The Catholic Church of

St. Mary the Virgin

The Solemnity of the  Immaculate Conception
of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Thursday, December 8
HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION

Low Mass 12 noon
Confessions 5:00-6:15 p.m.
Solemn Mass 7:00 p.m.

      I went into the grocery store after morning Mass on        November 1.  Though many children across the USA had not yet come down off a sugar high from the night before, there was—on November 1!—not only not a piece of Halloween candy for sale, but a large, somewhat garish Christmas tree already adorned the center of the store.  It struck me again that ours is a culture that doesn’t do patience or anticipation well.  Ours is a culture much in need of Advent! 
      In the Church, Advent refers to the four weeks of preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ on December 25.  The word itself means “coming” to remind us that our celebration of the first coming of Christ at Christmas is but an anticipation of his definitive coming at the end of time.  Pope Benedict XVI said: “These two comings of Christ that are chronologically distant—and we are not given to know by how long—are deeply connected, because with his death and resurrection, Jesus fulfilled that transformation of man and of the cosmos which is the final goal of Creation.  However, before the end, the Gospel must be proclaimed to all the nations…the Lord’s coming continues, and the world must be penetrated by his presence!”
      All of Christian life and discipleship sits between these two comings of Christ.  All of Christian life is therefore in some way Advent!  Are we being vigilant in our prayer, watching for Christ who comes to us daily?  Or, more to Pope Benedict’s point, are we by our faith and charity proclaiming Christ in our families, workplaces, schools, and relationships so that others can see and recognize the presence and action of Christ in their own lives?  
      Christ isn’t “more present” to us on Christmas Day than on any other day of the year. Our culture wants to extend the celebration of Christmas into a months’ long holiday season, fine.  But without the waiting and watching of Advent, we miss the whole point of this festival: Christ Jesus came in our flesh into our world to save what was fallen and raise us up to a new and eternal life with God.  His first coming at Christmas is a glimmer of promise.  His second coming is fulfillment and life!  Advent helps us keep these realities in good focus.  While the celebration of his first coming is joyful indeed, it is nothing compared to the fulness of the life of God to be revealed in his triumphal return. 
      So with the whole Church, we watch and wait for the Christ who comes.  For when he comes to us in his power and merciful love, there is joy indeed…and that’s the true holiday joy to share with friends and family. 

With prayerful best wishes,
Most Rev. Steven J. Lopes
Bishop 
 

Thanksgiving Day Mass, Thusday November 24 - Mass is at 10:00 a.m. rather than the usual time of 12 Noon. This change is for this Thursday ONLY!

Friday, November 25 - Mass will be at the normal time of 12 Noon. However, there will be NO ADORATION this Friday ONLY

Parish Office will be closed on Thursday and Friday.

Regular schedule returns on Saturday with Mass at 9 a.m. and Confessions at 10:00 a.m.

The Church Season of Advent begins this Sunday, December 27th.
  "Advent" is derived from the Latin word meaning "coming.”
  
   The infant Jesus is coming, and Advent is intended to be a season of preparation for His arrival. While the world arounds us typically regard these weeks of Advent as a joyous season, it, for Catholics, also intended to be a period of preparation, much like Lent is a preparation for Easter. Prayer, penance, and fasting are appropriate during this season. The cheerful green vestments are replaced with somber violet ones, the Great Litany is sung in the Procession on the 1st Sunday in Advent, there is no “Gloria” at the Mass, and as our Music Director shared last week, the musical setting at the 10:30 High Mass will change to a more simple, English one. 
    We are pleased to welcome The Rev. Christophe Woodall back to SMV for several weeks this season. Please take the time to introduce yourself to him and make him and his family welcome. With the assistance of Deacon Woodall, we will be able to celebrate a full Solemn Mass each week at 10:30 while he is with us. The Deacon will also be with us for one of our Masses on Christmas Eve. Please keep an eye on your bulletins (and take them home with you!) for updates on some special events this season, (the Country Store, Seasonal Youth Group activities, and the K of C Tamale sales, etc.)  
    Advent is not as strict as Lent, and there are no absolute rules for fasting, but it is meant to be a period of self-preparation. 
The purple color associated with Advent is also the color of penance, which is also worn during the season of Lent. The faithful are encouraged to consider fasting during the first two weeks of Advent in particular and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation before Christmas.
    The color of the Third Sunday of Advent is Rose. This color symbolizes joy and represents the happiness we will experience when Jesus comes again. Third Sunday of Advent is a day of anticipatory celebration. It is formally called "Gaudete" Sunday. Gaudete means "Rejoice" in Latin. 
    Advent marks the beginning of a New Church year, and it is my prayer that it be a year of Spiritual Growth, and, if it be God’s will, one of health, happiness and fulfillment for all. 
 
