January 2013 Year 18 — No. 1 Holy Cross Catholic Church NEWSLETTER Paphos Gate, 1010 Nicosia; PO Box 21964, 1515 Nicosia, Cyprus Tel. (357) 22 662132; Fax: (357) 22 660767; Email: [email protected]; URL: www.holy-cross-nicosia.com Parish Priest: Fr. Evencio Herrera ofm; Assist. Priests: Fr. Andrew Arhin ofm, Fr. Vito Gabriele Scagliuso xs May the splendor of Your majesty, O Lord, we pray, shed its light upon our hearts. SUNDAY MASSES 8:00 am English 9:30 am English 11:00 am French: Every 1st Sunday of the month 11:00 am Tagalog: Every 2nd Sunday of the month 11:00 am Indian: Every 3rd Sunday of the month 11:00 am Sinhala: Every 4th Sunday of the month 6:30 pm English (Children) 7:00 am English Sri Lankan Sisters’ Chapel 7:00 am English St. Joseph’s Sisters’ Chap- el 7:30 am Greek (Tuesdays) Devotion to St. Anthony 8.00 am English (Wednesdays) 6:30 pm English 4:00 pm Polish: Every 1st Saturday of the month 4:00 pm Spanish: Every 2nd Saturday of the month 6:30 pm English (Sunday Liturgy) WEEKDAY MASSES SATURDAY MASSES Monday to Saturday at 5:20 pm or by appointment. CONFESSIONS YEAR OF FAITH —The transcendent God - 2 In my previous reflection I have cited Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina because of his profound experience of God as a real person whom he could talk with, whom he could see, in whom he could trust. He had a familiar joy- ful approach with Jesus and Mary. If God were not felt as a truly real person, our trust or faith in Him would soon become an abstract, irrele- vant exercise of something which could not bring true happiness into our human life. Instead we need to meet God as He really is in order to have a total and joyful faith in Him. Saint John the Apostle says that the way to meet Him does not consist of a physical contact. We cannot touch Jesus as the crowds were able to touch Him when he passed from one village to another announcing the truth of God. We cannot see and hear Him in the same way that the crowds used to listen to the Words of God announced by Jesus of Naza- reth. His divine presence is primarily felt in a spiritual way in the very depths of our heart, as Jesus himself revealed to the woman at Jacob’s well. The vision of God, experienced by the prophet Elisha many centu- ries before the birth of Jesus, is very significant for us in today’s world. Elisha had expected to meet God in the only way he could imagine, which was in a human physical contact with Him. Instead God first sent him up to a high mountain. Then He asked him to enter into a deep grotto and close it with a big stone. After a great earthquake and a strong wind, thunder and lightening had announced His coming, Elisha finally recognised the presence of God in a still, small breeze and adored Him. The saints, even those particularly familiar to us, used to experience an intimate communion with God every time they prayed in their deep si- lence and their long meditations. Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity felt the presence of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity in her heart with such wonderful intensity that her hymn to the Three Persons became famous and spread all over the world. Try to imitate our holy models and we will enjoy the presence of God more and more in our hearts. Fr. Vito Scagliuso, sx Read from the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Ch. 1, pp. 35-49 Dear family of Holy Cross parish, Before we start the New Year, let us say “thank you” to the Lord: 1. Many have died this year…thank you for the gift of my life. 2. Many have no family…. Thank you for the gift of my family. 3. Thank you because our children are healthy. 4. Thank you for allowing us to survive in the economic crisis. 5. Thank you for the opportunity to ask for forgiveness for our mistakes. 6. Thank you for allowing us to start, with your help, a new and better chapter in our lives. 7. Thank you because even though we are not millionaires, you continue loving us! 8. Thank you for our desire to start a New Year with more love for You and for the people around us. HAPPY NEW YEAR WITH JESUS OUR LORD!!! Fr Evencio ofm
Transcript
January 2013 Year 18 — No. 1
Holy Cross Catholic Church NEWSLETTER
Paphos Gate, 1010 Nicosia; PO Box 21964, 1515 Nicosia, Cyprus
May the splendor of Your majesty, O Lord, we pray, shed its light upon our hearts.
