Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 30, 2022

God has a Purpose for You
In the First and Second Readings, we learn that God had a purpose in calling Jeremiah and sending Jesus. Jeremiah to be God’s prophet and Jesus, the Savior of the World. Each one of us is here for a purpose. We are not a product of chance.
This Sunday, we will explore God’s Purpose for our lives.   
See you on Sunday!

Lent/Easter 2022

The Annual Holy Season of Lent will begin March 2, 2022, with Ash Wednesday.
We are now making plans for Lent, so we welcome inputs and ideas on making the season fruitful for all Parishioners.
Email Father Raymond Tyohemba, VC @ Fr.Raymond.Tyohemba@sfbsf.org

Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022.

Sacramental Preparations Updates

Mass in Slow Motion: First Communion, Confirmation Candidates, and their families

February 27, 2022, @1:30PM

Mass in Slow Motion – a Teaching Mass to help us better understand our Sunday celebrations together. And be ready to see our Faith in Action and encounter Jesus when we go to Mass every Sunday

Upcoming Sacraments

First Reconciliation: April 29, 2022 @ 4:30PM

First Communion: May 1, 2022 @1:30PM

Confirmation:  May 22, 2022 @1:30PM


Catholic Schools Week: January 29- February 5, 2022.

Beginning this Sunday, we celebrate Catholic Schools Week. Catholic Schools Week is a national celebration of Catholic education and an opportunity to recognize the importance, the value, and the contributions of Catholic education to the Church and the world.

The importance of Catholic education dates back many centuries ago. A good read in this regard is Thomas Woods’ How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. Woods underscores the contributions of the Catholic Church and Catholic Education in the modern scientific enterprise, free-market economics, the invention of the university system, Western law, and the sacredness of all human life.

We love our St. Finn Barr School students and are grateful to their families.

Please see the flyer for events marking Catholic Schools Week.

Happy Catholic Schools Week!!
 

Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
February 6, 2022

When I reflect on the readings for the 5^th Sunday, two themes came up for me “unworthiness and spiritual awakening”.
Unworthiness:
Isaiah, Paul, and Peter, three of the most significant witnesses in the Bible, felt unworthy before God’s presence and majesty. Experience of God lets them understand that they are far, far less than God. This is not bad. It is good. A falsely supposed importance cannot make us holy. But God can make us holy.
Have you ever felt unworthy before God? What helps you deal with any sense of unworthiness that you may feel? (Luke 5:1-11).
Spiritual Awakening:

Isaiah, Paul, and Peter, three different people, experienced a different aspect of God’s majesty. What they learned of God from the moment of encounter marked their lives forever and was something they then brought to others.

What is the truth about God that we carry in our life? Can we speak of His forgiveness, His mercy, His Justice, his patience, the unifying power of His love, the saving power of God’s law in our life? Maybe we know with unique insight about God’s providence.

When we come to an experience, have the grace to know a profound dimension of God, we must bring it to others. We must speak to others of our knowledge of HIM.


World Marriage Day "Called to the Joy of Love." -Sunday, February 13, 2022

As Catholics, we realize that no matter our station in life – married, single, or religious – we have all benefitted from the sacred covenant of marriage, the foundation of family, society, and our Catholic Church. Families become the domestic church and in so doing are the source of new disciples and new vocations to the priesthood, religious life, marriage, and the single life. The point is – marriage is essential to our faith and so Catholic married couples and families must be intentionally nourished, sustained, and strengthened by their parish community.


Feast of St. Blaise

Today February 3, is the Feast Day of St. Blaise. Today the Church recalls a miracle cure associated with him and celebrates the blessing of the throats with candles. Blaise apparently saved the life of a boy who was choking on a fishbone.
The saint said that anyone who lit a candle in his memory would be free of infection, thus candles are used in the traditional throat blessing.

At this Morning's Mass, we blessed the throats of all Present. 

And now, I am blessing the throat of you the Reader: 

"Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat and from every other illness, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Amen

Also, 
Today February 3^rd is a special day in my life, and so I ask you to say a prayer for me. 


Upcoming

World Marriage Day "Called to the Joy of Love." -Sunday, February 13, 2022

As Catholics, we realize that no matter our station in life – married, single, or religious – we have all benefitted from the sacred covenant of marriage, the foundation of family, society, and our Catholic Church. Families become the domestic church and in so doing are the source of new disciples and new vocations to the priesthood, religious life, marriage, and the single life. The point is – marriage is essential to our faith and so Catholic married couples and families must be intentionally nourished, sustained, and strengthened by their parish community.

Next Sunday’s Readings- February 13, 2022

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jeremiah 17:5-8; Psalm: 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20; Gospel: Luke 6:17, 20-26
QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
1. Compare and contrast the tree planted beside the water with the barren bush. Do you identify completely with the tree or do you have some of the barren bush in you? Where does choice come into this picture? 
2. Are there any areas of your life in which you place your trust in human beings? Why? In which areas of your life do you place your trust in God?

Participate in the Synod Survey

Pope Francis has called a Synod on Synodality, a two-year process where the People of God (that means you!) are being invited to reflect on what it means to journey forward together as a Church.
You're being asked to participate because you are a valuable member of our Church. In this intentional process of mutual listening, Pope Francis wants us to rediscover the joy of being the People of God who journeys together, listening to everyone.

We ask that you complete the questionnaire/survey so that your voice is still included in this synodal process!

Join us after each Mass this weekend Feb 5th & 6th for a fill-your-survey help session. 

Mass in Slow Motion

For First Communion, Confirmation Candidates, and their families

Mass in Slow Motion – a Teaching Mass to help us better understand our Sunday celebrations together. And be ready to see our Faith in Action and encounter Jesus when we go to Mass every Sunday. 

February 27, 2022, Sunday @1:30PM

Upcoming Sacraments

First Reconciliation: Friday, April 29, 2022 @ 4:30PM
First Communion: Sunday, May 1, 2022 @1:30PM
Confirmation:  Sunday, May 22, 2022 @1:30PM