St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church

Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston

Office: 1603 Avenue N * Huntsville, TX 77340 Church: 1323 16th St. * Huntsville, TX 77340

Ph. 936.295.8159 * Fax 936.295.3543 www.sain homashuntsville.org

"...there is no inequality of significance amongst us except holiness..."

“No hay desigualdad de importancia entre nosotros excepto la santidad…”

STAFF

Rev. Fred Valone…..Pastor Felix Ramos………..Permanent Deacon Kathy Boscarino…….DRE / Y M Maria Delgado……… Elem. CCE Rick Reed…………...Music Coordinator Jill Baker………..Nursery Coordinator Pat Norfleet…………..Bookkeeper Sylvia Vitela…………..Secretary Laura Puente………...Custodian

No Adoration at this time No hay Adoración en este tiempo

Reconciliation / Reconciliación

Mass Schedules

Tues/Martes 4:30-5:30 pm

Thurs/Jueves 4:30-5:30 pm

Saturday/ Sabado

5:30 pm English

Sunday/ Domingo

7:45 am English 10:30 am English 12:30 pm Spanish 5:30 pm English

Monday/ Lunes No Mass

Tuesday – Friday/ Martes - Viernes

8:30 am

Second Sunday of Lent February 28, 2021

Mass Intentions Of The Week

Sat.

02/27

5:30 pm

Parishioners

Sun.

02/28

7:45 am

Ilaria Fellers (Her Intentions)

10:30 am

John & Carmen Heckler

12:30 pm

Mon.

03/01

NO Mass

Tues.

03/02

8:30 am

Tom & Erin Degnan (Special Intention)

Wed.

03/03

8:30 am

Natalia Mia Amaya (Her birthday)

Thurs.

03/04

8:30 am

Ken Larson

Friday

03/05

8:30 am

Betty Rose Johnson

Sat.

03/06

5:30 pm

Sun.

03/07

7:45 am

Parishioners

10:30 am

12:30 pm

5:30 pm

CSC

5:30 pm

CSC

Janice Andrews, Veronica & Anthony Antwi, Ed Arther-holt, James Aubey, Irma Avalos, Gene Barrett, Jordan Bergeron, Bob Biles, Chelsea Brown, Phillip Caito, Nel-son, Wren Colligan, Beckham Collins, Sunni Cook, Ter-ry Corral, Clay Cross, Melanie Davis, Julie Delgado, Kathy Delouche, Colin Dufour, David Duesing, Joe Duffy, James Elliott, Floyd & Nicholas Gruppa, Melba & Leroy Hall, Dave Hebert, Viola Kretzschmar, Edwin Laake, Janet LeBlanc, Paul Legler, Theresa Legler, Daphne Levey, Al Losack, Katy Losack, A.J. McGee, Sheri McPike, Don Marcotte, Lisa Miller, Michele Mil-ler, Donna Moore, Mary Ann Moore, Martin Moreno, Patricia Morrison, Lourdes Mosqueda, Mariina Najera, Frank O’Donnell, Randy Parten, Virginia Reed, Andrea Scheel, Marie Santos, Jerry Seaton, Kayden Bryn Shipley, Linda Skains, Cheryl Smith, Glenn Stewart, Kathy Stoltz, Shirley Strubing, Rose Stuber, Gordan Travis, Lois Ubanoski, Gilbert Urango, Maria Elena Valen-cia, Kathy Vanecek, Matthew Varnum, Shirley Vil-lareal, Rusty Wallace, Bill & Gaitha Walton, Alma Williams, Nancy & Harvey Winkler

Let us pray for the sick

READINGS FOR THE WEEK

Monday: Dn 9:4b-10; Ps 79:8, 9, 11, 13; Lk 6:36-38

Tuesday: Is 1:10, 16-20; Ps 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21, 23; Mt 23:1-12

Wednesday: Jer 18:18-20; Ps 31:5-6, 14-16; Mt 20:17-28

Thursday: Jer 17:5-10; Ps 1:1-4, 6; Lk 16:19-31

Friday: Gn 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a; Ps 105:16-21; Mt 21:33-43, 45-46

Saturday: Mi 7:14-15, 18-20; Ps 103:1-4, 9-12; Lk 15:1-3, 11-32

Sunday: Ex 20:1-17 [1-3, 7-8, 12-17]; Ps 19:8-11; 1 Cor 1:22-25; Jn 2:13-25 Alternate readings (Year A): Ex 17:3-7; Ps 95:1-2, 6-9; Rom 5:1-2, 5-8; Jn 4:5-42 [5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42]

$

February 21, 2021 Donations (Basket or office): $9,987.00 Online: $900.00 Home Missions: $877.00

Thank you for your continued support!

