OUR MISSION STATEMENT

Mater Misericordiæ (Mother of Mercy) Mission glorifies God, uniting its members in faith, hope and

charity through confession of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Faith and through participation in the

Sacraments and Traditional Rites of the Missale Romanum of 1962, under the governance of the

Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix and the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter.

Presentation of Christ at the Temple by Hans Holbein the Elder, 1500-1501 (Kunsthalle, Hamburg)

Pastor: Rev. Fr. Joseph Terra, FSSP

Office: 602-374-5067 Cell: 480-231-0573 (for urgent messages)

Fax: 602-466-1623 Mail: 2312 E. Campbell Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85016

Email: contact@phoenixlatinmass.org Website: www.phoenixlatinmass.org

Notitiæ January 31, 2010

Sunday Masses

Propers: Readings:

Septuagesima Sunday, Class II, Violet 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27; St. Matthew 20: 1-16

Intention:

10:00 am Mass at St. Cecilia (Clarkdale, AZ) Pro Populo

Intention:

1:00 pm Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle (24th St. & Campbell Ave, Phoenix) Pro Populo

Weekday Masses

At St. Thomas the Apostle at 6:30 am (ending 7:15 am)

and 7:00 pm on Holy Days of Obligation

Monday, February 1 Thursday, February 4

Propers:

Readings: Intention:

St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr, Class III, Red

Romans 8: 35-39; St. John 12:24-26 Marion Nelson

Propers:

Readings: Intention:

St. Andrew Corsini, Bishop and Confessor, Class III, White

Ecclesiasticus 44: 16-17; 45: 3-20; St. Matthew 25: 14-23 Matthew Frazzini+

Tuesday, February 2 Friday, February 5

Propers:

Readings: Intention:

The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Candlemas Day, Class II, White

Malachias 3: 1-4; St. Luke 2: 22-32

Frank Terra+

Propers:

Readings: Intention:

St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr, Class III, Red

1 Corinthians 1: 26-31;St. Matthew 19:3-12

Matthew Frazzini+

Wednesday, February 3 Saturday, February 6

Propers:

Readings: Intention:

St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr, Class III, Red

2 Corinthians 1: 3-7; St. Matthew 16:24-27 Matthew Frazzini+

Propers:

Readings: Intention:

St. Titus, Bishop and Confessor, Class III, White

Ecclesiasticus 44: 16-17; 45: 3-20; St. Matthew 25: 14-23 Matthew Frazzini+

Confessions Friday 5-5:30 pm and Saturday 3:30-4:30 pm at Saint Thomas the Apostle. Sunday before Mass at

Saint Thomas the Apostle, and at Saint Cecilia, if possible. Other times by arrangement.

PARISH ANNOUNCEMENTS

Parish Directory: Mater Misericordiae Mission is com-

piling a directory for use of the mem-bers of the mission. In order to ensure current contact information, please complete the tear-out strip on the adja-cent page of the Notitiae and hand the strip to a pastoral council member in the vestibule of the church; or fill out

the information on a sign-up sheet available in the vestibule of the church.

Editions will be available in hard copy or by email. Please sign up by today, January 31st.

The Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin

Mary (February 2nd) will be celebrated with a sung Mass after the blessing of candles and procession. Those wishing to have candles blessed please bring them to the 6:30 a.m. Mass and place them on the table with the other candles. The Feast of St. Blaise is February 3rd. The traditional blessing of throats will be given after Mass.

Lenten Mission: Fr. Terra will preach a one-day Mis-

sion on Saturday, February 27th at St. Thomas the Apos-tle Church from 9:00 a.m until 3:00 p.m. Please bring a sack lunch.

Camp St. Peter: Camp St. Peter 2010 will take place

June 18th-July 2nd for boys between 12-15 years old. Special consideration this year will be given to those who have not yet attended the camp. For a printable applica-tion form and further information, please visit the follow-i n g w e b s i t e : h t t p : / / w w w . f s s p o l g s . o r g /Camp_Application.pdf. If you still have questions after visiting this site, you may contact the camp director at:

www.fsspcamp@gmail.com, or you may write to: Camp Saint Peter in the Black Hills, PO Box 147, Denton, NE 68339. All applications must be mailed to the above ad-dress, postmarked no later than May 1st.

