June 30, 2019 Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

ORDINARY FAMILIES

EXTRAORDINARY FAITH

ST. BENILDE ROMAN 1901 Division Street • Metairie, 70001 Church Office: (504) 834-4980 • Church Fax: (504) 831-5810 • Church Email: [email protected] www.stbenilde.org

DEVOTIONS CLERGY MASS TIMES Holy Hour in Church Rev. Robert T. Cooper, Pastor Saturday Vigil … 4 p.m. Monday, 6:00-7:00 p.m. Rev. H.L. Brignac, Sacramental Asst. Sunday … 9:00, 11:00 a.m. & 6 p.m.

Deacon Biaggio DiGiovanni Monday—Friday … 7:00 a.m. Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Deacon Stephen Gordon Monday and Thursday … 5:30 p.m. Following 7 a.m. Mass on Tuesday Deacon Clifford Wright First Saturday … 8:45 a.m.

NEWCOMERS BAPTISMS HOLY DAYS OF OBLIGATION Call the Parish Office to receive a New First and Third Sundays of the month See Inside the Bulletin for Schedule Parishioner Registration Packet. at 12 Noon. Please call the Parish

Office for more information. CONFESSION TIMES ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY Saturday … 3:00—3:45 p.m. St. Benilde Conference MATRIMONY Sunday … 5:00—5:45 p.m. (504) 233-3246 Please contact a priest/deacon Monday … 6:00—6:45 p.m. 8 months prior to your wedding. and by appointment at the Parish Office ST. BENILDE SCHOOL Mr. Thomas Huck, Principal FUNERALS DIVINE MERCY ADORATION CHAPEL 1801 Division Street • Metairie, LA Arrangements may be made at the Eucharistic Adoration from 7:00 p.m. Sunday (504) 833-9894 Parish Office. till 4:00 p.m. Saturday St. Benilde Catholic Church

Ministers of the Liturgy The Church Sanctuary Lamp burns in memory of June 29 & 30, 2019 The Souls in Purgatory Saturday - 4 P.M. Intention: David Hebert (L), Joy Koch (L), Hubert LaBorde, William Roa, Duane Koch (L), Joseph Segari, George Spaulding, Ruth Stengle, The Blessed Mother Melissa Mendel Zimmerman, Pete Muscarello, Jr., Votive Lamps burn Ebling Family, Austin Burroughs, Flora Maria Be, Merle & Charles Dittmer, Patrick McKinney For Reparations for Sins Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion: C. Casente, L. Segari

Cantor: Kevin Rouchell Organist: Jared Croal The St. Joseph Votive Lamps Sunday - 9 A.M. burn for a Intention: June & Marvin Ackermann (L) Special Intention Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion: R. Meche, B. O’Hara, C. Rispoli, B. Soleto Song Leaders: Traditional Choir

Sunday - 11 A.M. Adoration Chapel Intention: Marie Ales, Barbara Marcade, Sanctuary Lamp burns Judy O’Connell, Paul J. Hymel, Jr., Doug Jones (L), in memory of Lydianne Barousse Greig, Duane Koch (L), Lynette LeDuff Thanksgiving for Padre Pio & Blessed Seelos, Joseph Donald Bernard, Poor Souls, Noella Balint (L), O’Sullivan & Zito Families Adoration Chapel Candles Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion: burn in memory of J. Hutchison, J. Hutchison, S. Gordon, L. Peters Song Leaders: Contemporary Choir Stuart & Gloria Fourroux

Sunday - 6 P.M. Intention: Parishioners Altar Ladies Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion: Week of June 30 D. Childers, D. Powers L. Hart, Y. Morise, M. Surcouf Cantor: Lauren Gisclair Pianist: Beth Kettenring

Weekday Masses Linens Monday 7:00 a.m. Mary Lynn McShane Large - L. Ducrow 5:30 p.m. Finnian Jude Blaylock (L) Small - S. Holliday Tuesday 7:00 a.m. Charles Montgomery, Sr. Wednesday 7:00 a.m. Denise Theriot (L) Thursday 7:00 a.m. Lastenia Alvarez 5:30 p.m. Judith Theisges The Altar Flowers are in Friday 7:00 a.m. Mercedes Cabrera memory of Saturday 8:45 a.m. Rosary & Altar Society Deceased Parishioners

Parish Motto—Building the Kingdom of God St. Benilde Catholic Church Volume 37 Issue 26

