ST. BRIDE
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF CHICAGO
Parish Office: 773-731-8822
Church Hall: 773-734-9125
Fax: 773-721-0673
Email:
The Baptism of the Lord
MASSES THIS WEEK
Daily Mass is celebrated at 8 AM
In the Parish House Chapel as scheduled
The Baptism of the Lord:
For the Intention of
Fritz and Laverne Baumgartner
For the Intention of Kelly Kohlstruck
For the Intention of Sister Leona Metra
For the Intention of Jean Stemper
For the Intention of Fr. Bob Roll
On his 65th Birthday
Monday: First Week in Ordinary Time
Tuesday: Weekday
Wednesday: St. Hilary
Thursday: Weekday
For the Intention of Fr. Bob Roll
Friday: Weekday
Saturday: Weekday
The Second Sunday of the Church Year:
For the Intention of Margaret Cmarik
For the Intention of Carol Perry
For the Intention of Ralph Maiorano
For the Intention of Gloria Tepavchevich
For the Intention of Marge Machay
For the Intention of
Sister Gertrude Marie Wisniewski
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READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Monday: 1 Sm 1:1-8; Ps 116:12-19; Mk 1:1420
Tuesday: 1 Sm 1:9-20; 1 Sm 2:1, 4-8abcd;
Mk 1:2128
Wednesday: 1 Sm 3:1-10, 19-20; Ps 40:2, 5, 7-10; Mk 1:2939
Thursday: 1 Sm 4:1-11; Ps 44:10-11, 14-15, 24-25; Mk 1:4045
Friday: 1 Sm 8:4-7, 10-22a; Ps 89:16-19; Mk 2:112
Saturday: 1 Sm 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1a; Ps 21:2-7;
Mk 2:1317
Sunday: Is 62:1-5; Ps 96:1-3, 7-10; 1 Cor 12:4-11; Jn 2:1-11
Support Our Food Pantry
The St. Bride Food Pantry is open again. We will welcome your donations of NON-PERISHABLE food items to stock our shelves and prepare bags for those who utilize our outreach program when you bring them to Church each week, September to June! Food can be brought on Sundays to the Church! Gift cards for groceries are also welcome!
Upcoming Dates and Events
2015/2016
January 17th – Father John Cunningham, SJ, of Loyola University will be our presider today!
February 7th - Mardi Gras Party: After Mass in the Church Hall
February 9th – St. Bride Revival Night: Dinner at 5:30 PM; Mass and Revival Talk at 7 PM. Rev. Robert Cary of Old St. Mary’s will be our preacher for the evening!
February 10th – Ash Wednesday: Mass at 8 AM and Noon
March 13th – St. Patrick and St. Joseph
Dinner following Mass
March 20th – Palm Sunday: Mass and Procession at 10 AM
March 27th – Easter Sunday
May 15th – Annual Spring Luncheon
All tickets and ads must be completed and paid for by May 9, 2016. Add $10 per ticket, if available, after May 9, 2016
Electronic Giving for Weekly Offerings
Since we have started Give Central, more than $7550.00 has been contributed through this electronic means of giving! It is an excellent way of scheduling your offerings to St. Bride, as well as a way of marking special events. Click on the “Donate Now” button on our web site at WWW.ST-BRIDE.ORG
MANIFESTING THE SPIRIT
The Christmas season closes this Sunday with the Baptism of the Lord. This feast is a sister to last week’s feast of the Epiphany. Each of them celebrates an “epiphany,” or a manifestation of the Spirit of God in Jesus—first in his birth, and now at his baptism.
The divine Spirit is manifested in all of the scriptures for this feast. Psalm 104 highlights the Spirit of God creating and renewing the earth, while the reading from Isaiah describes God restoring Israel. In Luke’s account of the baptism of the Lord the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus. And the letter to Titus reminds us that the Holy Spirit was “richly poured out” on us also, through the “bath of rebirth” (Titus 3:5, 6).
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
Merry Christmas! Share that cheerful greeting with some folks today. They may wonder if you have had any Elvis sightings lately, attended Star Trek conventions, or were Cleopatra in a previous lifetime. Despite the skeptics, today is solidly within the Christmas season. In fact, in some strands of the Christian tradition it represents the clearest manifestation of the mystery of the Incarnation. On Christmas Day, for example, the Gospel reading is the Prologue of John’s Gospel, which reveals the glory of Christ shining through our humanity precisely in his baptism.
At any rate, this is an ancient feast, celebrated first in Egypt sixteen centuries ago. More than most other ancient people, the Egyptians understood the lifegiving properties of water. On this day, they drew water from the Nile, so central in the history of their people, and reserved it in honor. Many other places copied the custom, so that St. John Chrysostom wrote of people in Antioch gathering at midnight to collect flowing water into vessels they brought from home since “today there is a blessing on the water.” At home for dinner tonight, decorate the table with beautiful bowls of water and white candles, toast one another with goblets of sparkling water, and light a Christmas candle in the window one last time.
The Baptism of the Lord
The Baptism of the Lord is the name of a feast day observed in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church. The feast commemorates the baptism of Jesus by St. John the Baptist.
God the Father attests to the divinity of the Son at the moment of his baptism in the waters of the Jordan and, by this means, Jesus "manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him." "While Jesus after his own baptism was at prayer, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily shape like a dove." "You are my Son the Beloved"
Today, we are asked to reflect on the baptism of Christ in the Jordan and on our own baptism too. The baptism of Jesus was no ordinary event. It was the beginning of his public ministry among us. God was with his Son Jesus in power, and made it known that Jesus was his specially chosen witness on earth.
Prayer for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
Open the heavens almighty Father, and pour out your spirit upon your people.
Renew the power of our baptismal cleansing and fill us with zeal for good deeds.
Let us hear your voice once again, that we may recognize in your beloved Son our hope in inheriting
eternal life. Grant this through Jesus Christ, your Word made flesh, who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, in the splendor of eternal light, God forever and ever. Amen.
St. Bride Church – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago –January 10, 2016