VOL. 55 NO. 21 – MAY 24 th , 2020 THEME FOR THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD: Jesus commissions his disciples to baptize in his name, reminding them that he is always present through his Spirit. Having ascended to his Father amid cries of gladness, we are to be his witnesses for we have been gifted with his Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Let us, therefore, live in a manner worthy of the call we have received. UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE THERE WILL BE NO PUBLIC MASSES SAID HERE AT ST. AUGUSTINE’S. THE MASS INTENTIONS THAT WERE ALREADY SCHEDULED FOR SPECIFIC DATES, WILL BE RESCHEDULED AS SOON AS WE CAN. FR. VON DEEKE PLANS TO SAY A PRIVATE MASS EACH DAY FOR ALL PEOPLE, LIVING AND DECEASED. ST. AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY HECKER, ILLINOIS 62248 REV. VON C. DEEKE, PASTOR PARISH OFFICE 473-2217 FAX 473-9141 E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]PARISH WEBSITE: https://www.staugustineofcanterburyhecker.com To contact Father Von when not in Parish Office, Cell #618/214-6852 St. Vincent de Paul Help Line 618/792-4059 House of Neighborly Service Help Line 618/939-8680 Confessions: are heard each Saturday night from 4 to 4:45 pm and each Sunday from 8 to 8:20 am. Parish Office Hours: Mondays and Thursdays, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Closed from 12 noon to 1:00 pm for lunch. OUR SACRIFICE MADE TO GOD: 5-17-2020 Sunday Envelopes (47) - $2,195.00 Scholarship Fund - $1,209.00 (Total Donated since 8/1/2019) Thank you very much for your generosity! Printed copies of bulletins placed in plastic bins each week…bins located at the doors of church & Parish Office. The bulletins are also posted on our website!!! Fr. Von will be live streaming Masses at 5pm on Saturdays and 8:30am on Sundays. See St. Augustine’s Facebook Page. If you wish to have your name added to our Parish Email List, please let me know via [email protected]or 473-2217 & leave a message.
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VOL. 55 NO. 21 – MAY 24th, 2020 THEME FOR THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD: Jesus commissions his disciples to baptize in his
name, reminding them that he is always present through his Spirit. Having ascended to his Father amid cries of gladness, we are to be his witnesses for we have been gifted with his Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Let us, therefore, live in a manner worthy of the call we have received.
UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE THERE WILL BE NO PUBLIC MASSES SAID HERE AT ST. AUGUSTINE’S. THE MASS INTENTIONS THAT WERE ALREADY SCHEDULED FOR SPECIFIC DATES, WILL BE
RESCHEDULED AS SOON AS WE CAN. FR. VON DEEKE PLANS TO SAY A PRIVATE MASS EACH DAY FOR ALL PEOPLE, LIVING AND DECEASED.
ST. AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY HECKER, ILLINOIS 62248
REV. VON C. DEEKE, PASTOR PARISH OFFICE 473-2217 FAX 473-9141
E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] PARISH WEBSITE: https://www.staugustineofcanterburyhecker.com To contact Father Von when not in Parish Office, Cell #618/214-6852
St. Vincent de Paul Help Line 618/792-4059 House of Neighborly Service Help Line 618/939-8680
Confessions: are heard each Saturday night from 4 to 4:45 pm and each Sunday from 8 to 8:20 am. Parish Office Hours: Mondays and Thursdays, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Closed from 12 noon to 1:00 pm for lunch.
OUR SACRIFICE MADE TO GOD: 5-17-2020 Sunday Envelopes (47) - $2,195.00
Scholarship Fund - $1,209.00
(Total Donated since 8/1/2019)
Thank you very much for your generosity!
Printed copies of bulletins placed in plastic bins each week…bins
located at the doors of church & Parish Office. The bulletins are also
posted on our website!!!
Fr. Von will be live streaming Masses at 5pm on Saturdays and
8:30am on Sundays. See St. Augustine’s Facebook Page.
If you wish to have your name added to our Parish Email List,
Darlene Frisch, John & Ellen Daniels, Maxine Linnertz, Alice Krysnoski, Jeanelle Dinan, Marge Abel, Cheryl Zanders, Madalyn Killebrew, Stephanie Amann Stosberg, Bill Cowell, Angie Parker, Wylma Wachtel, Dave Bruss, Ruth Cortner, Steve Davis, Aria Wagner, and Vickie Van de Riet Minden. Please call the Parish Office 473-2217 to submit names for the prayer list. We started a new list on January 12th, 2020.
PRAY FOR Rev. Donald A. Blaes, who died Thursday, May 14th, 2020. Please remember him and his family in your prayers. May his soul and all souls of the faithful departed rest in peace. A private graveside burial will be held, and a Mass of Christian Burial will be held at a later date. You may remember Fr. Blaes filling in here at St. Augustine over the last few years.
HAVE A SAFE AND
ENJOYABLE
MEMORIAL DAY
HOLIDAY!!!
PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING CHANGES TO EVENTS SCHEDULED:
The Wedding Anniversaries Mass celebrated by Bishop Braxton at the Cathedral and originally scheduled for Sunday, June 7th, 2020 is canceled for this year.
The priests’ ordination, blessing of the Chrism, and priests’ anniversaries celebrations will be combined into one Mass at the Cathedral on Saturday, July 11th, at 10:30 am.
The anniversaries of Bishop Braxton’s ordinations to the priesthood and episcopacy and his installation in Belleville will be celebrated Friday through
Sunday, June 26th-28th. Details will follow.
DIOCESAN EVENTS
Please find below the link to Bishop-Elect McGovern’s parish website; you may watch videos of his Masses.
https://straphaelcatholic.org/
SPECIAL THANKS TO ST. AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY PARISH
On behalf of the agencies, ministries and departments that are supported through The Catholic Service and Ministry Appeal and those they serve, please accept our heartfelt gratitude for accepting the challenge put forth by Our Holy Father Pope Francis to “share the blessings which God has provided us” and so generously supporting this year’s Appeal. Also, congratulations on exceeding your parish’s CSMA financial goal!! It is your Christian caring and generosity that gives help and hope to those in need.
Thank you again so very much. God’s richest blessings to each of you and your families.
Bishop Edward K. Braxton and the 14 agencies funded
by The Catholic Service and Ministry Appeal
Respect Life Corner: In Acts 1:1-11, Jesus tells the apostles and us that while He came to establish the Kingdom of God, we must continue to help build it up. While Jesus ascended into Heaven, the work on earth continues and He has placed that responsibility in our hands and our hearts. The Holy Spirit came so that our attempts to live and preach the Gospel are filled with God’s grace and love. Learn, Act, Connect and Pray- Try simple things such as praying for those who struggle or sharing a story from your life about how God helped you in a tough situation. Lifting up the poor can mean donating to the poor box such as SVDP in your parish as well as donating to those in nursing homes and senior living centers living under very strict guidelines. Jesus restores his kingdom through love and He needs to work through you.
This weekend we gratefully and prayerfully remember all those who
sacrificed their lives serving our country. This ultimate giving of oneself is
the most selfless act of love we humans perform. That raises the question –
are we that giving of our spiritual selves? Today provides an opportunity for
us to take a moment to reflect on how well we are fulfilling our vocation in
life – ordained, married, consecrated, or single. Perhaps a prayer of
recommitment is appropriate as we give thanks for those who have sacrificed
so much for us.
HAVE YOU HEARD OF SERRA CLUB? The Serra Club of St. Clair County is an organization of
Catholic men and women, dedicated to foster and affirm vocations to the Priesthood and vowed
religious life. Our purpose is to inform our community of the need for all vocations. We honor
our religious with an annual Nuns Luncheon, a Deacon Dinner, a Priest Picnic and a new Priest
Dinner. We pray for our seminarians and help them celebrate their birthdays.
Our club meets every first and third Friday of the month at the Shrine of our Lady of the Snows.
There is a Mass at 11:45am, lunch, a brief meeting, and a guest speaker. You are welcome to
join us as our guest. For more information please contact Marvin Winkeler (402-214-1155) or
Mel Lucash (618-531-4244). PRAY FOR VOCATIONS!
The Catholic Service and Ministry Appeal 2020 …Blessed to receive, chosen to give
A most heartfelt thanks to all those who have responded with a gift to The 2020 Catholic
Service and Ministry Appeal; we are truly grateful. If you have not already done so, there’s
still plenty of time…one-time donations or pledges – in any amount – are needed.
Donations can be made through your parish or online at www.diobelle.org. Please
consider making your gift today or at any time in the coming months. Thank you and may
God bless you for your generosity.
Our parish financial target is $4,721.00. Please be as generous as you are able. Pledges to Date: 31 $6,400.00 135% of Total Goal
1. Mary's cousin Elizabeth conceived a son in her old age... for
nothing is impossible with God.
2. Charity prompts Mary to hasten to visit Elizabeth in the hour of
her need.
3. The journey to Elizabeth's home is about eighty miles requiring
four or five days.
4. Though long and arduous, the journey is joyous, for Mary bears
with her the Incarnate Word.
5. At Mary's salutation, John the Baptist is sanctified in his mother's
womb.
6. Elizabeth exclaims: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is
the fruit of your womb."
7. "How have I deserved that the mother of my Lord should come to
me?"
8. "Blessed is she who believed that the Lord's words to her would be
fulfilled."
9. Mary replies: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and
my spirit finds joy in God my Savior."
10. Mary serves her cousin in all humility for three months until the
birth of John the Baptist.
Spiritual Fruit: Let us pray for all who are working on the front lines
that they stay safe. Let us also pray for the repose of the souls that have
died during this crisis.
