MASS SCHEDULE FOR THE WEEK OF THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT (December 16, 2012)
17, Monday – Feria
18, Tuesday – Feria
19, Wednesday – Feria
20, Thursday – Feria – Pray for the church in Singapore
21, Friday – St. Thomas the Apostle
+ St. Thomas was one of Jesus’ Twelve Apostles and he is best known for doubting the Resurrection when the others first told him about it. He is also the one who declared Jesus’ divinity when he saw him a week later as he gathered with the other Apostles to celebrate the Holy Communion. “My Lord and my God,” he confessed before our Lord and the others. He is known to have been a strong missionary to Syria and India where he worked miracles and built churches. Egeria, a Gallic woman who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land between 381-384, wrote several long letters to a circle of woman in her homeland. In one letter she described her visit to Edessa where St. Thomas was venerated:
“We arrived at Edessa in the Name of Christ our God, and, on our arrival, we straightway repaired to the church and memorial of Saint Thomas. There, according to custom, prayers were made and the other things that were customary in the holy places were done; we read also some things concerning Saint Thomas himself. The church there is very great, very beautiful and of new construction, well worthy to be the house of God, and as there was much that I desired to see, it was necessary for me to make a three days’ stay there.”
From Edessa Thomas sailed to India in 52 AD to spread the Gospel among the Jews, but his greatest fruit was with the India itself.
+ All Saints’ Men’s Group will not meet December 25.
+ All Saints parishioner may obtain a Mass card from the Church office. A Mass card is a greeting card given to someone to inform him or her that a deceased loved one or friend was remembered and prayed for at a weekly Mass. It is a specifically Christian way to express one’s love. Call Julie McDermott at the Church office (434-979-2842) and she will help you fill out the form. The celebrant will sign the card and we will mail it from the Church to the family of the loved one.
+ Daily Mass is celebrated at 12:15 p.m. You and your family members are all remembered by name at the Altar of God every week. Please take an All Saints parish prayer list home with you & remember your fellow parishioners in your prayers!