Sunday Collection

August 16th

1st / $2,032.85

Attendance: 120

MASS INTENTIONS

OUR LADY OF LOURDES 108 North West 4th Avenue, Mineral Wells, Tx 76067

Phone: 940-325-4789 Fax: 940-327-8170 pastoratoll@gmail.com www.ollcatholicchurch.com

Office Hours: Mon-Fri 8am-3pm Rev. Thomas Dsouza Pastor Deacon Jesus Cardenas

Secretary: Marla Trevino marlaourladyoflourdes@gmail.com

Aug 22nd -Aug 28th, 2020 Aug 22nd 4:30pm -St. Francis Aug 22nd 6:30pm– (Chapel)-Alfred Renner† by Jane Nixon, John Petrelli† by Margaret Colton Aug 23rd 9am-Kevin Rasberry† by MJ Rasberry, Ray & Nellie DeLara† by Kathy DeLara, Porfiria Gutierrez† by Eddie Gutierrez Aug 23rd11:30am– Balbina Romero† by Aurora Garcia & Nicholas Gallegos† by Maria Sotelo

Weekday Masses/Chapel Aug 26th Mass at 7am– Kathe-rine Cecilia Jenkins† by Maxine L. Aug 27th Mass at 7am– Porfiria Gutierrez† by Eddie G. & Rick Hunter (ill) Aug 28th Mass at 7am— Gonza-les’ & Angie Castillo(ill)

August 23rd, 2020/The Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven

AUGUST 29TH, 2020

Our Lady of Lourdes, Mineral Wells, TX

Eloise Rodriguez, Eddie Gutierrez, Henry Harbrecht, Sharon McKin-ley,Leonor DeSantiago,Letha Russell, Jim Slattery, Kathy DeLara, Johnny Davis, Janet Coalson, Angelica Pineda, Steven Ortiz, Elena Tejerina, Pat Luna, Melchora Pérez, Josefa Esquivel, Lupe Trevino, Marie & Bill McGuire, Nicki Ruiz, Joanne Pechacek, D.J. Davis, Julian & Sally Rios, Antonio Maldana-do, Liz Johnson, Roger Huddleston, Christina Rodriguez Fuller, Sharon Howell, Jessica Luna Gloria, Joseph Dover, Fr. Thomas Dsouza, Brenda Mendoza, Willie Harrison, Elizabeth Nowak,ArmandoDominguez,Bryan Dominguez, Jesse & Wantia Anguiano, Sanjeev Joshi, Richard Kaminski, To-masa Gonzalez, Rudy & Rita Alvarado, Velia Samaniego Barrientos, Arnoldo & Natalia Sanmiego, Daniel Nava.,Tina Cruce, Lee Sanchez, Bertha Chavez, Gloria Ortiz, Rocky Turcios, Felicita Garcia, Jorge Garcia,Ricky Hunter.& Alfredo Guajardo.

THE SICK OF OUR PARISH FROM PASTOR’S DESK

We are the Church, the universal as-

sembly of believers, the Body of

Christ, called to build the kingdom of

God. Each of us is part of this institu-

tion that can be traced back nearly

two thousand years to Saint Peter,

the rock on whom we are built. As we

celebrate the Eucharist here today,

let us reflect on this awesome privi-

lege of being a part of this two-

thousand-year-old mission and con-

template what we are called to do to

bring it closer to perfection.

Somos la Iglesia, la asamblea univer-

sal de creyentes, el Cuerpo de Cristo,

llamados a construir el Reino de Dios.

Cada uno de nosotros forma parte de

esta institución que se remonta casi

dos mil años a san Pedro, la piedra

sobre la cual estamos construidos. Al

celebrar la Eucaristía aquí hoy reflex-

ionemos acerca de este asombroso

privilegio de ser parte de esta misión

de dos mil años y consideremos lo

que tenemos que hacer para acercar-

la más a la perfección.

There is a beautiful story about the pencil. The pencil maker took the pencil aside, just before putting it into the box.

“There are five things you need to know,” he told the pencil, “before I send you out into the world. Always remember

them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be. One: You will be able to do many great things,

but only if you allow yourself to be held in someone’s hand. Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to

time, but you’ll need it to become a better pencil. Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.

Four: The most important part of you will always be what’s inside. And Five: On every surface you are used on, you

must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write.” The same applies to each one of us

too. When we find an answer to Jesus’ question (“Who do you say that I am?”), we will be able to make ourselves use-

ful to our contemporaries. We have to undergo the process that the pencil undergoes. One: We will be able to do

many great things, but only if we allow ourselves to be held in God’s hand, and allow other human beings access to

the many gifts we possess. Two: We will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various

problems in life, but we’ll need it to become a stronger person. Three: We will be able to correct any mistakes we

might make. Four: The most important part of us will always be what’s on the inside. And Five: On every surface we

walk through, we must leave our mark. No matter what the situation, we must continue to do our duties to the best of

our abilities.

