CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY

April 26, 2015 – Fourth Sunday of Easter
CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY
A praying, learning and caring Catholic community
MISSION STATEMENT
We are a praying, learning and caring community
fulfilling the mission God gives us in baptism
by our worship in faith, by our witness in hope and by our service in love.
Praying through the Sacraments,
Learning through Religious Education,
Caring through Pastoral Care.
Father Lawrence M. Purcell, Pastor
lmpurcell@nativitycatholic.org; 858-756-1911, ext. 4
Deacon Jim Walsh
jwalsh@nativitycatholic.org; 858-367-0114
Parish Office Mailing Address: Post Office Box 8770
Nativity School Mailing Address: Post Office Box 9180
6309 El Apajo Road
Rancho Santa Fe, California 92067
(858) 756-1911; FAX: (858) 756-9562; www.nativitycatholic.org
Page Two
Church of the Nativity
April 26, 2015
Fourth Sunday of Easter
See what love
the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
— 1 John 3:1
ÚÚ 4
: 4 H
r r r r Hr
H H H H
Please join us in singing the Psalm Response:
The
H‹
stone
re - jec - ted by
the
H
G
build - ers,
REFLECTING ON GOD’S WORD
All of creation has the power to lay down its life. The yearly
seasons lay down the bounty of their harvest, and daily our own
lives pour forth their energy into tasks and labors—all a laying
down. Most people want to be and are generous. Most people
want to forgive. Most people want to be patient, to sacrifice for
the sake of love, to give back what is received. Most people
want to give of themselves for the happiness of others, to do
service for the community, to donate blood, to be able to forgo
their own way for the sake of harmony, to be courageous even
at great cost.
All of creation also has the power to take up life again.
Springtime returns; each morning we instinctively awaken to
another day; weakened bodies heal. We also have the power to
take up life. We seek relationships of love; we desire to enflesh
that love with children. We work hard; we long to be creative;
we strive to be good; we seek to create harmony and peace.
We hunger for a relationship with our God. And we succeed
more often than not. We do have a God-given power to take up
new life. It is our God’s command to us.
That dual rhythm of laying down and taking up is but the echo of
the Lord Jesus and how he chose to live among us. It was his
Father’s command to him, bred in his bones and in his spirit,
and it is a command that continues to show itself in our lives.
—Rev. Joseph J. Juknialis
Copyright © 2014, World Library Publications. All rights reserved.
r r
H H
H
H
has be - come the
H
H
cor - ner - stone.
REFLEXIONEMOS SOBRE
LA PALABRA DE DIOS
Toda la creación tiene el poder de entregar su vida. Las
estaciones del año entregan la abundancia de su cosecha y
también de nuestra propia vida emana una energía para realizar
tareas y labores, todo es una entrega. La mayoría de las
personas quieren ser generosas y lo son. La mayoría de las
personas quieren perdonar. La mayoría de las personas quieren
ser pacientes, sacrificarse en nombre del amor, dar de la misma
manera que se ha recibido. La mayoría de las personas quieren
sacrificarse por la felicidad de otras personas, quieren dar
servicio a la comunidad, donar sangre, privarse de algo a fin de
que haya armonía y ser valientes aunque el costo sea grande.
Toda la creación también tiene el poder de recobrar la vida. La
primavera regresa; cada mañana nos despertamos
instintivamente a un nuevo día; los cuerpos débiles se sanan.
También nosotros tenemos el poder de recobrar la vida.
Buscamos relaciones de amor; deseamos pasar ese amor a los
niños. Trabajamos duro; anhelamos ser creativos; nos
esforzamos en ser buenos; buscamos armonía y paz. Ansiamos
una relación con nuestro Dios. Y la mayoría de las veces lo
logramos. En efecto tenemos un poder que Dios nos ha dado
para iniciar una vida nueva. Es un mandamiento que Dios nos
ha dado.
Ese ritmo binario de entregar la vida e iniciarla de nuevo no es
más que un eco del Señor Jesús y de la manera que él escogió
vivir entre nosotros. Fue el mandamiento que su Padre le dio,
engendrado en sus huesos y en su espíritu, y es un
mandamiento que sigue vigente en nuestra vida.
—Padre Joseph J. Juknialis
Derechos de autor © 2014, World Library Publications.
LIVING GOD’S WORD
Jesus tells us: “If you remain in me and my words remain in
you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for
you” (John 15:7).
Which words of his are calling you to life? Ask him to help
you to trust in the Father and surrender to what the Father
wills for you.
Copyright © 2014, World Library Publications. All rights reserved.
G‹
Page Three
Church of the Nativity
April 26, 2015
A Dream for the Future: Being A Missionary of Mercy
A highlight of my personal experience of faith was the feast of the Immaculate Conception
of Mary, December 8, 1965. I was very privileged to participate in a minor way in the
Solemn Conclusion of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council.
Ten days later, in the same basilica of St. Peter at the Vatican, my classmates and I from the
North American College in Rome were ordained priests. That was fifty years ago this year.
Our ordination class is preparing to celebrate our 50th anniversary of ordination on
December 18, 2015. Because this is our 75th birthday year, we are turning over to others our
roles as pastoral leaders. But we are not “retiring” in the common sense of the term.
On December 8, 2015, just at the time we will be celebrating our golden jubilee of priestly
life and ministry, the Church will be beginning a Jubilee Year of Mercy.
We began our final years of seminary
just as the Second Vatican Council
was beginning and were ordained
ten days after its solemn conclusion.
We could be called “the generation of the Council”
when, as Pope Francis recently said, “the Church
entered a new phase of her history…The Council
Fathers strongly perceived, as a true breath of the
Holy Spirit, a need to talk about God to men and
women of their time in a more accessible way."
Among other special initiatives for the holy year, Francis announced that during the 2016
season of Lent he will be asking some priests to serve as special "Missionaries of Mercy"
to go around the world to hear confessions with the authority to pardon even those sins
reserved to the Holy See." Maybe me?
God bless you – Fr. Lawrence Purcell, Pastor
Page Four
Church of the Nativity
April 26, 2015
MASS INTENTIONS
APRIL 25 — MAY 1
SATURDAY
5:00 pm
1 Pt 5:5b-14; Ps 89:2-3, 6-7, 16-17;
Mk 16:15-20
Elizabeth Hinkel, RIP
SUNDAY
7:30 am
For All Parishioners
9:00 am
Angie Giacalone, RIP
10:30 am
Charles E. Muha, RIP
MONDAY
8:00 am
Acts 11:1-18; Ps 42:2-3; 43:3, 4; Jn 10:1-10
Patrick Kisicki, RIP
TUESDAY
8:00 am
Acts 11:19-26; Ps 87:1b-7; Jn 10:22-30
Ann Beuerle, RIP
WEDNESDAY
8:00 am
Acts 12:24 — 13:5a; Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8;
Jn 12:44-50
Sebastian Scola, RIP
THURSDAY
8:00 am
Acts 13:13-25: Ps 89:2-3, 21-22, 25, 27;
Jn 13:16-20
Jack Woods, RIP
FRIDAY
8:00 am
Acts 13:26-33; Ps 2:6-11ab; Jn 14:1-6
Carlo Resta, RIP
THE GLORY OF GOD
The glory of God is…
humanity fully alive.
—St. Irenaeus
TODAY’S READINGS
First Reading — There is no salvation through anyone else
(Acts 4:8-12).
Psalm — The stone rejected by the builders has become the
cornerstone (Psalm 118).
Second Reading — See what love the Father has bestowed on
us that we may be called the children of God (1 John 3:1-2).
Gospel — The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep
(John 10:11-18).
The Call to Worship is the first verse of a hymn that
first appeared in 1868. The words were written by the
British aristocrat and clergyman Henry Williams Baker
(1821-1877): The text is: The King of love my shepherd
is, whose goodness faileth never; I nothing lack if I am
his, and he is mine forever. Sir Henry’s last words were
reportedly lyrics from this hymn. This arrangement of one
its two customary tunes for this hymn was harmonized by
John Rutter.
The Offertory is Brother James’s Air, a metrical setting
of Psalm 23, of which the melody was written down by the
Scottish composer James Leith Macbeth Bain, (c1840 1925), after experiencing a vision. He founded a medical/
religious order called the Brotherhood of Healers, whose
goal was to heal both the spirit and body; one of his
healing techniques was to sing to his patients. He also
founded a health organization known as the Barefoot
League, which advocated always going without shoes.
He also believed that men should neither wear hats nor
cut their hair, as this would inhibit the absorption of
energy from the atmosphere.
