15th Sunday in Ordinary Time July 14, 2019

Parish Office (863) 453-4757 Fax (863) 453-2620

Parish Office Hours Monday through Friday

9 AM to 2:30 PM

Pastor

Assisting Clergy Fr. Leo Frechette

Fr. Gerald Grogan Retired

Deacon Dan Hoppe

Schedule of Masses

Saturday Confession

3:30 PM English 6:30 PM Spanish

Vigil Mass 4 PM English 7 PM Spanish

Sunday 8 AM and 10:30 AM

Holy Days

Vigil Mass 5:30 PM 8 & 10:30 AM Daily Mass

Monday-Friday 8 AM First Friday

Mass and Holy Hour 8 AM

Visit us on the web! www.ologap.org

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Who is my neighbor?

“A Samaritan who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him” (Luke 10: 25 – 37).

Page 2 Our Lady of Grace

Who is Jesus? For Luke it is uniquely captured in today’s Gospel of the parable of the Good Samaritan. You pick this up in the Icons of the Eastern Tradition where Jesus is always painted as the Good Samaritan who, in the journey of Life, stops to help and heal the badly “wounded Man” lying beside the highway, who represents “wounded mankind”, wounded by sin.

In chapter four of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus spells out his mission. He returns to his hometown; on the Sabbath, he goes to the synagogue in Nazareth, where he was asked by the attendant to do the reading, which was from the prophet Isaiah. It read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind and to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” Rolling up the scroll, he

sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him in anticipation of his commentary on the reading. Jesus says simply: “Today, this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” In response to Jesus’ question in Luke’s Gospel, “Who do you say I am?” Luke’s answer is; you are the Good Samaritan, who has come to heal “wounded humanity.” Pope Francis refers to the Church as “Jesus’ field hospital.”

The passing priest and Levite represent the inability of the Old Testament faith to heal the sinful “wounds” of mankind. Jesus, represented by the Good Samaritan, did not pass us. He reached out to touch, to bind and to heal our wounds. You see him do that in number of instances in Luke’s Gospel with the woman with the issue of blood. “Power went out from Jesus” when she touched the hem of his garment and she was healed. You see Jesus do so in the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost coin and, above all – perhaps Jesus’ second-best known parable – the parable of the Prodigal Son. Only Luke refers to the way that Jesus forgives even those who crucified him: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23: 24). Only Luke records the marvelous transformation brought about in the good thief by Jesus’ loving forgiveness: “Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.” To which Jesus responds, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Lk 23: 23 – 24). Back to the question, “Who is Jesus” for Luke? Luke, who was a doctor, reveals Jesus as one who came to heal “wounded mankind,” represented in today’s Gospel of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25 – 37).

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus walks with us on our journey through life as he walked with his two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13 – 35). They opened their hearts to him and in return he opened the pages of God’s love letter to them – the scriptures – revealing who he is, and how, by his passion and death, he came to forgive, to heal and make whole wounded humanity - represented in the parable of the Good Samaritan.

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Page 3

Invictus World Cup from S. Africa

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeoning of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.

A Good Samaritan

Zenani Mandela, one of Nelson Mandela's nine great-grandchildren, was tragically killed in a car accident on the eve of the opening of the Soccer World Cup in South Africa. During her memorial service Nelson Mandela watched inside a church as a slide show scrolled through smiling photos of 13-year-old Zenani Mandela hugging him, while the song "Lean on me" played out across a crowd of black and white faces. His young great granddaughter “leaning” on her grandfather, Nelson Mandela, became a kind of metaphor for a very young, newly born, post-apartheid South Africa “leaning” on Mandela for inspiration to heal it as a nation.

Mandela campaigned to bring the World Cup to S. Africa and traveled twice to Switzerland to lobby officials of FIFA, the international soccer organization. When the choice of S. Africa was announced in 2004, the then 85-year-old Mandela famously said, "I feel like a young man of 15." Mandela lobbied for the World Cup as a healing agent for a post-apartheid South Africa.

In the movie “Invictus” (the Latin for “unconquered”), which was a huge movie box office “hit” in 2009, Mandela is shown as someone who uses the national sport, rugby, to successfully bring both sides in the apartheid struggle together into one nation. The movie “Invictus” takes its title from a short Victorian poem written by the English poet William Ernest Henley (1848-1903). At the age of 12, Henley fell ill to tuberculosis of the bone. A few years later, the disease progressed to his foot, and doctors announced that the only way to save his life was to amputate directly below the knee. It was amputated when he was 25. In 1875, he wrote the poem “Invictus” from a hospital bed. Despite his disability, he survived with one foot intact and led and active and full life until his death at the age of 53. The poem inspired Mandela when he was in prison in Robben Island for 27 years. He gave the poem to the captain of the underdog South African Springbok rugby team, Francois Pienaar, to motivate the team in advance of the post-apartheid Rugby World Cup hosted in 1995 by South Africa, which the Springboks won.

Now that the world cup is over, you might want to rent the movie “Invictus” to help you understand how Nelson Mandela was a “Good Samaritan” who healed the wounds of a nation.

Page 4 Our Lady of Grace

Pope Francis Leads 1-mile procession through the streets of Rome from the Basilica of St. John Lateran to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

Corpus Christi in papal history

In August 1264, Pope Urban IV instituted the Solemnity of Corpus Christi on the Thursday after Pentecost as a feast for the entire Latin Church, by the papal bull Transiturus de hoc mundo.