Faithfully,
Your Friend and Pastor, 
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook
 
 

     
       Today marks two major events in our Catholic life: the celebration of the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ as the King of the Universe instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 and the end of the Liturgical Year, C Cycle. In many parts of the world and even parishes in America, there are public displays of this celebration as the Blessed Sacrament is carried in procession which declares our belief in Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, and sitting on His throne in heaven as our King. Some parishes tend to be a bit more reserved in celebrating this feast, but still celebrate in High or Solemn High Masses. I do remember as a child walking in a procession in a Czech parish In Wallis, TX, near Houston, as my father’s polka band played hymns for all the processing parishioners to sing their Czech hymns by memory, as the celebrant carried the Monstrance throughout that small farming town. 
     Processing during the Feast of Christ the King is a laudatory way to close out the Liturgical Church Year. The Liturgical Seasons – at the risk of stating the obvious – are similar to the natural seasons in that they have their own distinct personalities: Advent, which begins next Sunday, and which begins the Lectionary Cycle A, prepares us for the coming of the Christ Child and leads us right into Christmastide, the celebration of Christ’s coming and His early years.
     For that change of the Liturgical Season, we will welcome it with our own changes. Liturgy is not static but full of life. So, the Mass setting itself will now be the “Missa Parochialis” by George Oldroyd, a setting which is part of our parish’s tradition which we used to sing regularly in years past.  I will be sending a link through our parish email so you can hear, and perhaps remember it. 
      Of course, there is no “Gloria” during Advent except on Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. After The Gradual and Alleluia has been sung between the readings, and the chanting of the Gospel, the musical nature of the Mass comes to a screeching halt: homily, prayers of the people, penitential rite, and then the music starts again with the chanting of the Offertory Antiphon and hymn and continues until the end of Mass. It is most appropriate that we express our faith through a Sung Creed. We will add a well-known English version of that. This also will fill a void that Fr. Stainbrook discussed with Mary, our organist, and me.  By singing the Creed and adding a sung prayer of the people, in the High Mass, the music continues without interruption. 
     With the beginning of Advent, it is appropriate to change the “Mystery of Faith”, and sing a simple “Amen” in keeping with the Advent simplicity, and sing the English “Our Father’ to match the English Mass setting.
     Today’s feast of Christ the King is a wonderful Solemnity with its readings and procession. May we all embrace it, and may we embrace the new Liturgical New Year beginning next Sunday with those exciting changes.

Marion Nesvadba, Music Director
 

    Eternal Rest grant unto them O Lord,
and let perpetual Light Shine upon them.

 

        We are fast moving towards the celebration of the Feast of Christ the King, (November 20th) and the following Sunday, ( November 27th), begins a new Liturgical Year with the First Sunday of Advent. As I have written in earlier bulletins, The month of November is dedicated to the Souls in Purgatory, whom we remembered especially on All Souls Day on November 2nd with a beautiful Solemn Mass set to the majestic score of Durufle’s Requiem. At the All Souls Mass, the Church commemorates all Her faithful children who have departed from this life but have not yet attained the joys of heaven. 
      St. Paul warns us that we must not be ignorant concerning the dead, nor sorrowful, "even as others who have no hope ... For the Lord Himself shall come down from Heaven ... and the dead who are in Christ shall rise”. (1st Thessalonians vs. 13-18)
The Church has always taught us to pray for those who have gone into eternity. Even in the Old Testament prayers and alms were offered for the souls of the dead by those who thought "well and religiously concerning the resurrection." It was believed that "they who had fallen asleep with godliness had great grace laid up for them" and that "it is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins." We know that a defiled soul cannot enter into heaven.
      The state of Purgatory is not eternal. Its duration varies according to the sentence pronounced at the particular judgment of each individual soul. It may be prolonged for centuries in the case of the more guilty souls, or of those who, being excluded from the Catholic communion, are deprived of the suffrages of the Church, although by the Divine Mercy they have escaped Hell. But the end of the world, which will also be the end of time, will close forever the place of temporary expiation. God will know how to reconcile His justice and His goodness in the purification of the last members of the human race, and to supply by the intensity of the expiatory suffering what may be wanting in duration. But, whereas a favorable sentence at the particular judgment admits of eternal beatitude being suspended and postponed and leaves the bodies of the elect to the same fate as those of the reprobate; at the universal judgment, every sentence, whether for Heaven or for Hell, will be absolute, and will be executed immediately and completely. (From The Liturgical Year, Abbot Gueranger O.S.B.) Thus, the Catholic Church urges her members to pray for the souls of their departed relatives and friends both during this month on “Holy Souls”, and, indeed throughout the year.
      Why not use these last days of our Liturgical Year, to say your prayers for the Faithful Departed, and for your own soul as we enter the new year with the season of Advent  
This season of Advent represents the time of our Pilgrimage to Heaven during which we hope for reward. The last Sunday of November (November 27th) marks the beginning of the season of    Advent; the liturgical color changes to purple, representing a time of penance.
Our Mass setting will change in Advent and will be the subject of next week’s Bulletin article.
 
Faithfully, Your Friend and Priest,
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook 
 

Join SMV's Carlo Acutis Youth group for a Teen Backyard Bonfire Movie Night this Saturday from 5:30-8pm! Generously hosted in the backyard movie theater of Carol Ivette Granados, SMV SE-trained Catechist and non-profit ministry leader, in East Fort Worth. Tacos and s'mores and great fellowship! Text or email for more info!

