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OUR LADY STAR OF THE SEA SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI 6th SUNDAY OF EASTER MAY 9, 2021 Reverend Jacob Almeter, Pastor Rev. Mr. Ron Carr, Deacon Rev. Mr. Timothy Hughes, Deacon Rev. Mr. Henry Nieves, Deacon

Our Lady Star of the Sea weekly schedule Mondays No Daily Mass Tuesdays 5:00 pm & Adoration, 5:30 pm Daily Mass Wednesdays 7:30 am Rosary, 8:00 am Daily Mass Thursdays 7:30 am Rosary, 8:00 am Daily Mass Fridays 7:30 am Rosary, 8:00 am Daily Mass 1st Fridays 8:00 am Mass @ Historic Chapel 2:00 pm— 3:00 pm 3:00 pm - 3:40 pm Chaplet Daily Chapel Saturdays 3:45 pm Confession - Main Church 5:00 pm Mass Sundays 11:00 am Mass 2:00 pm Mass

Saint Francis of Assisi weekly schedule Wednesdays 5:00 pm Confession 6:00 pm Daily Mass Sundays 8:30 am Mass

E-Mail: [email protected] [email protected] Website: www.weareolss.org Office Hours 9AM—2PM Church Office: 912-882-4718 Fax: 912-882-5845 After Hours Emergency: 912-882-3760 Confessions: OLSS—3:45 Saturdays, SFoA—5PM Wednesdays, or by Appointment

Deacons: Ron Carr: 912-576-0114; Tim Hughes; 912-322-2947; Henry Nieves: 912-674-7023 Parish Secretary: Susan Bayless: 904-612-6143 Parish Council: Bryant Shepard:912-673-7377 (OLSS) ; Tina Baxter: [email protected] (SFoA) Parish Bookkeeper: Linda Jordan: 912-882-4718 ext 102 Finance Council: Lloyd Streit Ladies Auxiliary: Susan Sartain: 912-617-8990 Religious Education: Tim & Rhonda Hughes 912-729-2406 Health Ministry: Peg Hudock: 678-642-2893 Hospitality/Bereavement: Victoria Brooks: 912-322-6857 Virtus: Sallie Galyean Knights of Columbus 11058 & Ave Maria Assembly 3391: Josh Miller: 912-552-2284; [email protected] Cursillo Chrissy Bundrick: 912-729-5705 Catholic Youth Ministry: Tom & Tricia Jenkins: 912-882-9433, Chrissy Bundrick: 912-729-5705 Good Samaritan Outreach: Lena Brathwaite Bell: 912-266-4969 Lectors/Eucharistic Ministers/Altar Servers/Ushers: Contact church office Music Ministry: Mike Anderson: 912-729-2409 [email protected] Legion of Mary: Sherry-Ann Jenkins: [email protected] Young Adult Ministry (YAMS): Bobbi Harrill: 912-409-5275 [email protected] PLEASE PRAY FOR THE SICK David Smith, Bill Mehrtens, Olivia A. Leyva, Dan Riley, Stephanie Kline, Mary Angela Morrissey, Darlene Logan, Tom O’Shaughnessy, Mary Stoffer, Tess Sopp, Anthony Correnti, Claire Walsh, Betty Scott, Elizabeth Newcity, Minter Garvin, Jr., Ronald S Russell, Corrine Schultz, Tim Kelly, Kathy Spooner, Rosemarie Rogoish, Robert & Marie Devine, Christine Thornton, Diane Schafer, Lenny Pulcini, Diane Foster, Chuck Hollosy, Brian & Crystal Benton, George Beaver, Bill Maxwell, David Brown, Drew Hawkes, Jean Latham, Dub & Marcia Shepard, Mary Ellen Ocanas, Katelyn Hemel, John McCoy, Pearlie Taylor, Barbara Daniel, Harry Lewis, Jeannie Reid, Bryant Shepard, Tamara Salatino, Paige Mack, Maryann Araiza, George Hurley, Doris Adams, Sandra Pacquin, Chuck & Peggy Trader, Barbara Mascilak, Stephanie Paxton, Ruth McNeil, Frank McNeil, Lenda Morris, Dustin Lee, Vic Unnone, Daniel Brausch To add a name to the prayer list please email [email protected]

