Weekly Sunday Bulletin – January 3 – Sunday before Theophany

Stewardship

We thank the 370 households for their generous stewardship pledges and gifts in 2015.

Because of you, our parish is able to offer the liturgical services, ministries, sacraments, educational opportunities, fellowship and cultural programs that cultivate community, strengthen families and transform lives.

 

For Reflection…

The God who came to us at Bethlehem continues to come to us today. He comes through the Sacrament of Baptism to bestow upon us His love, to call us His very own. He comes through the Sacrament of Chrismation to fill us with His presence, to make our bodies temples of His Holy Spirit. He comes through repentance and the Sacrament of Confession to cleanse us of sin, to restore in our souls “the peace of God that passes all understanding. “In every liturgy He comes to us as the Word of God, bringing words of eternal life through the Scripture readings and the sermon. Through the Sacrament of Communion He comes to be born again and again in the shabby

stables of our hearts. He comes constantly through prayer. He blesses our marriages as He did in Cana of Galilee. He stands by our sick bed, laying His healing hand upon us through the prayers of the priest. He comes again and again in so many, many ways through the many ministries of His Church. He comes with healing and forgiveness; He comes with strength and guidance. He comes and when He comes, as the Bible says, “the blind see, the lame walk, and the prisoners are set free. “It is by offering our blessings back to God that He will be able to continue His forgiving, healing, liberating, empowering, transfiguring, loving ministry through the Church. For God, Infinite though He be, has chosen towork through us, through our gifts, to continue His saving work in the world today.

Fr. Anthony M. Coniaris