      Several people have asked: Why are the Clergy wearing black  vestments a lot this month, and why are the weekday masses a little different?  The answer is that we are celebrating Requiem Masses during many of the weekday masses this month.
      A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead (Latin: Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead (Latin: Missa defunctorum), is a Mass in the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Missal (found at the back, for those who have purchased a copy of Divine Worship: The Missal- Study Edition). They are often said during the month of November, the “Month of Holy Souls"
      The major difference between these Requiems and other weekday masses we usually celebrate here is the choice of Introit, Offertory and Communion chants, and the Prayers (Collect, aka Opening Prayer, Offertory Prayer, and Communion Prayer) The Dies Irae prayer can also be said (or sung) before the Gospel. (Also, of course, there would be no Gloria or Creed in these masses). There is nothing morbid about a Mass that commemorates earthly death. Remember, for Christians, death is not the end of the story.  Our Catholic Faith teaches us to cherish the memory of our dead. It urges us to commune in prayer, especially at Mass, with the souls of those we loved while they walked this Earth. We are continually reminded that “life is changed, not ended.”
      Actually, many daily masses throughout the year here at the Catholic Church of St. Mary the Virgin have the intention ( by a parishioner (contact the office for details), or of the Priest) for the soul of the deceased, either individually or in groups, and can, technically, also be termed “Requiem Mass,” -  but there is effectively no difference from an ordinary Mass, (the vestments are the color of the day, green, red or white, rather than black). 
       The Requiems we are saying this month are proper Requiems, and the names during the Canon of the Mass (Eucharistic Prayer) are read from the list given to the parish office for All Souls Day and placed on the altar during the Solemn All Souls Requiem. With so many names submitted this year, we felt it to be  both expeditious and efficacious to change the “feria” days (those days in the calendar not already set aside for a Saint’s Day) to Requiems.  
     
     November is also the month for the traditional All Souls Indulgence - please see the illustration about  this Indulgence at the bottom of my letter or elsewhere in this bulletin.
 
Faithfully, Your Friend and Pastor,
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook
 

 

   We welcome our Youth Choir this morning, who will be singing the delightful “Mass for Children” composed by our own Organist, Mary Nesvadba. 
We will have two beautiful celebrations in the Liturgical Year next week.
   
    Tuesday November 1st is the Feast of All Saints. All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Roman Catholic Church. We will therefore have two Masses that day - our regular Low Mass at Noon, and a Solemn Mass at 7:00pm. The Solemn Mass will be a Concert Mass, with our combined choirs singing Franz Schubert’s lovely and familiar “Mass in G Major”.  (WRR Classical Radio Station often features segments like the “Kyrie" and the “Sanctus” from this Mass in it’s programing).  Much of the music we hear on the radio is taken from Mass settings from composers such as Mozart, Schubert, and Hayden. Our Ordinariate Form of Mass works splendidly with this Sacred Music, and we are pleased to offer Solemn Masses featuring these Concert settings. We hope many of our parishioners will choose to attend this All-Saints Mass to support our dedicated and talented choir. 
 
 
    The following evening, Wednesday, November 2nd is the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed (also known as All Souls Day). We will keep this sombre occasion with a Solemn Requiem Mass at 7:00 pm. This mass will again feature our full choir who will be singing Maurice Durufle’s elaborate and challenging (for the singers, not the listeners!) Requiem. We hope that many parishioners will attend to remember their beloved dead and to pray for all orphaned souls who have no one else to pray for them. There will be no Noon Mass on All Souls day but there will be confession from 11:00 a.m. –12:00 p.m.
   There are forms in the Narthex for parishioners to write down the names of their beloved dead. As November is the Month of Holy Souls, we will offer Requiem Masses at those regularly scheduled weekday masses which do not have a specific commemoration, and offer the names written on these forms at those masses (No names will be read at the All Souls Mass itself).
   May All the Saints intercede for us, and may we remember the dead whose “Life is Changed, not Ended” (Preface for a Requiem)

Faithfully, Your Friend and Pastor,
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook
 
 

All Saints Day, Tuesday November 1
Low Mass, 12 noon

Solemn Mass, 7 p.m.
Choir will sing Franz Schubert's Mass in G

All Souls Day, Wednesday November 2
Confessions 11:00 am-12:00 noon
Solemn Mass 7 p.m.
Choir will sing Maurice Durufle's Requiem

Please remember that All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation for the faithful this year and the obligation HAS NOT been moved.

While All Souls Day is not a Holy Day of Obligation, it is nonetheless an important day in the Church. It is an opportunity for all of us to pray for those who have gone before us.  There are forms available in the Narthex for you to fill out with the names of those beloved dead you would like to have remembered at the Altar. Those sheets will be placed on the altar during the Mass. Since the list is likely to be very long, individual names will not be read on November 2nd. However, we will read the names of the dead at daily Masses all the way through November. Each weekday mass that is not a saint's day or other memorial Mass will be celebrated as a requiem, and names will be read. Please turn in your sheets as quickly as possible.

The choir has worked hard on preparing glorious music for both of these Masses. We urge you, if at all possible, to attend the evening Masses and support the work of our dedicated choir.

Please note: There will be no noon Mass on Wednesday.