November 21, 2021

Parish life Our Lord Jesus Christ-King of the Universe

11/21/2021

Faith Formation (Page 6)

Five Minute Jesus (Page 8)

Just a word ( Page 9)

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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 Pastoral Associate: Ms. Jasmine Gomez ..... jgomez@stelmo79.org Parish Manager: Mr. Michael Ward ............. mward@stelmo79.org Music Director: Mr. John Zupan .................... jzupan@stelmo79.org Wedding Coordinator: Ms. Debbi Burdett . dbweddingsnyc@gmail.com 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: Monday ............................................................. 9am - 5pm 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, November 20th Vigil 5:30pm Vernon Sudusinghe Sunday, November 21st Our Lord Jesus Christ-King of the Universe

8:00am Henry & Adelaide Glasson 10:00am Agnes & Timothy J. McCrohan 12:00pm All Parishioners 5:00pm Csike Bacsahaszar Monday, November 22nd St. Cecilia 12:00pm Mary J. Reilly Tuesday, November 23rd Weekday 12:00pm The Anderson Family

(Living & Dec) Wednesday, November 24th

St. Andrew Dung-Lac 12:00pm Thanksgiving Thursday, November 25th Weekday Thanksgiving Day 9am Maria Cecilia Litrenta (Living) Friday, November 26th Weekday 9am Pedro Ant. Litrenta, Jr. Saturday, November 27th Weekday 12:00pm Jozsef Tomahatsch For Mass Intentions, please visit the Parish Center

PRAYERS FOR THE SICK

Robert Oscar Castro, Jody Zanarias, Myrna Moreno & all those ill with or recovering from the COVID-19 virus and all Victims of Military Activities

PRAYERS FOR THE DECEASED

Lawrence Hart, Christopher Cedeño, Michael Egan, Jack Anthony Battipaglia & Christopher Ladano

Baptism Announcement

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

Please join us in congratulating: Vincent A. Pileggi & Noelle S. Crozier on their child’s new life in Christ

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

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

Today’s Readings

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.

Sanctuary Lamp This Week’s Sanctuary Lamp

In Memory of Thomas Ayastury Litrenta Offered by Maria Litrenta

Today, Nov. 21st there will be a Baptism service at 1:30PM At this service we will be baptizing: Luca Beau Pileggi

First Reading — One like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship (Daniel 7:13-14).

Psalm — The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty (Psalm 93).

Second Reading — Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead (Revelation 1:5-8).

Gospel — For this I came into the world, to testify to the truth (John 18:33b-37).

The English translation of the Psalm Responses from the Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved.

Readings for the Week

Monday: Dn 1:1-6, 8-20; Dn 3:52-56; Lk 21:1-4 Tuesday: Dn 2:31-45; Dn 3:57-61; Lk 21:5-11 Wednesday: Dn 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28;

Dn 3:62-67;Lk 21:12-19 Thursday: Dn 6:12-28; Dn 3:68-74; Lk 21:20-28

Thanksgiving Day, Suggested: Sir 50:22-24;

Ps 145:2-11; 1 Cor 1:3-9; Lk 17:11-19 Friday: Dn 7:2-14; Dn 3:75-81; Lk 21:29-33 Saturday: Dn 7:15-27; Dn 3:82-87; Lk 21:34-36 Sunday: Jer 33:14-16; Ps 25:4-5, 8-10, 14;

1 Thes 3:12 — 4:2;

Lk 21:25-28, 34-36

Bread & Wine

This Week’s Bread & Wine In Memory of Pedro Ant. Litrenta, Jr. Offered by Maria Litrenta

St. Stephen of Hungary School

Pre-K through 8th Grade Catholic Parochial School

408 East 82nd St., New York, NY 10028 (212) 288-1989 Fax: (212) 517 – 5788 Principal: Ms. Kelly Burke

www.saintstephenschool.org Interested in admissions to our parish school?

admission s@saintstephenschool.org

Par � L�fe This is the final weekend for our annual food drive. This year, the Food Drive will not only support those at the New York Common Food Pantry but also the community of the Little Sisters of the Assumption. Please bring canned foods such as canned fruit, canned vegetables, stuffing mix, bread mix, cranberry sauce, gravy, pie mix, biscuit roll mix, etc. to the basket in front of the St. Joseph Altar by Sunday, November 21st.