FSSP Prayer Requests Jan. 31: Fr. Erik Deprey Feb. 1: Fr. Denis Cuchet Feb. 2: Fr. Mark Wojdelski Feb. 3: Fr. William Lawrence Feb. 4: Fr. Neal Nichols Feb. 5: Very Rev. John Berg, Superior General

Feb. 6: Fr. James Buckley

The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary A meditation for the Month of the Purification

by Fr Hugh Thwaites S.J. Source: the Latin Mass Society's February 2003 Newsletter

In the Law of Moses a woman after childbirth had to stay at home for a certain period and abstain from touching anything consecrated to God. This was a state which the

Law called ‘unclean’. I imagine it must have been a bless-ing to her being thus allowed to stay at home and care for her baby. Forty days after the birth of a boy or eighty after the birth of a girl the mother would bring to the door of the Temple a lamb of a year old and a pigeon or a turtle dove: the lamb for a burnt offering in recognition of God’s sovereignty and in thanksgiving for her happy delivery, and the bird for a sin offering. These being sacrificed, the woman was cleansed of the legal impurity and was rein-stated in her former privileges. In the case of poor people, a lamb was not required but two pigeons or turtle doves had to be brought – one as a burnt offering and the other

as a sin offering. Our Blessed Lady, the purest of virgins,

SUNDAY COLLECT Graciously hear, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the prayers of Thy people, that we who are justly afflicted for our sins, may be mercifully delivered by Thy goodness, for the glory of Thy name. Through our Lord.

SUNDAY EPISTLE: 1 CORINTHIANS 9. 24-27; 10. 1-5

Brethren: Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incor-ruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty; I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps when I have preached to others, I myself should become a casta-way. For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud and

in the sea: and did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink: (and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ). But with most of them God was not well pleased.

SUNDAY GOSPEL: ST. MATTHEW 20. 1-16

.At that time Jesus spoke to His disciples this parable: The kingdom of heaven is like to an householder who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And having agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place

idle, and he said to them: Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just. And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour: and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: Why stand you here all the day idle? They say to him: Because no man bath hired us. He saith to them: Go you also into my vineyard. And when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard saith to his steward: Call the la-bourers and pay them their hire, beginning from the last even to the first. When therefore they were come that

came about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first also came, they thought that they should receive more: and they also received every man a penny. And receiving it they murmured against the master of the house, saying: These last have worked but one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us that have borne the burden of the day and the heats. But he an-swering said to one of them: Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take what is thine and go thy way: I will also give to this last even as to thee. Or, is it not lawful for me to do what I will? Is thy eye evil, because I am good? So shall the last be first, and

the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.

in her great humility, came like every other mother for this ceremony of her ‘purification’, desirous as she was to honour God by every prescribed observance and act of religion. And being poor, she and St Joseph brought the offering appointed for the poor. A second great mystery is honoured this day – the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple. A first born son had to be offered to God and then ransomed back. So Our Blessed Lady would have offered her Son to the Father, and then St Joseph would have paid the priest five shekels. Then she would have received Him back in her arms and they would have

been free to go home. However, a third mystery is put before us: the meeting of Simeon with our Saviour. For years Simeon had been praying for the coming of the Messiah. Like the prophet Daniel, he was a ‘man of desires’ and God had told him that he would live to see the One he so longed for. So besides the titles of Presentation (of Our Lord) and Purification (of Our Lady), this feast is also called in the East, ‘the Meeting’ (of Simeon with the Infant Jesus). And because of Simeon’s prophecy that Our Lord would ‘be a Light to enlighten the Gentiles’ the custom grew up of celebrating the feast with candlelight proces-sions. And so the title of ‘Candlemas’ was also given to the day. So much on one day! And what fruit for us! How can we pray about this in the Fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary? In all the mysteries of the Rosary it can help to place ourselves either with Our Lord or with His Blessed Mother as the mood takes us. For instance, we see Our Lord, in the hands of His Mother, offering Himself as a victim to His Father. That is what we can do: indeed, at Mass it is what we should do. In the hands of Our Lady, we should offer Jesus to our heavenly Father, and offer ourselves with Him and in Him. That is a good way of praying at Mass.

