February 15, 2015
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SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME This Week's Mass Intentions MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015— PRESIDENT’S DAY 9:00AM Salvacion Beleno (Leticia)
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2015 7:00AM 9:00AM
Deceased Priests of the Diocese Michael & Mary Leccese (JoAnn & Phyllis Leccese)
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2015—ASH WEDNESDAY 7:00AM 9:00AM 12:00PM 3:00PM 7:30PM
For The Parishioners For The Parishioners Prayer Service Prayer Service For The Parishioners
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015 7:00AM 9:00AM
Rosalie Delia Aniello Guerriero (Brother, John & Family)
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2015 7:00AM 9:00AM
George & Claire Cox Angelina Weltick (Loving Family)
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015 St. Peter Damian 9:00AM 5:00PM
Margaret Vogel (Loving Family) Melina Gargano, Antonia Milucca, Ernest Prete
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2015 8:00AM 9:30AM 11:00AM 12:30PM 5:00PM
For The Parishioners For The Parishioners Jack Marotta (Marie Marotta) Al Antino (Antino & Zaromatidis Families) For The Parishioners
Lisa B., Dolores Barbieri, Sally Capoziello, Margaret Carinci, Domenica DeVito, Virginia DiGangi, Amalia Foglia, Francesca Gaudino, Ian GenoveseWilliams, Joseph Gentile, John Pierce Gleeson, Maria Hernandez, Rosemary Hogan, Elizabeth Isolano, Keri & Baby Tristan, Amelia Kalb, Pam Karwan, John Killcommons, Baby T.J. Krieg, Kathleen Krieg, Klavdia Krieg, Ann Lauro, Thomas & Patricia Lipari, William J. Litt, Ralph Maresco, Mary Lee Marotta, Mary Mastrangelo, Camillo Mazella, John Myers, Joe Palagonia, Doris & Carlo Pecchillo, Joseph Questore, Mary Romano, Jake Rothman, Anthony Russo, Felice Scimeca, Fred Sepulveda, Rosalia Sindone, Chuck Szatkowski, Michael Tamburo, Chrissie Tremblay, Paul Tremblay, Paul John Tremblay, Ann Marie Vayda, Elizabeth Weimer, Brittany Zaita. Deceased: Dolores G. Brancato, Eileen Morin Please Note: Since there are too many names of the sick to mention in the Prayer of the Faithful, they will be listed in the Bulletin for two weeks. To have a name reinstated on the list, a family member should call the Rectory during office hours.
Please be advised that the Rectory office will be closed on Monday, February 16th in observance of President’s Day, and will reopen at 9:00AM on Tuesday, February 17th.
FA M I LY M A S S The last Sunday of every month at 9:30AM
Families with young children are encouraged to sit in the reserved pews in the front of the church.
The homily will be geared towards children. The Children’s Choir will lead the congrega-
GOOD SHEPHERD STATUE: We would like to thank Marge Rosina, who kept the statue during the past week. Anyone interested in keeping the statue in their home and praying for vocations for one week should contact the Rectory.
Are you new to St. Helen Parish? If so, please remember to stop in at the Rectory to register your family! The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy is prayed every Friday at 8:40AM.
St. Helen Rectory Emergency Number: 718-916-3620
tion in sacred music.
We look forward to seeing you there!
If you are a Howard Beach Senior Citizen and would like a friendly visit or companionship from a caring Howard Beach volunteer on a weekly basis, please call Program Manager, Chris Schneider of the Northeast Queens Friendly Visiting Program at 516-641 -7541. This program is funded by Citymealson-Wheels, and sponsored by Catholic Charities of Brooklyn & Queens. There are no fees for any services.
February 15, 2015
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ASH WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 18, 2015
Masses: 7:00AM & 9:00AM Prayer Services: 12PM & 3:00PM Evening Mass: 7:30PM The Church directs that ashes be distributed after the homily during Masses and Liturgies of the Word. Therefore, anyone planning to receive ashes should arrive for the beginning of whichever ceremony they plan to attend and should remain for the entirety of that ceremony.
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REGULATIONS CONCERNING FASTING AND ABSTINENCE
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of mandatory fasting and abstinence from meat.
All Fridays in Lent are days of mandatory abstinence from meat.
The obligation to fast applies to those aged 18-59.
The obligation to abstain from meat applies to those aged 14 and older.
Those fasting may eat only one normal-sized meal. Two smaller meals may be eaten, if needed for strength. These smaller meals together should not equal a normal -sized meal. No food may be eaten between meals.
The bishops of the United States recommend voluntary fasting on the other weekdays of Lent. It is a praiseworthy tradition to fast on Holy Saturday, until the Easter Vigil.
