February 2, 2020 Pastor Fr
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February 2, 2020 Pastor Fr. Jose We would like to extend a warm welcome Panthaplamthottiyil, CMI. to all of our new parishioners! Parochial Vicars Fr. Arul Yagappan, MSFS Fr. Bartlomiej Lukasz Gadaj Website: http://seaspcfl.org/ Mission Chapel Church, Rectory Office, St. Stephen’s Chapel Retired Associates School & Ministry Center 2400 E. Highway 100, Bunnell, FL 32110 Fr. John McElroy 4600 Belle Terre Pkwy. Palm Coast, FL 32164 Church Hours Fr. Mel Hemann Phone: (386) 445-2246 • Fax: (386) 445-7808 7:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Monday – Friday Fr. George Sankoorikal School: (386) 445-2411 Rectory Office & Ministry Center Fr. Fred Parke (Pastor Emeritus) Emergency Phone: (386) 283-3420 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday – Friday Fr. James May (Pastor Emeritus) (after hours ONLY) Holidays Pastoral Ministry Rev. Deacon Perlito (Tom) Alayu Masses Rev. Deacon Bob Devereux Saturday Vigil Mass Rev. Deacon Jose Homem 4:00 pm Rev. Deacon Ed Wolff Sun -8:00am, 10:00 am Business Manager (Interpreted for the deaf) Elizabeth Foran & 12 pm Office Assistant Spanish Mass Mrs. Elaine Leonard (la misa en Español) 5:00 pm Bookkeeper Portuguese Mass 1st/3rd Leanne Rossi Saturdays 6:00pm Receptionist Daily Mass Carmen Cruz-Pritchard Monday - Friday 7:00 am & 8:30 am Custodian “Your Gift Today is Our Treasure Saturday 8:30 am Mr. Juan Quintero for Tomorrow” St. Stephen’s Maintenance Saturday Vigil Mass 6:00 pm Jose Valverde January 26 Tax Letters Sunday-5:00pm School Principal Brian Wheeler If you are Offertory……$21,315.50 Sacrament of Reconciliation needing a letter Online Giving…$1,601.00 Director of Saturday 3:00-3:45 pm, for tax purposes 30 minutes before all Christian Formation Total…….…$22,916.50 Sunday Masses Katie Allio please contact School Support….$2,485.00 or by appointment the rectory. Grand Total……..$25,401.50 Director of Office Hours Youth Ministry Monday - Friday Donna Roane Thank you & God bless! 9:00- 4:00 pm Jeremy Vest Music Director Don Roy myParish App Online Giving Daily Readings, prayers & Saves envelopes (saves parish $) Bulletin Editor much more! No need to write checks (saves Phyllis Jenkins YOU $) [email protected] Go to the App Store or Google Play and search for myParish. Or No missing donations while on search the internet, myparishapp.com vacation Cover Picture: More efficient form of stewardship for the ability to find info on all Courtesy of Catholic churches within the Diocese of Go to www.seaspcfl.org and click churchofjesuschrist.com St. Augustine. Online Giving link. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, Palm Coast, Florida 32164, page 2 View this bulletin online at www.DiscoverMass.com From the Desk of Fr. Jose Are We Holding up the Heavens on Our Shoulders? According to Greek mythology Atlas was the leader of mands of the King and so he refused to surrender the the Titans who fought against Zeus for the control of rights of the Church. When the king threatened him the heavens. When Atlas and the Titans lost the fight with punishment, he escaped to France and spent al- Zeus entrusted him with the task of holding up the most six years in an abbey in silence and prayer. heavens forever as a severe punishment. Hence we of- ten see Atlas being depicted in statues and pictures as Later with the intervention of Pope Alexander III, the holding up the heavens. king relented and allowed Archbishop Becket to return to England. But at the time of the coronation of his heir Imagine the strain and tension of Atlas in holding up apparent, King Henry II ignored the rights of the Can- the heavens day in and day out. Even though he is of terbury Archbishop by asking the bishops of York, Lon- divine origin as the story goes, it must be very excruci- don and Salisbury to crown the young king. This led to ating to hold up the heavens on his their excommunication by Archbishop shoulders! We know this is only a story Becket, followed by other stringent concocted by storytellers of the ancient measures. past. But doesn’t it reflect the way some of us live in the present day world? We These unforeseen developments made often give the impression that if we are King Henry II very tense and in a mo- not holding up the heavens on our ment of frustration the King said aloud, shoulders at least we are holding up the “Will no one rid me of this turbulent earth! priest?” Immediately four of his knights rushed to Canterbury Cathedral where It is true our life is always tough as we have to face all