HOLY FAMILY PARISH312 Tazewell Avenue, Tazewell, VA 24651 (276) 988-4626 • www.holyfamilyva.com

email: theword1875@verizon.net

ST. THERESA’S312 Tazewell Ave. Tazewell,VA 24651

ST. ELIZABETH’S 160 Merrick Lane

Pocahontas, VA 24635

ST. MARY’S 1122 Farmer Street

Richlands, VA 24641

ST. JOSEPH’S 1007 Independence Rd.

Grundy, VA 24614

APRIL 26, 2020 | 3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER

pastor’s notes

Once upon a time, two young men set out on a long journey to consult a wise man in a certain town very far from where they lived; it was a two-day journey by foot. The two young men had planned to see the sage to get answers to the hardship and difficulties in their lives; they wanted to know how they could succeed in life and do away with hardships.Early morning on the second day of their journey they came across an old man along the same road who was walking slowly with a heavy load on his head. One of them suggested that they help the old man but the other bluntly refused and mentioned that helping the old man would delay their journey. The one who suggested the assis-tance went ahead to help the old man with his load while his friend wished him good luck and hurried into the town to search for the sage.The old man asked the young man where they were going and the reason for their visit. The young man told him that they heard

about one wise man and they have come to consult with him about the hardship and difficulties they were experiencing. The old man told the young man that he knew the whereabouts of the wise man and offered to take him to the place through a shorter route by a bush path.

In few minutes, they came to a house in the middle of the forest, and the old man asked the young man to come along with him into the house. As they entered the house, the old man said to the young man, “Welcome to my house— I am the one you seek!” The young man was shocked by the news and could only stare at him.

The old man told his visitor that his hardship and difficulties were lifted from him the moment he lifted the load from the old man’s head and carried it to his house. Hence, he would prosper greatly in all his plans. When he inquired about his friend, the old man told him that it would take his friend twenty-one days to find the route to his house and, since he is not the patient and attentive type, he would never get there. The young man later left and became very wealthy and success-ful. His friend came back after a fruitless search for the wise man only to be told the story about what happened when he departed in a hurry and without consideration for the old man who turned out to be the wise man.

We could connect with the story above when sometimes we fran-

tically search for things, not realizing that they are just within our reach. That is the result of ignorance. Ignorance is a virus that can diminish us without sparing a bit of us. Knowledge is key to many things; no wonder the oracle of Hosea made it clear that “my people perish for lack of knowl-edge” (Hosea 4:6). And our Lord Jesus Christ wept over Jerusalem because of the people’s ignorance (Luke 19:41-42).The Gospel Reading today (Luke 24:13-35)) tells us about one of the post-resurrection pilgrimages and the destination was Emmaus, which means “warm spring”. Two disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ left Jerusalem in utter despair and were going to Emmaus for a reason we do not know. The arrest, pas-sion, and death of our Lord Jesus Christ brought about the scattering of the disciples (Mark 14:50). The resurrection was supposed to bring them together, but the multiplicity of stories about the empty tomb, appearances of angels at the tomb, and the rumor that the disciples came to take the body away while the soldiers were sleeping (Matt. 28:13) brought much confusion and disquiet.The two disciples could have left Jerusalem (the city of peace) because peace eluded them. They set out on a pilgrimage to Emmaus (warm spring) to see if they could get some inner warmth. On their way, they kept reflecting on the events of the time; the variety of stories concerning the resurrection Fr. Eric Anokye

EMMAUS: THE RESURRECTION OF FAITH, OPENED EYES AND BURNING HEARTS

of Jesus Christ. Suddenly our Lord appeared in their midst in the form of a co-traveller to Emmaus and asked them what they were talking about, and they were surprised to learn that he was perhaps the only visitor to Jerusalem who was ignorant of the current story about Jesus Christ.By the time our appearing Lord opened the Scriptures to them and began to tell them about the Mes-siah and his salvific mission they became speechless and began to understand how foolish and igno-rant they were. At first, they blamed the “co-traveller” for his ignorance about the events of the time, but after the exposition, our Lord accosted them for their foolishness and ignorance of the scriptures which, according to St. Jerome, is ignorance of Christ.

After the heart-warming sermon on the road to Emmaus, the two dis-ciples could not but indulge in the company of our Lord to the extent that they did not allow him to go and earnestly pleaded: “stay with us!” That evening, while they were at table, our Lord broke the bread and gave it to them, and instantly their eyes opened, and they rec-ognized him, but he immediately disappeared out of their sight.

The journey to Emmaus leaves us with a lot of crucial lessons. It is a journey from fear to faith, a journey from despair to peace, a journey from a cold heart to a warm heart, a journey from the darkness of

ignorance to the light of knowl-edge, from nowhere to somewhere, a journey from foolishness to wisdom.THE RESURRECTION OF FAITHThe two disciples represent the two prominent dispositions in our life: doubt (fear) and faith. Before the Emmaus encounter, they were filled with doubts as they were recounting the disconnected stories about the resurrection from various witnesses. In their doubts, their minds were closed from remember-ing and reflecting on the Scriptures. Our Lord’s appearance to them was to transform their fear into faith. The word of God tells us that faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17).