Our gratefulness to God weekly offering

WALK IN THE LIGHT OF CHRIST

2021 Diocesan Services Fund

DSF 2021 reminds us to Walk in the Light of Christ and through our willingness to share our gifts, we provide support to ministries that serve thousands of our brothers and sisters in the Archdi-ocese of Galveston-Houston. If you have not had the opportunity to make your gift, please complete a response card or visit www.archgh.org/dsf.

PRAYER, FASTING AND ALMSGIVING

FEAST OF FAITH . . . . The Opening Prayer At the conclusion of the Introductory Rites of the Mass, the presider says or chants the words “Let us pray,” followed by the Opening Prayer. This prayer is also called a “collect” because it gathers or “collects” the prayers of the entire assembly into one. The Roman collects that we pray in our liturgy—noted for the brevity, clarity, and conciseness of the Latin originals—date from a variety of periods. Some are quite new; others reach back more than a thousand years. They are truly treasures of our tradition. The Opening Prayer can be divided into four main parts: 1) the invitation, or “Let us pray”; 2) the silence that follows, during which each member of the assembly lifts up before God his or her own prayers; 3) the collect itself, spoken or sung by the priest; 4) and finally the Amen, by which the assembly says, “yes,” “may it be so,” making the prayer their own. The collect itself almost always follows the same pattern. It begins with an invocation to God. A petition follows, usually very general. We ask for health, strength, wisdom, grace, forgiveness, faith, awareness. Every collect concludes by offering the prayer to God through Jesus Christ. With the Amen of the assembly, the Introductory Rites of the Mass come to an end. —Corinna Laughlin, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.

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FIESTA DE LA FE . . . . Silencio sagrado Es muy difícil hacer ver la importancia del silencio en la vida diaria a una sociedad acostumbrada a los ruidos y a la música en iPods u otros dispositivos electrónicos. La sola idea del silencio causa cierto estupor. No obstante, la Instrucción General para el uso del Misal Romano (45 – 46), enfatiza la clara necesidad de aprovechar el silencio sagrado, cuya naturaleza “depende del momento de la misa”. Sea para pedir perdón por no corresponder al amor de Dios, para dejar que su palabra haga eco en nuestro corazón, o bien, para interiorizar lo que hemos compartido de la plenitud de Cristo en la sagrada comunión. El guardar silencio no sólo implica la ausencia de ruidos exteriores, sino también una disposición interna total, de alma y cuerpo, para escuchar a Dios que nos habla de muchas maneras. Es abrir a Dios el corazón en una franca experiencia de oración. Tal silencio se recomienda también antes del inicio de la misa, para que cada persona se disponga a una participación plena, consciente y activa en los sagrados misterios. —Miguel Arias, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.

Lenten Reconciliation Schedule Begins on Saturday, February 20th

Tuesdays and Thursdays . . . . . 4:00 to 5:30 p.m.

Saturdays . . . . 3:30 to 4:45 p.m.

ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE 2021 PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL

Fr. Fred Valone . . . Pastor Dion McInnis . . .Chairperson Lavonne Zaiontz . . .Vice-Chairperson Stephen Farlow . . .Recorder

Antonio Carrillo, Beth Friel, Gene Hunziker, Imelda Isaias, Phil Miller and Richard Zajac

HISTORY OF SALVATION The first reading today continues the “history of salvation” narrative that we hear throughout Lent this year. To-day’s story was among the best-loved in the Jewish tradition (surely Joseph told the story to young Jesus as he formed him in the ways of their faith); the early fathers of the Church were very fond of it as a means of explaining the sacri-fice of Christ on the cross. The overall tone of the first reading, psalm, and second reading seems a little incongruous with the dazzling Gospel, until we remember that the Transfiguration was placed as the Gospel for this Sunday pre-cisely to remind us of the glory that awaits those who live faithfully and obediently to the will of God. In the life of Jesus, it is a preview of the glory of his resurrection; for us it is a glimpse of the destiny of those who continue, as we heard in last week’s Gospel, to repent and believe in the Good News. Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.

