THE FISH WRAP

The Catholic Parishes of

Saint John Capistran Immaculate Conception Holy Rosary

The Presentation of the Lord February 2, 2020

HOLY DAYS MASSES AS NOTED IN BULLETIN

OFFICE HOURS Please call (308) 856-4375 to make an appointment.

RECONCILIATION Saturday – 4:30 – 4:45 Sunday – 7:30 – 7:45 Sunday – After 10:00 Mass By request Anytime by appointment

MARRIAGES Friday Evenings or 2 PM Satur-days, or you can invoke the “Tool Law”. 4 month minimum prepara-tion. If previously married takes 1 1/2 to 2 years for annulment deci-sion.

BAPTISM Call Rectory for class and instruc-tions.

NEW PARISHIONERS Please introduce yourselves to the Pastor or call the rectory (308) 856-4375 to register.

DEADLINE FOR BULLETIN Wednesday 12 NOON If you miss the deadline, sorry no announcements at Mass.

Website: nebraskacatholic.org Parish e-mail:

Immaculate.holyrosary.stjohn@gmail.com Phone: (308) 856-4375 Fax: (308) 856-4017

Mail Address: P.O. Box 530 Elm Creek, NE 68836

STAFF Rev. Alexander J. Borzych Pastor Rev. Mr. Bill O’Donnell Deacon Helen Pingel Parishes Secretary Jeannette Taubenheim Religious Ed Grade School – Amherst James and Heather Brennan High School Religious Ed — Overton Kevin and Sarah Luther Grade School Religious Ed — Overton Cheska Hubbard Religious Ed — Elm Creek

MASS TIMES FOR MARCH Elm Creek— Saturday 5:00 PM Overton—Sunday 8:00 AM Amherst—Sunday 10:00 AM

MASS TIMES FOR FEBRUARY Overton— Saturday 5:00 PM Amherst—Sunday 8:00 AM Elm Creek—Sunday 10:00 AM

MASS TIMES FOR APRIL Amherst— Saturday 5:00 PM Elm Creek—Sunday 8:00 AM Overton—Sunday 10:00 AM

Immaculate Conception

St. John Capistran

Holy Rosary

TRI-PARISH NEWS

Pray for the sick

The Knights of Columbus will have their Monthly Meeting February 18, at Elm Creek in the Education Center, 7:30 pm. All Knights are encouraged to attend.

Weekday Masses: Tuesday, Feb. 4, Holy Rosary, 9:00 am for Sam & Margaret Ellen O’Neill by Tim & Vickie O’Neill Wednesday, Feb. 5, Immaculate Conception, 9:00 am for Mike Meier by Davin Clayton Thursday, Feb. 6, St. John Capistran, 9:00 am for Nancy Cunningham by St. John’s Altar Society

Weekend Masses: Saturday, Feb. 8, Holy Rosary, 5:00 pm Roy & Hazel Hiatt by Terry & Mary Cook Sunday, Feb. 9, St. John Capistran, 8:00 am for Earl Anderson by Donna Posusta Sunday, Feb. 9, Immaculate Conception, 10:00 am for the People of the Parishes

Please Give to the

ANNIVERSARY MASS. In celebration of World Mar-riage Day, St. Mary’s Cathedral is sponsoring an Anniver-sary Mass on Saturday, February 8, 2020, at 5 p.m. All married couples in the Diocese of Grand Island whose an-niversary is divisible by 5 in the years 2019-2020 will be honored at the Holy Mass. Most Reverend Joseph G. Hanefeldt, Bishop of Grand Island, will preside. All honor couples, please RSVP to St. Mary’s Cathedral, 308-384-2523, secretary@stmarysgi.com; or Glenda Stittsworth, 308-379-9325, glenarch@charter.net by February 5, 2020. A lasagna dinner will follow at the Cathedral Square, free-will offering.

Pro-Life Youth Art and Essay Contests. In January,

the Diocese of Grand Island is sponsoring its Annual Cul-

ture of Life Art Contest and Pro-Life Essay Contest for

youth. The Art Contest is for grades Kindergarten through

Grade 6. The Essay Contest is for Grades 7 through 11.

For information go to the Diocese website :

https://www.gidiocese.org/prolife.

