The Sanctuary Lamp The Sanctuary Lamp near our...

Tabernacle burns this week

For the Intentions of

THE ESPOSITO FAMILY

2019 Cardinal’s

Annual Appeal

“We’re On The Way”

During this past week, members of our Parish Family contributed more gifts to the Cardinal’s Appeal, making our Parish total $38,000. We’re on the way, but still have far to go reach our Parish goal $94,000.

Knowing that your gift supports and strengthens important ministries and charitable works throughout the New York Archdiocese, won’t you please join your fellow parishioners and make a gift to the Appeal today?

You can make your gift online at www.cardinalsappeal.org, or drop it off at the Parish House. Please put our Parish Number #130 on all gifts to the Appeal.

Finding Strength

in the Cross Arturo Mari, the photographer who followed St. John Paul II from the first to the last day of his Pontificate, was once asked which of the millions of photos he took of the pope captured him best. He cited the ones of the pope holding his crozier, resting his head on it as he prayed during so many Masses around the world. This silver pastoral cross accompanied St. John Paul everywhere and was his constant companion in all of his sufferings.

It shows Jesus hanging from a cross that is literally bowing under the weight of His body. You can feel the pull of gravity drawing the victim down in desperation. The photos show St. John Paul resting his forehead on the back of the Cross, lost in prayer.

The papal photographer said this image more than any other summed up the pontiff because, before becoming a public figure who changed world history, he was a man of prayer who spent hours on his knees in order to have the strength to stand with and for those who most needed him.

This is a lesson for us. In order to live as Jesus’ disciple, you need to lean on Jesus and find your strength in Him. Resting your head in prayer on His Holy Cross is a good place to start learning to love like Him and find new life in Him.

Fr. Mark Ha;ydu, LC...

CATHOLIC WEBSITES

What websites are good for learning about the Faith? There are many

Catholic websites that offer you tons of information, inspiration, perspective and knowledge. The following is a list of just a few:

www.ewtn.comThe Global Catholic Network

www.newadvent.orgIts like a Catholic

Encyclopedia

www.wordonfire.orgBishop Barron’s Site

www.vatican.vaNews from the Vatican

www.zenit.orgCatholic News & Documents

www.osv.comOur Sunday Visitor Newsweekly

www.usccb.orgUS Bishop’s Site

When you think about how many hours people waste playing games, looking at inappropriate

material, and viewing websites that only make you feel worse, it’s good news to spend time on websites

that nourish and inspire your Faith.

“THE PRAYING HANDS” During the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg, Germany, there lived a family with 18 children. Just to keep food on the table for his large family, the father and head of the household, a goldsmith by profession, worked almost 18 hours a day at his trade and at any other paying job he could find. Despite this seemingly hopeless condition, two of Albrecht Durer the Elder's children had a dream. They both wanted to pursue their talent for art, but they knew that their father would never be financially able to send either of them to Nuremberg to study at the Art Academy.

After many long discussions, the two boys finally worked out a pact. They would toss a coin. The loser would go down into the nearby mines and, with his earnings, support his brother while he attended the Academy. Then, when the brother who won the toss completed his studies, in four years, he would support the other brother at the Academy, either with sales of his artwork or, if necessary, also by laboring in the mines. They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after Church. Albrecht Durer, the younger, won the toss and went off to Nuremberg.

His brother, Jan, went down into the dangerous mines and, for the next four years, financed Albrecht, whose work at the academy was almost an immediate sensation. Albrecht's etchings, his woodcuts, and his oils were far better than those of most of his professors, and by the time he graduated, he was beginning to earn considerable fees for his commissioned works.

When the young artist returned to his village, the Durer family held a festive dinner on their lawn to celebrate Albrecht's triumphant homecoming. After a long and memorable meal, punctuated with music and laughter, Albrecht rose from his honored position at the head of the table to drink a toast to his beloved brother, Jan, for the years of sacrifice that had enabled Albrecht to fulfill his ambition. His closing words were, "And now, Jan, blessed brother of mine, now it is your turn.

Now you can go to Nuremberg to pursue your dream, and I will take care of you." All heads turned in eager expectation to the far end of the table where Jan sat, tears streaming down his pale face, shaking his lowered head from side to side while he sobbed and repeated, over and over, No...no...no...no."

Finally, Jan rose and wiped the tears from his cheeks. He glanced down the long table at the faces he loved, and then, holding his hands close to his right cheek, he said softly, "No, brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg. It is too late for me. Look ... look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed at least once, and lately I have been suffering from arthritis so badly in my right hand that I cannot even hold a glass to return your toast, much less make delicate lines on parchment or canvas with a pen or a brush. No, brother... for me it is too late."

