This Week

Second Sunday of Lent - February 28, 2021

Thursday, February 25, 2021

Thursday, February 25, 2021

The Opening Prayer

At the conclusion of the Introductory Rites of the Mass, the presider says or chants the words “Let us pray,” followed by the Opening Prayer. This prayer is also called a “collect” because it gathers or “collects” the prayers of the entire assembly into one. The Roman collects that we pray in our liturgy—noted for the brevity, clarity, and conciseness of the Latin originals—date from a variety of periods. Some are quite new; others reach back more than a thousand years. They are truly treasures of our tradition.

The Opening Prayer can be divided into four main parts:

  1. the invitation, or “Let us pray”;
  2. the silence that follows, during which each member of the assembly lifts up before God his or her own prayers;
  3. the collect itself, spoken or sung by the priest;
  4. and finally the Amen, by which the assembly says, “yes,” “may it be so,” making the prayer their own.

The collect itself almost always follows the same pattern. It begins with an invocation to God. A petition follows, usually very general. We ask for health, strength, wisdom, grace, forgiveness, faith, awareness. Every collect concludes by offering the prayer to God through Jesus Christ. With the Amen of the assembly, the Introductory Rites of the Mass come to an end.

Thursday, February 18, 2021

In the household of Bethany the Lord Jesus experienced the family spirit and friendship of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, and for this reason the Gospel of John states that he loved them. Martha generously offered him hospitality, Mary listened attentively to his words and Lazarus promptly emerged from the tomb at the command of the One who humiliated death.

The traditional uncertainty of the Latin Church about the identity of Mary - the Magdalene to whom Christ appeared after his resurrection, the sister of Martha, the sinner whose sins the Lord had forgiven - which resulted in the inclusion of Martha alone on 29 July in the Roman Calendar, has been resolved in recent studies and times, as attested by the current Roman Martyrology, which also commemorates Mary and Lazarus on that day. Moreover, in some particular calendars the three siblings are already celebrated together.

Therefore, the Supreme Pontiff Pope FRANCIS, considering the important evangelical witness they offered in welcoming the Lord Jesus into their home, in listening to him attentively, in believing that he is the resurrection and the life, and accepting the proposal of this Dicastery, has decreed that 29 July be designated in the General Roman Calendar as the Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus.

The Memorial must therefore appear under this title in all Calendars and Liturgical Books for the celebration of Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours; the variations and additions to be adopted in the liturgical texts, attached to the present decree, must be translated, approved and, after confirmation by this Dicastery, published by the Episcopal Conferences.

Anything to the contrary notwithstanding.

From the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 26 January 2021, Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops.

Robert Card. Sarah
Prefect - Arthur Roche
Archbishop Secretary

Thursday, February 25, 2021

Your gift helps to fulfill the mission of reaching Miami Shores for Jesus Christ.

Su ofrenda nos ayuda a cumplir la misión de traer el mensaje de Jesús a Miami Shores.

February 20th & February 21st, 2021

  • 5:00pm $ 816.00
  • 8:30am $ 1,639.00
  • 10:30am $ 722.00
  • 12:30pm $ 801.00
  • Total $ 3,978.00

Thursday, November 5, 2020

The St Martha church bulletin is provided by the J.S.Paluch Company to us at no cost. The bulletin is solely funded by the support of the local business community through business sponsorships. In order to continue to receive this, and many of the other benefits J.S.Paluch provides our church, we are looking for additional sponsorships to fill up the open space on our two sponsorship pages.

If you own a business, know of someone who does, or just want to celebrate an anniversary, birthday or special occasion, please consider promoting the business or event in our church bulletin. For more information on the sponsorship program, please contact our J.S.Paluch representative Patrick Falco directly.

He can be reached by email at falcop@jspaluch.com, or directly by phone at (910) 200-8383.

Also, if you have any experience in sales and would like to help the church fill the sponsorship page, please contact Mr. Falco as well. The church thanks you for your consideration and support.

Friday, January 29, 2021

Thank You for Your Gift!

With a grateful heart, thank you to those who have generously made a commitment to the 2021 Archbishop’s Charities and Development Drive (ABCD). Thanks to the generosity of many, the ABCD can bring hope by serving others in their time of need, help our students continue on their journey of learning and prepare them for the future and raise a unified voice for peace and dignity of all human life.

Together, we are One in Faith, One in Hope and One in Charity.

If you have yet to make a gift to the ABCD, we need your help to reach our parish goal. Please make your pledge and return it to the church office or in the collection basket. We are confident that , with God’s help and yours, we will unite as a Catholic community to spread the love of Christ beyond our parish doors.