Bulletin Open After All Weekend Masses (Or by Appointment) [email protected]
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Page 1 S ERVED BY : FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME A July 12, 2020 ASCENSION CATHOLIC COMMUNITY Rev. Eamon Tobin .......................Ext. 3070 Pastor, email: [email protected] 2950 N. Harbor City Blvd., Melbourne, FL 32935 Rev. Martin Fitzgerald ....... 321-254-1595 Tel. 321-254-1595 -Fax 321-255-3490 Assistant Priest www.ascensioncatholic.net [email protected] Deacon Sergio A. Colon ..............Ext. 3082 Bereavement Ministry, Hispanic Community [email protected] Deacon Tom Stauffacher [email protected]—321-242-4504 Deacon Bill Terneus [email protected]—254-1595 Deacon Chris Meehan [email protected] —242-8003 Anita Brady ...................................Ext. 3001 School Principal [email protected] Donna Violi ...................................Ext. 3001 Assistant Principal [email protected] John Baillie ....................................Ext. 3044 Technology Administrator [email protected] Betsy Glasenapp ...........................Ext. 3080 Faith Formation Director [email protected] Shelly Wackley .............................Ext. 3080 Faith Formation Assistant [email protected] Cara Giuliano ................................Ext. 3501 Director of Youth Ministry [email protected] Anna Nagy .....................................Ext. 3501 Associate Youth Minister Katie Gander .................................Ext. 3068 Music/Liturgy Director [email protected] Laura Dodson ...............................Ext. 3067 Pastoral Associate/RCIA [email protected] Ashley Breaux ...............................Ext. 3077 ASCENSION CATHOLIC SCHOOL SCHEDULE OF MASSES Contemporary Music www.ascensioncatholicsch.org [email protected] U.S. Department of Education Saturday Vigil Mass Monica Sutton ..............................Ext. 3076 School of Excellence 4:30 pm Pre-Kindergarten through Eighth Grade Volunteer Coordinator Sunday Masses [email protected] FAITH FORMATION 7:30 am PARISH OFFICE HOURS Religious Education 9:30 a.m. Monday-Friday - 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Pre-K3– Gr. 3 Tuesdays, 2:00-3:30pm PARISH OFFICE STAFF 11:30 am Pre-K3– Gr. 6 Tuesdays, 4:00 - 5:15 p.m. Teresa Romano ........................... Ext. 3050 5:30 pm Pre-K3– Gr. 6 Wednesdays, 4:00 - 5:15 p.m. Front Office Manager (Contemporary Music) [email protected] Gr. 1-6 Wednesdays, 6:15 - 7:30 p.m. Mary Russo....................................Ext. 3078 YOUTH MINISTRY Weekday Masses Business Manager/Bookkeeper Ascension Catholic Life Teen Monday-Friday: 7:30 am [email protected] Sundays 6:45-8:30pm Sat. 9:00 am Anne Whelan ................................Ext. 3074 Edge (Grades 7&8) Wednesdays 6-7:30pm Assistant Bookkeeper Sacrament of Reconciliation [email protected] Ascension Social Concerns: 259-5685 Saturday: 3:15-4:25 Maria Sittig .................................. Ext. 3072 Religious Articles Gift Shop Wednesday: 5:00 pm Secretary/Bulletin Open after all weekend Masses (or by appointment) [email protected] Brian Carley Special Projects Manager As a good steward of the Lord’s blessings, please remember to consider [email protected] your Parish Family or School Endowment in your Last Will and Testament. Page 2 FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME A July 12, 2020 to whom ‘more will be given.’ They will be given more as they grow in openness and receptivity to God’s Word. On the other hand, those with unreceptive hearts, those with closed and hardened hearts, will miss the message of the parables, and so the little they have will be taken from them. Jesus then says that Isaiah had the same problem as he has. He too had to deal with people who closed their minds to his message. Then Jesus calls attention to the great privilege the disciples have in hearing and understanding The Parables of Jesus what righteous men and women in the past longed to see and hear. Reflections on the Parable of the Sower In the third and final section of today’s Gospel (verses 18- A New Book by Matthew Kelly 23), Jesus speaks about the various kinds of soil on which Blessed Luigi and Maria Quattrocchi’s the seed falls and the factors that prevent the Word from Ordinary and Extraordinary life bearing fruit abundantly. The Evil One may come and steal the Word. Also, the Word may not take root because of Chapter 13 in Matthew’s Gospel is sometimes called “the persecution, preoccupation with other things, including the day of parables.” He presents us with seven parables that loss of riches. Even though four types of soil or persons are are all focused on the Kingdom of God. They are parables envisioned, it is more realistic to understand each seed as seeking to give us a glimpse into the nature of the belonging to all of us. At one time or another, each of us Kingdom that Jesus is inaugurating. can lose the Word to the