“SPERA IN DEO". Vocation Summer Camps 2021 Registration is Open Space is very limited, so register soon! Call to Holiness Camp for Girls Sunday, June 27 to Wednesday, June 30 Drop off: 3pm Pick up: 11am Vocatio Dei Camp for Boys Wednesday, June 30 to Saturday, July 3 Drop off: 3pm Pick up: 11am Registration Information All Rising 7th - 12th Grade Teens Invited $70 per child, each additional child from the same family $50

Registration www.diosav.org/vocations

Questions: 912-201-4079 or [email protected]

Location Georgia Primitive Baptist Youth Camp 7159 Hillview Road Collins, GA 30421

Prayer and Action

Prayer and Action is a Catholic mission experience hosted by the Diocese of Savannah. This week-long camp gives high school students (incoming freshman through outgoing seniors) the opportunity to go on mission in their local community while growing deeper in their . Students are able to meet other young people from around the diocese as well as receive 25 service hours for the week. There will be three Sunday evening to Friday morning sessions offered in two locations:

June 13-18 – St. Peter the Apostle, Savannah (FULL) June 20-25 – St. Peter the Apostle, Savannah June 27-July 2 – Aquinas High School, Augusta

Find out more at: https://diosav.org/youth/events/prayer-and-action-mission-high-school Register at dioreg.org/register For questions, email [email protected] READINGS FOR THE WEEK OF MAY 10th Monday: Acts 16:11-15; Ps 149:1-6, 9; Jn 15:26 — 16:4 Tuesday: Acts 16:22-34; Ps 138:1-3, 7-8; Jn 16:5-11 Wednesday: Acts 17:15, 22 — 18:1; Ps 148:1-2, 11-14; Jn 16:12-15 Thursday: Acts 1:1-11; Ps 47:2-3, 6-9; Eph 1:17-23 or Eph 4:1-13; Acts 18:1-8; Ps 98:1-4; Jn 16:16-20 Friday: Acts 1:15-17, 20-26; Ps 113:1-8; Jn 15:9-17 Saturday: Acts 18:23-28; Ps 47:2-3, 8-10; Jn 16:23-28 Sunday: Acts 1:15-17, 20-26; Ps 103:1-2, 11-12, 19-20; 1 Jn 4:11-16; Jn 17:11-19; or, for Ascension, Acts 1:1-11; Ps 47:2-3, 6-9; Eph 1:17- 23 or Eph 4:1-13; Mk 16:15-20

Knights of Columbus Charities annual fundraising is underway. KofC charities and charitable actions take place throughout the US and around the world. Tickets will be available after each Saturday and Sunday Mass thru May 8th & 9th. The raffle will consist of 3 drawings held on May 15, 2021, with prizes of $5, 000. (1st), $2,500. (2nd) and $1,000. (3rd) prize. Also, if you “Shop at smile.amazon.com they will donate 0.5% of eligible purchases to your favorite charitable organization. They charge no fees, no extra cost.” https://smile.amazon.com “Knights of Columbus Charities of Georgia, Inc.”

“The Homily Continues” Mass Readings explained Adult Study by Dr Pietre returning Tuesday, May 11th at 6:30 pm in Social Hall. If you’re looking for a deeper understanding of our Sunday readings this is the place to be! Video presentation begins at 6:30pm. Understand the scriptures like never before.

A lite bagged snack will be available. Come join us for an evening of learning, fellowship and fun.

