Saint Sharbel Maronite Catholic Church Las Vegas 9th Sunday of the Glorious Pentecost ABOUNA’S MESSAGE St. Sharbel The kingdom of heaven is like treasure Pray for us! hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells August 2019 all that he has and buys that field. Index Page Church Events 1 9th Sunday of Pentecost 2 News from our Holy Father 3 Maronite News 4 Beautiful Faces & Places 5 Festival Flyer 6 Festival News 7 Saint of the Week 8 Community Life Announcements 9 Filipino News 10 Our Services HOLY MASSES DAILY: Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. English Advertisements 11 SATURDAY VIGIL: 4:30 p.m. English Holy Mass Intentions 12 SUNDAY: 9:30 a.m. English & 11:30 AM Arabic/Aramaic/English 1st Sunday : 4:30pm 10325 RANCHO DESTINO Rosario y la Misa en Español 2nd Sunday: 4:30 pm RD. LAS VEGAS NV 89183 Rosary & Tagalog Mass PHONE: 702-616-6902 Sunday Catechism @ 8 am FAX: 702-616-4032. (Classes are Sept – May) st [email protected] 1 SUNDAY 9:30 a.m. & 11:30am Youth Mass www.stsharbellasvegas.org JuneAugust 2019 2019 Page 2 He thsent Jesus to free the oppressed. Jesus brings real liberation to NINTH SUNDAY OF PENTECOST everyone5 Sunday because His deeds urgeof us toPentecost live in truth: “The Son makes free…the truth will READING:make you free…” (Jn 30) This is the Beginning of the Galilean Ministry/ The true evangelization, liberatingPhilippians deeds 3:7are -seen14 and free persons appear able to liberate others. Then He sat down, and the eyes of Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth all in the Synagogue GOSPEL: were fixed Matthew intently on10:1 Him.-7 He began to say to them: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears.” READING: 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10 Will we do greater than Joseph and Jesus did? Or will we do Andworse all whothan witnessedJoseph's brothers? Him were If amazedwe fall intoat the sin, words our sinsof grace will be GOSPEL: Luke 4:12-21 thatworse came than from those His ofmouth. Joseph's brothers, for Fr.in Christ Nadim we Abou are Zeidnew creations. "When much has been given a man, much will be Nazareth is the land where Jesus had been brought up, it was His required of him. More will be asked of a man to whom more has own land; He began in the Synagogue, because the Synagogue was been entrusted" (Lk 12:48).We, who are children of God, are not the real center of religious life in Palestine. Jesus came to only called to greatness but obligated to become great. After Nazareth where He had been brought up; and was His habit, He what the Lord has done for and in us, anything less than went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to greatness is a sin and shame. You are children of the divine, read from the scroll. He opened the roll and found the passage royal, and priestly family (1 Pt 2:9). Live where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because "In fact, all the world came to Joseph to obtain rations of grain, accordingly. He had appointed Me to bring the Good news to the poor…to set for famine had gripped the whole world." Genesis 41:57 a liberty to those who have been bruised…” (Isaiah 61:1-2) Prayer: Father, may I be myself. Joseph saved hundreds of thousands of people from starvation. He was oneLet of usthe greatestpray: peopleToday inis historythe day. Joseph's of salvation, brothers a werenew agePromise of : Jesus "summoned His twelve disciples and gave them alsofreedom called tothrough greatness, God’s but Spiritthey whowasted brings their reallives freedom through to usauthority who to expel unclean spirits and to cure sickness and jealousy,await. violence,Together deceit, we pray guilt, for and new self -freedomhatred. Every in our Christian lives, isthe freedomdisease of every kind." Mt 10:1 greaterof God’s than Joseph children, (Mt justice,11:11), because peace, we and are love adopted to all sons nations and through daughters of God our FatherChrist. It andis an Hisunderstatement Spirit. Amen. to say that we Praise: St. Benedict was inspired to gather hermit monks are destined for greatness. Jesus even promised that we who have together into one "Grand Monastery" with prayer, study, and faith in Him will do greater works than He did (Jn 14:12). manual work. Did youLET know US BECOME that many RICH saints IN GOD’Sin the early SIGHT! Church On this first Sunday of August,raised God’s Wordpeople invites from the dead? Today,us to reflect Ascension on the Sunday,emptiness we and recall meaninglessness the glorification of of Jesus Christ who, as a man, has been called to sharea