Be Not Afraid

Newsletter

Printed Version of May 2005 Newsletter

WE HAVE A POPE!

            We have a Pope! And what an incredible journey we have been on these past few weeks.  After watching the heart-wrenching crucifixion of Terri Schiavo for 13  agonizing days through Holy Week and past Easter Sunday…she was finally embraced by our Loving Lord and brought to Heaven where she belongs after dying a martyrs death.  St. Maximillian Kolbe experienced the same type of horror by the State Government at the time of the Nazis when he was murdered in Auschwitz for 14 days in the starvation bunker.  St. Maximillian Kolbe voluntarily took the place of another prisoner who cried out that he had children and didn’t want to die. 

            How many of us watched this modern day horror take place in our own beloved country feeling totally helpless.  What could we possibly do to help this poor starving disabled woman?  How many of us woke up during the night thinking about her being thirsty.  Her poor brother and sister stood at the foot of the cross like St. John and St. Mary Magdalene.  And then of course her sorrowful mother, whose name just happened to be Mary and her courageous Dad who spoke with  reporters day after day and wondered how this could be happening in our civilized country.

            Then we heard the news that Pope John Paul II was very  sick and would be needing a feeding tube!  Could this be a coincidence?  I think not!  God is totally amazing in all of His ways.  First, he takes home Terri and then two days later, our beloved Holy Father.  We all turn back to our television sets and for the next few glorious days, we watch the amazing news shows reveal so many glowing and beautiful true stories about the life of Pope John Paul II…historic moments of the collapse of communism, the Berlin wall, solidarity in Poland, sweeping changes affecting the entire world all from this beloved holy man.  Now, instead of being ashamed to be a part of the American government because of what happened to Terri Schiavo, we are proud to be Roman Catholics! What an amazing week!...from the crucifixion of Terri to the Resurrection of Our Holy Father.

            Thanks to God, we have another wonderful man to carry the keys to the kingdom… Pope Benedict XVI, who will carry on the legacy of Pope John Paul II.  We are truly blessed to have anther gift from God to lead us through these troubled times. It has been said that God raises up leaders exactly for what the Church needs at the time. Praise be to Jesus and Mary now and forever, AMEN.

MEL GIBSON, COME AGAIN

            Mel Gibson, producer of the movie “The Passion of the Christ” visited Sister Lucia (oldest of the 3 Fatima seers) before her death on February 13, 2005 and gave her a DVD of his famous movie for her and the sisters she lived with at the convent in Coimbra, Spain.  Of course, he had to also give them a DVD player so they could watch the movie!  Later, Mel Gibson was being interviewed on EWTN and was asked how Sister Lucia liked the movie, to which he responded in Hollywood style, “She dug it”.  Mr. Gibson is now working on another movie which is sure to be a hit, just like “The Passion” movie.  The new movie will be the story of Our Lady of Fatima.  The Fatima message is a message for our times as much, if not more than it was a message for the world in 1917.  “Pray and do penance for the Lord is attentive to your supplications” – Our Lady’s words to the children.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER

            The Lord called Sr. Lucia dos Santos home to heaven on February 13, 2005.  She was 97 years old, having lived almost 88 years after her visions of Our Lady in Fatima, Portugal, in the year 1917.  Sr. Lucia always had a great love for our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, who visited with her two times during his Pontificate.  She prayed for him constantly. 

            The following are Sr. Lucia’s words about the power of prayer taken from a letter she wrote in 1970:  The principal error (of our time) is that they have abandoned prayer.  Thus they turn away from God, and without God everything is lacking to them.  Get close to the tabernacle and pray.  To keep close to God, tell Him about all your affairs and all your problems before discussing them with human beings.  Follow this road and you will see that in prayer you will find more science, more light, more strength, more grace and virtue than you could ever achieve by reading many books, or by great studies.  Never consider as wasted the time you spend in prayer.  You will discover that in prayer God communicates to you the light, strength, and grace you need to do all He expects of you.  Let time be lacking for everything else but never for prayer, and you will experience the fact that after prayer you can accomplish a lot in a short period of time.

Friday, May 13, 2005

Our Lady of Fatima Day

11:00 am Stations

12:00 noon Mass

1:00 lunch (bring your own)

2:00 Rosary 3:00 Benediction

Shrine of Our Lady of the Island

Eastport, N.Y.(Exit 70 L.I.E.)

Saturday, June 4, 2005

12:00 noon – Holy Mass

1:00 – lunch (bring your own)

1:30 pm Rosary and Benediction

Shrine of Our Lady of the Island   Eastport, N. Y. (Exit 70 L.I.E.)

A Visionary and  a Pope

“Finish the Journey”

THE ROLE OF THE LAITY

            In the Second Vatican Council the laity was called to a more active role in the Church and in the liturgy.  For example, we went from quietly praying along with our missals at Mass to praying out loud the responses and prayers of the Mass in our own native language.  Lay people also became more involved in such roles as lectors, cantors, and Eucharistic Ministers. 

            Forty years after Vatican II, it is more important than ever to understand the role of the laity.  First, we are called to holiness and as lay people we have a very specific way in which we are to live out that life of holiness.  We live in the temporal order and our mission field is the world.  At the end of Mass we are commissioned, that is:  “sent out”. The Mass empowers us with the graces of the sacrament  to go forth into the vineyard and bear fruit. 

            It has been said that the ecclesiastical part of the Body of Christ (ordained ministers ie. Priests, Bishops and Deacons) are the vertebrae and the lay people are the hands and feet of the Body of Christ.  Our job is to bring Christ to the world, the everyday world in which we live.  If our lives are holy, then our families will be holy.  If our families are holy, then our communities will be holy.  If we are an example of holiness, we can transform our workplaces.

            Secondly, when we worship at Mass we are to be actively involved.  One need not be a lector, usher,  E.M., or choir member to be actively involved at Mass. We can be actively involved by uniting ourselves in prayer with the Priest offering Mass. 

            It is important that the role of the Priest or Deacon is not inter-twined with the role of the lay person for in doing so, the separate importance of both roles would be diminished and you run the risk of confusing what is specific to the role of each.  So while it is the ordinary role of a lay person to be a lector, an usher, or a part of the music ministry, it is not the ordinary role of a lay person to be a minister of Holy Communion.  The role of Eucharist Minister belongs solely to the presiding priest who may be assisted in times of need by other available priests or deacons.  It is only in “extra-ordinary” circumstances that a lay person (extra-ordinary minister) may assist in giving out Holy Communion.  The main function of an extra-ordinary minister is to bring the sacrament to the sick and the home-bound. 

            An extra-ordinary minister therefore must never be called a “Minister of the Eucharist” but rather a “Minister of Holy Communion”.  There is an important distinction here.  While it is an honor, each E.M. should be rejoicing if they are not needed for that would mean that we have enough priests and deacons to perform these duties which are part and parcel of their special ministry for which they were ordained.  In parishes where there is a need for the use of lay people as E.M.s, there should also be increased prayer for vocations.                    ♥

            This article was compiled from the works of Dr. Scott Hahn, Rev. Louis Caporiccio, CPM, & various writings with regard to Redemptionis Sacramentum.

Be Not Afraid Newsletter

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