March 10, 2019
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First Sunday of Lent - Year C March 10, 2019 St. Anthony of Padua 3009 High Ridge Blvd. High Ridge, MO 63049 Business Hours Monday - Friday 7:30 A.M. - 2:30 P.M. Phone (636) 677-4868 Fax (636) 677-2781 Website www.stanthonyhr.org Pastor Father John Reiker Parish Mission Statement Our mission is to be on fire with the love of Jesus Christ, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, to celebrate our community of faith in the Eucharist and to share God’s love and mercy with our neighbors through our ministries and evangelization. Mass Schedule Sunday Saturday 5:00 P.M. Daily Sunday 8:30 A.M., 10:15 A.M. Monday - Friday 8:00 A.M Holy Days Confessions 8:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M. Saturday 4:20-4:50 P.M. RECTORY CLOSED ON ALL HOLY DAYS By appointment anytime Rectory Office Religious Instruction Marriages: Make arrangements with Father John Reiker Parish School of Religion Priest or Deacon of your choice no less Pastor ext. 102 Phone (636) 677-4868 ext 118 than six months prior to proposed [email protected] Grades (pre-K through 8) wedding date. Mrs. Kathy Joslin Parish Help Line: St. Vincent de Paul Deacon Richard L. Stevens [email protected] Adults - RCIA Society, 1-877-238-3228, ext. 3329 [email protected] Please contact: New Parishioners: Welcome! The Rectory Office 636-677-4868 ext. 100 Deacon Jim G’Sell Please register by contacting the [email protected] Sacramental Preparation rectory during business hours @ 677- 314-484-2055 4868 ext. 100 Baptism Preparation Meeting: Infant Mrs. Rusalyne Ahlemeyer Baptisms require parental attendance at Business Manager, ext. 104 Change of Address or Telephone: a meeting prior to baptism. Meetings Please call the rectory during business [email protected] will be held with the Pastor in the hours. 677-4868 ext. 100 Mrs. Jackie Dostal rectory. Call rectory office for Secretary, ext. 100 information 636-677-4868, ext. 100. Archdiocese of St .Louis Website: [email protected] Baptisms: After 10:15 AM Mass on a www.archstl.org Sunday of mutual arrangement. Call Cafeteria rectory office to schedule 636-677-4868, Catholic Elementary School: Ext. 212 ext. 100. All of our parish children who wish to For submissions to our facebook page, the attend a catholic elementary school Bulletin Deadline website, or our parish app may do so at the school of their choice Monday 9:00 a.m. the week you need it to be please email Mike and still remain parishioners of St. published in the bulletin. Notices must be at [email protected]. Or phone: 314 Anthony of Padua. Call rectory for submitted in writing: email text to details. -401-3334 [email protected]. Please allow several days for submission to be approved and posted. Thank You St. Anthony of Padua, High Ridge, MO Pastor’s Column JOURNEY TO THE FOOT OF THE CROSS - 10 THINGS TO REMEMBER FOR LENT 1. Remember the formula. The Church does a good job capturing certain truths with easy-to-remember lists and formulas: 10 Commandments, 7 sacraments, 3 persons in the Trinity. For Lent, the Church gives us al- most a slogan—Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving—as the three things we need to work on during the season. 2. It’s a time of prayer. Lent is essentially an act of prayer spread out over 40 days. As we pray, we go on a journey, one that hopefully brings us closer to Jesus Christ and leaves us changed by the encounter with him. 3. It’s a time to fast. With the fasts of Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, meatless Fridays, and our personal disciplines interspersed, Lent is the only time many Catholics these days actually fast. And maybe that’s why it gets all the attention. “What are you giving up for Lent? Hotdogs? Beer? Jelly beans?” It’s almost a game for some of us, but fasting is actually a form of penance, which helps us turn away from sin and toward Jesus Christ. 4. It’s a time to work on discipline. The 40 days of Lent are also a good, set time to work on personal disci- pline in general. Instead of giving something up, it can be doing something positive. “I’m going to exercise more. I’m going to pray more. I’m going to be nicer to my family, friends and coworkers.” 