life in caughtthe glory up ofin God the. His web ascension of selfishness, also reminds us that heaven is our destiny. That is what we havematerialism, been created and hedonism for. That. Unfortunately, is where we sowill many find the perfect fulfillment of all our aspirations. But beforefall into we such reach a trap such and, a inglorious the process, destination, they become we have to do our share in the fulfillment of God’s plan forthe ourselvestormentors and and the butchers rest of humankindof their own. Jesus weaker wants that we become more and more involved in the buildingbrothers andof the sisters Kingdom. What. mattersThat’s mostwhy Jesus’in this ascensionlife is marks also the beginning of the evangelization ofnot the to “haveworld athrough good time” the Churchand become. Today rich is in also money “World Communications Sunday,” an observance that emphasizesand properties, the but importance “to become of rich Mass in God’sMedia sight and.” Social Media in the work of evangelization and catechesis,We can do andthat theby livingneed toa virtuouspray for alllife thoseunder involvedthe in this profession. Let us include them in the intentionsguidance offor His which Law we. If offer we thiswant Eucharist to really. enjoy peace of heart and mind, we must learn to find it not in seeking pleasure in a selfish manner, but in doing He first loved us. what pleases Him. As we are about to start our Eucharistic celebration, let us rekindle our faith. Today as we celebrate “St. John Marie Vianney’s Sunday” or “Parish Priest’s Sunday,” we are also invited to grow in our appreciation of all the good that parish priests and their assistants do for their flocks. Let us take this opportunity to show our gratitude to our parish priest and his assistants for being instruments of God’s care for us. Let us pray that they may be inspired by their patron saint, John Marie Vianney. August 2019 Good News from our Leader Page 3 OUR HOLY FATHER Pope Francis says Catholics, Orthodox bonded by blood of the martyrs Pope Francis said Friday that Catholics and Orthodox are bonded by a “shared inheritance” of suffering for Christ from the apostles to modern martyrs. “How many were the martyrs and confessors of the faith! In recent times, how many, from different confessions, stood side by side in prisons to support one another in turn,” Pope Francis said May 30 during his apostolic trip to Romania. “What they suffered for, even to the sacrifice of their lives, is too precious an inheritance to be disregarded or tarnished,” he said. “It is a shared inheritance and it summons us to remain close to our brothers and sisters who share it.” In a meeting with Patriarch Daniel and the Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Bucharest, Pope Francis highlighted how Catholics and Orthodox suffered together under Romania’s former Communist regime. During his three-day trip to Romania, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the Communists between 1950 and 1970. “The bonds of faith that unite us go back to the Apostles, the “The remembrance of steps taken and completed together witnesses of the risen Jesus, and in particular to the bond encourages us to advance to the future in the awareness – between Peter and Andrew, who according to tradition certainly – of our differences, but above all in thanksgiving for brought the faith to these lands. Blood brothers, they were a family atmosphere to be rediscovered and a memory of also in an exceptional way brothers in shedding their blood communion to be revived, that, like a lamp, can light up the for the Lord,” Francis said in the Palace of the Patriarchate. steps of our journey,” Pope Francis said. “They remind us that there exists a fraternity of blood that “May the Holy Spirit renew us, for he disdains uniformity and precedes us and that, as a silent and life-giving stream loves to shape unity from the most beautiful and harmonious flowing down the centuries, has never ceased to nourish and diversity,” he said. sustain us on our journey,” he said. “May He, the creator of newness, make us courageous as we Pope Francis’ trip to Romania marks the 20th anniversary of experience unprecedented ways of sharing and of mission,” the first papal trip to Romania by St. John Paul II in 1999. At Francis added. “May He, the strength of the martyrs, keep us the time, John Paul II was prevented from traveling outside from making His self-gift fruitless.” of the country’s capital of Bucharest, whereas Francis will also be visiting the Catholic communities in the regions of Transylvania and Moldova.