St Patrick's of Smithtown
Welcome to the Parish
Lent Begins
Lent offers us the opportunity to deepen our relationship with God, to examine our hearts and our lives and to help those less fortunate than ourselves. Please take advantage of the following opportunites offered by our parish:
Weekday Mass
Monday through Friday
6:45 AM Mass
9:00 AM Mass
12:10 PM Mass
7:30* PM Mass
* On Monday, February 11th, the evening Mass will be held at 7:00 PM
not 7:30 PM.
Confession
Saturday -- 3:45 to 4:45 PMSunday -- 8:15 to 8:45 AM
Monday -- 6:45 to 7:15 PM**
Anytime by appointment in the rectory.
Additional opportunities for Reconciliation
will be offered during the Holy Week
** No confessions February 11th & 18th.
Lenten
Evenings of Prayer
with the
Sisters of St. Joseph
WednesdaysFebruary 13th, 20th, 27th
March 5th & 12th
at 7:30 PM
in the Convent Chapel
Stations of the Cross
Every Friday during Lent
at 8:15 PM in the Church,
begining February 8th
Each week, the Stations will be led by a different
parish organization as follows:
February 8 - Catholic Daughters
February 15 - Legion of Mary
February 22 - RCIA
February 29 - Confirmation Candidates
March 7 - Knights of Columbus
March 14 - Rosary Altar Society
Lenten Regulations:Abstinence & Fasting:
All Catholics who have reached their 14th year are bound to abstain entirely from meat on Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent. All Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59, inclusive, are also bound to observe the law of fast on Ash Wednesday & Good Friday. This means limiting oneself to a single full meal and avoiding food between meals. Two other light meals, which together do not equal a full meal, may be taken during the day.
The obligation to do penance and to observe the appointed penitential season is a serious one. Those whose work or health would be impaired are excused from fast and abstinence. Individual conscience should decide proper cause for excuse. A more serious reason is required to excuse oneself from Ash Wednesday and Good Friday fast and abstinence.
Lenten Suggestions:
Support those in need in our parish: Nonperishable food may be donated in the white Parish Outreach containers located at the exits of the church. Money may be donated in the poor boxes.
Support those in need in our area: This year, our Lenten Parish Project is to raise money for Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church in Wyandanch which recently lost its Outreach Center in a fire. Contributions may be placed in the containers at the church exits.
The St. Patrick’s Nocturnal Adoration Society invites all of its members and all parishioners to a Combined Vigil before the Holy Eucharist.
Saturday, February 16th,
From the 8 PM Mass until 10 PM
The Vigil will be led by Msgr. McNamara from our neighboring Parish of the Holy Cross. Msgr. McNamara will address the group and lead us in prayer during the Vigil. The Nocturnal Adoration Society will then resume its normal hourly vigils throughout the night next month on March 16th-17th.
Ignite the Flame in Your Heart!
Join St. Patrick’s Youth Community
on our
Amazing Race Retreat
at Frost Valley Retreat House, Claryville, NY
for young people in grades 7 to 12
April 18th (4 PM St. Patrick’s Departure)
to
April 20th (5 PM St. Patrick’s Arrival)
Please call the Youth Office for Reservations, 360-0185
Details Upcoming
CPR & First Aid Trained Adult Chaperones
Attention Children in Grades 1 - 6
Picture Yourself in Children’s Choir
St. Patrick’s Children’s Choir is looking for new members as we prepare our Lenten observances and Easter. Join us at our next rehearsal on:
in Keegan Hall
(in the main hallway of the school building)
from 6 to 7 PM
... and bring a friend or two!
Attention Young People
Each year on Good Friday, young people from our parish give a moving, live portrayal of the Stations of the Cross. Young people wishing to participate should call Cindy at 724-1261.
Rehearsal dates are as follows: February 13th & 27th, March 5th, 12th, & 19th from 6-7 pm.
The Marriage Alive community
is sponsoring a
Marriage Enrichment Day
entitled
"Time for Us"
Moderated byMarriage and Family Psychologist,
Dr. Henry Malone
How many times have all of us said or heard, "We do not have enough time for ourselves?" Well, now you will have a great opportunity to spend a few hours together. This mini-retreat will help you to revitalize your relationship and learn some ways about how to enrich the love in your marriage.
When: Sunday, March 1st
Where: St. Patrick’s Emmaus Room from 9:30 AM to 5 PM
Cost: $50 includes breakfast, lunch and refreshments
Space is limited so advance registration is necessary. Please complete the registration form downloadable here. Include your check for $50, and return the completed form by February 15th to:
Questions? Call Harry & Evelyn Nadler at 979-6481.
"Family Film Night"
Join us on
Friday, February 8th
and see
"The Ultimate Gift"
Bring the whole family for a night out at the movies at the movies here at St. Patrick’s, free of charge. See next week’s bulletin for more details!
You are invited to the
Knights of Columbus
Pizza & Family Movie Night
at 7 PM
at the Council House
130 Lake Avenue, Nesconset
Members & Non-Members welcome!
