Volume 13 Issue 7 July, 2020

Good NewsSt. Padre Pio Fraternity gathers regularly on the first Saturday of the month at St.Helen Catholic Church in Georgetown, Texas. We begin with Morning Prayer at 8:30 AM followed by the Gathering at the St. Rita Center, Rm 223.

Website: www.stpadrepioofs.com

Prayer Intentions:

1) Hank Thoresz was asked by a fellow parishioner at his church, for us to pray for a Secular Franciscan named Laura Rainey, living in Washington D.C. Laura has intestinal cancer which has spread to her lymph nodes, and will begin chemo-therapy soon. Let us pray for her health, recovery, and Peace.

2) For John K., a just resolution to his current situation; that he and his family may know peace, comfort, love, and support.

3) For thanksgiving and praise to God that Brother Mark Guilford no longer has a diagnosis of diabetes.

4) For Lynn’s cousin, Adam, that he may go to be with the Lord without anymore suffering and know God’s Peace.

5) For the end of the Covid virus, according to God’s will. For all those effected by the virus.

6) That as we continue to learn to empty ourselves, our faith may be strengthened, and we may become pleasing servants of God.

7) For Hank T’s niece, Jackie Giacone, who is having brain surgery on August 3rd,( Monday), for the second time, to diagnose a reoccurrance of cancer. Please pray that God will guide the staff and surgeon’s hands, and bless her with His mercy.

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8) Please pray for Hank’s wife, Joan. She accidently fell ~3-4 weeks ago and is now experiencing hearing loss in her right ear. She has also noticed an increase in forgetfulness, and having Alzheimer’s Disease in her family, is naturally concerned. She also had to have her toenail removed. Let us pray for God’s angels to surround her, protect her, and give her peace.

Let us pray to the Lord…………………………….

Dont forget to contribute, if you can, to the Fraternity.

From Mark Watson: Using PayPal, the email address to send donations to is:

sppofs.gtx@gmail.com

From PayPal website on sending money:

1.  Log into your account at PayPal.com [or set up up], select “Pay or send money” and choose whether you’re ”Paying for an item or service” or ”Sending to a friend”.

     [The difference on this selection is who pays the processing fees of 2.9% + $0.30, Goods and Service = the fees are deducted from the amount and the Fraternity gets the net amount, Friends and Family the fees are added to your amount. For example:  $20 amount.  Goods and Services option you are charged $20.00, fees $0.88, Fraternity receives $19.12.  Friends and Family option you are charged $20.88, fees $0.88, Fraternity receives $20.00.  Note in both cases I will consider the donation amount to be $20.  If the Fraternity pays the fees then that is a miscellaneous expense.]

2.  Enter the recipient’s email address, mobile number or name and click “Next”  [the email address to use for donations is sppofs.gtx@gmail.com]

3.  Enter the amount and click “Continue”

4.  Enter your credit or debit card information. 

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Volume 13 Issue 7 July, 2020

When entering the donation there is a space to put a note to indicate what it is for ”August Donation”, or ”Second Collection”. If there isn’t any specific note it will be considered a general donation.

If you make a donation via PayPal please also send me a quick email to mwatson@utesxas.edu to let me know.  I don’t check the email account used for PayPal everyday.  I’d like to be able to confirm the Fraternity received the donation.

I’ve seen situations where the email account used for the donation is entered slightly wrong and then a month goes by before PayPal refunds the donation as “unclaimed.”

From Gospel to Life and Life to Gospel

Matthew 13:3643

Today’s short Gospel in which Jesus interprets the parable of the wheat and weeds for his disciples offers us the chance to explore the probable layers evident in the formation of the New Testament.  Apparent contradictions help us to distinguish an original parable from its later application to the situation of Matthew’s community in Antioch at the time his Gospel was being composed, probably around the year 80 of the first century. 

The core thrust of the parable addresses the human need to divide people into “them” and “us.” Jesus continually confronted this tendency in his audiences and especially in the critics of his preaching about the unconditional mercy of God and his scandalous association with public sinners and outcasts.  These “good” people wanted “bad” people to be punished and excluded from God’s favor.

