106 N. Western Ave. Girard, KS 66743 Tel.

(620)724-8717

Weekly Bulletin Saint Michael Church, Girard www.stmichaelgirard.com

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GIRARD Sat. 5:30pm Sun. 10:00 am Sat. 2:00-2:45pm

ARMA 4:00pm 8:00 am 3:15-3:45pm

We the parishioners of Saint Michael the Archangel, through leadership and strong traditions are faithful disciples of the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Catholic Church. We commit ourselves to be generous stewards of our faith, our parish, and our community. We strive to involve all members to be united in one parish family for the salvation of all. Notes from the Pastor: Let us praise and thank the Lord as we enter this season of advent and at the same time ask the Lord that we may be open to His grace so that we can truly prepare for His coming. God is Emmanuel - He is with us, and He is not far away. He wants to be with us all the time, but it all depends on how much we open up ourselves to let Him in. As He came to us as the Word made flesh, born in the manger more than 2000 years ago, He continues to come to us today in many different ways: He comes to us every time we receive the Holy Eucharist worthily and consciously. He comes to us through the words of the Bible if we listen attentively to Him - "not by bread alone does man live but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." He comes to us when we see Him in the people we meet, especially welcoming the strangers, when we take care of the needy, or visit the sick and those in prison. He comes to us when we do what He commanded us to do. As Mary said her fiat, may all of these also be done in our lives so this Advent season may truly prepare us for Christmas. I know many of you have already put up your Christmas tree and Christmas decorations right after Thanksgiving. That is not bad, but it would be better if you include putting up even a small Advent wreath where every Sunday or Saturday night you and your family could gather together and light one of its candles and say your prayers. You can also share reflections on each other's experiences while spiritually preparing during this Advent. I am sure this would help us and our families experience more meaningfully our Christmas celebration! Like last year I am putting copies of Advent wreath prayers and reflection at the back of the Church for you to take home. December 8 is the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation. It falls on a Saturday. Some maybe thinking that going to 4 or 5:30 mass on Saturday will be good for both the Immaculate Conception holy day of obligation and the Sunday of obligation. The answer is NO! The Saturday afternoon vigil mass (4PM in Arma, 5:30 in Girard) is a celebration for the first Sunday of Advent. Because of this, you have to attend to either Friday night or Saturday morning masses to fulfill our Next Sunday(12/09/2012) 10:00 AM M. Reif, E. Wilson, E., A., C. Doherty, P. Amershek Chris Sponsel Doug Lopeman Jim & Michelle Puckett Family
obligation for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. If you miss any of these you miss to fulfill your obligation for this solemnity. We have our mass at 6:30PM in Girard on Friday December 7, and 8AM in Arma, and 10AM in Girard on December 8. These are our masses for the holy day of obligation. I hope you will find time to come to any of these. Otherwise kindly check the schedule of masses in Frontenac or Our Lady of Lourdes so you wont miss celebrating this very wonderful and important Holy Day of Obligation - a very important solemnity which reminds us of God's intervention to save us from our sins. One of the important things we need to do during Advent is to make a humble and thorough examination of conscience. We have a printed guide of this at the back of the church. Also, to make a sacramental confession, aside from our regular schedule of confession (it is printed in our bulletin), we have a scheduled confession in Girard this December 12, Wednesday at 7PM or right after the 6:30PM Mass. This is primarily intended for our middle and High School kids but it is open for parents, catechists and for everybody. I have invited Fr. Tom Leland and Fr. Cris Ah-maung to help us. I will try to get one more priest so we can all have a good chance of making our confession and consequently prepare ourselves this advent. In Arma, our penance service will be on December 9 at 6PM. I am not sure yet if I will invite another priest to help. Last time in Advent and Lent the attendance was so minimal. But surely I will be there to preside over the penance service. I would like to make a correction about the stewardship renewal form that we have distributed last weekend. It is the YELLOW COPY that you need to return back to me. The blue or white copy you have to keep for your guidance. Those who were not around last weekend, if your family does not have the

Saint Michael Parish Mission Statement:

Weekdays before Mass; anytime by appointment.

STAFF Fr. Roger Lumbre Pastor Janel Scales Bookkeeper/Bulletin Editor Faith Paoni Secretary Rectory Office Hours Tues-Fri 9AM-Noon Closed on Mondays Tel. (620) 724-8717

Next Saturday (12/08/2012) Altar Servers: 5:30 PM L. Martin, E. Sisney, B. Scales, E. Brokob Faith McClaskey CYM Students CYM Students

E. M. E. Lectors: Gift Bearers

Mass Schedules & Intentions for December 1st-9th:

Dec 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 4:00 PM 5:30 PM 8:00 AM Sunday 10:00 AM 7:00 AM Monday 5:30 PM Tuesday Wednesday 6:30 PM 8:00 AM Thursday 8:30AM-3PM 7:00 AM Friday 8AM-6:30PM 6:30PM 8:00AM Saturday 10:00AM 4:00 PM 5:30 PM 8:00 AM Sunday 10:00 AM Saturday St. Joseph Bud LaForge Pro Populo Frank OToole Chris Sponsel John Albertini Intentions of Ryan Sevart Family Jennie Carregio Eucharistic Adoration Gilpin Family Intentions Eucharistic Adoration Kay Arthur St. Joseph Carolyn Bentley Poor Souls by Alba Marchetti Winnie Walsh Black Family Pro Populo Arma Girard Arma Girard Girard Arma Girard Arma Arma Girard Girard Girard Arma Girard Arma Girard Arma Girard

