Edly Dunn Or Holy Hour on Wednesday

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 Catholic Church in Brewton AL. Please call (251) 867-5189 for date and time.

Pastoral Council - Thursday, May 13, 2021, 6:00 PM Finance Committee - Saturday, June 19th, 10:00 AM

LAST WEEKEND’S COLLECTION

Regular Collection $5003.00 Building Fund $160.00 The Church in Eastern Europe/Africa $2.00 Holy Land $172.00

Deposit Total $5335.00

Building Fund - May 1st / 2nd Catholic Communications - May 22nd / 23rd

What did Jesus do between His death on Good Friday and His Resurrection on Easter Sunday? The Apostles’ Creed declares “He descended into hell.” This one line has generated much confusion, at least in the English-speaking world. Why would Jesus go into hell? Was it to torment Satan? Was it to “rub Satan’s nose” in his defeat? What’s the deal? The problem lies in the word “hell.” Hell can mean the place of damnation, where Sa- tan abides (also called “Gehenna”). But hell can have other meanings too, which is the case in the Apostles’ Creed. In the Creed, the hell that is mentioned is not the hell of Satan’s abode, but it is the place where the saints of the Old Testament (also known as “Limbo of the Fathers”, or “Sheol” in Hebrew, or “Hades” in Greek) were detained until the Messiah came and unlocked the gates of heaven. During the time Jesus’ body was dead and lying in the tomb, His soul was alive and He went to preach the Good News to the Old Testament saints and to assure them salvation is at hand. St Peter refers to this in 1 Peter 3:18-19: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison . . .” The “spirits in prison” is hell, the Limbo of the Fathers, the place where the Old Testament saints awaited their salvation. Hope this clarifies the mean- ing of that phrase in the Apostles’ Creed. Let us pray for each other. —Fr. Sofie

Father Sofie’s Vacation: Father Sofie will be on vacation this coming week while the rectory undergoes some necessary repairs. The In Memoriam church will also be closed on Monday and This week we lost a member of our Tuesday for cleaning, so there will be no parish family. Masses on Monday and Tuesday. Daily Mass- es will resume on Wednesday with Fr. Milsted celebrating. There will also be no confessions Edly Dunn or holy hour on Wednesday. Father Sofie will return Friday. has left this world for the next. New Parish Website: We have launched a Please pray for the repose of his soul new website for the parish after a long hiatus. and for peace and consolation for his The address is www.strobertatmore.com. family. May he rest in the peace of Check it out when you get a chance. our Lord.

