January 6 – January 13, 2019

 

Weekly Activities

Monday, January 7 at 6:30 p.m. ~ Removing Christmas decorations from church

Wednesday, January 9 from 12:00 noon – 4:00 p.m. ~ Catholic Central Food Pantry in St. Charles Hall – NEW HOURS

Wednesday, January 9 at 7:00 p.m. ~ Bible discussion in St. Charles Hall Thursday, January 10 at 8:00 p.m. ~ Bingo will be played in St. Charles Hall*

Saturday, January 12 at 8:00 p.m. ~ Bingo will be played in St. Charles Hall*

Sunday, January 13 following 10:00 a.m. Mass ~ Liturgy Committee Meeting

*To check the Red, White & Blue and progressive Share-the-Wealth carry over amounts and progressive numbers for this week, click HERE and visit our Facebook page.

Mass Intentions

Sunday, January 6 ~ The Epiphany of the Lord ~ Mass at 10:00 a.m. – Birthday Remembrance for John Duffy (Requested by The Duffy Family)

Monday, January 7 ~ St. Raymond of Penyafort ~ No Service

Tuesday, January 8 ~ Mass at 11:00 a.m. – For the intentions of our parishioners, both living and deceased (Blessed Trinity Parish)

Wednesday, January 9 ~ Mass at 11:00 a.m. – Deceased Members of the Ryan, Reilly, Reynolds and Pfeiffer Families (Estate of Mary Reilly)

Thursday, January 10 ~ Mass at 11:00 a. m. – Barbara Draper (Blessed Trinity Parish)

Friday, January 11 ~ Mass at 11:00 a.m. – Deceased Members of the Ryan, Reilly, Reynolds and Pfeiffer Families (Estate of Mary Reilly)

Saturday, January 12 ~ Vigil Mass at 4:30 p.m. – For the intentions of our parishioners, both living and deceased (Blessed Trinity Parish)

Sunday, January 13 ~ The Baptism of the Lord ~ Mass at 10:00 a.m. – William and Margaret Stiffler (Family)

Ministry Schedule for Saturday and Sunday, January 12/13, 2019:

Saturday, 4:30 p.m.  Reader: Gary Kelley; Eucharistic Minister: John Curtin

Sunday, 10:00 a.m.  Readers: Sr. Liz Savage, Pam Zanghi; Eucharistic Ministers: Fran Cahill, Pam Hartinger, Bernice Bradley

News from our Parish Community

Music for Martyrs ~ This year’s Choir Meditation for the Christmas Eve service was an Andy Hillhouse arrangement of The Huron Carol, based on the text “Twas in the Moon of Wintertime” by St. Jean de Brébeuf. Written in about 1643, this is the earliest known Christmas carol composed in North America. St. Jean de Brébeuf was one of 8 Jesuit missionaries to the Iroquois and Huron tribes, who came to be known as the Jesuit Martyrs of North America. This arrangement was selected in order to highlight the recent restoration of our 1927 Tellers-Kent organ’s oboe pipe run, and gave a lovely, snowy ornament to the beautiful text. Unbeknownst to this Music Minster, this selection was even more appropriate because relics of two of the Jesuit missionaries, St. Gabriel Lelamant and St. Charles Garnier, both martyred in 1649, are contained in Blessed Trinity’s Tabernacle Altar. Our Altar of Sacrifice contains a relic of another of these missionaries, St. Isaac Jogues, who was martyred in 1644. The Blessed Trinity Choir provided a repeat of The Huron Carol on Epiphany so we could enjoy this music with new eyes and open hearts to the miracles contained within our own church. Happy New Year! Choir rehearsals resume Tuesday, January 15 at 7pm in St. Charles Hall. All are welcome to join our Choral FamilyElizabeth

Time to De-decorate ~ While it’s true that the Magi have only just arrived, it is already time to remove the church Christmas decorations and prepare to host the Diocesan Mass honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Sunday, January 20. Volunteers are needed to assist in this task on Monday, January 7, beginning at 6:30pm. Please enter the church using the door near the wheelchair ramp.

Monthly Bible Discussion Resumes This WeekWednesday, January 9, at 7pm is the first Bible Discussion meeting of the new year  in St. Charles Hall. The booklet for bible discussion meetings is Genesis 12-23  Abraham and Sarah’s Journey, by Kevin and Louise Perrotta. (Loyola Press, 2002). Copies are available from Althea Porter. The assigned reading for Wednesday is the Week #5 section, pages 54-63.  For additional information please contact Althea at 716-316-8395.

