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Sunday, February 14, 2010
SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, WEEKDAY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, WEEKDAY

ASH WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, LENT BEGINS: DAY OF FAST & ABSTINENCE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, LENTEN WEEKDAY

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, LENTEN WEEKDAY

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, LENTEN WEEKDAY

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

The Parish Offices will be CLOSED on Monday, February 15^th in honor of Washington’s birthday.

The Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated this Monday evening, February 15^th at 7:30 PM, with Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese of Military Services as celebrant. Please pray for our Confirmandi and their parents and teachers, that the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit will flow in abundance this Monday evening. Please note: Confessions will not be heard Monday evening!

Feeding the Hungry: On the second Sunday of the month, Saint Rita volunteers make and serve the evening meal at Carpenter’s Shelter. Canned fruit is part of the menu. Donations are always welcome, other than crushed pineapple and applesauce. For further information, please call Susanne Arnold at 703-683-5138.

Charity is Faith in Action

2010 Bishop’s Lenten Appeal: Today is Commitment Sunday, (rescheduled from last weekend), and we thank you in advance for your generous support of this important annual appeal. Our parish goal for this year is $103,000. Please know that, along with reaching our goal, parish participation is also very important. For this reason, we encourage all NEW parishioners — as well as those who have not participated in the past — to consider what they might do for 2010. It’s love’s nature to sacrifice itself for the good of another. The needs throughout the Diocese are many and varied; please help make a difference. Please participate!

As of February 3^rd, we’ve reached 11% of our goal, with 2% of our households having pledged (23 pledges).

RESPECT LIFE HIGHLIGHTS

MONTHLY RESPECT LIFE MASS: Saturday, February 27^th at 8:00 AM; the Rosary will follow at the Duke Street abortion facility.

MONTHLY RESPECT LIFE INTENTION: For orphaned children throughout the world, especially those who are abused or neglected. We remember in a special way those children orphaned in Haiti as a result of the recent earthquake.

40 DAYS FOR LIFE — FEBRUARY 17^TH THROUGH MARCH 28^TH: This is an extraordinary opportunity to stand up for the culture of LIFE! Please join us in praying the Rosary at the Duke Street abortion facility on our sponsored day, Saturday, February 27^th. You may join us at approx. 8:45 AM (after our monthly Respect Life Mass), or anytime between 7:00 AM and 10:00 PM.

40 DAYS CONTACT INFORMATION: www.40daysforlife.com/alexandria To sign up, go to www.vigilcalendar.com/alexandria — Questions? Contact Heide Seward, 703-323-0181 or 703-673-8758.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Father Horkan’s Bible Study Series will continue with its current study this Sunday, February 14^th at 6:00 PM in the Parish Center, (note time change). — Jacob and Esau: Conflict and Reconciliation, Genesis, chapters 26–33. This study will continue next Sunday, February 21^st. Newcomers always welcome!

The John Paul II Reading Group meets about once a month at the Saint Rita Rectory to discuss classic Catholic writings. The next meeting will be Saturday, February 20^th at 6:30 PM and the book for this month is Kristin Lavransdatter, Part II: The Wife by Sigrid Undset, the winner of the 1928 Nobel Prize for Literature. The Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy, written from 1920–1922, is about the fortunes of a Norwegian noblewoman and her family in the 14^th century as Christianity is still overcoming the country’s pagan past. For more information about the reading group, please call Father Horkan at 703-836-1640.

Our March Pre-Baptism class is scheduled for Thursday, March 4^th at 7:30 PM in the Parish Center Lounge. Both parish and class registration are required in order to attend this class. Call Joanne at 703-836-1640, ext. 10 for more information and to register.

Our Parish Women’s Group

will meet on Friday, February 19^th at 7:30 PM in the church for the Stations of the Cross. After the Stations we will move to the Parish Center for a presentation by Father Robert Marciano, Lt. Col. and Military Chaplain. Father’s talk will begin at 8:00 PM and is entitled, “Bringing the Gospel to Those Who Serve: The Life and Ministry of our Military Priests”. — The Women’s Group is open to all married women. Please contact Nancy McKeague for more information, 703-768-1474, or email mckeague6@cox.net.

Wednesday, February 17th is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast and abstinence. Fasting permits two small meals that do not equal a full meal, and one larger meal, with no eating in between. Abstinence is depriving oneself of meat or of foods prepared with meat (sauces, gravies, soups from meat stock).