"I shall sing forever the Lord's mercy." (Ps 89 Monday, April 12th [88]) This Sunday is popularly known as Mercy No Mass of God Sunday. Between 1930 and 1938 Christ Tuesday, April 13th appeared to Sister Faustina, a Sister of Mercy in St. Martin I, Pope & Martyr Poland who initiated the Divine Mercy devotion. No Mass “Mass Readings Explained”: 6:00 PM She was canonized on April 30, 2000, the Sun- day after Easter, the Feast of Divine Mercy. On Wednesday, April 14th Good Friday, 1937, Jesus requested that Mass: 5:30 PM Blessed Faustina make a special novena before Thursday, April 15th the Feast of Mercy, from Good Friday through Mass: 5:30 PM the following Saturday. Jesus also asked that a Friday, April 16th picture be painted according to the vision of Mass: 5:30 PM Himself as the fountain of mercy. He gave her a chaplet to be recited and said that it was appro- Saturday, April 17th priate to pray the chaplet at three o'clock each Confession: 4:00 PM Anticipated Mass: 5:00 PM afternoon (the Hour of Great Mercy). Today is the feast of St. Stanislaus of Cra- Sunday, April 18th cow which is superseded by the Sunday Liturgy. Third Sunday of Easter Second Sunday of Easter or Divine Mercy Rosary: 8:30 AM Mass 9:00 AM Sunday Mass: 10:15 AM The Holy Gospel that the Liturgy presents to us CCD: 10:15 AM on this second Sunday of Easter, is one of the most well known, discussed, and appreciated— the meeting of the Risen Lord with St Thomas. The Fathers of the Church have given us numerous insights into this Gospel text. Likewise, it is has proven the inspiration to the numerous artists who have physically represented the events of this Gospel in order to give us a clear idea of what happened, ‘eight days after’ the first apparition of the Risen One, to the disciples congregated in the cenacle. Jesus’ response to Thomas, after he recognized Him as ‘My Lord and my God’, has a mysterious fascination that must relate not so much to the disciples—those who ‘have seen’—but rather to those, like us, who were added to their number afterwards. ‘You have come to believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.’ (Jn 20:29) The attention that these words evoke seems yet more paradoxical if we remember that the Lord had proposed, to the same author of the Gospel, what can be justly referred to as the Christian method, ‘come and see’ (Jn 1:39). How can we possibly reconcile these two phrases by Jesus that form the ideal setting for the whole of the fourth Gospel? Per- haps, in the end, the Lord decided to change His method? What do the words ‘have not seen’ really mean? The timely recollection of the ‘eight days after,’ which is the Sunday after the Resurrec- tion, permits us to tie our reflection to one of the most significant Eucharistic hymns composed by another Thomas, St Thomas Aquinas. In the Adore Te Devote, which refers to the Eucharist, we read: ‘Sight, touch, taste are all deceived in their judgement of you. But hearing suffices firmly to believe’. Combining these words with today’s Gospel we can justly affirm that the experience ‘to see’ was not denied to us, but it is in contrast with the Apostle Thomas’ physical experience, who was able to put his own finger into the holes in Christ’s hands and side, whilst we can only comprehend it in the faith which is guarded and transmitted by the Church, our Mother and Teacher. That which we ‘have not seen’ is therefore the glorious Body of the Risen One. Howev- er, today we have the ability to ‘listen’ to the Word of God and the Magisterium of the Church and so we can ‘see’ the real Body of Christ which is the Eucharist. We can ‘see’ His Mystical Body which is the Church. We can ‘see’ Him in our lives and in the lives of our many brothers who, after meeting the Lord in a real but mysterious way, are united to Him in His Spirit! Like Thomas, Christ calls us to fill the holes left by the instruments of the passion in His Body with our own hands so that our lives and the verbal witness that we give proclaim His Resurrection. Our senses could betray us, but we know that we have met the Risen One and we have recognized Him! The certain hope that Peter, who betrayed the Lord three times for fear of death, pro- claims to us with the words, ‘rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy’ (1 Peter 1:8), become fully comprehensible because blessed are they that ‘have not seen’ the Risen Lord, but seeing the joy of His disciples ‘have believed’ in Him! --From the Congregation for the Clergy From www.catholicculture.org (Trinity Communications)

Monday, April 12th: Blessed Virgin’s Intentions, Pope No Mass - Church Closed for Cleaning Emeritus Benedict XVI, Pope Tuesday, April 13th: Francis I, Archbishop Rodi and All No Mass - Church Closed for Cleaning Bishops, Father Sofie, Father Milsted, Priests Wednesday, April 14th: of the Archdiocese, St. Robert Bellarmine Parish, Bonnie Latino, Tim DiVincenti, Anne Special Intention Latino, Curt Beck, Gene Santarelli, Gary Thursday, April 15th: Moore, Richard and Mary Powers, Persecut- Special Intention ed Christians, The USA, Susan & Carl Bow- Friday, April 16th: en, Ron & Blinda Smith, Maria Ewing, Mary Special Intention McPherson, All Elected Officials, Mickey Can- Saturday, April 17th: non, Martha Sneed, Linda Lumpkin Ellison, Edly Dunn (D) Andrew Mills, John Marano, Jr. & Family, Edley & Becky Dunn, Gregg Akins, Katherine Sunday, April 18th: Stephens, The Stephens Family, Brother St. Robert Parishioners (9:00 AM) Jerone Hughes, OSB and Mandy Davis. Special Intention (10:15 AM) Our Military Family Brock Houghton (USMC), Zachary Godwin (USAF), Dan Markush (USAF), Scott Stanford (USN), Andrew Markush (USN), Joshua Wil- “The way to Christ is first son (USAF), , Byron Tims, Jr. (USN), Gary through humility, second Shelley (USN), Sheena Marie Currie (AUSA), Logan Doremus (USMC), John David Dorriety through humility, third (USAF), Nicholas Markush (USAF) Dalton Sullivan (NG), Jonathan Sullivan (AUSA) and through humility. If Cody Hitchcock (USAF). humility does not precede Repose of Souls and accompany and Edly Dunn. follow every good work we do...pride will wrench from our hand any good deed we do at the very moment we do it.”

-- St. Augustine of Hippo TUESDAY, APRIL 13TH St. Martin was born in Todi, Italy. He was elected pope in 649 during the period of the last Chris- tological controversy. For his defense of Christ as true God and true man, he was exiled by the Byzantine emperor Constans II to Crimea where he died, broken by his sufferings. St. Martin I The unfortunate victim of Constans' wrath was the virtuous Martin. Born in Todi of noble birth, he had served as nuncio to Constantinople under Pope Theodore, gaining experience in dealing with the Byzantine court and familiarizing himself with the Monothelite teachings so prevalent in the East. Without waiting for the necessary imperial mandate, Martin proceeded with his conse- cration on July 5, 649. This independent act so enraged the emperor that he refused to acknowledge Martin as the legitimate pope. A staunch defender of the orthodox, Martin immediately convened a synod in the Lateran. At- tended by 105 Western bishops, the synod studied all aspects of Monothelitism and the emper- or's Type. After nearly a month, the synod reached a conclusion. They determined that there were two wills in Christ, condemned the One Will heresy, and further condemned Con- stans' Type for boldly prohibiting the truthful teachings of the apostles. In an effort to pacify the emperor, Martin acknowledged Constans' good intentions in trying to unify the Church and placed the burden of responsibility on the poor advice of Constantinople's patriarchs. Constans, far from appeased, was determined that his religious policies would not be ignored. Appointing his chamberlain Olympius as exarch to Italy, he dispatched him with the order to ob- tain the signatures of acceptance from all Italians without exception. Olympius proved to be a dismal failure, both in his mission and in an attempted assassination of the popular pope. The exarch prudently abandoned his post and fled to Sicily to fight the invading Muslims. In the summer of 653, the furious emperor appointed yet another exarch, Theodore Calliopas, with orders to escort the inflexible pontiff to Constantinople. Calliopas and his officers boldly en- tered the Lateran, arrested the bedridden Martin, and presented the clergy with Constans' edict deposing the pope who had been consecrated illegally. The voyage, which took nearly three months, subjected the sickly pope to humiliation and abuse. Arriving in Constantinople, racked with dysentery and disabled by gout, Martin was placed in solitary confinement. On December 19, 653, Martin was brought to trial on trumped-up charges of treason and sacrilege. The pope, near death and realizing his position futile, could only laugh at the ridiculous accusations and beg the emperor to excuse the fumbling witnesses before they added perjury to false witness! Constans pronounced the predetermined verdict of guilty on the pontiff and sentenced him to public flogging and death. The disapproving crowd watched, horrified; and it was only by the dy- ing Patriarch Paul's intercession that Martin's sentence of public execution was commuted to banishment. For nearly three months, the pope suffered under the worst conditions in a Byzantine prison before he was exiled to the Crimea. There, on September 16, 655, suffering from cold and starva- tion, Pope Martin gratefully met his God. Pious Martin had been disgraced in life but later be- came honored as a martyr. Today he is venerated as a saint; his feast is celebrated by both the Roman and Greek Churches on April 13. — The Popes: A Papal History, J.V. Bartlett

March 25, 2021 “Dear Children! Also today I am with you to tell you: Little children, who prays does not fear the future and does not lose hope. You are chosen to carry joy and peace, because you are mine. I have come here with the name 'Queen of Peace' because the devil wants peacelessness and war, he wants to fill your heart with fear of the future - but the future is God's. That is why, be humble and pray, and surrender every- thing into the hands of the Most High Who created you. Thank you for having re- sponded 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 Ditto Gorme Jan LeCocq Kathy Quinn Victoria Stewart