Saint Mary’s Catholic Church December 23, 2018

Ponca City, Oklahoma CHRISTMAS

Monday SCHOOL & OFFICES CLOSED

4:30pm MASS

6:30pm MASS, St. Mary’s & St. Francis

11:30pm Caroling Begins

Tuesday 12:00am MIDNIGHT MASS

9:30am MASS, St. Francis

10:00am MASS, St. Mary’s

SCHOOL & OFFICES CLOSED

Wednesday SCHOOL & OFFICES CLOSED

12:10pm MASS IN THE CHAPEL

Thursday 3:00pm RADKA WEDDING, Church

Friday 10:30am CONFESSION, Chapel

Saturday 3:30pm CONFESSION, Church

Sunday 6:00pm CONFESSION, Church

Dear parishioners,

Merry Christmas! As your pastor it’s always a great joy to

share these major feast days with you, and this is such a major

feast day, when the Lord is born and signals an end to slavery

to sin and death! I’ll let St. Leo take it from here, but I just

want to tell everyone that I’m praying for you, and be sure to

leave your Christmas lights up until the Epiphany! Remember,

one of the great things about being Catholic is we celebrate

Christmas for eight days straight! So let’s celebrate the ultimate

birthday, and I hope everyone has a great Christmas season!

From a sermon by Saint Leo the Great, pope

Christian, remember your dignity

Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice.

Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear

of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the

promise of eternal happiness.

No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for

rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man

free from sin, came to free us all. Let the saint rejoice as he sees

the palm of victory at hand. Let the sinner be glad as he

receives the offer of forgiveness. Let the pagan take courage as

he is summoned to life.

In the fullness of time, chosen in the unfathomable depths of

God’s wisdom, the Son of God took for himself our common

humanity in order to reconcile it with its creator. He came to

overthrow the devil, the origin of death, in that very nature

by which he had overthrown mankind.

And so at the birth of our Lord the angels sing in joy: Glory to

God in the highest, and they proclaim peace to his people on

earth as they see the heavenly Jerusalem being built from all

the nations of the world. When the angels on high are so

exultant at this marvelous work of God’s goodness, what joy

should it not bring to the lowly hearts of men?

Beloved, let us give thanks to God the Father, through his Son,

in the Holy Spirit, because in his great love for us he took pity

on us, and when we were dead in our sins he brought us to

life with Christ, so that in him we might be a new creation. Let

us throw off our old nature and all its ways and, as we have

come to birth in Christ, let us renounce the works of the flesh.

Christian, remember your dignity, and now that you share in

God’s own nature, do not return by sin to your former base

condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body

you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued

from the power of darkness and brought into the light of

God’s kingdom.

Through the sacrament of baptism you have become a temple

of the Holy Spirit. Do not drive away so great a guest by evil

conduct and become again a slave to the devil, for your

liberty was bought by the blood of Christ.

You all are in my prayers!

Sincerely in Christ,

Monday, December 24th 12:10pm Daily MASS - Chapel

Christmas Eve 4:30pm, 6:30pm, 6:30pm Mass-St. Francis, Newkirk

Carols begin at 11:30pm Tuesday, December 25th:

Christmas Day Mass at 12:00am and 10:00am Mass

9:30am Mass at St. Francis

MONDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2018 – Christmas Eve 12:10pm People of the Parish (Chapel)

4:30pm †Janice Belt/Paul & Nancy Whitney

6:30pm †Catherine Houser/Peggy O’Leary

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2018 – Christmas Day 12:00am People of the Parish

9:30am St. Francis of Assisi, Newkirk, OK

10:00am †Martha Robinson/Linda Bullard

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2018 12:10am †Poor Souls in Purgatory

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2018 9:30am People of the Parish

(St. Francis of Assisi, Newkirk, OK)

4:00pm †Len Gawel/Tom & Rosanne Rhodes

(Via Christi Village Chapel)

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2018

7:00am Spec. Int. Tim Coffman/Trey & Deb Beard

12:10pm Spec. Int. Martha Begwin/Cathy Hookanson

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2018 9:00am People of the Parish

5:00pm †Louis & Gertrude Rexford/Leanna Rexford

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2018

8:00am †Josie Agaran/Jess & Mel Soto

9:30am †MASS (St. Francis Church, Newkirk)

11:00am †Kay Horinek

1:00pm People of the Parish (Spanish Mass)

7:00pm People of the Parish

MONDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2018

12:10pm †Gary Gregg/Marilyn Gregg

(Mary, Mother of God Vigil Mass)

TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2019 - Mary, Mother of God

8:00am †Martha Robinson/Don & Colleen Schiltz

9:30am (St. Francis of Assisi, Newkirk, OK)

11:00am †Patti Evans/Clement & Betty Collogan

There will be no Faith Formation Dec. 26th and Jan. 2nd. Enjoy your Christmas break and we will see you again on Jan. 9th! The youth would like to thank Nancy Taylor, Jenna Pisarski, and John

and Emily Hodgson for opening their homes to us for the Progressive

Dinner last weekend. We would also like to thank the parent drivers who

drove us around all night to enjoy the meal. We all had a great time!

