St. Mary Catholic Church www.stmary-wc.org 925-891-8900

Dear Friends,

I wish to offer my con-gratulations to our parish-ioner Paul Turek and to his wife, Emma. This week-end Paul was ordained a Deacon by Bishop Mi-chael Barber, and has been assigned to St. Mary Parish for his diaconal min-istry. As a deacon, Paul will be able to officiate at baptisms and weddings, lead prayer services, vigil and funeral services, and share the Word of God in preaching and in daily ministry and service. Please keep him in your prayers as he moves into this new phase in his life, and let us thank the Lord for bringing Paul’s ministry to our parish!

The Response to Psalm 103 this weekend is: The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compas-sion. This phrase alone gives us wonderful things to think and pray about. We seek God’s forgiveness and it is generously gifted to us. We fail in carrying out the commands of Jesus, but His love always gives us another chance to change our hearts and minds and follow Him completely.

May we, too, grow in forgiveness of those who hurt us or offend us. May we be examples of God’s mercy as we seek reconciliation with each other. Let us pray that the Spirit of God will bless us and help us to be kind and merciful ourselves. Father Fred

Faith Formation Ses-sions begin today, Sep-tember 13, for Little Saints (K through Grade 5). There will be two sessions: one from 9:30 to 10:30 and a second one from 12:30 to 1:30. Families can choose the session that works best for them. Materials were distributed last week so that the children can be ready for each session at home. If you registered late and need materials, please contact the Faith For-mation Office at (925) 891-8939 or Austin Pisciotto directly at apisciotto@stmary-wc.org. All other Faith Formation Sessions will begin during the week. High School Youth Group is on Tuesday evening at 7:00. Junior High EDGE program is on Wednesday evening at 7:00. Pre-registration is required since classes will be virtual through ZOOM and the Zoom information needs to be sent to each group in advance. Registration for Faith Formation and Youth Ministry began August 15. Please go to our parish website for the forms. Look on the Home Page or under individual ministries. Also now there is a possibility for a univer-sal payment for all the programs to be paid at one time, which should make payment easier for all families. **Check our video on St. Mary’s website to hear about the programs that will be offered this year.

Monday: Nm 21:4b-9; Ps 78:1-2, 34-38; Phil 2:6-11; Jn 3:13-17 Tuesday: 1 Cor 12:12-14, 27-31a; Ps 100:1b- 5; Jn 19:25-27 or Lk 2:33-35 Wednesday: 1 Cor 12:31 — 13:13; Ps 33:2-5, 12, 22; Lk 7:31-35 Thursday: 1 Cor 15:1-11; Ps 118:1b-2, 16ab- 17, 28; Lk 7:36-50 Friday: 1 Cor 15:12-20; Ps 17:1bcd, 6-8b, 15; Lk 8:1-3 Saturday: 1 Cor 15:35-37, 42-49; Ps 56:10c- 14; Lk 8:4-15 Sunday: Is 55:6-9; Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18; Phil 1:20c-24, 27a; Mt 20:1-16a

09/13 Robert Atkinson

Richard Kuiper

Carlos & Carmen Saldaña (L)

09/14 Lupita Fasquelle

09/15 Joseph Desimone (L)

09/16 Ted & Joy Todd (L)

09/17 Dan & Margie Horan (L)

09/18 Clara Dlugosz

09/19 Arthur Gaoiran Jr. & Giselle Gonzales (L)

Joe & Carolina Desouza

PRAY FOR THE SICK

Staff and Administration Website: www.stmary-wc.org

Parish Office 891-8900 Fax 934-1358 Fr. Fred Riccio, friccio@stmary-wc.org Pastor 891-8900 Fr. John Blaker, 891-8900 In residence Ana Lau, alau@stmary-wc.org Office Manager 891-8908 Aileen Baker, abaker@stmary-wc.org Bookkeeper 891-8911

Faith Formation

Maureen Tiffany mtiffany@stmary-wc.org Director of Faith Formation 962-5808 Mary Kerfs, lifeteen@stmary-wc.org Administrative Assistant 891-8939 Austin Pisciotto apisciotto@stmary-wc.org Coordinator K-Grade 6 891-8944 Jethro Castillo jcastillo@stmary-wc.org Youth Minister Grades 7-12 891-8920 Heather Abraham, habraham@stmary-wc.org Coordinator Confirmation 891-8934 & Community Service Tim Mannix tmannix@stmary-wc.org RCIA & Liturgy Coordinator 891-8921

School

Office 935-5054 stmary@st-mary.net Website: www.st-mary.net Alumni: stmaryalumni@st-mary.net Garrett Padia, Principal 935-5054

SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM (c. 344-407) Feast Day: September 13