Our Young Adult Ministry (geared towards ages 18-39, but all are welcomed) will be hosting its first Wine & Cheese since pre-pandemic!

Please join us on Sunday, November 21st, after the 5pm Mass for a glass of wine, some cheese and great conversation at the back of the church!

If you're unable to support with physical goods, please consider making a donation!

For Little Sisters of the Assumption $25 buys a turkey for a family in need and $65 can provide a full meal for a family of four ! Just scan this code: For NY Common Pantry: Donations can be made by phone, check or credit card. Just scan this code to be taken to the site!

Time has flown by this week and we have been busy designing our new website!. Please take a look next time you go online. We would love to hear your feedback. It will you a little about group and it will also give you a chance to sign up and join our ministry! Anyone - young and old - can make a difference!

“Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.” Pope Francis, Laudato Si’ pg. 5

K-8 Religious Education and Sacramental Preparation: •

Sunday sessions run 11:11am to 11:55am on Zoom!. Zoom links are emailed to registered families each Friday. The timing of Religious Ed sessions allows your family to attend the Mass of your choice (in person or via Zoom). Participating in Sunday (or Saturday evening) Eucharist is an integral part of Religious Education in our parish! Our 10am Mass on Sunday is now a Family-Friendly Mass every Sunday! (No sessions November 28.)

Adult Faith Formation: •

•

Gather with other Catholics, and with those considering becoming Catholic, to learn more about the Scriptures and our Catholic Faith in a communal setting over a cup of coffee or tea. Bring your questions and musings! Expand your knowledge of the Bible and church teaching in a friendly, non-judgmental environment. No long-term commitment – join us when you are able.

Each Sunday, following the 12noon Mass and concluding at 3pm, in the Parish Center. All materials provided. All are welcome! (No sessions November 28.)

Adult Sacraments of Initiation (RCIA): • • • •

Have you ever thought about becoming Catholic? Do you have a lot of questions about Catholicism?

Or are you a baptized Catholic who has not yet celebrated First Communion or Confirmation?

You, and your questions, are warmly welcomed! Come and share the journey with others.

Please contact Maryann Tyrer at mtyrer@stelmo79.org to discuss our adult initiation process (commonly known as the RCIA). Or join us on Sundays in the Parish Center following the 12noon Mass. (No sessions November 28)

Thanksgiving Food Drive – Last Call!

• •

This year has been particularly challenging for those living with food insecurity Please bring donations of non-perishable food (no glass containers, please!) to the St. Joseph altar steps in St. Monica Church by 5pm on November 21!

Toy Drive begins November 27 •

Please bring unwrapped new toys to the St. Joseph Altar steps November 27 – December 5

Save the Date: Wednesday, December 1, 7pm • • •

Mozart’s Requiem Mass in D Minor will be performed at St. Monica’s Church Kent Tritle will conduct members of the St. John the Divine Cathedral Choir and the St. Monica Orchestra Tickets are $20, available at our website or at the Parish Center

How does Thanksgiving dinner remind you of Mass?

We offer thanks to God, with food and family, all the time. This week we celebrate Thanksgiving Day. It’s a once-ayear feast filled with prayer, family gatherings and food. But did you know that Catholics celebrate Thanksgiving every day? And it also includes prayer, a family gathering and food.

At every Mass, we gather together around the table of the altar to celebrate “the Lord’s Supper,” a feast of thanksgiving. In fact, the Mass is also called “the Eucharist,” which literally means “thanksgiving.”

The early Fathers of the Church, including St. Justin Martyr (who died between 98 and 117 A.D.) and St. Ignatius of Antioch (d. 165), quickly started using the word “Eucharist” to describe the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. This Greek word comes from a combination of words — eu charistia — meaning “good thankfulness” and was a translation of the Hebrew word todah.

