Office:

175 Williams Road 518-283-6110 518-283-3938 (Fax) Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 9 am-3 pm Closed on Fridays Website: www.stmichael-troy.com

Staff: Pastor: The Very Rev. Anthony Ligato –ext. 202 [email protected]

Parochial Vicar Rev. Zachariah Chichester-ext. 202 Parish Office Hours: Mon-Thurs 9 am-3 pm...we are closed on Fridays, unless there is a funeral. [email protected]

Rev. James M. Mackey-ext. 203 LOCAL CATHOLIC COMMUNITY MASS SCHEDULE Assisting Priest Weekend Schedule St. the Archangel: Sat 5:15 pm, Sun 7:30 and 10:15 am Theresa Reid-ext. 212 Signed Mass for the Hearing Impaired on the last Saturday of each month. Administrative Assistant to the Sacred Heart: Sat 4 pm, Sun 8:30 and 10:30 am Pastor and Business Administrator St. : Sat 4 pm, Sun 9 and 11:30 am [email protected]

Weekday Schedule Deacon Bob Sweeney-ext. 203 St. Michael the Archangel: Mon-Thurs at 12:10 pm Director of Pastoral Care Sacred Heart: Mon-Fri: 9:00 am [email protected] St. Jude the Apostle: Mon-Fri: 8 am

Barbara Berger-ext. 204 Keep informed about what is happening at St. Michael’s: Youth & Faith Formation Parish Website: http://www.stmichael-troy.com/ [email protected] Parish Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/StMichaelTroyNY

Barbara McMahon-ext. 201 Download the Parish Phone App on your Smart Phone - iPhone users go to the App Store and android users Parish Secretary go to Google Play. Search for MY Parish App. Download this App to your phone, & then search for St. [email protected] Michael the Archangel Troy Parish Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/saint_michaels_troy Rizzo-ext. 213 Twitter: https://twitter.com/StMichaelsTroy Parish Music Director [email protected] SACRAMENTS • Peggy Cross-ext. 205 Baptism - Parents seeking Baptism for their child need to make an appointment with the Parish Accountant Deacon to begin the preparation process for the sacrament. [email protected] Reconciliation - This sacrament of healing is available prior to the Vigil Mass and following the Vigil Mass or by appointment. Paul Burns –ext.206 Marriage - The couple should call the Pastor at least eight months in advance Data Entry Administrator of the desired marriage date to begin the preparation process for the sacrament. [email protected]

Br. Ronald Davis, FSD-ext. 207 HOSPITAL /HOME VISITS • Head Sacristan and Cantor Parish members who are admitted to the hospital are encouraged to designate St. Michael's as their home parish. It is also helpful if a family member contacts the parish office to let us know Trustees: of a hospitalization. Members of the parish who are homebound or who have been admitted to a Nursing/Rehabilitation facility and want to receive the Eucharist should call the parish office to Robert Larkin request a visit and the Eucharist. [email protected] PRAYER CHAIN •Please call the parish office to activate the “Prayer Chain” for your special intentions and Ellen Hotz needs, or to become a member of this important ministry. [email protected]

FAITH FORMATION • Ministry Chairs Our parish is committed to supporting parish members in lifelong Faith Formation through our Phyllis Flynn Mescia Faith Formation process called “Whole Parish Catechesis.” We help to form the faith of the Pastoral Council President children in our parish in partnership with their parents. Persons who desire to become a member [email protected] of the Catholic Faith, should call the parish office and request an appointment with the Pastor to learn about the RCIA process. Veronica Ciccarelli Women’s Guild President [email protected]

Men’s Club President NEW PARISHIONERS [email protected] We welcome all of our visitors and want you to know that we are blessed to have you

