks to us in the created world and our challenge to care for the gift of the earth.

            Steve is the author of more than 30 books on the Bible, including the new series, “Threshold Bible Study”.  His popular book “Conversing with God in Scripture” which is a contemporary approach to Lectio Divina…praying with the scriptures, will be available for purchase during the Mission days.  Steve has studied at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and Hebrew University in Jerusalem.  The Mission theme will be Biblical Spirituality and “Stewardship of the Earth”.

            Our annual Mission each year is two weeks prior to Easter and is a special Lenten opportunity for the Lord to… Create a new heart within me, and renew me with a steadfast spirit.  Parishioners are encouraged to reserve these dates for this special renewal opportunity.

LOOPING IN THE CHURCH:  The Parish is presently exploring the possibility of installing a loop in a section of the Church for those who are hard of hearing who use hearing aids.  The looping technology sends out a wireless signal to certain hearing aids and the recipients can hear speech clearly because sound will be delivered directly from the source without any background noise.  A special 2:00 pm meeting for the users of hearing aids will take place in the Church on next Sunday afternoon, March 14th.  Hearing aid users in the Parish are encouraged and invited to this special meeting.  Discover how your hearing aid can be looped in Church.

THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION/CONFESSION: This is the title of the green brochure included in this bulletin.  It outlines a very helpful process to prepare yourself to celebrate well the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and to have a greater and deeper understanding of this important Sacrament of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation.  Please save this outline and take a little time reflecting on its contents.

            The availability of copies of the brochure in the vestibule of the Church over these past weeks and their replacement at certain intervals because of demand has made it wise for the Parish to make them available to our Parishioners through the Sunday bulletin.  I brought the original outline of the brochure from Lourdes and re-worked it for application to our Parish setting.  Again please save the copy from the bulletin for your future reference and prayerful reflection.

            The light is on every Tuesday evening from 7-7:30 pm and Wednesday evenings from 6-6:25 pm during the Lenten season for the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the Reconciliation/Confession rooms in the Church.  Saturday times are 4-5 pm and 7-7:30 pm.

ANNUAL CATHOLIC APPEAL 2010 - To Love and Serve One Another: “This is how all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)  The Annual Catholic Appeal continues to progress - $65,307 or 53% of our goal -  but we still await a response from many of our Parishioners to meet our Parish goal of $124,250.  Will you do your part to help provide medical care to the poor?  Will you help educate our future priests?  Will you lend a helping hand to our retired priests?  Will you help prepare and train lay leaders for different ministries in our Diocese?  Please give generously to the Annual Catholic Appeal.  Your gift makes a difference and does a world of good!