Weekly Announcements: May 31st - Jun 7th

WEEKLY SCHEDULE
HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

Sunday, May 31st - Pentecost Sunday
(Private Mass) - Missa Pro Populo

Monday, June 1st - Monday after Pentecost
8AM (Low Mass) - Welsh Family

Tuesday, June 2nd - Tuesday after Pentecost
8AM (Low Mass) - Our Lady of Guadalupe Association

Wednesday, June 3rd - Ember Wednesday of Pentecost
8AM (Low Mass) - Charles & Kate Emig

Thursday, June 4th - Thursday after Pentecost
8AM (Low Mass) - St. Monica Association

Friday, June 5th - Ember Friday of Pentecost
7PM (Low Mass) - John David Conrad

Saturday, June 6th - Ember Saturday of Pentecost
8AM (Low Mass) - All Poor Souls

The Sacrament of Penance is offered 30 minutes before each weekday Mass. Requests are also taken after Mass as time dictates.

At that time Jesus said to His disciples: All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.
-St. Matthew 28 : 18-20


Sunday, June 7th - Trinity Sunday
7AM (Low Mass) - Missa Pro Populo
8:30AM (Low Mass) - Private Intention
10:15AM (High Mass) - † Repose of the soul of Frank W. Pitsko

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OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
On Monday, June 1st, the Diocese of Allentown is opening up Masses to public attendance. Those attending are asked to follow the prudent guidelines regarding social distances and hygiene. Volunteers will wipe down door knobs and areas that may easily transfer germs.
Please note the times of Masses:
Monday - Thursday 8 AM
Friday - 7 PM preceded by Exposition at 6 PM
Saturday - 8 AM
Sunday - 7:00 A.M. Low Mass
8:30 A.M. Low Mass
10:15 A.M. Sung Mass
We are having three Masses on Sunday to limit the number of parishioners in the
church at any one time.
May God bless you and keep you.

-Fr. Gregory Pendergraft, FSSP

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About the Ember Days and the Priesthood


Ember Days are three days--Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday--set aside at the beginning of each of the fours seasons to offer God prayer, fasting, and abstinence.  The focus of Ember Days, which coincide with the seasons of harvest, are placed to offer God thanksgiving for His creation, to ask for a bountiful harvest, and to ask His help in using it well.  The Ember Days were instituted in the first centuries of the Church, although the exact year is unknown, as a way to counteract the pagan harvest feasts.  St. Leo the Great believed they were even of Apostolic origin, although other sources suggest the 3rd or 4th century.  Eventually the Ember Days were set to fall after Ash Wednesday, Whitsunday, the Exaltation of the Cross (specifically during the third week of September), and the feast of St. Lucy.  On Ember Wednesday and Saturday traditionally one fasts and partakes of partial abstinence, and on Ember Friday one fasts and fully abstains.
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Pope St. Leo the Great wrote of the Ember Days after Whitsunday, "And so those teachers, who have instructed all the Church's sons by their examples and their traditions, began the rudiments of the Christian warfare with holy fasts, that, having to fight against spiritual wickednesses, they might take the armor of abstinence, wherewith to slay the incentives to vice... The desire to hurt us is indeed ever active in the tempter, but he will be disarmed and powerless, if he find no vantage ground within us from which to attack us... Therefore, after the days of holy gladness, which we have devoted to the honor of the Lord rising from the dead and then ascending into heaven, and after receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, a fast is ordained as a wholesome and needful practice, so that, if perchance through neglect or disorder even amid the joys of the festival any undue licence has broken out, it may be corrected by the remedy of strict abstinence, which must be the more scrupulously carried out in order that what was on this day Divinely bestowed on the Church may abide in us. For being made the Temple of the Holy Ghost, and watered with a greater supply than ever of the Divine Stream, we ought not to be conquered by any lusts nor held in possession by any vices in order that the habitation of Divine power may be stained with no pollution."
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In the 5th century Pope Gelasius I prescribed that all ordinations take place on Ember Saturdays, following apostolic tradition.  Then they, fasting and praying, and imposing their hands upon them, sent them away. (Acts 13:3).  Thus, linking ordinations with Ember Days, not only did the candidates fast and pray for a few days before receiving Holy Orders, but all of the faithful joined in as well for the sanctification of the priests.  May we likewise use these upcoming Ember Days to offer prayer and penance to God for our newly ordained priests, deacons, and for all priests.
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Thomas A Kempis wrote beautifully of the priest.  "A priest clad in his sacred vestments is Christ's vicegerent, to pray to God for himself, and for all the people, in a suppliant and humble manner; he has before and behind him the sign of the Cross of the Lord, that he may always remember the Passion of Christ; he bears the Cross before him in his vestment, that he may diligently behold the footsteps of Christ, and fervently endeavor to follow them; he is marked with the Cross behind, that he may mildly suffer, for God's sake, whatsoever adversities shall befall him from others; he wears the Cross before him, that he may bewail his own sins; and behind him, that, through compassion, he may lament the sins of others, and know that he is placed as it were, a mediator betwixt God and the sinner; neither ought he to cease from prayer and oblation, till he be favored with the grace and mercy which he implores.  When a priest celebrates, he honors God, he rejoices the Angels, he edifies the Church, he helps the living, he obtains rest for the dead, and makes himself a partaker of all that is good."
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A Prayer for Priests