Ginny Amsden RN MS-Parish Nurse here to worship with us. To become a registered member of St. Michael's parish, please [email protected] call the Pastor for an appointment. We will be happy to have you as a member of our par- ish family. Michael's is a friendly and caring community. Your presence among us would be a blessing for us. Welcome! St. Michael the Archangel, Troy, New York Fifth Sunday of Lent begins to reveal that Jesus is the Son of God. Jerusalem is the place of death at Calvary where Jesus will come into his glory on the cross. Lazarus’ own story of death and new life reveals the March 28-29, 2020 coming passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ

They have many similarities, the mourning women, the rock hewn From Fr. Anthony Ligato tombs with the stone in front of the tombs and the burial linens all point to new life not death. The mourning women, Martha and Mary will have their sadness turned into joy when their brother is The Promise of New Life in resuscitated, in the same way the women who wait outside the Unprecedented and Extraordinary Times tomb of Jesus will be filled with joy when they realize it is empty and that he has resurrected from the dead. The burial linens be- Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, come baptismal garments which bring us from death to new life. Our own lives should do the same by giving glory to God by how We have presumed with a sense of confidence that the lives we we witness to the resurrection in this unprecedented time by our have created for ourselves will for the most part go on uninterrupt- own extraordinary response to this pandemic. Martha and Mary ed. The sun rises and the sun sets, we wake up in the morning and witnessed to the belief that Jesus was the Son of God by sending we go to bed at night. We count on the order of our daily lives to for Jesus, “So the sisters sent word to Jesus saying the one you give us a sense of stability. We go to work, and we count on that love is ill.” (John 11:4) Their faith in Jesus allowed them to pre- work to be there each day. We go to school and we expect to learn sume that not only would Jesus come and help them but that He and join in the activities with our classmates. We stop by the con- would also prevent their brother’s death. They had every reason to venience store or coffee shop to pick up our favorite coffee on our think He would come at their request but why would they assume way to work. We stop by the supermarket on the way home to pick he could prevent Lazarus’ death? Martha and Mary saw and heard the items we need at home expecting the shelves to be filled with about and witnessed six other signs Jesus performed and the rais- all the items we need. We make plans for lunch or dinner at home ing of Lazarus would be the seventh and final sign. This was the or at our favorite restaurant with family or friends and look for- reason for their confidence that Jesus presence could make a dif- ward to sitting around the table with good food, drink and conver- ference. We are no different than Martha and Mary and we should sation. We go to daily Mass and Sunday Mass, pray the stations of have the same confidence when we pray. the cross in Lent and recite the rosary as we pray in adoration be- fore the Blessed Sacrament. We have reason not to presume all Our prayers are the way we send word to Jesus through the power these activities of daily life will continue uninterrupted, but what of the Holy Spirit to help us in this unprecedented time of need for happens when the rhythm of daily life is interrupted? We respond all humanity. We have every confidence that Jesus will respond to in extraordinary ways to an unprecedented set of circumstances. our prayers and like Martha and Mary we know that Jesus can protect us from death because of the many signs and miracles that We live our lives with these presumptions, that life will go on un- are currently unfolding in our own lives today. The death Jesus interrupted, but our presumption has been upended and, in some protects us from is not only from physical death, but the more im- cases, shattered by the Corona Virus 19 Pandemic. How do we portant and lasting protection is from spiritual death. Let us make stay hopeful, and not allow fear and anxiety to grip us? We do the same profession of faith as Martha and Mary which brought what Martha and Mary did, we call out to Jesus for help. The sis- about the raising of their brother Lazarus from the dead, “Jesus ters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus that their brother Lazarus was told Martha, I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in ill, they had every expectation and presumed that Jesus would me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes come immediately. After all they were close friends of Jesus. We in me will never die. Do you believe this? Yes, Lord I have come read in the Gospel of Luke Chapter 10:38-42, how Jesus visited to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God.” (John 11:26) their home and dined with Mary, Martha and Lazarus. So, why Do you believe? then did Jesus not come to Lazarus’ home immediately after re- ceiving Martha and Mary’s message? We may be asking our- Yours in Christ, selves, why is the Lord not stopping this pandemic in its tracks. More people than ever, after all, are calling out to Jesus in their Fr. Anthony prayers for help and deliverance from this scourge on humanity.