Cost: $5 per person or $10 per family
Mark Your Calendar for a
Parish Communion Breakfast
hosted by the Rosary Altar SocietySunday, March 9th
following the 10:30 AM Mass
at the Hamlet Wind Watch Golf and Country Club
Breakfast Buffet, Cost: $30 per person
Director & Principal of the De La Salle School,
a Catholic scholarship school that provides quality education
for grades 5-8
for young men from economically disadvantaged situations
Don’t miss the annualSt Patrick’s Day
Dinner Dance
Friday, March 14th at 7:30 PMat Flowerfields of St. James
Cost: $75 per person
Tickets go on sale
February 9th & 1oth
What are the principles of Catholic Christian morality
and decision-making?
How do they apply to today’s moral issues?
Investigate these questions and more through this Basic Theology Course offering. The course may be used for credit toward a Basic Theology Certificate or for personal faith enrichment.
Wednesdays, January 30th,
February 13th & 27th,
March 5th & 12th
from 7:30 to 9:30 PM in the Emmaus Room
Instructor: Mrs. Elaina Kedjierski, M.A.
"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." These words are from the familiar prayer we say everyday, the prayer Jesus gave to his disciples when they asked him how to pray, the Our Father. This is Jesus’ prayer. Being fully human he experienced the effects and presence of sin and evil. In today’s gospel we see Jesus being tempted by the devil to use his divine power as the Son of God to satisfy his physical hunger, to show us how safe he really was and to have earthly power over all people. Of course he refused. Jesus knew who he was and who he was not. In the face of temptation he remained faithful to his Father as the Son of God. In the first reading we see a complete contrast to the Gospel of today. Here the devil triumphs in his desire to get Adam and Eve to give into temptation. When they give in and sin they do not have the wisdom promised, but see only their shame.
A few days ago we began the season of Lent. Thousands of people came to have blessed ashes placed on their foreheads. These ashes identify us as the children of Adam and Eve in their sinfulness, but that is overshadowed by the new identity we have as the children of God through Jesus. In order to get beyond temptation we need to know who we are and who we are not. Lent is our time to look into our hearts and to see how we are living as the beloved children of God. Like Jesus we are faced with temptations. We seek to satisfy our hungers for food, power and control from a merely human and personal point of view at times. We seek safety in making sure we have enough money to take care of any needs we have. But the more we center our efforts on ourselves and our own resourcefulness, the further we distance ourselves from God and one another. Last Sunday we heard Jesus begin the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s gospel. The first Beatitude says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, the kingdom of heaven is theirs." Blessedness comes from recognizing our inner need for God. It is our spiritual health that suffers when we turn away from him and one another.
Lent is a gift of forty days we have as the children of God to strengthen our spiritual life and to grow in our faith as well as our love for God and one another. The blot of ashes on our foreheads proclaims that we are the children of God who have fallen by our sinfulness, but are now resolving to make the changes needed to be more faithful to God and one another. We are tempted to drift through Lent and not really do anything in the three traditional areas of prayer, fasting and good works. Lent is a call not just to turn away from sin, but also to be faithful to the gospel. It is our time to look for Jesus so we might be nurtured by his presence to us through prayer and the sacraments and to live our identity as the sons and daughters of God. In his book, "Go in Peace," Pope John Paul II says, "Jesus does not merely speak in the name of God like the Prophets, but He is God Himself speaking through His Eternal Word Made Flesh. Here we touch upon the essential point by which Christianity differs from all other religions, by which humanity’s search for God has been expressed from earliest times: Christianity has its starting point in the Incarnation of the Word. Here, it is not simply a case of a people seeking God, but of God who comes in Person to speak to us of Himself and to show us the path by which He may be reached."
To know God as he is is a life long journey and quest of faith. The more we come to know him in the experiences of our everyday lives, the stronger our identity as the children of God becomes. What can we do during Lent to be more faithful to God and to come to see his presence more clearly in our midst? One of the things I am resolved to do is to try to read from a spiritual book everyday so my horizons can be widened and my faith and my understanding of God and his presence becomes life giving more and more each day. What are you going to do? I encourage you to pick at least one thing to focus on in one of the three areas of Lent: prayer, fasting and good works. Lent is not so much about getting beyond sin, avoiding sin, but coming to know the joy and life that come from being who we are as the children of God. Then we are on road to answering the prayer Jesus taught us: "Thy kingdom come."
Father Walden
The Roman Catholic Community of St. Patrick, Smithtown sees itself as:
- The People of God, The Body of Christ.
- Enlightenment by the Word of God.
- Nourished by the Life of Christ in the Sacraments.
- Supported by our love for and our forgiveness of each other.
- Empowered to bring the love, justice and peace of Christ to our families, our neighbors, our friends, our enemies, the poor and the powerless.
- Called to reach out to the unchurched and the non-practicing members of our community and to assist in the spiritual, intellectual and social growth of all whose lives we touch.
