RESP. PSALM: God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.
TODAY’S MASS INTENTION: Miklos Balassy, Ferenc Kovacsics, by Ilona Balassy
MASS SCHEDULE & INTENTIONS FOR THE COMING WEEK:
| August | 29 | Monday | 9:00 AM | Ilona Batáry, by the Family |
| August | 30 | Tuesday | 9:00 AM | Miklós Peller, by Ildikó Peller |
| August | 31 | Wednesday | 9:00 AM | István & Katalin Palotay, by the Family |
| September | 1 | Thursday | 9:00 AM | Charles Thill, by a friend |
| September | 2 | Friday | 9:00 AM | Parishioners of St. Elizabeth and St. Emeric parishes |
| September | 3 | Saturday | 5:00 PM | Steve Spisak, by Mary Spisak |
| September | 4 | Sunday | 11:00 AM | Mass at Hungarian Festival – German Central Park: Agnes Dietrich; Agnes (Huszár) Várdy, by the Hungarian Girl Scout Troop 33 |
| September | 4 | Sunday | 11:15 AM | Pál Szendrey, by Frank Szendrey |
FROM THE DESK OF FR. BONA: Beside Jesus and Mary, there is only one saint whose earthly birthday is commemorated in the liturgy (in addition to a proper feast – usually on the day the saint died, or close to it). On Monday, August 29, we celebrate the Passion of Saint John the Baptist and as you know, we also celebrate his birth as a solemnity on June 24. Why is John the Baptist receiving such a special treatment? Because he was special; he was the greatest prophet. As Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist” (Mt 11:11a). In what consisted the greatness of John the Baptist?
(1) He was chosen by God to be the forerunner, the precursor, to the Messiah. His role was foretold by the prophets (Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1) and his mission was to prepare the world for Jesus Christ and to point Him out (as he did when he declared Him to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world).
(2) St. John the Baptist was the “greatest” because he preached in the power of Elijah, one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament. Similar to Elijah, John called the whole nation of Israel to repentance, rebuked the king, and persevered in the midst of suffering and persecution. Pope Benedict XVI in his August 29, 2012 General Audience declared, “Celebrating the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist reminds us too, Christians of this time, that with love for Christ, for his words and for the Truth, we cannot stoop to compromises. The Truth is Truth; there are no compromises.”
(3) He was also the “greatest” in that God had chosen him to break the 430 years of divine silence that had existed since the prophet Malachi. It can be said that John was the last of the Old Testament prophets. He was the last in the long line of prophets who predicted Christ, yet he was the only one who could actually see Christ in the flesh. No other prophet had that privilege.
The full quote of Jesus concerning John the Baptist is: “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” The greatness of John the Baptist has to do with his unique position in history. Yet, he was not able to experience here on earth the greatness of Christ in the Sacraments in which we ourselves are privileged to participate. Let us never take for granted the Sacraments and let us be willing to accept their discipline in what they require of us. Saint John the Baptist, pray for us!
THANK YOU: Dear parishioners, thank you very much to all of you who volunteered and worked so hard on the last week’s St. Stephen Picnic. We have received many compliments for food, the atmosphere, decorations and the surroundings. We estimate that around 200 of us came together and through the generosity of the parishioners and the guests, the parish was able to make around $2,750 (the number is not final as there are two more items that need to be accounted for, but they will not change the number significantly). Most importantly, it gave us an opportunity to come together as a parish. Thank you to Dr. Csaba Krasznai, an honorary consul for the Hungarian government, for being our guest speaker at the afternoon celebrations. It has evolved into a very nice tradition and so we are planning to continue the St. Stephen’s Day celebrations.
EMERIC – AIR CONDITIONING INSTALLATION: Thank you very much for all those who have already donated to our fundraising campaign! We truly appreciate your kindness and generosity. With the proceeds of the St. Stephen’s Day Picnic we have reached our halfway mark of $39,500 towards our goal of installing air-conditioning units in the church ($79,000). Moreover we have a very good news! A generous friend of the parish has stepped forward and pledged to match the donations received from August 27 through September 25 – up to $19,000! All donations, large or small, are greatly appreciated and now they are worth double! Please share this news with others and those who have not donated yet. Contributions can be made with your donations in the weekly offertory basket with a check or an envelope marked “For air conditioning,” on our website with a note of the same, or on gofundme.com. Thank you very much!!
LAST WEEKEND’S COLLECTION (8/21): Sunday Collection: $2,245. May God reward your generosity. Thank you for sending in your donations by mail or using our website https://stemeric.com/donations/.
PLEASE PRAY FOR THE SICK, especially for Bev Kimar, Rose Dudevszky, Teréz Kalász, Gerő Kondray, Lajos Boday, Julius Skerlan, and Márta Takács.
THIS SUNDAY the 11:15 AM Mass from St. Emeric church will be livestreamed at https://www.facebook.com/saintemeric/ and https://stemeric.com/
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