Archbishop Becket was getting ready for evening litur- kinds of challenges and problems regardless of who we gical prayers with the monks. The knights beheaded are and what we do in our life. Hence, there will always him without mercy and rushed back to the palace with be strain and tension in our lives. However, it doesn’t the news. Hearing the horrific news, the king realized it mean we should live like Atlas, bearing the extreme was his words that caused the death of the Archbishop tension of holding up the heavens on our shoulders. and he fell on his knees repenting of his crime, donning When there is tension and strain in our life, there is al- sackcloth and ashes and eating nothing for three days. ways the possibility to explode at the least provocation. In fact, in times like this many people go out of their Compared to the tension in the life of King Henry II mind making bad decisions. which led to the murder of Archbishop Becket, the ten- sion in our life may not be that severe. However, all of In his research-based book, The Stress of Life Dr. Hans us without exception face situations of stress which of- Selye, M.D., who first used the term stress in a psycho- ten lead us to flawed and damaging decisions. If this is logical context makes an interesting observation. Ac- the case is there a way we can get rid of our tensions cording to him, when there is stress in our life the body and lead a peaceful life? will begin to produce stress hormones which will cause damage to the heart and blood vessels. Moreover, the According to Dr. Selye, the best way to reduce our ten- chemical changes in our body may lead to untoward sion is to infuse positive thoughts into our mind. When actions which will affect not only us but also others. we have positive thoughts, he says they will help calm our mind by causing positive chemical changes in our Thomas Becket (1119-1170) was the chancellor as well body. When we laugh, don’t we feel refreshed and reju- as a very good friend and counselor of King Henry II of venated? In Dr. Selye’s opinion it is because of the England (1133 – 1189). However, when he was or- chemical changes in our body. dained a priest on June 2, 1162 and was consecrated as Positive thoughts can always calm our mind and help Archbishop of Canterbury on the following day, he re- us relieve our tension. However, the best way to relieve signed his chancellorship to focus his attention on mat- and overcome our tension is to put our total trust in ters related to the Church. In fact, he even tried to re- God as reminded by Psalmist David. gain some of the rights of the Church which were nulli- fied by King Henry II over the years. He writes, “Even though I walk through the darkest But King Henry II, instead of conceding the rights of valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod the Church tried to take over its control by asking Arch- and your staff give me courage” (Psalm 23). Prophet bishop Becket to agree to his new proposals. In good Isaiah teaches us that God will keep us in perfect peace conscience the Archbishop could not agree to the de- if our mind is stayed on him (26:3). St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, Palm Coast, Florida 32164 , page 3 View this bulletin online at www.DiscoverMass.com Let us always remember to turn to God who is always there to help us face the stress and strain of our life by giving us peace. (Reprinted from my monthly inspirational column, Reflections in Pallikkutam The Education Observer, July 2019, a magazine published from Kerala, India. https:// www.pallikkutam.com/uploads/emagazine/2019/ July_2019/index.html#pallikkutam-july-2019-magazine-low- res/page/64-65 Funny Stories Big Shot in the Pulpit: A bishop invited to preach at an Anglican church joined the rector's family for Sunday dinner after church. The rector's small daughter said, "A person must be very brave to go to church these days." "Why do you say that?" the bishop asked. "Because," the child said, "I heard Papa tell Mama there was a big shot in the pulpit, the canon was in the vestry, the choir murdered the anthem, and the organist drowned everybody." ‒ Cambridge (England) Daily News Church Play: A young girl was asked to play the devil tempting Jesus in the wilderness in a church play. She refused, suggesting that the pastor ask her little brother instead. "He'd make a great devil!" she said. To Make Gravy: Discussing the story of Elijah and the false prophets of Baal, a Sunday school teacher related that Elijah built an altar, put wood on it, cut a steer in pieces, and laid it on the altar.