508 W. Angus Street Gretna, Ne 68028 March 21, 2021
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ST. PATRICK CATHOLIC CHURCH 508 W. ANGUS STREET GRETNA, NE 68028 MARCH 21, 2021 REFLECT AND RESPOND 5th Sunday of Lent FIRST READING (JER 31:31-34) Around 600 BC, Jeremiah prophesied that God would establish a new, unbreakable covenant with His people, one wrien “upon their hearts.” In what ways is your faith ST. PATRICK CATHOLIC CHURCH heartRfelt? Gretna, Nebraska SECOND READING (HEB 5:7-9) The author of Hebrews teaches us that Jesus learned “obedience” from His suffering. What Welcome have been some fruits from the suffering in your life? OSPEL N We invite you to become involved G (J 12:20-33) We hear today of Jesus’ own struggle with His impending death. During this Lenten season, in our parish community! what has been a struggle for you? There are many opportunies for experiencing the peace and joy of our loving God in liturgy, GOSPEL MEDITATION educaon, prayer and service. Any good teacher or parent will tell you that once a If you would like to join our parish lesson is really learned it doesn’t need to be taught family, please visit our website or again. When we internalize things we have learned, the Parish Office for a registraon form. they become a part of who we are and influence how we perceive and interact with our world. The PARISH OFFICE same is true for the law God has wrien upon our Office Hours……………..….MRF 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM hearts. Once humanity learns this lesson, we will Phone………………………….…..…….…….402R332R4444 simply know it to be true and act accordingly. Fax…………………………….……..….……...402R332R5107 Somemes, it is hard to get people to learn the Website…………...………..…....stpatricksgretna.org lessons they need to learn. They are o en distracted, disinterested, conflicted, misdirected, Facebook……………………..…………..@stpatgretnane or just too stubborn and unable or unwilling to see what is right before their eyes. ERmail……………[email protected] Understanding that God is in a loving and commied relaonship with those fashioned and MASS AND HOLY EUCHARIST formed in God’s own image, seems like such a simple lesson to learn. But history and Saturday……….………………………………….…..5:00 PM experience has proven that it is not. Sunday……………..…...8:00 AM, 10:00 AM, & Noon Monday…………...No Mass or Communion Service We struggle with faith, especially when that faith asks us to learn something very parcular Tuesday and Thursday…….……….…….…....6:00 PM about ourselves. We must, like a grain of wheat, fall to the ground and die. Because God’s Wednesday and Friday………………….....….7:30 AM DNA is at the very core of who we are, there are specific pearls of wisdom that must be Holy Days…………………….….....7:30 AM & 6:00 PM acquired before we can live a full life. One very powerful lesson is that it is not the task of Holidays (on weekdays) ..……..………...…..9:00 AM the world to tell us who we are and what has meaning, but God. For many, death is not an opportunity for greater life but a permanent ending to the life they have known. Jesus SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION knew every dimension to what it means to be fully human because He was! He knows the Saturday…………………….……..….4:00 PM R 4:40 PM limitaons, sorrows, frustraons, wonders, suffering, opportunies, and joys of the human Or call the parish office for an appointment. experience. Jesus can teach us a wealth of knowledge and life’s lessons from His example, especially obedience. SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE Parishioners registered for a minimum of one When we accept the law God has placed in our hearts and gain wisdom from it, then when year are eligible to marry here. Six months of we suffer we learn to listen more aenvely to the Voice behind that law. We naturally flee marriage preparaon prior to your wedding is to our Creator for inspiraon, consolaon, hope, direcon, and comfort as we navigate required by the Archdiocese. Contact the Parish through this me of darkness. We will not need to run from it, subdue it, fight it, or be Office to schedule a wedding date and marriage overcome by it because we will know, having internalized this profound lesson before, that preparaon instrucon. God will bring new life. God’s law is love and love never fails. Even in the moments of Jesus’ SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM deepest despair, He glorified the name of His Father. What He learned allowed Him to put Classes are held at 7:00 PM on the second everything in perspecve and be obedient to the tender, loving