Bulletin 189

SAINT AGNES CATHEDRAL 533 South Jefferson Springfield, MO 65806

EXTRAORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS (LATIN)

CELEBRANT: Father Jeff Fasching

February 2, 2014
Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Epistle: Mal. 3: 1-4
Gospel: Lk. 2: 22-32

Mass Schedule February 3-7

Mon 3 No Latin Mass
Tue 4 Saint Andrew Corsini, Bishop & Confessor
Wed 5 Saint Agatha * Virgin & Martyr
Thu 6 Saint Titus, Bishop & Confessor
Fri 7 Sacred Heart of Jesus

Mass on February 7 will be followed by exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and benediction.

February 3 is the feast of Saint Blasé, Bishop and Martyr. In honor of Saint Blasé the traditional blessing of throats will take place immediately following the 2:30pm Mass on February 2.

Sunday, February 2 the Church celebrates the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. These events occurred forty days after the birth of Jesus. In the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite February 2 closes out the Christmas season.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was presented in the Temple by the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph in obedience to the Old Law. Christ is revealed as the Messiah and Simeon sings out his Canticle Nunc dimittis. Christ is the light of the nations; hence there will be a blessing of candles with a procession before Mass begins.

To commemorate these two great feasts the faithful are invited to bring Candles (made from bees wax) to be blessed before the 2:30pm Mass on February 2. The procession commemorates the Lord’s entry into the Temple in Jerusalem and Christ’s entering into God’s house for the first time. You are invited to reflect upon the dispositions of the Blessed Virgin Mary as she presents Christ in the Temple. She shows her obedience to the Law of Moses and, as always, is a shining example of humility and purity.

In Christo Jesu et Maria Immaculata,

Fr. Jeff Fasching

Bulletin 116

SAINT AGNES CATHEDRAL 533 South Jefferson Springfield, MO 65806

EXTRAORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS (LATIN)

CELEBRANT Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

August 26th, 2012; 13th Sunday after Pentecost

Epistle: Gal. 3:16-22; Gospel: Lk. 17:11-19

Mass Schedule August 27th through August 31st

Monday –Saint Joseph Calasance, Confessor-- NO LATIN MASS

Tuesday-Saint Augustine, Bishop, Confessor & Doctor

Wednesday-Beheading of John the Baptist

Thursday-Saint Rose of Lima, Virgin

Friday-Requiem Mass + David Anderson

There will be a Potluck dinner Sunday, September 9th immediately following the 2:30pm Mass in the Saint Agnes school cafeteria. All are invited.

The best reasons for praying the Holy Rosary are the following:

1) For world peace… “Say the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world.” (Our Lady of Fatima, 1917). The Popes have highly recommended the Rosary to promote peace throughout the world.

2) A means for preserving the home…”There is no surer means of calling down God’s blessings upon the family…than the daily recitation of the Rosary”… Pope Pius XII

3) For courage in the hardships of life …”a powerful means of renewing our courage will undoubtedly be found in the Holy Rosary”…Pope Leo XIII

4) As a ready and easy means of preserving the faith…”We have elsewhere brought it to the attention of the devout Christian that not least among the advantages of the Rosary is the ready means it puts in his hands to nurture his faith, and to keep him from ignorance of his religion and the danger of error”…Pope Leo XIII

We should pray the rosary for the intention of making sacrifices in order to save sinners and ourselves from hell. The Magisterium has always taught the reality and eternity of hell. If God is merciful and if the human person is free, and thus capable of change, why must hell be eternal? We must not imagine that the damned piteously plea for God to accept their repentance and that He refuses to do so because they failed to meet a deadline that God arbitrarily set. If they are in hell forever it is because they refuse to repent and, indeed, given their choice to be who they are, they cannot repent. They do not wish to repent because they have freely chosen to make themselves and their will, not God and His will, the absolute value of their existence. Instead of embracing the infinite goodness and richness that is God, they have elected the barrenness which is themselves apart from God. It is not God who first rejects the damned, it is they who reject God, and they continue to reject Him. If God should offer the damned all the joys of heaven as a reward for sincere repentance, they would say, “I would rather be damned than submit to you.” Their will is totally, firmly, and irrevocably fixed upon themselves and against God. Having excluded God completely from their existence, they lack the principle from which conversion could take its origin; that is, reverence and love for God and a willingness to obey Him.

Let us pray for the conversion of sinners through the Holy Rosary!

Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Jeff Fasching

Jesus' Ministry of Healing the Sick

Healing the sick was an important part of Jesus' public ministry. It has been observed that wherever one turns in the Gospel accounts of Jesus' public ministry, one finds that Jesus is either healing, or has just healed, or is about to heal the sick. The healings and exorcisms effected by Jesus are signs that the Kingdom of God is at hand, and are an anticipated enjoyment of its blessings (Lk 11.20; Mt 12.28).

