St Mary’s Catholic Church @ @ @ @ @ Greenville, South Carolina 8 March 2020 Dear Friends in Christ, In the Nicene Creed we confess that Jesus Christ is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,” and these words are an emphatic affirmation that the man who is the son of Mary is also the divine Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. But the Light which we confess Christ to be is not the created light which sprang forth at the dawn of creation when the Father commanded: Let there be light! No, Christ Jesus in his divine nature is the bearer of the uncreated Light which is the brightness of divine glory, and in the Christian East that is often called Tabor Light as a reference to the holy mystery of Christ’s Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. The Transfiguration is described by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and every year the Gospel appointed for the Second Sunday of Lent is an account of that event. The Lord Jesus takes the inner circle of the Twelve with him up a high mountain - identified by tradition as Mount Tabor - to prepare them for the tribulation to come, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains the significance of the event: “From the day Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Master ‘began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things…and be killed and on the third day be raised.’ Peter scorns this prediction, nor do the others understand it any better than he. In this context the mysterious episode of Jesus’ Transfiguration takes place on a high mountain, before three witnesses chosen by himself: Peter, James and John. Jesus’ face and clothes become dazzling with light, and Moses and Elijah appear, speaking ‘of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem.’ A cloud covers him and a voice from heaven says, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’” (CCC 554) “For a moment Jesus discloses his divine glory, confirming Peter’s confession. He also reveals that he will have to go by the way of the cross at Jerusalem in order ‘to enter into his glory.’ Moses and Elijah had seen God’s glory on the Mountain; the Law and the Prophets had announced the Messiah’s sufferings. Christ’s Passion is the will of the Father: the Son acts as God’s servant, the cloud indicates the presence of the Holy Spirit … The Transfiguration gives us a foretaste of Christ’s glorious coming, when he “will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body. But it also recalls that ‘it is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.’” (CCC 555-556) Standing in the transfigured glory of the Lord Jesus, Peter was filled with both fear and awe. He could scarcely look at the brightness of Christ’s glory, and yet he could not imagine leaving that sacred place. The brightness of the cloud at Tabor and at Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan is the same brightness that blinded Saul on the Damascus Road, that burst forth in the bush which burned before Moses without being consumed, and that filled the Meeting Tent and the Temple as a sign of God’s presence among his people. At this Mass let us rejoice to be in the presence of the Light from Light, even as we prepare to go down from the mountain and give witness to Christ by joining him in the Way of the Cross. Father Newman LENTENLENTEN Vespers VESPERS Saint Mary's Church Fr. Jay Scott Newman, Pastor Sundays in Lent 1 March - 5 April 5.00 PM Thirty minutes of Silence, Hymnody and Plainchant. Come and bring a friend. 338 West Washington Street, Downtown Greenville 29601 Calendar of Events Mass Schedule & Intentions Meetings & Events * Financial Report Sunday, 8 March 2020 Sunday, 8 March 2020 Weekend of 29 Feb/1 Mar 7.30 am @ Frank & Frances Watkins 9.00 am 3 & 4 Year Olds (K4 classroom 9.00 am @ Mary Gore of Sacred Heart Hall) Needed 35,200 11.00 am Pro populo Nursery: During 9.00 am Mass Received 37,569 1.00 pm Spanish Mass Coffee & doughnuts: After 9.00 am Mass (P) Surplus 2,369 Our Solemn Mass at 11 am each Sunday is 9.00 am Scripture Study streamed live on our parish Facebook page and 5.00 pm Solemn Vespers (church) is available later as a recording on both our Poor Box 532 Facebook page and the parish YouTube channel. Black & Indian Home Monday, 9 March 2020 Monday, 9 March 2020 Mission 2,488 7.00 am The Johnson Family Offertory Year to Date Tuesday, 10 March 2020 Tuesday, 10 March 2020 Needed 1,232,000 Received 1,266,412 7.00 am @ Living & Deceased Members/ 10.00 am Council of Catholic Women Shaw & Conti Families 6.30 pm Knights of Columbus (M) Surplus 34,412 Wednesday, 11 March 2020 Wednesday, 11 March 2020 Electronic Giving: If you want to have direct management of 7.00 am @ Phil Wilmeth 5.00-6.00 pm Holy Hour & your Electronic Fund Transfer Confessions (church) online, you can now do so 6.00-7.30 pm All Ministries Fair Planning Meeting through the “Make a Gift” link 6.30-7.30 pm Religious Education on the homepage of our website. 