SUNDAY MASSES
8:00 am English
9:30 am English
11:00 am French: Every 1st Sunday of the month
11:00 am Tagalog: Every 2nd Sunday of the month
11:00 am Indian: Every 3rd Sunday of the month
11:00 am Sinhala: Every 4th Sunday of the month
6:30 pm English (Children)
7:00 am English
Sri Lankan Sisters’ Chapel
7:00 am English
St. Joseph’s Sisters’ Chap-el
7:30 am Greek (Tuesdays)
Devotion to St. Anthony
8.00 am English (Wednesdays)
6:30 pm English
4:00 pm Polish: Every 1st Saturday of the month
4:00 pm Spanish: Every 2nd Saturday of the month
6:30 pm English (Sunday Liturgy)
WEEKDAY MASSES
SATURDAY MASSES
Monday to Saturday at 5:20 pm or
by appointment.
CONFESSIONS
YEAR OF FAITH —The transcendent God - 2
In my previous reflection I have cited Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina because of his profound experience of God as a real person whom he could talk with, whom he could see, in whom he could trust. He had a familiar joy-
ful approach with Jesus and Mary.
If God were not felt as a truly real person, our trust or
faith in Him would soon become an abstract, irrele-vant exercise of something which could not bring true happiness into our human life. Instead we need to meet God as He really is in order to have a total and joyful faith in Him.
Saint John the Apostle says that the way to meet Him does not consist of
a physical contact. We cannot touch Jesus as the crowds were able to touch Him when he passed from one village to another announcing the
truth of God. We cannot see and hear Him in the same way that the crowds used to listen to the Words of God announced by Jesus of Naza-
reth. His divine presence is primarily felt in a spiritual way in the very depths of our heart, as Jesus himself revealed to the woman at Jacob’s well. The vision of God, experienced by the prophet Elisha many centu-ries before the birth of Jesus, is very significant for us in today’s world. Elisha had expected to meet God in the only way he could imagine, which was in a human physical contact with Him. Instead God first sent him up to a high mountain. Then He asked him to enter into a
deep grotto and close it with a big stone. After a great earthquake and a strong wind, thunder and lightening had announced His coming, Elisha finally recognised the presence of God in a still, small breeze and adored Him.
The saints, even those particularly familiar to us, used to experience an intimate communion with God every time they prayed in their deep si-lence and their long meditations. Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity felt the presence of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity in her heart with such wonderful intensity that her hymn to the Three Persons became famous and spread all over the world. Try to imitate our holy models and we will enjoy the presence of God more and more in our hearts. Fr. Vito Scagliuso, sx Read from the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Ch. 1, pp. 35-49
Dear family of Holy Cross parish,
Before we start the New Year, let us say “thank you” to the Lord: 1. Many have died this year…thank you for the gift of my life. 2. Many have no family…. Thank you for the gift of my family. 3. Thank you because our children are healthy. 4. Thank you for allowing us to survive in the economic crisis. 5. Thank you for the opportunity to ask for forgiveness for our mistakes. 6. Thank you for allowing us to start, with your help, a new and better chapter in our lives. 7. Thank you because even though we are not millionaires, you continue loving us! 8. Thank you for our desire to start a New Year with more love for You and for the people around us. HAPPY NEW YEAR WITH JESUS OUR LORD!!! Fr Evencio ofm
CALENDAR JANUARY CELEBRATIONS
1/1 Mary, Mother of God, Solemnity
2/1 Sts Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen, bishops & doctors (4
thC), Memorial
6/1 Epiphany of the Lord, Solemnity
13/1 Baptism of the Lord, Feast
17/1 St. Anthony, abbot (3rd
-4th C),
Memorial
21/1 St. Agnes, virgin & martyr (3rd
-4th
C), Memorial
24/1 St. Francis of Sales, bishop and doctor (1567-1622), Memorial
25/1 Conversion of St Paul the
Apostle, Feast
26/1 Sts Timothy & Titus, bishops, Me-morial
28/1 St.Thomas Aquinas, priest & doc-tor (1225-1274), Memorial
31/1 St. John Bosco, priest (1815-1888), Memorial
YEAR C — CYCLE 1
SAINT OF THE MONTH: ST. JOHN BOSCO (DON BOSCO)
Other Highlights of the Month
(Optional memorials) Most Holy Name of Jesus (3/1), St.
