St. Matthias Parish

Annoucements & Upcoming Events

Know the Mass, One Word at a Time

Thank

If as children we were trained to be polite, the words “thank you” may roll off our tongues dozens of times daily. Of course, it’s good to be polite, but, in the routine of saying thank you, we may have lost its deeper meaning. In its fullest and deepest sense, to thank someone is to acknowledge their gift or their favor and also to acknowledge that we cannot give something back in return. To thank someone in this more authentic sense means to stand grateful but also indebted before someone who has been so good to us.

“Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.” We hear the invitation at Mass, and it is not an invitation to repeat a commonplace, hastily spoken thank-you. To give thanks to the Lord is a full and humble acknowledgment of God’s goodness to us manifested in the Death and the Resurrection of Jesus. There is truly nothing we can offer to “pay back” the Lord for all his goodness. Together, we stand before God grateful and indebted. God has done great things for us. We will never forget.

Archdiocese Celebrating Memorial Day at the Catholic Cemeteries

Monday, May 27 Memorial Day

Memorial Day Mass will be celebrated on Monday, May 27, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. at all of our major cemeteries, along with our parish cemetery Masses. Please check Catholic New World and local newspapers for the list of major cemeteries, parish cemeteries and celebrants near you.

Mercy Home Mentoring Program

A friend can make all the difference…Be that friend, consider mentoring. The Friends First Program of Mercy Home for Boys and Girls is a one-on-one mentoring program for youth ages 9-17 in the Chicago area. Our purpose is to engage youth in fun, meaningful activities that promote healthy personal and social development. To learn more about becoming a mentor, call the Friends First Program at 312-738-9560 or visit www.mercyhome.org/mentor.

St. Vincent de Paul Summer Toiletries Drive

Visiting a hotel this summer? Keep in mind the needs of the poor and bring home unused individual bottles of shampoo, lotion, and other toiletries for the Franciscan Outreach Mission here in Chicago. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has a collection box in the gathering space in Church for your donations. Your thoughtfulness will help provide the needed toiletries for some of the 40,000 showers provided by the Mission each year! God bless you for your generosity.

Announcement & Upcoming Events

Know the Mass, One Word at a Time

Support

Several times in the Mass, the priest addresses us or talks to God about us in a way that reminds us that we are not there individually or alone but rather together and even bonded in a special way. “Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves. . . .” “Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.” “Listen graciously to the prayer of this family, whom you have summoned before you. . . .”

We are at Sunday Mass, and we are not alone. And we are not just there, as if we had happened to board the same bus together. We are gathered as God’s family and the Body of Christ. We come not just for our own personal spiritual benefit, as important as that might be, but because we support each other on the journey to God. And we must support each other because we do belong to the same family.

Adult Confirmation

Are you an adult who has not celebrated the sacrament of Confirmation? Adult Confirmations will be held during the spring months throughout the Archdiocese. Preparation groups are forming now. To register or for information please telephone (312) 534-8047 or go to www.catechesis-chicago.org.

Catholic Charities Mother’s Day Collection

Protecting and helping others by donating to Catholic Charities is an impressive part of the Mother’s Day celebration at this parish. Thank you. Contributions can still be made online at www.catholiccharities.net/donate or mailed to 721N. LaSalle St, Chicago, IL 60654.

Archdiocese Celebrating Memorial Day at the Catholic Cemeteries

Monday, May 27 Memorial Day

Mass will be celebrated on Monday, May 27, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. at all of our major cemeteries, along with our parish cemetery Masses. Please check Catholic New World and local newspapers for the list of major cemeteries, parish cemeteries and celebrants near you.

Mercy Home Mentoring Program

A friend can make all the difference…Be that friend, consider mentoring. The Friends First Program of Mercy Home for Boys and Girls is a one-on-one mentoring program for youth ages 9-17 in the Chicago area. Our purpose is to engage youth in fun, meaningful activities that promote healthy personal and social development. To learn more about becoming a mentor, call the Friends First Program at 312-738-9560 or visit www.mercyhome.org/mentor.

