Quote of the Month
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Vol. 39, No. 8 December 2014 Quote of the Month “Let Every Day Be Christmas” Peace on Earth, good will to men, kind thoughts and words of cheer, The Saint Philip are things we should use often and not just once a year. ~Norman Wesley Brooks Be-News-Zi 12/31: VIGIL – MARY, MOTHER OF GOD Calendar of Events 8:30AM Mass (English) – Normal Weekday Mass December 2014 7:00PM Mass (English/Church) – Vigil Mass 8:30PM Mass (French/Church) – includes Rosary 12/3: ARCHDIOCESAN WORLD AIDS DAY MASS (See details in this issue.) JAN. 1, 2015: MARY, MOTHER OF GOD (Holy Day of Obligation) 12/5-6: EUCHARISTIC ADORATION 10:45AM (English/Church) 12:30PM (Spanish/Church) begins the First Friday of every month in the Chapel, after the 8:30AM Mass and concludes with Benediction at 7:45AM Saturday morning. JAN. 4, 2015: THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD (Regular Sunday Mass Schedule) 12/5: HOLY HOUR FOR VOCATIONS Holy Hour will be held in the Chapel from 4-5PM during First Friday Adoration. Join us as we pray for an increase of vocations to the Priesthood, Diaconate, and Religious Life. 12/5: PRAISE & WORSHIP ADORATION In conjunction with the 24-hour Eucharistic Adoration this First Friday, please join us in the church at 8PM for a period of contemporary music, Scripture readings, and reflection before the Blessed Sacrament. All are welcome! 12/6: FEAST OF ST. NICHOLAS – 8:30AM Mass 12/7: SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT Prayer for the Year of 12/8: THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION of Consecrated Life THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (Holy Day of Obligation) O God, throughout the ages you have called 8:30AM Mass (English/Church) women and men to pursue lives of perfect charity 7:00PM Mass (Spanish/Church) through the evangelical counsels of poverty, 7:00PM Mass (English/Parish Hall) chastity, and obedience. During this Year of 12/12: FEAST OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE Consecrated Life, we give you thanks for these 8:30AM Mass (English/Church) courageous witnesses of Faith and models of (See the weekly Bulletin for a schedule of other inspiration. Their pursuit of holy lives Masses and events surrounding this Feast Day.) teaches us to make a more perfect offering of 12/14: THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT ourselves to you. Continue to enrich your Church by calling forth sons and daughters who, 12/16: ADVENT PENANCE SERVICE – 7PM having found the pearl of great price, treasure the Kingdom of Heaven above all things. 12/21: FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of 12/24: CHRISTMAS EVE MASS SCHEDULE the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 4:00PM (English/Church) – Children’s Pageant 6:30PM (English/Church) In 2013, Pope Francis declared that a 9:00PM (Bi-lingual/Church) 12 Midnight (Bi-lingual/Church) Year of Consecrated Life (YCL) be celebrated throughout the world. The YCL begins on the 12/25: CHRISTMAS DAY MASS SCHEDULE First Sunday of Advent, November 30, 2014 10:45AM (English/Church) and will close on the World Day of Consecrated Life, 12:30PM (Spanish/Church) February 2, 2016. 12/28: THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY & http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/vocations/ (Regular Sunday Mass Schedule) consecrated-life/year-of-consecrated-life/index.cfm JOSEPH December 2014 Like most families, the Friars of Atlanta gathered to share a special Thanksgiving meal last month. There were eight of us that day and we had a great time. Psalm 133 de- Dear Parishioners, clares: “Oh how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in harmony!” I have found this to be very, Last year, Pope Francis designated 2015 as “The Year of very true. Consecrated Life”. The “Year” began on the first Sunday of Advent (November 30, 2014) and will end on February We Friars THANK YOU for supporting our life of fraternity. 