Page Two New Year s Day January 1, 2017 Calendar

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1 Page Two New Year s Day January 1, 2017 Calendar 1 New Year s Day No CLW, RCIA or Sunday School 2 Parish Office Closed 3 4 8:30a Coffee Hour, Sunburst Room No RE Elementary Classes 7p Parish Reconciliation, Church 7p PTO Board Meeting, Library 5 6 6:30a Altar Society, Church 8:30a Lively Seniors 6:30p Adoration with Benediction, Church 7:30p ROCCC, Sunburst Room 7 We pray for our sick parishioners that they may know the healing of Christ. Maria Justo Jane Walsh Tom Cooper Sandra Smith Teresita Blazon

2 St. Francis Xavier A Blessed New Year Page Three On the first day of the New Year, we celebrate with joy the feast of Mary, the Mother of God. Mary is our model of faith, hope and prayer. By accepting her role as the Divine Mother, she gave to the world the God-man who will be with us to the end of times. Today s special feast affirms what we Catholics believe - that the Blessed Virgin Mary truly is the Mother of God. This Catholic dogma finds its origin in a Bible passage that is found in the Gospel of Luke. In the first reading we have God s people commencing their journey home to live a new life. God blesses them and promises to be with them. Paul reminds us that God s Son has become one with us through Mary. Through him we have become the children of God. We also become aware of Mary s dignity as the Mother of Jesus in the Gospel. The shepherds communicate the good news surrounding the birth of Jesus that was revealed to them by the angels. Mary treasures them all in her heart as a good mother. We celebrate also the feast of the holy name of Jesus. The scriptures tell us that on the eighth day Jesus was circumcised and was given the name as told by the angel - a name above all names in the world. The church celebrates today, January 1st, as the World Day of Peace and invites us specially to pray for peace in the world. Pope Francis in his letter, Nonviolence - a Style of Political Peace, written for World Day of Peace, called every Christian to embrace Jesus s teaching on nonviolence and said, Violence is not the cure for our broken world. In 2017 may we dedicate ourselves prayerfully and actively to banishing violence from our hearts and becoming nonviolent people. Today, we are starting a new day and a new year. Let me thank all of you for your wholehearted efforts to make the Church special and our Christmas special. We are a family and so we came together to the Lord in our church. We cleaned, decorated and joined to praise God with our whole family. We joined the good choir and good ministries to make the liturgy important. Thanks to all of you who worked hard for it. Thanks for all the gifts and contributions. I have only one thing to say, Thank you. Thanks to all of you. This is our place of worship and we celebrate with the Lord. Let us in this new year greet each other with the same blessing as in the first reading of today: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace. May the peace of the Lord remain within us, our families and communities, and bring us joy and happiness in the new year. May the graciousness of God remain with each one of us throughout the new year. Happy New Year. Readings for the week of January 1, 2017 Sunday: Nm 6:22-27/Ps 67:2-3,5-6,8/Gal 4:4-7/ Lk 2:16-21 Monday: 1 Jn 2:22-28/Ps 98:1-4/Jn 1:19-28/Mt 23:8-12 Tuesday: 1 Jn 2:29 3:6/Ps 98:1,3-6/Jn 1:29-34 Wednesday: 1 Jn 3:7-10/Ps 98:1,7-9/Jn 1:35-42 Thursday: 1 Jn 3:11-21/Ps 100:1-5/Jn 1:43-51 Friday: 1 Jn 5:5-13/Ps 147:12-15,19-20/Mk 1:7-11 Saturday: 1 Jn 5:14-21/Ps 149:1-6,9/Jn 2:1-11 Your Fr. Benny Sunday: Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: Saturday: Mass Intention January 1, 2017 January 7, 2017 People of St. Francis Xavier Father John Murray Octavio Abreu Efren Nuguid Carol Hambleton Fred Sare People of St. Francis Xavier

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4 St. Francis Xavier Page Five St. Francis Xavier is currently offering tours of our school. Please call 818/ for more information or to schedule a tour.

5 Page Six New Year s Day January 1, 2017 Become a Member of Our Parish Please include your name, address, and address and we will add you to be a member of our church. Name: Address: Phone Number: DID YOU KNOW? Cell phone apps allow for hiding photos and messages A review of a young person s cell phone text messages may provide a parent or caring adult with information such as who your child talks to, where they are going, and what they re doing. Unfortunately, all of that may be in the past. Today, some new cell phone text messaging services keep cell phone texting activity increasingly private. In order to protect young people, one must stay current and re-connect with ever changing technology. For a copy of the VIRTUS article Vanishing, SelfDestructing Texting, and Electronic Communication, [email protected] or call DIRECTORY OF MINISTRIES Annulments Deacon Jaime Baptism Bereavement Ministry (Funerals) Children's Liturgy of the Word Confirmation Eucharistic Ministers to the Sick (818) First Eucharist (Grades 1 & 2) Marriages Pastoral Ministry to the Sick (818) Quinceñera R.C.I.A. (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) Reconciliation by Appointment Peace & Justice Ministries (818) Interested in engaging in the spirituality of Justice call Food Pantry Environmental Stewardship Advocacy Formation & Leadership Program Community Outreach