“Legislative Coffee” on Saturday, Feb. 8th. The morn-ing program will provide an opportunity to hear about exciting and important pro-life legislation in Nebraska. The program will feature Lt. Gov. Mike Foley, five tri-cities area State Senators (Dan Quick, Steve Halloran, Dave Mur-man, Curt Friesen, John Lowe), and State Senator Suzanne Geist, a Lincoln-area Senator who recently introduced a bill to ban dismemberment abortions in Nebraska. Regis-tration is FREE and begins at 8:30 a.m. The program runs from 9 to 11 a.m. Coffee and muffins will be provided. The location is Riverside Golf Club (2820 Riverside Dr. in Grand Island). RSVP appreciated, but not required, to Mi-chael Kube (308.382.6565 or mkube@gidiocese.org).

Immaculate Conception CCW will meet at the Educa-tion Center on Wednesday, February 11 at 7:00. All wom-en from our parish are members and invited to attend.

Pre-Lenten retreats Saturday. February. 22, 2020 at St. Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Church, 204 Main St. Thedford, NE. Registration 9 a.m. CST, 9:30-2:00 "Gifts of the Visitation" presented by Fr. Lou Nolette. Light breakfast and lunch provid-ed. Freewill offering.

Eucharistic Adoration will be February 5th after Mass from 9:30 to 10:30. During the season of Lent, Adoration will be every Thursday after Mass from 9:30 to 10:30.

Bilingual Lenten Retreat: Sat. March 7, 2020 at St. Ann's Catholic Church 303 E. Lexington, NE. Registration 9 a.m. CST. 9:30 English presentation, "Recognizing God's Presence in Our Lives" by Deacon Neil Baquet of St. Paul. Spanish retreat by Fr. Jorge Canela from St. Mary's Wood River. 11:00 both groups will come together for a bilin-gual Mass. Retreat over by noon.

Looking to replace 5 wooden tables in the parish hall with plastic ones. We are asking for donations to fit the bill. The tables are $100 each. Make out checks to the par-ish so that we can give you credit in your giving statement for the year 2020. This will be a designated offering meaning that it can only be spent for the tables and it will be added on to your offerings the church. Checks can be put in the collection basket or given to Art Marshal. Please put on the check that it is for the tables.

Graduating Senior Girls The Grand Island Diocesan Council of Catholic Women will be presenting four $200 scholarships to young women who are currently Seniors in High School. The Kearney Deanery will be presenting one of these scholarships. The form is available now on-line at our web-site: www.gidccw.org This form can be filled out on-line, printed from your home computer and returned to our Deanery President, with all the signatures and other infor-mation needed. Please mail to: Imelda Gress-ley 77553 473rd Ave. Hazard, NE 68844 If you have questions, contact Sherry Weatherly, our Scholarship Chairperson, at 308-530-1474. The deadline for submis-sion is Sunday, March 1, 2020. No late submissions will be considered.

Collection Report: January 26, 2020 Immaculate Conception Holy Rosary St. John Capistran

Income needed to $1,250.00 $750.00 $1,000.00 meet expenses

Sunday 1,375.00 1,205.00 820.00 Children 4.00 9.00 10.00 Latin America Indian/Negro 30.00 25.00 10.00 Special Collection -0- -0- 5.00

Remember the sick and Pray for them.

Immaculate Conception Parish Homebound: Donevieve Ourada, Betty Broe Ill or Recovering; Betty Broe, Bob Dudek Betty Geist, Eileen Smith, Pat Johns, Marg Aten, Jim Gunderson, Catherine Daake, Mary Ice,, Gary Mike Hubbard

Holy Rosary Parish Homebound: Jean McTygue, Ill or Recovering: Alan Smith, Anna Graczyk, Janice Streit, James Poorman, Larry Streit, Garrett Scholz, Lance Kizer, Braden Fleischman

Saint John Capistran Ill or Recovering: Delores McTygue Chase Klingelhoefer, Dick Riessland, Dave Glatter, Anna Fees, Janice Loeffelholz, Ronin Bowie, Helen Kinnaman, Byron Eckout ,Beverly Kleidosty

We are tithing Parishes, meaning we give 10% of what God gave us back (5% parish and 5% other charities). Based off bible (Tobit 1:6-7, Deuteronomy 14:22, He-brews 7:2-25)

Presentation of the Lord At the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an unprecedented glimpse of liturgical life there. Among the celebrations she describes is the Epipha-ny, the observance of Christ’s birth, and the gala procession in honor of his Presentation in the Temple 40 days later. Under the Mosaic Law, a woman was ritually “unclean” for 40 days after childbirth, when she was to present herself to the priests and offer sacrifice—her “purification.” Contact with anyone who had brushed against mystery—birth or death—excluded a person from Jewish worship. This feast emphasizes Jesus’ first appearance in the Temple more than Mary’s purification.

