O Antiphons

12-17-2021Pastor's Letter

One of the best-loved Advent hymns we sing is "O Come, O Come Emmanuel". The verses of that stirring song are comprised of what the Church calls the Advent "O antiphons".

The O antiphons were composed in the 7th or 8th century by an anonymous monk. These seven, short poetic verses, in today's liturgy, are intoned or recited as the Alleluia verse before the Gospel at Mass, and as the antiphon for the Magnificat at vespers. Each Advent, the Church begins singing the O antiphons on December 17—seven days before Christmas.

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Spiritual Adoption

03-17-2021Pastor's LetterFr. Bruce Fogle

To help stop the anti-life push around the world, the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen encouraged the spiritual adoption of an unborn child. This is done by praying that the one particular but unknown child’s life be spared abortion and be allowed to continue to live.

We encourage you to be part of this 9-month family prayer program to pray for an unborn child in danger of an abortion.

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Lenten Devotions

03-01-2021Pastor's Letter

Stations of the Cross and Holy Communion at Church on Fridays

Will be prayed in church on Friday evenings at 6:00 pm.

Stations of the Cross on Parish Website: For those who are still not comfortable coming to church during the pandemic a video version of our stations at St. John’s has be produced with the meditations coming from the Stations of the Cross through the eyes of the Blessed Mother and St. John the Evangelist. You can pray these at home any day of the week during Lent.

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Happy New Year 2021

12-27-2020Pastor's LetterRev. Bruce Fogle

Many thanks for the generosity shown to me at Christmas through your prayers, cards and gifts. May the joy of Christ’s birth endure in our hearts throughout the coming New Year. I wish each of you and your families a blessed 2021.

This has been a very difficult year for each of us. As you are aware due to the circumstances of the current epidemic, we have had no choice but to change how we have had to conduct our singing, decorating and sitting arrangements for the safety of all.

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O Antiphons

12-17-2020Pastor's Letter

One of the best-loved Advent hymns we sing is "O Come, O Come Emmanuel". The verses of that stirring song are comprised of what the Church calls the Advent "O antiphons".

The O antiphons were composed in the 7th or 8th century by an anonymous monk. These seven, short poetic verses, in today's liturgy, are intoned or recited as the Alleluia verse before the Gospel at Mass, and as the antiphon for the Magnificat at vespers. Each Advent, the Church begins singing the O antiphons on December 17—seven days before Christmas.

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Why Rose Vestments?

12-13-2020Pastor's Letter

The use of rose vestments during the sacred liturgy of the third Sunday of Advent has been a part of the Church’s tradition for many centuries and is a tradition we must hold onto. Rose gives us joy and a promise of hope; our world is in need of both. The Rose color, which is only used twice in the whole liturgical year, is traditionally associated with a sense of joy amidst a season of penance. On both Sundays (Gaudete in Advent and Laetare in Lent), rose is worn to remind us that the season of preparation is coming to a close and the great feast is swiftly approaching.

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The Season of Advent

12-03-2020Pastor's Letter

Advent is not the the same as Christmas. Advent is a time to praise God for his great gift of his Son, Jesus. It is a time to think about how ready we are to receive Jesus whenever he comes to us: in our daily life; in those who are in need; in the Eucharist at Mass; and at the end of time when Jesus comes in glory. Advent is a time to prepare our hearts and souls to celebrate the birthday of the Messiah.

June: the Month Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

06-01-2020Pastor's Letter

12 Promises of the Sacred Heart

Authored By: St. Margaret Mary

The Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary

  1. "I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
  2. I will establish peace in their homes.
  3. I will comfort them in all their afflictions.
  4. I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death.
  5. I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.
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Mary’s Secret to Sanctity: Supernatural Revelations of Heaven’s Most Powerful Intercessor

05-06-2020Pastor's Letter

It is a long-standing Catholic tradition that the month of May be dedicated to honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“For this is the month during which Christians, in their churches and their homes, offer the Virgin Mother more fervent and loving acts of homage and veneration; and it is the month in which a greater abundance of God’s merciful gifts comes down to us from our Mother’s throne”

– Pope Paul VI, Mense Maio, Encyclical on Prayers During May for Preservation of Peace.

In this time of pandemic, where fear and loss cripples our world, where the storm rages and the winds of uncertainty blow – what better time than now that we should turn to our tender-hearted Blessed Mother and invoke her powerful intercession.

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The O Antiphons

12-18-2019Pastor's Letter

One of the best-loved Advent hymns we sing is "O Come, O Come Emmanuel". The verses of that stirring song are comprised of what the Church calls the Advent "O antiphons".

The O antiphons were composed in the 7th or 8th century by an anonymous monk. These seven, short poetic verses, in today's liturgy, are intoned or recited as the Alleluia verse before the Gospel at Mass, and as the antiphon for the Magnificat at vespers. Each Advent, the Church begins singing the O antiphons on December 17—seven days before Christmas.

In structure, each of the O antiphons is made up of three parts. The first part is an invocation of Jesus by way of a title derived from an Old Testament prefiguring of Christ. The second part expands and elaborates on that invocation, at the same time conveying our grateful appreciation of God's providence at work wondrously in Jesus. Finally, each O antiphon closes with a fervent bidding that the Messiah come to us.

Taken together, the awesome O antiphons express our loving humility before God, our hope-filled powerlessness, and our confident trust and faith in God's promises.​

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