A todah was a very special event in the life of a Jew of Jesus’ time. It was a form of sacrifice offered as a thanks offering for having been delivered from great danger. A person who had been saved from death, a severe sickness, been on a hazardous journey or under attack would sacrifice a lamb and get some special bread — both leavened and unleavened — gather his family and friends, and have a feast to praise and thank God. The late Jesuit theologian Cardinal Avery Dulles said that when “Jesus directed the apostles, after his resurrection, to celebrate a meal in memory of him, they called the meal a Eucharist, or in Hebrew a todah, which translates exactly as ‘thanksgiving’.” Scripture scholar Tim Gray notes that many Old Testament figures — Jonah (Jon 2:3-10), King Hezekiah (Is 38) and King David (1Chron 15-16) — all offered todah sacrifices after being delivered from harm or enemies.

We are all used to thinking about the Mass as a celebration of the Lord’s sacrifice and even as a meal, but we might not be so used to thinking of it in terms of a feast celebrating the fact that we’ve escaped “by the skin of our teeth.”

(And the grace of God.) So even if we haven’t been swallowed by a giant fish, we need to realize how near to danger we have been. How near we often come. And that we have been delivered, countless times, and blessed richly.

Which is what President Abraham Lincoln — even though he didn’t attend Mass — acknowledged when he proclaimed the last Thursday of November in 1863 “as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to (the people of the United States) that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence…”

Is that any different from what we do at Mass each day?

“Every time we go to Mass,” Cardinal Dulles said, “we give thanks to God for having rescued Jesus and at the same time for rescuing us from our situation of sin and condemnation.” That certainly is what Jesus intended us to remember when, at his Last Supper, he took bread and wine, gave thanks and praise and told his followers to do the same.

So, ever since, we have celebrated the Eucharist, our thanksgiving sacrifice. We gather together around the family table with Christ as his Paschal Mystery again becomes present to us in this never-ending sacrament of praise and thanksgiving. As the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” tells us, “The Eucharist, the sacrament of our salvation accomplished by Christ on the cross, is also a sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for the work of creation. In the Eucharistic sacrifice, the whole of creation loved by God is presented to the Father through the death and the Resurrection of Christ. Through Christ, the church can offer the sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for all that God has made good, beautiful, and just in creation and in humanity” (n. 1359).

Sounds a lot like what we try to remember each Thanksgiving Day. So while we may not be able to bring pumpkin pie to Mass, we can nonetheless bring the flavor of Thanksgiving with us whenever we gather with our church family to give thanks and praise, and share a meal.

Sources: Catechism of the Catholic Church; Catholic News Service; Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance; Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center; www.classicallibrary.org; “From Jewish Passover to Christian Eucharist: The Story of the Todah”; www.torah.org; https://www.thecompassnews.org/2009/11/how-does-thanksgiving-dinner-remind-you-of-mass/

Five Minute Jesus

Using the Gospel for Prayer – First Sunday of Advent – November 28, 2021 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.

The Gospel according to Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Jesus said to his disciples: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.” Monday Is there something in this Gospel that spoke to me? Comforted me? Challenged me? If so, what wis it? How does this Gospel speak to me?

Tuesday For many people Halloween is their favorite holiday, for it offers a good scare without the danger. Here Jesus is speaking of a real end of the world scenario. It might seem like Jesus is trying to frighten us. But is he? How do I feel when I hear Jesus speak of people dying of fright at what they see happening in the world? How do I feel when I look around at our world nowadays, hearing Jesus’ words?

Wednesday The title “Son of Man” has a complex history in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). Sometimes it has the meaning of “human being”. But in many places, it refers to a particular human being, the great judge who is to come at the end of the world and judge people for their actions. This belief in the coming of the Son of Man as judge is tied to that of the resurrection of the dead. At the dead we will all rise. The unjust will be punished, and the just will live forever. For people in Jesus’ day, this was the answer to the question, “How can we believe in a just God when the world is so unjust?” The answer was, “well, it may be now, but just wait.” How satisfying an answer is this for us? If it is, then why?If not why not?

