HAPPY
MOTHERS DAY!
Blessed
is the Mother who lets the Lord be her guiding hand, whose faith
brings her family courage, whose wisdom comes from God, and whose
children stand and honor her!
PLEASE PRAY FOR THE SICK OF OUR PARISH
FAMILY
Gary Babcock III, Marilyn
Bivona, Rosemary Carrubba, Judy Crowell, Mary Eddy, Nora Guzman,
Frances Katzenberger, Linda Loder Kelsey, Tomasina Lamper, Damian
Matheson, Patricia Oljeski, Sally Pacheco, Rose Phelan, James
Pringle, Pat Pringle, Janice Rial, Ray Salemme, Patricia Scalise,
Patty Schifano, Anne Corkery Seekins, Ann Tramontana.
CATHOLIC DAUGHTERS NEWS
Court St. Gertrude #92 will
hold its May breakfast on May 18, 2008. Members as a group will
attend the 9:00 AM Mass at SS. Peter and Paul Church. Breakfast will
follow in the church hall. The committee is calling all members for
reservations which must be made by Monday, May 12. Guest speaker
will be Sharon Hamilton of Choose Life Women’s
Services of Jamestown. A free-will offering will be taken at the
breakfast to support the work of Choose Life.
20 CHANCES TO WIN FREE KWIK FILL GASOLINE!
Court St. Gertrude #92 of
Catholic Daughters of the Americas is sponsoring a Kwik Fill Gas
Card raffle. Tickets are being sold by all Court St. Gertrude
members and will also be sold after a variety of Saturday and Sunday
Masses. Winning tickets will be drawn on Monday, June 16, 2008.
Prizes will be:
4 Winners of $50.00 Gas Cards
6 Winners of $40.00 Gas Cards
10 Winners of $25.00 Gas Cards
All proceeds will be used to
benefit various charities. Thank you in advance for your continued
support of Catholic Daughters’ worthwhile projects!
FOR THE MEN OF THE PARISH
Are you feeling called to
greater service in the church? You may be experiencing the call to
the permanent Diaconate. An informational session will be held to
explain the ordained ministry of the permanent diaconate on
Saturday, May 10 from 9-11 AM in the Social Center of Sacred Heart
Church in Batavia. For information and to register to attend., call
the diaconate office at 652-4308.
A WONDERFUL EVENING
Last Sunday’s Spring Concert
featuring area organists and the hand bell choirs of SS. Peter and
Paul and First Presbyterian was enjoyed by the many people who were
present on a beautiful evening. With the setting sun illuminating
our magnificent stained glass windows, our performers filled the
church with music written to honor and glorify God. We offer our
thanks to Mrs. Donna Gatz, Dean of the Chautauqua
Chapter of the American Guild of Organists , and to Mr. Bill
Chandler, Director of Music Ministries, for organizing the
concert.
SATURDAY,
MAY 10
Blessed
Damien Joseph deVeuster of Moloka’i
5:00 L. James and John Intihar
by Anna Intihar
SUNDAY, MAY
11
7:15 Brad
Abbey, Birthday Remembrance by Suzy and Del Abbey
9:00
Alpine Johnson by M/M August Calamunci
10:30
Minnie Colera by children and
grandchildren
MONDAY, MAY
12
St.
Nereus and Achilleus & St. Pancras
12:10
Ella Servoss by Jerry and Kay Corkery
TUESDAY, MAY
13
Our Lady
of Fatima
12:10
Intentions of our Parishioners
WEDNESDAY,
MAY 14
St.
Matthias
12:10
Orin and Cora Hale by Rose Hale
THURSDAY,
MAY 15
12:10
Harry Kosko by Laurel and James
Gassman
FRIDAY, MAY
16
12:10
David Cusimano, Anniversary by
Parents, Julius and Mary Cusimano
SATURDAY,
MAY 17
2:00
Marriage Blessing: Michael and Kimberly Reynolds
5:00 Rose Gullotti Bower by
chidren Michelle Jensen and Michael Bower
SUNDAY, MAY
18
7:15 Intentions of our
Parishioners
9:00 David
and James Caronia, Birthday Remembrances by Prov Caronia
10:30
Anna Samuels by Larry and Mary Maisto
This week in our Vicariate Cycle
of Prayer, we are praying for the new St. Mary of Lourdes Parish,
Mayville and Bemus Point.