It is worth remembering that every Friday of the year is a day of penance, unless a solemnity falls on a Friday. In the United States, on Fridays outside of Lent, one may choose either to abstain from eating meat or to perform some other act of penance.
LENTEN SCHEDULE 2015 Stations of the Cross:
Monday afternoons at 12:30PM and Friday evenings at 7:30PM
Weekday Masses:
Monday—Friday: 7:00AM & 9:00AM and Saturday: 9:00AM
Weekend Masses:
Saturday at 5:00PM Sunday: 8:00AM, 9:30AM, 11:00AM, 12:30PM & 5:00PM
Confessions:
Monday to Friday at 8:45AM Saturdays 12:30-1:30PM, or by appointment (please call Rectory)
Holy Hours:
Tuesdays 7:30-8:30PM
RECONCILIATION MONDAY: MARCH 30, 2015 Throughout the N.Y. region, this day is set aside for the Celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) in preparation for Easter. Here at St. Helen, the opportunity for the Sacrament will be offered from 3:00PM thru 9:00PM. You’re Invited to Participate in CRS Rice Bowl!
Join our parish community—and more than 13,000 Catholic communities across the United States—in a life-changing Lenten journey with CRS Rice Bowl. Rice Bowls will be included in the Lenten packets which are being distributed this Sunday, February 15th, and don’t forget to download the CRS Rice Bowl app at www.crsricebowl.org! Remember, your Lenten sacrifices change lives.
February 15, 2015
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St. Helen’s Rosary Ministry Society invites you to join them for a Day of Recollection on Saturday, March 7th at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Island in Manorville, LI. A coach bus will leave St. Helen’s at 8:30AM and will return around 5:00PM. For reservations and information call Agnes Cummings at 917-7165898. Price is $30 per person, which includes a donation to the Shrine. St. Helen will share in the profits! For each car, truck or van, running or not, The Society of St. Vincent de Paul will give back to our Church $50/$100 per vehicle. Call The Society today if you have a vehicle to donate! St. John’s University Speech & Hearing Center, located at 152-11 Union Turnpike, Flushing, NY, will be offering FREE speech and hearing screenings and hearing aid help through May 11, 2015. Please call the center at 718-990-6480 to schedule an appointment.
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Congratulations to the following Lucky Calendar Winners for the period of February 3-9, 2015: 2/03: 2/04: 2/05: 2/06: 2/07: 2/08: 2/09:
#—103: #—686: #—875: #—497: #—355: #—272: #—109:
No Winner Tammaro Family Gurino Family No Winner Emma Lynch No Winner Sarena & Brett Yader
$ $ $ $ $ $ $
20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 25.00 25.00 20.00
First-Come, First-Served! St. Helen’s Home-School Assn. presents a Winner-A-Day Fundraising Calendars! Calendars are $20.00 each and are available by calling the Academy at 718-835-4155. Pick your own lucky number from 000—999. Winning numbers are based on the NYS Lottery daily evening number. Payments will be mailed once a month to each winner. Proceeds to benefit St. Helen Catholic Academy. 2015 LUCKY CALENDARS NOW ON SALE IN THE ACADEMY OFFICE!
Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens would like to invite you to their Pre-Employment Screenings for Security Jobs. Their Workforce Development Team will be hosting the initial interview process at several locations throughout Brooklyn and Queens. Requirements are as follows:
Ability to work at least 2 shifts Background check H.S. diploma or equivalency 8 and 16 licensure are not necessary Good communication skills
For more information please contact Program Specialist Tim Carroll at 347-957-2450, or you may also email him at
[email protected]. St. Sylvester’s Knights of Columbus Council 6194 will be holding a Night of Doo-Wop on Saturday, April 11th from 7 -11PM at Our Lady of Grace Parish, located at 100-05 159th Ave., HB, NY. Cost is $40PP and includes entertainment featuring The Devotions, food, beer, wine and beverages. A portion of the proceeds will go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. For tickets and more information please call 718213-2599, or 646-267-8656.