Raymond of Penyafort (7/1), St. Vincent of
Saragossa (22/1). The feasts of Sts. Fabian
& Sebastian (20/1), St. Hilary (13/1) and
St. Angela Merici (27/1) are superseded by
the Sunday liturgy.
The early years of Giovanni Bosco (born in Castelnuovo, diocese of Turin,1815) were most difficult, owing to the poverty of his home. He received instruction from the parish priest, entered the seminary and was ordained to the priesthood in 1841. One of his duties as a priest was to visit prisons. He was shocked at the conditions young people were enduring. The Industrial Revolu-tion was spreading into Northern Italy and there was a great deal of poverty and desolation in Turin. He made his decision: “I must, by any available means, prevent children ending up here.” His service to young people started when he instructed young apprentices in preparation for receiving Holy Communion. In 1842, he opened the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales for boys. In spite of all difficulties –people complained that his community was a nuisance, owing to the character of the boys he befriended-, he persevered. In the end the importance of the work was recognized and funds were allotted for the erection of technical schools and workshops.
Don Bosco’s theory of education was a preventive system. He rejected corporal punishment and placed students in surroundings removed from the likelihood of committing sin. He sought to unite spiritual life with work, study and play.
In 1854 he and his followers informally banded together, inspired by St. Francis de Sales. Their group became the Salesian Society (approved in 1869). Later, with the help of Sr. Mary Dominic Mazzarello, Don Bosco founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Auxiliatrix. When he died in 1888 there were 250 houses of the Salesian Society in all parts of the world. Adapted from Saints of the Roman Calendar and the Catholic Encyclopedia.
May the splendor of Your majesty, O Lord, we pray, shed its light upon our hearts.
The month of January is dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus, which is
celebrated on January 3. The first days of January, until the Epiphany,
traditionally conclude the Christmas Season—the 12 days of Christ-
mas. After the Feast of the Baptism, the Ordinary Time liturgy begins.
EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
Father of light,
unchanging God,
today you reveal to men of faith
the resplendent fact of the Word made flesh.
Your light is strong, Your love is near;
draw us beyond the limits which this world
imposes,
to the life where Your Spirit makes all life complete.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
BAPTISM OF THE LORD
The Baptism of the Lord might seem an odd feast. Since the Church
teaches that the Sacrament of Baptism is necessary for the remission
of sins, particularly Original Sin, why was Christ baptized? After all,
He was born without Original Sin, and He lived His entire life with-
out sinning. In submitting Himself humbly to the baptism of St. John
the Baptist, however, Christ provided the exam-
ple for the rest of us. If even He should be bap-
tized, though He had no need of it, how much
more should the rest of us be thankful for this
sacrament, which frees us from the darkness of
sin and incorporates us into the Church, the life of
Christ on earth! Adapted from Scott P. Richert, Catholicism Guide
PARISH UPDATES, NOTICES, NEWS, ETC.
