This months Calendar

Come Celebrate With Us

Sunday Mass  & Service Schedule 

What is Mass and why do Catholics

do those things click here

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This weeks Bulletin 

Sunday 11:00 am     

Tuesday 12:00 noon  

What is Mass

Our Lady Of Grace  Mission Statement

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If you don't see the information you are looking for, always  check the Church Bulletin  click here

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Deacon Larry has offered to take communion to anyone who is still unable to attend Mass.  If you know someone who doesn’t get emails please contact them and ask if they would like Deacon Larry to bring communion to them.  You, or they, can contact the office (304) 822-5561 or call Deacon Larry 703-421-5815.

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Church Announcements 

Catholic Charities collects and distributes personal care items to the needy.  This month they need disposable razors, ladies deodorant, q-tips, and toothpaste.

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Dear fellow parishioner,

For better or worse, you will find either a physical or scanned copy of “Thoughts and Reflections”

included in the weekly bulletin.  Since I have not been able to contribute to the common liturgical or

ministerial good during this plague, I asked Fr. Thomas if I could perhaps contribute such weekly

offerings instead.

These reflections were written in an ad hoc basis during my years of active ministry in these Potomac Highlands.  They were, for the most part, cobbled together on those Saturdays when I had the

weekend homily in hand by the time I left for the 5:00 P.M. Mass at Epiphany.  They have been

excavated from my physical files (I suspect that there are many more if I opened one of the many thumb-drives I’ve ignored since I retired.)  They are passed on to you in their original state with all the errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and typos, of that which is written in haste.  Such is the

laziness of this retiree.

These have no pretense of being anything more than what they are -  a backward glance upon the scatterings of grace which a generous God has strewn upon the surface of my daily life.  If you find any merit in them; if you find them helpful in recognizing the touch of grace in the simplicity of your own lives, them I am pleased and grateful.

Prayer to Saint Thomas the Apostle

Dear Saint Thomas,

You were once slow in believing that Christ had gloriously risen; but later, because you had seen him, you exclaimed: "My Lord and my God!"

According to an ancient story, you rendered most powerful assistance for constructing a church in a place where pagan priests opposed it.

Please bless architects, builds and carpenters that through them the Lord may be honored.

Contact the office...      Tuesday or Wednesday

                          -  304-822-5561

      If you would like to register as a parishioner.

If your address, phone number or email address has changed.

      If you or a family member is hospitalized so that Fr. Thomas can visit.

      If you become homebound so that a Eucharistic Minister can visit and bring you Holy Communion.

Congratulations, we have $10,125.00 pledged, with 35 gifts; that is 112% of our goal.  If you haven’t donated, it’s not too late.  All of the money donated will still come back to Our Lady of Grace.  Thank you to everyone who has contributed.  Envelopes are available on the table in the vestibule. 

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Baby bottles are available in the foyer to collect your loose change between now and Christmas.  The money will support the Knights of Columbus Pro-life ministry.  Please take a bottle home, and when filled, place it in the basket at Our Lady’s feet in the sanctuary.

Thank you to the Knights of Columbus for the new flag for our flagpole.  The other one was worn and tattered.  Thank you also to Dan & Bob for all the work they do around the church and grounds.  Your hard work is greatly appreciated.                                                                               

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A book of redemptive suffering by parishioner Tom Eades

Donation $10.00  and this is tax deductible Proceeds go to

Hope in the Darkness Project 

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Harley Carriger has written an autobiography.  It recounts his growing up experiences and early life.  He has donated a copy to our library.  If you would like to read Harley’s book please use the sign up sheet in the vestibule.  We will circulate the book through the list and then put it in the church library.

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Phil Gallery’s newest book is

“Saint Francis and the Animals.” 

Books will be available for sale for $18.00.

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Below is a prayer for Bishop Brennan that the Lord will strengthen him in his new role as shepherd of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. 

Lord, our God, You have chosen Bishop Brennan as a successor to the Apostles, to be a shepherd to Your flock in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston; grant him, we pray, a spirit of counsel and fortitude, a spirit of knowledge and piety, so that by faithfully governing the people entrusted to him, he may help build Your Church as a sign of salvation for the world. 

