We see our community as one moved by Faith, led by Hope and united in Charity, seeking, as a caring family, to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ by reaching out in welcome to all: the young, the old,

the stranger, and the neighbor. We commit ourselves to helping and healing, to feeding the hungry, to visiting the sick, and to consoling the bereaved as Jesus commanded in the gospels.

MASS SCHEDULE Saturday: 4:00 PM Sunday: 7:30, 9:00 and 11:00 AM Holy Days: As announced. Daily Mass: 9:00 AM—Monday, Tuesday Wednesday & Friday CONFESSIONS: Saturdays: 3:00 - 3:45 PM Also upon request, at any reasonable time. BAPTISM: To make arrangements for Baptism and Baptismal Catechesis, please contact the rectory at (781) 631-0086 - Mon - Fri 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM. WEDDINGS: By personal appointment with a priest, six to eight months prior to the date de-sired. SICK AND SHUT-INS: Priests and Eucharistic Min-isters are available to bring Holy Communion to the home. Please call the Rectory. NEWS DEADLINE: All items for the Parish Bulle-tin must be at the Rectory in writing no later than Monday at 10:00 AM. NEW PARISHIONERS ARE MOST WELCOME Please make yourselves known to us at the Rec-tory. We want to know you.

Our Lady, Star of the Sea Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945

PARISH STAFF

Rev. Michael L. Steele, Pastor

Deacon John E. “Joe” Whipple

Rev. Philip Des Rosiers, Weekend Assistant

Mary J. Pagliarulo, Director of Music & Liturgy /

Director of Religious Education (DRE)

Erica Corrigan, Religious Education Assistant

Jean Ranger, Parish Secretary

PARISH RECTORY: 85 Atlantic Avenue (781) 631-0086

Fax: (781) 631-5668

OFFICE HOURS: Mon - Thurs: 9:00-3:00

Fri: 9:00-12:00

Sat: 12:30 - 4:00

PARISH CENTER/ RELIGIOUS ED. OFFICE: 80 Atlantic Avenue

(781) 631-8340

PARISH WEBSITE: www.staroftheseamarblehead.org

PARISH EMAIL: sosrectory@verizon.net

Religious Education

Our Lenten Program The following Smart TV Videos on Lent will be seen by our Religious Education Students:

The Lenten Season Grades 4-8 Ash Wednesday Explained 40 The Story of Lent Test in the Desert Jesus’ Tempted Satan Tempts Jesus Animated

Religious Education Registration

Religious Education Registration 2018-2019 will begin on Sunday, March 18 following the 9:00 AM Family Liturgy in the Parish Center.

Forms are available in the Parish Center, Rectory and online at Our Lady, Star of the Sea’s website under Religious Education.

2018-2019 Classes will be as follows:

Sunday: (following the Family Liturgy Mass) 10:00AM to 11:00AM (Grades 1 through 10)

Monday: 3:00PM to 4:00PM (Grades 1 through 8)

Tuesday: 3:00PM to 4:00PM (Grades 1 through 6) 6:00PM to 7:30PM (Grades 6 through 10) (every other week)

Wednesday: 3:00PM to 4:00PM (Grades 1 through 8) 4:30PM to 5:30PM (Grades 1 through 5)

Tuition:

$125.00—1 child $175.00—2 children $200.00—3 or more children Confirmations Students (11th Grade): $65.00

If tuition is received after June 30th, a $25.00 late fee will be added.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Religious Education at (781) 631-8340 or sosreligioused@verizon.net.

We are looking forward to another great year!

February 18, 2018

WEEKEND MASS SCHEDULE

Saturday February 24

4:00 PM Father Steele

Sunday February 25

7:30 AM Father Steele 9:00 AM Father Steele 11:00 AM Father Steele

MASS SCHEDULE Saturday February 17 4:00 PM Brian Whalen Memorial Mass Sunday February 18 7:30 AM Ann Doyle Memorial Mass 9:00 AM Special Intention 11:00 AM Irene and Paul Nagle Memorial Mass Monday February 19 9:00 AM Tuesday February 20 9:00 AM Special Intention for Jeannie Garrard Wednesday February 21 9:00 AM Mary and Frank Murphy Memorial Mass Thursday February 22 9:00 AM NO MASS Friday February 23 9:00 AM Edna Belleau Birthday Memorial Mass Saturday February 24 4:00 PM Louis Guarino Memorial Mass Sunday February 25 7:30 AM Special Intention 9:00 AM Joaquim Marquez Memorial Mass 11:00 AM Suzanne Kearns Brown 15th Anniversary Memorial Mass

Religious Education Safety Talk Schedule for Grades 1, 2& 3

Grade 1: Sunday, February 4 at 10:00AM Tuesday, February 6 at 3:00PM Wednesday, February 28 at 4:30PM

Grade 2: Wednesday, January 31 at 3:00PM Wednesday, February 28 at 4:30PM Sunday, March 18 at 10:00AM

Grade 3: Wednesday, February 7 at 3:00PM Tuesday, February 13 at 3:00PM Sunday, March 18 at 10:00AM

First Sunday of Lent

SAVE THE DATES! This is an advance invitation for you to make plans to attend our Lenten Parish Mission from

March 11—14. Passionist Priest, Father Jack Conley, will present today’s real meaning of the church, and will encourage you to meet Christ once again and meet your problems head-on. All are invited!

FR. STEELE’S REFLECTION:

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. Mark 1:12-15

“My year of no shopping” Ann Patchett is the author of the best-selling Common-wealth, Bel Canto and eight other novels; she is also co-owner of Parnassus Books, an independent book store in her hometown of Nashville. At the end of 2016, she writes, “when our country had swung in the direction of gold leaf,” she felt the anxiety and fear many Americans were feeling. Inspired by the experience of a friend, Patchett decided to opt out of the empty glitz and resolved that 2017 would be her year of “no shopping.” Her ground rules: No clothes or electronics. Shampoo, batteries and printer cartridges were OK, only if she ran out. She could buy anything in a grocery store, including flowers. Plane tickets and eating out in restau-rants were also OK. Because she’s an author (and owns a book store), she would continue to indulge in buying books, and curtailed her gift-giving to books (one excep-tion: a wedding gift for her editor). Patchett discovered that “the trick of no shopping isn’t that you don’t buy things. You don’t shop. That means no trawling the sale section of the J. Crew website in idle moments. It means the catalogs go into the recycle bin unopened on the theory that if I don’t see it, I don’t want it. Halfway through the year I could go to a store with my mother and sister if they asked me. I could tell them if the dress they were trying on looked good without wishing to try it on myself.” She also realized the wisdom of what her parents taught her as a child: If you want something, wait awhile. Chances are the feeling will pass. And “once I stopped looking for things to buy, I became tremendously grateful for the things I received.”

The things we buy and buy and buy are like a thick coat of Vaseline smeared on glass: We can see some shapes out there, light and dark, but in our con-stant craving for what we may still want, we miss life’s details...I came to a better understanding of money as something we earn and spend and save for the things we want and need. Once I was able to get past the want and be honest about the need, it was easier to give more of my money to people who could really use it. “For the record, I still have more than plenty. I know there is a vast difference between not buying things and being able to buy things. Not shopping for a year hardly makes me one with the poor, but it has put me on the path of figuring out what I can do to help.” [The New York Times, December 15, 2017]

This season of Lent challenges us to opt out of business as usual to discover new paths to walk, new ways of seeing, new perspectives to embrace. In giving up shopping for a year, Ann Patchett rediscovered the wealth she already possessed. In the Lenten desert experience, Christ calls us to lay aside the mate-rial and ephemeral in our lives in order to realize the lasting treasures that are ours: love, mercy, forgiveness, justice, com-passion. These 40 days of Lent are an invitation to us to spend time in the “wilderness,” to confront the hard choices we must confront in our lives: choices between the values of God and the values of “Satan,” choices between the values we believe in the depths of our hearts and the “marketplace” values of prestige, wealth and security. In making these choices honestly, sincerely and faithfully, we come to a new realization of God as the cen-ter of our lives and hopes and a renewed focus on fulfilling the Easter promise in our own lives.

SECOND COLLECTION This weekend, February 17th and 18th, there will be a second collection for fuel. Each year, the cost of our fuel bill in providing heat to our Church, Parish Center and Rectory, is extremely high. We appreciate your generosity.

