Hi All,
It's time for the mid-week scheduling!
1. Masses for next week. Currently the 5 number limit still applies. Here is the link to sign up for slots at Mass, which is also on the website. If you are sick, please refrain from signing up.
https://docs.google.com/
a) Wait to double-dip.
If you attended Mass this week, please wait until Saturday to sign up for the Masses next week. (I will keep the sheet free of this week's lucky ones until then.)
b) Spreading the word.
I and a few others are reaching out to those who are less than internet savvy; we should show a generous spirit to the others in our community. If you know of a member of the parish who is not on the email list and would appreciate knowing that Masses have some openings, feel free to let them know. You can even sign them up, if they would like you to.
c) Readers.
If you sign up and are able to read, please indicate it in parentheses after your name.
d) Regular schedule
Also, to simplify matters, I'll celebrate Masses according to the (almost) regular schedule. St. Anthony's 8 am Monday and 6 pm Tuesday; St. Elizabeth's 6 pm Wednesday, OLA 8 am Thursday and Friday.
2. Confessions
Here is the link for signing up for confession on Friday.
https://docs.google.com/
Please note that the morning ones are at OLA and the afternoon ones are in Bethel. Also, please know that I am available before and especially after Mass to hear confession, as well. Don't hesitate to ask. Canon law says that I can't refuse!
3. Finally, Mass Intentions. Sorry to have let this slip away from me a bit. Tuesday Mass was offered for the intentions of Robert Murphy, the seminarian who will be ordained a transitional deacon at the end of this month! Keep him in your prayers as he prepares for this major step in his life. Today's Mass was offered, fittingly enough, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life (by Mary Johnson)!
Reflection
(http://www.usccb.org/bible/
Well, perhaps those are enough of my words for today. Here is a reflection by a great doctor of the Church, St. Peter Chrysologus.
I appeal to you by the mercy of God. This appeal is made by Paul, or rather, it is made by God through Paul, because of God’s desire to be loved rather than feared, to be a father rather than a Lord. God appeals to us in his mercy to avoid having to punish us in his severity.
Listen to the Lord’s appeal: In me, I want you to see your own body, your members, your heart, your bones, your blood. You may fear what is divine, but why not love what is human? You may run away from me as the Lord, but why not run to me as your father? Perhaps you are filled with shame for causing my bitter passion. Do not be afraid. This cross inflicts a mortal injury, not on me, but on death. These nails no longer pain me, but only deepen your love for me. I do not cry out because of these wounds, but through them I draw you into my heart. My body was stretched on the cross as a symbol, not of how much I suffered, but of my all-embracing love. I count it no less to shed my blood: it is the price I have paid for your ransom. Come, then, return to me and learn to know me as your father, who repays good for evil, love for injury, and boundless charity for piercing wounds.
Listen now to what the Apostle urges us to do. I appeal to you, he says, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. By this exhortation of his, Paul has raised all men to priestly status.
How marvelous is the priesthood of the Christian, for he is both the victim that is offered on his own behalf, and the priest who makes the offering. He does not need to go beyond himself to seek what he is to immolate to God: with himself and in himself he brings the sacrifice he is to offer God for himself. The victim remains and the priest remains, always one and the same. Immolated, the victim still lives: the priest who immolates cannot kill. Truly it is an amazing sacrifice in which a body is offered without being slain and blood is offered without being shed.
The Apostle says: I appeal to you by the mercy of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Brethren, this sacrifice follows the pattern of Christ’s sacrifice by which he gave his body as a living immolation for the life of the world. He really made his body a living sacrifice, because, though slain, he continues to live. In such a victim death receives its ransom, but the victim remains alive. Death itself suffers the punishment. This is why death for the martyrs is actually a birth, and their end a beginning. Their execution is the door to life, and those who were thought to have been blotted out from the earth shine brilliantly in heaven.
Paul says: I appeal to you by the mercy of God to present your bodies as a sacrifice, living and holy. The prophet said the same thing: Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but you have prepared a body for me. Each of us is called to be both a sacrifice to God and his priest. Do not forfeit what divine authority confers on you. Put on the garment of holiness, gird yourself with the belt of chastity. Let Christ be your helmet, let the cross on your forehead be your unfailing protection. Your breastplate should be the knowledge of God that he himself has given you. Keep burning continually the sweet smelling incense of prayer. Take up the sword of the Spirit. Let your heart be an altar. Then, with full confidence in God, present your body for sacrifice. God desires not death, but faith; God thirsts not for blood, but for self-surrender; God is appeased not by slaughter, but by the offering of your free will.
May we generously offer our free will to God, our Father and Lord!
Peace,
Fr. Rensch