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Advent: A Challenge to Observe in Todays World! The new Church Year starts this weekend with Advent, the short season of four Last Week July 2012 to date weeks to proclaim the One who is to come, hence the Latin, ad-vent, the ven meanContributions $2,047.50 $59,851.08 ing to come. As Fr. McElwee once told us, Its not a holiday season, despite our Children's Offering $15.43 $639.37 behavior! Its a time for preparing for Gods coming not partying through it all. If we did that, it would be like celebrating Easter in mid-Lent! While the season isnt equal Expenses $60,156.18 to the Lenten season, some penance is called for, such as attending a weekday mass, Over/ (Under) $334.27 saying a rosary, or spending an hour in Adoration. Christian families are challenged today in their efforts to observe the Advent season. It isnt easy to break with the rest of the world and to focus on preparing for Saint Michaels Upcoming Events Christ, especially when party invitations fill your mailbox and the media tells you its Black Friday or Cyber Monday. I liked what Fr. John Reinkemeyer said to us years Finance Council Parish Council ago here in St. Josephs Church: Christmas season begins for most of the world on Tony Stonerock-Chair Dale Coomes-Chair Thanksgiving Day (remember, this was 1965!) when wares are displayed for holiday Next Meeting TBA Next meeting, TBA gift giving, and ends on December 24. Families who wouldnt dream of eating their Thanksgiving turkey in mid-November, or having their Fourth of July picnic in June, Rosary Altar Society Knights of Columbus or celebrating their childs birthday a month in advance, give no thought to the fact Next meeting, TBA 1st Tuesday of Month, 7pm that when they awake on December 25 there is not a shred of Christmas left! Every At 6:30pm in the Hall. St. Michael Parish Hall present has been opened, every carol sung. The tree was dried out. Christmas is apt to be a full day given to over-eating! There was no fast in Advent, so there can be no Helping Hands Daughters of Isabella feast at Christmas. We humbly beg that you make some sacrifices during Advent, the Need help or want to volunteer, Call Marilyn Bradshaw, season of Hope. Its difficult to hope for what one already has. If the world has been Call Carrie Smith, 724-6684 724-7133 celebrating Christmas for the last four weeks, its hard to have hope and expectation. Try the positive approach this year--focus more on Christ and His coming and ChristThat Man in You Friday mornings at 6am mas will be more meaningful.

COLLECTIONS

renewal form yet, please take a copy at the back of the church and reflect upon it, then fill them up. Please return the Yellow copy by dropping them at the collection basket or you can hand it to me personally after the mass. Also please return the raffle ticket with the yellow copy so we can include you in our raffle drawing before Christmas. Thank you and God bless you all! Fr. Roger St. Michaels Altar Society The St. Michaels Altar Society has been asked to join in on a night of gifts, fun and snacks. St. Francis Altar Society of St. Paul, has asked that we join them on December 9th at 5:00pm. If you are interested in going, please sign up in the back of the Church. We will be leaving St. Michaels parking lot at 4:30pm, or you may meet us there. We are each asked to bring a $10 wrapped gift. They will furnish drinks and snacks. Please come and join in on the Christmas fun. St. Michaels Angels The holiday season is upon us! St. Michaels Angels will be working their magic helping less fortunate families to celebrate Christmas. Once again we are asking for your contributions to help us be successful this year in reaching our goals. There will be specially marked contribution envelopes at the front entrance of the Church to include with the collections at each Mass. Also, we will take new or nice children/adult clothing, bedding and bath, toys and Christmas decorations. Please contact Janet OBrien at 620-724-0079 with any questions you may have or items to be picked up. St. Michaels Angels and families sincerely thank each of you for your contributions.

St. Nicholas: Patron of Children Nicholas was born in Asia Minor (Turkey) in 295, of wealthy parents. He studied for the priesthood and when ordained, he gave all of his wealth to the poor. A generous man, he was the special protector of the innocent and the wronged. Once, he heard that a man, who had become quite poor, intended to abandon his three daughters to a life of prostitution because he couldnt afford a dowry for them. Nicholas went out at night, on three occasions, and threw a bag of gold into the window of the sleeping father and hurried away. Soon, his daughters were married and later, the grateful father fell at Nicholas feet and thanked him. This, and many other works of charity led to the tradition of giving presents on his feast day, December 6, and at Christmas, in his name. He is the special patron of children. The term, Santa Claus, comes from his name. The Dutch term for St. Nicholas was Sinter Klaas or St. Klaas, which became Santa Claus. The term, Santa, itself, means saint in French, Spanish and Italian. Many of our own U.S. cities got their name from this: Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Santa Cruz, and many others. Msgr. William Carr, Wichita, told me theres a bit of Judgment in the German custom of putting the shoes out on the night before Christmas. (we put stockings) Good children get goodies, but bad ones got coal! Since Advent is a season of Penance, we see a Judgment as the season moves to the next one: Christmas--if youre good, you get presents; if not, none, or at least, not as many. There is an underlying theme in all this letting us know there will be a Judgment!! St. Nicholas died on Dec. 6, 350, in Turkey and his popularity has grown with the centuries. He is honored by the Eastern Church, for he is also the Patron of Russia, while the Western Church reveres him due to his kindness to the poor and the tradition of gift giving on his feast day and on Jesus birthday. After Mary, he is the Saint most pictured by Christian artists. Articles by Marcel Normand

ST. MICHAEL, DEFEND US IN ALL OUR BATTLES!

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