Easter Flower Collection The beauty of spring flowers reflects the joy of

Easter. We invite you to remember

your loved one(s) with a flower donation

in their memory. Easter Flower

Donations can be sent to the Rectory

or placed in the regular Offertory collection.

When you give to CRS Rice Bowl… 75% of your donation supports CRS’ humanitarian relief programs around the world.

25% of your donation goes to hunger and poverty alleviation efforts in our own community.

OUR LADY, STAR OF THE SEA FEBRUARY FOOD DRIVE

Once again, our parish is supplying the Food Pantry during the month of February. Volunteers will be handing out shopping bags, labeled with specific food items, following all weekend Masses during the month of February.

Please purchase the food items listed on your bags. Then return your bags to the Church or the Parish Center.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Jesus, help me to follow you more closely and to remember that you never ask of me what you yourself have not faced. And, what’s

even better, you walk with me! Continue to be with me as I feebly try to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow you. Amen.

Grand Annual Appeal THANK YOU SO MUCH!—We continue to make major strides forward in contributions to the Grand Annual Appeal. Your donations to date, $144,868.50, amount to 77% of our goal of $190,000.

We sincerely appreciate your generosity and continued support of Our Lady, Star of the Sea Parish. The funds raised through our Grand Annual Appeal balance our budget, support our many parish ministries and programs, and preserve the exquisite beauty of our Church and property.

Envelopes are available in Church pews and Church exits. Donations may be placed in the weekend Offertory collection or sent to the Rectory.

Lenten Disciplines

Fasting & Abstinence: Catholics aged 14 and older abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all Fridays during Lent. In addition, on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, Catholics from age 18 to 59 fast, limiting themselves to one full meal and two smaller meals each day.

Prayer: Catholics are encouraged to pray more dur-ing Lent, especially with Scripture. Lent is also an ideal time to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation in preparation for the celebration of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection.

Almsgiving: Moved by the sacrifice of Christ, many Christians combine almsgiving with fasting, giving to the poor the money they saved by eating, drinking or buying less as they rely more on God’s abundant grace.

First Sunday of Lent, February 18 In today’s first reading we are given a beautiful

reminder that every time we see a rainbow in the sky, God is reminding us of His covenant, His

promise, to be with us. As we make our Lenten journey this year, we will encounter temptations to maintain the status quo, to ignore the call to a change of heart, to keep Jesus at a distance lest

He ask something difficult of us. To overcome the temptations you will face, place a rainbow in a prominent place to remind that you can over-

come any temptation, because God is with you.

Our Goal Amount to Date

1

Sunday, February 11 Offertory Collection: $11,631.50

Religious Education Needs Your Help We invite you to consider volunteering to be a Catechist in our Religious Education program. Imparting the Word of God to our youngest pa-rishioners is a deeply rewarding experience and we would sincerely value your participation. Each

class requires a catechist and one assis-tant. We will provide materials on cur-riculum and planning. There are two Teacher Meetings during the year. We would particularly welcome volun-

teer teaching assistants for our Tuesday session from 3:00 to 4:00 PM. Volunteer Hall Monitors will be truly appreciated, especially on Sunday from 10:00 to 11:00 AM.

Please contact the Religious Education Office at 781-631-8340.

COFFEE We will not be gathering for Coffee and Donuts this Sunday, February 18, due to the long holiday weekend.

HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH MASS Schedule (including Private & Parochial School Students)

March 25 Youth Mass at 11:00 followed by the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Sun, March 11: VISION: From Wounds to Wonder

Mon, March 12: PASSION: From Magic to MysteryTues, March 13: FORGIVENESS: From Hurt to HarmonyWed, March 14: HOPE: From Grumbling to Gratitude

7:00 – 8:00 PM in the Main Church

AND

Mini Lenten Reflection:

Weekend Masses: March 10 & 11

Weekday 9:00 Mass: March 12, 13, & 14

Lenten Parish Mission“Rekindling the Fire”

“Let the Church always bea place of MERCY and HOPE,

where everyone is welcomed, loved and forgiven”

Pope Francis

Our Lady, Star of the Sea Parish85 Atlantic Avenue, Marblehead, MA

Presented by Father Jack Conley, C.P.A Passionist Priest visiting from Chicago