The observance spread throughout the Western Church in the fifth and sixth centuries. Because the Church in the West celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25, the Presenta-tion was moved to February 2, 40 days after Christmas. At the beginning of the eighth century, Pope Sergius inau-gurated a candlelight procession; at the end of the same century the blessing and distribution of candles which con-tinues to this day became part of the celebration, giving the feast its popular name: Candlemas.

The 2019-2020 Diocesan Appeal

Parish Number of Donor Pledges Goal Received Balance Percentage Households Goal Returned

Immaculate Conception 58 24 8 $6,811.00 $2,675.00 $4,136.00 39% Holy Rosary 45 20 10 $5,043.00 $4,050.00 $ 993.00 80% St. John Capistran 65 24 13 $6,891.00 $4,970.00 $1,921.00 72%

DAILY PRAYER THIS WEEK

Guide for Daily Prayer" on the Creighton University's Online Ministries web site: http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/online.htmlUsed with permission.

The 4thWeek of Ordinary Time On the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, we

celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

It celebrates Mary and Joseph bringing their baby,

Jesus, to the temple and their remarkable encoun-

ters with both Simeon and Anna. Simeon tells

them, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall

and rise of many in Israel," while Anna "gave

thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who

were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem."

Wednesday is the Memorial of Saint Agatha,

Virgin and Martyr. Thursday we remember Saint

Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs.

The story of David we have been following for

the past two weeks will end with his death as we

conclude the readings from the Book of Samu-

el. As the narrative moves to the Book of Kings,

David's son Solomon, has succeeded him on the

throne and for the next week, the tale of notable

leaders of Israel's history continues to unfold.

In Mark’s Gospel this week, Jesus continues to

heal and teach. A man in the Gerasenes is healed of

unclean spirits and wants to stay with Jesus, but

Jesus tells the man, “Go home to your family and

announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has

done for you.” The young daughter of a synagogue

official is sick and on the way to heal her, as Jesus

stood in a crowd, he felt the power go out of him as

a woman with a hemorrhage touched his cloak.

“Your faith has saved you,” he reassures her. To

the father he says, “Do not be afraid; just have

faith” and heals the daughter. He teaches in the

synagogue in his hometown “and they took offense

at him.” He was not able to perform miracles

there, because of their lack of faith. Jesus sends his

disciples out to preach and heal, telling them to

take nothing for the journey but a walking stick.

Though the demons know who Jesus is, Herod

thinks he is John the Baptist, whom Herod had be-

headed. Jesus encourages his busy disciples,

“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and

rest a while.” But as they tried to get away “and

saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity

for them, for they were like sheep without a shep-

herd; and he began to teach them many things.”

This is a wonderful week to use the brief back-

ground times of our lives to talk with the Lord about

our need for healing. We can begin each day by nam-ing some desire we have for healing and deeper whole-

ness and peace. Putting these desires into words, early

each day, as soon as we get up or while in the shower or

while dressing, helps us give focus to our relationship

with the Lord that day. “Lord, thank you for this

day. Be with me as I face the challenges before me to-day. I especially need patience and more compassion,

Lord. Heal the anger I feel, and give me peace, so that I

can love the way I know you want me to.” Each of us

can make this 30 second prayer specific to what we

need to do each day, and what graces we need to do

it. Getting in the habit of naming what I need and ask-

ing for it will shape how we spend the day, confidently

aware of our God ’s presence with us.

Throughout the day, we can continue our simple

conversation with our Lord, speaking friend to

friend. We may encounter some spirits within our-

selves that aren’t very clean. Anger or resentment, fear

or paralysis, jealousy or pride, lust or greed, self-pity or

judging of others are all spirits that distort our ability to love others the way we are loved by our God. When

we encounter them, we can ask the Lord to heal us, to

drive these spirits from our hearts. Each experience of

our need for a Savior can deepen our desire, and our

ability to name them each morning.

The healing stories in the gospels make it clear that faith is key to the healing. When the people in Jesus’

home town say, “Isn’t this just the carpenter’s son?”

their lack of faith is saying, “He can’t heal us.” In our

own struggle with letting Jesus be our Savior, two

things can get in the way. First of all, we need to know

we need healing. Secondly, we need to want to be

healed. If I cling to being angry or have become com-fortable being afraid, I will first need to acknowledge

what a difference freedom would mean in my life and

come to desire healing. Then, I need to believe our

Lord can heal me. The rest is easy. This honest dia-

logue with our Lord, throughout our days, no matter

what we are doing, can help us grow in faith in the One

who wants nothing more than to keep freeing us to know his love for us and to share it generously with

others.