The point of the parable was that good and evil are so intertwined in all of us that the impulse to judge and uproot evil in others will destroy everyone.  Like the tares and the wheat, virtue and weakness are often indistinguishable in the early stages of development. To judge another is to risk rejecting their gifts instead of their faults.  No, let people be. Stop judging one another. Only God can sort out such mysteries, and God has chosen to let people emerge within the community with all its tensions and issues to be worked out with patience and mutual love. 

This was too much to ask of the community in Antioch, made up of both Jewish and Gentile converts to Jesus, whose Good News was that the God of mercy calls all of us to new life and perfect love. To

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satisfy both sides of the question, Matthew provides an explanation of the parable promising that in the end God would save the good people and burn up the bad people.  What gets compromised is the God Jesus preached, whose unconditional mercy was as scandalous to the early Christians as it was to Jesus’ original audiences and especially his self-righteous critics. 

The conundrum is laid at our feet.  We call the Bible “revelation,” a truth we ourselves could not have discovered or concluded, and this truth is that God is merciful. Jesus stakes his entire ministry on this truth and is himself the human face of divine mercy.  This revelation is important because the human mind pulls God in the direction of justice. We want there to be justice, which means that some of us are good and deserve to be saved and some others are bad and deserve punishment, even exclusion from God’s favor, what we imagine to be heaven. The scandal of the Gospel is that God never ceases to love sinners and want them to be gathered into the beloved community at the end of history.  Only self-exclusion can separate someone from God’s love, because that love has also made us free.

We all live with this mystery, including the sins and graces in conflict within each of us.  We are called to live in communities that mirror our own mixed condition, waiting for God to transform us with the fire of his love. By Pat Marrin National Catholic Reporter

Why St. Roch is a powerful Patron Saint against Plagues?

The plague disappeared everywhere he went.During the 14th century there was a plague in Italy, and St. Roch came upon one of the towns most affected by it. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, he “devoted himself to the plague-stricken, curing them with the sign of the cross. He next visited Cesena and other neighboring cities and then Rome. Everywhere the terrible scourge disappeared before his miraculous power.”

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He eventually contracted the plague himself, but after retreating to the forest, he was also cured from the disease.

After his death, St. Roch’s intercession was invoked when a plague struck Germany in the 15th century.

In 1414, during the Council of Constance, the plague having broken out in that city, the Fathers of the Council ordered public prayers and processions in honor of the saint, and immediately the plague ceased.

Time and time again he was invoked during various medieval plagues and is why he is labeled a patron against plagues.

 Why is St. Roch the patron saint of dogs?

Dogs have been known as “man’s best friend” for centuries, and even many saints were aided by dogs when they were in need.

For example, there is a popular story from the life of St. Roch that has since earned him the title of “patron saint of dogs.”

In the 14th century, St. Roch devoted himself to helping the sick who were suffering from the plague. He visited many Italian towns and eventually contracted the same disease that he was battling.

 Afraid that he would infect others, St. Roch isolated himself from others by going into a self-quarantine in the forest. There he was slowly dying, but God provided for him by sending him a dog.

This dog would lick his sores and bring him bread each day that he took from his master’s table. This is why St. Roch is often depicted in paintings with a dog.

After a certain time had passed, St. Roch was healed of his ailments and then continued his ministry of curing the sick.

For dog lovers, St. Roch is a worthy intercessor, who can watch over and protect your beloved pet.

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Volume 13 Issue 7 July, 2020

Profession Anniversaries

Congratulations to Tom Howard July 19,2008

and

Judy Puetz July 15, 2000

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We had a new visitor at our July Gathering! Welcome to Bob Inzano! We hope to see you again soon!

Movies: Doubt The Mission The Way Calvary Of Gods and Men

Bible Trivia: What was Job’s Mother called ? (2 Samuel)

God doesn’t love us because we’re worthy; we’re worthy because he loves us.

Minister, Robert Pine, ofs Vice-Minister, Gina Livesay, ofsFormation Director, Peter Gruning, ofs Treasurer, Mark Watson ofsSecretary, Lynn Freeman, ofs Spiritual Assistant, Judy Puetz, ofs

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