**Social distancing will be in place and mask are highly recommended as per our Diocese guidelines.

St. Francis of Assisi News:  All ladies of SFoA are invited to join the Cursillo group on Tuesdays at 9:30AM for fellowship and prayer. Make a friend, be a friend with Christ. We hope to see you there.  School of Leaders Zoom—1st Tuesday of each month at 7pm. Contact George Constantino for meeting code.  Food, dice and prizes means it's Bunco night at St. Francis. Join us for a simple game that doesn't take a lot of focus. Meal at 6 pm. Bunco starts at 6:30. No cost to play Bunco, but there will be a 50/50 drawing for $5.00 a ticket. Bring a friend!

The Creed Following the readings and the homily, we stand together and say or sing the Creed, our profession of faith. The Creed is a solemn statement of belief, a “rule of faith” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 67). It states the core of what we believe about the Father, the Son, and the . The language of the Creed is knotty and difficult at times, precisely because its purpose is to express with precision what we believe about God. The Creed that we pray most often, the , came out of the earliest ecumenical councils: Nicea in 325 and Constantinople in 381. It originated in a time of great controversy about the divinity of Christ, and thus the longest section of the Creed relates to Christ, truly human and truly God. The Creed is both communal and personal: it is “we,” but it is also “I.” In the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, it is only after listening to the teaching of the Church and professing faith in the Holy Trinity that the candidate is admitted to the sacraments. So it is every Sunday. We listen to the word, we profess our faith, and then we come to the altar. REFLECTIONS ON THE READINGS After showing God fulfilling his promises to the Jews, Luke shows God offering salvation to Gentiles. Part of the first reading from Acts that we don't hear is a Peter has, in which God tells him that all foods are OK to eat; no longer are some unclean. He later realizes that the vision was a symbol that all people are "clean," Gentiles as well as Jews. All are called to have faith in . Not all of the early Christians understood. The Jewish Christians were shocked that the Holy Spirit would give gifts, such as , to Gentiles. Especially Gentiles who had not been baptized. The story of Cornelius transitions us from the apostles’ ministry to the Jews to their mission to Gentiles. Cornelius isn’t Jewish, but he is devout and God-fearing. Peter followed Jesus’ call of love when he entered the house of Cornelius, a Gentile. He was likely as astounded at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as were the believers who accompanied him, yet love caused Peter to see beyond the accepted boundaries of religion and race, seeing instead evidence of the Lord’s great love at work. Amazed by this, Peter and the other Jewish apostles didn’t know that God planned to offer salvation to everyone. Peter’s words reflect his new understanding and acceptance of God’s plan. The Jewish followers of Jesus are again taken by surprise. 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” is characteristic of the way the Spirit works throughout the book of Acts: powerful and surprising. The presence of God’s Spirit is a certain sign that God accepts these Gentiles who have accepted Jesus. When Cornelius and his household are baptized, they become part of a community that fulfills God’s promise of peace. Jews, Samaritans, and now Gentiles are unified by the Spirit. Though this “baptism” is not the customary 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. The Spirit is manifested equally through those who live in self-sacrificing and self-giving love. As Christians, we know that love is of God. In laying down his life, Jesus pours out God’s selfless, sacrificial, undying love. Jesus opens the door to a new relationship between God and humanity, that of friendship, of intimate closeness. Jesus calls us to show this same love for others, knowing that in doing so, we fulfill God’s will. This great love of God cannot be contained by our preconceived notions of the way things are in the world. Rather than excluding those who might not comfortably fit within the community, the Church’s first leaders imagined a new way forward and began to welcome Gentiles into the community of believers. Humbly recognizing both their own limitations and opportunities before them, the leaders looked beyond the enclosed circle of the original believers to welcome those who many believed couldn’t or shouldn’t be included within the Church. What’s at stake in all of this is the fundamental mission of the Church: to proclaim and live the love of God through acts of service and to love one another after the example of Jesus. Each of us is called to do our part in realizing this mission, but we are also called to reach across the boundaries — whatever form they might take — and invite others to join us in living out this mission. In the second reading, we are told that God is love - and everything he does flows from his immense love for us. He loved us so much - far beyond what we could ever expect or deserve - that he was willing to pay any price to redeem us from our slavery to sin and death. That is why the Father sent us his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave up his life as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, in order to give us abundant everlasting life and adopt us as his beloved sons and daughters in Christ. God's love is not limited or subject to changing circumstances. It is an enduring love that has power to change and transform us to be like him - merciful, gracious, kind, forgiving, and steadfast in showing love not only for our friends, but for our enemies as well. God's love is boundless because he is the source of abundant life, perfect peace, and immeasurable joy for all who open their hearts to him. The second reading from John tells us that love is not people