SECOND COLLECTION TODAY FOR ST. VICTOR’S ST. VINCENT de PAUL SOCIETY

The second collection today is for our St. Vincent de Paul Society.  Please help our volunteers help our neighbors in need.  Thank you for your support and generosity.

2009 ANNUAL DIOCESAN APPEAL

GROWING IN FAITH TOGETHER

The 2009 Annual Diocesan Appeal is underway in our parish.  The programs, services and ministries supported by this appeal help to meet our needs, as well as the larger Diocesan needs of all Catholics in the Santa Clara Valley, as we make our spiritual and educational journeys.  The Diocese needs the financial support of each of us. For your convenience, you may bring your pledges to the rectory office, or simply drop them in the collection basket.  OUR SINCERE APPRECIATION to all those who have already pledged support to this year’s ADA campaign.  Watch our progress as posted in the vestibule of the Church.  {For those of you who have already pledged, please wait for your statements to arrive from the Diocese and mail payments directly to them – please DO NOT mail payments in cash.  Thank you!}

Ash Wednesday

This Wednesday, February 25^th, is ASH WEDNESDAY.  Masses with ashes will be celebrated at 6:30, 8:00 and 11:00 A.M. and 7:30 P.M. (Choir).  Ashes (NO MASS) will also be distributed promptly at 4:00 P.M.  During all the Masses on Ash Wednesday, a Special Collection will be taken for the needy.  These funds will be distributed to several community outreach programs.

Prayer: May this cross of ash so light, so easily borne, remind us of the harsher burden You carried to Calvary.  May this mark easily washed away, remind us of those scars You bear to this day. Each day this Lent as we struggle to submit our will to You, remind us of Your perfect obedience, even to death on the cross.  May Your example be the light that shines on the path of this Lenten journey. Amen.

THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS COUNCIL 5796 PANCAKE BREAKFAST THIS SUNDAY

Benefit Pancake Breakfast right here in St. Victor’s Parish Hall this Sunday, February 22^nd from 8:00 A.M. - 1:00 P.M. Cost is only $5.00 per person.  See you there!

SCRIPTURE READINGS

FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 1, 2009

GENESIS 9:8-15

1 PETER 3:18-22

MARK 1:12-15

PLANNED GIVING NOTES

Is Your Will Valid?

If your will was written in another state or your financial and/or family circumstances have changed, or it has been three years since it was last reviewed by a professional, it may be obsolete!

If you want to know more about this, the Diocese can provide free assistance.  Call Robert Serventi @ 983-0168, or write to him at: 900 Lafayette St., Suite 301, Santa Clara, CA 95050.

RITE OF ELECTION

The rite, which our catechumens celebrate next Sunday, March 1^st, at the 9:15 A.M. Mass, is called the Rite of Election and Inscription.  Inscription refers to the inscribing or writing of each one’s name in the Book of the Elect.  We celebrate that day, the sacredness of each person, called individually by name, by God. God calls each of us to faith, to discipleship, to a life of union in Christ.  The term “Elect” indicates that the “choosing of these catechumens is on the part of God.”  It is not a vote taken by this parish community, nor is it the individual catechumen who “elects” self.  Rather, it is God Who calls us each by name, it is God Who elects!  Our candidates for Full Initiation are already baptized and so their names are already written in the Book of the Elect.

Come Back To Me With All Your Heart

Lent is a special time. We take time to look more closely at God and God looks at us.  How can we take even minor steps to get closer to God during these forty days?  There are three traditional practices that the Church puts before us to help us forget self and follow Christ more closely. These practices are: prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

The most perfect prayer we have is the Mass. Join with others at the 6:30 or 8:00 A.M. Mass during the weekdays (Monday-Friday) of Lent.  And/or join us on Friday evenings for Stations of the Cross at 7:30 P.M. in the Church.

Fasting asks us to let go of habits that get in the way of our ability to love God and others.  The Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence for everyone 14 years or older.  That means NO MEAT.  ASH WEDNESDAY and GOOD FRIDAY are days of fast and abstinence.  That means ONLY ONE FULL MEAL for those 18-59 and NO MEAT for anyone 14 years or older.  The faithful should not excuse themselves lightly from these observances.

Through almsgiving (Special Collections, Operation Rice Bowl – Catholic Relief Services, EASTSIDE F.I.S.H., St. Vincent de Paul) we come to see others as God sees them, as worthy of our love and sharing. 

Catechetical Ministry Teacher Needed

Mass Intentions for the Week  

 
BULLETIN ARCHIVE