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We are participating in this fundraiser with several other Catholic parishes and institutions. We are asking for a donation of $25 for each raffle ticket, and are asking you to please consider purchasing the raffle tickets for yourself, or selling them to family members, neighbors, or friends. The purchaser keeps the right half of the ticket.

I once again ask you, if you have not already done so, to please make your Catholic Charities and Saint Charles Seminary Appeal donations for 2021.  It would be a wonderful thing if we had 100% participation in these important annual appeals from every wage earner and/or household in the parish.

This means that our Sunday Masses will basically be celebrated the way we celebrated before COVID, with a few exceptions, e.g., we still will not be offering each other the Sign of Peace and we will not be receiving Holy Communion from the chalice (except, of course, for the priest celebrant).

We are happy to welcome home to Saint Timothy this weekend Reverend Mr. John O’Farrell. As I told you previously, Deacon John, a life-long parishioner of our parish, was ordained a deacon of the Church on Saturday, April 10th by Bishop Michael Burbidge, the Bishop of Arlington, Virginia, in the Cathedral of Saint Thomas More in Arlington.

I once again respectfully remind you to please consider your gift to the 2021 Catholic Charities Appeal, if you have not already given your gift. My goal as your pastor is for every household and/or every wage earner in the parish to make a sacrificial gift to this year’s Appeal.

There are a limited number of books available. We are asking for a donation of $25 per book. Books may be purchased at the rectory. More information and an order form may be found elsewhere in this bulletin.

Many of you will recall that twice in the past three years I was appointed administrator of Saint Martin of Tours Parish while remaining pastor here at Saint Timothy’s. While I was administrator of Saint Martin’s, the IHM Sisters sadly moved out of the convent and left their work in Saint Martin’s School. In their convent chapel there were two beautiful marble statues, one of Our Lady and the other of Saint Joseph. I was able to acquire the Saint Joseph statue for our use here at Saint Timothy’s.

thank all of you, our dedicated and faithful parishioners, for being with us on this Easter Sunday and throughout the Sacred Triduum, and for all you do for this great parish throughout the year. In the end, it is your fidelity to and love for Saint Timothy’s that really makes us great. I am grateful.

The days of Holy Week, and in particular the Paschal Triduum (Holy Thursday evening, Good Friday, Holy Saturday night/Easter Sunday) invite us to celebrate this Paschal Mystery more intensely, uniting our hearts with Jesus as we recall the great events which gave us new life.

On this Tuesday, March 23rd, at 7:00 P.M. in the lower church, we will be celebrating our annual parish Lenten Penance Service. This is a great opportunity for us to gather as a parish family, to acknowledge our need for God’s mercy, and to confess our sins individually and receive absolution.

Please plan on joining us as we pray in a special way to this extraordinary saint, whom we invoke as the patron of the universal Church, as he cares for us in so many of our particular needs.

Please join us for our Triduum in Honor of Saint Joseph, which will be celebrated from Tuesday, March 16th through Thursday, March 18th at 7:00 P.M. in the upper church. Each evening’s services include the Triduum prayers, a homily, and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Our own Father Jason Buck will be the preacher for all three evenings. I invite you to gather with us as we invoke the intercession and protection of this most powerful saint, particularly in this special year dedicated to him. 

This Tuesday, February 2nd, we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas. On this fortieth day after Christmas, we celebrate the event of Mary and Joseph bringing the Child Jesus to the temple so that he could be presented, according to the Law of Moses.

We are in the process of getting bids on the repair of the ceiling of our upper church sanctuary, as well as its repainting, which, along with the doors, is another project we will be able to complete because of your generosity in our Church of Saint Timothy Stewardship Restoration Appeal. I am so proud and happy to report to you that, as of this writing, we have collected over $65,000 from you, our generous parishioners and friends.

It is important that we realize the significance of today’s feast. We end the season of Christmas with the Lord’s baptism by John, an act which marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. With his baptism he officially begins the work he was sent by the Father to accomplish.

I would like to take this occasion to thank you all for your generosity in our Christmas collection. The sacrifices that were so evident in your contributions are appreciated by me, as your pastor, and are certainly not unnoticed by God. This is one of the most important collections of the year, and so I want you to be sure that your generosity is not only appreciated but very necessary for the upkeep of our parish.

Scripture tells us practically nothing about the first years and the boyhood of the Child Jesus. All we know are the facts of their sojourn in Egypt, their return to Nazareth, and the incidents that occurred when the twelve-year-old boy accompanied his parents to Jerusalem.

As Christian people, it is important that we keep things in perspective. Maybe the COVID pandemic, economic difficulties, social unrest, and the lack of peace that we continue to face, along with the multiple other crosses with which we are confronted, as a Church and as a society, can serve as a reminder to us of what is important.

We celebrate this weekend the Third Sunday of Advent, traditionally known as Gaudete Sunday, which literally means “Rejoice.” This is taken from the first line of the Introit, or Entrance Chant, of the Mass for this Sunday: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again, rejoice!” 

Our Advent journey continues as we celebrate this second Sunday of the season, with the figure of John the Baptist reminding us to “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”