Thursday Jesus proclaims that those who are listening to him are the good guys. When the Son of Man comes, they will not need to slink off and hide, fearing judgement, but can raise their heads, because their redemption is at hand. Redemption is a strange word. It usually means an exchange, a getting and a giving. We use this word to describe God’s relationship with us through Jesus. How do I understand this word in my relationship with God? What does God give? What do I receive?

And what do I give in return?

Friday Jesus suddenly switches his focus from the future to the present. He warns against three things: carousing, drunkenness . . . and the anxieties of daily life. It sounds like he just described the pandemic lockdown many had! But what he is describing are all the ways in which we can be distracted, and forget our side of our relationship with God, and our practice of the faith. What distracts me from God? Did the pandemic do that? If so, how can I return to the practice of my faith?

Saturday At the end of this week’s Gospel Jesus says that the way to stand before the Son of Man at the end of time is to be vigilant now. That is because central to Jesus’ preaching about the kingdom of God, is that it doesn’t just come at the end of time with the Son of Man but is present here and now, wherever his people put his words into practice and follow his example of living out the values of the kingdom. Do I know what the values of God’s kingdom are? How can I better live out those values once I know them?

From the Pastor 11.21.21

will return next week

A Synodal Church 2021-23 People have been hearing about it. Some of you have asked me about it. Priests have been discussing it. The declaration of our Holy Father of a “synod”. While there are many questions about it, the most basic one is also the most obvious: What is a synod?

Synod is a word which comes from two Greek words: “Syn”, meaning together (think synagogue: a “coming together” or “gathering”) and “(h)odos” meaning “way” (think “odometer” a device which measures how far you’ve gone). Thus, a synod is a “traveling together on the way” a “walking with others”.

Synod is a word that many different Christian denominations use to describe their gatherings at which decisions are made and their churches are governed. For the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (the Church that I was raised in) Synods are the equivalents of dioceses; permanent administrative bodies that meet annually.

In the Roman Catholic Church however, synods do not happen regularly. Normally they happen when the Church is facing a challenge, or a decision, and the bishop, or in this case the Pope wishes to consult to seek a solution. Sometimes dioceses have synods (New York had one back in the late 80s) and sometimes the Pope calls representatives of bishops from all over the world for a synod.

However, this time, Pope Francis is calling a synod in which we are all invited to participate.

Starting in 2022 we will be receiving information from the Archdiocese on how to “come together” as parishes and reflect and discuss, “on the way” as it were with our bishop to make our concerns and hopes for the Church known. Then later in 2022 those responses from all over the US will be collected and presented to United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Bishop representatives will bring those results to a synod of bishops in Rome in 2023, which will discuss the concerns of the universal Church in synod.

Synods are called in times of challenge. This is such a time. We do not have to be “plugged in” to the media to see what is happening both to the Church and in the world. The lack of vocations hampers our ability to feed and teach our people. The scandals both of abuse of children and finances have shaken the credibility of our Church to its core. The pandemic has caused large numbers of Catholics to drift away, in addition to the ones who have left due to the scandals.

This has provoked something of a crisis mentality among many. And yet the word “crisis” is also word with Greek roots. It comes from the Greek word krinein – “to decide”. This a crisis is a time of decision. Pope Francis is inviting our input to help decide wisely, and prudently a way forward.

I look forward to sharing with you more information about the synodal process as it becomes available. But expect that we will be entering into this process sometime in the early new year.

Father Baker

CHURCH NAME AND ADDRESS 511510: Church of St. Monica/ St Elizabeth of Hungary / St Stephen of Hungary 406 East 80th Street, NYC., NY 10075 PHONE: 212 288-6250 CONTACT PERSON: Gladys Tejada/Office

SUNDAY DATE OF PUBLICATION: November 21st, 2021 SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: PLEASE PRINT 450 BULLETINS FOR THIS WEEK’S ISSUE