Let us look at how he responded to Lazarus’ illness and ultimate death to give us reassuring hope. All that happened to Lazarus was to reveal the Glory of God. The Revelation of God’s glory comes in the raising of Lazarus and reaches it fullness in the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Lazarus raising is a fore- shadowing of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This pre- sented an opportunity for Jesus to teach why the Son of Man had come into the world, to suffer and die and rise again. This is the reason he did not immediately return to Bethany. The Raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-44) is the halfway point in the Gospel of John, not because of its positioning in the Gospel, but rather for its theo- logical positioning. If this represents death to new life, then the fact that Bethany is the halfway point between the Jordan River and Jerusalem has significance for us all. The Jordan River is the place where Jesus began his public ministry when he was baptized by John, the water of new life starts to flow from this event which My Friends in Christ,

his past Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of T Lent was Laetare Sunday, it is typically a time for pause in the season of penance to look forward toward Easter. In the midst of preparing for Mass, we overlooked this highlight of the Lenten season and so I would like to share with you this excerpt from the Online Catholic Encyclopedia New Advent.

“The fourth, or middle, Sunday of Lent, so called from the first words of the Introit at Mass, "Laetare Jerusalem" — "Rejoice, O Jerusalem". During the first six or seven centuries the season of Lent commenced on the Sunday following Quinquagesima [the Sunday before Ash Wednesday], and thus comprised only thirty-six fasting days. To these were afterwards added the four days preceding the first Sunday, in order to make up the forty days' fast, and one of the earliest liturgical notices of these extra days occurs in the special Gospels assigned to them in a Toulon manuscript of 714.

"Strictly speaking, the Thursday before Laetare Sunday is the middle day of Lent, and it was at one time ob- served as such, but afterwards the special signs of joy permitted on this day, intended to encourage the faithful in their course through the season of penance, were transferred to the Sunday following.

"They consist of (like those of Gaudete Sunday in Advent) in the use of flowers on the altar, and of the organ at Mass and Vespers; rose-coloured vestments also allowed instead of purple, and the deacon and subdeacon wear dalmatics, instead of folded chasubles as on the other Sundays of Lent. The contrast between Laetare and the oth- er Sundays is thus emphasized, and is emblematical of the joys of this life, restrained rejoicing mingled with a certain amount of sadness.” Alston, George Cyprian. "Laetare Sunday." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 Mar. 2020 http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08737c.htm.

What a fitting day it was, to celebrate Laetare Sunday with a live streamed Mass in the midst of world-wide suf- fering and sadness! Rejoice in the Love of God! Fix our eyes on Lord and look toward Easter!

Into the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate heart of Mary,

Fr. Zachariah

 Private confessions will be held on Wednesday, April 8 from Noon to 5 pm and 6-8 pm at St. Michael the Archangel & St. Jude the Apostle churches.

 All Mass intentions from March 16 to the present will be re-scheduled at a later date.

 The Easter Egg Hunt scheduled for Sunday, April 5 has been cancelled.

 All Ministry activities and gathers have been canceled until further notice. FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT LIFE LONG PRAY, BREATHE, BE FAITH FORMATION Please contact Barbara Berger in the Faith Formation Of- Managing Stress and Anxiety during Difficult Times fice with any questions or concerns about the information By Rev. Thomas E. Konopka, LCSW on this page. We are all under a lot of stress and anxiety at the moment. Many of the sug- LIFELONG FAITH FORMATION gestions I’ve offered to priests, deacons, and others in parish leadership are suggestions that everyone can use. The two I would highly recommend: CLASSES: (and notes!) limit the amount of exposure to social media and news. Stay informed, but watching 24 hours a day is like pouring gasoline on a fire. Second, don’t FAMILIES – Remember to read the Gospel isolate. I have never been a fan of Facebook, but it is becoming my way to for this week in your CELEBRATIONS OF connect with parishioners at this time. SUNDAY FOR CATHOLIC FAMILIES book. Our faith does tell us that we believe in the empty tomb after the passion of Be sure to do the car discussion questions and activities for Good Friday. My prayer is that this become a watershed moment for us Catholics and Christians. The reality that God is the One we turn to and is the week to live out the Gospel message!!!! the true source of our comfort and our hope. Together as a people of prayer may we hold each other in prayer. Even if we are not in the same room MARCH 2020 together, we are joined together by the love of God.