“THERE ARE FIVE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW”

WE NEED TO ACCEPT JESUS AS OUR LORD AND PERSON-

AL SAVIOR Jesus is not merely the founder of a new religion, or a revolutionary Jewish reformer, or one of the great teachers. For Christians, he is the Son of God and our personal Savior. This means that we have to see Jesus as the Good Shepherd, the Savior, and the Redeemer. He is our beloved Friend, closer to us than our dear ones and a living ex-perience, who walks with us, loves us, forges us, helps us, and trans-forms our lives and outlook. We have to give all areas of our lives to him. He must have a say in our daily lives, and we must radiate all around us his sacrifi-cial agápe love, unconditional for-giveness, overflowing mercy, and committed service. The joy, the love, and the peace that we find in Jesus should be reflected in the way we live our lives.

Our Lady of Lourdes, Mineral Wells, TX

LOVING GOD WHY ARE ONLY MEN ALLOWED TO BE

PRIESTS OR DEACONS IN THE CHURCH?

One of the most debated and — in some circles — conten-tious teachings of the Church is that only men can be or-dained as priests and deacons. Critics see it as a way of strengthening a patriarchal system in which women have little or no voice. Those who support this teaching look to New Testament teaching (where we read of Jesus choosing only men to be apostles) and the long-standing practice of the Church. This was certainly the perspective of St. John Paul II who, in his 1994 apostolic letter, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, closed the discussion on the possibility of ordaining women as priests. In the letter, he reflected on the dignity of women and their call to share in the life and mission of the Church, but he concluded by solemnly declaring that “the Church has no au-thority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgement is to be definitely held by all the Church’s faithful” (no. 4). This position has been upheld by Pope Fran-cis in interviews, most notably as he returned from his 2016 visit to Sweden. The ordination of women to the diaconate is another question and one which is being studied. In 2016, Pope Francis created a 12-member commission to study the question from several perspectives (theological, liturgical, his-torical, etc.). The commission issued an initial report for Pope Francis who later said that the commission had not yet pro-duced a “definite response” to the question because of a lack of agreement on the role of female deacons in the Early Church. For now, however, regardless of what changes might come from ongoing study and debate, the Church continues to reserve ordination to the diaconate to men only, recogniz-ing a vital link between the diaconate and the priesthood and the lack of certainty about the presence and function of fe-male deacons throughout history.

The only way to know God is to love God. Our minds will never fully grasp the mystery of God, but our hearts and souls can learn to love the mystery. Years ago, when life had a more innocent quality to it, we believed what we were told or witnessed, un-less there was direct evidence otherwise. This was especially true if the information came from someone in authority. In a sense, we were a bit more gullible on one hand but also more trusting on the other. The latter is an admirable quality that sadly can be erod-ed when we realize we have been duped. With edu-cation and technological advances, we find our-selves more skeptical and less likely to too quickly accept and believe what we see and hear. For all of the good that social media can do, it can also easily distort reality and truth. Photoshop and a myriad oth-er technological truths can add to, fabricate, and make even the non-existent seem real. It is amazing. How far do we allow this obviously justifiable skepti-cism to take us? Questioning and doubting are healthy elements of any good relationship as long as we don’t allow them to turn us away from a deeper experience of love and encounter. If we cannot get our minds around something or empirically justify or prove it, we tend to declare it a hoax, untrue, or un-authentic and walk away. The very same trust that can quickly be eroded is exactly what is essential for all of our relationships, especially our relationship with God. With all things and people that make a pro-found claim on us, we have to trust in the absence of knowledge. Full self-investment involves plunging completely into the unknown! Simon Peter said to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Peter came to this knowledge, which is not “head knowledge” because of the relationship he shared with Jesus and what God was able to reveal in and through that relationship. Peter simply “knew” because of love that this is who Jesus really is. The silent exchange of love between friends, and not an intellectual exercise of the mind, brought Peter to this place. When we stop and think about it, there are many things in life that we simply know but do not completely understand. When someone sacrifices their own well-being for another, it may not make in-tellectual sense when examined. But it makes a world of sense when it is carried out. The vastness of reality and an encounter with incomprehensible mys-tery all lead us to profound silence where we simply know something to be true. Have you trusted enough to allow your relationship with God to bring you to this place or are you still too skeptical?

Who Makes the Coffee? Early one morning, a husband and wife were playfully arguing over who should get out of the warm bed to make the coffee. Finally, the wife folded her arms and said de-cidedly, “You have to make the coffee. It’s in the Bible!” The husband was shocked. “Is not! Show me!” Pulling out her Bible, the wife opened it the New Testa-ment and declared, “It says right here — HEBREWS!”

WE NEED TO EXPERIENCE JESUS AS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR AND SURRENDER OUR LIVES TO HIM. The knowledge of Jesus as Lord and personal Savior should be-come a living, personal experience for each Christian. This is made possible by our listening to Jesus through the daily, meditative reading of the Bible, by our talking to Jesus through daily, personal and communal prayers, by our offer-ing our lives on the altar with Jesus whenever we attend Holy Mass, and by our leading a Sacramental life. The next step is the surrender of our lives to Jesus by rendering humble and loving service to Him in Himself and in all others, with the strong conviction that Jesus is present in every person. The step after that is to praise and thank God in all the events of our lives, both pleasant and painful, realizing that God’s lov-ing hands are behind everything.

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