Church of St. Theresa a Caring Community Reaching out to One Another in Christ
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Church of St. Theresa A Caring Community Reaching Out To One Another in Christ 2855 St. Theresa Avenue, Bronx, New York SUNDAY MASSES ST. THERESA’S FAMILY IS OUR FAMILY Saturday at 5:00pm, Sunday at 7:30am, 9:00am(Italian), “ST. THERESA STRONG” 10:30am(Family Mass) 12:15pm , 1:30PM(Spanish) & 5:00pm WEEKDAY MASSES Monday thru Saturday 8:00am & 9:00am DEVOTIONS Miraculous Medal & St. Theresa Novenas after Monday morning Masses St. Anthony Novena after Tuesday morning Masses. Thursday 12 Noon Mass & Eucharistic Adoration Exposition & Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament First Friday 6:00PM CONFESSION Saturdays from 4:00pm to 5:00pm and by appointment BAPTISMS Baptisms take place most Sundays after the 1:30pm Mass. We ask parents to attend the Baptism preparation meeting. Register at the Rectory for the meeting. The date of the Baptism will be discussed at the Baptism meeting. MARRIAGES Call the Rectory at least six months in advance of the wedding date to make an appointment with parish clergy. Rev. Msgr. Thomas Derivan, Pastor Rev. Joseph Ligory, Parochial Vicar Mrs. Josephine Fanelli, Principal Rev. Edmundo Gomez, Retired, Mrs. Marie McCarrick, Dir. of Religious Education Rev. Robert Imbelli, Weekend Associate Nadia Papayani, Dir. of Music RECTORY: 7188921900/1901 WEBSITE: www.sttheresachurchbronx.org SCHOOL: 7187923688 FAX: 7188921146 EMAIL: [email protected] RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: 7187928434 CHURCH OF ST. THERESA, BRONX FROM THE DESK OF FATHER DERIVAN Next Sunday we will be celebrating the Feast of All Saints when we honor all of God’s holy ones in heaven, both those who are canonized as saints, officially called saints because of the holiness of their lives, but also the countless uncanonized saints, the many people who lived good and holy lives, including parents and grandparents, teachers and priests, friends and neighbors who have gone home to God after living good and faithful Christian lives. In a beautiful phrase, Pope Francis calls them “the saints next door.” And he says, “We must be grateful to God who has given them to us, putting them close to us as living and contagious examples of the way to live and die in faithfulness to the Lord Jesus and his Gospel.” Christian life is all about becoming a saint. Our own St. Theresa said this, “There is only one tragedy in lifeNnot to become a saint.” And she often said this simple sentence, “I want to become a saint.” But we say to ourselves, “This is good for St. Theresa, an extraordinary person. But how can that be good for us right here and now?” Let us draw from today’s gospel two important lessons about becoming saints: First, to become a saint does not require extraordinary things. In fact St. Theresa once said, “Our Lord does not look so much on the greatness of our actions, as on the love with which we do them.” Things do not make a person a saint; love makes a person a saint. As the other St. Theresa, St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, “To do great things for God does not require extraordinary things; ordinary things are enough. It is how much love you put in the doing of your life that makes your life something beautiful for God.” To become a saint, we must do our best to make our lives beautiful for God. The second thing to remember is that only God makes saints. In a sense, He makes it easy. The Lord in the gospel today gives us the program to become saints. This man in the gospel wants to trick Our Lord by asking Him which is the greatest of the commandments. If the Lord were to pick one of the Ten Commandments, the man would say, “What about the other nine?” So the Lord answers in an unexpected way. The first commandment is to love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, to love God completely with everything you have and everything you are. But Jesus does not stop there. He immediately gives the second commandment. The man had not asked for the second commandment, but Jesus gives it anyway, as if to say, “You have to follow both commandments if you want to follow meNlove God and love your neighbor. Your love of God shows itself in your love of others and your love of others strengthens your love for God.” We call these the two Great Commandments. Pope Francis says they are “two sides of the same coin. You cannot love God without loving your neighbor and you cannot love your neighbor without loving God. The visible sign a Christian can show in order to witness to his love for God to the world and to others, to his family, is the love he bears for his brothers.” How do you become a saint? What program do we have to follow? Jesus gives us the blueprint today. If you love God and love your neighbor, you are on the way to letting God make you a saint. November is often called the month of saints. During November we celebrate the feast of St. Martin of Tours. Martin later on in life was a great bishop and teacher of the faith. But as a young man, he was a soldier in the Roman army, studying to become a Christian. Even though he was not yet baptized, the love of God and the love of neighbor was truly in his heart. One day, Martin the soldier was riding to his winter quarters. As he rode down the road, he saw a beggar man in the road who cried out to him. “Martin, please give me something to keep me warm.” Martin did not have any extra clothing. All he had was his large soldier’s cape, which was used as a blanket at nighttime. Without thinking about it, Martin took off his cloak, took out his sword and cut the cloak in half, giving half to the poor man and keeping half for himself. That night Martin had a dream and in the dream the Lord Jesus came to him, wearing the half of cloak which Martin had given the beggar. And the Lord said, “Martin, not yet a Christian, you have clothed me with the cloak of your love.” Do we want to become saints? Then we must do what Martin did, We must love God and neighbor. If we want to be saints, like St. Martin, we must love God enough to clothe others with our love. Father Thomas B. Derivan ANOINTING OF THE SICK BAPTISMS The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick will be As you know, we have been allowed to resume baptisms in our administered in our church next Saturday, November 7th at a church, following the proper safety procedures. Parents who special 12:00PM Mass. wish to have their child baptized should come to the rectory to All who need Christ’s healing grace because of old age or fill out the necessary form. Then they are asked to see Father sickness of mind or body are welcome to receive this beautiful Derivan after any Mass on Sunday to arrange for the date of the Sacrament. As you know, the Church has extended the use of baptism. Parents will be asked to view “Baptismal Instruction this sacrament (which formerly was given only to those in for Parents” which is on our website: danger of death) to all who seek to have Christ’s grace to help www.sttheresachurchbronx.org. them bear sickness or old age. We welcome you to the Mass next Saturday at 12:00PM. THIRTIETH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME MESSAGE OF OUR HOLY FATHER POPE FRANCIS FOR THIS SUNDAY This Sunday, the Liturgy presents us with a brief, but very important Gospel passage (Mt 22:3440). Matthew the Evangelist recounts that the Pharisees assemble in order to put Jesus to the test. One of them, a doctor of the Law, asks him this question: “Teacher, which one is the great commandment in the law?” (v. 36). It is an insidious question, because more than 600 precepts are mentioned in the Law of Moses. How should thegreat commandmentbe distinguished among these? But Jesus responds without hesitation: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”. And he adds: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (vv. 37, 39). This response of Jesus is not to be taken for granted, because, among the numerous precepts of the Hebrew Law, the most important were the 10 Commandments, communicated directly by God to Moses, as the conditions of the Covenant with the people. But Jesus wants to make it understood that without love for God and for our neighbor there is no true fidelity to this Covenant with the Lord. You may do many good things, fulfil many precepts, many good things, but if you do not have love, this serves no purpose. It is confirmed by another text in the Book of Exodus, the socalled “Covenant Code”, where it is said that one cannot adhere to the Covenant with the Lord and mistreat those who enjoy his protection. And who are those who enjoy his protection? The Bible says: the widow, the orphan and the stranger, the migrant, that is, the most lonely and defenseless people (cf. Ex 22:2021). In responding to those Pharisees who question him, Jesus also tries to help them put their religiosity in order, to distinguish what truly matters from what is less important. Jesus says: “On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Mt.