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. . . And the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world
Liturgical
Spirituality
by Sylvia
Stoddart
Liturgy is the fundamental source of Christian spirituality. Why? Because liturgy is essentially prayer and prayer is the work of the Holy Spirit. Our liturgies must nourish and foster our spiritual life. It is the spiritual experience provided by the liturgy, rather than doctrine and discipline, that the church nourishes and forms its people in Christian faith and life.
What
is Liturgy? If you go to our diocese website at www.dsj.org
you will see reference to liturgy as a work of the people. It is not only
our work but those of many generations. It is like an imaginative
construction that is still in process.
What do I mean by that? Since Vatican II, the entire structure in which we worship has radically changed the local and universal church. Liturgical Spirituality refers to the work of the Holy Spirit actively bringing us to full and conscious participation during the mass to accomplish God's will so that we can live out our baptismal call. Through the Sacrament of Confirmation, God strengthens the work of faith begun at Baptism.
So, spirituality suggests a process or development. Liturgy must form this distinctive interior spiritual life. When our liturgies meet the needs of the people, we can experience and live out the scripture messages.
In what ways do you come closer to Christ in the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist?
The
Gospel of St. Matthew
by Ray Turner
The first three Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) are called the Synoptic Gospels because of their similarity.
The Gospel of Matthew
Matthew's Gospel was
originally thought to be the earliest written, hence it's place at the front
of the four Gospels. The most recent biblical scholarship raises questions
of authorship, sources, and the time of composition of this gospel with no
certain answers only a greater or lesser degree of probability. The
majority of biblical scholars are pretty sure that the Gospel's author is
NOT the Apostle Matthew because the gospel is based, in large part, on the
Gospel according to Mark (using almost all of Mark's verses). Scholars
consider it unlikely that a companion of Jesus would have used an account so
extensively that came from someone who had not personally known Jesus.
The author of Matthew drew upon the Gospel of Mark but also on a large body of material (principally, sayings of Jesus) not found in Mark that is very similar to material found in Luke's Gospel. Scholars call this source "Q". Mark and Q are sources common to the two other synoptic gospels, Matthew and Luke.
The Gospel of Matthew was probably written sometime after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. For the Jews and early Christians of that time the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple were a worse catastrophe for them than for Catholics today if the Vatican were somehow destroyed. It threw their lives into chaos. Matthew wrote for a community that desperately needed a sense of identity with the past and some direction for facing an uncertain future.
Matthew begins his Gospel with a genealogy that leads from Abraham, the father of the Jewish religion, to Jesus, validating that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. Matthew continues with the story of Jesus' birth and then the beginning of his public ministry with His Baptism by John.
Jesus proclaims His message that the "Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (modern translation is "Reign of God") Mt 4:17. Matthew then relates the story of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection and ends with Jesus commissioning His disciples to "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations" and promising "I will be with you always, even to the end of time." Mt 28:19-20
Sources: The Jerusalem Bible, the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops, Invitation to Matthew by Donald Senior, Gospel Parallels, edited by Burton Throckmorton
Next week: the Gospel of Mark
SJV
Discipleship Magazine
by Ellen Turner
The summer issue of the SJV Discipleship Magazine is now available for reading or printing from our parish website: click here to download. For the past year, this publication, eight pages printed in two colors, has been produced by the consultants we worked with through the Deanery. Because the cost to print and mail is very high, we encourage parishioners to sign up to receive this document via the Internet, saving the parish printing and mailing costs.
The
Summer 2006 issue is the first issue produced in house, that is, produced by
SJV volunteers rather than by the paid consultants. Many people contributed
to the production of the magazine, including our wonderful writers: Rey
Flores, Dr. Leo Vic English and his lovely wife Juanita, and Carmencita
Quiroga. We have a wonderful, overworked team of translators who have been
sharing their language skills with us since the start: Luis Estrada, Regi
Guiterrez, Javier Rodrigues, and Betty Jimenez, along with our wonderful
Spanish Editor, Rudy Tenes. For this first issue done by volunteers,
Anabella Estrada, wife of Luis, was kind enough to spend a few hours helping
me learn to use Quark ExPress, the professional page layout program used to
create this document.
The issue was reviewed by the entire Communication Team several times prior to release. Comments and edits from Idalia Willbanks, Carmencita Quiroga, and the indispensable Joe Nolan helped make this issue as good as possible. Thanks are due to all these wonderful parishioners, as well as our print house staff, who provided patient assistance as I learned the new ropes. Thanks also to Paula Bardell who allowed us to feature her story in the magazine, and to the wonderful people in our parish who have done the JustFaith program.
If you would like to help out with the next issue, drop an email to me at newsletter@sjvnews.net.
If you would like to save the parish the expense of printing and mailing your copy, sign up to receive the next and future issues via email. Click here to subscribe. We will respond by asking for your postal address so we can remove it from the postal mailing list. Of course, those who get the magazine on-line get it earlier too.
Tolerance
from Delorme
McKee-Stovall,
Santa Clara County Network for a Hate Free Community
"We don't stand for hate, we stand together."
In
response to recent hate-based incidents in our community the Board of
Supervisors has asked the Office of Human Relations to organize and present
a series of Public Forums on Building Tolerance in our communities. These
meetings will take a look at the importance of tolerance and respect for
other groups of people and ways of building allies in the community,
building peace through understanding each other. While there will be leaders
from various communities and government offices, the general public will
also be given time to express their ideas and to give their feed back. Join
the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, community leaders and Social
Justice Advocates in an update on recent hate violence.
