st. brendan church · as father amorth writes, “the bible never says that we have to be afraid of...
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ST. BRENDAN CHURCH
29 Rockaway Avenue San Francisco CA 94127 Tel. No. (415) 681-4225
www.stbrendanparish.org
Spin Doctoring: Overcoming Pure Evil
In our current Sunday message series called Spin Doctoring, we are exploring evil in its many forms. We hope to provide some biblical advice about how to work through suffering in a healthy way by turning the negatives in our lives into pos-itives. The most basic distinction when it comes to evil is between “moral evil,” which is suffering caused by poor human behavior, and “physical evil” such as disease and natural disasters, which we dis-cussed in last week’s article. The Church calls these forms of suffering “evil” because God never intended it. But there is one who did intend evil, and he is “pure evil.” In today’s secular and material world, there is widespread disbelief in the existence of the Devil. Having been a member of the archdio-cese’s exorcism and deliverance team for several years, I can tell you that such incredulity is mis-placed. Satan is alive and well, and his work con-tinues to prosper. As Saint John writes, “we know that we belong to God, [but] the whole world is under the power of the evil one” (1 Jn. 5:19). Je-sus himself performed many exorcisms and called Satan “the ruler of this world” (Jn. 12:31; 16:8-11). Last week’s Sunday message explored the prob-lem of evil generally, and the interaction between Peter and Jesus in the gospel story suggested that trusting and obeying God helps us to heal from the suffering and despair that frequently arises from disobedience. However, it was Satan who first re-
belled. An angel created good, he alienated him-self from God, refused to obey, and encourages us now to follow his example. Indeed, the word “Devil” in Greek means “one who splits up or breaks or throws away.” As the Chief Vatican Exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, wrote, “Satan started the rebellion against God and . . . [i]t is his aim to make the whole creation rebel against the Creator” (Vade retro, Satana! St. Paul’s Press 2014, 7-8). He accomplishes this mis-sion through extraordinary means like the rare in-
stances of human posses-sion, but more frequently through the ordinary means of tempting hu-mankind to sin.
However, we are not helpless against the pure evil of Satan. Overcoming the power of evil is not as difficult as it may seem. As Father Amorth writes, “the Bible never says that we have to be afraid of the Devil, because it assures us that we can resist the Devil if we have strong faith” (Id., 55). Merci-fully, our faith offers all the tools we need to resist and prevail over evil through the victory of Jesus Christ won for us on the cross. With regular con-fession and attendance at Mass, along with fre-quent private prayer, we can stay in the grace of God and be shielded from evil. Indeed, the “beatitudes” in this week’s gospel pas-sage turn the evil of this world on its head, trans-forming its negatives into positives by the behav-ior of Christian disciples. All we must do is fol-low. —Father Roger Gustafson, Pastor
February 17, 2019 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Come aboard and navigate life with us. As a member, we ask that you take steps to grow in your disciple-ship. In fact, STEPS is an acronym for how to become a better disciple of Christ. As a member, we'll ask that you consider: S - Serving in a ministry T - Tithing & Giving E - Engaging in a small group P - Practicing prayer, including regular Sunday worship with us S - Sharing your faith by inviting your friends and neighbors to church If you think you're ready to become part of our church family, stop by our welcome desk at the entrance to the church before or after any Weekend Mass.
Making Church Matter
If this is your first time to Saint Brendan or your first time to church in a long time, we’re glad you’re here! We are a cozy community of believers who seek to find our way in life by following Jesus together, and we want you with us on the journey. Explore some possible next steps for you below. We’re here to help. If you have any questions, stop by our welcome desk located at the entrance to the church, check out our website at www.stbrendanparish.org, or just give us a call.
Become Part of Our Church Family
Welcome Aboard!
Serve in Ministry & Mission
We know many things compete for your attention. But we also know you’ll never really be happy until you begin serving others and putting your love to work. There are so many opportunities to make a differ-ence: • Help make Sundays an irresistible celebration by joining our Sunday Liturgy Support Ministry. • Help children, teens, and adults on their journey of faith by joining our Faith Formation Ministry. • Keep parishioners and visitors connected to one another by joining one of our Parish Life Ministries. • Take the love of Christ to people who are suffering by joining one of our Outreach Ministries. Whatever God is calling you to do, take that next bold step in faith. Explore our website for more infor-mation or just call us. We’re happy to get you connected!
