WEEKEND: WEEKDAY:

Saturday: Monday:……………………Mass: 5:30 PM Anticipated Mass….….5:00 PM Tuesday:…………………...Mass: 5:30 PM *First Saturday: Mass: 8:00 AM + Rosary Wednesday:……………….Mass: 5:30 PM & Meditation Thursday:………………….Mass: 5:30 PM

Sunday: Friday:……………………...Mass: 5:30 PM Mass………………….9:00 AM & 10:15 AM *First Friday:..Mass: 5:30 PM + Adoration CCD (Sep—May)…………………10:15 AM RCIA……………………………….10:15 AM

Reconciliation: Wednesday: 6-6:30 PM / Saturday: 4-4:45 PM / or by appointment Baptism: Requires one month prior notification

Matrimony: Requires six-month notice in advance of the marriage date

Now conducted at St. Maurice in Brewton AL. Please call (251) 867-5189 for date and time.

Finance Committee - Saturday, June 19th, 10:00 AM

LAST WEEKEND’S COLLECTION

Regular Collection $4513.00 Building Fund $364.00 Candles $5.00 Seminarians $5.00

Deposit Total $4887.00

Seminarians - June 19th / 20th Peter’s Pence - June 26th / 27th

This past Memorial Day was my Vestition Day into the Dominican Order. (Vestition is the rite of being invested with the Dominican Scapular as a sign of incorporation into the Order.) There were four of us and we are the first in the Dominican Southern Prov- ince to enter the Priestly Fraternity of St Dominic. I have written about what this means for me before and do not want to repeat all that. Suffice it to say, that my Vestition Day was filled with many graces. I am now a “Diocesan Dominican.” As a part of Vestition, we are given the opportunity to choose a religious name. I have taken the name Vincent, from St Vincent Ferrer. St Vincent was a renowned Spanish Dominican preacher and miracle worker who lived from 1350 -1419. Choosing a name, as we do in Confirmation, represents we are entering into a new spiritual phase of life and we seek the powerful intercession of those who have gone before us in faith, hope, and charity. I appreciate all the prayers that were offered for me. Let us continue to pray for each other. —Fr. Sofie

“The Mass Readings Explained”: Join us Tuesday evening at 6:00 PM in the par- ish hall for this weekly presentation to ex- plain what the upcoming readings for Sun- day’s Mass are all about. Finance Committee: The Finance Com- mittee will hold its quarterly meeting on Saturday, June 19th at 10:00 AM in Boland Hall. Two new committee members will be welcomed at the meeting: Jean Ni- sewonger and Shirli Kralik.

Monday, June 14th Mass: 5:30 PM Tuesday, June 15th "To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, Mass: 5:30 PM or what parable can we use for it? It is like a “Mass Readings Explained”: 6:00 PM mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the Wednesday, June 16th earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and be- Mass: 5:30 PM comes the largest of plants and puts forth large Confession: 6:00 PM branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell Prayer for the Country: 6:30 PM in its shade." Thursday, June 17th Mass: 5:30 PM Today is the feast of St. Anthony of Padua which is superseded by the Sunday Liturgy. Friday, June 18th Mass: 5:30 PM Sunday Readings Saturday, June 19th The first reading is taken from Ez 17:22-24. In St. Romuald, this reading the prophet Ezekiel spoke about the Confession: 4:00 PM better days that were to come for the Chosen Anticipated Mass: 5:00 PM

