Church of the Transfigura on 4000 E. Castro Valley Blvd., Castro Valley, CA 94552-4908

(510) 538-7941 Fax (510) 538-7983 E-mail: transfig_office@sbcglobal.net Website: www.transfigchurch.com August 9, 2020

Rev. Mario L. Borges, Pastor ● Rev. Terence O’Malley, Parochial Administrator

Deacon Martin J. Leach ● Deacon John A. Mignano ● Deacon Timothy L. Moore ● Deacon Burton J. Rigley

LITURGICAL MINISTRY: Eucharistic Ministers, Elmer & Puri Serrano Email: eserrano76@gmail.com Lectors, Barbara Mehan Email: barbmehan@sbcglobal.net Altar Servers, Clarence Decano FINANCE COUNCIL: Chairman, Mark Zaleski PARISH ORGANIZATIONS: Catholic Youth Organization (CYO), 60 Plus or Minus Club, Cursillo Group

SAINT VINCENT de PAUL SOCIETY: Call (510) 274-0830 for assistance. Call Mike Dresen (510) 813-6854 for more information about this ministry. SICK & HOMEBOUND MINISTRY: Mary Kay Kelder, (510) 582-7253 WINGS “Women in God’s Spirit”: Nancy Marcotte Email: nanmar2@aol.com (510) 303-3324) YOUTH MINISTRY: Alfonso Corona III transfig.oasis@gmail.com PARISH OFFICE: Phone: (510) 538-7941 Fax: (510) 538-7983 Hours: 8:00 a.m. — 4:30 p.m., Monday-Thursday (Closed between 12:00 & 1:00 p.m.) Friday, 9:00a.m. — 12:00 Noon - Saturday & Sunday—Closed Secretary, Elmer Serrano Secretary/Bookkeeper, Phyllis Moore

SCHEDULE OF MASSES Saturdays 4:00 p.m. Sundays 7:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. (Except First Fridays - 9:30 a.m.) Communion Service - Saturdays, 8:00 a.m. CONFESSIONS Saturdays 3:00-3:45 p.m. BAPTISMS: Pre-baptismal class is required. Class is held the second Tuesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. in the Rectory. Please call the Parish Office, (510) 538-7941, to register. MATRIMONY: Six months advance notice required. Please call the parish office. WEDDING COORDINATOR: Mel Speed (510) 909-9334 or melspeed@live.com FUNERALS: Please contact the funeral home of your choice and then the parish office. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: Deacon Martin J. Leach (510) 537-1502 or Transfig_Office@sbcglobal.net RCIA: Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults Please call the parish office. MUSIC MINISTRY: Director, Alexander Katsman (510) 538-7941, Ext. 302 or Transfig_Music@sbcglobal.net

Mission Statement: “Transfiguring Our Community Through Faith”

Announcement Transfiguration Church Masses continue to be suspended due to the corona virus pandemic. Please follow the Sun-day Mass scheduled at 12 noon via Facebook. Thank you.

Stewardship Corner The collection total for the weekend of Aug. 1st & Aug. 2nd — $4,835.00

(compared to $12,000 average weekly stewardship goal)

Thank you for continuing in your stewardship role of providing for the upkeep of our parish community.

Your Prayers Are Requested for the Repose of the Soul of:

Harold Pratt (Husband of Mary Pratt)

Credit, Debit and Electronic Check Offerings

If you would like to make your Sunday offering by credit or debit card or, electronic check, please go to our website: transfigchurch.com and click on the “Donate” tab. From there, click on the “Donate Now” button to be taken to a secure website to complete the setup of your offering.

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 9, 2020 Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven.

— Psalm 85:12

THE PRESENCE OF GOD After the miracle of Jesus walking on water, the disciples exclaimed, “Truly, you are the Son of God” (Matthew 14:33). Most Christians will proba-bly never experience such a dramatic miracle. Like Elijah, we await the manifestation of God in other moments. Perhaps the biggest challenge for the be-liever is to be constantly attuned to the possible pres-ence of God in the everyday events of life. This is a stance that takes some people years to develop. Oth-ers seem to find the Lord easily in the simple things. As the week unfolds, let us look for the presence of God in the little things around us. Perhaps, like Eli-jah, we will be surprised at what we find. And, like the disciples, we can add our voice to the confession, “Truly you are the Son of God.” Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.

A Reminder If you are set up for electronic donation, please veri-fy that your donation was arranged for one time or recurring deduction as you intended. There have been issues on those that selected recurring and not happening. Please let the Church Parish Office know via email at transfig_office@sbcglobal.net or call on 510-538-7941 to have your intended recurring dona-tion corrected. Thank you.

Jesus Walks on Water Matthew has molded this tradition in such a way that it is clearly a lesson for the harassed Church of his day and God’s people of all times! The Church, the traditional bark of Peter, is tossed on the waves of affliction. It needs encouragement. It should have faith in Jesus, for He saves us if we have faith and pray with confidence. Jesus is able to still any storm and can bring us to safety. —Saint Joseph Sunday Missal

The Assumption August 15, 2020 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (also known as the Assumption) is a catholic holiday announced on 1 November 1950 by Pope Pius XII. It celebrates the day when the Holy Virgin Mary ended her earthly life and was taken to heaven together with her soul and body. However, already in earlier centuries, it was believed that Jesus glorified the body of his mother and took it to heaven making it similar to his and stressing the role of Mary in the history of salva-tion.

Is the Assumption a Holy Day of Obligation?