News & Events Featured News & Events
2018 TAX LETTERS AVAILABLE
Saint Brendan Church tax letters for 2018 contribu-tions have been emailed to parishioners for whom we have an email address. Tax letters will also be available at the Welcome Desk during Masses and at the Rectory Office. Tax letters not picked up by
February 28 will be mailed via first class mail. For more information or to request a copy of your
tax letter, please contact the Parish Manager at (415) 969-6815 or [email protected].
WHAT DO JESUITS KNOW THAT WE DON’T? The Ignatian Spirituality small group aims to find out. Rev. James Martin’s best seller The Jesuits
Guide to (Almost) Everything will be the basis for the group’s next phase of study beginning in March.
This friendly group meets in the Rectory for one hour on the first Sunday of each month after the
9:30 Mass. Please consider joining us as we explore this thought provoking topic. The book is available on Amazon. Contact Eldon Jesse @ (415) 333-9620
for additional information. We hope to see you!
2019 ARCHDIOCESAN ANNUAL APPEAL
KICKS OFF!
Please prayerfully consider making a gift to the 2019 Archdiocesan Annual Appeal. Your donation
supports social justice ministries, our schools, seminarians, and retired priests, to name just a few. The Appeal also helps our parish since all overage beyond our parish goal comes back to St. Brendan.
Your generosity is greatly appreciated!
ASH WEDNESDAY MASS SCHEDULE
Wednesday, March 6
6:30 a.m. Daily Mass (Fr. Celestine)
8:15 a.m. School Mass (Fr. Roger)
6:00 p.m. Evening Mass (Fr. Celestine)
Featured Article
Bible Upside-Downs: Real Stories of God Turning Bad into Good
The Story of Job Perhaps no biblical story is more worthy of a con-versation during our series of “Spin Doctoring” than the story of Job, found in the Old Testament. A good, loyal, and honest man, Job believed in the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and was blessed for it. He had many children and an honest and kind wife and was prosperous in his economic ventures as well. His vineyards flour-ished, and he and his family did not want for any-thing. But what comes next is truly the case for spin doctoring. One day, Satan appears be-fore the court of God in heav-en. Upon discovering that he has “been roaming the Earth and patrolling it” (Job 1:7), God asks whether Satan has noticed his servant Job. There is “no one on Earth like him,” God says, “blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil” (Job 1:8). Sa-tan acknowledges that he has indeed witnessed the acts of Job, but challenges God, asking if it is not for nothing that Job be-lieves. After all, Satan notes, “You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock are spread over the land” (1:10); is it not easy, then, to believe when the blessings of the Lord are multiple? For if you “put forth your hand and touch all that he has . . . surely he will curse you to your face,” Satan pro-claims (1:11). But God knows that Job’s faith is secure, and offers to show Satan that Job will not forsake Him in times of hardship. Satan thus brings every imaginable evil down up-on Job with repulsive gusto — in a few short days, he kills or allows all of Job’s livestock to be sto-
len, kills all of Job’s children, and afflicts Job with terribly painful sores. Job’s wife and friends en-courage him to renounce God, but Job is unwaver-ing in his faith in the Lord. Later in the story, God asks Job a series of rhetorical questions, to which Job affirms that God alone is the most powerful and most holy one. Pleased, God returns Job’s health and wealth, giving him twice the property as before, more children, and an extremely long life.
Why, though, we might ask, would God allow such horri-ble things to happen to his good and faithful servant? It seems, at face value, as though God is simply taking advantage of Job to win a deal with the devil. The problem of evil is one which has long challenged philoso-phers who grapple with the existence of God. How can an omniscient, omnipresent, and omnibenevolent God
such as ours allow evil to exist in the world? The answer to that question, though, is deceiving-ly simple. We are so quick to forget that our faith in God affords us the promise of eternal life. Eter-nal life means eternal time for God to be certain that our lives are ones which are great goods to us on the whole (even if our earthly lives were full of suffering), “for nothing will be impossible for God” (Luke 1:37). —Claire Kosewic, Staff Bulletin Writer
Stewards Share And Prosper In today’s second reading, Saint Paul confirms that Jesus is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Jesus is the first and the best of humanity, who gave himself back to the Father at the end of his earthly life as a one-time offering for all our sins. God should be a priority in our lives, and as stewards we should give him our first and best efforts, no matter how difficult that may be. Yet, we need to think: when we share our time, talent, and treasure with others, do we give out of pride, or because we are thankful for all God has given us? Do we give out of fear or obli-gation, or out of love and thanksgiving? Giving of ourselves, lov-ingly and thankfully, can give us the courage to do many things for others, even as far as to speak out against injustice without fear of retribution or retaliation. Each one of us is accountable to God for the gifts he has given us, and as stewards we cannot keep our gifts to ourselves. If I have gifts to offer and share, I shouldn’t be using them for my own per-sonal glory, but for God’s. Since we rely on God’s support, we can take the psalmist’s words to heart, that “whatever he does, prospers” (Psalm 1:3); we hope one day these words will apply to us and all we do. Let us continue our efforts even when it’s difficult, so we become like the trees in the first reading (Jeremiah 17:8) that show no distress in the drought, but still bear fruit for God and for others. Finally, as Jesus tells us today in the Beatitudes (Luke 6:23), we can rejoice and leap for joy, because our reward will be great in heaven from our trust in God – and the fruits of our stewardship.