Lisa Deming, Youth Director

Psalms: The School of Prayer-- We hear the Psalms read or sung at every Mass between the first and second readings, but do we understand their significance? The Psalms are at the heart of the Bible. They are prayers from God that help us learn to pray. The Holy Spirit inspired them. Israel sang them. Christ himself prayed them, as did our Blessed Mother. These sacred hymns become our heartfelt response to God’s loving and wondrous deeds for us. Their words captivate the imagination and draw us into a deeply personal encounter with God. Psalms: The School of Prayer is a video-based study by Jeff Cavins, Sarah Christmyer, and Dr. Tim Gray. Join us for Women's Bible Study 10am in the McGurk Room beginning

January 10th. Contact Bridgit at 382-6010 to order a book and sign

up for the study or with any questions. You can also register

online at the following link:

https://ascensionpress.com/studies/35020/registrations/new

Elementary Faith Formation We enroll students all year! Join us on Wednesday

evenings from 6:30-8:00pm. We will celebrate the

season of Christmastide on Wednesday, January 9th.

Please bring your children to the school at 6:30.

Celebrate the birth of Christ in the Blessed Stanley

Rother Atrium: Open House following each Mass on the

weekend of January 12th and 13th. (There will be no open

house after the 7 pm Mass). Join us in the McGurk room

for a short presentation. Then tour the Atrium to see

the materials prepared by our parish for our young

children.

CHRISTMAS TREE OF LOVE The Christmas

Tree with Love was a wonderful success this year! A very heartfelt thank you goes to all who donated groceries, gifts, and money. We were able to help 31 families and approximately 78 children this Christmas! Special thanks goes to

St. Mary’s school students for making tags and sorting the groceries items, the Knights of Columbus who donated hams, members of St. Elizabeth’s Guild who did the last minute shopping, the parishioners who helped sort and wrap gifts, and Maria for taking all the phone calls and organizing the list of families in need! We could not have accomplished such a huge task without each of you! I know your kindness is also very appreciated by the families we helped. God bless all of you and Merry Christmas!

Mike and Vonda Blando - Family Life Chair Family

Please Pray For those who need prayers: Jeanette Vassar, Charlotte Meyer, Charlene Vap, Dora Behar, Cindy Wardlow, Fran Baur, Don Schiltz, Jeanne Glaser, Patsy Hastings, Bennie Westerman, Keith & Sue Behara, Eileen Spellman, Linda Courtney, George F. Brown, Martha Begwin, Teresa Epperson, Ted Thomas, Elaine Gray Calahan, Todd Hatchett, Gary Kirchmeyer, Donna Schlitz, Jim Sheets, Shelly Behar, Jay Underwood, Jill Kestler, Mary Knori, Hannah Boyer, Logan Blakey, Asher Dailey, Betty Dimond, Tyson Rutter, Diego Blanco, Mary Boor, Mark Ramsey, Betty Pino, Kaye Cunningham, Fred Spellman, Mary Hyatt, Keith Goss, Carol Stewart, Raye Lynne Brown, Vivian Rose Graeff, Sue Odom, Barbara Spore, Jim Smith, Owen Greer, Scarlett Wimer, Alicia Aguilar, Audrey Ginn, Bill Hyatt, Regina Cadeñanes, Judy Cocci, Mike Gray, Lorrine McKain, Marcus Roggenbuck, Dakota Miller, Christopher Roggenbuck, Linda Cross, Mike & Jerry McGoldrich, Brian McCallen, Marianna Counter. Dam Marino

Weekly Income Report

December 16, 2018

Weekly Collection $45,689.50

RCIA will resume on January 8th. Have a blessed Christmas!

Thank you St. Mary's staff and congregation for all the love, prayers, you showered on the family of Martha Robinson as we gathered to give her a beautiful send off to her new home in Heaven. All the Masses, prayers, flowers, food, cards, supplies and the Funeral Liturgy were overwhelming. You are all in my prayers daily during the Advent Season as we prepare to welcome Jesus into our hearts on Christmas Day. Deacon Dick Robinson & Family