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St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church www.xavierbrunswick.org, 912-265-3249 June 14, 2020
St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church
www.xavierbrunswick.org, 912-265-3249
June 14, 2020
Corpus Christi
Remember the awe that filled the ancient Israelites as they saw the signs of God? God led them through the desert with a cloud and fire. God fed them with manna in the desert. God spoke to Moses on the mountain. To the Israelites the very name of God is so holy and unapproachable that they do not even say the name YHWH. Even today they will not even write the name. But Jesus chose to come very close to us. Not only did he choose to become man, but now our God comes to us under the form of bread and wine. Our God comes into our body.
Realize that you are receiving God into your body! Remember how the ancient Israelites would tremble at the very mention of God. They would hear His voice from heaven and quake and yet we now are permitted to take the body of Christ into our own bodies.
On this feast let us be clear in what we believe as Catholics. Many denominations see communion as being merely symbolic. For them it is a memory of Jesus at the Last Supper. This is different than our belief as Catholics. At the words of consecration we believe that Jesus Christ becomes truly present on our altars. It is not symbolic. It is not in any way contingent on the faith of the believer. Jesus is really and truly present on our altar. This means when we come to communion we are taking in the real body and blood of Jesus. It would be hard to
believe had not Jesus told us himself. "For my flesh is true food and my blood true drink."
The Eucharist is bread for the journey. When we plan a trip or vacation we must always plan out what we will eat. Without nutrition we will starve. The same is true of our spiritual journey. Jesus gave of himself to strengthen us on our path to heaven.
The Eucharist cleanses us of sin. When we are truly sorry for our venial sin the Eucharist cleanses us. It is like a raging fire. Our sins are like little pieces of straw in the midst of a great flame.
The Body and Blood of Christ are spiritual medicine. Just as a healthy diet and medicine protect us from illness, so does the Eucharist protect us from sin.
Today we receive a great gift. It is the Bread of Life, the food of Angels. It is the very Body and Blood of the Son of God. May we come forward to day with grateful and reverent hearts.
This weekend some of our new members will receive the Body and Blood of Christ for the very first time as they enter the Church through baptism and Confirmation at our RCIA mass. Next weekend many of our young people will make their first Holy Communion. This weekend may we approach the altar with the same sense of awe and wonder that they will!
When Jesus celebrated the Last Supper he commanded us, "Do this in remembrance of me." For 2,000 years the Catholic Church has been obeying this command as we celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and receive the body and blood of Jesus each week. Today let us recommit to our belief in the Eucharist. As we come forward for communion today may we realize that we are receiving the most valuable gift Jesus could give to us, the gift of his own
body and blood, Corpus Christi.
-Fr. Tim McKeown
The Priestly Ordination on June 20 at the Cathedral is invite only. You can watch it live streamed at the Diocesan website or Facebook page. Fr. Robert Phillips' First Mass of Thanksgiving was originally to take place at St. Joseph the following day. It will be rescheduled for sometime later in the year. Thank you.
Upcoming Celebrations On Saturday June 13 we will offer a special Saturday 7:00 pm Vigil Mass for those who were to come into the Church at the Easter Vigil. Due to the social distancing this mass will be open for the RCIA class members and their families. Let us pray for our brothers and sisters who will receive the Sacraments of Baptism, Holy Communion and Confirmation! Come Holy Spirit! On Wed. June 17 the 7:00 pm Mass will be for our Confirmation candidates from SFX School and SFX PSR. Fr. Tim will celebrate the Mass. Due to the social distancing this mass will be open for the Confirmation candidates, their families and their sponsors. The weekend of June 20-21 we will celebrate First Communion. To allow for social distancing we are letting the families choose any of the five weekend masses. We will reserve some special pews for our First Communicants that weekend. Let us pray for them as they receive the Body and Blood of Christ for the first time!
June 13 RCIA
CATECHUMENS Salvador S. Cruz, Jr
Baptism- Confirmation-Eucharist Jamie D. Cruz
Baptism- Confirmation-Eucharist Josary Melissa Mendez Menjivar
Baptism- Confirmation-Eucharist Miguel Gonzalez Mendoza
Baptism- Confirmation-Eucharist Nicole Gonzalez Mendoza
Baptism- Confirmation-Eucharist Aylin Lopez Tadeo
Baptism- Confirmation-Eucharist Keiren Alexi Rodriguez Baptism
CANDIDATES Rubi Aquilar
Confirmation-Eucharist Juana Luisa Bautista Villa
Confirmation-Eucharist Ernesto Cruz
Confirmation-Eucharist Travis L. Latham
Profession of Faith - Confirm-Eucharist Angel Salazar-Bautista
Profession of Faith - Confirm-Eucharist Jesus Alberto Hernandez
Confirmation Marvin Alfredo Lopez Hernandez
Confirmation
Wenceslao Salazar Rojas
Confirmation
June 17 Confirmation
Maritza Alejandro Dominguez
Camila Almeida
Britney Bautista Librado
Michael Buice
Christopher Cabrera
Jose Cervantes
Katie Eckert
Jackeline Gonzalez Maza
Mykal Gruber
Beatrice Hickey
Mary Kennedy
Josef Lopez
Shelby Maza
Fernanda Ojeda Perez
Pedro Pascual Pedro
Alejandro Santini
Jean Santos
Emma Scalese
David Thompson
Michael Valdez
Guadalupe Zavala Gaspar
Brothers and sisters: The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
Moses said to the people: "Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments. He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD.
