Fifth Sunday of Lent 3/26/23

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, 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 25th Vigil

5:30pm Michael Downey

Sunday, March 26th Fifth Sunday of Lent

8:00am Bridget O’Carroll

10:00am Andrew Joseph & Jane Sentuge

12:00pm All Parishioners

5pm Paul O’Sullivan

Monday, March 27th Lenten Weekday

12pm Mary McCauliff

Tuesday, March 28th Lenten Weekday

12pm Roseanne Connolly

Wednesday, March 29th Lenten Weekday

12pm Joseph O’Mara (Living)

Thursday, March 30th Lenten Weekday

12pm Michael O’Donoghue (Living)

Friday, March 31st Lenten Weekday

12pm Special Intentions

Saturday, April 1st Lenten Weekday

12pm Purgatorial Society

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

Michael Paraside,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

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.

Weekly Readings & Observances

Readings for the week of March 26, 2023

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

Monday: Dn 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 or 13:41c-62/Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6/Jn 8:1-11

Tuesday: Nm 21:4-9/Ps 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21/ Jn 8:21-30

Wednesday: Dn 3:14-20, 91-92, 95/Dn 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56/Jn 8:31-42

Thursday: Gn 17:3-9/Ps 105:4-5, 6-7, 8-9/Jn 8:51-59

Friday: Jer 20:10-13/Ps 18:2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7/Jn 10:31-42

Saturday: Ez 37:21-28/Jer 31:10, 11-12abcd, 13/ Jn 11:45-56

Next Sunday: Mt 21:1-11/Is 50:4-7/Ps 22:89, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24 (2a)/Phil 2:611/ Mt 26:14—27:66 or 27:11-54

Observances for the week of March 26, 2023

Sunday: 5th Sunday of Lent

Monday:

Tuesday: Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Saturday: April Fools’ Day

Next Sunday: Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, Holy Week begins

©LPi

Sanctuary Lamp Bread & Wine

This Week’s Bread & Wine

In Memory of Msgr. Richard Albert

Offered by Maria

Litrenta

This Week’ Sanctuary Lamp

In Memory of Andrew Joseph & Jane Sentuge

Offered by Sue Joseph

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord-April1 & 2

5:30pm on Saturday; 8am, 10am, 12noon, and 5pm on Sunday

Family Mass Saturday @ 5:30pm –children invited to join the procession with palms.

Reconciliation Monday –April 3

Confessions - 2-4pm and 7-9pm in the Church

Chrism Mass –April 4

All are welcome at this special Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, at 4pm, where Cardinal Dolan will consecrate the Holy Oils used in the Sacraments this year throughout the Archdiocese.

Holy Thursday –April 6

Tenebrae Service followed by Confessions, 9am in the Church NO 12noon Mass

Mass of the Lord’s Supper, 7:30pm in the Church. Vigil in the Parish Center Chapel, followed by Night Prayer at 10pm

Good Friday –April 7

Tenebrae Service followed by Confessions, 9am in the Church NO 12noon Mass, Adoration, or Benediction

Stations of the Cross, 12noon and 7:30pm in the Church

Commemoration of the Passion of the Lord, 3pm in the Church

Holy Saturday –April 8

Tenebrae Service followed by Confessions, 9am in the Church

Easter Food Blessing, 3pm in the Church

NO Confessions at 5pm; NO 12noon or 5:30pm Mass

Solemn Easter Vigil, 7:30pm in the Church

Easter Sunday–April 9 –Masses at 8am (organ and cantor), 10am (organ and choir), and 12noon (organ and choir)

No 5pm Mass on Easter Sunday

Take Catholic Theology Courses This Summer at

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Dates: May 31 through July 14

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Five Minute Jesus

The Gospel according to Matthew 27:11-54 (Longer version: Matthew 26:14-27:66)

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday and Saturday

Just a Word

From the Pastor 03.26.23

The Cup (Part 2)

This past week I have heard from some priests that people have begun to react to what I announced in last week’s Pastor’s Desk: That the Archdiocese has lifted the ban on administering the chalice to the laity at mass. Some parishes never did offer the chalice. Other, such as ours, did, and are weighing the options of how and when to begin again. Pastors are cautious and of course parishioners are too.

Some people are looking for solutions. One person suggested that we do what some evangelical churches do, and hand out little sealed packages with a cup of grape juice and a wafer, that the parishioner can open themselves and commune themselves in their seats or at home. Another one suggested that we adopt the practice of more traditional protestants and use trays of tiny shot glasses, each filled with a sip of wine.

Neither method, however, is a solution for Catholics. Why? The reason is embedded in the very word we use for the act of receiving the bread and the wine: Holy Communion. It is Holy because what we receive is not bread and wine but the real living presence of Christ under the forms of bread and wine. It is Communion because in it we are united; not only with Christ, but also with each other. That Communion with each other is real – it cannot be virtual. That is why we cannot receive Communion in front of our computer screens with a “kit”. And it is sacramental, i.e., it must be embodied, enacted – it must be done. Thus, the priest breaks the one host into pieces for distribution. And we drink from the one cup. It represents the unity in the community celebrating Holy Communion

These ideas are not some new-fangled modernist claptrap. Nor are they some “Protestant” intrusion into “pure” Catholic doctrine. The Apostle Paul teaches us that “Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” (1 Cor 10:17) and as Saint Augustine emphasizes, “If we receive the Eucharist worthily, we become what we receive.” (Easter Homily 227). And if we need any further proof that the way we receive Communion is important to the reality of who we are, we have Jesus, who “At the time he was betrayed and entered willingly into his passion, he took bread and giving thanks , broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: ‘Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body, which will be given up for you. In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice and, once more giving thanks, he gave it to his disciples, saying: Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.’”

Take and eat. Take and drink. We become what we receive –one body. It is why not just the act of receiving is important but how we receive as well. The way of receiving Communion has differed throughout the ages. At the last Supper the bread was different, the wine probably as well. They did not sit in pews but reclined at table. Before fears of crumbs caused the Church to standardize the size and shape of hosts, the bread used at eucharist differed. In some cases, it was even leavened. And before the fear of spilling the chalice caused it to be withdrawn from the laity, the chalice was administered with a golden straw! In some places communion is administered by “intinction”; i.e., the priest dips the host in the wine and places it on the tongue of the once receiving. However, when the Church called for the restoration of the cup in the 1960s, it was the cup, with its gesture of taking and drinking that was seen as best fulfilling the command of Jesus to “do this” in memory of him.

Because the cup is so central to the Eucharist as Jesus celebrated it, and an expression of the renewal of the mass called for at the Second Vatican Council, starting on Holy Thursday then, we are going to begin to offer the cup as an option at mass. Remember, no one is required to receive communion by drinking the cup. Despite the fact we speak of the cup as the Blood of Christ and the Bread as his Body, Jesus’ body is not somehow separated from his blood in the mass –what we receive is the real living presence of Christ under both elements.

Communion means union, and the common cup is an expression of this unity in the “Communion of Saints” that we profess in the Creed at mass. May the reintroduction of this expression of our unity in Christ deepen our appreciation for the mystery we honor every time we celebrate the Eucharist.

Fr. Baker