St. Mary Catholic Parish JOIN US AS WE WORSHIP, PROCLAIM AND SERVE THE LORD – IN SACRAMENT, IN PRAYER, AND IN OUR FAMILY OF FAITH PARISH CLERGY 928-3210 Rev. Jeffrey R. Lewis Pastor ext. 109 January 12, 2020 Rev. David Kuttner Priest in Residence 928-3210 Deacon Mike Miller 928-3210 Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Deacon Dan Glatt 928-3210 Emergency Anointing of the Sick: Sun & Mon 720-1460 Tues-Sat. 847-9093 MASS SCHEDULE PARISH OFFICE Saturday Mass: 5:30pm Office Hours Sunday Masses: 7:30am, 9:00am, 11:15am Monday -Thursday 8am-4pm Daily Mass: 7:30am Monday through Friday Closed for Lunch 12pm-1pm Tuesdays during School Mass is at 8:15am Friday 8am-12pm Closed Saturday & Sunday Reconciliation: Wednesdays at 4:30 & Saturday from 4:00 to 5:00pm Krista Furtney, Parish Secretary 928-3210 First Fridays from 8am-9am Marie Bricher, DRE & Faith Formation ext. 111 Sharon Greany, Business Manager ext. 107 First Friday Adoration 8am - 12noon in the church Mark VanDriel, Maintenance ext. 213 Adoration Friday 6pm- 7pm with Confessions KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS Blessed Sacrament Chapel hours: 7am-10pm Greg Hanson, Grand Knight (509) 638-8535 For after-hours access, please call the parish office. John White, Faithful Navigator (509) 994-1023 Web page: stmaryspokane.org CHOIR DIRECTOR Diana Thomas (509) 385-2663 NEW PARISHIONERS Welcome to St. Mary Parish Community. If you would like to register SOCIETY OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL with the parish please download a form from our website, stop by the Victor Vera, President (509) 995-5987 Parish Office or call (509) 928-3210. ST. MARY SCHOOL 924-4300 CARE OF THE SICK Ben Walker, Principal ext. 202 Communion is taken to the sick and elderly on a regular basis. Please Chelsea Weiler, School Secretary ext. 200 call Karen Grewe (Homebound Ministry) at (509)927-4941, if someone Terri Matsch, Advancement Director ext. 206 is in need. SACRAMENTS Baptism: The family should be registered and active in St. Mary Parish. For arrangements call the Parish office, 928-3210. Marriage: Couples must contact the parish at least six months prior to their desired wedding date. Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) or RCIC (for children over 7) Have you thought about becoming a Catholic? Do you know someone who is thinking about it? Please call Marie Bricher at 928-3210 ext. 111 for more information. For the convenience of those with hearing difficulties, Masses at St. Mary can be heard on personal FM-band radios. Tune to 90.3 FM. 304 S ADAMS ROAD, SPOKANE VALLEY, WASHINGTON 99216 THIS WEEK AT ST. MARY FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD MONDAY 1/6 Recently Deceased First Reading Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 Daily Mass 7:30am to Remember in Responsorial Psalm Psalm 29:1-2, 3-4, 9-10 Prayer Shawl 10am Prayer The Lord will bless his people with peace. TUESDAY 1/7 Second Reading Acts of the Apostles 10:34-38 School Mass 8:15am Guy Dumais Gospel Matthew 3:13-17 Exercise 9am The Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove, and a voice from Respect Life 11am May he share in the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well RCIA 6:30pm the Resurrection pleased.” Knights of Columbus 6pm of the Lord! WEDNESDAY 1/8 SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Daily Mass 7:30am First Reading Isaiah 49:3, 5-6 Women at the Well 10am Responsorial Psalm Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10 Confessions 4:30pm Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will. Religious Education 6pm Second Reading 1 Corinthians 1:1-3 Choir Practice 6:30pm Gospel John 1:29-34 Respect Life Movie 7pm John exclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the THURSDAY 1/9 sin of the world.” He continued, “I saw the Spirit come down like Daily Mass 7:30am a dove...I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God. Exercise 9am Youth Group 7pm STEWARDSHIP REPORT FRIDAY 1/10 Amount needed per month $55,975.00 Daily Mass 7:30am December 29, 2019 $11,616.60 Phoenix Club 12noon December Total to Date: $78,356.75 Adoration 6-7pm Year to Date Total: $337,807.71 Fiscal year (July - June) SATURDAY 1/11 Year to Date Budget: $332,238.00 Fiscal year (July - June) Rosary 7:30am (we need approximately $12,917.31 each week) Men’s Prayer Group 8-9am Women’s Prayer Group 8-9am You may make a donation to any of our endowments. Confessions 4pm Please contact Sharon Greany. Vigil Mass 5:30pm Family Faith Night 6:30pm SUNDAY 1/12 PRIESTS MASS INTENTIONS Masses 7:30am, 9am. 11:15am