loving God; it's that God loved us first, enough to send his Son to die for us. We may think that we have chosen to love and follow Jesus, but as the gospel tells us, Jesus chose us before we ever chose him. So maybe that part about loving others as Jesus loves us is not so much about being willing to die for those you love. It may just be our willingness to love others without requiring that they love us first. How can we do that? Introduce yourself to someone new to the parish, offer to help the poor, be courteous to other drivers. You can make a priority of seeing what you can do for others, instead of what they can do for you. Perhaps part of our daily prayer can be asking God to show us who needs our love today. In today’s gospel Jesus verifies that he is known by the Father and that his disciples will know the Father by knowing Jesus. Jesus reminds his disciples that this knowledge is to be expressed in love. Those who know Jesus well—and Jesus says that his disciples do know him—will love one another. Knowledge leads to love, which leads to action. John reminds his community that Jesus taught that love is the sign of a true disciple and, thus, a true Christian. Even more, a true disciple shows a particular kind of love, sacrificial love. The Lord Jesus gives his followers a new commandment - a new way of love that goes beyond giving only what is required or what we think others might deserve - a new way of loving and serving one another. The essence of Jesus' new commandment of love is a love to the death - a purifying love that overcomes selfishness, fear, and pride. It is a total giving of oneself for the sake of others - a selfless and self-giving love that is oriented towards putting the welfare of others ahead of myself. Love is very often understood as a strong feeling or emotion toward another. But it is not based on emotions or feelings. Love is a choice. Specifically, as Jesus identifies, love is a choice to “lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Laying down our lives indicates a number of things. First, it shows that the nature of love is a total-self gift. Laying down your life cannot be done half way. Either your life is laid down or not. This reveals that love, in order for it to be love in the truest sense, is a total commitment of your life. Laying down your life clearly shows that love requires a sort of death to self. It requires we look to the other first, putting their needs before ours. This requires true sacrifice and selflessness. Jesus calls his disciples his friends. Jesus not only showed his disciples that he personally cared for them and sought their welfare, He personally enjoyed their company and wanted to be with them. He ate with them, shared everything he had with them - even his inmost heart and thoughts. To know Jesus personally is to know God and the love and friendship he offers to each one of us. Jesus transforms the terms of his relationship with his disciples and redefines for them their relationship with God. In the Hebrew Scriptures, faith in God made one a servant of God. Jesus teaches that his relationship to his disciples is based on friendship, not servitude. Slaves couldn’t ask why their master was giving them a particular order. They simply had to obey. By taking the time to help his disciples understand his mission, Jesus treats them as those who can now freely and knowingly participate in it. Jesus revealed God’s love and how it is brought into the world. The task of those who believe in him is to bear that same selfless love to others. In the end, only this perfect love and all the good that comes from it will remain. Jesus also taught that a disciple is one who had been chosen—one who had been chosen by Jesus. To be chosen by Jesus, however, is not to be set apart from the world. Instead, to be chosen by Jesus is to be sent to serve the world as he did. The disciples of Jesus were chosen and were sent into the world to bear fruit by serving others, by sacrificing for others, in love. That is why Jesus came, to give us abundant life through the gift and working of the Holy Spirit. Jesus' love was wholly directed toward the good of others. He loves them for their sake and for their welfare. That is why he willingly laid down his own life for us to free us from sin, death, fear, and everything that could separate us from the love of God. The Father’s love flows through Jesus to us. Our love for Jesus flows back through him to the Father. Thus, through Jesus, we are all united to God and share in God’s love. We only enter into this loving union with God, however, when we strive to love as faithfully as Jesus did. Our love for God and our willingness to lay down our life for others is a response to the exceeding love God has given us in Christ. We must foster an attitude of deep concern for the good of every person. When we do turn our eyes and hearts toward others, we will begin to discover countless ways to lay our lives down for them. Small acts of kindness, words of affirmation, a listening ear, help with a chore, etc. are a few of the small ways we give of ourselves every day. Greater acts may include a heroic forgiveness, love when we do not feel like being loving, giving mercy when it appears undeserved, and going out of our way to be there for a person when we do not have time in our busy schedule. The bottom line is that giving of ourselves until it hurts turns any small or large sacrifice we give into a blessing for them and a glorious reward for us. Living a sacrificial life is fulfilling on many levels and is ultimately what we are made for. Reflect, today, upon how well you lay down your life for others, holding nothing back. Do not hesitate to commit yourself to this depth of love. By giving yourself completely away, you find yourself and discover the presence of our divine Lord. STEADFAST IN FAITH As of 4/29/2021 OLSS PLEDGED PLEDGE ONE TIME TOTAL % OF # OF # OF % TARGET BALANCE GIVEN TARGET FAMILIES DONORS SUPPORT $34,488 $3,305 $1,765 $25,709.75 $27,249.75 79.01% 466 125 26.82%