Extraordinary Ministers Stewardship of Treasure of Holy Communion Weekend of June 22 & 23 Envelopes …………………………………...$3,177.00 July 6/7 Loose ………………………………………….1,382.00 Electronic Giving ………………………………636.00 4 PM L. Segari, K. Hartdegen Repairs & Maintenance ………………………429.00 9 AM M. Evola, P. Fleming, R. Meche, B. O’Hara Msgr. Richaud Fund ……………………………22.00 11 AM M. Bangs, J. Wright, N. Bostick, L. Frey Totaling ……………………………………..$5,656.00 6 PM A. Caolongne, M. Plaideau

Priest Mass Schedule 4pm 9am 11am 6pm July 6 & 7 Fr. Matthew Fr. Matthew Fr. Matthew Fr. Matthew July 13 & 14 Fr. Matthew Fr. Matthew Fr. HL Fr. HL July 20 & 21 Fr. HL Fr. HL Fr. Matthew Fr. Matthew July 27 & 28 Fr. Matthew Fr. Matthew Fr. HL Fr. HL

Thank You! INTRODUCING OUR NEW PARISH SECRETARY

St. Benilde’s Vacation Bible School would like to My name is Maggie Sunseri, and I have been hired to take sincerely thank the parishioners of St. Benilde Parish for over the position as St. Benilde Parish Secretary/ making their Magic Yarn Project such a big success. Administrative Assistant, replacing Nancy Carollo who is Your donations will provide Disney- wigs for retiring at the end of July. My husband Todd and I have children battling cancer. May God bless your generous been married for twenty-two years. We have two hearts. children. Our son, Cody, is seventeen and is going into his junior year of high school at Rummel. Our daughter, th 4th of July Mass/Adoration Katie, is eleven years old and is going into 6 grade at St. Christopher. Todd owns a lawn care business here in Chapel/Parish Office Schedule Metairie.

I was a stay at home mom until Katie was 18 months old. Mass in observance of Independence Day will It was at that time when I started working at Our Lady of be celebrated on Thursday, July 4, Divine Providence Church, where I was the office at 7 AM and 5:30 PM. manager. I stayed at Our Lady of Divine Providence for The Adoration Chapel will close at three years before an opportunity opened for me to work 11:59 PM on Wednesday, July 3, in the offices of the Archdiocese of . I and will reopen at 7:30 AM on worked at the archdiocese for five years serving as an Friday, July 5. administrative assistant for Shelton Fabre, Bishop Fernand Cheri and Archbishop Gregory Aymond. The Parish Office will be closed on Thursday, July 4, in observance of Independence Day. We I am excited about the opportunity to work with Fr. will reopen on Friday, July 5, at 9 AM. Matthew Johnston and to get to know and serve all of you.

Parish Motto—Building the Kingdom of God St. Benilde Catholic Church

Fr. Cooper’s Corner

Come Away and Rest

In the Gospel of St. Mark (Mk 6:30-34), we read the following account: And the apostles coming together unto Jesus, related to him all things that they had done and taught. And he said to them: “Come apart into a desert place, and rest a little.” For there were many coming and going: and they had not so much as time to eat. And going up into a ship, they went into a desert place apart. And they saw them going away, and many knew: and they ran flocking thither foot from all the cities, and were there before them. And Jesus going out saw a great multitude: and he had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things (Douay-Rheims Translation). “Come into a deserted place, and rest.” Our Lord Jesus Christ knows what it is like to bear the heavy burden of our daily tasks and duties. He knows that we are constantly in movement, going about from one activity to the next. Like busy bees, we go from one flower to the next. We often lose the beauty of the present moment, because we are seeking to do more and more each time, to be “efficient,” as the modern expression goes. But efficiency for efficiency’s sake is like a vicious circle. The more we do, the more we crave to do. The more “efficient” we are, the more we seek to improve our “efficiency.” This is especially true of the “Getting Things Done” methodology of personal and professional task management. There is nothing wrong with trying to get things done, but it is important that we ask ourselves one very fundamental question through it all: Why? Why am I seeking to be more efficient? Efficiency is not the answer, for it can never be an end in itself. It should always be a means to another end. But what exactly is that end? What is the ultimate goal or purpose of trying to get things done? Many who have had professional careers that the world regards as “successful” remained empty inside. This is because efficiency or “getting things done” can never satisfy one’s deepest longings, in and of itself. Those who reflect deeply on their experience of this efficiency often arrive at the same conclusion: we seek efficiency for a higher cause. We want to get our daily tasks and duties done, so that we can devote our time and energy to the things that really matter in life: family, love, relationships, and happiness. In fact, deep down, all men seek happiness as their ultimate goal. The great Greek philosopher, Aristotle, says so at the beginning of his profound work, “Nicomachean Ethics.” Happiness is the only goal that can fulfill the human soul, because we were created to be happy. True happiness can only come with finding one’s ultimate end, the “final goal” for which we exist. Man can only truly be happy when he seeks after and attains that end. However, what is the final end of man? Why do we exist? Why did God create us? The Christian Faith is the only way of life that can answer that question ultimately. In some religions, ultimate happiness consists in being fused with the great Energy of the Universe: “becoming one with god.” But the god that such systems propose to the human soul is an impersonal, pantheistic force or “energy.” It is not a personal god, for god cannot be localized, so they say. He is pure spirit, without a body, without matter. He is therefore everywhere, and so cannot be localized to one particular place at any one time. This god is everything and everything is god. Christianity, however, presents man with a totally different world-view. In the Catholic Faith, God is a personal entity. He revealed Himself to man fully and completely in the person of Jesus Christ, the Incarnation of God in human flesh. Jesus Christ is the only prophet, of all the religions of the world, who is acknowledged to be God Himself. No other religion portrays its prophet as God. Their prophets are messengers, or reformers, or instruments of the divine; but they are never God. Christ alone claims to be Divinity itself, in incarnate form.