O Jesus, Eternal Priest, keep Thy priests within the shelter of Thy Sacred Heart, where none may touch them. 
Keep unstained their anointed hands, which daily touch Thy Sacred Body. 
Keep unsullied their lips, daily purpled with Thy Precious Blood. 
Keep pure and unworldly their hearts, sealed with the sublime mark of the priesthood. Let Thy Holy Love surround them from the world's contagion. Bless their labors with abundant fruit, and may the souls to whom they minister be their joy and  consolation here and their everlasting crown hereafter. 
Mary, Queen of the Clergy, pray for us: obtain for us numerous and holy priests. Amen.

Weekly Announcements: May 24th - May 31st

WEEKLY SCHEDULE
HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS
***You may watch live and prerecorded Masses here at LiveMass.net. This is a ministry of the FSSP.***

The church will be open for private prayer for up to 10 people from 7-11 AM each day beginning this coming Tuesday. Our pastor, Fr. Pendergraft, recommends people make frequent spiritual Communions. For how to do this, see this post: Making a Spiritual Communion.

Sunday, May 24th - Sunday after Ascension
(Private Mass) - Missa Pro Populo

Monday, May 25th - St. Gregory VII
(Private Mass) - † Repose of the soul of Raynona Blake

Tuesday, May 26th - St. Philip Neri
(Private Mass) - Mr. & Mrs. Augustus J. Mitchell

Wednesday, May 27th - St. Bede the Venerable
(Private Mass) - The Children & Grandchildren of John & Mary Ellen Kelly

Thursday, May 28th - St. Augustine of Canterbury
(Private Mass) - Wedding Anniversary of Matthew & Mary Schwartz

Friday, May 29th - St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi
(Private Mass) - Christopher & Eileen Dandridge

Saturday, May 30th - Vigil of Pentecost
(Private Mass) - Wedding Anniversary of Robert & Shelley Fraker

The Sacrament of Penance is offered 30 minutes before each weekday Mass. Requests are also taken after Mass as time dictates.

But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. You have heard that I said to you: I go away, and I come unto you. If you loved me, you would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes to pass: that when it shall come to pass, you may believe.
-St. John 14 : 26-29


Sunday, May 31st - Pentecost Sunday
(Private Mass) - Missa Pro Populo

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OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
May we continue to pray that access to the sacraments and the ability to participate fully in the public worship of the One, True God will be restored soon. Let us also pray that the Truth may be revealed and the darkness overcome.
Please contact the rectory with any concerns or spiritual questions that you have.

-Fr. Gregory Pendergraft, FSSP

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