We are like these disciples. We often forget the promises of God and prefer to remember and

magnify the problems around us. We often forget what God says He would do in every situation and only remember what our situation is doing to us. We often remember that we are passing through the valley of the shadow of death and forget that God says that he would be with us; with his rod and staff, He would comfort us (Psalm 23:4). We often drop the shield of faith (Eph.6:16 ) in our battle as the sol-diers of Christ.

THE RESURRECTION OF OPENED EYESAt the beginning of the Gospel narrative, we learn that the eyes of the two disciples were prevented

PASTORFr. Eric Anokye eanokye@richmonddiocese.org (276) 385-7312

ADMINISTRATIONDebi Cox

BOOKKEEPER Lydia St. Peter

OFFICE HOURSMon–Fri 9:30am – 2:30pm

Please call the parish office to make arrangements for the Sacraments of Baptism, Annointing of the Sick or Holy Matrimony as well as funerals. Reconciliation is available from 30 minutes before a scheduled Mass.

MASS TIMES (When allowed to resume)

SUNDAY 9am – St. Elizabeth’s 11:30am – St. Theresa’s

WEDNESDAY 8am – St. Theresa’s 5pm – St. Elizabeth’s

THURSDAY 12NooN – St. Mary’s

FRIDAY 8am – St. Theresa’s

SATURDAY 4pm – St. Joseph’s 6pm – St. Mary’s

Cover image: Rembrandt van Rijn, The Supper at Emmaus, 1648

“We often forget the promises of God and prefer to remember and magnify

the problems around us.”

(closed) from recognizing our Lord when he joined them on the pilgrimage to Emmaus. Often, we fail to recognize the Lord in our lives because of our spiritual blindness, which could be because of sin or our lack of faith. One of the young men in our opening story was unable to recognize the wise man they sought because of his impatience and lack of kindness.Fast forwarding to the post-dinner breaking of bread, we learn that the eyes of the disciples opened. It is important to note that they had to hear the word of God first before their eyes opened during the breaking of bread. Today we have two locations that would bring about the opening of our eyes. We are called to the Liturgy of the Word of God first and then to partici-pate actively in the Liturgy of the Eucharist where we receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.THE RESURRECTION OF BURNING HEARTSThere is a very significant difference between the HEAD and the HEART. The head is the seat of reason while the heart is the seat of faith which connects us with God. Before the encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ, the two disciples were operating on the plat-form of reason. Their discussion was an entire exercise in rationalization. They were trying to be logical in their reasoning, forgetting that with God, logic has no relevance. The resurrection is not a product of reason but an element of faith.During the Scripture exposition that our Lord made with them and for them, their hearts were burning, but they could not attend to that. It was at the point when their eyes opened that they remembered how their hearts were burning when the Lord was explaining the Scriptures to them.We are challenged to allow our hearts to burn for the Lord —not our heads like the Athenians who rejected Paul’s preaching about the resurrection because it made no logical sense to them (Acts 17:18–34). The problem with our world today is that people would like everything to be logical and reasonable before they accept them. But our Christian vocation tells us to believe first, even when we do not have reasonable evidence (Heb.11:1).As we continue to reflect on the message of today, let us rise to our Emmaus pilgrimage. Emmaus stands for a profound encounter of faith. Emmaus stands for a more in-depth understanding of the word of God that would open our eyes and burn our hearts for the Lord. Emmaus represents the presence of God in our lives as He stays with us to renew us and make us better and believing children.

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM HOLY FAMILY PARISH FINANCE COUNCILAs an outcome of the financial difficulties we are facing due to the inability to have Mass, we (Finance Council) have had to make some difficult decisions and want to keep you informed as to what is happening in our parish family. Following recommendations from the diocese, our parish office is closed. This is for the health and safety of all of our staff. Because of the office closure, Debi Cox, our parish secretary, has been laid off, at least through June 10th, per the stay at home order of our governor. Lydia St. Peter’s (our parish bookkeeper) hours have been reduced. Our financial database is web-based and she is able to access it at home in order to keep our financial records up-to-date. Father Eric is able to check our mail box and to check the voice-mail. Lydia will come to the office a couple of times per week to deposit any donations received in the mail and to pay bills. We are working to reduce costs as much as possible. Thermostats have been turned down in order to reduce electric bills. Travel expenses are lower because Father Eric is not driving to the various churches; we are not order-ing supplies, and salaries have been reduced. The diocese has also decreased some of their assessments and priests’ salaries have been decreased by 10% from the middle of April to July. However, we still have bills to pay: electric, water, telephone, Internet, insurance, wages and taxes, just to name a few. For example, the electric bills for all four churches and the rectory were paid last week and totaled $1360. The phone, Internet and cable bills for both the office and rectory were also paid and totaled $298.We are very grateful for the financial support we have received from you the last couple of weeks. Without that support we would not have been able to pay our current bills. We also want to let you know that we have received a very generous donation from St. Michael’s ATM of $5,000 to help support us through this difficult time. Please let them know how much we appreciate their help.The amount of donations received in the mail will continue to be shown in the bulletin and the Finance Council will provide financial updates on a regular basis during this difficult time. Once again, we thank you for your past financial sup-port and ask those of you that are able to continue your support.