The Communion begins with Flocks In Pastures
Green Abiding, an arrangement of the aria Sheep May
Safely Graze from the Cantata No. 208 by Johann
Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), composed in 1713 as
dinner-time entertainment on the occasion of the birthday
of Duke Christian of Sachsen-Weissenfels. Bach was
commissioned to write this cantata (a vocal composition
with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several
movements, often involving a choir) by his employer in
Weimar, Duke Wilhelm Ernst as a birthday present to
Duke Christian, and as Duke Wilhelm Ernst was invited to
the birthday celebration, he exhibited appropriate ducal
manners by bringing his musicians for the celebration.
One of Bach’s principal duties was to write cantatas for
the church, which at the time lasted an intense half-hour
to an hour on most Sundays. As the director of church
music in at St. Thomas in Leipzig in the 1720s, Bach had
to supply many of these; starting on Mondays, the
composing and copying of all the instrumental parts took
four days, with rehearsals on Friday and Saturday, and
performance at 8am on Sunday. Bach did four complete
cycles of 52 weeks like this, possibly more. The 200
cantatas that survived represent only a fifth of Bach's
thousand-odd works, which in turn are only a fraction of
his total output, a great deal of which has been lost. Bach,
indeed would probably have faded into history but for the
efforts of the composer Felix Mendelssohn, who did a
great deal to revive interest in his music.
The second piece is a setting of Psalm 23 by the British
composer Howard Goodall (b.1958), and was composed as
the theme music for the television comedy The Vicar of
Dibley, seen locally on PBS. Goodall has written popular
themes for many other programs which have won many
awards, including Mr. Bean and Blackadder, which starred
the actor Rowan Atkinson, who was his contemporary at
Oxford.
Page Five
Church of the Nativity
April 26, 2015
WIDOWS AND WIDOWERS
Please join us for a Brunch/ Lunch
Solana Beach Crush
437 S. Hwy. 101, Suite 112
Solana Beach, 92075
Meet on Sunday, May 17, 2015
at 12:15 pm, $25.00 per person.
Announcement from the
Diocesan Office for Social Ministry:
Restorative Justice Reduces Violence,
Improves Neighborhoods
and Changes Lives in California
A new video released by the California Catholic
Conference (CCC) captures exciting changes that are
happening across California. People are joining together
to restore communities impacted by violence and to build
safer neighborhoods based on the principals of
restorative justice.
For more information about restorative justice programs
in the Diocese of San Diego, contact Deacon Jim Walsh
at 858-490-8375 or jwalsh@diocese-sdiego.org
Watch the video at: www.restorejustice.com or
www.diocese-sdiego.org/restore
Deadline for reservations:
Thursday, May 14th!
Pat Smart (858) 259-7794 or
Mary Lou Matthews (858) 481-6255
Welcome Newcomers
to Nativity!
Sunday, May 17th
The Nativity Samaritans will host
our Newcomers Event in the Parish Commons after
the 9 o'clock and 10:30 Mass on Sunday, May 17th.
Please plan to come and get better acquainted as you
enjoy home-made goodies provided by the Nativity
Samaritans.
Join Us …
Average Expenses Per Week:
$ 22,166
Last Weekend’s Offering:
$ 21,739*
Active Parishioners
Inactive Parishioners
Envelope Usage
1186
53
801
Registration means “signing up”
to have your current name(s),
addresses, telephone number and
email on file in the church office.
If you would like to become a registered parishioner at
Church of the Nativity, please contact Nicole Steele at
858-756-1911 or nsteele@nativitycatholic.org
Please pray for our benefactors who include
Nativity in their wills and remainder trusts.
* This amount includes those contributing through the
Faith Direct program.
You may now make a contribution to Nativity Parish online at www.faithdirect.net.
Those who enroll can log on to the secure website of Faith Direct at any time to
view their account, make changes and make special gifts. For assistance or
information email: info@faithdirect.net.
FAITH DIRECT - A NOTE FROM THE PASTOR
Do you often find yourself without your checkbook or envelope on
Sunday morning? Join the many parishioners who have already
enrolled in Faith Direct for automated giving to Church of the
Nativity. Faith Direct is secure and convenient, and will provide you with
an offertory card to place in the basket during the collections. There is
no cost to you, and the program provides a great benefit to our parish.
Sign up today by visiting www.faithdirect.net
Our parish code is CA288
Please consider using Faith Direct today
Please join the school children
for our annual traditional
May Crowning and Rosary
Friday, May 1st at 8:30am
in the school grotto
All are invited to pray with us as
we honor our Blessed Mother.
Stay for refreshments, Art Show
and Open House following the
ceremony.
