Catholic News ServiceVatican Information ServiceReadings & Psalms |
BulletinsMay 13, 2012THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT We have a unique episode in the Acts of the Apostles today. A whole roomful of people are baptized with the Holy Spirit before they are baptized with water! The verb used—“the Holy Spirit ‘fell’ on them” (Acts 10:44)—is characteristic of the way the Spirit works throughout the book of Acts: powerful and surprising. Though this “baptism” is not the normative way the New Testament describes baptism, it is still a good reminder today that the Holy Spirit is not controlled by whether or not we pour water, but rather that our sacramental signs reveal the presence of the Spirit at work among us. And we have a double reinforcement of how this work is accomplished from a Letter and a Gospel bearing John’s name. [...] April 29, 2012RESPONDING TO THE CALL Do we truly know the voice of Christ? Do we truly respond to the voice of our shepherd with our own distinctive voice? How often we attempt to imitate those around us, appropriating the response of another member of the flock to Christ. Perhaps we need to balance the image of being sheep of one flock with the image from the second reading, which tells us that we are all children of God. What child has precisely the same interaction with parents as his or her siblings? Instead, they frequently do and say things to distinguish themselves in the eyes of their parents. [...] April 21, 2012Dear Brothers and Sisters, Sacred Heart is blessed to have so many wonderful, caring, and active parishioners. There were some truly extraordinary moments in our parish during Lent, Holy Week and Easter. Thank you’s need to be extended to several people — first but not least — Ed Silacci, of Swenson and Silacci Flowers, for once again providing the beautifully decorated Easter Cross in our sanctuary (pictured on the bulletin cover). Liturgies in a parish the size of ours are not accomplished by the priests alone. April 22, 2012DOUBT The desire to be able to prove the existence of a divinity has troubled humanity since human consciousness first became aware of the divine. To this very day we are fond of saying that any number of things—from sunsets to hot fudge sundaes—are “proof that there is a God.” We get so caught up in the story of “doubting Thomas” that we fail to notice that today’s Gospel gives us John’s account of Pentecost, the bestowing of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples following the Resurrection. Thomas, evidently, missed out not only on seeing the Risen Christ, but receiving the Holy Spirit as well. This is not to be taken lightly and, perhaps, makes Thomas’ disbelief a bit easier to comprehend. [...] April 8, 2012REJOICE AND BE GLAD During the first three or four centuries of Christianity, if you asked a Christian to name the feast days of the church, your answer would have been a puzzled stare, for there was only one feast: the Resurrection of the Lord. Every Sunday was a feast celebrating the one great feast. Even though our calendar now has many beautiful and holy feasts, we must continually be called back to the fact that all these other feasts exist because of the feast of Christ’s passover from death to life. The psalm today proclaims this message well: “This is the day.” It is not one of many days, but it is the day of all days, the one that gives all the others their origin, purpose, meaning, and destiny.
April 1, 2012HOLY WEEK For the Palm Sunday Gospel, we return to the Gospel according to Mark. The account of the Passion takes up nearly one-third of Mark’s entire Gospel and, of all the evangelists, he is the one who presents the details most graphically. He depicts the humanity of Jesus most intensely, describing his sufferings thoroughly. Mark portrays Jesus as a complete fulfillment of the “Suffering Servant” of Isaiah, the obedient, humble slave dying on a cross of whom Paul speaks in Philippians. But it is important to remember that we call this “Holy Week” and not “sad week” or “suffering week,” for each of the readings today, even the lamentations of the psalm, end in the promise of the strength and hope that is granted by God to those who faithfully give of themselves in love. [...]
March 25, 2012Thank you to everyone who helped make the St Patrick’s Day Dinner/Dance a success!! We would like to especially thank the committee: Gwen Gorman, Kathy Bullene, Linda Hoffman, and Marilyn Portschy for all of their hard work and effort. We appreciate the help given for set-up and clean-up by volunteers Marina Acosta, Lorenzo and Patty Nava, and Ryan Smith. We also thank Chuck DeBord and the Knights of Columbus for the excellent dinner, Zeph’s One Stop for their donated salads and Mike Hackett/Casa Sorrento for the beer and wine, to Mission Linen for the tablecloths and napkins, Praxair for the helium and Danilo Arboly for helping with odd jobs throughout the evening. We are grateful to Star Market for their advertising, and for the basket that was donated for our raffle. Other baskets were donated by the Central Coast Pediatric Dental Group, the Sherwood Tennis Center, Manzoni Winery, the Altar Society, the Pastoral Council, the Finance Council, Martha’s Helpers, Catholic Daughters, and the Italian Catholic Federation. The music provided by The Anthony Lane Band was excellent. If you missed it this year, mark your calendars now for next year – you don’t want to miss it again! March 18, 2012PARISH PANHANDLING POLICY FROM FR. IGNACIO “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.” (Proverbs 22:1-2) Sacred Heart Parish has always been a refuge in the community for the poor, be they the poor in spirit or the poor in possessions. Today, we continue to reach out to those in our community who are in need. We work in the spirit of our Catholic values- stewardship for God’s creation and the preservation of the dignity of the human person. [...] March 11, 2012TOTAL ALLEGIANCE In previous weeks we have seen how the theme of covenant—as a preparation for the baptismal covenant celebrated at Easter—occupies an important place in our cycle of Lenten readings. The notion of covenant as a relationship between two parties carries with it an expectation of mutual accountability and fidelity to the terms of the covenant. When God forged the covenant with the Jewish people on Mt. Sinai, it was a pledge of God’s protection, and it would forever permit them familiar access as the Chosen People. [...] March 4, 2012HISTORY OF SALVATION The first reading today continues the “history of salvation” narrative that we hear throughout Lent this year. Today’s story was among the best-loved in the Jewish tradition (surely Joseph told the story to young Jesus as he formed him in the ways of their faith); the early fathers of the Church were very fond of it as a means of explaining the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. The overall tone of the first reading, psalm, and second reading seems a little incongruous with the dazzling Gospel, until we remember that the Transfiguration was placed as the Gospel for this Sunday precisely to remind us of the glory that awaits those who live faithfully and obediently to the will of God. [...] |
Mass Schedule
|