1Thessalonians 5:11

7th grade—12th grade kboscarino@saintthomashuntsville.org

(936)295-8159 office (936)520-6524 cell Website: https://saintthomashuntsville.org

Confirmation 2021

DON”T MISS OUT !

Class Schedule for January

02/03/2021 Lifeteen

02/10/2021 Lifeteen

02/17/2021 No Class

02/24/2021 Lifeteen

Class Schedule

2/14/2021 Class Parish Hall

2/28/2021 Class Parish Hall

3/14/2021 Class Parish Hall

3/28/2021 Class Parish Hall

“Lent is a 40 day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It's a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord's Resurrection at Easter.” (USCCB) Prayer: Spiritual Reflections: Sign up for daily emails @ https://www.dynamiccatholic.com/lent/best-lent-ever.html Discover the peace and clarity that comes from praying the rosary! Join us for a daily email program to discover how to pray the rosary and dive deeper into each mystery! https://www.dynamiccatholic.com/rosary/rediscover-the-rosary.html Fasting: Go Beyond the Snickers! Consider giving up an hour or so of screen time to spend time with family and reach out to others. Almsgiving: Consider using your time and talents to help around the house, tutor, or spend time with someone who is alone or new in school.

Join St. Paul Street Evangelization . . . “The moment has come to commit all of the Church’s energies to a new evangelization.” (Saint Pope John Paul II) St. Paul Street Evangelization is a grassroots, non-profit Catholic evangelization organization, dedicated to responding to the mandate of Jesus to preach the Gospel to all nations by taking our Catholic Faith to the streets. As an on-the-street Catholic evangelization organiza-tion, St. Paul Street Evangelization provides a nonconfrontational avenue for you to share the Jesus Christ and the truth and beauty of the Catholic Faith with a hungry culture. Visit www.streetevangelization.com today to learn more. You can also contact Stephen Farlow at sfarlow41253@gmail.com or 936-355-1855 about joining a team.

Year of St. Joseph . . . . The Archdiocesan website has a page dedicated to the Year of St. Joseph, which began in December and runs through the liturgical year. Please visit and share this link, which includes the history of St. Joseph in the church, prayers of devotion and more.

The Fire of Your Love: “If Necessary, Use Words”—?

By Will Oliver

“Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” —St. Francis of Assisi St. Francis (1181/1182–October 3, 1226) of Assisi, Italy, is a well-loved saint of the Catholic Church. In fact, he is so well loved, people who are not even Catholic have his statue in their yards and are prone to quote him. One of his most famous quotes is the one reprinted above. I have heard many people on many occasions quote it. It has become so widely used that people, many of whom are Catholic, have come to embrace its philosophy. Whenever I have heard this quote, I have always reflected on the words and their meaning. Thinking about the things I know of St. Francis, I always found the quote a bit puzzling. More recently, I read the quote in an article, and this time I decided to do some research. I first resorted to that trusty research tool that all good academics use—Google. I found many articles using the quote with variations of the words above. All of the articles, however, were published mainly in the 2000s. Wondering if that was just an Internet limitation, I turned to Google Ngrams (Books), which allows you to search their entire corpus in the English language. It showed that books on St. Francis have been written since the 14th century, and that by the 16th century, they were published much more frequently. Where publications of St. Francis of Assisi really take off, as evidenced by Google’s Ngrams, is starting in the 1840s, reaching a most impressive peak in the 1930s. Many of these books are biographies, histories, and philosophies, while still more are reflections on his teachings, his writings, and his faith. Armed with such a large canon of books in the Google database, I began searching for his most famous of quotes. Interestingly, the earliest book featuring the quote comes from the 1990s. Even more interesting, it first appeared in a book written for Protestants, not Catholics. How could such a famous quote not appear in any book about St. Francis between his death in 1226 and 1990, despite the fact so much ink has been spilt on the good saint? The short answer is: because St. Francis never said it. I always had a suspicion this was true because of the philosophy behind the quote. What it is saying is that we should live good lives and by our virtuous lives, people will be drawn to the faith. Only as a last resort should we proselytize to convert people. Yet, we are told to go forth and share the Good News, the Gospel, of the Lord. How could we do so if we do not use words? The Bible tells us to do this on many different occasions. St. Paul tells us to call upon the Lord and be saved, but then asks, “But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preach-er?” (Romans 10:14). In order to hear, someone must be using words. Or, in his letter to the Colossians, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer one” (4:6). Speech is the use of words, not actions. And, finally, St. Peter, our first pope, wrote, “Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15). To make such a defense, one must always use words. When using words, we are called to be peacemakers. And this brings me to one more piece of evidence that St. Francis did not preach this quote. In 1219, at great risk to his own life, he traveled to Egypt, traversed a Crusades battlefield—crossing enemy lines—in an attempt to meet and convert the Sultan with the hope of ending the war. He used words.