SFoA PLEDGED PLEDGE ONE TIME TOTAL % OF # OF # OF % TARGET BALANCE GIVEN TARGET FAMILIES DONORS SUPPORT $2,931 $120 $90 $2,695.75 $2,725.75 93.00% 41 16 39.02%

APRIL MORTGAGE UPDATES As of April 30, 2021 the balance of the OLSS mortgage is $ 188,196.41. For the $ 8,000 payment, $7,487.62 was applied to the principle and $ 502.38 was applied to the interest. The balance of the SFoA mortgage is $ 68,890.11. For the $ 2,200 payment, $ 2,018.96 was applied to the principle and $ 181.04 was applied to the interest.

OLSS COMPARISONS FROM LAST YEAR SFoA COMPARISONS FROM LAST YEAR

MAY 2, 2021 MAY 3, 2020 MAY 2, 2021 MAY 3, 2020 Collection $ 8,385.50 Collection $ 4,578.50 Collection $ 535.00 Collection $ 390.00 Mortgage $ 2,941.00 Mortgage $ 280.00 Mortgage $ 985.00 Mortgage $ 150.00

OUR LADY STAR OF THE SEA APRIL FINANCIALS

APR FISCAL YTD APR FISCAL YTD COLLECTION $ 29,756.50 $ 292,157.31 MORTGAGE $ 6,756.00 $ 77,366.40 BUDGET $ 30,833.33 $ 308,333.30 BUDGET $ 7,500.00 $ 75,000.00 OVER/UNDER ($ 1,076.83) ($ 16,175.99) OVER/UNDER ($ 744.00) $ 2,366.40 BUDGET BUDGET

ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI APRIL FINANCIALS

APR FISCAL APR FISCAL YTD YTD COLLECTION $ 2,748.00 $ 23,696.00 MORTGAGE $ 1,669.00 $ 20,465.50 BUDGET $ 2,083.84 $ 20,838.40 BUDGET $ 1,733.33 $ 17,333.33 OVER/UNDER $ 664.16 $ 2,857.60 OVER/UNDER ($ 64.33) $ 3,132.17 BUDGET BUDGET H A P P Y