Please attend one of these forums:
SUPERVISOR LIZ KNISS, August 16, 2006, 6:30 PM, Mountain View City Council Chambers, Mountain View Performing Arts Center, 500 Castro Street, Mt. View
SUPERVISOR JIM BEALL, August 23, 2006, 6:30 PM, Santa Clara Council Chambers, 1500 Warburton Avenue, Santa Clara
SUPERVISOR BLANCA ALVARADO, August 24, 2006, 6:30 PM, Isaac Newton Senter, County Government Center, 70 West Hedding Street, San Jose
SUPERVISOR PETE MCHUGH, August 31, 2006, 6:30 PM, Milpitas Community Center, 457 East Calaveras Blvd., Milpitas
Delorme
McKee-Stovall, Coordinator
Santa Clara County Network for a Hate Free Community
Santa Clara County Office of Human Relations
1880 Pruneridge Ave. Santa Clara, Ca. 95050
Tel (408) 792-2304 Fax (408) 297-2463
One of the events that Jim McEntee (deceased parishioner) supported during his twenty-seven years as Director of Human Relations for the County of Santa Clara was the Women's Equality Breakfast. This event honors women who have contributed to our community.
This year, the annual Women's Equality Day Breakfast, will be held on Friday, August 25, from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM at the Wydham Hotel in San Jose.
Mistress
of Ceremonies - Janice Edwards, NBC 11
Keynote Speaker - Noni Allwood Senior Director, HR, Cisco Systems, Inc. Co-Chair, Women of Color Action Network
Our Honorees reflect
women from specific groups in our community:
Nonprofit - Marlene Bjornsrud, Bay Area Sports Initiative
Community - Martha Kanter, Chancellor of Foothill-DeAnza
Business - Kathy Levinson, Investor and Philanthropist
Government - Sandy Martinez, Rehabilitation Officer
Young Leaders - Women 2.0
Shivani Sopory
Wen Wen Lam
Shaherose Charania
Angie Chang
For more information, click here.
High
School Confirmation Leadership Retreat
by David Cortese
Last
weekend, our High School Confirmation facilitators spent three days
building community with one another, developing news skills for working with
youth, brainstorming new and exciting ideas for this coming year, and taking
time to pray. We have twenty-four people on the High School Confirmation
team this year, who are all dedicated to serving the high school students of
this parish.
Everyone walked away energized for the new year and excited about the relationships formed and the anticipation of meeting many new high school students to journey with for at least the next year, hopefully for many years to come! Click here to see more pictures.
One of our facilitators sent us this e-mail, after the experience this past weekend:
"Hey David, Sorry, I had to leave immediately after mass. I just wanted to thank you for coordinating the retreat. I must admit I wasn't really excited about spending an entire weekend for a leadership retreat, but I am totally grateful that I went. I got a really great feeling of energy from all who participated and I am very excited for this upcoming confirmation class. Can you please forward this message to Irma and Rich as I did not get the chance to thank them for their generous hospitality. They shared their home (and FOOD) with all of us and I am very thankful. Thanks again."
Registration for High School Confirmation, Youth Ministry, and Family Faith will take place this weekend after every Mass and on August 31. For more information please call the office, (408) 258-7832.
Parish and Deanery:
Discover and Celebrate! Over the past few months or years, you may have thought about entering more fully into the life of the Catholic Church through Baptism, First Communion, and/or Confirmation. If you or your school-age children are un-baptized and desire new life as God's people, or if you (as an adult) desire Confirmation and First Eucharist (First Communion), or if you are baptized in another Christian tradition and wish to become Catholic, please contact Linda Rokita, Coordinator, Catechetical Ministry at 258-7832, ext. 24 for more information.
Family Faith (CCD) 2006-2007: Registration is August 19 & 20 (after each Mass). Family Faith invites your family to continue their faith journey in the many educational and sacramental programs offered through the parish community of St. John Vianney. Please note, registration is required for Pre-school through Grade 12, and for all of the sacramental preparation classes. The Faith Alive adult fellowship groups have open enrollment. All children/youth must be registered by their parent or legal guardian. Please bring baptismal certificates and 50% of the class fee to register your children. Open enrollment (with preference given to St. John Vianney parishioners) will begin the weekend of August 19 & 20 (after each Mass) & Thursday, August 31, from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM. For more information, please call Family Faith at 258-7832 x18, or x30 (espaņol).
Volunteer Hours (for SJV School) Available! Family Faith is seeking individuals (minimum age 16 yrs) who are interested in becoming a Catechist aide for grades 1-6. Please contact 258-7832 x24 for details.
The Next Meeting of the Adult Spirituality Team (working to bring Adult Education, retreats, Bible Study, and such to the parish) is set for Monday, August 21, 7:00 PM, in the Parish Office Center. At that meeting we hope to put together a solid plan of action which we will then present to the Parish Pastoral Council at their September 20 meeting. The subcommittees will be meeting prior to the August 21 meeting, so if you want to help out, (and we really need your help) contact Ellen Turner at newsletter@sjvnews.net or (408) 272-9234.
Marriage Community Get-Together Married Couples: Join us for an hour of wine and hors d'euvres Wednesday, August 30, from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM in the SJV Parish Office Center. Don't miss our discussion on Money Styles and Marriage. On-site childcare is available. For more information, contact Richard and Veronica Wildanger (408) 937-1483 or rpwildanger@earthlink.net.
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