"Do not forget the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers."
Psalm: Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; who-ever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my
blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my
blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who
feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever."
1 CORINTHIANS 10:16-17
DEUTERONOMY 8:2-3, 14B-16A
JOHN 6:51-58
Mass Times: Saturday Vigil at 5:00 pm.
Sunday: 7:00 a.m. (no music or cantor). This is a new offering during the crisis.
8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Masses (music and cantors)
6:00 pm Spanish Mass.
No Mass at Jekyll is scheduled for this time.
Daily Mass Schedule: Mondays at Noon. Tuesday thru Friday at 8:00 a.m. Wed. nights (beginning
June 3) at 7:00 pm.
We will continue to livestream daily mass and the Sat. 5:00 pm vigil. We will switch the Sunday
livestream to 11:00 a.m. only.
CONFESSIONS
Confessions will take place Saturdays at 4:00 pm before the vigil mass. We will add Wednesdays at
6:15 pm (beginning June 3) or by appointment during the week.
PRAYING IN THE CHURCH The church is open each day from 8:00 a.m. til 6:00 p.m. Please park in front of the church or on Newcastle Street. FINANCIAL SUPPORT Many people have been so generous to ask about supporting SFX during our time of exile. Thank you! People may mail their offertory envelopes in or drop them in the mail slot at our 405 Howe St. Office. Many people have begun using on-line giving through this link: https://www.osvonlinegiving.com/1871. Thanks for your support and be assured of our prayers for you and your families! SCAMMERS Please be aware there are many scammers out there! We do not contact you to ask for gift cards or cash. Sometimes people will use the priests’ names and make up false email addresses and try to get you to give them gift cards or credit card info. Also, beware of people asking for your Social Security Number during the crisis. These are fraudulent!
Mass Intentions - June 13 - 21
June 13th - t Wanda Hand, t Maria Zagami
June 14th - Knights of Columbus, t Elaine Knight & Beau Vendetti, Our Parish Family
June 15th - Claudette Desrosiers
June 16th - t Wanda Hand
June 17th - t Annette Dussault, Special Intentions
June 18th - Dorcas-Ehlman Families
June 19th - t Margaret Sweigart
June 20th - t George & Rita Doubek, t Rosanne Hale, Our Parish Family
June 21st - t Gloria Quinones, t Mary, Effie & Preston Blanchard, t Roberto Tuya Ribot
SFX Church Reopening – Fact Sheet
As we resume the celebration of public Mass, it is crucial that we approach this next phase with patient, loving
and charitable hearts. Here are some general guidelines to help us:
For the safety of the parish community, it is important that those who are symptomatic, feel sick, have a fe-
ver, have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, or have travelled inter-
nationally or to a domestic hot spot in the past two weeks, stay home.
The wearing of masks for ages 3 & up is highly recommended. We do this to protect others.
We do not have a large supply of hand sanitizer. We strongly encourage each family or individual to bring
their own supply.
We strongly encourage all parishioners to maintain proper physical distancing on church property; please do
not congregate in the church for conversations.
We have put away hymnals/missalettes and we encourage you to bring worship resources (Magnificat maga-
zine at https://us.magnificat.net/free, Roman missal, or a print out of readings). We will offer bulletins with
the readings in them. Please take the bulletin with you after mass, do not return or leave the bulletin in the
pew.
Our diocesan standard is to admit no more than 25% of our capacity to allow for proper social spacing. Our ca-
pacity is 500 which equals 125 persons.
Once the church is filled to the allowed capacity you may sit in the Narthex (with a live video/audio feed)
until those socially spaced seats are filled. Once those are filled we will not be able to admit any more per-
sons. Unfortunately, this may mean that by ensuring everyone has at least some opportunity for attending
Mass, no one should expect to be able to attend Mass every Sunday or with guaranteed regularity. You
may wish to consider daily mass where seating will be more available instead of Sunday.
Due to social spacing we will close the cry room and the nursery.
The pews and other common surfaces in the church will be cleaned and sanitized between Masses. Volunteers
please contact Ann at the office.
OFFERTORY AND COLLECTION
Baskets will be placed by the entrances where you may place your offering as you enter the church. We en-
courage you to consider enrolling in our on-line giving program at: https://www.osvonlinegiving.com/1871
or to mail in your contribution to our office.
HOLY COMMUNION
In the communion line, please maintain six feet of distance from the person in front of you, if they are not
part of your household.
If you are receiving Holy Communion please wear your mask in line. Immediately before Communion lower
your mask to communicate. Please wear the mask back to your seat.
Receiving Holy Communion in the hand is preferable, although receiving Holy Communion on the tongue
will not be denied.
Confessions will take place Saturdays at 4:00 pm before the vigil mass. We will add Wednesdays at 6:15 pm
(beginning June 3) or by appointment during the week.
We will keep the SFX Website up to date with the latest best practices (www.xavierbrunswick.org).
St. Francis Xavier Staff email addresses
Fr. Tim: [email protected]
Fr. Chris: [email protected]
Ann: [email protected]
Deacon Larry: [email protected]
Marisol: [email protected]
Juan: [email protected]
Maggie: [email protected]
Dr. Mermann: [email protected]
