April 17, 2016 4th Sunday of Easter – C SHEEP MAY SAFELY GRAZE INTRODUCTORY THOUGHT We live in a world where a person’s life can change for the worse in the twinkling of an eye. We can lose our jobs because of changes in the stock market. We can lose our health because of hazards in the environ- ment. We can lose a family member because of an automobile accident. If we place ourselves in God’s hands, however, we have a transcendent security in eternal love. Reading I:Acts 13:14, 43-52 Paul and Barnabas attracted large crowds on their missionary journeys. Their message and their popularity, however, put their lives in jeopardy. They suffered persecution at the hands of both the city leaders and the religious leaders wherever they went. Only courage born of great faith kept them true to their calling. Reading II: Revelation 7:9, 14b-17 God promises the faithful security in this world and in the world to come. Revelation gives us a symbolic picture of what heaven will be like. The huge crowd that is closest to the throne of God is made up of those who suffered for their faith. There is a special place in the kingdom of God for those whose courage keeps them faithful Reading III John 10:27-30 Nothing in this world can make us ultimately secure because everything here below is temporal and perishable. But Christ is the Good Shepherd who gathers his sheep into a safe place where wolves cannot harm them and where thieves cannot break in and take them away CLOSING THOUGHT: Our faith can be a source of courage. But all courage is not the same. Physical courage that risks harm makes a person brave in one way. Moral courage that risks criticism makes a person brave in another way. In our hostile world most of us actually have less need of physical cour- age than moral courage. But both are necessary if we are to live creatively, conscientiously, and faith- fully Mon. Apr18th,8amKathryn Murray@St. Agnes Tues.April 19th, 8amJames Wanger@HolyFamily Wed. April 20th 8am Victoria Escallon @ St. Agnes Thur.April 21st 8amCecil Millburg @ Holy Family Friday April 22nd 8am NO MASS @ St. Agnes Saturday April 23rd 4pm Hildegarde Eickhoff @ St. Agnes 6pm Paul Meyer @ Holy family Sunday April 24th 8am for Mary Thunhorst @ Holy Family 10am for Dorothy Millburg @ St. Agnes April 17th 10am First Communion @ St. Agnes April 18th 6:30pm RCIA April 21st 9:30am Montgomery NH Com.&Ros. April 23rd One Faith Experience - See bulletin article April 28th 9:30am Montgomery NH Ros. May 12th 6:30pm CCW Women’s Banquet April 10th, 2016 Weekend envelopes (119) $ 3713.50 Weekend loose $ 258.00 Easter offering $ 5.00 Catholic Home Mission $ 5.00 Seminarians $ 10.00 TOTAL $ 6168.75 St. Agnes Cemetery $ 271.00 St. Johns $ 45 Please let us know if some- one in your family is ill or hospitalized and wants to be visited or taken communion by calling 532-5288. Please leave a detailed message Are you’re a practicing Catholic who has never received the sacrament of Confirmation? If so, you are invited to talk with Char Modla about what you can do to be confirmed on Pentecost Sunday, May 15, 2016 at a special Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. More information can also be found at our website: http://dio.org/catechesis/ adult-confirmation.html Congratulations to those receiving their First Communion! Adoration is held on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday 3-6pm. Please join us! “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepard lays down His life for His sheep.” (John 10:11) Get to know the Good shepherd Who laid down His life for us. He waits for our visit in Eucharist Adoration. Trust in the mercy of God’s love. Do you know someone who is carrying the grief and sorrow of past abortions? Share with them the Good News of God’s merciful love. Call Project Rachel for a confiden- tial referral to those who can help: 1-877-RACHEL-5. Pray that many will seek and receive the gift of God's infinite mercy. Fourth Sunday in Easter Time –17 April 2 Smell like sheep. This is what Pope Francis says: Shepherds should smell like the sheep they shepherd. This is not a charge just to bishops and priests. It is told to all of us, too. All of us shepherd in little and big ways: in the children we bear and raise, in the students we teach, in the workers we guide, in the customers we serve, in ________. To smell like sheep, we must be unafraid, for we are part of the one protected flock, we are all in this together (Jew and Gentile – reread Acts 13:14, 43-52). Sunday makes us one. Jesus makes us one. Make a list: who do I shep- herd? How can I do this with greater love and care? Melody Ellinger Audrey German Kaleb Knodle Violet Lentz River Smith Hope Speiser O Jesus, who hast loved us with such exceeding great love as to give us the ineffable gift of the Holy Eucharist, in- flame us with a burning zeal to promote Thy glory by preparing worthily the little children who are to approach Thy holy table for the first time. Protect, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, these young souls from the assaults of evil, strengthen their faith, increase their love and endow them with all the virtues that will make them worthy to receive Thee. Amen