Or maybe we prefer to put ourselves with Our Lady. What is she doing? She is offering to God the most precious thing in her life, indeed, that which is more precious to her than life itself. She is offering her Divine Son. Like her ancestor Abraham, she is offering absolutely everything to God. What a perfect model for us! Exceedingly difficult, no doubt, but it is a sacrifice that will be pleasing to God for all eternity. Like Our Lady, then, we can pray for the grace always to be gener-ous with God, always ready for any sacrifice he may ask of us. That was how the world was redeemed. That is the way we ourselves can ensure our own salvation and bring others to heaven with us. It is the daily carrying of the Cross. Great fidel-ity to the holy will of God in the little things of every day is what Thomas a Kempis called the Royal Road of the Holy Cross and St Therese calls her Little Way. Yes, the Feast of the Purification provides rich fare for our souls!

For the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, February 2. Source: Frederick William Faber, D.D., Bethlehem repr, 1860 (Rockford, IL: Tan Books, 1978), 188, 192, 193-4.

The gorgeous apparition of the Kings in the gloomy Cave has passed away. The Babe, too, has left the Cave. Our present picture is the same humble mystery of Bethlehem which is now enacted on a gorgeous scene. We must pass to the glorious courts of the magnificent temple, when its little, unknown Master has come to take possession, the true High Priest, with a thicker veil of incredible humiliation round him than that which shrouded the local Holy of Holies from the gaz-ing multitude. It is the mystery of Mary’s jubilee, the Presentation of our Lord, mingling with that true-hearted deceit of humility, her needless Purification. The Babe’s new worshipers are Simeon and Anna, who so resemble each other amidst their differences that we may regard them as forming one type of worship…. Here we see with Simeon and Anna what long preparation God makes in the soul for what appears to be only a momentary manifestation…. But besides this long preparation for a momentary and subordinate appearance in a divine mystery, we must observe also how God often comes to men in their old age. They have lived for that which only comes

when real life seems past. What a divine meaning there is in all this! The significance of a whole life often comes upper-most only in the preparation for death. Our destiny only begins to be fulfilled after it appears to have been worked out. Who knows what he is intended for? What we have dreamed was our mission is of all things the least likely to have been such. For missions are divine things, and therefore generally hidden, generally unconsciously fulfilled. If there are some who seem to have done their work early, and then live on we know not why, there are far more who do their real work later on, and not a few who only do it in the act of dying. Nay, is it not almost so in natural things? Life for the most part blooms only once, and, like the aloe, it blooms late. Neither must we fail to note under what circumstances it is God’s habit to come to these hidden souls. The devo-

tion of Simeon and Anna is eminently a devotion of prayer and church-frequenting. In other words, God comes to holy

souls, not so much in heroic actions, which are rather the soul’s leaping upward to God, but in the performance of ordinary,

habitual devotions, and the discharge of modest, unobtrusive duties, made heroic by long perseverance and inward inten-

sity. How much matter for thought is there in all these reflections! and in divine things what is matter for thought is matter

for practice as also! Thus, if the angelic song was the opening of heaven before our eyes, this apparition of Simeon and

Anna is the opening beneath our feet of an exquisite hidden world, a realm of subterranean angels, a secret abyss of hu-

man hearts in which God loves to hide himself, a region of evening calmness and of twilight tranquility, a world of rest and

yet of power, heated with the whole day’s sunshine and giving forth its fragrance to the cooling dews, a world which not

only teaches us much, but consoles us also, yet leaves us pensive, (for does not consolation always leave us so?) casting

over us a profitable spiritual shadow, like the melancholy in which a beautiful sunset so often steeps the mind, breeding

more loving thoughts of others, and in ourselves a more contented lowliness.

———————————————— Tear-out Strip for Mater Misericordiae Mission Directory ——————————–————

Family Name Head Spouse Address Phone Email Preferred

Format (Pick One)

EMAIL

PRINT