5. It’s about dying to yourself. The more serious side of Lenten discipline is that it’s about more than self- control – it’s about finding aspects of yourself that are less than Christ-like and letting them die. The suffering and death of Christ are foremost on our minds during Lent, and we join in these mysteries by suffering, dying with Jesus Christ and being resurrected in a purified form. 6. Don’t do too much. It’s tempting to make Lent some ambitious period of personal reinvention, but it’s best to keep it simple and focused. There’s a reason the Church works on these mysteries year after year. We spend our entire lives growing closer to God. Don’t try to cram it all in one Lent. That’s a recipe for failure. 7. Lent reminds us of our weakness. Of course, even when we set simple goals for ourselves during Lent, we still have trouble keeping them. When we fast, we realize we’re all just one meal away from hunger. In both cases, Lent shows us our weakness. This can be painful, but recognizing how helpless we are makes us seek God’s help with renewed urgency and sincerity. 8. Be patient with yourself. When we’re confronted with our own weakness during Lent, the temptation is to get angry and frustrated. “What a bad person I am!” But that’s the wrong lesson. God is calling us to be pa- tient and to see ourselves as he does, with unconditional love. 9. Reach out in charity. As we experience weakness and suffering during Lent, we should be renewed in our compassion for those who are hungry, suffering or otherwise in need. The third part of the Lenten formula is almsgiving. It’s about more than throwing a few extra dollars in the collection plate; it’s about reaching out to others and helping them without question as a way of sharing the experience of God’s unconditional love. 10. Learn to love like Jesus. Giving of ourselves in the midst of our suffering and self-denial brings us closer to loving like Jesus Christ, who suffered and poured himself out unconditionally on cross for all of us. Lent is a journey through the desert to the foot of the cross on Good Friday, as we seek him out, ask his help, join in his suffering, and learn to love like him. March 10, 2019 Lent “Lent is the favorable season for renewing our encounter with Christ, living in his Word, in the sacraments and in our neighbor.” -Pope Francis Dear Parish Family of St. Anthony, During Lent our community will participate in CRS Rice Bowl, a faith-in-action program that invites us to en- counter our neighbor, as companions on the journey, through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. As we prepare for this holy season, it is especially meaningful to come together in prayer as a family. Reflect- ing on the crosses of hunger, poverty and war carried by our brothers and sisters forced to flee their homes, we have an opportunity to also reflect on our roles in caring for them as members of our human family. Please take home a Rice Bowl and calendar (included inside) today and begin using this Ash Wednesday. We will collect your CRS Rice Bowl at the end of Lent. Thank you for participating in CRS Rice Bowl with your family. P.S. Did you know that CRS Rice Bowl has a web page specifically for families? Visit crsricebowl.org/ families for activities that will help your family grow in our Catholic faith this Lenten season. Lent and CRS Rice Bowl encounter Lent is a 40-day journey iof prayer, fasting and alms- giving. Each day during Lent, we have the opportu- nity to be inspired by the stories of people and com- Lent Companions munities from around the world, and to take time to set aside a little of ourselves to make room for a on the journey stranger. This Lent, CRS Rice Bowl invites you, your family and community to journey with Christ through fear to fortitude, recognizing God’s invitation to reach out beyond ourselves to encounter the needs of all. A NEW JOURNEY THIS YEAR! Use the calendar (inside your Rice Bowl) AND the CRS Rice Bowl app to help guide your Lenten jour- ney. ✞ Read and watch the Story of Hope as a family. ✞ Reflect on the social teachings of the Catholic Church. ✞ Share a meatless meal with your family. ✞ Make a weekly tax-deductible donation through the app. When you see the “phone” icon in the calendar, open the CRS Rice Bowl app to find additional con- tent. St. Anthony of Padua, High Ridge, MO Please consider these suggestions in your family’s Lenten plan: • Use your CRS Rice Bowl and Lenten Calendar daily to guide your prayer, fasting and almsgiv- Are you looking for hope? Inspiration? Spiritual ing. Guidance? Liguorian offers all this and more! Grow • Read the Stories of Hope and daily reflections to in your relationship with Christ through timely pas- inspire your Lenten journey - and guide your toral messages on matters of faith, practices, Chris- Lenten almsgiving.