Parish Motto—Building the Kingdom of God St. Benilde Catholic Church Volume 37: Issue 26

In the Gospel verse above, Jesus invites his apostles to “come apart into a desert place and rest a while.” He knows that the ultimate finality or end of man is union with God. He knows that man can only be truly happy when he attains his final end. Man is a spiritual being; he has an immortal soul. The human soul has two faculties: the intellect and the will. The intellect’s end is to know truth; the will’s end is to adhere to a good (to love a good). The spiritual ends of man, therefore, are two-fold: to know what is true and to love what is good. However, if we take this to the extreme, and ask what is the ultimate end of man, we must reply thus: man’s ultimate end or finality is to know Ultimate Truth and to love an Ultimate Good. Now God alone is Truth itself and Goodness itself. Every other truth is but a participation in God’s Fullness of Truth and God’s Plenitude of Goodness. Therefore, the ultimate end of man is to know God and to love God. In doing these things, man is fully and completely “finalized;” that is, he becomes what he is ultimately called to be. To know God and to love God are the only things that can make man truly happy in this world. If man were to possess all other things and be void of these, he would not be truly happy. Conversely, if he were to know God and love God in this life, and know and love nothing else, then he would be truly and fully happy. He would be “complete,” as it were, in his humanity. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons understood this well, when he wrote, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” Saint Augustine stated this using other words when he said, “O man, become what you are!” that is, become that to which God is calling you. Jesus knows man, because, being the God-man (fully man and fully God), Jesus Christ reveals man fully to himself. And so whatever Christ does and says in the Holy Gospels, it is ultimately ordered to these ends. When, in the Gospel verse quoted above, Christ invites His apostles to come aside to a desert place and rest, He is doing this in order to lead them to their true, ultimate source of happiness. The knowledge and love of God (to know Truth and to love Goodness itself) are things that can only be discovered by man when he enters into the depths of his soul and seeks the living Presence of his Creator and Redeemer there. What Christ is calling His apostles to, therefore, is prayer: deep, silent prayer; the prayer of the heart. When man prays, he finds the Truth of God, and adheres to the Goodness of God. His intellect is finalized by this Ultimate Truth, and his will by this Ultimate Good. This is what makes man fully alive, and completely happy. Our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, is calling us all to prayer. He knows that in the depths of the soul, nothing can satisfy our longing for Truth and Love more perfectly than prayer, for prayer places our soul in contact with the One who is “The Way, the Truth, and the Life,” and the One who is Love itself. Without prayer, man cannot be fully happy, because he cannot obtain the end for which he was created, which is full communion with God. This indwelling Presence of the Three Divine Persons within his soul is what makes man to be “in the image and likeness of God.” Without prayer, it is impossible for man to achieve this, because he cannot do so on his own. He requires a special Grace from God, and grace can certainly come to us through prayer. “Ask and ye shall receive,” says Our Lord. But this prayer need not be one of words. There is a deeper, more penetrating prayer that leads to union with God more fully than a prayer of words. This is what the Catholic Tradition has called “The Prayer of Quiet” or “Silent Prayer.” It is sometimes referred to as “Mental Prayer”—not because it uses the mind, but because it goes beyond words and therefore transcends Vocal Prayer. It is a communication with God beyond words. This Silent Prayer is most perfectly effected in the presence of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. And so, we can see Christ’s words to His apostles (”Come aside to a deserted place and rest a while”) as an invitation to Eucharistic Adoration. There is no better place to find rest, than within the very bosom of God. Like the Beloved Disciple at the Last Supper (St. John the Apostle), we too are being called to rest our head upon the Sacred Heart of Our Lord. We are being called to listen, in the silent Presence of the Blessed Sacrament, to the Voice of our Beloved One, speaking to us in the depths of our soul—beyond words, beyond even thoughts. God alone can communicate with the soul with such intimacy—an intimacy to which he is calling each and every one of us. Would we not be fools to refuse His invitation to “come aside to a deserted place and rest” with Him?

