SPECIAL EDITION
Thursday, August 6, 2020
RESUMPTION OF PUBLIC MASS
The Church of the Little Flower has reopened for Sunday and weekday Masses.
Sunday Mass Schedule: 7:30 am, 9 am, 10:30 am and 12 Noon
Saturday Vigil: 5 pm
Weekdays (Monday-Friday): 8:15 am and 12 Noon
The seriousness of this pandemic, however, dictates that we follow strict guidelines and important safety measures. Please carefully read the guidelines HERE.
Occupancy restrictions are set for a maximum 30 percent of capacity with social distancing.
Masks are required to be worn at all times when in church.
Please arrive early as seating is first come, first served.
Due to the additional disinfection procedures, the church will now close by 2:30 pm on Monday - Friday. It will still open just before the 8:15 Mass.
Dispensation from the Sunday and Holy Day obligation remains in effect. Many options are available for participating in Mass when we cannot be present at the liturgy.
View the Archdiocese of Washington list of live-streamed (and recorded) Masses and Prayers.
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PASTORAL REFLECTION
Msgr. Peter Vaghi
August 15 - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
On this beautiful Solemnity of Our Lady, the Church contemplates the raising of her body and soul to the glory of heaven. In Mary's Assumption we see her triumph over death and her glorification in heaven.
The Assumption is a Holy Day but not of Obligation this year.
Mass will be celebrated at 12 Noon on Saturday, August 15.
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The mystery of the stained glass window is solved!
Watch Fr Keith's latest video from the choir loft.
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2020-21 REGISTRATION FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
IS NOW OPEN
Preparations are underway for a new year of religious education for children in Grades K- 8. For more information about our program, please click HERE.
We will be following the recommendations of state and local authorities, health officials, and the Archdiocese of Washington.
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OFFERTORY
We appreciate your continued financial support at this time.
Our preferred method of giving is through our online provider, Faith Direct. The secure enrollment process is simple and takes less than 3 minutes to complete. Please consider enrolling in Faith Direct or increasing your level of giving. You may also make a safe and secure one-time gift online.
If you prefer not to enroll online, please know that we are most grateful for your continued support and we appreciate the efforts many of you are making to mail or drop off your weekly envelope. God bless and many thanks.
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STEWARDSHIP CORNER
Poor Box Donations – Starting this month through the end of 2020, Little Flower will be donating parishioner Poor Box contributions to Catholic student centers at three local universities. The centers' critical missions are to serve the spiritual needs of Catholic students in secular academic and living environments, most of whom are away from their Catholic families and parishes where they had spiritual support. These centers are at the University of Maryland (donations in July-August), Howard University (September-October) and George Washington University (November-December.)
As we anticipate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday August 15, how timely it is to join in the prayer with which Pope Francis ended his first encyclical "Lumen Fidei."
Mother, help our faith!
Open our ears to hear God's word and to recognize his voice and call.
Awaken in us a desire to follow in his footsteps, to go forth from our own land and to receive his promise.
Help us to be touched by his love, that we may touch him in faith.
Help us to entrust ourselves fully to him and to believe in his love, especially at times of trial, beneath the shadow of the cross, when our faith is called to mature.
Sow in our faith the joy of the Risen One.
Remind us that those who believe are never alone.
Teach us to see all things with the eyes of Jesus, that he may be light for our path. And may this light of faith always increase in us, until the dawn of that undying day which is Christ himself, your Son, our Lord!
Saints as Model Stewards – May the full calendar of saints whom we commemorate next week inspire us to employ our own God-given talents and opportunities as He would have us do.
Monday – St. Lawrence (d. 258), was a deacon responsible for distributing alms to the poor. He was executed when, in response to the emperor's demand that he bring him the treasures of the Church, St. Lawrence instead assembled the poor, the widows and orphans and the sick and told the emperor, "These are the riches of the Church."
Tuesday – St. Clare (d. 1253), a friend of St. Francis of Assisi who with her sister Agnes were the first members of the Second Order of St. Francis, later known as the Poor Clares. Admired for her simplicity and piety, she was consulted by bishops, cardinals and popes.
Wednesday - St. Jane Frances de Chantal (d. 1641) who, after being widowed for only seven years of marriage, was helped by her spiritual director St. Francis de Sales in organizing a religious community, the Congregation of the Visitation. The order helped the poor and the sick. She spoke of "committing ourselves unreservedly to God…keeping nothing back for ourselves but instead are faithful in love."
Thursday - - Sts. Pontian (Pope) and Hippolytus (an anti-pope for 18 years before being reconciled with the Church) were exiled by the emperor to Sardinia where they died in 235 after suffering harsh treatment. Their dedication to the Church of Christ cost them their lives. "Hippolytus seems to have been crusty, intransigent – and sometimes wrong…(yet) his dissent does not seem to have canceled his sanctity." ("Voices of the Saints")
Friday - St. Maximilian Kolb, a Polish priest imprisoned at Auschwitz during World War II, offered himself to be executed in place of another prisoner with a wife and children. Of God's gifts to me, which would I be willing to sacrifice for the love of God and others? St. Maximilian Kolb was a communications genius. In 1922 he started a magazine that eventually had a worldwide circulation of one million. Later he created a media complex, with 762 friars staffing a printing press, radio station, and a college.
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