—Jim Wollak, Parishioner
Stewardship
A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For eve-ry tree is known by its own fruit. For peo-ple do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks (Luke 6:43-45). Whatever blessings God has given you, we invite you to make a planned, proportionate, and sacrifi-cial financial commitment to this parish and to the poor that will en-dure.
NO SECOND COLLECTION NEXT WEEK
SUNDAY COLLECTION February 10, 2019
GOAL $ 9,500
TOTAL $ 9,935
Over
$ 435
Stewardship is the grateful response of a Christian disciple who recognizes and receives God’s gifts and shares them generously in love of God and neighbor. Stewardship is not about money or fundraising. It is a spirituali-ty. It is a way of life.
A steward recognizes that God is the source of all life and every blessing and that all gifts of time, talent, and treasure come from God. A steward is grateful for those gifts. A steward takes care of and increases those gifts and freely gives back the first and best portion of those gifts to God.
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SAINT BRENDAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Church
29 Rockaway Avenue San Francisco CA 94127 Rectory Phone: (415) 681-4225 Mon - Thurs: 8:30 am - Noon, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. Sun: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm www.stbrendanparish.org
School 940 Laguna Honda Blvd. San Francisco CA 94127 Tel. (415) 731-2665 www.stbrendansf.com
Convent Canossian Sisters 234 Ulloa Street San Francisco CA 94127 Tel. (415) 681-3465
STAFF
Pastor (415) 969-6788 Fr. Roger Gustafson [email protected] Parochial Vicar (415) 681-4225 Fr. Celestine Tyowua Ext.214 [email protected] Member & Volunteer Care (415) 969-6813 Sr. Angela Furia, FdCC [email protected] Children’s Faith Formation Carol Grewal (415) 969-6814 [email protected] Music Ministry (415) 218-1767 Mario Balestrieri School Principal (415) 731-2665 Dianne Lakatta [email protected] Parish Manager (415) 969-6815 Lisa Rosenlund [email protected] Financial Administrator (415) 969-6823 Maeve O’Reilly [email protected]
Administrative Assistant (415) 969-6824 Vera Gonzalez [email protected]
MASSES
Sunday: 7:30, 9:30,11:30 AM, 5:00 PM Mon-Fri: 6:30 & 8:15 AM Saturday: 8:15 AM 5:00 PM Holy Days: 6:30 AM, 8:15 AM and 6:00 PM
CONFESSIONS Saturday: 4:15 - 4:45 PM Wednesday: 7:15 - 7:45 PM
EUCHARISTIC ADORATION Wednesday: 7:00 - 8:00 PM Saturday: 4:00 - 4:45 PM
BAPTISMS & WEDDINGS
Please call us at (415) 681-4225 or visit our website at www.stbrendanparish.org.
MASS INTENTIONS (Feb. 18-24, 2019)
Weekend
SAT 8:15 a.m. Eleanor Visser (D) (5-year Anniversary)
SAT 5 p.m.
People of St. Brendan Parish
SUN 7:30 a.m. Martin Dwan (D)
SUN 9:30 a.m. Edward & Helen Flynn (D)
SUN 11:30a.m.
Angela & Giuseppe Tardio (L)
SUN 5:00 p.m. People of St. Brendan Parish
6:30 a.m. 8:15 a.m.
Monday Available Angela & Giuseppe Tardio (D)
Tuesday
Available Christina Beh (L) (Healing)
Wednesday Available Dr. Rebecca & Andrew Jackson (L) (Healing)
Thursday Available Special Intentions
Friday Available Robert O’Connell (D) & Conchita Chao (D)
Weekday