MASS INTENTIONS Saturday, Feb 2 1ST SATURDAY MASS –DEVOTIONS TO OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL 9:00am for + Ronald Simon by Maryanne Simon 5:00pm for + Max King by Debbie & Ed Feeney Sunday, February 3 8:30am for + John Paul Benson by Tom & Terry Montague 10:30am for + Theo Dykstra by John & Kelly Goldsmith Tuesday, Feb 5 DEVOTION TO INFANT JESUS OF PRAGUE ST. AGATHA - MEMORIAL 9:00am for The Intentions of the Parishioners Wednesday, Feb 6 DEVOTION TO OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP & ST. PAUL - MEMORIAL 9:00am for + Lucille Dendwick by Judy Webb Thursday, February 7 DEVOTION TO ST. ANN 9:00am for + Theo Dykstra by Laureen Montague Friday, February 8 9:00am for + Lillian Pavlovich by Jeanette Pauplis Saturday, February 9 5:00pm for + Charles Maggio by Charlie’s family Sunday, February 10 8:30am for + Germaine Stoneman by Frances Montague 10:30am for + Pietro DiRidolfi by The Family MINISTERS OF THE HOLYCOMMUNION LECTORS Sat, February 2 5:00pm Carolyn Jopko Bill Klunder Sun, February 3 8:30am Linda Feeney Kaeleigh Walsh 10:30am John Webb Audrey Whitman POPE’S INTENTION FOR FEBRUARY For a generous welcome to the victims of human trafficking, of enforced prostitution and of violence. ANNOUNCEMENTS FORMED FOR OUR PARISH COMMUNITY We encourage all to gain free access on your computer, tablet or smart phone to hundreds of entertaining movies, enlightening pro- grams, inspiring talks and a great selection of popular eBooks for everyone in your family. Enjoy and share with others. PARISH SECRETARY RETIREMENT: As you have heard Mary Lane is retiring as secretary on June 28’19. We appreciate her commitment and service to our community and we wish her a wonderful retirement. We will like to appoint a new secretary, if anyone is interested , please submit your resume by end of Febru- ary. 40 DAYS FOR LIFE: Invest one hour to save a Lifetime! Be part of a peaceful campaign by prayer and fasting during Lent March 6—April 14th. Each parish is asked to adopt a day with two people for each hour to give public witness by standing on Portage St out- side Niagara General Hospital. The date we have chosen is Thurs- day, March 28 from 2-4pm. If interested in doing this please let the office know by February 17th. OFFERTORY COLLECTION: JAN 12-13 Regular Fund $ 1,601.00 Building Fund $ .00 Organist required We are looking for an organist who can help us out for 10:30am masses. Gluten-Free Host: If there is anyone who prefers to have Gluten-free host at mass, please feel free to contact the office. *A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea. Mk 3:7-8* Neither Jesus nor His Apostles made any publicity yet He attracted a large crowd to- wards Him. The gospel mentions clearly, "hearing what he was doing a large number of people came to Him". Jesus was doing GOOD and this became the source of drawing people towards Him. Politicians attract crowds by their PROPOGANDA, film stars by their PUBLICITY, sports stars by their PERFORMANCE and great people by their ACHIEVEMENTS. But Jesus attracted people by His good LIFE. A greatness of a person is not in having thousands of followers on twitter or hundreds of friends in face book rather in one's purity of mind, generosity of heart, truthfulness of words and faithfulness of actions above all in the sanctity of life which draws people to us and us to God. Unfortunately today this attraction towards Jesus is slowly diminishing not because Jesus lacks *attraction* but because of our *distraction* with the things of the world. Let us rediscover our attraction to Jesus. Fr Joel Lopes, OFM Deck Of Cards Back in 1778, a soldier, overseas during the war, was in his bunker with a deck of cards spread out on his bed when the sergeant walked in and asked the soldier what he was doing. The soldiers answers, "Sir, I was just about to spend some time in prayer with the Lord, sir." "Looks like you're getting ready to play cards." The sergeant said to the soldier as he eyeballed the cards spread out on the bed. "Oh no sir," spoke the soldier. "If you will just let me explain, I'll show you something kind of interesting." At that point he gathered all the cards in his hands and began to shuffle them. "You see, this deck of cards may seem ordinary to you but it acts as my Bible." He then began to flip over the first card which revealed the ace of spades. "You see sir, in a deck of card, the Ace reminds me there is only One God." The next card he reveals is the two (2) of diamonds. "The two, is the two halves of the Bible. The Old and the New Testament." The next card he flips over reveals a three (3) of clubs. "The three, that's the Trinity. The Father, Son and Holy Ghost." Then the next card reveals a four (4) of hearts. "The four, that reminds me of the four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John." With the cards he is still holding in his hands, the soldier begins to divide them up shifting them between each other. The top card he flips over reveals the six (6) of clubs. "The six, sir, reminds me that God made earth in six days, in which," at that moment the next card he flipped over revealed the seven (7) of spades, "on the seventh day He rested." Again, with the remaining cards in his hands he splits them up and divides them three separate times. Finally, he flips the top card and reveals the ten (10) of hearts. "In the Bible, you have ten command- ments" The next card on top reveals the king of hearts, "And this, this is my absolute favorite, sir." Said the soldier as he smiled a huge smile. "Jesus, who is the King. He's the King of my heart." At this point, the sergeant was surprised and impressed with the way the cards seem to fall into place for the soldier. "That's pretty good." He said. The soldier says, "It doesn't stop there, sir. The Queen is for Mary Queen of Heaven. You see, in a deck of cards there are four (4) suites, hearts, clubs, spades and diamonds. That represents the four seasons. In fact, there's thirteen (13) cards in each suite. There are exactly 13 weeks in each quarter of the year." The soldier then gathers all the card in his hand and says, "There's fifty-two (52) cards in a deck which represents 52 weeks in a year." There are 365 spots on the deck of cards that represent the days in a year. He then looks up at the sergeant, raising the deck of card in his hand and says, "So you see sir, my deck of cards is my Bible. It's my calendar. It's my almanac." Then he lays the cards on his bed and spreads them out. "When I have cards spread out in front of me, I can see all the things I have to be thankful for." Psalm 107:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. CALENDAR OF EVENTS Mon, Feb 4 7:00pm CWL meeting Wed, Feb 6 6:00pm Anawim Prayer Group meet Wed, Feb 6 7:30pm K of C meeting Thurs, Feb 7 10:30am Pastor’s visit to Parkview Meadows Wed, Feb 13 9:45am School Mass Thurs, Feb 14 10:30am Pastor’s Visit to Anson Place Mon, March 4 7:00pm CWL meeting Wed, March 6 9:15am ASH WEDNESDAY mass at St. Mary’s 6:00pm Mass at St. Ann’s 7:30pm K of C meeting