April 6, 2014
Fifth Sunday of Lent
EZ 37:12-14; PS 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8; ROM 8:8-11;
JN 11:1-45 or JN 11:3-7, 20-27, 33B-45
“I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”
In this, the fifth Sunday of Lent, the Church invites us to turn our attention to the realities that are perhaps the most ‘scandalous’ in human experience, the death of a loved one. In this Gospel we see all those who are being supportive of Martha and Mary at the moment of their brother, Lazarus’ death.
Previously called "Passion Sunday," this Sunday marks the beginning of Passiontide, a deeper time of Lent. This is the third Sunday of the scrutinies for the preparation of adult converts, and the final Sunday of Lent before the beginning of Holy Week.
It was Martha and Mary’s faith, even when confronted with Lazarus’ death that gave rise to the extraordinary miracle worked by Christ. This is not only a consoling story narrated in the letters of the Gospel, but it is also accessible to us today in the Church from the day of our Baptism until when we are incorporated to Him by means of the Spirit that He has given to us.
Source: CatholicCulture.org
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CARDINAL’S APPEAL
To date our parish has received $52,700 in pledges/gifts toward the 2014 Cardinal’s Appeal, from 65 families. For this Appeal to be truly successful, we must have the support of all of our families. The Appeal is a vital source of funding for the programs and ministries that sustain the parishes across our Archdiocese. It is not too late to make your gift. Please be as generous as you can. Thank you for your kind support.
The 2014 Cardinal’s Appeal is in its final stages in our parish. This weekend is Commitment Weekend. At all Masses, you will have an opportunity to make your commitment to the Appeal. As children of Christ, we are called to serve others out of gratitude to our most generous God. Please consider a sacrificial pledge to the 2013 Appeal. Thank you.
PAX CHRISTI METRO NEW YORK
How could God choose David to be king of the Jewish people? He was not the eldest son, the biggest or strongest. He was not even the most moral of men. He committed adultery and had his lover’s husband killed. Didn’t God, being God, know that was going to happen? How could God choose Paul to be a leader of the infant Christian faith, a man who hunted and killed Christians because he believed so strongly that they were desecrating his faith? How could God choose a poor blind man to help us see the light? Weren’t there any more esteemed people from whom to choose? How could God choose us to be God’s hands and feet, voices for justice, and compassionate souls?
As you reflect on this Sunday’s readings, thank God for seeing through our sinfulness into our hearts. Thank God by being all God made you to be.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
We are looking for volunteers to help launder (wash and iron) the altar linens. This is the perfect way to give of your time and talent to our parish. Interested? Send us an e-mail at or pass by the parish office. Thank you in advance for your assistance.
TO OUR PARISHIONERS
In an effort to keep our parishioner data base current it would be helpful if all information is updated with the office in the event of a new address or phone number. Please call 212-741-1274, Ext. 3 to leave message with new information or to have someone call you back.
FROM POPE FRANCIS: CHRIST’S GRACE
He does not reveal himself cloaked in worldly power and wealth but rather in weakness and poverty: “though He was rich, yet for your sake he became poor …” Christ, the eternal Son of God, one with the Father in power and glory, chose to be poor; he came amongst us and drew near to each of us; he set aside his glory and emptied himself so that he could be like us in all things (cf. Phil 2:7; Heb 4:15). God’s becoming man is a great mystery! But the reason for all this is his love, a love which is grace, generosity, a desire to draw near, a love which does not hesitate to offer itself in sacrifice for the beloved. Charity, love, is sharing with the one we love in all things. Love makes us similar, it creates equality, it breaks down walls and eliminates distances. God did this with us. Indeed, Jesus "worked with human hands, thought with a human mind, acted by human choice and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, he truly became one of us, like us in all things except sin." (Gaudium et Spes, 22).