HISTORIA DE LA SALVACIÓN La primera lectura de hoy continúa la “historia de la salvación”, relato que oímos a lo largo de la Cuaresma de este año. El relato de hoy era uno de los más queridos en la tradición judía (seguramente José se lo contó al joven Jesús cuando le enseñaba los caminos de la fe); a los primeros padres de la Iglesia les gustaba usarlo para explicar el sacrificio de Cristo en la cruz. El tono general de la primera lectura, del salmo y la segunda lectura me parece un poco fuera de lugar frente al Evangelio deslumbrante, hasta que recordamos que la Transfiguración se incluyó como el Evangelio de este domingo, precisamente para recordarnos la gloria que les espera a aquellos que son fieles y obedientes a la voluntad de Dios. En la vida de Jesús, es un anticipo de la gloria de su resurrección, para nosotros es una visión del destino de aquellos que continúan, como hemos escuchado en el Evangelio de la semana pasada, arrepintiéndose y creyendo en la Buena Nueva. Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.

My Own Church Parish . . . .

To Register yourself or update your family information go to https://galveston.parishsoftfamilysuite.com If you have any questions please contact Kathy Boscarino by email at kboscarino@saintthomashuntsville.org

Mi Propia Iglesia . . . . Para registrarse o actualizar su información familiar vaya a: https/galveston.parishsoftfamilysuite.com Si tiene alguna pregunta, contáctese con Kathy Boscarino por correo electrónico kboscarino@saintthomashuntsville.org

CHURCH SECURITY INFORMATION

Following the church shootings last year near San Antonio the parish's Security Committee has taken steps ensure the safety of all St. Thomas the Apostle parishioners. The first step restricts access to the church during liturgical services. Once Mass has begun all doors into the church will be locked from the inside with the exception of the double doors facing 16th Street. Anyone arriving late for Mass will only be able to enter the church through the 16th Street doors. Parishioners will be able to exit the church through any of the locked doors as well as the doors fac-ing 16th Street. Signs will be posted around the church building to remind parishioners of the locked doors. The staff at St. Thomas the Apostle Church takes the safety and security of all the parishioners very seriously. We are confident that the steps taken at this time will minimize any problematic incidents.

INFORMACION DE SEGURIDAD DE LA IGLESIA

Después de los tiroteos de la iglesia el año pasado cerca de San Antonio, el Comité de Seguridad de la parroquia tomo medidas para garantizar la seguridad de los feligreses de Santo Tomás. El primer paso fue de restringir el acceso a la Iglesia durante los servicios litúrgicos. Cuando haya comen-zado la misa, todas las puertas de la iglesia estarán cerra-das de adentro con la excepción de las puertas dobles que dan a la calle 16. Personas que lleguen tarde a misa solo podrá entrar a través de las puertas de la calle 16. Los feligreses podrán salir a través de cualquiera de las puertas cerradas. Se colocarán letreros alrededor del edificio de la iglesia para recordar a los feligreses de las puertas cerradas. El personal de la Iglesia Santo Tomás toma muy en serio la seguridad de todos los feligreses. Estamos seguros de que los pasos tomados minimizarán incidentes problemáticos.

CHURCH NAME AND ADDRESS St. Thomas the Apostle Church #921900 1323 16th Street Huntsville, TX 77340 TELEPHONE 936 295-8159 CONTACT PERSON Sylvia Vitela Kathy Boscarino Cell #936 520-6524 EMAIL: svitela@sbcglobal.net SOFTWARE MSPublisher 2010 Adobe Acrobat XI Windows 7 PRINTER OneNote 2010 TRANSMISSION TIME Tuesday 12:00 SUNDAY DATE OF PUBLICATION October 1, 2017 NUMBER OF PAGES SENT 1 through 8 SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS Please print only 225 copies.