Saint Brendan Catholic Church

There will be NO morning Mass/Confessions January 13th – 18th and January 20th – 23rd.
On Friday, January 17th we will have Adoration from 10:00 am – 7:00 pm in the Chapel.
Sippin’ Soul Sisters Women’s Group next meeting will be Saturday, January 18th after the 5 pm Mass. Following up from the last meeting, please come ready to share your experiences and stories about how you pray as a family or for your family. Feel free to bring a food item to share as well as your favorite beverage. Coffee and tea will be provided.
There is no Confirmation class this Monday, January 20^th due to the holiday! Confirmation class will resume on January 27^th.
No habrá clase de Confirmación el lunes 20 de enero debido al día festivo. La siguiente clase de Confirmación será el lunes 27 de enero.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR PASTOR

Dear Parishioners,

Merry Christmas to all of you and to all of those who are visiting with us this year! I pray that this Christmas Season, is filled with the joy of Jesus coming among us to bring us salvation! I pray this great news of Jesus coming refreshes you and enlivens your faith in God’s great love for you! I was wondering earlier today… ‘I wonder what Jesus’ first words were?’ Then I wondered what would have been His first words to me if I would have lived in the time the Lord Jesus came to this earth.

What would have been the first words the Lord spoke to you, had you walked the earth while He did? The answer is quite simple. Whatever the words themselves would have been, whether they were words to challenge us, or encourage us, or words of healing, the meaning all would have been the same. ‘I love you and I desire what is best for you!’ Once we realize it is true that God loves us, it can make all the difference in the world. Even beyond that, it can make a difference into eternal life. He loves you more intimately than the person who is closest to you in life.

As we receive love, it changes who we are. As human beings, when we receive authentic love, it helps us to grow in confidence, to open ourselves up to someone, to give of ourselves to them, to love them in return. On the face of the earth, there is no more authentic love than God’s love for you. That love should change and impact our lives. We only need to open ourselves to that love, to receive that love. The more we open ourselves to God’s love the more He teaches us how to love and to love authentically. God chose to humble Himself out of love for us and to come among us 2000 years ago at Christmas, to save us from our slavery to sin. Love is a choice! Jesus teaches us love is a choice both on Christmas as He humbled Himself to come among us and as He chose to lay down His life for us! How we choose to love God in return matters. People will say in our world today that they believe in God, or love God, but they want to love God on their own terms, which often is contrary to what God calls us to. That is what sin is, not loving authentically as God teaches us to love. Which then isn’t really love. A saint is only a sinner who recognizes they need repentance and God’s mercy. In humility they realize they are still learning how to love and need God’s grace and guidance to accomplish that.

When someone thinks the ‘rules’ of our faith are an imposition to our humanity or a limit to our freedom it is like saying that the rules of the road are a danger to our safety. There are rules of the road so all of us on the road can be safe. It is when we dismiss those rules of the road that we put ourselves and others in danger. The same is true when it comes to our spiritual life and the Lord’s call to love Him, as well as our neighbor as ourselves. God has given us the rules of how to love that we might be free to love authentically. Authentic love is different in many ways from a false kind of love that our society often pushes.

Someone once challenged a priest: “If God is everywhere? Why do I need to go to Church?” His response: “The whole atmosphere is filled with water, but when you need a drink you have to go to a fountain or well.” The Mass is where we receive a drink of water, God’s grace, in order to be spiritually healthy and have life. It is where we go to receive God’s love and give thanks to Him for that love. We can’t go more than a week without water if we desire to be healthy. Christmas is the spring of our hope for that life-giving water that we receive in the Mass! It was in Jesus coming among us that hope dawned on humanity! Today we celebrate that hope! Today we celebrate with joy as we give our worship to God who is the source of our hope, our freedom, our life, and our love! It is in living out our faith, especially in participating in the Mass, which is the source and summit of our faith, that we are sustained in God’s life-giving love! We receive God who is love in Holy Communion as we come to Mass! We receive Emmanuel, God with us! He comes to be with His people at every Mass. As we receive the Lord in Holy Communion may we grow into the love God calls us to. May we understand in the depths of our soul the message of God’s love for us as we participate in this great celebration of God’s love, Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Fr. Nick Wichert

NORTHWEST CATHOLIC COLLECTION

SAFE ENVIRONMENT

CALLED TO SERVE AS CHRIST

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2RHo6pgWXI

LLAMADOS A SERVIR COMO CRISTO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pPopt4uJkI&t=10s

2019 MALAWI TRIP

2019 ANNUAL CATHOLIC APPEAL RESULTS

ANNUAL CATHOLIC APPEAL 2019 RESULTS

Our Annual Catholic Appeal goal: $146,853.00

# of households in parish: 1649

# of participating households: 461

% participation: 28

Thank you to those who have already fulfilled your Annual Catholic Appeal pledge!

It is not to late to return your pledge envelope, please fill out a pledge envelope or go online today: https://www.seattlearchdiocese.org/Stewardship/ACA/Donate.aspx!

Did you know your Annual Catholic Appeal gift could be doubled? Many companies MATCH gifts! Check if your employer has a Matching Gift Program and help us maximize our

REBATE for our parish project, the Enrichment of the Sanctuary in the church. Once your gift has been paid in full, you can apply for the match per your employers instructions.

The Annual Catholic Appeal, Archdiocese of Seattle, is a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Tax ID # 91-0778147.

Call 800-809-4921 if you have any questions.

Mailing address: Annual Catholic Appeal, PO Box 14964, Seattle 98114

ANNUAL CATHOLIC APPEAL REBATE—PROJECT COMPLETED!
Made possible by your support to the Annual Catholic Appeal we have completed yet another project “Restoring all our Stain Glass Windows”.

2019 STEWARDSHIP UPDATE

Thank you to all our parishioners for sharing with our parish a portion of the gifts God has entrusted to you. May the joy of the Lord always be our strength. Below is a brief summary of our Stewardship of Treasure Campaign to date.

Total Households	1656
% Parishioner participation	35%
Total Pledged	$1,012,489.12

Please prayerfully discern what amount you want to give to achieve your personal goal of giving back to God and carrying out the mission of St. Brendan Parish. Pledge cards may be returned by mail, through the Sunday collection basket, or by setting up Online Giving through the link at the top of the page.

LITURGICAL MINISTERS’ SCHEDULE – January 2020

ALTAR SERVING – 2019-2020 Registration Form – Please fill one per family and return to parish office.

Saint Brendan Catholic Church

Welcome to St. Brendan

Masses: Saturday: 5PM Sunday: 8AM, 10AM, Noon (Spanish)

Reconciliation

Individual confession is available daily (except Tuesdays and Sundays) at 7:45 am – 8:15 am, and Saturdays at 3 pm – 4:30 pm

Baptism, First Communion…

Visit our Sacraments section