By making himself poor, Jesus did not seek poverty for its own sake but, as Saint Paul says “that by his poverty you might become rich.” This is no mere play on words or a catch phrase. Rather, it sums up God’s logic, the logic of love, the logic of the incarnation and the cross. God did not let our salvation drop down from heaven, like someone who gives alms from their abundance out of a sense of altruism and piety. Christ’s love is different! When Jesus stepped into the waters of the Jordan and was baptized by John the Baptist, he did so not because he was in need of repentance, or conversion; he did it to be among people who need forgiveness, among us sinners, and to take upon himself the burden of our sins. In this way he chose to comfort us, to save us, to free us from our misery. It is striking that the Apostle states that we were set free, not by Christ’s riches but by his poverty. Yet Saint Paul is well aware of the “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph 3:8), that he is "heir of all things" (Heb 1:2).
Christ’s poverty which enriches us is his taking flesh and bearing our weaknesses and sins as an expression of God’s infinite mercy to us. Christ’s poverty is the greatest treasure of all: Jesus’ wealth is that of his boundless confidence in God the Father, his constant trust, his desire always and only to do the Father’s will and give glory to him. Jesus is rich in the same way as a child who feels loved and who loves its parents, without doubting their love and tenderness for an instant. Jesus’ wealth lies in his being the Son; his unique relationship with the Father is the sovereign prerogative of this Messiah who is poor. When Jesus asks us to take up his “yoke which is easy,” he asks us to be enriched by his "poverty which is rich" and his "richness which is poor", to share his filial and fraternal Spirit, to become sons and daughters in the Son, brothers and sisters in the firstborn brother (cf. Rom 8:29).
It has been said that the only real regret lies in not being a saint (L. Bloy); we could also say that there is only one real kind of poverty: not living as children of God and brothers and sisters of Christ.
FEAST DAYS, SCRIPTURES, CITATIONS & SPECIAL INTENTIONS
Sunday, April 6 Fifth Sunday of Lent
Ez 37:12-14 Rom 8:8-11 Jn 11:1-45 or
Jn 11:3-7, 20-27, 33B-45 (34)
9:00 AM Gregory Dillon
11:30 AM William J. Byrne
6:00 PM Helen Luty
Monday, April 7 St. John Baptist de La Salle
Dn 13:1-19, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 Jn 8:1-11 (251)
12:10 PM Agnes Kelly
Tuesday, April 8
Nm 21:4-9 Jn 8:21-30 (252)
12:10 PM Josephine Motto
Wednesday, April 9
Dn 3:14-20, 91-92, 95 Jn 8:31-42 (253)
12:10 PM Thomas Chance
Thursday, April 10
Gn 17:3-9 Jn 8:51-59 (254)
12:10 PM Karl Ratschki
Friday, April 11 Stanislaus of Cracow
Jer 20:10-13 Jn 10:31-42 (255)
12:10 PM
Saturday, April 12
Ez 37:21-28 Jn 11:45-56 (256)
12:10 PM
5:30 PM Miguel Teodoro
Lord
MONTHLY PARISH ACTIVITIES
Sunday10:00 AM / Children’s Religious Studies / Casserly
Directly following 9:00 a.m. Mass / Scripture Discussion / Library
2:30 PM / Roman Forum Lectures / Casserly
7:00-8:30 PM / High School CCD Meetings / Library ( 2/23/14)
7:00 PM / Grad Law / Catholic Center NYU
Monday
6:30 PM / Centering Prayer / Church
Wednesday
6:30 PM / Korean Catholic Students / Catholic Center at NYU
Thursday
6:30 PM 1st /mo / Pax Christi Bd Mt / PCMNY
6:50 PM / Bible Study / Library
7:00 PM / Newman Club / Catholic Center NYU
Friday
6:00 PM 1st/mo / Novena/ Sacred
Heart / Church
Saturday
10:00-3:00 PM / Soup Kitchen / Casserly
12:30 PM 1st/mo / Blessing of the Sick / Church
6:00 PM / AA / Casserly