Senior Friendship

Senior Friendship will meet Tuesday, May 14 for the last meeting of the season. Please meet in front of the church at 10:45am where transportation will be provided to Misericordia for the annual luncheon.

Announcement & Upcoming Events

A Letter From Cardinal George

Dear Friends in Christ,

On Mother’s Day, we celebrate the women: mothers, grand-mothers, aunts, friends who have loved and cared for us. It is through their unconditional love and compassion that we begin to understand the way in which God cares for us; and the command of Christ to love our neighbors as we love our-selves comes alive. Mother’s Day is also a day to remember and support the thousands of people who struggle with pov-erty and receive the love and compassionate help of Catholic Charities.

The Catholic Charities Collection on Mother’s Day gives us the opportunity to participate in the Gospel mission to love and serve the poor. It provides us with an extraordinary chance to support a critical mission of the Church - the care of our hungry, homeless and hurting brothers and sisters, many of whom may live right in your own parish communities.

Catholic Charities relies on funding from the Mother’s Day Collection to help serve more than one million people of all ages, races and religions in Cook and Lake Counties. Families, children, pregnant and parenting teens, seniors and veterans who have served our country most bravely come to Catholic Charities for the basic necessities of life: food, clothing and housing. Catholic Charities meets these basic needs with pa-tience and understanding, and then provides a broad range of professional services to help their clients work their way out of poverty, addressing the problems that keep them from independence and self-sufficiency.

Catholic Charities is the public face of the Church’s love for all in Christ’s name. I am profoundly grateful to the devoted staff, volunteers and donors who dedicate themselves to the mission of charity in the Archdiocese of Chicago. I thank you for your past support, and I urge you to please, once again, take the opportunity to bring Christ’s love to the most vulner-able among us by participating in the Catholic Charities Collection on Mother’s Day.

May God bless you and your families. You and those you love are in my prayers; please keep me in yours.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
Francis Cardinal George

Catholic Charities Mother’s Day Collection

On Mother’s Day, when you honor the women who formed your life, please remember all the women and children served by Catholic Charities who need your love and support at a critical time. With your gift, you can change the course of a woman’s life and the lives of the children who depend on her. Learn more at www.catholiccharities.net.

Adult Confirmation

Are you an adult who has not celebrated the sacrament of Confirmation? Adult Confirmations will be held during the spring months throughout the Archdiocese. Preparation groups are forming now. To register or for information please telephone (312) 534-8047 or go to www.catechesis-chicago.org.

Catholicism Series

7pm, Convent Make a Movie Night a Moving Night on Monday May 6th

We will be watching “A Body Both Suffering and Glorious." You are invited to gather with fellow parishioners and friends to watch the Catholicism Series by Father Robert Barron every other Monday at 7pm in the St. Matthias Convent. These 1-hour videos are a fun relaxing way to review or learn more about our faith and share our witness to how we live it. Each session includes a brief discussion opportunity with light snacks with an approximate end time of 8:30pm. Please spread the word and join us next session.

Mother’s Day Flower Sale

The St. Matthias Men's Club will sponsor a Mother's Day Flower Sale for all children in the parish. Order forms will be available soon in school folders and the back of church. The flowers will be $1.50 each and delivered to school in the morning on Friday, May 10, or may be picked up at 10:30am mass on Sunday, May 12 (Mother's Day). Contact Jason Merecki (jmerecki@yahoo.com) if you have questions.6

Senior Friendship Club

Senior Friendship will meet Tuesday, May 12 for the last meeting of the season. Please meet in front of the Church at 10:45am where transportation will be provided to Misericordia for the annual luncheon.

Announcements & Upcoming Events

Catholic Charities Mother’s Day Collection

Your Mother’s Day gift to Catholic Charities provides food, housing and counseling. It supplies safe, dependable childcare. It makes maternity, adoption and teen parenting programs available. It supports older adults with home-delivered meals, in-home care, and nursing home care. 92 cents of each dollar you give goes directly to help someone in need. Learn more at www.catholiccharities.net.

