Sat, 02/15/20 05:30 pm Theodore Baumgarten

Sun, 02/16/20 09:00 am Thanksgiving by Cheryl Laidlaw

02/16/20 11:00 am Donald Goscicki

Mon, 02/17/20 07:00 am Cipriano Endozo

Tue, 02/18/20 07:00 am Thanksgiving to Saint Guillermo

Wed, 02/19/20 07:00 am H&WB for Reydina Lawrence

Thu, 02/20/20 07:00 am Sergei & Helene Zwetkow

Fri, 02/21/20 07:00 am H&WB for Lawrence Milewski

Sat, 02/22/20 08:30 am Thanksgiving for God’s tender mercy & favors received

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February 16, 2020

AVAILABLE DAYS FOR MASS INTENTIONS

FEBRUARY 2020 07:00am Tue 25, Wed 26, Thu 27, Fri 28

07:00pm Wed 26 (Ash Wed)

MARCH 2020 07:00am Mon 2, Wed 4, Thu 5, Fri 6, Mon 9, Tue 10, Wed 11, Thu 12, Mon 16, Mon 23, Thu 26, Mon 30, Tue 31

08:30am Sat 14

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Feb 08—09, 2020: $4,067.00

Feb 09—10, 2019: $4,083.00

WEEKLY COLLECTION

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so frequently and fervently during His life on earth, how much more do we, as sinners, have a need for prayer as a part of our daily lives? Communication is an important part of any relationship, and our relationship with God is no exception. Through communica-tion, both parties in a relationship come to know each other better. However, since God already knows each one of us completely and intimately, even more deeply than we know ourselves, how can He benefit from our prayers? Can our praises make God any greater, wiser, more powerful, or more per-fect than He already is? Or can our petitions reveal something about us to God that He didn't already know? Of course not. As a perfect Divine Being, complete in power and knowledge, God has nothing to gain from our prayers. Nevertheless, God deeply desires our prayers, not for His benefit, but for ours. Since God already possesses a perfect knowledge of us as our Creator and Lover, prayer does not help Him get to know us bet-ter. Rather, prayer allows us to gain a better knowledge of God, and in doing so, it helps us obtain a better knowledge of ourselves, as images of God.

Through our prayers of praise, adoration, and thanksgiving, we acknowledge our pettiness and insignificance compared to God's great-ness and power, as well as our dependence on Him for everything that we have. Our prayers of repentance keep us aware of our sinful human nature and allow us to experi-ence God's boundless mercy. Finally, our prayers of petition force us to think about what we truly want and need. Through daily prayer, we come to a deeper understanding of both ourselves and God. We do not pray for God's sake, but for our own sake, so that our relationship with our Lord may be more complete and our lives may be filled with God's goodness.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAYERS

From the beginning of time, man has attempted to get in touch with some greater Supernatural Force or Divine Be-ing. The ancient peoples of the world did this through hymns, songs, and rituals of thanksgiving, praise, and petition. Today, thousands of years later, people across the globe continue to lift their minds and hearts to God in prayer. Prayer is Man’s natural reaction to the yearning for God that is im-planted deep within him. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us “In the New Covenant, prayer is the living relationship of the children of God with their Father,…with his Son Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Spirit.” (CCC 2565)

Jesus encourages us to pray when he says, “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Lk 11:9) He goes on to show that this is true by performing various miracles for people who ask him to do so, curing a leper and a blind beggar who come before Him in good faith, and promising the King-dom of Heaven to the good thief who re-pents at Calvary.

In addition to hearing the prayers of the people, Jesus Himself is found praying nu-merous times throughout the Gospels, both alone and in the company of his disciples and crowds of followers. He prays before the most important times in His life, includ-ing His Baptism, Transfiguration, and many of the miracles He performs. During His Passion, the most trying and difficult hours of His life, prayer flows once again from Je-sus' mouth. He prays for strength in the Garden of Gethsemane and continues pray-ing up until His very last words on the cross: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” (Lk 23:46)

If Jesus, the perfect, divine God-Man prayed

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FULFILLING THE LAW

In the Gospel Reading, Christ says that he has not come to do away with the law but to fulfill the law. In fact, no one will get into heaven unless his righteous-ness exceeds the righteousness of the law-observing scribes and the Pharisees.

The scribes and Pharisees thought that murderers and adulterers are shut out of heaven. As Christ explains it, simply having hatred or lust in your heart is enough to shut you out of heaven.

So Christ’s saying is perplexing, isn’t it? Is-n’t the law of the old covenant replaced by the new covenant of grace? What does

READINGS

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time—A

Reading I: Sirach 15:15-20 Psalm: 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34 Reading II: 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 Gospel: Matthew 5:17-37 Christ mean when he says that he has come to fulfill the law? What happened to salva-tion by faith and not by works?

It’s troubling, as well as perplexing. Isn’t the burden of guilt for us heavy enough without Christ’s telling us that we will be excluded from heaven unless our righteousness ex-ceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees? The burden of the Law was great enough, wasn’t it? What happened to Christ’s saying, “Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28)?

But think about heaven. Those in heaven have everlasting life. What would that ever-lasting life be like if Christ’s saying were false?

If it were false, a person who hated his brother or lusted after someone else’s wife could still have everlasting life in heaven. And now think about living forever in the psychic pain of surreptitious hatred or secret lust. How could anyone with such a psyche be in heaven? Anywhere such a person goes ceases to be heaven, just because he is there. His own unrighteousness will make him mis-erable. He carries the absence of heaven in his unrighteous heart.