M O T H E R S

D A Y OUR LADY OF FATIMA The Feast Day is Thursday May 13, 2021

What are we celebrating? May 13 is the anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady to three shepherd children in the small village of Fatima in Portugal in 1917. She appeared six times to Lucia, 9, and her cousins Francisco, 8, and his sister Jacinta, 6, between May 13, 1917 and October 13, 1917. The series of Fatima appearances is one of the most extraordinary in the history of the Church. The children reported a series of private from the Virgin Mary, in which she disclosed to them secrets that were confusing at the time, but were later borne out by world events. Messages and Visions of Our Lady of Fatima The messages Our Lady to the children during the apparitions concerned the violent trials that would afflict the world by means of war, starvation, and the persecution of the Church and the Holy Father in the twentieth century, if the world did not make reparation for sins. She urged the Church to pray and offer sacrifices to God in order that peace may come upon the world, and that the trials may be averted. One of the children, Lucia, wrote The first part is the vision of hell.. Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. Our Lady then spoke to them and explained that devotion to the was a means to save souls from going to Hell. The 2nd secret was concerning World Wars I and II. “The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays.” Our Lady of Fatima spoke about the “errors” of “Russia,” which many believe is a reference to “communism.” The path to peace is a special Marian consecration. She urged the children to pray for the conversion of Russia, which was mysterious, given that, at the time of this communication, the Communist revolution in that country had not yet taken place. The third “secret” was not revealed until the year 2000, and referred to the persecutions that humanity would undergo in the last century: The secret contains much apocalyptic imagery, including a vision of a pope who is shot. Pope John Paul II believed this vision had much to do with his own experience, though the Virgin Mary never mentions specifics. According to the interpretation of the “little shepherds,” which was also confirmed recently by Sister Lucia, “the Bishop clothed in white” who prays for all the faithful is the Pope. As he makes his way with great difficulty towards the Cross amid the corpses of those who were martyred (Bishops, priests, men and women Religious and many lay people), he too falls to the ground, apparently dead, under a hail of gunfire.. After the assassination attempt of May 13, 1981, it appeared evident that it was “a mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s path,” enabling “the Pope in his throes” to halt “at the threshold of death.” Another large part of this third vision is penance, calling the world to come back to God The of Fatima On October 13, 1917, approximately seventy thousand people, from all over Portugal, gathered in Fatima. For many weeks, the news of the apparition of the “Lady” and the miracle she promised to do had spread and among the crowd were people from every walk of life and profession: upper class citizens, engineers, doctors, notaries and, of course, journalists and photographers. Heavy rain fell. The three young visionaries — Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia — arrived with their family members, and they began to pray the Rosary. At noon, with the rain still falling, Lucia gave the order to close the umbrellas and the crowd obeyed. Moments later, things brightened and those present noticed a white cloud moving around the group. Lucia asked: “Who are you and what do you want from me?” This time the heavenly Lady said she was the Lady of the Rosary and she wanted a chapel built in her honor in that place. She told Lucia to remember to pray the rosary and announced that she would heal some of the sick present. The Lady ended by calling for conversion. After saying this, she opened her hands, which reflected the sun. Lucia cried, “Look at the sun!” The thick clouds had split open and the sun began to spin, change color, and dance in the sky as it gradually got closer to the earth. This was the miracle given that all would believe. The Bishop of Leiria, in his pastoral letter on the Our Lady of Fatima apparitions wrote: “The solar phenomenon of October 13, 1917, was reported and described in the newspapers. It was most wonderful and left an indelible impression on those who were present. This phenomenon, that no astronomical observatory has recorded, and was not natural, was seen by people of all classes and social classes, believers and unbelievers, journalists of the leading Portuguese newspapers, and even individuals from several kilometers away from the place where they were; which dispels any explanation of collective illusion. ” What is the central meaning of the message of Fatima? Prayer is the path of “salvation for souls” and, the summons to penance and conversion. During the apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, Mary declared with confidence, “My Immaculate Heart will triumph”.

Celebrations at OLSS There will be two Celebrations to remember this special feast: On Thursday May 13 at 6:30pm at the Grotto there will be Rosary and Benediction. Please bring lawn chairs. On Saturday May15 at the 5:00pm mass there will be a procession in honor of Our Lady of Fatima and after mass, the procession will exit the church and proceed outside around the block of the church with the Blessed Sacrament in the Monstrance leading with the procession and the Knights of Columbus carrying the Bier with a statue of Our Lady of Fatima. We suggest that all attending mass please wear something white in honor of this feast day.