People when Yahweh would take back His peo- Sunday, June 20th ple once more, and dwell in their midst forever. Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time Today's extract is a messianic prophecy in which Rosary: 8:30 AM God says that he will raise up a descendant–a Mass 9:00 AM sprig from the lofty cedar David, who will yet be Mass: 10:15 AM the glory of Israel. The second reading is from 2 Corinthians 5:6- 10. St Paul tells his Corinthians that his constant desire and motive in life is to please God. In this he wants them to imitate him. While on earth this is his aim and when he goes to God in heaven this will be his purpose and his delight. The Gospel is from St. Mark 4:26-34. One of the proofs of the divine origin of the Church of Christ is its growth from very humble beginnings. Christ could have come on earth in the prime of man- hood, without the cooperation of any human an- cestry. He could have preached his gospel to the whole world himself without any help from men. By extraordinary miracles he could have astounded the world into believing. If he wished to have the assistance of men he could have chosen the outstanding philosophers and orators of Greece and Rome. Instead, he chose to come into this world as a baby, the son of a poor mother and of a carpenter foster-father. He was born in a stable; was forced into pagan Egypt before he was a year old; he lived thirty or so years in Nazareth in poverty, earning his meager daily bread by the sweat of his brow. Then for three years he trudged the highways and by-ways of Pal- estine, often weary, hungry and footsore, preaching the good news of redemption. For assistants he chose fishermen, shepherds and tax-gatherers, twelve of the most ordi- nary of the ordinary people of his day. When the time came for him to lay down his life for the world as prearranged by his Fa- ther, he allowed his enemies to capture him and to condemn him to the death of the cross. These were surely humble beginnings for a kingdom which was to span the earth and the ages. The mustard seed in comparison was large. Yet, this was God's plan and therefore it succeeded as he said it would. The story of his humble origins among us, of his equality with us in all things, sin alone excepted, and of his self-immolation for us, touched human hearts wherever it was told and the grace of God did the rest. It was not the eloquence of the Apostles, nor their gift of persuasion, nor their fame for learning that moved the pagan world to forsake its idols and its vices. No, nothing but the moving grace of the Holy Spirit and the objective truth of the gospel story can explain the conversion of the Roman empire. Therefore, the spread of the Church is a proof of its divine origin—it is from God and God is with it. Knowing this, how grateful should we not be to him who has made us members of his kingdom on earth, with the assurance of a place in his eternal kingdom in heaven, if we remain his loyal subjects here below. How good God has been to us! To what lengths of humiliation did he not go to in order to open heaven for us! When we think of Bethlehem, Nazareth, Calvary, can we dare complain because he sends us a few crosses to help us to atone for our own past sins? When we wipe the sweat of hon- est labor from our brow, we will think of the carpenter of Nazareth. When we feel the pinch of poverty, hunger, debt, we will think of Bethlehem and its stable and of the poor home of Nazareth. If or when the injustice of others should drive us from our home and fatherland, as is the lot of so many today, we will think of the exile in Egypt. If we are saved this humiliation we will do all in our power to help "displaced" persons wherever they may be. The tiny mustard seed has grown into a tree but it has yet to gather many more under the shelter of its branches. Christ asks every one of his followers to help him to bring all men into the safety of his kingdom on earth, so that they may be enabled to enjoy happi- ness forever in his heavenly kingdom. Realizing all that God and his divine Son have done for us, would we be so mean and ungrateful as to refuse to lend a helping hand? God forbid! God has already put us on the right road to heaven; we will help him to get in the stragglers, the lazy, the "couldn't-care-less" ones on that same road, by every means available to us. --Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M. www.catholicculture.org (Trinity Communications)

Monday, June 14th: Blessed Virgin’s Intentions, Pope Michael Scott (D) Emeritus Benedict XVI, Pope Tuesday, June 15th: Francis I, Archbishop Rodi and All Chanda Fehler (D) Bishops, Father Sofie, Father Milsted, Priests

Wednesday, June 16th: of the Archdiocese, St. Robert Bellarmine Parish, Bonnie Latino, Tim DiVincenti, Anne Fr. Bill Garrott OP (L) Latino, Curt Beck, Gene Santarelli, Gary Thursday, June 17th: Moore, Richard and Mary Powers, Persecut- Andrew Mills (L) ed Christians, The USA, Susan & Carl Bow- Friday, June 18th: en, Ron & Blinda Smith, Maria Ewing, Mary Rosa Davis (L) McPherson, All Elected Officials, Martha

