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Sunday, February 28, 2010
SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

MONDAY, MARCH 1, LENTEN WEEKDAY

TUESDAY, MARCH 2, LENTEN WEEKDAY

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, ST. KATHERINE DREXEL, VIRGIN

THURSDAY, MARCH 4, ST. CASIMIR

FIRST FRIDAY, MARCH 5, LENTEN WEEKDAY

FIRST SATURDAY, MARCH 6, LENTEN WEEKDAY

SUNDAY, MARCH 7, THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

The Stations of the Cross are prayed each Friday of Lent at 1:30 PM (with the school children), 7:30 PM (English), and 8:30 PM (Spanish). There will be an exception, however on Friday, March 19th, the Feast of Saint Joseph. See next week’s bulletin for our special Feast Day events!

✞ In June 2004, Bishop Loverde began a series of diocesan-wide Masses to pray for victims/survivors of sexual abuse. “We so desire that you will experience healing and a new beginning.” Bishop Loverde said. “We carry you in our prayers to the Lord and ask Him to heal you as He alone can do.” These Masses are an opportunity for the community of faith to come together to pray for victims/survivors of abuse, their families and the entire Catholic community. — A Bilingual Mass for these intentions will be held at St. Rita Parish on Wednesday, March 10^th at 7:30 PM, with Bishop Loverde as celebrant.

MOTHER OF SORROWS, give us a generation of priests formed at your school and imbued with the tenderness of your heart.

Charity is Faith in Action
2010 Bishop’s Lenten Appeal

As of February 18^th, Saint Rita Parish has reached 23% of its goal of $103,000, with 5% of our households pledging (48 pledges). Remember that, along with reaching our goal, participation is an important component of our success! It’s never too late to pledge, with pledge cards being available in the Russell Road vestibule. Place your completed envelope in the collection basket, or drop off at the rectory office. May God reward your generous spirit.

Love of Jesus Crucified — One good way to keep the spirit of Lent which is the spirit of Christ Crucified, is to choose a short aspiration to recite (at least mentally) a few times during the day, such as “My Jesus Crucified,” or “Heart of Jesus, obedient unto death, have mercy on us.”

The Nocturnal Adoration Society is hosting Eucharistic Adoration on First Friday, March 5^th from 9:00 PM until Midnight. Come spend an hour of vocal and silent prayer at Saint Lawrence the Martyr Church, 6222 Franconia Road, just south of Alexandria. If you have any questions, or are interested in car pooling, please contact Jeff Petrino at 703-683-8877. Make an evening of it — as St. Lawrence hosts a Lenten soup kitchen from 6–7 PM, with confessions following at 7:00 and the Stations of the Cross at 7:30.

SCHOOL NEWS:
Open House — Monday — March 15^th — 10:00 AM

Due to the recent inclement weather (to put it mildly), we had to postpone our January Open House. We warmly invite you to join us for our next scheduled Open House on Monday, March 15^th — to begin promptly at 10:00 AM with a presentation by our school Principal, Mrs. Mary Pat Schlickenmaier. A tour of the school will follow. School application packets are available at the school information table in the Russell Road vestibule of the church. For a list of required documents and to download an application, please visit our website at www.saintrita-school.org — or call Josephine Cunningham at 703-548-1888, ext. 32 for information.

FYI — Our Church and School Sponsored Bingo Night Has Been Rescheduled For Saturday, May 15^th! Bets Are Being Taken As To How Much Snow Will Be On The Ground At That Time!!!☺

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, and one class is required if you plan to have your child baptized at St. Rita. Call Joanne at 703-836-1640, ext. 10 for information and to register, at which time you will be sent a baptism registration packet.

Parish Financial Updates

Regular collection, January 9–10 … $14,264
R&R donations (Repairs & Replacements) … $662
Regular collection, January 16–17 … $10,849
R&R donations (Repairs & Replacements) … $777
Haiti donations … $8,51
Cascia Account total for the above dates … $404
(Cascia Account funds are for those in need.)

YOUTH GROUP! Join us for our next night of fun-ness on Saturday, March 20th. Following the 5:00 PM Mass, come over to the School Hall for food and games! What could be better? Everyone who brings a friend gets a prize. Hope to see you there. E-mail Christy at rich.kristina@gmail.com to RSVP.

Observing Lent: Feeding the Hungry

Increased demand has reduced the Catholic Charities food pantry at Christ House. They need our help! Please bring non-perishable food items to St. Rita Church on the weekend of March 13–14. Vans will be parked outside the church before and after each Mass to receive your donations. Suggested food items: soups, fruit, juice, tuna, stew, peanut butter, jelly, canned pasta meals, chili, cereals, dried milk, & more. Grocery store gift cards are also welcome to buy formula, milk, and other perishable items.

