"Visitation" by Jason Jenicke all rights reserved.
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Saint
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This Week at St. Mary of the Visitation...
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Jamaica |
Friday & Saturday
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Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary time...
Pray for Others...
Please pray for those in our parish who are ill, homebound, and in nursing homes.
Pray especially for... Pete Juarez; Mary Helen Ruiz;Gwen Till Vivian Ramirez; Esperanza Rangel; Marcy Youngman; Virginia Martinez; Nellie Sanchez; Mike Halligan; Fr. Robert Becker; Raymond Mireles;Manuel & Catarina Trelles; Louisa Guerrero; Aaron Alonzo-Garcia; Emily Garcia... May the Lord comfort them and send his healing grace upon them. We pray to the Lord. Also pray for military men and women who have been deployed and all who serve in the armed forces. |
Pray with the Church...Collect, 16th Week Ordinary Time-
Show favor, O Lord, to your servants and mercifully increase the gifts of your grace, that, made fervent in hope, faith and charity, they may be ever watchful in keeping your commands. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. It is helpful be reminded by Jesus this week that to be his disciple is not about comparing ourselves with each other. It is not about a competition to be greater than another. It is about being servants of each other and being like him, who came to give his life away. As we pray this week, in the background of our daily lives, we can reflect upon all the relationships in our lives and ask for the grace to come to know the needs of each person in my life and for the grace to be servant as Jesus is servant.
The parable of the sower can be a wonderful source of reflection this week. We can do it in a variety of ways, but it might be helpful to just take one kind of soil to reflect on each day. Each day we can begin -- as we first get out of bed, in the shower, while dressing, eating, driving, walking from one place to another, shopping -- by asking for the grace to understand how parts of me are like this soil. Seed sown on the hard path: I can ask to know how the Word is simply stolen away from my heart. What is hard-hearted in me? What hardens me? How am I not open? What saps my spirits, my hope, my faith? Seed sown on rocky ground: I can ask to know how I sometimes initially receive the Word readily, even with joy, but my lack of deep roots leads to my losing heart when troubles come. When do I lose courage? How do I believe the Word but fail to pay the price for living it? How can I develop deeper roots? Seed sown among thorns: I can ask for the grace to know how I initially welcome the Word, but then let anxieties and the lure of riches choke the Word so it can't bear fruit. What kind of worldly anxieties trouble me? What kind of attractions, possessions, addictions affect my freedom and peace? What grace in me isn't bearing fruit? How can I be freer, live more simply, with more surrender? Seed sown on rich soil. I can ask for the grace to hear the Word and understand it and to bear much fruit. What will help me, prepare me to be more receptive? What environment, activities, service will help? Each night, we can give thanks for these reflections that help us examine our daily live and grow in love, in freedom and in fruitfulness.
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Web Message to All Ministries & Organizations...Each ministerial and organizational group at St. Mary of the Visitation (SMVL) now has its own web-page on our new site. We need your help in updating content!
Pictures, art and a story, or history about your group would be just great! Please contact the webservant. |
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Today in the Liturgical Season of Ordinary Time ...
-about ordinary time-
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Mass Times Sacrament of Reconciliation Rosary- St. Mary of the Visitation Parish Office |
