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February 6, 2010
Holy Comforter Parish eNewsletter |
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Introduction
This includes Christian Formation, RCIA, and all Sunday masses (Saturday 5:00 p.m. and Sunday 8:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m.). All of this snow might remind us that one of Our Lady's titles is Our Lady of the Snows. This title is associated with the establishment of the church which is today known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. The establishment of the basilica is celebrated on August 5th. During the pontificate of Liberius (352-366), the Roman patrician John and his wife, who were without heirs, made a vow to donate their possessions to Our Lady. They prayed to her that she might make known to them in what manner they were to dispose of their property in her honor. On 5 August, during the night, snow fell on the summit of the Esquiline Hill and, in obedience to a vision which they had the same night, they built a basilica, in honor of Our Lady, on the spot which was covered with snow. From the Catholic Encyclopedia Read on ... Picture from the Basilica of St. Mary Major This Week The Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
During this week, the Church celebrates the feast days of St. Jerome Emiliani (February 8), St. Josephine Bakhita (February 8), St. Scholastica (February 10), and Our Lady of Lourdes (February 11). Bulletin The following are highlights from this Sunday's bulletin. To read the entire parish bulletin for February 7, 2010, view the attached PDF file or click here. NEED FOR ALTAR SERVERS: There is an immediate need for Altar Servers for the 5:00 p.m. Saturday Mass. Individuals should be willing to serve 1-2 times per month. If you are between the ages of 9 to 90, please consider this important ministry. Training will be provided. Please call Jim Morrisard at 973-6570 if you are interested.
ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS: Charlottesville Catholic School is currently accepting applications for the 2010-11 school year. Please visit our website for comprehensive information and for details about our application process. Applications must be received by February 8th to be considered in the first round of enrollment contract offers. If you would like to have a tour of our school, please call Ann Michel, Admissions Coordinator, at 964-0400. Limited seats are also available for this school year. CAN YOU HELP?: Holy Comforter has a group of Sacristans that take turns during the week preparing for the upcoming Masses. Each Sacristan signs up for one or two months of the year. During the assigned months, it takes one hour a week at the Church doing some easy, but essential tasks. If you can spare the time to help in the preparation for our Masses, it would be a great help. Training is provided. Another area in which we are in need of a volunteer is in the washing and ironing of the Church linens. If you can help with either of these important ministries or for more information, please contact Barbara Battiston at 244-0185.
PASTORAL CARE MINISTRY MEETING: The Pastoral Care Ministry Committee will hold its next meeting Tuesday, February 16th at 1:00 p.m. at Holy Comforter. New members are always welcome. If you are interested sharing some time with our sick and our shut-ins, please join us. For questions, please call Carole Ingenthron at 973-6836.
BI-PARISH HAITI COMMITTEE: The committee next meets at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 7th at Holy Comforter. All are welcome. To learn more, please contact Laurie Duncan at Laurie Duncan. Prayer Intentions The Holy Father's Intentions for February
Missionary: That the Church, aware of its own missionary identity, may strive to follow Christ faithfully and to proclaim His Gospel to all peoples. Pro-Life Prayer Intention For the full conversion of abortion providers who are considering leaving the abortion industry. Liturgy Calendar
Devotion
The month of February is dedicated to the Holy Family. The following is a prayer to dedicate your family to the Holy Family. Lord Jesus Christ, Who, being made subject to Mary and Joseph, hallowed domestic life by Your ineffable virtues; grant that we, with the assistance of both, may be taught by the example of Your holy Family and may attain to its everlasting fellowship; Who lives and reigns world without end. Amen For more on devotion to the Holy Family visit the Catholic Culture Holy Family page.  Excerpt from the Catechism The Precepts of the Church The Catechism moves from a discussion on the Magisterium and the Moral Life (CCC 2032-2040) to discuss the obligations that the faithful have to Holy Mother Church. The precepts provide a minimum in order to help us grow in our love for our Lord and to desire to move beyond the minimum to even great demonstrations of our love. 2041 The precepts of the Church are set in the context of a moral life bound to and nourished by liturgical life. the obligatory character of these positive laws decreed by the pastoral authorities is meant to guarantee to the faithful the indispensable minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor: 2042 The first precept ("You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.") requires the faithful to participate in the Eucharistic celebration when the Christian community gathers together on the day commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord. The second precept ("You shall confess your sins at least once a year.") ensures preparation for the Eucharist by the reception of the sacrament of reconciliation, which continues Baptism's work of conversion and forgiveness. The third precept ("You shall humbly receive your Creator in Holy Communion at least during the Easter season.") guarantees as a minimum the reception of the Lord's Body and Blood in connection with the Paschal feasts, the origin and center of the Christian liturgy. 2043 The fourth precept ("You shall keep holy the holy days of obligation.") completes the Sunday observance by participation in the principal liturgical feasts which honor the mysteries of the Lord, the Virgin Mary, and the saints. The fifth precept ("You shall observe the prescribed days of fasting and abstinence.") ensures the times of ascesis and penance which prepare us for the liturgical feasts; they help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart. The faithful also have the duty of providing for the material needs of the Church, each according to his abilities. Church History
The Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes on February 11th. The pilgrimage of Lourdes is founded on the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin to a poor, fourteen-year-old girl, Bernadette Soubiroux. The first apparition occurred 11 February, 1858. There were eighteen in all; the last took place 16 July, of the same year. Bernadette often fell into an ecstasy. The mysterious vision she saw in the hollow of the rock Massabielle was that of a young and beautiful lady. "Lovelier than I have ever seen" said the child. But the girl was the only one who saw the vision, although sometimes many stood there with her. Now and then the apparition spoke to the seer who also was the only one who heard the voice. Thus, she one day told her to drink of a mysterious fountain, in the grotto itself, the existence of which was unknown, and of which there was no sign, but which immediately gushed forth. On another occasion the apparition bade Bernadette go and tell the priests she wished a chapel to be built on the spot and processions to be made to the grotto. At first the clergy were incredulous. It was only four years later, in 1862, that the bishop of the diocese declared the faithful "justified in believing the reality of the apparition". A basilica was built upon the rock of Massabielle by M. Peyramale, the parish priest. In 1873 the great "national" French pilgrimages were inaugurated. Three years later the basilica was consecrated and the statue solemnly crowned. In 1883 the foundation stone of another church was laid, as the first was no longer large enough. It was built at the foot of the basilica and was consecrated in 1901 and called the Church of the Rosary. Pope Leo XIII authorized a special office and a Mass, in commemoration of the apparition, and in 1907 Pius X extended the observance of this feast to the entire Church; it is now observed on 11 February. Never has a sanctuary attracted such throngs. At the end of the year 1908, when the fiftieth anniversary of the apparition was celebrated, although the record really only began from 1867, 5297 pilgrimages had been registered and these had brought 4,919,000 pilgrims. Individual pilgrims are more numerous by far than those who come in groups. To their number must be added the visitors who do not come as pilgrims, but who are attracted by a religious feeling or sometimes merely by the desire to see this far-famed spot. The Company of the Chemins de Fer du Midi estimates that the Lourdes station receives over one million travellers per annum. Every nation in the world furnishes its contingent. Out of the total of pilgrimages given above, four hundred and sixty-four came from countries other than France. They are sent by the United States, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Italy, England, Ireland, Canada, Brazil, Bolivia, etc. The bishops lead the way. At the end of the year of the fiftieth anniversary, 2013 prelates, including 546 archbishops, 10 primates, 19 patriarchs, 69 cardinals, had made the pilgrimage to Lourdes. But more remarkable still than the crowd of pilgrims is the series of wonderful occurrences which take place under the protection of the celebrated sanctuary. Passing over spiritual cures, which more often than not escape human observance, we shall confine ourselves to bodily diseases. The writer of this article has recorded every recovery, whether partial or complete, and in the first half-century of the shrine's existence he has counted 3962. Notwithstanding very careful statistics which give the names and surnames of the patients who have recovered, the date of the cure, the name of the disease, and generally that of the physician who had charge of the case, there are inevitably doubtful or mistaken cases, attributable, as a rule, to the excited fancy of the afflicted one and which time soon dispels. But it is only right to note: first, that these unavoidable errors regard only secondary cases which have not like the others been the object of special study; it must also be noted that the number of cases is equalled and exceeded by actual cures which are not put on record. The afflicted who have recovered are not obliged to present themselves and half of them do not present themselves, at the Bureau des Constatations Médicales at Lourdes, and it is from this bureau's official reports that the list of cures is drawn up. The estimate that about 4000 cures have been obtained at Lourdes within the first fifty years of the pilgrimage is undoubtedly considerably less than the actual number. The Bureau des Constatations stands near the shrine, and there are recorded and checked the certificates of maladies and also the certificates of cure; it is free to all physicians, whatever their nationality or religious belief. Consequently, on an average, from two to three hundred physicians annual visit this marvellous clinic. As to the nature of the diseases which are cured, nervous disorders so frequently mentioned, do not furnish even the fourteenth part of the whole; 278 have been counted, out of a total of 3962. The present writer has published the number of cases of each disease or infirmity, among them tuberculosis, tumours, sores, cancers, deafness, blindness, etc. The "Annales des Sciences Physiques", a sceptical review whose chief editor is Doctor Ch. Richet, Professor at the Medical Faculty of Paris, said in the course of a long article, apropos of this faithful study: "On reading it, unprejudiced minds cannot but be convinced that the facts stated are authentic." From the Catholic Encyclopedia Link of the Week The Cardinal Kung Foundation
From Catholic Culture. |
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KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS: The next meeting of Father Louis A. Rowen Council 3670 will be held on Monday, February 15th at the Church of the Incarnation’s Activities Building. The Church of the Incarnation is located on Route 29 North behind Toys’R'US. Recitation of the Rosary will be at 7:15 p.m. followed by the meeting at 7:30 p.m.
BOOK CLUB: Are you looking for a chance to deepen your understanding of your faith? To share your views with other parishioners? If you are, we invite you to read the book "A Key to The Doctrine of The Eucharist" by Abbot Vonier and to come to the next meeting of the book club on Tuesday, March 2nd from 4:00-5:30 p.m. at 150 Bennington Road. For questions or to get directions, contact Therese Stong at 296-9961 or 
PHILOSOPHY CLUB: The next meeting of the Philosophy Club will be February 14th at 6:00 P.M. at which time we will discuss "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding" by David Hume. For more information, please contact Suzanne Bailey at 296-5033 or 
IMPACT: It's time to think seriously about the 
PANTRY: If you saw the piece about the Food Bank on the TV news recently, you saw that canned meats are in short supply there. We try to include some form of canned protein in each of our pantry bags, so cans of tuna or chicken are always welcome. If you see them on sale when you go grocery shopping, please pick up a couple of cans for the pantry.
EARTHQUAKE UPDATE: Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Haiti, especially in this Haiti Solidarity Week of February 6 - 14. Displaced families and individuals have relocated from the capital to the countryside. Many refugees are staying with relatives in Saltadere and their children are enrolling in St. Michel School, thus putting stress on scarce resources. Updates on relief efforts are being posted on the Saltadere website at 
General: For all scholars and intellectuals, that by means of sincere search for the truth they may arrive at an understanding of the one true God.
