Second Sunday of Easter 4/16/2023

Mission Statement

The Roman Catholic Parish of St. Monica-St. Elizabeth of Hungary-St. Stephen of Hungary opens its doors to welcome and embrace all in our community. We strive through worship, hospitality and service to receive those seeking a spiritual home. In the midst of diversity of thought, life style, nationality, economic status & age, we endeavor to live as a community of faith and invite you to join our familya family seeking to know and love Jesus Christ.

Parish Staff

Pastor: Rev. Donald C. Baker ............................ frdcab@stelmo79.org

Rev. Msgr. Leslie J. Ivers ............................... msgrlivers@stelmo79.org

Weekend Associate: .................................... Rev. Anthony Ciorra, IVD

Weekend Associate:...............................................Rev. Edward Beck, CP

Pastoral Associate: Ms. Maryann Tyrer ........ mtyrer@stelmo79.org

Music Director: Mr. John Zupan .................... jzupan@stelmo79.org

Wedding Coordinator: Ms. Debbi Burdett.....dbweddingsnyc@gmail.com

Parish Manager: Jennifer DeSpirito.............................jdespirito@stelmo79.org

Plant Manager: Guillermo Vanegas .......... gvanegas@stelmo79.org

Sacristan: Pedro Pizarro ...................................ppizarro@stelmo79.org

Administrative Assistant: Gladys Tejada ..... gtejada@stelmo79.org

Church Address : 413 East 79th Street, NYC 10075

Parish Center: 406 East 80th Street, NY, NY 10075

Tel: 212-288-6250 Fax: 212- 570-1562

Email: info@stelmo79.org

Our Offices are open:

Monday & Wednesday 9am - 4pm

Tuesday - Thursday ....................................... 9am - 7pm

Friday ....................................................... Closed

Saturday ................................................. 10am - 2pm

Sunday ..................................................... Closed Closed for Lunch Weekdays..................1pm - 2pm

Mass Intentions

Saturday, April 15th Easter Vigil 15th Easter

5:30pm Georg e G & Raffaele Mandala George G. & Raffaele Mandala

Sunday, April 16th 16th

Second Sunday of Easter Second of Easter

8:00am Bill Byr ne 8:00am Bill Byrne

10:00am Rober t Kubera 10:00am Robert & Michael Phillips & Michael

12:00pm All Parishioners All Parishioners

5pm T he Anderson Family 5pm The Anderson (Living & Deceased) (Living & Deceased)

Monday, April 17th 17th

Easter Weekday Easter 12pm Beatrice O’Dea Beatrice O’Dea

Tuesday, April 18th Tuesday, 18th

Easter Weekday

12pm T hanksgiving of St. Ag ata Thanksgiving of St. Agata

Wednesday, April 19th 19th

Easter Weekday Easter

12pm Peg & Pat Briody & Pat

T hur sday, April 20th Thursday, 20th

Easter Weekday Easter

12pm Rober ta Chapey (Living) Roberta

Friday, April 21st 21st

Easter Weekday Easter

12pm Fr. Peter Colapietro Fr. Peter

Visit us at: www.STELMO79.org

Follow us on social media by searching STELMO79

Mass Schedule

Daily Mass: Mon-Sat, 12 noon Saturday Vigil: 5:30pm

Sunday: 8am, 10am, 12pm & 5pm

Confessions: Saturdays at 5pm or by appointment

Saturday, April 22nd 22nd

Easter Weekday Easter

12pm Helen, John Flack & Family Helen, Flack & Family

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

Every Friday after the Noon Mass until 3pm in the church and live on-line

Devotions

Miraculous Medal on Mondays after Mass in the church and live on-line

Divine Mercy

Prayed every Friday at 3pm in the church and live on-line

Vespers (Evening Prayer)

Every Friday at 5:10pm in the Chapel and live on-line

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Saturdays at 5pm or by appointment

Anointing of the sick

Every third Saturday of the Month after the noon Mass.

Baptisms & Marriages

Please call the rectory office for more information.

Communion for the Homebound:

If you know of anyone who cannot attend church because of illness or age, and would like to have communion brought to them, please contact the Parish office, so that we can arrange for a Eucharistic Minister to bring communion to them.

PRAYERS FOR THE SICK

Ashley Wilson, Bruno Franco Adame, Alex Greco, Janet Gholfi, Barabara Tummolo, Uriel Cuartas, Teody Zanarias, Susan Bacerra, Michael Reilly, Dorothy Condon, Marcelle Ferrier, Joanna Jack, Cindy Garnica Castro and all those ill with or recovering from the COVID-19 virus and all Victims of Military Activities

PRAYERS FOR THE DECEASED

Robert Anello, Agata Torrisi, Josephine Downey, Marita Knel, Susan Lasmier, Chrissy MacDonalds & Godfrey Fantastico

Baptism Announcement

Today, April 16th there will be three Baptism services during the 12pm

Jayden Mark Knel & At the 1:30pm Service

Liam Thomas Seagriff

Jake Roman DeRuiter

Please join us in congratulating:

Terry M. Knel & Christina A. Campisi &

Brandon Seagriff & Katelyn Mullen

Hendrick J. DeRuiter & Alexandra Kass

on her children’s new lives in Christ

Bap sm Services are open for members of the parish to join in the welcoming of our newest members

EDUCATION. SERVICE. ADVOCACY. PRAYER.

“EACH COMMUNITY HAS THE DUTY TO PROTECT THE EARTH AND TO ENSURE ITS FRUITFULNESS FOR COMING GENERATIONS.”