Life in Christ – from The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Over the last few weeks, we have seen that God has placed a desire for happiness in hearts, so that we may choose, by our actions and individual choices, to continue to accept his gift of eternal life, to love God above all things now, so that one day we may be with him forever, in eternal happiness. We have the freedom to be able to make right choices; as we see, we also have the responsibility to make right choices. 1730 God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. "God willed that man should be 'left in the hand of his own counsel,' so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him." (Vatican Council 2, 1965; Sirach chapter 15, verse 14) “Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts.” (Saint Irenaeus, died circa AD 202) 1731 Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude. 1732 As long as freedom has not bound itself definitively [conclusively] to its ultimate good which is God [that is, as long as we are living this earthly life], there is the possibility of choosing between good and evil, and thus of growing in perfection or of failing and sinning. This freedom characterizes properly human acts. It is the basis of praise or blame, merit or reproach. 1733 The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to "the slavery of sin." (Romans chapter 6, verse 17) 1734 Freedom makes man responsible for his acts to the extent that they are voluntary. Progress in virtue, knowledge of the good, and ascesis [self-discipline] enhance the mastery of the will over its acts. 1735 Imputability [accountability] and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence [lack of attention], duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors. So, we see that freedom is the power to choose. The proper use of freedom is to choose the good. Using our freedom to choose the good makes us freer to continue to choose the good in the future. Just as choosing to practice in, for example, sports or music, improves our capabilities and thus grows our freedom to perform well, using our freedom to choose the good strengthens our freedom to do even more good for God and others.
- Fr. Von Deeke
The Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians: Here is chapter one of the Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, from which our second reading is taken this Sunday, from the Good News Translation: 1 From Paul, who by God's will is an apostle of Christ Jesus -- To God's people in Ephesus, who are faithful in their life in union with Christ Jesus: 2 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. 3 Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world. 4 Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him. Because of his love 5 God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children—this was his pleasure and purpose. 6 Let us praise God for his glorious grace, for the free gift he gave us in his dear Son! 7 For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God, 8 which he gave to us in such large measure! In all his wisdom and insight 9 God did what he had purposed, and made known to us the secret plan he had already decided to complete by means of Christ. 10 This plan, which God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head. 11 All things are done according to God's plan and decision; and God chose us to be his own people in union with Christ because of his own purpose, based on what he had decided from the very beginning. 12 Let us, then, who were the first to hope in Christ, praise God's glory! 13 And you also became God's people when you heard the true message, the Good News that brought you salvation. You believed in Christ, and God put his stamp of ownership on you by giving you the Holy Spirit he had promised. 14 The Spirit is the guarantee that we shall receive what God has promised his people, and this assures us that God will give complete freedom to those who are his. Let us praise his glory! 15 For this reason, ever since I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all of God's people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks to God for you. I remember you in my prayers 17 and ask the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, to give you the Spirit, who will make you wise and reveal God to you, so that you will know him. 18 I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light, so that you will know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people, 19 and how very great is his power at work in us who believe. This power working in us is the same as the mighty strength 20 which he used when he raised Christ from death and seated him at his right side in the heavenly world. 21 Christ rules there above all heavenly rulers, authorities, powers, and lords; he has a title superior to all titles of authority in this world and in the next. 22 God put all things under Christ's feet and gave him to the church as supreme Lord over all things. 23 The church is Christ's body, the completion of him who himself completes all things everywhere.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation – Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission
SUMMER LUNCH PROGRAM
Once again this year, House of Neighborly Service is sponsoring the Summer Lunch Program in Monroe County. There are some changes this year…1) we have incorporated the Twigs Program that had previously been active in the City of Columbia. So basically, we are serving all of Monroe County, and 2) because of the Covid-19 outbreak & resulting stay-at-home restrictions, the way we prepare and deliver the lunches is changed this year. We will be preparing family lunch bags once a week for delivery on Thursdays, and the bags will include bread, lunch meats, snacks, etc. for several days of lunches. While HNS has received some grant monies to be used towards the expenses of the SLP, those monies will not cover the entire cost of feeding approximately 150 families each week starting June 1st and going through the middle of August. HNS would welcome any donations to the SLP…it can be monetary or food items. You may mail donations to HNS, PO Box 367, Waterloo IL 62298. Food items may be dropped off at the HNS Office, 1331 Jamie Lane, Waterloo (Next to the DMV office), Valmeyer City Hall, Waterloo & Columbia Police Dept. Lobbies, and you can call 939-8900 to make sure someone is in the office. Normal office hours are Monday – Thursday, 9am-3pm or you may drop off non-perishable food items to my home at 251 W. Eldon-Dale Drive; Hecker. Items that are needed are: full size bags of chips, full size bags of cookies, granola bars, pre-packaged snack cakes & snack crackers, pudding & fruit cups, popsicles (not frozen), boxes of mac & cheese, peanut butter, jelly, cans of drink mixes, pastas, pasta sauces, soups, etc. If you have garden items available during this time frame, we welcome donations of fresh produce too. If you have any additional questions, please call me at 473-9335. Signed: Joan Powell
