Bulletins (Page 13)
January 29th – Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Beatitudes has been called Constitution of the Reign of
God. Through them, Jesus taught the values, virtues and
attitudes to his followers. It is not that Jesus instructed his
listeners to be meek or mourning or persecuted or insulted.
Rather, the Beatitudes are lessons on how to live when bad
things happen to people, as they do to every person. What
distinguishes the followers of Jesus is how we react to the
presence of suffering in our lives. Jesus teaches us to find
blessedness or happiness even during the difficulties we
experience, and He promises heavenly rewards.
In the end, the question to each of us is whether we try to evade
the trials of our lives or do we learn to grow through them,
even remaining hopeful and faith-filled in bad times?
This weekend – Friday through Sunday – our Diocesan
Assembly for the Synod gathers at Santa Clara University.
From the 8000 comments and suggestions received from
throughout the Diocese, there are now 96 proposals, organized
around 8 themes. Please keep the delegates from our parish
and from throughout Santa Clara County in your prayers, that
all of us will be guided by the Holy Spirit in our listening, discussions and deliberations.
January 22nd – Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
One of the major themes of Christmas and Epiphany is that Christ is
the Light of the World. Now that the Christmas Season is past, and
we have returned to “Ordinary Time,” we hear again part of the Old
Testament reading from Christmas Eve Mass: “The people who
walked in darkness have seen a great light. . .” (Isaiah 9:1). Near the
beginning of His public ministry, Jesus quotes this passage, in
obvious reference to the work He had begun. And then he began
calling the disciples to Himself, so that they could share his
ministry, bringing light to all those in the dark places.
This weekend’s second reading puts the ministry of the apostles in
the context of the early Church, where factions had begun to surface.
Saint Paul repeats some of what the first believers were saying: “I
belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,”
or “I belong to Christ.” And he asks this question: “Is Christ
divided?”
The Lord’s followers are still divided in many ways. During
“Christian Unity Week,” we focus on that which unites us in the
Lord. We are asked to recommit ourselves to the vision of the Lord
Who prayed that “all may be one.” And within our own Church, we
should strive toward unity, which is a gift from the Lord. In that
way, we can let the Lord’s light shine on all.
January 15th – Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Some of the followers of Saint John the Baptist clung to the hope
that John himself was the Messiah; obviously, Jesus’ followers (then
and now) believed the same about Him. But it is not a case of one
faction triumphing over the other. The disciples of Jesus (who
eventually produced the gospels as we have received them) held
John in the very highest esteem, as can be seen in this Sunday’s
gospel passage:
John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold,
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one
of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.’
John is hailed as the “last and greatest” of the prophets and even as
the sole prophet of the New Testament. His message is clear: He
points to Jesus and not to himself. As we leave the Christmas Season
and observe these weeks of “Ordinary Time,” we can ask ourselves
if we follow John’s example. Is it Christ to whom our lives point, or
would we rather draw attention to ourselves?
January 8th – The Epiphany of the Lord
The Feast of the Epiphany is a reminder to us that God is a God of
surprises. Most certainly, the magi did not anticipate that their journey
to the “newborn King of the Jews” would lead them to the backwater
town of Bethlehem, where they found Jesus. It is also amazing that
this revelation was made to foreigners, in keeping with today’s
responsorial:
All kings shall pay him homage,
all nations shall serve him (Psalm 72:11).
On Epiphany 2023, we can also expect the unexpected; God seldom
fits into the categories we erect. Neither does the Lord abide by the
limitations that we attempt to place upon Him.
There are epiphanies of God’s presence all around us and sometimes
these are in people and situations that truly surprise us. In the same
way, each of us is called to be to others real signs of the loving
presence of God in their lives.
January 1st – Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God
Happy New Year to you all!
Recent years have been marked by pandemic, war and insurrection.
What will this year bring? In some ways, this will be determined by
us; although we cannot control the circumstances and events of the
world around us, we can help determine how those events affect us.
We can take our cue from who it is that we celebrate and honor: Mary,
the Mother of God, who “kept these things [regarding the Birth of
Jesus] and reflected on them in her heart.”
Mary teaches us trust in God, even when we do not know the outcome
of unfolding events. She teaches an openness to God’s will, even when
it messes with the trajectory of our lives as we have envisioned it.
For us, 2023 is more than just the pages of a calendar. It is full of hope
and possibility. May it be for us a time of peace and joy in the Lord.
From all of us who serve you here at Saint Clare, we wish you many
blessings in this New Year.
December 25th – Christmas
Dear Parishioners,
In Jesus, the Word became flesh and God
“pitched his tent among us.” That is what we
celebrate on this great feast; it is what we
celebrate every day. God is with us through
the very bond of our DNA. Born of the Virgin,
the Lord Jesus is fully human. Conceived by
the Holy Spirit, He is also fully divine.
Jesus became human so that we can become
divine!
Our Parish and School staffs wish you all the
blessings of Christmas, as we thank you for
“pitching your tents” with us. We are indeed a
“family of families,” and we give thanks to the
Lord for each of you.
The Lord’s own peace be with you, your
families and your loved ones.
Sincerely,
December 18th – Fourth Sunday of Advent
The Gospel reading for this Fourth Sunday of Advent begins: “This is
how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.” It tells the story of God’s
direct intervention, not only in the life of Mary, but in the history of
humankind and of all creation. What God did was not an evolutionary
development, a “natural” progression in our history; it was an act of
God, an act of compassion and love, for our salvation.
As we make our way through this last week of Advent, our focus on
how Jesus’ birth came about can help us to realize that for each of us
God has been and was always present as we came into being. The
same God knows and loves us and calls us by name from the first
moment of our existence.
Next weekend, we will celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I
invite you and your extended family to join with us in one of our
celebrations of the Eucharist. Even if you have found it difficult to be
here on a regular basis, please consider coming home to Saint Clare for
Christmas. We are never truly whole unless we are all together.
May this week be a wonderful time of preparation for you and your
loved ones.
December 11th – Third Sunday of Advent
Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of
the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious
fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives
the early and the late rains (Letter of Saint James
5:7).
Patience is a virtue that most of us encounter in its absence; we are
sometimes aware of how often we are impatient with others and even
with ourselves. Saint James hints at an impatience even with the Lord,
Whose return seemed to be delayed. Nearly 2000 years have passed
since the apostle wrote those words, and we are still urged to be
patient.
From its origins in Latin (patior), patience is a kind of suffering. It is
not easy; it does not come to us in an easy way. So we are called to the
hard work of patience, as we walk through Advent.
During Advent, is not as if we are playing a game of “make believe”
that the first Christmas never happened. Rather, we look forward to
the Lord’s return, even as we prepare to celebrate the anniversary of
His Birth in Bethlehem.
Advent is a time of “PPP:” Prayer, Preparation and Patience