“Speaking truth to power” may have become just an-other cliché, but doing precisely that cost John “the Golden Mouth” (Chrysostom) his diocese and, after exile and a forced march, his health and life. “Renowned for eloquence, heroic in suffering” (Sacramentary), John’s scriptural insights still comfort and challenge. Mystical theologian, he bids Eastern Christians, whose principal Divine Liturgy bears his name, to lift up their hearts to “God ineffable, beyond com-prehension, invisible, beyond understanding, exist-ing forever, always the same.” Model pastor, he warns Roman Catholics in the Liturgy of the Hours not to neglect God-in-the-flesh: “Would you honor Christ’s body? Do not scorn his nakedness, honoring him here in church with silken robes, while neglect-ing him cold and naked outside. What use to bur-den Christ’s altar with golden chalices, while Christ himself starves to death? What use dressing the altar with gold-woven cloths, while denying the shivering Christ the clothes he needs? Do not adorn the church while ignoring your needy brother: he is the most precious temple of all!” —Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.

MASS INTENTIONS

Anthony De Cristoforo Allison Flamez Monica Jara Ana Alvarez Isabel Castillo Susana Jaime Rosalinda Reyes Joseph Suta Jeanine Gordon Christine Pollnow Jake Johnstone Diane Hewson Clarissa Gutierrez Julia Rodriguez Fred & Emilia Sohn Raul Gonzalez Raquel Zittel Quinn Gurnett David Toy Ana Lopez

Dominador Hontucan Oralee Floria

Mary McLoughlin Angela Regan

Beverly Regan Josefina Zabat

Audry Robinson Loretta Holmes

Nancie Campi Betty Baker

Victor Miguel Barrios Carol Erikson

Nydia Pajarillo Danyel Sheets

Beth Wainwright Robin Wood

Billy Silva Mary Kennedy Marcella Hatch

Cheryl LaMarre

Seventy Times Seven

ROLE MODELS The “average” Christian has two role models in today’s Gospel: Peter and the indebted servant. Peter thinks he’s going to get the jump on Jesus and express his of-fer to be even more generous in forgiveness than he is expected to be. In a culture that was based on parity in revenge (an eye for an eye), to forgive somebody once or even twice was a generous ges-ture. So Peter was probably a bit self-righteously smug when he offered the biblically perfect number of seven as the amount of forgiveness he is willing to extend to another. But Jesus tells him that, no matter how good and forgiving we think we are, we need to be at least ten times more. The indebted servant hits what people in recovery programs refer to as “rock bottom” when his wife, family, and possessions are threatened. He has no choice but to fling himself on the king’s mercy. It is this act of pleading, of self-recognition of his extreme indebtedness to the king, that causes the compassionate release of regal mercy to flow freely. This is how the divine throne of grace interacts with us, Jesus illustrates.

ROLE REVERSAL But once the indebted servant’s plea for patience has been answered compassionately, he misses the opportunity to go forth and imitate the graciousness he has just received. When faced with his own smaller situation of being the creditor rather than the debtor, he develops the sort of amnesia that afflicts so many of us when we feel we have been wronged, slighted, or not paid in full. The indebted servant evidently did not know or did not heed the wisdom from Sirach in today’s first reading. He could not call to mind that a sinner is characterized by hugging wrath and anger tightly. When we hug wrath and anger this tightly, our arms are completely incapable of reaching out in the loving embrace of forgiveness. Peter, and all of us, must learn to keep the wisdom of Sirach and this parable in our hearts and close at hand each time we are called upon to forgive as we have been forgiven. In that way, we can truly live our prayer for God’s will for boundless mercy, forgiveness, and compassion to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Copyright © 2007, World Library Publications. All rights reserved.

WHY DO WE DO THAT? - CATHOLIC LIFE EXPLAINED Choosing Organ Donation

Question: Are Catholics allowed to donate their organs?

Answer: Yes, Catholics are allowed to donate their organs. In fact, the Catechism of the Catholic Church praises this practice when it notes that, “Organ dona-tion after death is a noble and meritorious act and is to be encouraged as an expression of generous soli-darity” (no. 2296). The Church has a series of guidelines for health care providers called The Ethical and Religious Direc-tives for Catholic Health Services. This document helps us see organ donation as an act of charity, but it also reminds us that we have to be sure that donations of organs by living donors do not “sacrifice or seriously impair any essential bodily function and the anticipat-ed benefit to the recipient is proportionate to the harm to the donor” (no. 30); trained medical profes-sionals can help to make this assessment. In the case of organ donation at the end of life, we must be sure of the intentions of the donor or of their proxy are al-ways respected, and that the dignity of the human body is always respected. In the end, we can look to Pope Saint John Paul II and his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, where he noted that organ donation is a beautiful act of expressing the culture of life, when “performed in an ethically acceptable manner, with a view to offering a chance of health or even of life itself to the sick who some-times have no other hope” (no. 86). ©LPi

MERCY Do you wish to receive mercy? Show mercy to your neighbor. —St. John Chrysostom