In many countries the Assumption is marked as a Ho-ly Day of Obligation in the Roman Catholic Church and as a festival in the Anglican Communion. East-ern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics celebrate the Dormition of the Theotokos (the falling asleep of the Mother of God) on the same date. In the United States Assumption is a Holy Day of Obligation unless it falls on a Saturday or on a Mon-day, in which cases the precept to attend Mass is ab-rogated. This was decided by the National Confer-ence of Catholic Bishops of the United States of America on December 13, 1991 (Canon 1246) and is effective as of January 1, 1993. Nevertheless, all the faithful are encouraged to attend mass on this day but are not obliged.

READINGS FOR THE WEEK Monday: 2 Cor 9:6-10; Ps 112:1-2, 5-9; Jn 12:24-26 Tuesday: Ez 2:8 — 3:4; Ps 119:14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131; Mt 18:1-5, 10, 12-14 Wednesday: Ez 9:1-7; 10:18-22; Ps 113:1-6; Mt 18:15-20 Thursday: Ez 12:1-12; Ps 78:56-59, 61-62: Mt 18:21 — 19:1 Friday: Ez 16:1-15, 60, 63 [59-63]; Is 12:2-3, 4bcd-6; Mt 19:3-12 Saturday: Vigil: 1 Chr 15:3-4, 15-16; 16:1-2; Ps 132:6-7, 9-10, 13-14; 1 Cor 15:54b-57; Lk 11:27-28 Day: Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; Ps 45:10-12, 16; 1 Cor 15:20-27; Lk 1:39-56 Sunday: Is 56:1, 6-7; Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8; Rom 11:13-15, 29-32; Mt 15:21-28 SAINTS AND SPECIAL OBSERVANCES Sunday: Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time; Nagasaki Memorial Day Monday: St. Lawrence Tuesday: St. Clare Wednesday: St. Jane Frances de Chantal Thursday: Ss. Pontian and Hippolytus Friday: St. Maximilian Kolbe Saturday: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary St. Cajetan;

For your convenience the following are the Transfig-uration Church electronic links: Transfiguration website: www.transfigchurch.com Electronic Bulletin: www.e-churchbulletins.com/bulletins/523293.pdf Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Church-of-the-Transfiguration-115417251810536/ On-Line Donation: https://www.sagepayments.net/eftcart/forms/donate.asp?M_id=798399645711

Thank you for your continued support of Transfiguration Church as it struggles to fulfill its financial obligations due to the corona virus pandemic.

TODAY’S READINGS First Reading: 1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a Second Reading: Romans 9:1-5

Psalm: 85 — Gospel: Matthew 14:22-33 The English translation of the Psalm Responses from Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights re-served.

Remember Transfiguration in your Will and Living Trust.

Thank you for advertising in our bulletin. We appreciate your support!

Adult Bible Study Monday evening, Aug. 10, 2020 via Zoom, 7:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. Free willing to be mailed to Michael Gal-van at Transfiguration Catholic Church, 4000 E. Castro Valley

Blvd., Castro Valley, CA 94552. Please arrange Zoom connectivity with Mike Dresen at m.dresen@comcast.net.

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time August 9, 2020 In Matthew’s Gospel, Peter often serves as a repre-sentative of Jesus’ other disciples, and of all who strive to follow Jesus. When Peter desires to imitate Jesus by walking on the water in the middle of the storm, maybe wishing to show how strong his faith is, he encounters his own limitations and his need to be rescued by Jesus. Jesus then says to Peter, with tenderness as well as with challenge, “O you of little faith.” Jesus accepted the fragile and limited faith of Peter and the other disciples and loved them uncon-ditionally. The early church identified with Peter, as people with a “little” faith. Their faith was not fully mature, nor as extraordinary as others’ faith might seem to be. But they knew that their faith, however small or imperfect, was real and true. We might remember that our own “little” faith is cherished by God. God loves us as we are, and always seeks to form us to-ward a fully mature Christian life of faith.

Grounded in God’s Faithfulness Today’s passage from Saint Paul’s letter to the Ro-man begins an extended reflection, in Chapters 9-11, of Paul’s coming to terms with the mixed but gener-ally negative reception of his fellow Jews toward his proclamation of Christ. He was concerned for the Jewish people certainly, but also for the members of the early church, who were both Jew and Gentile. His primary concern was that their Christian faith should always be grounded in God’s faithfulness. So Paul rejected any notion that God somehow had abandoned Israel or God’s covenant with them. As Catholic teaching confirms, especially in the Sec-ond Vatican Council, the Church shares with the Jewish people in the tradition of God’s faithfulness. We are to acknowledge and repent of the Church’s participation and complicity in the darkness of anti-Semitism, both in the past and today. We pray con-tinually with and for the Jewish people as our sisters and brothers in faith.

LAUDATO SI’ OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS

ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME

THE GOSPEL OF CREATION

#62. Why should this document, addressed to all people of good will, include a chapter dealing with the convictions of believers? I am well aware that in the areas of politics and philosophy there are those who firmly reject the idea of a Creator, or consider it irrelevant, and consequently dismiss as irrational the rich contribution which religions can make towards an integral ecology and the full development of hu-manity. Others view religions simply as a subculture to be tolerated. Nonetheless, science and religion, with their distinctive approaches to understanding reality, can enter into an intense dialogue fruitful for both. Fr. Terry’s Remarks:

Why the Pope, why are we spending so much effort on climate change, when its a natural thing? What has it got to do with religion? Many people may and do think it has nothing to do with Religion, but if some of us believe in Creation and hence in a Crea-tor then, it may be that science and religion can and should have a fruitful dialogue. We can and might obtain help and enlightenment from each other. At the very least, let us all be respectful of each other, pool our insights and becoming more tolerant and insightful all will benefit. This is a dialog we must be willing to undertake.