2, 2016, the “World Day of Consecrated Life”. The year Thank you for providing us with a comfortable Friary, food th marks the 50 anniversary of “Perfectae Caritatis”, a de- and other necessities that make our life possible. Most cree on religious life, and “Lumen Gentium”, the Second especially, thank you for sharing your lives with us, for ac- Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. cepting and loving us as brothers, and for praying for us. The purpose of the year-long celebration, according to a We are truly blessed and for that we are grateful to God Vatican statement, is to “make a grateful remembrance of and to you! the recent past” while embracing “the future with hope”. The “Year” is meant to deepen the understanding of the During this “Year of Consecrated Life”, we will try to find laity about the nature of religious life and the gift it is to the ways to share with you the value and joy of consecrated Church and to the world. life. Please help us promote our way of life by praying for vocations to the Franciscan Order and other religious com- I have fond memories of the Friars’ arrival at St. Philip munities. I know that there are young men and women out Benizi Parish in August of 1991 (24 years ago!). Many there who are being called by God to religious life. En- parishioners were not familiar with Franciscans or religious courage them, support them, and pray for them. life. Some felt that the Archdiocese had “abandoned” St. Philip’s by sending Franciscans! Soon, they came to know On behalf of the Friars and our wonderful Parish Staff, us and these feelings dissipated. Those were exciting Merry Christmas! May you be touched deeply by the pres- days. I recall how welcoming and helpful everyone was. ence of Christ as you celebrate His nativity with family and The Knights of Columbus and their wives helped us friends! spruce up the Rectory and turn it into a Friary. Some la- dies from our Mission Church (St. Gabriel’s) dropped off Love and Peace! meals for us (anyone else remember the “Gabriel Girls”?). Fr. John During that first year, we conducted 32 neighborhood meetings to get to know people and to listen to their hopes and dreams for St. Philip’s and St. Gabriel’s. Those meet- ings also provided us with an opportunity to share a little bit about our Franciscan charism and what Franciscan life is all about. It was a wonderful time. I have always re- ferred to those first years here as “our Camelot”! When people ask me why I became a Friar, my first re- sponse is that “God called me”. My second answer is, “fraternity”. I was and am drawn to the life of fraternity. For me, living a fraternal life of prayer, community and ser- vice with other like-minded men is a true blessing and makes my life fulfilling and happy. For over thirty years, I have been blessed to live with holy and good brothers who have supported and loved me. They have nurtured my vocation and have been there for me during the joyful and Mary, Mother and Model of Vocations the sorrowful times in my life. “Every aspect of priestly formation can be In 1988, at the reception after my Ordination to the Priest- referred to Mary, the human being who has hood, my sister Sara said to me with tears in her eyes, “I always worried that you would have a lonely life as a Friar, responded better than any other to God’s call. but now I see how happy you are and how the Friars are Mary became both the servant and the disciple your family, and they love you and you them.” This is so of the Word to the point of conceiving, in her heart true! I can’t imagine a more joyful and fulfilled life. and in her flesh, the Word made man, so as to give The Friars place a very high value on fraternal life. We him to mankind. Mary was called to educate live together as brothers. We pray together each day, the one Eternal Priest, who became docile and share a meal most days, and recreate together most eve- subject to her motherly authority. With her example nings. Each month, we meet “in Chapter” to share spiritu- and intercession, the Blessed Virgin keeps ally and to discuss our common life. We gather with the local Friars from time to time and, a couple of times a year, vigilant watch over the growth of vocations we meet with larger groups of Friars for “Friars’ Days”, and priestly life in the Church.” retreats and other fraternal events. (~Pope John Paul II, I Will Give You Shepherds, 1992) “May this Advent season be a time for As we celebrate bringing hope, transformation and our Savior’s coming into our world, fulfillment into the Advent of our lives.” may our actions of living out our 2014 Parish Goal, “Walking United as Faithful Disciples of Jesus Christ”, be a joyful gift to Jesus. “Now I am coming to You, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have My joy completed in them.” (John 17:13) Nick’s Notes By Nick Dragone, Director of Music & Liturgy I hate waiting. I do not think that I have ever met a person who sincerely enjoys waiting. Yet, we spend a great deal of our lives waiting. Much of that time is spent waiting for mundane things like traffic, doctor’s appointments, laundry, or food.