Adult Confirmation

Are you an adult who has not celebrated the sacrament of Confirmation? Adult Confirmations will be held during the spring months throughout the Archdiocese. Preparation groups are forming now. To register or for information please telephone (312) 534-8047 or go to www.catechesis-chicago.org

Know the Mass, One Word at a Time

Go

No one wants to be summarily dispatched or just sent away. “Go. Move on.” It’s not a nice message. Strangely, it’s the last message we get at Sunday Mass. In all the different forms, we are told to go and to move on. “Go forth, the Mass is ended. Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord. Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life. Go in peace.” Not only is that the final message of the Mass, for us it’s also a welcomed message. We want to go and we need to move on and out.

The Dismissal at the end of Mass is critical. We are entrusted with a mission and a high purpose. We are told to move to the world from which we originally came. We have heard God’s Word and shared in the self-sacrificing love of Jesus who has been our Bread of Life. Now, we have a purpose and responsibility. Our mission is to bring and live out what we have celebrated in the Mass. So, we go not only in peace but with joy, determination, and hope.

Donations Needed

North Center Satellite Senior Center located at 4040 N. Oakley at the senior campus, is in need of donations of the following items: Tea Cups with saucers, vintage table clothes - for round and long tables, Tea pots, Sugar and Creamers, Tea cozies, 3-tiered serving stands, anything related to tea. In addition, we are looking for gently used books of all types for our upcoming LitFest IV: Have I Got Another Story, and a book sale in June. Items can be dropped off here at the center in bags or boxed to the attention of Liza Martin or can be picked up from you by contacting Liza at lmartin@catholiccharities.net or by phone 312-744-4029.

Senior Friendship Club

Senior Friendship will meet Tuesday, May 12 for the last meeting of the season. Please meet in front of the Church at 10:45 where transportation will be provided to Misericordia.

Announcements & Upcoming Events

RCYA Softball is Back!

The Ravenswood Catholic Young Adults will again be organizing a 16” softball league at Winnemac Park! The registration fee is $70 per player. League play begins on Monday, June 3rd and continues every Monday evening through the summer. Players must be at least 21 years of age. Registration forms and checks must be postmarked by Tuesday, April 30th. Download a registration from at www.rcyasoftball.com and join in on the fun! You can also find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ groups/rcyachicago

Misericordia Candy Days

April 26-27

Please volunteer two or more hours of your time to make a difference for more than 600 children and adults with developmental and physical disabilities. To volunteer call Tessa 773-273-2768, email candy days@misericordia.com, or go to www.misericordia.org. To make a $5 donation TEXT “MIS” to 25383. Your gift will be double-matched this year! Thank you

Catholic Charities Mother’s Day Collection

Your Mother’s Day gift to Catholic Charities provides food, housing and counseling. It supplies safe, dependable childcare. It makes maternity, adoption and teen parenting programs available. It supports older adults with home-delivered meals, in-home care, and nursing home care. 92 cents of each dollar you give goes directly to help someone in need. Learn more at www.catholiccharities.net.

Benefit Dinner May 4th Irish American Heritage Center Honoring Michael Glynn

On May 4th from 4-11pm, The Michael Glynn Family Trust is hosting a benefit for the family of Michael Glynn. There will be a silent auction, raffles, food, cash bar and music. By attending this event, donating to the silent auction or making a monetary donation you are helping a family who lost their husband, father at the age of 50. Come join his friends and supporters for this worthwhile event.

Know the Mass, One Word at a Time

Unite

The Mass unites us and makes us one but not in the ways that you might expect. You may not know the name or history of the person sitting next to you in the pew. Still, the Mass unites you and draws you extraordinarily close to each other. How does this happen?

We are first united in Holy Communion with Jesus and in the unity of the Holy Spirit with each other. Saint Paul said, “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake the one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:17). The Mass, then, unites us with Jesus and, in him, with each other. That is a gift. Besides being a gift, this unity is also a task and a responsibility that flows from the Mass, as we hear Paul urging us to make “every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit” (Ephesians 4:3). Finally, this unity is our hope and destiny, as Jesus prayed for us: “The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one” (John 17:22–23).