Fourth Sunday of Lent 3/19/2023

Parish life FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT 03/19/2023

Faith Formation ( Page 6)

Lent 2023 ( Page 7)

Just a word ( Page 11)

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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 family a 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, NY, NY 10075 Parish Center Address: 406 East 80th Street, NY, NY 10075 Tel: 212-288-6250 Fax: 212- 570-1562 Email: info@stelmo79.org

Our Offices are open: Note: Please go to page 10 for our Holiday Schedule Monday & Wednesday................................. . 9am - 4pm Tuesday - Thursday ....................................... 9am - 7pm Friday ....................................................... Closed Saturday ................................................. 10am - 2pm Sunday ..................................................... Closed Closed for Lunch Weekdays..................1pm - 2pm 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

Mass Intentions Saturday, March 18th Vigil 5:30pm For the Health of Lourdes Imperio Sunday, March 19th Fourth Sunday of Lent 8:00am William & Mary Mitchell 10:00am Lillian & Raphael Agoglia, Stephen & Josephine Maschi 12:00pm All Parishioners 5pm Richard Kavannaugh Monday, March 20th St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary 12pm Anderson Family (Living & Deceased) Tuesday, March 21st Lenten Weekday 12pm Thomas Castillo Wednesday, March 22nd Lenten Weekday 12pm Roberta Chapey (Living) Thursday, March 23rd Lenten Weekday 12pm Joan Walsh (Living) Friday, March 24th Lenten Weekday 12pm Thanksgiving to St. Agata Saturday, March 25th The Annunciation of the Lord 12pm Helen, John Flack & Family PRAYERS FOR THE SICK Susan Bacerra, Michael Reilly, Dorothy Condon, Marcelle Ferrier, Joanna Jack, Rev. Thomas Fenlon, Cindy Garnica Castro, Angelica Zarate, Hasmi Hiftari, Constance Lyons, Shane Black, Hawke Lindberg, Jennie Marmo, Thomas Butler and all those ill with or recovering from the COVID-19 virus and all Victims of Military Activities PRAYERS FOR THE DECEASED Mary Reginio, Aniello Oriello, Catherine Ferro, Joan Ryan, John Crowley, Robert Casper Lewis, Kevin John Shields, Bishop David O’Connell & Eric Hemphill

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

Weekly Readings & Observances

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.

Bread & Wine

Readings for the week of March 19, 2023 Sunday: 1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a/Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 (1)/Eph 5:8-14/ Jn 9:1-41 or 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38 Monday: 2 Sm 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16/Ps 89:2-3, 4-5, 27 and 29/Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22/ Mt 1:16, 18-21, 24a or Lk 2:41-51a Tuesday: Ez 47:1-9, 12/Ps 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9/Jn 5:1-16 Wednesday: Is 49:8-15/Ps 145:8-9, 13cd-14, 17-18/ Jn 5:17-30 Thursday: Ex 32:7-14/Ps 106:19-20, 21-22, 23/Jn 5:31-47 Friday: Wis 2:1a, 12-22/Ps 34:17-18, 19-20, 21 and 23/Jn 7:1-2, 10, 25-30 Saturday: Is 7:10-14; 8:10/Ps 40:7-8a,8b-9, 10, 11/Heb 10:4-10/Lk 1:26-38 Next Sunday: Ez 37:12-14/Ps 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 (7)/Rom 8:8-11/Jn 11:1-45 or 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45 Observances for the week of March 19, 2023 Sunday: 4th Sunday of Lent Monday: St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, Bishop Friday: Saturday: The Annunciation of the Lord Next Sunday: 5th Sunday of Lent ©LPi

Sanctuary Lamp

This Week’s Bread & Wine

This Week’ Sanctuary Lamp

Intentions for the Health of Luis Jose Litrenta

Intentions for Dr. Lita Alonso

Offered by Maria Litrenta

Offered by Maria Litrenta

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Email: admissions@saintstephenschool.org

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Just a Word From the Pastor 03.19.23 The Cup (Part 1) One of the great advances in medicine, maybe even in human history, occurred when researchers in the 17th century took the lenses that they were experimenting with to see things far away and trained them on things up close. They discovered a hidden world of living things we have come to call germs.

We soon discovered they were harbingers of disease and infection. We also discovered that we need to be exposed to these germs, so that our body’s immune system can develop resistance to them. Most of us have spent the last two years masked and socially distanced from one another. Now the masks and social distancing are gone, and everyone it seems is falling ill. Our bodies need to “catch up” and reeducate our immune system. While it is unnerving, it is also normal. For most of human history our social interactions have done many things for us, but one thing they have helped with is keeping our immune systems and thus us healthy.

This is important to remember when we consider our religious practice. The Catholic faith is communal. We sing, speak, and pray side by side, face to face. We shake hands, sign ourselves with water from a common font, and eat and drink from the same plate and cup, receiving our food from someone else’s hands in a rite we call Holy Communion – the words unity, union and communal are baked right into that ritual.

For centuries that communality was symbolized by the sharing of a common cup. In Judaism that cup is the Kiddush cup shared at sabbath meals and in the cups of wine at Passover. In Christianity that cup becomes the very blood of Christ, in which we become “one body, one blood in Christ”.

Over the centuries the practice of administering the cup to the laity was withdrawn – not because of fear of germs but because of concern over possible spillage of the blood of Christ. Giving the cup back to the laity was one of the demands which led to the Reformation in the 16th century. The Catholic Church was loathe to administer the cup after that.

However, over time, it was recognized that administering the cup wasn’t “Protestant” but Christian. Moreover, it embodied the kind of communion Holy Communion was supposed to be. Thus in 1963 the Bishops at the Second Vatican Council called for the reintroduction of the distribution of the chalice at Mass.

Our current Missal (the book the priest uses to say Mass) contains a summary of the justification for this practice: Holy Communion has a fuller form as a sign when it takes place under both kinds. For in this form the sign of the Eucharistic banquet is more clear and clearer expression is given to the Divine Will by which the new and eternal Covenant is ratified in the Blood of the Lord, as also the connection between the Eucharistic banquet and the eschatological banquet in the Kingdom of the Father.

It is for this reason that many churches (our own included) administered the chalice for years. The pandemic ended that.

The Archdiocese of New York forbade the administration of the chalice in March 2020.

However, three years later, the pandemic has abated. Covid 19 has become for most of us a nuisance rather than a possible death sentence as our vaccinated bodies now have resistance. It has taken its place alongside of all the other germs we are exposed to daily and have been exposed to throughout the history of humankind.

As a result of the ending of the pandemic, and due to the importance of the communal nature of the liturgy, the Archdiocese of New York has lifted the ban on administering the chalice. As a result, we will begin to offer the chalice on Holy Thursday 2023.

Some people have been asking for this now for some time. Others, of course are still cautious. I will write more about this next week. The resumption of the cup is another sign that the pandemic is fading, and that our common worship is returning to normal. Whether or not we choose to drink from the cup in the future, that is still reason to give thanks.

Fr. Baker