Parish Motto—Building the Kingdom of God Six Weeks of Prayer for Family Movie Night

our New Pastor Please join us on Friday, July 12, at 7 PM in the Teen Center for Hand of the “The world’s , priests, and deacons need Master: The Art and Life of people’s prayers and encouragement to Dom Gregory De Wit. Driven continually deepen their relationship with Jesus by his Benedictine work ethic and serve their community with love,” said and his won deep love for . With this in mind, it is important that we pray for our new pastor, Fr. Matthew God, Dom Gregory De Wit Johnston, as he prepares to shepherd the created a vast body of art that flock of St. Benilde Parish beginning July 1st. spans across Europe and the Over the next six Sundays, we will offer a United States. However, not different prayer to be used by our entire parish everyone approved of his family. May we always sustain Fr. Matthew’s style, and his strong priestly ministry by our love, our constant personality could be a divisive as his art. This prayer, and our trust in his leadership. filmmaker tells the compelling story of a man whose works point to an even higher creator. Light Week 6: St. Faustina’s refreshments will be available. For more Prayer for Priests information, please contact Val Hebert at [email protected] or (504) 427-0327. Heavenly Father, grant that our priests be strengthened and healed by the power of the July Calendar Eucharist they celebrate. May the Word they proclaim give them courage and wisdom. July 1-3 Bible Down the Bayou Vacation Bible School July 5 Radio Rosary—5:45 PM—Library July 6 Legion of Mary—TBD—Parish Office We pray that all those whom they seek to serve July 10 Block Rosary—7 PM—Birrcher Home May see in them the love and care of Jesus, July 11 Pro-Life Committee—6:15 PM—Teen Center Our Eternal High Priest, who is Lord for ever Divine Mercy Cenacle Group—7 PM—PO and ever. Amen. July 12 Family Movie Night—7 PM—Teen Center July 13 Legion of Mary—TBD—Parish Office Mary, Mother of the Church, look tenderly upon July 16 SVDP—6:30 PM—Parish Office your sons, our priests. St Joseph, Patron of the July 20 Legion of Mary—TBD—Parish Office Universal Church, pray for us all. July 20/21 Hospitality Weekend—Hosted by SVDP July 21 Fr. Matthew’s Installation & Reception—11 AM Mass O my Jesus, I beg You on behalf of the whole July 25 Divine Mercy Cenacle Group—7 PM—PO Church: Grant it love and the light of Your Spirit July 27/28 Hospitality Weekend—All Masses July 27 Legion of Mary—TBD—Parish Office and give power to the words of priests so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance and return to You, O Lord. Committed Adorers Needed Have you been thinking about spending some quiet Lord, give us holy priests; You Yourself maintain time in prayer with the Lord? We are in need of them in holiness. O Divine and Great High committed adorers at the following times: Priest, may the power of Your mercy accompany them everywhere and protect them from the Mondays 1-2 PM; Tuesdays 3-4 AM; devil’s snares which are continually being set Wednesdays 1-2 AM and 2-3 AM; Thursdays 4-5 for the souls of priests. May the power of Your PM and 6-7 PM; Fridays 3-4 PM and 4-5 AM. mercy, O Lord, shatter and bring to naught all If you would like to become a committed adorer, or that might tarnish the sanctity of priests, for You can do all things. for more information, please contact George Rojas at (504) 834-5525.

Parish Motto—Building the Kingdom of God JUNE 30, 2019

ST. BENILDE CATHOLIC CHURCH – ID # 113850 1901 DIVISION ST. METAIRIE, LA 70001 504-834-4980

NANCY CAROLLO 504-834-4980 MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAYS - 9 A.M. TO 3 P.M. FRIDAYS - 9 A.M. TO 12 NOON

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: