St. William Catholic Church 4932 Easley Street Millington, TN 38053 (901)872-4099 February 2019 St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr, 231—251 Feast: February 5 St. Agatha, also known as Agatha of Sicily, is one of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of the Catholic Church. It is believed that she was born around 231 in either Catania or Palermo, Sicily to a rich and noble family. From her very early years, the notably beautiful Agatha dedicated her life to God. She became a consecrated virgin, a state in life where young women choose to remain celibate and give themselves wholly to Jesus and the Church in a life of prayer and service. That did not stop men from desiring her and making unwanted advances toward her. However, one of the men who desired Agatha, whose name was Quintianus, because he was of a high diplomatic ranking, thought he could force her to turn away from her vow and force her to marry. His persistent proposals were consistently spurned by Agatha, so Quintianus, knowing she was a Christian during the persecution of Decius, had her arrested and brought before the judge. He was the Judge. He expected her to give in to his demands when she was faced with torture and possible death, but she simply reaffirmed her belief in God by praying: "Jesus Christ, Lord of all, you see my heart, you know my desires. Possess all that I am. I am your sheep: make me worthy to overcome the devil." With tears falling from her eyes, she prayed for courage. To force her to change her mind, Quintianus had her imprisoned - in a brothel. Agatha never lost her confidence in God, even though she suffered a month of assaults and efforts to get her to abandon her vow to God and go against her virtue. Quintianus heard of her calm strength and ordered that she be brought before him once again. During her interrogation, she told him that to be a servant of Jesus Christ was her true freedom. Enraged, Quintianus sent her off to prison instead of back to the brothel -- a move intended to make her even more afraid, but it was probably a great relief to her. With many blessings and prayers from our staff! St. William Formed: www.stwilliamcc.formed.org Rev. Michael Werkhoven (Fr. Mike) QR Code Deacon Jimmy Schmall St. William Website: www.stwilliamcc.org Debi Yetman Lisa Schmidt St. William Facebook Page:www.facebook.com/St-William-Catholic-Church-Millington Debbie Breckenridge -TN-167434053305186/ ! YOUTH NEWS ! A big Congratulations to most of the Sacramental Prep class. They received their first reconciliation on Sunday, January 13th. We are so very proud of them and they are on their way to their First Holy Communion in May! Please keep them in your prayers. Father Mike will be hearing confessions from our 3rd and 4th grade classes on February 10th during normal PRE class. Parents, the teachers will be refreshing their memories, but it is important that you encourage them and make them see confession as the gift that we know it is! The 4th grade knocked the Children’s Mass out of the park in January! Thanks to all of those that participated and helped us fully encounter Christ in the Mass! February 17th at 11:00 will be the 3rd grades turn, so direct your prayers accordingly. It is so important that we support our future in pray and encouragement. A BIG thanks to all the wonderful ushers that always spend the extra time with the kids on their special day. Your extra patience goes a long, long way and we thank you! Our confirmation class will be attending a Confirmation retreat at Incarnation Church in Collierville on February 23rd. Please keep them and all putting on this wonderful retreat experience in your prayers! from the Deacon’s corner… Ordinary Time I As I said in last month’s article, this year, I am going to focus on the seasons of our Liturgical Year. While our calendar begins with Advent which are the four weeks preceding Christmas and then goes into the Christmas Season, we’ll talk about them later. For February, I’d like to talk about Ordinary Time. Sounds boring I know, but it really isn’t. Ordinary Time is divided into two parts. The first part, or shorter season, begins after the Christmas season, and runs until Ash Wednesday the beginning of Lent. The second part, or longer season begins after Pentecost and runs until the beginning of Advent. This is one season with two parts. This month I’d like to focus on the shorter season of ordinary time which we are in now. In his 1998 Encyclical Letter, Dies Domini, Pope Saint John Paul II tells us, “The rhythm of the liturgical seasons reflects the rhythm of life — with its celebrations of anniversaries and its seasons of quiet growth and maturing.” Now if you’re like me, you love a good party, and our church calendar gives us plenty of reasons to celebrate. We refer to Ordinary Time not because it is plain or unexciting but because the weeks in the season are ordered or numbered. If the seasons of Christmas and Easter are seasons of feasting and the seasons of Advent and Lent are seasons of fasting, then Ordinary time is the season when Christ walks among us and which we prepare for His Second Coming. Nothing ordinary about that! Green is the color of ordinary time and represents hope, life, and growth. In this first or shorter period of Ordinary Time, there are many feasts you can celebrate at home and bring the season closer to home. In 2019, Ordinary Time runs from January 14 until Ash Wednesday which falls on March 6 this year. During this period there is one day in which there is so much going on, but it is often overlooked. February 2nd is the midpoint of winter, halfway between the shortest day and the spring equinox. More importantly, February 2nd is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. This is the day when Mary and Joseph bring Jesus into the Temple for the first time. It is also the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This involved Mary submitting herself to ritual purification 40 days after the birth of Jesus. This involved a sacrifice, and since Mary and Joseph were poor, they offered up two turtledoves, or two young pigeons. All women were required to do this. But why Mary? Why Jesus? We know that Jesus is God. We know that Mary was already pure. The first reason is that they were simply submitting themselves to Mosaic Law which they were born under. The second reason was to avoid the appearance of scandal. The third reason is that they did these things in order to emphasize the importance of Mosaic Law. February 2 is also known as Candlemas Day. This was the day in which all the candles used in the church during the coming year were blessed. Families would also bring their candles to be blessed on this day for use in their homes as well. There are many other feasts you can learn about during this shorter period of Ordinary Time. They are listed on your church calendars. I’ve been Catholic my whole life and I am constantly learning new things about my faith. Talk to you all next month! Peace, Deacon Jimmy The Nicene Creed, Part 4 I Believe in One Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. It is this second statement of faith, that speak to the mystery of the Second Person of the Trinity. There are key words within this section that truly speak to our belief in the Trinity. The first of these is the word Begotten. The Council was very definitive in describing who Jesus is. This word, begotten, tells us that the Son of God is not a creature or created by God, but shares in the same nature of the Father – Jesus shares the Father’s divinity. The next word of importance is Consubstantial. This word means to be of the same substance. Jesus, the Son of God is of the same substance as God. Jesus is not created by God, but is God the Son. Several years ago, we began to use this word in the Creed. The Holy See and many theologians thought this term was more in keeping with the Latin tradition and a more literal and accurate translation in stead of “one in being” as was used before. Through the incarnation, which is the union of the divine nature of the Son of God with human nature in the person of Jesus, he reveals himself to us. He reveals God to us. With his human nature, Jesus has a body and soul as we do, and so shared in our human characteristics in all things but sin. From the Catechism…... 457 The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God, who "loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins": "the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world", and "he was revealed to take away sins 464 The unique and altogether singular event of the Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man, nor does it imply that he is the result of a confused mixture of the divine and the human.