Dear Parishioners:
Happy Easter!
We welcome all who come to St. Timothy for the Solemn Celebration of Easter. This glorious Feast is the very heart of our Catholic Faith. God has said a definitive YES to the human race in the action of raising Jesus from the dead. The Word made flesh lived our whole life, embracing even death, death on a Cross. This means that God Himself has not only created our life, but in the Person of Jesus Christ, He has lived it Himself. The value of human life is beyond price.
Even as we experience the Joy of Easter, a joy that can never be taken away, we must acknowledge at the same time that we are living the full Paschal Mystery, with death and suffering still present in our world for so many. Our knowledge of Christ can free us to address the problems and concerns of the world with the hope of making a real difference. We gather every weekend – and even daily – for Mass in order to hear the Word of God and to experience the touch of Sacramental grace in the Eucharist, so that we may have the strength to meet the problems that we encounter. There is no substitute for the Mass.
We are grateful to have so many present to enjoy the beauty of the Easter Liturgy and to praise God for what He has done for us in raising Jesus from the dead. It is truly a gift to have a full church as a witness to the power of God to gather His People. We encourage all who are “guests” today to come to the realization that you are invited to become “hosts” as well, joining us every Sunday in the celebration that acknowledges Easter as true for us throughout the year.
In this year of our 50th Jubilee, all who have been part of our history are invited to return for a visit if you live far away or to renew practice of the Faith we have shared with you if you are still in the neighborhood. Bishop Campbell will open our Jubilee with a special Mass November 26, 2011. Join us and keep in touch to hear about other events as we celebrate the Parish Golden Jubilee 2011-2012, and the School’s Jubilee 2013-2014.
The Year of Prayer:
Note that the Year of Prayer for St. Timothy Church has been observed since Divine Mercy Sunday last year and continues until Divine Mercy Sunday this year. All are invited to participate in the conclusion of the Year of Prayer with the Divine Mercy Devotion that will take place at St. Timothy Church next Sunday at 2 p.m.
Prayer of St. Faustina before the Eucharist
I adore You, Lord and Creator, hidden in the Most Blessed Sacrament. I adore You for all the works of Your hands, that reveal to me so much wisdom, goodness and mercy, O Lord. You have spread so much beauty over the earth and it tells me about Your beauty, even though these beautiful things are but a faint reflection of You, incomprehensible Beauty. And although You have hidden Yourself and concealed Your beauty, my eye, enlightened by faith, reaches You and my soul recognizes its Creator, its Highest Good, and my heart is completely immersed in prayer of adoration.
My Lord and Creator, Your goodness encourages me to converse with You. Your mercy abolishes the chasm which separates the Creator from the creature. To converse with You, O Lord, is the delight of my heart. In You I find everything that my heart could desire. Here You light illumines my mind, enabling it to know You more and more deeply. Here streams of graces flow down upon my heart. Here my soul draws eternal life. O my Lord and Creator, You alone, beyond all these gifts, give Your own self to me and unite Yourself intimately with Your miserable creature.
O Christ, let my greatest delight be to see You loved and Your praise and glory proclaimed, especially the honor of Your mercy. O Christ, let me glorify Your goodness and mercy to the last moment of my life, with every drop of my blood and every beat of my heart. Would that I be transformed into a hymn of adoration of You. When I find myself on my deathbed, may the last beat of my heart be a loving hymn glorifying Your unfathomable mercy. Amen.
Countdown to our Golden Jubilee: Getting to know Saint Timothy.
“For this reason I am sending you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord; he will remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach them everywhere in every church.” (I Corinthians 4:17) “If Timothy comes, see that he is without fear in your company, for he is doing the work of the Lord just as I am. Therefore no one should disdain him. Rather, send him on his way in peace that he may come to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.” (I Corinthians 16:10-11)
From other texts, we know that Timothy was a younger companion of St. Paul. He has a special relationship with the Apostle and is a trusted co-worker in the Lord’s vineyard. From these texts in the First Letter to the Corinthians, we can also infer that Paul not only trusted Timothy at his side, but he felt he could entrust Timothy with special missions Paul’s call to the Corinthians was to treat Timothy as his own messenger and to cooperate with him in the common work of preaching the Gospel. Paul recognized that he could not do all that was asked of him; he shared the responsibility with a member of the next generation and created a sense of community among the workers in the vineyard.
This challenge of sharing the work and of receiving those who are sent in the name of the Church to be collaborators in our common task of evangelizing continues in our time. In our Parish, we can be grateful for all the “elders” who have worked so faithfully among us since our earliest days. We also note that the next several generations are being invited to assist in the labors and all are called to be welcoming and cooperative. May we find the Peace that comes from knowing that the Lord has called us together as brothers and sisters.
Reflections on the Liturgy: A new English translation for the Prayers of the Mass
As you have heard, the Catholic Church will begin using a new translation of the Liturgy in English beginning with Advent 2011. This means that the congregation and the clergy both will be learning new forms for expression of the Faith in the vernacular. For example, the People’s response to the greeting “The Lord be with you” will become “And with your spirit.” A number of other changes will be seen in the People’s parts of the Mass as well as in the prayers recited by the ministers.
Two primary reasons dictate this new translation. The new English version will be more faithful to the Latin original and will be sure that nothing is left out. Over the years, it has been acknowledged that the nuances of English have missed some important elements that are to be found in the Latin texts and the new translation will be an effort to bring those back into common awareness. Secondly, and perhaps even more importantly, the new English translation will allow all to see more clearly that our Liturgical texts find their source and inspiration in Sacred Scripture. The words we say are derived often directly from specific Scriptural texts. The current translation has often obscured this origin by having a different sound and meaning from the texts of Sacred Scripture. The Catholic Church is the Biblical Church. Our Mass and all our Liturgies were the source of and the fruit of Scripture. The Mass texts will assist us to understand this wonderful truth.
All are invited to learn the new form and to deepen awareness of the Liturgy of the Church. Lex orandi, lex credendi – how we pray is how we believe.
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