Voice that echoed within. Monday of each month in the Fr. Hitch Room. As Lent quickly winds down, may we learn the same! Then, may we gain the fortude and Please call the Parish Office if you will be wisdom to help others see what is right before their eyes. aending a specific class. A bapsmal date will not be set unl you become a registered CATHOLIC LIFE EXPLAINED parishioner and both the parents and Godparents aend the bapsmal class for their first child. QUESTION: Bapsms take place a er the Sunday Noon Mass. What is spiritual communion, and MINISTRY TO THE SICK do you need to be in a state of If you, a relave or friend are hospitalized or shut grace to receive it? in, short or long term, and would like a visit from the Pastor, Deacon or Pastoral Minister, please ANSWER: call the Parish Office. For emergencies or if facing The pracce of making a “spiritual danger or death, call 402R332R4428. communion” dates back several centuries and St. Thomas Aquinas EUCHARISTIC ADORATION described it as “an ardent desire The second Thursday of each month, exposion to receive Jesus in the Holy begins at 7:30 AM and concludes before the start Sacrament and a loving embrace of the same day Mass (reposion at 5:45 PM). as though we had already received Him.” Tradionally, a prayer of spiritual communion has For more informaon, contact Jean Hlavacek at been used by those who are unable to receive sacramental 402R504R4222. communion because of health, inability to aend Mass, or Connued on next pageV> 2 | March 21, 2021 5th Sunday of Lent CATHOLIC LIFE EXPLAINED Continued from Page 2 who cannot receive communion because of grave sin. This pracce has been encouraged by many saints and spiritual writers and most recently Pope Francis encouraged the pracce when the realies of the COVIDR19 pandemic prevented so many Catholics from taking part in the Mass or receiving sacramental communion. ST. PATRICK CATHOLIC CHURCH Gretna, Nebraska Although the graces offered in spiritual communion are not the same as those offered in the sacramental communion of the Mass, this pracce is sll a powerful opportunity to READINGS THIS WEEK express our desire for union with the Lord and to be united with Christ and the Church, even in an imperfect way. MONDAY: Dn 13:1R9, 15R17, 19R30, 33R62 or 13:41c R62/Ps 23:1R3a, 3bR4, 5, 6 [4ab]/Jn 8:1R11 SAINT TURIBIUS OF MOGROVEJO TUESDAY: Nm 21:4R9/Ps 102:2R3, 16R18, 19R21 [2]/ Bishop Jn 8:21R30 WEDNESDAY: Dn 3:14R20, 91R92, 95/Dn 3:52, 53, Together with St. Rose of Lima, Turibius is the first known saint of 54, 55, 56 [52b]/Jn 8:31R42 the New World, serving the Lord in Peru, South America, for 26 HURSDAY R R R years. Born in Spain and educated for the law, he became so T : Is 7:10 14; 8:10/Ps 40:7 8, 8 9, 10, 11 R R brilliant a scholar that he was made professor of law at the [8a, 9a]/Heb 10:4 10/Lk 1:26 38 University of Salamanca and eventually became chief judge of FRIDAY: Jer 20:10R13/Ps 18:2R3a, 3bcR4, 5R6, 7 [cf. the Inquision at Granada. He succeeded too well. But he was 7]/Jn 10:31R42 not sharp enough a lawyer to prevent a surprising sequence of SATURDAY: Ez 37:21R28/Jer 31:10, 11R12abcd, 13 events. [cf. 10d]/Jn 11:45R56 EXT UNDAY Mk 11:1R10 or Jn 12:12R16/Is 50:4R When the Archdiocese of Lima in Peru required a new leader, N S : R R R R R Turibius was chosen to fill the post: he was the one person with 7/Ps 22:8 9, 17 18, 19 20, 23 24 [2a]/Phil 2:6 11/ the strength of character and holiness of spirit to heal the Mk 14:1V15:47 or 15:1R39 scandals that had infected that area. He cited all the canons that forbade giving laymen ecclesiascal dignies, but he was overruled. Turibius was ordained priest and bishop and sent to Peru, where he found colonialism at its worst. The Spanish conquerors were guilty of every sort of oppression of the nave populaon. Abuses among the clergy were flagrant, and he devoted his energies and suffering to this area first. He began the long and arduous visitaon of an immense Archdiocese, studying the language, staying two or three days in each place, o en with neither bed nor food. Turibius confessed every morning to his chaplain, and celebrated Mass with intense fervor. Among those to whom he gave the Sacrament of Confirmaon was the future Saint Rose of Lima, and possibly the future Saint Marn de Porres. A er 1590, he had the help of another great missionary, Francis Solanus, now also a saint. Though very poor, his people were sensive, dreading to accept public charity from others. Turibius solved the problem by helping them anonymously. God gave him the gi of loving others as they needed it.