The beginning of Mark's Gospel describes what must have been a typical day in the ministry of Jesus. Notice what a prominent part was devoted to healing the sick. In the morning, Jesus attends a synagogue service during which He cures a man possessed by an unclean spirit (Mk 1.23-28). Immediately afterwards, He goes to Simon Peter's house and raises up Simon's mother-in-law who was stricken with fever (1.29-31). After sunset, He cures a large number of sick and possessed who were brought to Him from every side (1.32-34). The chapter closes with the cure of a leper (1.40-45) and with the remark that it was no longer possible for Jesus to enter a town openly because of the crowds. The next chapter begins with Jesus' curing a paralytic who had been let down through the roof (Mk 2.1-12). But first He pronounces the man forgiven of his sins, thus implying that there was a close connection between the man's bodily illness and sin (Mk 2.1-12).

In fact, Jesus makes it clear that it is more important to be cleansed from any spiritual ailment than to be healed physically in any way. What sins do we cling to? How are we in need of healing?

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Thy Kingdom Come

From a notebook on Prayer by Origen, priest:

The kingdom of God, in the words of our Lord and Savior, does not come for all to see; nor shall they say: Behold, here it is, or behold, there it is; but the kingdom of God is within us, for the word of God is very near, in our mouth and in our heart. Thus it is clear that he who prays for the coming of God's kingdom prays rightly to have it within himself, that there it may grow and bear fruit and become perfect. For God reigns in each of His holy ones. Anyone who is holy obeys the spiritual laws of God, who dwells in him as in a well-ordered city. The Father is present in the perfect soul, and with him Christ reigns, according to the words: We shall come to him and make our home with him...

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Names of the Sacrament of the Eucharist

The very first expression used to designate the Eucharist seems to have been "the breaking of the bread." Saint Luke uses the following words to describe the life of the first Christians immediately after Pentecost: "They devoted themsleves to the apostle's instruction and communal life, to the breaking of bread and prayers...They went to the temple area together every day, while in their homes they broke bread" (Acts 2.42,46). "On the first day of the week when we gathered for the breaking of bread, Paul preached to them" (Acts 20.7). There is probably a eucharistic allusion in Luke's report of the supper at Emmaus, "...He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread" (Lk. 24.35).

Saint Paul also uses a form of this expression to designate the Eucharist: "Is not the bread that we break a sharing in the body of Christ?" (1 Cor 10.16).

In Jewish writings of the first century, the expression "to break bread" was used with reference to the introductory rite of a meal, not to the entire meal. It was this initial act of breaking and sharing bread that Jesus made an effective sign of communion with Him and with one another.

Saint Paul refers to the Eucharist as "the Lord's Supper" (1 Cor 11.20) and "the Table of the Lord" (1 Cor 10.21), but there is no evidence to suggest that these were commonly used names for the Eucharist in the early Church.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Sincere Repentance

From a homily written in the second century:

We should repent of our sins while we are still on earth...we must wholeheartedly repent of sins committed in the body and make it possible for the Lord to save us while there is time. When we have left this world, we shall no longer be able to repent and confess our sins. We must do the will of the Father, keep our bodies pure, and observe the commandments of the Lord, for this is the way to obtain eternal life...In other words, in order to obtain eternal life, we must remain pure and keep the seal of our baptism undefiled.

...Our bodies are the temple of God, and as such we must guard them, for even as we were called in the body, so shall we also be judged in the body...
Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Presentation in the Temple

Today's Feast commemorates the obedience of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the Mosaic Law in going to Jerusalem forty days after the birth of Jesus and making the prescribed offerings. It also commemorates the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple, and the meeting of Christ with Simeon the prophet. Jesus is taken to the Temple "to present Him to the Lord."

The true Light has come. This is the Light that enlightens every man who is born into this world. Just as Simeon's eyes have seen the salvation of our God, so too have we. God has prepared this salvation for all the nations and revealed it as the glory of the new Israel, which is ourselves. We are thus freed from our old state of sinfulness.

As we embrace Christ with faith, we have joyfully become people of God. We have come to know God incarnate. We have Christ our Light shining in us always. We must therefore never stifle the Spirit by our sin. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of goodness and purity. We must not grieve the Holy Spirit by our evil thoughts and actions. When we do this, we deprive ourselves of Christ our Light.

Let up keep our minds strong and free from undo anxiety. Let us embrace the love that is Christ our Light.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Holy Family

The Gospel passage for Mass today depicts one of the more significant events in the life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Christ if found by His parents, the Blessed Virgin Mary and His foster father Saint Joseph after three days in the temple. Jesus is found to be asking and answering questions in a manner well beyond His young years. The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, along with all of the other mysteries in the life of Christ provide us with the opportunity not only to meditate on the significant events that help to unfold the life of Christ, but also to ask for particular graces as we do so.

We see in the Gospel today the holiness of Christ Jesus. As we meditate upon this particular mystery we ask God for the grace of conversion. Conversion is something we are all in need of. It is a life-long process. As we celebrate this Feast day in honor of the Holy Family we ask for an increase in holiness and for conversion. We want to strive to be closer to Christ. We want to be converted from our old ways of sin and thus grow in holiness.

Today let us ask through the intercession of the Holy Family Jesus, Mary and Joseph to grow in holiness and be converted from our sinful ways.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching