Holy Family Catholic Church

Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
November 11, 2012
Holy Family
Catholic Church
“Amen, I say to you. this poor widow
O God, bless our family,
all its members and friends,
with your many gifts of love.
We need you every day
to keep us safe from harm,
to heal the hurts we cause,
to begin together afresh.
Help us to be kind and patient
with each other’s burdens and
cares and not to miss the
wonderful gifts that together
we share.
Bless our family; gracious God,
Bless us, every one.
Amen
Mailing Address: P O Box 482
Van Alstyne TX, 75495
Parish Office:
903-482-6322
For a Priest:
972-542-4667
Website: www.holyfamily-vanalstyne.org
has contributed, her whole livelihood.”
Clergy
Fr. Salvador Guzmán, Pastor
Fr. Arthur Unachukwu, Parochial Vicar
Deacon Patrick A. Hayes
Mass Schedule
Sunday: 9:00 am - English Mass
12:00 pm - Spanish Mass
Thursday: 9:00 am - Daily Mass
ESTABLISHEDIN1980⦁919SPENCERD.,VANALSTYNE,TX.75495
Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
November 11, 2012
SACRAMENTS
Baptism
Confirmation
Baptisms in English: Call for appointment
Baptisms in Spanish: 1st Sunday of each month
Saturday May 18, 2013 10;00 am
Pre Baptismal Class Registration: Registration required by
the Sunday before class begins. Classes are held on the 3rd
Tuesday of each month.
Please call Parish office.
Parents: Bring copy of child’s birth certificate. Both parents
must attend class.
Anointing of the Sick
Reconciliation/Confession
Immediately following the 1st Mass
Marriage/Wedding
Godparents: Must be practicing Catholics. Copy of marriage
certificate through the Catholic church. Both godparents
must attend class.
As a courtesy, please do not bring children to class.
Both must be free to marry in the Catholic Church.
Arrangements should be made at least 6 months prior to
planned Wedding date.
First Communion
Talk to your Parish priest or call Fr. Rudy Garcia, Director
of Vocations of the Diocese of Dallas at 214-379-2860.
Saturday May 11, 2013 10:00 am
Ivah Abraham
Evelia Santibanez
Jorge Delgado
Jose C. Sanchez
Vonnie McClean
Ron Thomas
Jeannette Sanchez
Suzie Keeton
Corinne Lageose
Dave Parker
John Hibbard
Ileana Shuman
Fausta Fernandez
Mauricia Rubio
Holy Orders/Priesthood
Weekly Calendar
Elizandra Torres
Francisco Sanchez
Miguel Arias
Ann Lageose
Barbara Heath
Austin J. Smith
Offering
A endance: 11/1/2012
117
A endance: 11/4/2012
547
Offerings: November 1, 2012 $ 257.00
Sunday, November 11
8:30 am Rosary
9:00 am Mass
10:15 am-11-15 am Faith Formation (K-3rd)
2:30 pm Women’s Guild Visit Nursing Home (All Invited)
12:00 pm Spanish Mass
Monday, November 12
9:00 am Rosary
Tuesday, November 13
Wednesday, November 14
6:00 pm-7:00 pm Faith Formation (4th-Confirmation)
Thursday, November 15
9:00 am Mass
9:30 am Bible Class
7-9:30 pm Spanish Youth Choir
Friday, November 16
7-9:30 pm Spanish Adult Choir
7:30-9:30 pm Quinceanera Retreat
Saturday, November 17
8:00 am-5:30 pm Quinceanera Retreat
7:oo pm-9:30 pm Marriage Group
Offerings: November 4, 2012 $ 1,798.19
Building Fund: November 4, 2012 $ 1,381.81
Catholic Chari es: November 4, 2012 $ 243.00
Help for the Holidays
Tuesday, November 13,
6:30-8:30 PM
Holy Family’s
Special Calendar Dates
Saturday Feast of the Immaculate Concep on
Dec. 8 HOLY DAY of OBLIGATION Mass 10:00 am
Monday Christmas Vigil
Dec. 24 Holy Day of Obliga on Mass 4:00 pm
Holy Family Church
Holidays can be an especially stressful and difficult me of
year for many of us.