St. Thomas Aquinas contributed substantially to the bull, particularly regarding the liturgical texts for the new feast. Aquinas composed the hymns Tantum ergo – Down in Adoration Falling – and O Salutaris Hostia – O Saving Victim - for the feast.

On the solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Pope would accompany the Blessed Sacrament in procession from St. Peter’s through the streets of the surrounding quarters of Rome.

Yet the procession was periodically interrupted over the next seven centuries due to invasion, Roman occupation and political turbulence on the peninsula.

In 1929, with the signing of the Lateran Pact, and the establishment of an international agreement between Italy and the Holy See, Corpus Christi was acknowledged by the Italian State as a public holiday, and the procession was restored, although in a limited fashion. Pope Pius XI, who was pope at the time, led the Corpus Christi procession but confined it to St. Peter’s Square.

In 1964, on the 700th anniversary of the institution of Corpus Christi, Paul VI led the procession from St. Peter’s Basilica. In the years that followed, however, he held the celebrations on the outskirts of Rome, such as Ostia in 1968, until Pope John Paul II restored the Eucharistic procession to the heart and streets of Rome.

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MEALS ON WHEELS AVON PARK

Become a Good Samaritan

Churches, clubs and care givers.

On September 21, 2009 local churches, including OLG, began delivering

hot meals to the elderly and shut-ins!

If you would like to be a driver volunteer, it will take an hour or two of your time, one day a

week.

If you would like to donate money for those below the poverty level, your gift is tax

deductible.

If you need a hot meal for $4.80 per day or less, depending on your income, we will be happy to serve you a delicious entrée,

vegetable, starch, bread, milk, salad and dessert, 5 days a week.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Meals on Wheels Avon Park

At

Call 863-257-1780

Meals on Wheels Avon Park

Post Office Box 1643. Avon Park, Florida. 33825-1643

Page 6 Our Lady of Grace

MASS INTENTIONS SATURDAY JULY 6 4:00 pm + Glen Hartsfield by Ann Hartsfield. 7:00 pm Para Almas del Purgatorio by Maria

E. Rivera. SUNDAY JULY 7 8:00 am + Joyce Fisher by Katy Kroon. 10:30 am Dr Robert Zielinski by Peggy &

Danny. For the repose of the soul Colin &

Driselle Sullivan by Patrick Sullivan. MONDAY JULY 8 8:00 am + Nancy Guadagno by Connie

Hoyer. TUESDAY JULY 9 8:00 am Christopher & Ashley Sullivan by Patrick Sullivan WED JULY 10 8:00 am + Theresa Knell by Marie Gotwalt. THURSDAY JULY 11 8:00 am For the Parish Family. FRIDAY JULY 12 8:00 am + Albert Warnement by Bob &

Phyllis Miller SATURDAY JULY 13 4:00 pm + Jim Conroy, Jr by Mom &,Dad,

Carmel Taglia & Family. 7:00 pm Julio Arroyo by Maria Arroyo. SUNDAY JULY 14 8:00 am + Victoria & Joseph Tedrous by M/M

Nelson Tedreous. 10:30 am + Stanley Sr and Mary Repa by

Scott & Cindy Maxon.

FOR THE SICK OF THE PARISH Claudette Laverriere John Minadeo Jade Jackson Rosa Arosemena Gregory Syfert J.R. Lejeune Zulmira DaSilva Bruno Litwinski Andres Clavijo Debra Kemmett Julie Johnston Gary Ingalls Liliana Morales Gerald Martin Lillian Mellske Beatrice Yolman Vicki Musser And for those who care for the sick, for the deceased member’s and benefactors of the parish, and for our loved ones.

ADVENT HEALTH HOSPITAL Advent Heal th has in formed Our Lady of Grace Church that pat ients l is ts w i l l no t be g iven to Clergy or Euchar is t ic Min is ters . An emergency wi l l be taken on ca l l . Our Lady o f Grace c lergy and EM wi l l v is i t the pat ients i f names are g iven to the Par ish Off ice @453-4757 by the Chapla in or a fami ly member . (This is the only way we know you are apat ient there .)

CATHOLIC FAITH APPEAL Our Lady o f Grace is s t i l l shor t 41,600.00 f rom our assessed amount . I f you have not made your p ledge or payment , p lease do so as soon as poss ib le . Envelopes are avai lab le at a l l ex i ts o f the Church. REMINDER Please be respectful and not carry on conversations with your fellow parishioners. People are praying and listening to the Mass.

Staff

& Ministries

Administrative Assistant Betty Heiring

betty.heiring@ologap.org

Religious Education

Angie Heiring angie.heiring@ologap.org

(863) 453-7537

Music Gene Ryan

mee@generyan.com

Associate Youth Director

Angie Heiring (863) 453-7537

Prayer Group Kevin Murphy

Women’s Guild Debbie Augusta -

President (863) 385-8872

Respect Life Dick Carlson

(863) 471-2134

Parish Council

President Judy Pounds

Vice President

Piedad Sarmiento-Noriega

Secretary Judy Nugent

Members

Debbie Augusta Maureen Cool

Darlyne Devany Jim McGann Karen Hecker Tina Starling

Teresa Torres

“Who is my neighbor?”