And that is why no one can enter into heaven whose righteousness does not exceed the righteousness mandated in the law.

This is a very heavy burden indeed. What could anyone do to carry it?

The solution is to listen when Christ says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” The rest we want and the righteousness we need in order to get that rest comes to us only when we come to Christ.

Eleonore Stump

"It is a shame to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."

~ Blessed

Mother Teresa ~

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You can Sponsor the ALTAR BREAD, the SACRIFICIAL WINE, OR the

SANCTUARY LAMP!

The Sanctuary Lamp, Altar Bread and Sacrificial Wine are nice ways to remember someone in need

of healing, those who are celebrating births, anniversaries, etc. or a deceased loved one.

It reminds us the ever presence of Christ. We bring our intentions into HIS PRESENCE with our offering.

If you wish to remember someone in this special way, the Sanctuary Lamp will burn for a week, and the Altar Bread OR the Sacrificial Wine of everyday

Mass will be offered for your intention an entire week

(circle one) Please, consider offering the:

Sanctuary Lamp or Altar Bread or Sacrificial Wine

In Memory of: ____________________________________________

Or for a special Occasion starting on:____/____/___ For:_______________________________________

Requested by:_____________________________ Telephone #:_______________________________ Please fill out this form. Return it either to the rectory or to Fr. Frank with a check in the amount of $25.

GOOD SHEPHERD ACADEMY 973 375 0659 There are openings for all day

Pre-K 3 & 4, Kindergarten and Grades 1 thru 8.

Excellence in a non –violent atmosphere, Caring teachers, Academic structure with a strong

discipline code and School Uniforms, Hot Lunch Pre-K 3 & 4 All Day Kindergarten

5 Days- 7:30am-5:30pm 5 Days/week 8am-2:45pm Before and aftercare Optional before and aftercare

Grades 1 thru 8 Specials Optional before/aftercare Art, Music, Computer

for all grades Physical Education, Spanish

REPORT ABUSE Protecting God’s Children The Archdiocese of Newark takes very seriously any and all credible complaints, and encourages

anyone with knowledge of an act of sexual misconduct by the clergy, religious and lay staff

to tell us immediately, so that we may take appropriate action to protect others and provide support to sexual abuse victims. Individuals who wish to report an allegation may do so by calling the Child and Youth Protection. 201-407-3256,

Fax: 973-497-4001. Or In person, 171 Clifton Avenue. Newark, NJ 07104

To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven

“A time to heal, and a time for peace” Eccl 3, 11 Mary Grace, Dorette Lewis, Carmela Spagnola, Ro-chelle Shapland, Jean Sarno, Alisha Soomon, Joanne Warnigiria, Christoper Leahy, Albert Matthews, Genevieve Kosmala, Betty Manna, Patricia Schwoebel, Al Tatyrek, Steve Balkaren, Sandra Anderson, Glenn Bowen, Richard Coit, Meean Lopez, Ida Tozzi, Lillian Manley, Marie Muscadin, Alicia Dixon, Hilliard Davis, Eve Scheier, Joe & Annette Manzella, Kylie Keegan, Sophia Udoh, Lisa Casale, Barrett McCallum, Anthony Iannetta, Zenaida Makasakit, Kathy Manichini, Edna Weigand, Thomas Maher, Gloria Caponigro, The Drayton Family, Gladiette Nkiru, Jack Kenefick, Maria Rosado, Marie J. Bruno, John Hollan, Bernice Plesnik, Debbie Chapman, Keller Alphonse, Sean Worthington, Nicole & Jonathan Garrett, Denise Rostel, Linda Beutel Robert Nezlick, Carol Ligenza, Kalifa George, Marie Laurent, Susana Hernandez, Vito Camuso, Lucila Caicedo, Kerline Gourdet, Joseph Trinity, Jacqueline Rodriguez, Bob Wilber, John Lupo Jr, Charles Holmes Jr., Mary Ann Tillman, John Hoffman, Baby Anthony, Ines Lopez, Estela Landicho. Army: Tyronne Nicholas Lopez, Dennis Karambelas, Robert King, Daniel Peton, Gregg Gross, Jason Schmidt, Lynn Peton, Hector Grover, Louis Herbert, Calvin Sahlon, Stephen Condo, Navy: Radames Montalvo, Omar Aviles, Richard Ly, Wilson Vargas, Matthew J. Carlo, Regina Grice, Bernard P. Ladra, Joseph Scatina, Michael Wilkey, Francis R. Maldonado, Coast Guard: Michael Moretti, Wilbert Bynum. Air Force: Mary Carol Inserra, Joseph C. Iungerman, Joseph McKenna, . Marines: Chris Moretti, Jonathan Jewell, Alvaro Patrick, Jacky Samedy, Gilberto Torres, David Lakey, Lech Sierpowski, Philip Raziano, Robert Samedy, An-drew Herzer.

Ministries: If you’re interested in ministries of service either as a Lector or Eucharistic Minister, please fill out the form below and give it to Fr Frank. An information & a training session will be held so you’ll be prepared. Name : ___________________________________ Telephone _________________________________

___ I am interested in serving as a Lector ___ I would like to serve as an Eucharistic Minister

We are Looking for more Altar Servers, girls and boys, third grade or older, to participate as ALTAR Servers. This ministry is a wonderful privilege for either young Or older people. It allows you to participate actively in the weekend celebrations of the Eucharist. Please fill out the form below and return to the rectory or Fr Frank Name:________________________ Grade _______ Phone_____________________ School __________

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