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

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If you did not sign up to get your house blessed but would like to have it blessed, Fr. Thomas will continue to do blessings on Tuesdays.  Contact Margaret or the office if you would like your house blessed.

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There are copies of “Letter to a Suffering Church” on the bookshelf at the back of the church.  This book is by Bishop Robert Barron, the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

From the Author’s Preface:

 Why Stay Catholic with So Much Scandal?

“This book is a cry from the heart.  I am a lifelong Catholic, and I’ve been a priest for thirty-three years and a bishop for four years.  I have dedicated my life to the Church.  The sexual abuse scandal has been for me, for millions of other Catholics, and especially for the victim-survivors, lacerating. 

I have written this book for my fellow Catholics who feel, understandably, demoralized, scandalized, angry beyond words, and ready to quit.

What I finally urge my brothers and sisters in the Church to do is to stay and fight-and to do so on behalf of themselves and their families, but especially on behalf of those who have suffered so grievously at the hands of wicked men.”

You may take a copy home to read.  Please return it when you are done so someone else can read it also.

A Message from

Fr. Thomas Anatharackal CST

Our Lady of Grace

Administrator

4/11/2021

2nd Sunday of Easter (B)

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The Risen Lord Jesus revealed the glory of his resurrection to his disciples gradually and over a period of time. Even after the apostles saw the empty tomb and heard the reports of Jesus' appearance to the women, they were still weak in faith and fearful of being arrested by the Jewish authorities. When Jesus appeared to them, he offered proofs of his resurrection by showing them the wounds of his passion, his pierced hands and side. He calmed their fears and brought them peace, the peace which reconciles sinners and makes us friends of God. He commissioned his weak and timid apostles to bring the good news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. This sending out of the disciples is parallel to the sending out of Jesus by his heavenly Father.

The last apostle to meet the resurrected Lord was the first to go with him to Jerusalem at Passover time. When Jesus proposed that they visit Lazarus after receiving news of his illness, Thomas said to the disciples: "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (John 11:16). When Thomas recognized his Master, after the resurrection of Jesus, he believed and exclaimed that Jesus was truly Lord and truly God! Through the gift of faith, we, too, proclaim that Jesus is our personal Lord and our God. Jesus called his first disciples, and he now calls each one of us to do the same. Just as he gave his first disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit, so he breathes on each of us the same Holy Spirit, who equips us with new life, power, joy, and courage to live each day as followers of the Risen Lord. Do we believe in the good news of the Gospel, and in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring us new life, hope, and joy? 

Have a Blessed and Joyful  Week

Did You Know?

If you  make a donation to the church in memory of a loved one it is exempt from the 9% assessed by the Diocese on regular donations.

What are the Gospels?

The term gospel comes from a translation of the Greek noun

euangelion (εὐαγγέλιον) – meaning “good tidings” or “good news”. This means that when people are speaking of the four gospels in the bible, they are talking about the four recounts of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

Written by evangelists between 70 and 100 AD, the four gospels contain almost everything we know today about Jesus, his life, his teachings, and his sacrifice.

The gospels are in fact, a set of specific historical text, that convey a deeper, more profound understanding of Jesus, who he is, his acts, and his teachings, from four different perspectives.

Why are There Four Gospels? Each of the gospels contain information that is either absent from or contradictive to the three other gospels. Each of the gospels were written to convey the message of the lord with different demographics, cultures, and educations in mind. The way an impoverished person living on the streets, would speak and think was different to those of an upper class from the same time period, which also meant that they would see and understanding things differently from one another. This made it rather difficult trying to get the people to connect with the same message, as their view of things was heavily influenced by their own means, needs and comforts.

As time is not kind to human memory, there is no way for us to know exactly what was said and done, word for word, and we must instead rely on the word of witnesses recounting what they saw and heard long after the event. Personal bias could also effect how these witnesses perceived the events, and as Jesus most likely spoke Aramaic there are bound to be a few mistranslated words or phrases here and there. As Catholics we believe  that the Gospels are the divinely inspired word of God.