Coffee & Donuts after 9 & 11:15am 1/6 MONDAY Paulette Lassaga + Mass 1/7 TUESDAY St. Mary School 1/8 WEDNESDAY Charles R. Shumate + 1/9 THURSDAY Catholic Charities Christmas 1/10 FRIDAY Mary Ilgen + Collection: This month, Catholic Charities kicks off our 1/11 SATURDAY Annie McCabe + annual Christmas 1/12 SUNDAY Collection! This is our biggest fundraiser of the year. 7:30am Sarah Ramsey + Proceeds sustain operational costs for programs and 9:00am Pro Populo services that help 70,000 people each year through crisis 11:15am Kathi Louise Higginbotham+ response, stability and housing and advocacy. To have a Mass offered by the priest for a deceased person or Prayer Requests another intention, please call the parish office at (509) 928-3210. Susan Curalli To have a name listed in the bulletin call Krista at the parish office at 928-3210. Names will be listed for 3 weeks, then removed unless requested again. Thursday morning Bible Study starts back up on If a member of your family is admitted to a local Thursday, January 23rd! They will be studying “Divine hospital, please call the parish office at 928-3210 if Mercy”. Meet in the Adult Center at 10am. New you would like a priest to visit. members please call Rita McNeilly at (509) 413-2394 or To add someone to the prayer chain or to be Janel Gibson (509) 868-4163. All are welcome! part of the prayer chain ministry please join the Prayer Chain group in Flocknote or call the parish office. Women at the Well February’s meeting is on Wednesday, February 5th at 10am in the Adult Center. Please join us! Sister Anne Bosserman will host the Annual Retreat for the Women at the Well on Wednesday, February 19th at 10am in the Adult Center. All are welcome. A lunch will follow the event. Pastor’s Column St. Mary Catholic Parish January 12, 2020 ~ The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Suffering With (and Without?) a Purpose Question: “Why would a good God allow physical evils like suffering and death?” Answer: “We do not have full answers to the problem of evil in this life, but we can see that at least some physi- cal evils actually are helpful.” God can tolerate some physical evils because good comes from them. According to Pope Saint John Paul II: “Certain forms of physical ‘evil’…belong to the very structure of created beings, which by their nature are contingent and passing and, therefore, corruptible. Besides, we know that material beings are in a close relation of interdependence as expressed by the old saying: ‘the death of one is the life of another.’ So then, in a cer- tain sense, death serves life.” (General Audience, June 4, 1986) We see this in the natural world, such as when a lion kills a zebra so that it can eat. The death of the zebra serves the life of the lion. In the same way, the living things we humans eat (plants or animals) sustain our lives. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “With infinite wisdom and goodness, God freely willed to created a world in a state of journeying towards its ultimate perfection. In God’s plan, this process of becoming involves the appearance of certain beings and the disappearance of others, the existence of the more perfect alongside the less perfect, both constructive and destructive forces of nature. With physical good, there exists also physi- cal evil as long as creation has not reached perfection. (CCC 310) Pain can also play a valuable role in our lives. Some people suffer from congenital insensitivity to pain, and its results can be dramatic, even fatal. Physical pain serves as warning system, and people without a proper pain response can be severely injured or even killed because they did not have sufficient warning to danger due to their absence to feel physical pain. Even emotional pain can be useful; the emotion of fear, for example, alerts us to danger and motivates us to take steps to avoid it. But then a follow-up question arises: “Why would a good God allow innocent people to suffer and die with no clear purpose?” Answer: “God can bring good from evil and can more than compensate us.” That which allows suffering (such as the pain receptors in our nervous systems) have a purpose, which is to help us avoid danger. But sometimes, they are triggered in situations where they do not help, resulting in appar- ently purposeless suffering. Fortunately, the Lord can bring good out of every tragedy, and faith tells us that He will. (cf Rom 8:28; CCC 324) However, there is more that can be said. For a person with an atheistic perspective, death is the ultimate end. If someone has suffered unjustly in this life, that is it.