Evil One. We can be enthusiastic but not persevering, and we may allow the pursuit of Parables have been called “an earthly story with a material things to distract us from paying attention to our heavenly meaning.” Jesus tells a story and then challenges soul. But then at some time, the Word may bear abundant the listener to figure out the message for him/herself. On fruit in our lives. the other hand, parables can, in the words of William Barclay, conceal truth from those who are either too lazy to A New Book by Matthew Kelly think or too blinded by prejudice to see. It puts the responsibility fairly and squarely on the individual. It Best selling author and well known speaker Mathew Kelly reveals truth to those who desire truth; it conceals truth has recently released a new book called: I Heard God from those who do not wish to see the truth (Commentary Laugh. on Matthew, Vol.2, p.13). The inside cover of the book reads: Today’s parable of the sower is very much based on the Most of us are trying to put together the jigsaw puzzle everyday experiences of the audience. They often see we call life without a very important piece. Over time this sowers sowing seed. The main point of the parable is becomes incredibly frustrating. In this extraordinary book, God’s offer of his Kingdom (salvation) to all. God is the Matthew Kelly powerfully demonstrates that we cannot Sower and we are the soil – of different types. If the seed live the life we have imagined, or experience the joy we falls on good soil (an open heart), it will likely produce an yearn for, unless we learn to tend the soul. From there, incredible harvest. Jesus encourages his audience to be with his classic style of practical wisdom, he teaches us good soil, receptive to his message. Jesus’ offer of the how to remedy this problem. Kingdom to all people would have stretched the mindset of When our bodies are hungry, our stomachs growl. those who believed that only the Jews belonged in the When our souls are hungry, we become irritable, restless, Kingdom. The parable invites each listener to look into his/ confused, overwhelmed, exhausted, anxious, discontent, her heart to see what kind of soil he/she is and to see how and tend to focus on the things that matter least and open and responsive he/she is to Jesus and his message. neglect the things that matter most. In section two (verses 10-17) of today’s Gospel, Jesus Are you taking care of your soul? Are you feeding it responds to the question as to why he teaches in parables. and nurturing it? Or are you ignoring it and neglecting it? This is one of the most difficult sections in the whole of The reality is, most people have never really been taught Matthew’s Gospel because in it Jesus appears to be saying how to tend their souls. I Heard God Laugh will help you that God deliberately blinds the eyes and hardens the hearts to do just that, and so much more. of some from hearing and understanding his Word. The If you ever wondered how Matthew Kelly has been able truth is, of course, that Jesus wants everyone to hear, to write and speak the way he has over the past three understand, and follow his message. But, unfortunately, decades, he is about to share his secret with you. As he that does not always happen because of the spiritual shares what transformed his life, along with intimate de- condition of people’s hearts. tails of his own journey and struggle, he teaches us how to Those who have open, receptive hearts will hear and apply the great spiritual lessons learned to our own lives. understand and bear much fruit. These are also the people At every turn he floods the reader with hope and demonstrates unmistakably that the best is yet to come! Page 3 FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME A July 12, 2020 An excerpt: Habit and Potential the beatification. He was talking about the light that shines in all married couples who have lived ordinary yet extraor- I started to read Kelly’s new book a week ago. I loved this dinary lives of faith and sacrifice. piece on Habit and Potential—I am only sharing here an excerpt from this section of the book. Devout People of Means. Maria Luisa Corsini was born on June 12, 1884, in Florence, Italy. Her mother was “lively Our lives change when our habits change. For better or and domineering,” while her father, an officer in the Royal for worse, habits are one of the most powerful influences in Army, was noted for his bad temper. Maria, no shrinking our lives. Our lives rise and fall more on our habits than violet herself, once told her father, “You know, Papa, I on circumstances beyond our control. There is so much would never have married you like Mama did, with your bad uncertainty in life, so much that is beyond our circle of temper.” influence, but with our habits we get to exercise our God- Born into a family of means, Maria was well educated: in given free will and shape our destiny.