CATHOLIC CHARITIES HOWARD BEACH SENIOR CENTER, located at 155-55 Crossbay Blvd. (across from Walbaums) offers the following activities: ART CLASS: On Thursdays, at 9:30am to 11:30am, and from 12:30 to 2:30pm, the Howard Beach Senior Center will be conducting art classes with a certified teacher. RUSSO’S ON THE BAY LUNCH: Daily lunch is now catered by “Russo’s On The Bay”. All seniors over 60 are invited to join us for a wonderful and nutritious meal. Come and try it out. A $2.00 donation is requested. For further information call the Center 718-738-8100
February 15, 2015
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February 15, 2015
SIXTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Mon., Feb. 16: Gen 4:1-15, 25; Mark 8:11-13 No sign will be given to this generation. In Mark, Jesus is nothing if not blunt. But if we don’t get a sign, we’re even worse off than Cain, who, in the first reading, at least gets his “mark” of God’s mercy after receiving his punishment — a mark that warns people not to kill him. No one ever again may kill his brother. How’s that working out for us? Not too well. Maybe that’s why Jesus was so short with the Pharisees, who liked to test him. Lent is about to begin. Maybe we feel as if we deserve some kind of favor from Jesus, to help us through the season. Let us be a sign for others, that we all are brothers and sisters. Maybe this or that crime or situation is not my fault, but it’s my responsibility. Get into the boat. Jesus, let me go with you.
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I am a sinner; but Jesus became sin!? Give me 40 days to think about that. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise. Thurs., Feb. 19: Deut 30:15-20; Psalm 1; Luke 9:22 -25 He is like a tree planted near running water. Where is everybody today? Ash Wednesday, wow. Churches overflowing, extra services added. But very rapidly we seem to disperse to our daily concerns. Let us stay by the running waters of Lent. There’s such a richness here. As Moses urges the people in our first reading, “Choose life,” not death. Jesus bumps it up to an existential choice: Take up your cross daily, lest you “gain the whole world” and lose your very self. If 40 days seems too much, take a hint from Alcoholics Anonymous and make your commitment anew every 24 hours. The readings will not disappoint. Nowhere else in the liturgical year is there such a fascinating feast of scripture, both Testaments annotating each other like a game of tag. Keep me faithful, O Lord, to your Word.
Fri., Feb. 20: Isa 58:1-9a; Matt 9:14-15 Tues., Feb. 17: Gen 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10; Mark 8:14-21 Do you call this a fast? If you came in late, we’re reading the Old Testament, though it sure sounds like JeDo you still not understand? Today’s readings sure don’t sound like Mardi Gras! The Deluge cleanses the sus! Isaiah didn’t have to wait for the Messiah to world of sin in Genesis; and in the Gospel, Jesus, still know how he would think, because “the Lord God,” who says these words, thought the same way. Please mad at the Pharisees from yesterday when they demanded a “sign,” now takes it out on the apostles. Talk do not confuse “fasting” with dieting, much less with about spoiling a party. The apostles can’t read even the mere penitence, and above all not with short-tempered one-upmanship. We fast especially from indifference, signs they are given. After the multiplication of the loaves, Jesus directs their attention to the leftovers, the from inaction, from, shall we say, subsidies. Get out there and untie the oppressed, break their heavy yoke, super-abundance, the “senseless waste” of God’s feed the hungry, house the homeless, clothe the naked, grace, as Hans Urs von Balthasar calls it. It beats Fat look the poor in the face. We fast in anticipation of the Tuesday by a mile! What about our own abundance, return of Jesus, the bridegroom. Even without the our closets and hoarding and holding, useless for the bridegroom among us, our fasting is a feast. Here I most part, just dead weight, not likely to float any boat? Well, we’ve got 40 days to unpack — actually, am! says the Lord. three months before we follow Mark again in Ordinary Sat., Feb. 21: Isa 58:9b-14; Luke 5:27-32 Time. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Hold back your foot on the Sabbath from following your own pursuits. May I call this season the “Torah” Season of Lent Wed. Feb. 18: Joel 2:12-18; Psalm 51; 2 Cor 5:20– of Lent, since we are so steeped in what scholars call the First Testament? Readings like the ones today are 6:2; Matt 6:1-6, 16-18 Ash Wednesday Rend your hearts, not your garments. Today we begin as challenging as they are unrelenting. We may feel that we are trudging through “the parched land” buried the great retreat of the church year, “this joyful seaunder “ancient ruins,” longing for “the spring whose son,” as the liturgy calls it. Joyful because, like Joel, water never fails.” But we make the journey so much we can see where we’re going: The Lord “will again relent.” In Psalm 51, we ask God to “give me back the lighter if we throw off our own pursuits, interests and joy of your salvation”; the regimen of alms, prayer and “malice.” Then we can “ride the heights.” We can be like Levi, who, at one command from Jesus — Follow fasting will brighten our faces with the “reward” deme” — walked away from a career of collaboration nied to “the hypocrites.” And perhaps almost unnowith Roman oppression to host a banquet for Jesus and ticed on this busy day is St. Paul’s astonishing statement about Jesus: “For our sake God made him to be all the other “sinners.” Teach me your way, O Lord, sin who did not know sin.” Lent reminds me daily that that I may walk in your truth.