We’d like to invite you to join us for an evening of
reflec on, sharing, prayer, and a short presenta on on
ways to help make the holiday season less stressful and
more joyful. Refreshments will be provided.
Presented by Holy Family Grief Support Group
November 11th Veterans Day
Susanne Hayes 214-636-1915
Purgatory As Seeing Fully For The First Time
RON ROLHEISER, OMI
Imagine being born blind and living into adulthood without ever having seen light and color. Then, through some miraculous
opera on, doctors are able to give you sight. What would you feel immediately upon opening your eyes? Wonder?
Bewilderment? Ecstasy? Pain? Some combina on of all of these?
We now know the answer to that ques on. This kind of sight-restoring opera on has been done and is being done and we now
have some indica on of how a person reacts upon opening his or her eyes and seeing light and color for the first me. What
happens might surprise us. Here is how J.Z. Young, an authority on brain func on, describes what happens:
"The pa ent on opening his eyes gets li le or no enjoyment; indeed, he finds the experience painful. He reports only a spinning
mass of light and colors. He proves to be quite unable to pick up objects by sight, to recognize what they are, or to name them.
He has no concep on of space with objects in it, although he knows all about objects and their names by touch. 'Of course,' you
will say, 'he must take a li le me to learn to recognize them by sight.' Not a li le me, but a very long me, in fact, years. His
brain has not been trained in the rules of seeing. We are not conscious that there are any such rules; we think we see, as we say
naturally. But we have in fact learned a whole set of rules during childhood." (See: Emilie Griffin, Souls in Full Flight, p. 143-144)
Might this be a helpful analogy for what happens to us in what Roman Catholics call purgatory? Could the purifica on we
experience a er death be understood in this very way, namely, as an opening of our vision and heart to a light and a love that
are so full so as to force upon us the same kind of painful relearning and reconceptualiza on that have just been described?
Might purgatory be understood precisely as being embraced by God in such a way that this warmth and light so dwarf our
earthly concepts of love and knowledge that, like a person born blind who is given sight, we have to struggle painfully in the very
ecstasy of that light to unlearn and relearn virtually our en re way of thinking and loving? Might purgatory be understood not as
God's absence or some kind of punishment or retribu on for sin, but as what happens to us when we are fully embraced, in
ecstasy, by God, perfect love and perfect truth?
Indeed isn't this what faith, hope, and charity, the three theological virtues, are already trying to move us towards in this life?
Isn't faith a knowing beyond what we can conceptualize? Isn't hope an anchoring of ourselves in something beyond what we can
control and guarantee for ourselves? And isn't charity a reaching out beyond what affec vely feeds us?
St. Paul, in describing our condi on on earth, tells us that here, in this life, we see only as "through a mirror, reflec ng dimly" but
that, a er death, we will see "face to face". Clearly in describing our present condi on here on earth he is highligh ng a certain
blindness, an embryonic darkness, an inability to actually see things as they really are. It is significant to note too that he says
this in a context within which he is poin ng out that, already now in this life, faith, hope, and charity help li that blindness.
These are of course only ques ons, perhaps equally upse ng to Protestants and Roman Catholics alike. Many Protestants and
Evangelicals reject the very concept of purgatory on the grounds that, biblically, there are only two eternal places, heaven and
hell. Many Roman Catholics, on the other hand, get anxious whenever purgatory seems to get stripped of its popular concep on
as a place or state apart from heaven. But purgatory conceived of in this way, as the full opening of our eyes and hearts so as to
cause a painful reconceptualiza on of things, might help make the concept more palatable to Protestants and Evangelicals and
help strip the concept of some of its false popular connota ons within Roman Catholic piety.
True purga on happens only through love because it is only when we experience love's true embrace that we can see our sin
and drink in, for the first me, the power to move beyond it. Only light dispels darkness and only love casts out sin.
Therese of Lisieux would some mes pray to God: "Punish me with a kiss!" The embrace of full love is the only true purifica on
for sin because only when we are embraced by love do we actually understand what sin is and, only there, are we given the
desire, the vision, and the strength to live in love and truth. But that inbreaking of love and light is, all at the same me,
deligh ul and bewildering, ecsta c and unse ling, wonderful and excrucia ng, euphoric and painful. Indeed, it's nothing less
than purgatory.
Insights/Events
Come join us at today at 2:30 pm
Meadowbrook Nursing Home
In Van Alstyne
Let’s bring a smile to the Ladies & Gentlemen
by brings Bags of Goodies to make their day
Special! We will be the ones who will be filled
with the blessings. Hope to see you there!
See Lydia Ford-Sheila Murphy-Caroline Gaus
for more information.
Ven y Acompananos hoy a las 2:30 P.M.
Asilo de Ancianos
Meadowbrook en
Van Alstyne
Llevemosle una sonrisa a esas Senoras y Senores
y llevarles unas bolsitas con golosinas y hacerles
el dia especial!! Nosotros seremos los que
estaremos recibiendo las bendiciones.
Esperamos verte ahi!! Pueden hablar con Lydia
Ford, Sheila Murphy o Caroline Gaus para mas
informacion.
el 17 y 18 de Noviembre el grupo de mujeres
November 17 and18 the Women's Guild of St.
"Womens Guild" de San Miguel, tendran su
Michael's will be having their annual bake sale
venta anual de pasteles y artesanias. Nosotros
and craft sale. We have wonderful baked
tenemos productos horneados deliciosos y muy
goodies and beautiful craft items. Please come
bonitas artesanias. Por favor acompananos.
join us. Come early and get the best
Ven temprano y escoge lo mejor. Sera el
selection. It will be on Sat. Nov. 17 from
Sabado 17 de Noviembre de 9 A.M. a 6 P.M. y
9:00am to 6:pm and Sunday, Nov. 18 from
el Domingo, 18 de Noviembre de 9 A.M. a 2
9:00 to 2:00pm or when we run out of items.
P.M. o cuando se acaben los articulos.
We will be in the St. Rose hall, where the old
Estaremos en el salon Santa Rosa, donde hera
la iglesia antes
Starting Sunday November 25th, we will
have boxes for can goods and boxed food
items. Christmas baskets to be given to
those in need. Your kindness is
appreciated.
Empezando el Domingo 25 de noviembre,
habra unas cajas a la entrada para depositar
la comida enlatada. Se daran cajas de comida
a gente necesitada. Tu bondad sera muy
apreciada.
GRATITUDE
GRATITUD
What is gladness without gra tude, and
where is gra tude without a God?
¿Qué es la alegría sin la gratitud y
dónde está la gratitud sin Dios?
Vivir Con Menos Miedo…
RON ROLHEISER, OMI
Vivimos con demasiado temor de Dios. Este temor ene muchas caras, desde el miedo supers cioso de los ingenuos, al miedo
legalista de los más escrupulosos, hasta el miedo intelectual de los muy sofis cados. Al final, todos luchamos para creer que Dios
es la úl ma persona de la que debiéramos tener miedo. Sin embargo, cada uno a su manera, todos batallamos con el temor de
Dios. Por supuesto, existe un miedo saludable, no sólo a Dios, sino también a cualquier persona a quien amamos. Las Escrituras
nos dicen que "el temor de Dios es el principio de la sabiduría", sin embargo el temor, en este contexto, no se en ende como el
miedo al cas go ó la arbitrariedad. El temor de Dios en su sen do más sano es básicamente el miedo del amor, el miedo de no
vivir con la debida reverencia y respeto ante la persona que amamos, a saber, el temor a violar los límites apropiados del
amor. Pero ese temor no es el temor al infierno, que es como comúnmente se en ende. El miedo es la an tesis de la fe y una
señal de que algo anda mal en nuestro amor. No tenemos miedo de lo que amamos y de lo que verdaderamente nos ama.
Todo dentro de nuestra fe cris ana nos invita a acercarnos a Dios en la in midad más que en el miedo. De hecho, en casi todos
los casos que narran las Escrituras donde Dios aparece en la vida co diana, ya sea a través de un ángel, un fenómeno especial, ó
a través de una aparición de Cristo resucitado, las primeras palabras son invariablemente: "¡No tengáis miedo!" La calma ante el
miedo, no su intensificación, es el criterio de discernimiento normal de que la voz que se escucha proviene de amor.
Con esto en mente, me gustaría ofrecer diez principios, enraizados en la persona y la revelación de Jesús, que esperemos
puedan ser de ayuda para purificar nuestra imagen de Dios, para que nuestra fe pueda deshacerse del temor en lugar de
avivarlo. Empiezo con una historia que, aunque cierta, puede servir como parábola para exponer y realzar muchos de nuestros
miedos inconscientes a Dios: El temor a que Dios no sea tan comprensivo y compasivo como nosotros. El temor a que Dios no
tenga un gran corazón como nosotros. El temor a que Dios no conozca nuestro corazón y no puede dis nguir entre herida y
frialdad, inmadurez y pecado. El temor a que Dios nos dé una sola oportunidad y no pueda soportar nuestros pasos en falso y
nuestras infidelidades. El temor a que Dios no respete nuestra humanidad, que Dios nos creara de una manera, y sin embargo
quiera que vivamos de otra manera para salvarnos. El temor a que Dios se sienta amenazado por nuestros logros, como un
pequeño rano. El temor a que Dios se sienta amenazado por nuestras dudas y preguntas, como un líder inseguro. El temor a
que Dios no pueda hacer frente las preguntas intelectuales y culturales de nuestro mundo, por lo que deba, de alguna manera,
ser separado y protegido como un novato demasiado piadoso. El temor a que Dios no esté tan interesado en nuestras vidas
como nosotros lo estamos y esté menos interesado por nuestra salvación y la de nuestros seres queridos como nosotros lo
estamos. Y no menos importante, temor a que Dios sea tan impotente ante nuestra impotencia moral como nosotros lo somos.
Aquí está la parábola: Hace bastantes años, yo estaba en el funeral de un joven que había muerto trágicamente en un accidente
de automóvil. En el momento de su muerte, superficialmente, su relación con su iglesia y algunas de sus enseñanzas morales
estaban lejos de ser lo ideal: no asis a a la iglesia regularmente, vivía con su novia fuera del matrimonio, no estaba preocupado
por los pobres ó la comunidad en general, y estaba, simplemente, siempre de fiesta. Sin embargo, todos los que le conocían
también sabían de su bondad esencial y de su corazón maravilloso. No había ni una pizca de malicia en él y el cielo sería siempre
un lugar con menos color y más empobrecido si él no estuviera allí. En la recepción después de la ceremonia religiosa, una de
sus as me dijo: "Era una buena persona, si yo estuviera a cargo de las puertas del cielo, sin duda, lo dejaría entrar" Le aseguré
que, sin duda, Dios se sen a de la misma manera, teniendo en cuenta que la comprensión y el perdón de Dios superan
nfinitamente al nuestro.
¿Cuáles son los diez principios que nos ayudan a vivir con menos miedo?
El conocimiento de Dios y su comprensión superan al nuestro.
La compasión y el perdón de Dios superan al nuestro.
Dios respeta la naturaleza, nuestra condición humana, y nuestras tedencias innatas.
Dios es un Padre que bendice, no una amenaza.
Dios puede manejar nuestras preguntas y nuestras dudas y enfados.
Dios lee el corazón y conoce la diferencia entre herida y malicia.
Dios nos da más de una oportunidad, abriendonos otra puerta cada vez que cerramos una.
Dios desea nuestra salvación y la salvación de nuestros seres queridos más que nosotros.
Dios es el autor de todo lo que es bueno.
Dios puede, y lo hace, descender a los infiernos para ayudarnos.
Informa on Page
Holy Family Quasi-Parish
020915
Date: Sept 18, 2011
Janis Hicks 903-744-7999
Transmission Date / Time Tuesday 12:00pm
Special Instruc ons