Congratulations to MICHAEL AND KIMBERLY (Joy) REYNOLDS
on the occasion of their marriage blessing. next Saturday, May 17
at 2:00 PM. We would like to offer Mike and Kim a tribute and a
promise of prayers. May you always be the symbols of the love God
has for all his people.
YOUR
FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP
Week of May
4
Sunday
collection 6,864.07
Ascension
collection 782.85
Received in the
mail 972.00
Total $8,618.92
Thank you
for your support of our parish ministries!
On Sunday, May 25 at the 10:30 AM Mass,
the SS. Peter and Paul Choir will
present songs of patriotism and religious freedom. The music will
include brass and timpani.
CONGRATUATIONS!
Our very good parishioners,
Valeria, Patricia and Dolores Rewers, were among some twenty
people honored recently by the United Way of Southern Chautauqua
County at a reception held at the James Prendergast Library as
Volunteers of the Year. In addition to their involvement with a
number of agencies throughout the community, Vi, Patty and Dee are
always giving of their time and talents in service of SS. Peter and
Paul Church. If you happened to see the nice picture that appeared
in the Post-Journal on April 30th, you could see by the
smiles on their faces that they truly enjoy serving others (someone
must have told them to say “cheese!”). Congratulations to Vi, Patty
and Dee whose volunteer services are an example of their living of
the Gospel of Christ.
“CATHOLIC CHARITIES WEEKEND”
NEXT WEEKEND, May 17 & 18, has
been designated as “Catholic Charities Weekend.” The reason for this
is that our annual Appeal has not as yet reached its goal for this
year. Presently, we are about $900,000 short! We are therefore
encouraging anyone who has not yet contributed to Appeal 2008 to
make a donation to help fund the good works and services that
Catholic Charities provides for people in need throughout Western
New York. If you have already contributed – THANK YOU for your
generosity. If you have not yet done so, please consider making a
donation at this time.
MAY
DEVOTIONS
It
is a long standing custom among Catholics to dedicate the month of
May to Mary, and to enhance our prayer life with special devotions
to the Mother of God. Many people find it helpful to focus their
thoughts on Mary’s place in our life of faith for she provides us
with the model of how we can fulfill our call to discipleship and,
by cooperation with divine grace continue the work of redemption
begun by Jesus.
As
with many of our Catholic customs, the origin of “May devotions” is
unclear. They may have been an attempt to Christianize the various
spring festivals throughout Europe. The earliest association of May
with Mary seems to be in Spain. In the fourteenth century, the
Dominican mystic Henry Suso is recorded as weaving a crown of
flowers for the statue of Mary, a practice which we know today as
the “May crowning.” Formal May devotions began to arrear possibly
first in Italy in the sixteenth century, and in the early eighteenth
century there was published a small book entitled The Month of
Mary which surveyed all of the devout observances such as
decorating statues, saying the Rosary, or praying the Litany of
Loreto. These customs became so popular that there is hardly a
parish church that does not have at least one form of May devotions.
On
writing about May devotions I am well aware that Catholics are often
criticized for giving to Mary the worship that is due to God alone,
so I’d like to clarify what the Church intends by encouraging
devotion to Mary. Here it is important to note that it is God the
Blessed Trinity whom we worship; it is Mary and the saints
whom we honor. Honor is distinct in degree and nature from
worship. Saints are honored as people who have demonstrated in an
outstanding way what it means to live the Gospel of Christ. A
special honor is given to Mary in recognition of her unique place as
the mother of Jesus, the incarnate God. Catholics do not offer to
Mary the worship that properly belongs only to God. Rather, we
honor her as the unique embodiment of the Gospel, and our model for
living in response to and in cooperation with God’s grace.
Our
faith becomes richer and more complete when we incorporate prayers
in honor of the Mother of God into our lives this month. After all,
not only was Mary present at the foot of the Cross when Jesus
sacrificed his life for our salvation, but also she was among those
who received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, empowering them to
proclaim the Resurrection to all peoples.
We would do well to ponder the Scriptural references to Mary after
Jesus’ resurrection. How was her life affected by this mystery?
How can Mary teach us to live as a people who bring the new life of
the resurrection to the world around us? Meditating on these
questions can reveal a whole new dimension to our lives as
Christians in this month devoted to Mary.
Be at peace,
Father Dennis Mende
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