More than 450 years have passed. By now, Albrecht Durer's hundreds of masterful portraits, pen and silver-point sketches, watercolors, charcoals, woodcuts, and copper engravings hang in every great museum in the world, but the odds are great that you, like most people, are familiar with only one of Albrecht Durer's works. More than merely being familiar with it, you very well may have a reproduction hanging in your home or office.

One day, to pay homage to Jan for all that he had sacrificed, Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his brother's abused hands with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He called his powerful drawing simply "Hands," but the entire world almost immediately opened their hearts to his great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love "The Praying Hands."

The next time you see a copy of that touching creation, take a second look. Let it remind you that we all need each other, and need to love each other as God loves us.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019 5:30pm Intentions of Fotini Livanos (Vigil for Sunday Mass)

THE SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2019 7:30am For Our Parishioners 9:00am +Elena & Frances Baldeon 10:30am +Francesco Quadrelli 12:00pm +Donald Lanza 5:30pm +Austin Axiak

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2019 7:00am +Marie Louise Andrei

8:15am +Dieter Polednik 12:10pm +Msgr. Charles Roselli 5:30pm +Nicholas Camilleri

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019 7:00am +Ethel Talabovich 8:15am +Gail R. Schipski 12:10pm +Lucille Choquette 5:30pm +Sabino Rosales, Jr.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2019 7:00am +Margo & Douglas Coldwell 8:15am +Rose & Andrew Gull 12:10pm +Mary Doyle 5:30pm +James Scott

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2019 7:00am +Betty O’Hara

8:15am +Frances E. Stein 12:10pm +Dolores Sabates 5:30pm +Francis Steven Valdivia

FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2019 FIRST FRIDAY

7:00am +Marie Louise Andrei 8:15am +Rose & Archie Robbins 12:10pm +Deceased Members of the Ladies of Charity 5:30pm +Mary Dorothy Tombini

SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 2019 FIRST SATURDAY 8:15am +Catherine Murphy 12:10pm +Leolino, Edgar & Lerma A. Maglasang 5:30pm In Thanksgiving (Vigil for Sunday Mass)

2019 6TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME $6,700

2018 6TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME $7,863

THANK YOU! WE ARE GRATEFUL TO THOSE WHO USE OUR ENVELOPE SYSTEM. LET US KNOW IF YOU WISH TO RECEIVE OFFERING ENVELOPES THROUGH THE MAIL.

PARISH STEWARDSHIP

FOR OUR SICK: SABRINA BERTUCCI, MURIEL BRAIND,

MARY GOLDSTEIN

FOR OUR DECEASED: THERESA CARROLL, WALTER CASTAGNA

Please call the Parish House to have a Parishioner’s name placed on this list. Check to see if someone who is ill consents to having their name published. We only publish the names of recently deceased.

Prayer Requests

dear Padre Was the Mother of Jesus at the foot of the Cross?

St. John’s Gospel tells you that the Mother of Jesus,

His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene stood “by the cross” (St. John: 19:25).

Moreover, Jesus saw His mother and St. John, the disciple whom He loved standing by and spoke to

them (St. John: 19:26–27).

St. Mark’s Gospel says that among “the many other women” watching Jesus’ Crucifixion from a distance

were “Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome” (St. Mark: 15:40).

St. Luke simply records that “all His acquaintances

stood at a distance, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee and saw these

events” (St. Luke: 23:49). But he mentions three women by name who visited the tomb: Mary

Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James (St. Luke: 24:10).

St. Matthew also says that “many women” looked

on at Jesus’ Crucifixion from a distance. Among them are “Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of

James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons” (St. Matthew: 27:56).

Only St. John records the presence of Jesus’ mother

and “Mary the wife of Clopas,” who is believed to differ from Mary, the mother of James the younger

and Joses, and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph. Mary Magdalene is cited in all four Gospels.

St. John was the only Apostle who remained faithful to Jesus and stood at the foot of the Cross. What

he writes in his Gospel is clearly a personal, credible

account to the truth of Mary’s presence with her Son.

“By the cross” or “at a distance” may indicate

the location allowed for spectators at a crucifixion. However, tradition teaches that some like Jesus’

mother were permitted to stand at the foot of the

Cross, as depicted in many works of art throughout the centuries.

Fr. Byron Miller, CSsR