Vocations Crucifix Sign-up: Each week, we continue to rotate a beautiful Vocations Crucifix among St. Rita parishioners who use it to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Families or individuals are welcome to host the Vocations Crucifix in their home for one week. The sign-up book is available in the Russell Road vestibule and enables parishioners to choose the weekend Mass they wish to receive the crucifix. You can also sign-up through Kelly and Nancy McKeague, mckeague6@cox.net or call 703-768-1474. The Vocations Crucifix provides a tangible means of commemorating The Year for Priests.

Father Horkan’s Bible Study Series will complete its current study this Sunday, February 28^th at 7:30 PM in the Parish Center Conference Room. — The next series will begin on April 11^th: Jacob and His Sons, Genesis, chapters 29–30, 34–37. (This is a change from the original schedule.)

Respect Life News

ASK A PRIEST NIGHT — Next Sunday, March 7^th at 7:00 PM in the School Hall. An adults only evening; wine & cheese will be served. Place your questions in the box provided in the Russell Road vestibule, or bring them with you on March 7^th. Fr. Donahue, Fr. Horkan and Fr. Perez will provide the answers using a NEW format allowing for more questions. Don’t miss this very popular annual event. Your invited guests are most welcome!

40 DAYS FOR LIFE CONTINUES THROUGH MARCH 27^TH. To sign-up, go to www.vigilcalendar.com/alexandria. — Or call Heide Seward with your concerns or questions: 703-323-0181, 703-673-8758 or hwseward@verizon.net. A truly beautiful & sacrificial Lenten offering for individuals — or as a family outing!

LITURGICAL COLORS – PART II

Last week, this article introduced the idea of liturgical colors and described three of the main colors, white, violet and red. This article will cover the fourth main liturgical color, green, and two other liturgical colors, rose and black.

Green is the color for Ordinary Time, which emphasizes orderly, steady rhythmic progress in the Church and the spiritual life. Green is the color of hope and of the fields and trees. As the color of hope, green reflects the recognition that this life is meant to be the springtime of everlasting life. It is fitting for ordinary time, the time in which we entrust our lives to God, seeing that all of its joys, sorrows, successes and failures can be like the sun and the rain that produce a great harvest. As the color of the fields, green reminds us to dedicate our lives and the world around us as vineyards of the Lord, producing fruit worthy of everlasting life. See Luke 3:8; Catechism 755. Ordinary Time emphasizes the need for the steady work of cleansing, cultivating and maintaining the field of our lives that God has given us so that, as in the parable of the sower, the Word of God may bear fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundred-fold now and forever. See Matt. 13:1–9, 18–23. Thus, during ordinary time, the color green is used for priest’s vestments and often other adornments, unless the day is a solemnity, feast or memorial, in which case white or red would be the usual color.

In addition to the central colors for the liturgical year, the church sometimes uses rose or black. Rose is the color of Christian joy, combining purple, red and white, as distinct from pink, which is between red and white. It is used on two Sundays, Gaudete Sunday and Lætare Sunday. Gaudete means “Rejoice” with the connotation of gaining what one has longed for. And Gaudete Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent, during which there is an emphasis on the preliminary joy that we experience even now awaiting Christ, even as there is a poignant sense of longing. Lætare also means “Rejoice,” with the connotation of having overcome some sorrow of struggle. And Lætare Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent, during which we anticipate the joy of having overcome the sorrows and struggles against sin in a fallen world, seeing the redemption of the world and ourselves. The Christian joy symbolized by rose on these Sundays is not mere happiness, an emotion of being pleased with something. Rather, as C.S. Lewis points out in Surprised by Joy, true joy evokes a yearning for the things of heaven that we do not fully have, a longing for a pure, holy kingdom not yet in our possession, “an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction.” On Gaudete and Lætare Sundays, the color rose combines white and red as the colors of the faith and sacrificing love that lead to this joy with purple as symbolic of longing for God as the source of this joy, and penance and sorrow for failing to serve Him.

Reflecting sorrow and mourning at loss is the color black. It can be used on Good Friday, funerals and other Masses for the dead. In such cases, this color symbolizes sorrow at death as the Blessed Virgin Mary and the women of Jerusalem felt at the Cross, as Jesus felt at the death of Lazarus, and we feel at the parting of a loved one. See Luke 23:26–32; John 11:35, 19:25–27. The Talmud, a Jewish Scriptural commentary, says, “Sorrow at death is a sign of love during life” and we are willing to risk that sorrow here on earth for the sake of love, for the sorrow will be rewarded in a kingdom where the desires of all rightful loves are fulfilled. As Jesus says elsewhere, “Blessed are those who weep and mourn, for one day they will laugh.” Matt. 5:4; Luke 6:21.

— Father Horkan