Vital Employment Opportunity ~ Blessed Trinity Church is looking to employ a person to work on an as needed basis to assist in shoveling the walkways and stairs to the church on Saturday and/or Sunday before Mass, only when needed due to snow. In addition, we are looking for a person to clean the church hall after the food pantry closes on Wednesday. This can be done on Wednesday afternoon or during the  morning on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. This task takes 2-3 hours. If you are interested in one or both of these jobs, please contact Bud Dick at 716-998-7855 or Bob Heicklen at 716-881-3793. Please don’t hesitate to call; snow is in the forecast.

The Parish Council will hold its first meeting of 2019 at 7pm on Wednesday, January 16, in St. Charles Hall. Please remember that we will be formulating discussion points for our representatives to the February CCCB steering committee meeting.

Blessed Trinity Needs Your Help! We’re not asking for money, but for some-thing maybe even more valuable: a little bit of your TIME. Just a bit. ONE or TWO nights a month that will really help your parish. Our last financial report (included in a recent bulletin) shows the importance of BINGO. Clearly, this fundraiser is essential for our parish’s financial health. Just as clearly, it needs broad parish support in the way of MORE workers. We have Bingo every Thursday and Saturday night. Can you PLEASE commit to one or two nights a month? You can start simply by helping to sell things and — as you learn the routine — cross-train for other essential tasks. Our friendly team of workers stands ready to help you. Please contact Kathy Press at 716-445-8160 for more information. Your Parish Bingo Team thanks you!

Know Your Faith: Does God answer prayers? 

Prayer is a means of communication between us and God. The catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that “prayer is the raising up of our mind and heart to God, by thinking of God, adoring, praising, and thanking him.” The Bible tells us that even when we do not know how to pray, the spirit of God helps us to pray with groaning which cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26). Prayer can either be mental or verbal. Under these two types of prayers fall the different aspect of prayers;  contemplative, adoration, thanksgiving etc.

Does God answer prayers? There are two main barriers to prayers: lack of faith and disbelief. Jesus told his disciples that if your faith is like that of a mustard seed… (Matthew 17:20, Luke 17:6). Jesus simply reminds us about the essential of faith in the life of Christians. Like Jesus, when we pray we should always consider God’s will above our own will, let your will be done … take this cup away from me… (Luke 22:42). In teaching us how to pray, Jesus expresses the different types of prayers in The Lord’s Prayer, and taught us to say “Thy will be done on earth”… (Matthew 6:10).

All prayers made in faith and left in God’s will are answered by God. There are three ways we should view our prayers of request: When we make a prayer of request and feel our prayer is taking too long to be answered, we need patience, consistency and endurance because God’s time is yet to come… my hour has not come… (John 2:4). When our exact request is granted, it means it conforms to God’s will and God is increasing our faith; and when we feel the exact request we make is not answered, God has something better for us. That is where God’s will comes in. We are very good in making requests without knowing the end result of what we have asked. God alone considers the good, the beginning and the end result of our prayers of request and knows the best for us.

As we continue in this New Year, may God help us with increased faith to trust in his will and journey with him where he takes us. Happy New Year and many God’s blessings!

Do you know that Mass is the highest and greatest form of prayer? The Catechism of the Catholic Church reveals that “from the very earliest days of the Christian religion, [the Church] has honored with great respect the memory of the dead.” In its reference to the Second Vatican Council’s conclusion that “it is a wholly and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins,” the Catechism adds: “Our prayer for them is capable of not only helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.” Consider contacting the church office (716-833-0301) to request a Mass for yourself, your deceased loved ones, or  for any intention. The stipend is $15.

Has your contact information changed? Our parish secretary is finding that our parish records contain a growing number of not-in-service phone numbers, and the recent parish mailing resulted in several letters returned for “expired forwarding.” If your contact information has changed, you can notify the rectory office in one of several ways: use the form on the back of the bulletin; phone our secretary at 716-833-0301 any Tuesday-Thursday between 10:30am and 2:30pm; send an email to blessedtrinitychurch [at] gmail [dot] com; or Click HERE to use the contact feature of our web site to submit the information. If you choose either of the last two, please use “New Contact” as the subject of the email or message.

Home Visits ~ Please notify the church office if you know of aged, sick, or homebound parishioners who may wish to receive a visit and the Eucharist on the last Friday of each month.

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Birthday Observed January 20
Photo credit: Phil Woods

News from our Vicariate Cluster and the Wider Community

Mass Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King ~ The annual celebration of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King will take place at 10am on Sunday, January 20, at Blessed Trinity Church. Additional details will follow.