Well-known Jesuit theologian, the late Father John Hardon (whose cause for canonization is in Rome) offers us the following suggestions for making a more fruitful and penitential Lent:

• By making frequent acts of divine love.
• By doing our ordinary work with more selfless love for God, periodically telling our Lord we are doing it out of love for Him.
• By deciding, before Lent, what form(s) of charity we will practice towards those with whom we live or work. There is no more pleasing love of God, as expiation, than the selfless love of others whom God puts into our daily life.
• By going through the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, selecting one or more on which to concentrate during Lent as our form of penance-as-love, offered to the loving but offended God.

Additional ideas from Father Hardon:

• More frequent reception of the Sacrament of Penance during Lent.
• More frequent attendance at Mass.
• Less time spent eating, or eating less food, or getting up earlier than usual.
• Sacrificing some hours each week that would have been spent watching TV, listening to the radio, or reading secular newspapers and books.
• Answering letters or writing to persons who would appreciate hearing from us.
• Limiting one’s time in telephone conversations or conversations in general.

** The bulletins from “storm weekend” (February 6–7) will remain available in each of the vestibules for those who are interested! ☺

2010 Men’s Conference sponsored by the Diocese of Arlington: For all men 18+, to be held on Saturday, March 13^th at St. Joseph’s Hall in Herndon, VA. Confirmed speakers include: Capt. Guy Gruters, Air Force pilot and five-year POW in Vietnam; Catholic Congressman Chris Smith; and Fr. Paul Scalia from the Diocese of Arlington (Pastor of St. John the Beloved Parish in McLean and former Parochial Vicar of St. Rita). For information/to register, contact Tom O’Neill at familylife@arlingtondiocese.org.

THE LITURGICAL CALENDAR — PART II

The last article described the seasons of the liturgical calendar, namely, Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and Ordinary Time. This article will begin covering special days for saints and the great events of Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Church. The highest days are the Easter Triduum, from the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday. On these days, we celebrate the central events of all history: the death of Christ on Good Friday, His time among the dead on Holy Saturday, and His glorious Resurrection on Easter Sunday, all of which are commemorated and made present in the Eucharist and the Mass, which were established at the Last Supper that we celebrate on Holy Thursday night.
Next in line are the solemnities, glorious days of celebration and prayer. There are sixteen solemnities on the universal calendar, of which the highest are: Christmas, Epiphany (celebrating the arrival of the Magi before Jesus), the Ascension, which occurs on the 40^th day of Easter, and Pentecost, which closes out the Easter season 10 days later. The other twelve universal solemnities are the celebrations of: Mary, the Mother of God (January 1); St. Joseph (March 19); the Annunciation of Gabriel to Mary and the Incarnation of Christ (March 25); the Holy Trinity; Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist; the Sacred Heart of Jesus (the last three of which occur during the three weeks after Pentecost); the birth of John the Baptist (June 24); Saints Peter and Paul (June 29); the Assumption of Mary into heaven (August 15); All Saints’ Day (November 1); Christ the King (the last Sunday before Advent); and the Immaculate Conception of Mary (December 8.) In addition, the memorial days for the main patron saint of a country, parish or religious order can be elevated to a solemnity for that parish or order. Thus, for example, St. Rita’s day on May 22 can be a solemnity in this Diocese.

The next highest day is a feast day, which celebrates a particularly prominent saint or event in the life of Christ, Mary or the Church. Thus, for example, the days for all of the Apostles, some of the earliest martyrs, and the archangels are feasts, as are celebrations the Presentation, Baptism and Transfiguration of Christ, the Birth of Mary, the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, the conversion of St. Paul and the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the mother church of Christendom. In addition, the day for the patron saint or saints of a diocese, an area or a religious order, or the anniversary of the dedication of a diocese’s cathedral, can be a feast day. Thus, for example, Saints Thomas More and Elizabeth Ann Seton are the patrons for the Diocese of Arlington and thus their days can be celebrated as feasts here.

Most saints’ days are memorials, as are the days for such devotions as the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Rosary. However, if a saints’ day occurs during Advent or Lent, it is combined with the season’s theme and called a commemoration. Memorials can be obligatory or optional. If a memorial is obligatory, Masses and other liturgies of that day usually must celebrate that saint or devotion, with exceptions such as weddings, Confirmations, or funerals. If a memorial is optional it may be celebrated. In addition to memorials on the general calendar, specific places have memorials for special saints or blesseds. Thus, for example, in the United States, we celebrate the memorials of Saint John Neumann, an early archbishop of Philadelphia, and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, a native American honored as the Lily of the Mohawks. Next week’s column will continue a discussion of the attributes and colors for the seasons and the special days in the Church calendar.

— Father Horkan