Page Eight
Church of the Nativity
LORD'S DAY MASS SCHEDULE
Saturday Vigil: 5:00 pm
Sunday: 7:30, 9:00 & 10:30 am
RCIA and Youth Minister: Mike James,
mjames@nativitycatholic.org, 858-756-1911, ext. 5
Religious Education: Patti Smiley,
psmiley@nativitycatholic.org, 858-756-1911, ext. 6
Music Director: Paul Batchelor,
pbatchelor@nativitycatholic.org, 858-756-1911, ext. 102
The Nativity School: Margaret Heveron, Principal
mheveron@thenativityschool.org, 858-756-6763
Bookkeeper: Jackie Marin,
jmarin@thenativityschool.org, 858-756-6763
Administrative Assistant: Nicole Carlin Steele,
nsteele@nativitycatholic.org, 858-756-1911
Office Hours: Monday - Friday
8:30 am to 2:30 pm
Pastoral Council: Carl Bobkoski, Jane Boler, Kevin Flanagan,
Cindy Hesse, Mimi Johnson, Kathy Klink.
Finance Council: Jeff Brandon, Chair
Michael Conway, Chic Dohoney, Jim LaGrossa,
Catherine Lorenz, Earl Parker, Carolyn Wilkinson, Joe Wilkinson
April 26, 2015
FAMILY FAITH FORMATION
Classes meet September through June
PRESCHOOL THROUGH 8TH GRADE
Contact: Patti Smiley, 858-756-1911, ext. 6
Preschool - 6th Grade:
Sundays, 8:50 - 10:05 am at The Nativity School
Junior High:
Sundays, 5:00 - 6:15 pm in the Commons
2nd graders have begun practicing for First Communion in the church after Mass. Parents should wait for
their dismissal at the school at the normal time.
Patti Smiley will be joining the Jr High students for a
brief presentation about Safe Environment. A letter of
explanation has gone home to all Jr High parents.
HIGH SCHOOL
Contact: Mike James, 858-756-1911, ext 5
High School Youth Group (9th - 12th Grade)
Meet Sundays from 5:00 to 6:15 pm
Safe Environment Coordinator: John Marin
Call the Parish Office - 858-756-1911
PASTORAL CARE
Nativity Samaritans: Patti Smiley, 858-756-1911
Childcare: Attended care is provided in the play room off
the Commons during 9:00 and 10:30 am Sunday Masses.
Holy Communion for the sick:
For the homebound upon request, 858-756-1911
Widows and Widowers:
Mary Lou Matthews, 858-481-6255
Monthly Luncheons - September through June
Men of Nativity: Meet First Thursday of the month
6 - 8 pm in the Parish Commons
Tim Van Damm, 617-501-3950
Small Christian Communities - Faith Sharing Groups
See Deacon Jim Walsh or contact Kathy Alameda at
858-756-9755 or kathyalameda1@gmail.com
SACRAMENTS
Baptism: After last Sunday Mass
Darlene & Ross Larson, 858-780-8837 (scdarls@gmail.com)
Marriage: Saturdays, 10 am or 2 pm
Wedding Coordinator: Georgiana Strate, 858-755-7459
Anointing of the Sick: Encouraged for anyone critically ill,
for the elderly, or prior to major surgery
Topic Night is this Sunday. All freshmen-seniors meet
from 5-6:15pm in the Commons.
HIGH SCHOOL CONFIRMATION
Contact: Mike James, 858-756-1911, ext 5
The Confirmation Mass has been set for 12 noon on
Sunday May 3.
Candidates and their sponsors should be here by 11am
for a final rehearsal.
We will have a short reception after the Mass and
conclude by 2pm.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (RCIA)
Contact: Mike James, 858-756-1911, ext 5
Next session begins in the Fall.
Please contact Mike James for more information.
ADULT FAITH FORMATION & BIBLE STUDY
Reconciliation: Saturday, 4:15 pm in the Chapel
Eucharist:
Weekday Mass: Monday - Friday, 8 am in the Chapel
Centering Prayer Group: Saturdays, 9 am in the Chapel
Contact: Dixie Welsh, 858-756-1911
Eucharistic Adoration: Every Friday after 8 am Mass
Perpetual Help Novena: Tuesdays, after 8 am Mass
Rosary: Weekdays, after 8 am Mass in the Chapel
Little Rock Scripture Study for Adults
Let the Word of God influence your Busy Life.
Monday Mornings 9:15-11:00 am
Develop a fuller experience of Christian community,
Contact: Kathy Klink 858-756-1328