*CANCELLATIONS* Here are a few more ways to manage your anxiety and worry: March 29 grades 1-5 (8:45 am – 10:15 am) (cancelled) 1. Breathe. When people are anxious, they tend to breath from the ALL & PARISH STATIONS OF THE CROSS upper chest. “Gut” breathing is the antidote to anxiety. Try YouTube Children’s Word, 10:15 am Mass video on relaxation breathing to learn how to do this. High school & sponsors, 11:15 am – 1:15 pm 2. Take time every day to relax and just be. Read a novel. Listen to SERVICE PROJECTS music. Play an instrument. Go out for a walk or run or bike ride (if MEAL MINISTRY allowed). Garden. Find something physical to do. DO something that TEMPORARILY ON HOLD you love to do. We need to affirm the goodness of the world in a St. Michael’s Faith Formation families provide meals to families time of fear. struggling with illness or crisis. To become part of the team you can sign up at www.signupgenius.com/St Michael’s Faith For- 3. Be honest with yourself about your worry and your fear. It is nor- mation Meal Ministry. Contact Michelle Hegener with questions mal. We have never been through anything like this before. No one at [email protected] has an “internal” road map to follow as to how to deal with this, so our brains are reacting to the unknown. The uncertainty of everyday plays into our fear. I look to the Cross (literally) when I get over- PET PRAYER CHAIN whelmed by it all. This seems to help me calm down and find my ON GOING!!!!!!! center. Our children and their families will pray for the healing and com- fort of your pet and your family who are affected. We ask pray- 4. Try to connect with others every day using whatever means you ers for Seamus and his owners as he recovers from a back inju- have. A phone call or text from a family member or a friend can lift ry. We ask prayers for the Prendergast family on the recent loss our spirits. We probably cannot meet for a cup of coffee but a of their 16 year old cat. Please call Barbara Berger to activate or Facetime chat is also good. Isolation will only add to our anxiety and join the prayer chain at 518-283-6110 x204. fear.

5. Try to find some humor in some of what is happening. Personally, I am trying to figure out the toilet paper craze. BIRTHDAY BAGS DONATIONS TEMPORARILY ON HOLD 6. Eat healthy meals. Comfort food is ok; but, too much is not Birthday bags donated to families in needs gives these families healthy. Sometimes too much caffeine will mimic anxiety. It may be the ingredients for a celebrations and the opportunity to engage in a good idea to limit how much coffee, soda, etc. you take in at this a family activity in making their cake! We ask for donations of a time. box of birthday cake, frosting and candles in a decorated birthday bag, which can be used for a gift. We envision a homemade 7. Remember, this will come to an end. We don’t know how, but are one!!!! New donations can be left on the table at the Parish Hall we not people who see hope in a cross and a tomb? entrance. Thanks for recent donations. 8. Obviously, pray. Pray as you always do, but also join with others in prayer through Facebook streaming, if available to you.

With each dawn comes the chance Father Thomas Konopka, L.C.S.W., is the director and a therapist on for a new day!! the staff of the diocesan Consultation Center. He is also Pastor of St. PROJECT: DAWN Mary's Church, Clinton Heights, and sacramental minister for the parish of St. and St. Joseph, Rensselaer. TEMPORARILY ON HOLD