Holy Cross Parish Council News & Messages
Greetings and best wishes for a New Year 2013 full of joy, the power and the abundant blessings of the
Lord and His Spirit for our lives, for each one of us personally, for our families, our loved ones, for our par-
ish of the Holy Cross, its priests, its people and for all our Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and the peo-
ple of God throughout the world! The Parish Council over the last year has been working in accordance with
an Annual Plan which has been put together after serious consideration by all its members. The Parish Coun-
cil worked through the year to implement it and to serve the Parish as best as it could. Among other things,
we launched the Holy Cross Parish Website, the Movie Nights every first Friday of the month, the Parish
Register, meetings with the local Latin community, Pilgrimages at special times during the year and the Holy
Cross Annual Calendar. The HOLY CROSS 2013 CALENDAR dedicated to
the Year of Faith proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI went to print in early December; one thousand copies
were produced and they are available to everyone at 2 euro each. It is a wonderful calendar full of infor-
mation and through which you can also follow the feasts and daily readings of the mass, the prayer weeks,
the special occasions in the life of our parish and also be inspired by the articles and icons on the faith eve-
ry month. Finally, many more good things and gifts are ahead of us; the Annual Plan for 2013 of the Parish
Council would be put together soon and we would be grateful for your good suggestions in this respect – you
can email us at [email protected]. We call upon the mercy of the Risen Lord for each one of
us in our Parish for every day over the coming year and beyond. May He bless us and protect us strongly
through His love and His power to save and to give Eternal Life. Akis HjiIossif (Chairman)
May the splendor of Your majesty, O Lord, we pray, shed its light upon our hearts.
Bible study Would you like to deepen your understanding of God's
living Word, and hear what God is saying to you today?
From the catechesis of Pope Benedict XVI for the Year of Faith [24 October 2012]
What is faith, in a world of science and technology? In our time we need a renewed education in the faith that includes,
knowledge of its truths and of the history of salvation, but that is born above all from a true encounter with God in Jesus Christ.
Despite the scientific discoveries, we have not become any freer or more human; exploitation, violence, injustice endure. To-
day’s culture teaches people to believe only in what they can see and touch. Yet the number of those who feel bewildered and
seek something else to believe in is also growing. Certain fundamental questions reemerge, from which it becomes clear that
science is not enough on its own. What is life’s meaning? Is there a future for us? What awaits us beyond death? These show
that we do not only need bread, we need love, meaning and hope, to help us especially in times of crises, but also in our daily
problems.
Faith gives us precisely this: It is a confident entrustment to a “You”, who is God, who gives us a different certitude, but not
less solid than that which comes from logic and science; it is not a mere intellectual assent to specific truths about God; it is an
act with which we entrust ourselves freely to a God who is Father and who loves us. Indeed, God has revealed that his love for
each one of us is boundless. With the mystery of Christ’s death and Resurrection, God plumbs to the depths of our humanity to
bring it back to him. Faith is believing in this love that is never lacking in the face of human wickedness, evil and death, but is
able of transforming every kind of slavery, giving us the possibility of salvation; a gift for all men and women.
Having faith, then, is meeting this God; entrusting myself to God with the attitude of a child, who knows well that all his diffi-
culties and problems are understood in the “you” of his mother. Believing gives us and our world a profound meaning that we
are unable to give to each other but can only receive as a gift, on which we can live without fear. And we must be able to pro-
claim this liberating faith with words and witness it with our Christian life. We cannot remain indifferent as many do today,
since faith is not only a gift that comes with the grace of the Holy Spirit, but also a free and human act. It involves human free-
dom and reason uplifting them in a gamble for life that is like an exodus, a coming out of ourselves and our framework, to en-
trust ourselves to the action of God pointing out to us the way to true freedom, human identity, joy of heart, and peace with eve-
ryone.
Let us believe and entrust ourselves to God’s providential plan for history, as did Abraham and Mary. Let us say this “yes”
with mind and heart, which may transform our lives; be grasped by Christ; grow in faith through our familiarity with Sacred
Scripture and the sacraments; experience a new life in the Spirit, God’s new presence guiding us to everlasting life.
prepared/adapted by Loris Kasapis
THE HOLY FATHER’S INTENTIONS
for the month of January
General: That in this Year of Faith
Christians may deepen their knowledge
of the mystery of Christ and witness
joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary: That the Christian commu-
nities of the Middle East, often discrimi-
nated against, may receive from the Ho-
ly Spit the strength of fidelity and perse-
verance.
Subscribe to the Parish Regis-ter in order to benefit from it. Ask one of the priests for the yellow
Registration form.
MORE PARISH UPDATES, NOTICES, NEWS
WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN
UNITY
January 18 – 25
Theme: What does
God require of us?
(based on Micah 6:6
-8) ‘With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thou-
sands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of
my body for the sin of my soul?‘ He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does
the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly
