Fr. Bob’s Corner

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I receive a monthly email from Sister Patricia Bruno, a Dominican Sister in California. Each email explores biblical stories that are seldom heard in the liturgical lectionary. This month she focuses on Advent and the the prophet Isaiah. She concludes her recent email with these words: “I hope this article will encourage you to spend some time using the daily Mass readings for your own personal reflections and prayer. Perhaps by doing so we will become like the bird who feels the light and sings while the dawn is still dark - true Advent people!” Here is the full email for this month. Maybe you would like to get on her mailing list:

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“Catholic churches in Italy are installing automatic holy water dispensers to help reduce the risk of spreading swine flu,” BBC Television reports in a short video broadcast. Father Pierre Angelo Mota comments that"It has been a bit of a novelty. People initially were a bit shocked by this technological innovation but then they welcomed it with great enthusiasm and joy. The members of this parish have got used to it," he added.

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I was reviewing the links on the parish website (bvmparish.com) when an article on John Allen’s widget caught my eye. The title read: “In Brazil, one catholic mass you will never forget.” Intrigued, I clicked for the full article which described in great detail a Mass celebrated in an old factory by a Padre Marcelo Rossi. After reading the article, I googled the the good Padre and confirmed that he was a household name across Brazil with super-star status and rock star events. And, indeed, every age group(male and female) was responding, as the article stated.

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This evening there will be a communal celebration of the Sacrament of the Sick with Mass at St. Mary’s at 7:30pm. I came across this video on this very special sacrament and include the link here for those of you that are interested in understanding this sacrament a bit better: Link

Advent is the glorious season for memory and imagination. The kind of vivid imagination that enlivened our childhood. Parents and Grandparents have a wonderful opportunity to re-enter this mysterious and wondrous time again, by helping their young children explore God’s activities throughout history: Creation, Adam and Eve, Moses, King David, and all those biblical stories and events that prepare for the Birth of Jesus.

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I read a book by Cardinal Ratzinger two years ago, and I feel it gives a real insight into the present Pope, and the direction he would like our modern liturgy to go in. Here is a good article on the book

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As the Benedict XVI processed into the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington on Wednesday evening for evening prayer, he wore an ermine trimmed half-cape. Why does he want to dress like this, I wondered? Isn’t this the Pope that reminds us that liturgy should de-focus the person, and draw us into the worship of a God we cannot see? Yet, here he was definitely drawing my attention to his attire, and thus the man.

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Easter this year is: Sunday March 23 As you may know;
Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20).

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Lent Is Not Just About You and Me, or

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Lent Is Not Just About You and Me, or
The Here and the Now,
It Is About Our Eternal Destiny!

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It is hard to appreciate or visualize the vibrancy of the Catholic Church in Africa. This little youtube video speaks a thousand words about what is happening in terms of conversions, vocations, liturgy, age of congregations, etc.. I believe it was taken in the Sudan, and it illustrates the dynamism of the faith, and causes one to wonder how this will impact the universal church. The faith is definitely young and alive in this part of Africa as portrayed in the video - it is indeed a thousand words.

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First Sunday of Advent

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The National Catholic Register did a story on video as a means of evangelization:

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The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) will publish a revised Lectionary for Sundays and Solemnities. This is the book of readings used in the public worship of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada.

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The motu proprio liberating the Tridentine Mass for the entire Catholic Church has been given to about 30 bishops from all over the world in the Sala Bologna of the Apostolic Palace by Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone Read More

Hope

Advent is the season of hope. We count down the weeks and the days until Christmas. We read scriptures that announce the arrival of the Messiah, the one who will be God Among Us. It’s all focused on how the ages have looked forward to – have hoped for – the coming of Christ, the Incarnation.And what do we really have at all, if not hope?Looking around, I can see all the human-ness of drudgery, expectations, duty, routine, weariness, brokenness, healing, triumph and persistence. We go through these things every day, and we keep coming back for more - even when it’s painful, when we are fairly sure we will be disappointed, again. There are times when we feel like giving up, when we just don’t want to try any more, but most people, most of the time, keep on going. And I blame that on hope.

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Hectic, anxious times right time to celebrate Christmas, priest says - Catholic Online

U.S. Bishops to Vote on New Translation of Mass

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Holy Week - An Ecumenical Perspective. How do Christian celebrate and remember.

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Sunday of the Passion or Palm Sunday

Last week Parish Alive (second reading of Sunday Mass) reminded us that we are all God’s temple throgh the sacrificial death and Resurrection of Jesus. As we journey through life as Christians we are literally ’sacredness’ in the midst of the world. Just as, physcally speaking, the temple of old was in Jerusalem, or our beautiful churches are today. Indeed, we are light to the world. What an awesome, yet humbling thought! Of course, we need to accept this invitation of faith, and do our best to be faithful christians.

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There are literally hundreds of sites with meditations on the Stations of the Cross. Click HERE for a few of them, or do a google search yourself.