Louise Serreno (homebound)Margie Stutso (homebound) Lois WhiteLucas OaklandJane JonesGlenn HarrisonJohn BenishMosie & Rosalie RocchettiChristel Repp Melody DillingJim Shumate Darlene BlakewoodMary McCoy Shirley Hylton Madelyn Palzer April Robinette Rayburn Minton II Grace Bolling Francine Horn Ruth Woodall Helen Shumate Barbara Shumate Patrick WardSandy Hampton Mary Jane FullerRicky Clifton

Diana Campbell Michelle Woodward Nancy Wiss Margaret Shawver Billy Akers Scotty McBride Gerry Hankins Eric Pellerin Terri Farley Clarence Moore Lexi Cox Sarah WallParis Whisher Tammy Bennett Margaret Wasilewski Teresa HornNic Ulate Elizabeth GregoryFrannie Minton Sue Bailey Fonda Kinser & Family

stewardship of treasure

Donations Received as of April 19 (Week 43)

CHURCH ATTENDANCE RECEIVED

St. Joseph’s $100

St. Elizabeth’s $380

St. Mary’s $180

St. Theresa’s $755

Total Offertory $1,415

Outside Donations $350

Year to Date Received $94,199

Goal $106,615

Ahead/Behind Goal - $12,416

other financial news

council membersPARISH COUNCIL: Tonya Hylton, Frannie Minton, Ralph Shawver, Cindy Deskins, Barbara Jones, Donna Lambert

FINANCE COUNCIL:Kathy & Bob Buchanan, Randy Bolling, Doug Vance, Anne Danko, Jim Talbert, Jackie Shawver, Janet McDonagh

Date Intention By

WEEK OF 4/19

Patrick McDonagh U by Michael & Janet McDonagh Robert Buchanan U by Bob and Kathy Buchanan

mass intentions please pray for

OUTSIDE DONATIONS—THANK YOU!Mission co-op from Star of the Sea (VA Beach): $9327 St. Francis (Staunton, VA) donation: $1459 Richlands, VA donor: $110Other donations: Building Fund (St. Theresa’s): $100Our Annual Diocesan Appeal total remains at $8,910—128% of our goal. Thank you to everyone who has contributed!

NEW HOLY FAMILY FACEBOOK PAGE!We have established a parish Facebook page: Holy-Family-SWVA. This will be our official parish page and will be used to transmit news and parish-wide information, as well as to live stream Mass during the COVID-19 crisis. At this time, Fr. Eric is live streaming Mass daily at 10am. Please go your Facebook feed and search for Holy Family SWVA (or click the link above), then “like” the page so that our posts will show up in your feed. We’ll post Fr. Eric’s daily Cast Into the Deep reflections there as well. Fr. Eric is overjoyed at the response daily Mass has received and thanks everyone who has been so faithfully tuning in!CCA Blood DriveThe Center for Christian Action (Pocahontas) invites you to watch their facebook page for updates on their annual May blood drive, a critical event during this time. CCA would like to thank everyone for their continued support in offering HELP and HOPE, especially during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 crisis.

parish news and events

We thank you for continuing to support these local businesses who have made the printing of this bulletin possible by their advertising!

Dudley Memorial Mortuary729 Virginia AvenueBluefield, VA 24605(276) 326-1141 www.dudleymemorial.com

Craven-Shires Funeral Home, Inc.

Appalachian Family Care LLC18765 Riverside Dr.Vansant, VA 24656Tel. (276) 935-2880Fax (276) 935-2889Located in Food CityOwner: Frannie Minton

Office: 304-425-8131“Our Family Serving Your Family”

MEMORIAL FUNERAL DIRECTORY, INC.HC 71 Box 92, Athens Road

Princeton, West VIrginia 24740Charles T. Mathena, Director

304-425-6802Marvin Mills Bill Fredeking304-487-6550 304-431-2629

(304) 325-9357Bluefield

(304) 425-3678Princeton

3431 Coal Heritage road Bluefield, WV 24701 pH: (304) 589-3860 fax: (304) 441-5299 iNfo@CraVeN-sHires.Com

Jimmie l. sHires – fuNeral direCtor, l.i.C.

BOWLING LANESPRO SHOP - SNACK BAR - BILLIARDS

3224 CUMBERLAND ROADBLUEFIELD, WV 24701

CARL MARIOTTI, JR. 304-325-7037LORETTA HAMMOND

DOMINION DRIVEWAY& PARKING LOT PAVING, INC.

• Paving• Concrete• Grading• Landscaping• Demolition• Gravel• Topsoil• Patio Paver• Retaining Walls

2927 Adria RoadNorth Tazewell, VA 24630

Phone: 276-979-8504Email: pave4u@roadrunner.com

Amanda Hankins-Shrader – 276-701-5840Scott Shrader – 276-970-3004

www.DominionDriveway.com