MODELOS Al cristiano “promedio” se le presentan dos modelos en el Evangelio de hoy: Pedro y el siervo deudor. Pedro piensa que va a tomarle la delantera a Jesús al expresar su ofer-ta de ser aún más generoso y perdonar más allá de lo esperado. En una cultura basada en la paridad de la venganza (ojo por ojo), perdonar a alguien una o dos veces era un gesto generoso. Así que Pedro se sentía oron-damente justo cuando ofreció perdonar siete veces, empleando el número perfecto según la Biblia. Pero Jesús le dice que no importa lo bueno o misericordioso que creamos ser; necesitamos serlo al menos diez veces más. Cuando su esposa, su familia y sus posesiones se ven ame-nazados, el empleado deudor cae “hasta tocar fondo”, como dice la gente que está en programas de recuper-ación. No tiene otra opción que arrojarse a la misericordia del rey. Es esta acción suplicante, este auto-reconocimiento de su enorme deuda para con el rey, lo que da lugar a que brote y fluya libremente la compasión del monarca. De esta manera Jesús ilustra cómo interactúa el trono de la gracia divina con nosotros.

INVERSIÓN DE PAPELES Sin embargo, una vez que su súplica pidiendo la paciencia del rey ha sido aceptada con compasión, el empleado endeudado pierde la oportunidad de imitar la benevolen-cia que acaba de recibir. Ante una situación menos grave, cuando él es el acreedor en vez del deudor, desarrolla un tipo de amnesia, que también nos aflige a muchos de no-sotros cuando creemos que nos han hecho algún mal o que nos han despreciado, o que no hemos recibido una retribución completa. El empleado deudor evidentemente no conocía o no prestó atención a la sabiduría de Sirá-cides en la primera lectura de hoy. No se acordó que el pecador tiende a aferrarse a su ira y a su enojo. Cuando nos aferramos a la ira y al enojo con tanta fuerza, nues-tros brazos son completamente incapaces de abrirse para dar el amoroso abrazo del perdón. Pedro y todos no-sotros debemos aprender a guardar en nuestro corazón la sabiduría de Sirácides y de esta parábola y tenerla a mano cada vez que seamos llamados a perdonar al igual que somos perdonados. De ese modo, la misericordia, el perdón y la compasión sin límites de Dios cobrarán vida en nosotros, y se hará su voluntad así en la tierra como en el cielo. Lecturas de hoy: Sirácide 27:30 — 28:9; Salmo 103:1–4, 9–12; Romanos 14:7–9; Mateo 18:21–35 Copyright © 2007, World Library Publications. All rights reserved.

STOS. CORNELIO (año 253) Y CIPRIANO (año 258) Fiesta: 16 de septiembre Cornelio era un ciudadano ro-mano que sucedió a san Fabián en el papado, luego de 14 meses sin obispo. El candidato que aspiraba al cargo le creó serios problemas, pues calificó de ilegítima la elección papal de Cornelio. Además, se oponía a que se recibiera en la Iglesia a los apóstatas, mien-tras que el Papa Cornelio sostenía que sí, que podían ser readmitidos luego de una penitencia. En el 253 se declaró una persecución contra los cristianos y Cornelio fue desterrado, su-friendo el cautiverio y posteriormente la decapi-tación. Durante su destierro recibió una carta del obispo Cipriano, quien lo felicitaba por sufrir en nom-bre de Cristo. Este obispo se había convertido a los 45 años al cristianismo, renunciando a su vida de placer y abrazando no sólo el Evangelio, sino también a los autores cristianos, entre ellos a Tertu-liano, quien influyó en él notablemente. Gracias a su conocimiento de oratoria y retórica, impulsó enor-memente el cristianismo en África. Como obispo, fue firme y caritativo, enfrentó la persecución y fue de-capitado. Ambos, Cipriano y Cornelio son recordados en la Plegaria Eucarística I del Rito Romano.

—Miguel Arias, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.

Lunes: Nm 21:4b-9; Sal 78 (77):1-2, 34-38; Flm 2:6-11; Jn 3:13-17 Martes: 1 Cor 12:12-14, 27-31a; Sal 100 (99):1b-5; Jn 19:25-27 o Lc 2:33-35 Miércoles: 1 Cor 12:31 — 13:13; Sal 33 (32):2-5, 12, 22; Lc 7:31-35 Jueves: 1 Cor 15:1-11; Sal 118 (117):1b-2, 16ab-17, 28; Lc 7:36-50 Viernes: 1 Cor 15:12-20; Sal 17 (16):1bcd, 6-8b, 15; Lc 8:1-3 Sábado: 1 Cor 15:35-37, 42-49; Sal 56 (55):10c- 14; Lc 8:4-15 Domingo: Is 55:6-9; Sal 145 (144):2-3, 8-9, 17- 18; Flm 1:20c-24, 27a; Mt 20:1-16a

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