-- POPE FRANCIS

Five Minute Jesus

Using the Gospel for Prayer – Third Sunday of Easter April 23, 2023

It’s simple. 1. Read the Gospel for the following Sunday slowly, reflecting on the story it tells. 2. Reflect on the questions assigned for each day. 3. Make some resolution about how what you read can be lived that day. 4. Then thank God for speaking to you through this reflection.

Gospel Luke 24:13-35

That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus' disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, "What are you discussing as you walk along?" They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?" And he replied to them, "What sort of things?" They said to him, "The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see." And he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter his glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over." So, he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?" So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!" Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.

Monday April 17th

Was there something in this reading that spoke to me? Comforted me? Challenged me? What was it? Why did it have this effect on me?

Tuesday April 18th

Two of Jesus’ disciples met Jesus while “on the road” but “their eyes were prevented from seeing him” – roads are often a metaphor for the “road of life”. Have there been times when you only later became aware of the presence of Jesus in your life? When was it? How did you finally recognize Jesus? And what prevented YOU from seeing him when he appeared?

Wednesday April 19th

There are two disciples, but Luke only tells us the name of one – Cleopas. The other goes unnamed. In literature of the period, this often meant that the other was a female, usually the spouse of the person named. But it allows other interpretations as well. Who was the other disciples? Could it be us? If so, and we were debating the meaning of Jesus’ crucifixion, what would we say? What does his death mean for us?

Thursday April 20th

Jesus sees that they know WHAT happened – but the disciples are blind as to WHY. And he sets about explaining how the “Scriptures” (the Hebrew Scriptures – what we call the Old Testament) really pointed to his death and resurrection – i.e., how Jesus was the fulfilment of the hopes of the Jewish people. How important is the Bible to our faith life? Do we read the Bible at all? Do we listen to the scriptures at Mass and seek to understand them and learn from them? IF not, why not?

Friday April 21st

After this explanation Cleopas and the other disciple begged this stranger to stay with them. And it was at table, when Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, that they recognized who this stranger was. Taking, blessing breaking and giving bread. Does this remind us of something? What does this have to teach us about where we might meet Jesus, who is otherwise hidden from our eyes?

Saturday April 22nd

“Were not our hearts burning within us?” the disciples asked each other. It was this excitement that caused them to run back to Jerusalem and report to “The Eleven” (remaining apostles) and the other disciples that they had met the risen Jesus in the “breaking of the bread”. This whole story then can be understood as a meditation on the Mass – where we believe, it is Jesus who teaches us, opens the scriptures for us, breaks the bread, in the person of the priest, the lay ministers and the gathered community. How does this story change or deepen our understanding about what we do at mass?

Just a Word

From the Pastor 04.16.23

Divine Mercy Sunday

What does the word “mercy” mean to you? Perhaps it means something like, forgiveness or pardon. Some of us recognize the French “merci” in the word and associate it with thank you. The root of the word is in the Latin word misericordia, which itself is made up of the Latin words for “suffer” and “heart”. “Mercy” then, is to suffer (note the English word misery) with the heart. To feel the pain of the other person, because only then will we forgive them . . . precisely because we understand the suffering that drove them to do what they did.

What we ask of one another when we beg for mercy, we ask of God. “Lord, have mercy” we sing at every mass. In that petition, we are making an astounding claim. We are asserting that the creator of the universe has a heart, has emotions, can feel. And we are making an even more astounding plea. We are asking that the Lord of heaven and earth suffer with us, that God understand why we do the things we do and forgive us, pardon us, help us to be the people we were created to be, instead of punishing us because of what we have become.

The idea that God has a heart, and that God can “suffer with” us would be alien to many religions. But not to ours. Our Jewish roots speak of a God who is mercy and compassion (another word which has its roots in the Latin word passion, from which we take the word passion, and which means to suffer). Moreover, as Christians we believe that God took flesh in Jesus and so that divine mercy is forever united with a human heart – the heart of Jesus of Nazareth, and thus it is his heart that suffers with us; it is his heart that shows us mercy.

It is in this context that we can begin to understand the feast day our church celebrates today. Faustina Kowalska was a polish nun who in a series of visions had at the beginning of the 20 th century believed she spoke to Jesus who appeared to her with his heart open and from which shone two rays of light, one red and one white. Faustina maintained that the Lord told her to have this image produced and venerated. Inscribed with the words, “Jesus, I trust in you” this image has become the center of the fastest growing devotional practice in the Church in modern times. To this day people gather all over the world at 3pm to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet, which is a litany using a rosary like string of beads to ask for “mercy on us and on the whole world”.

Perhaps no one understood the mean of this polish nun and her visions more than the polish Pope, John Paull II, who canonized Faustina Kowalska in 2000, an event which fostered this already widespread devotion.

The devotional practices that surround this apparition (or any apparition, for that matter) are not mandatory. They inspire some, they leave others cold. But the meaning of this devotion, the compassion of God and God’s willingness to “suffer with us” in Jesus of Nazareth are central to our faith. Without them, God becomes an abstract concept, and Jesus a mere historical figure. Someone we might honor, but never love.

But they are not. From the love of God for the people of Israel, to the Love of Jesus on the Cross, from devotions such as the Sacred Heart to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, our tradition has maintained, that God is a God of mercy, one who suffers with us, who understands the pain we suffer and the pain we cause others to suffer and forgives. While we celebrate that mercy every Sunday, on this day we remind ourselves of its central importance.

Fr. Baker