6.30 pm Introduction to Catholicism For more information or if you have any questions please Thursday, 12 March 2020 Thursday, 12 March 2020 contact Jennifer Anderson at [email protected]. 7.00 am Manuel Jose Soto 6.30 pm Fr Newman Lenten Class Friday, 13 March 2020 Friday, 13 March 2020 7.00 am Fr Gregory, OSB of Norcia 5.30-6.30 am Pillars of Christ (early group) 6.15 am Morning Prayer (church) Forward in Faith 6.30-8.00 am Pillars of Christ Capital Campaign 10.00 am Scripture Study Class $7 Million to Raise 3.30-5.00 pm Youth Choir Practice 6.00 pm Way of the Cross (church) 2019 to 2023 followed by Lenten Dinner (P) Donations 1,610,595 Saturday, 14 March 2020 Saturday, 14 March 2020 Received 5.00 pm @ Edward Bondura 8.00-9.00 am Rosary - Grove Rd Pledge abortion clinic 1,322,532 3.30-4.30 pm Confessions (church) Balance Still to Go 4,066,873 G - Gallivan Hall M - McGrady Hall * All events in Sacred Heart Hall P - Pazdan Hall Dining Room unless a location is listed. St Mary’s Catholic Church presents A Lenten Morning of Recollection on the Life and Ministry of Pope St Leo the Great with Fr Benjamin Roberts and Pastor Andrew Weisner Saturday 21 March 2020 8.30 am Morning Prayer in the Church 9.00 am Coffee and Pastries in Gallivan Hall 9.30 am Lecture in Gallivan Hall Free registration is required on the parish website www.smcgvl.org/christian-formation/lent About Father Roberts and Pastor Weisner The Reverend Dr. Benjamin Roberts is a Catholic priest and pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Monroe, NC. Father Roberts is a priest of the Diocese of Charlotte and an alumnus of Lenoir-Rhyne University, and his doctorate is in preaching from the Aquinas Institute of Theology. The Reverend Dr. Andrew Weisner is a Lutheran pastor and chaplain of Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, NC. Pastor Weisner has served in many Lutheran churches in North Carolina and as a professor at Lenoir-Rhyne, and his doctorate is in church history. Father Roberts and Pastor Weisner will both speak on the life and ministry of Pope St Leo the Great who served the Church as Bishop of Rome from 440 to 461 and exercised one of the most significant teaching ministries in the history of Christianity. They will examine the challenges faced by Pope Leo, the style and content of his preaching, and the ways in which his example may serve the Church in our time. Father Benjamin Roberts (left) and Pastor Andrew Weisner (right). Requiescat in pace Please pray for the repose of the soul of Father Marcin Zahuta (pastor of St Thomas More - Columbia), who died recently. We extend our prayers and sympathy to his family PARISH NEWS and friends. Prayer For The Faithful Departed Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and may perpetual Collection for 7/8 March light shine upon them. May their souls, and all the souls Support of the Parish & St Mary’s Capital Campaign of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. St Mary’s is sustained by the generosity of our parishioners. Thank you for your generosity and support. Father Newman’s Lenten Classes Thursdays of March Job Opening 6.30 pm in Sacred Heart Hall St Mary’s School is accepting applications for a qualified full-time kindergarten teaching assistant 12, 19 & 26 March starting in August 2020. Prior experience working “Our Bodies Tell God’s Story” by Christopher West with young children is preferred, but not required. Traditional Christian teaching on sexuality, Candidates need not possess a formal teaching license marriage, gender identity, and related questions for this position. Email resume and cover letter to [email protected]. Deadline for applications is Friday, 27 March. Lenten Devotions Prayer Requests Way of the Cross Solemn Vespers Please pray for all those who are hospitalized and for Fridays of Lent Sundays of Lent at 6 pm at 5 pm all those who are shut-ins, ill or recuperating at home, especially Paulina Cruz, Brett Gervais, Michael Pinto, Joseph & Sandy Srp, Marie-Therese Isidore, Carlton Carpenter, Jim Barber, Alfred Smith, Mauren Lukovic, Christine Tancrell, Lenore Cole, Celsea Patry, John Friday Lenten Dinner Tyler, Hunter Conant, Ruth O’Rourke, Rafael Marquez, The members of the St Mary’s Council of Catholic Women Lori Wylie, Kenneth & Nancy Tessier, Patricia will serve a light dinner after each of the Stations of the O’Leary, Robert Brown, John Hever, Juliet Roy, Chris Cross, beginning Friday 28 February.