Saturday, June 19th: Sneed, Linda Lumpkin Ellison, Andrew Mills, John Marano, Jr. & Family, Betty Chaloux (to Dorothy Dorriety (L) get a new job), Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB Sunday, June 20th: and Susana English. St. Robert Parishioners (9:00 AM) Catherine Cobb (L) (10:15 AM) Our Military Family Brock Houghton (USMC), Zachary Godwin (USAF), Dan Markush (USAF), Scott Stanford (USN), Andrew Markush (USN), Joshua Wil- son (USAF), , Byron Tims, Jr. (USN), Gary Shelley (USN), Sheena Marie Currie (AUSA), “Love is a Logan Doremus (USMC), John David Dorriety (USAF), Nicholas Markush (USAF) Dalton mystery that Sullivan (NG), Jonathan Sullivan (AUSA) and Cody Hitchcock (USAF). transforms Repose of Souls everything it touches into things beautiful and pleasing to God.” -- St. Faustina Kowalska SATURDAY, JUNE 19TH

St. Romuald, the founder of the Order— one of the Ital- ian branches of the — in which the eremitical life is com- bined with life in community, could not decide for a considerable time whether to serve God in a religious life or to remain in the world. After his father killed a relative in a duel at which Romuald was forced to be present, he went to the monastery of St. Apollinaris, near , and did penance for forty days. Later, he entered this same monastery as a monk. Then he became a follower of the Marinus in Ven- ice. In the course of time he founded an order of which re- ceived its name after the most famous of his foundations, Camalduli in Tuscany. Romuald's was one of the strictest orders for men in the West (a branch of the Benedictine Order). Members live isolated in small huts, observing strict silence and perpetual fasting, constantly praying or engaged in manual labor. Our enjoyed the grace of bringing sinners, particularly those of rank and power, back to God. When he died, he was a little over seventy years; he had never used a bed, had always sought out ways of practicing severe penances. 15 years later his pupil, the holy doctor of the Church, St. , wrote his biography. "His greatness lies in the rigorous and austere character of his interpretation of monastic life-an approach that was quite singular and unique. In the deepest recesses of his being, Romuald was an ascetic, a monk; not perhaps, a monk of that serene peace and self-possession exempli- fied by St. Benedict in his life and described by him in his Rule. Nor was Romuald an organizer who through prudent legislation enabled his spirit to flourish and affect great numbers. He re- minds us of the stolid figures inhabiting the Eastern deserts, men who by most rigorous mortifi- cation and severest self-inflicted penances gave a wanton world a living example of recollection and contemplation. Their very lives constituted the most powerful sermon. It is in company with men like these that St. Romuald continues to live." Romuald was not at all a fluent reader. Whenever he made another of his many mistakes, Mari- nus, his teacher, beat him on his left cheek. Finally it became too much for Romuald. "But, dear master," he said modestly, "hit me on the right cheek in the future. My left ear is almost deaf." The master was surprised at such patience and thereafter acted more considerately. The saint loved to say, "Better to pray one psalm with devotion and compunction than a hundred with distraction." When the holy man felt his end was near, he retired to the monastery at Val di Castro. After so many journeys he was eager to begin his final pilgrimage to an eternal resting place. Before the reform of the Calendar in 1969 his feast was celebrated on February 7, the anniversary of the translation of his relics in 1481. His feast is now June 19, the day he died in 1027. In the Calen- dar reform the Church has tried to move the feasts of the to their "birthday" — referring to the day on which the saint died and celebrated his/her birth into heaven. --Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

May 25, 2021 “Dear children! Today I am looking at you and calling: return to God because He is love and out of love has sent me to you to lead you on the way of conversion. Leave sin and evil, decide for holiness and joy will begin to reign; and you will be my extend- ed hands in this lost world. I desire that you be prayer and hope to those who have not come to know the God of love. Thank you for having responded to my call. ”

These are the current members of the Pastoral Council. Should you have any ques- tions, concerns or suggestions that relate to the Parish, please speak with one of them. The Pastoral Council is an invaluable aid to a pastor and to the overall wellbe- ing of a parish. Robert Clark Jocie Franco David Kralik Jan LeCocq Kathy Quinn Victoria Stewart