FourthSunday of Advent

December 24, 2017

MASS SCHEDULE Saturday Evening:

4:00-4:30 p.m. Reconciliation 5:00 p.m. Mass

Sunday Morning: 10:00 a.m. Mass

Holy Days 7:00 p.m. Mass

CHURCH OFFICE Secretary: Nadine Crosby (912) 437-4750

E-Mail: nativity@darientel.net

Website: www.nativitydarien.us

OFFICE HOURS Monday: 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Tuesday - Friday: 9:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Closed Holidays

Nativity of Our Lady Catholic Church

“A Catholic Community With A Welcoming Heart”

1000 North Way (Hwy 17), P.O. Box 1079, Darien, Ga 31305 Fr. Timothy McKeown, Pastor Fr. Christopher Ortega, Parochial Vicar

Please patronize our advertisers.

PRIESTS’ OFFICE Fr. Tim and Fr. Chris have offices at St. Francis Xavier

Church located at 405 Howe St., Brunswick, GA 31520.

The office is open Monday - Friday from 9 am - 4 pm.

The SFX Church Office: (912) 265-3249

(Fr. Tim Ext. 11 and Fr. Chris Ext. 12)

Fr. Chris is in the Nativity office on

Tuesdays 10 am—2 pm

Answers: 1-C, 2-D, 3-C, 4-D, 5-C

Catholic Trivia ~ The Book of James

1. James, in his letter to the twelve tribes scattered abroad, emphasized the need, in asking God for wisdom, to do so in faith, with

A. humility B. determination to act C. no wavering D. others of the brethren 2. Anyone who is a hearer of the word and not a doer, said James, is like a man

who beholds A. the passing crowd in the street B. the moon and stars in the sky C. the unopened books on the shelves D. his face in a glass 3. Faith, wrote James, A. is enough to save a man, without works B. is not needed, if there are works C. if it has no works, is dead D. even with works is not necessarily enough 4. The opinion that James held of the human tongue seems on the whole to have been A. extravagantly favorable B. cautiously favorable C. somewhat unfavor able D. decidedly unfavorable 5. “Let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay,” urged James, instead of A. qualifying every assertion B. indulging in indecisiveness C. swearing D. sulking

Dody Sheppard, Lou Case-bonne, BrandonO’Brien,

Michelle Skolnitsky, James Karwacki, Lorraine Karwacki, Jack Salay, Mi-

chael Pistritto, Linda Moore, Clare Moore, Cori Kusik, Meg Wallace, Caryn Pinto, Patricia Kus-

ik, Star Purcell, Dionne Pierce, M.J. Hogan, Courtney Cobb, Michele Meyers, Wayne Doke,

Ronald Asselta, Carol Whitson, Sammy Gale, Carla Mucha, Cory Adamson, Madison Woolett, John Tompkins, Michael Higgins, Saundra Leon, Brigett Conlin, Ann Doherty, Glenford John, Ro-sa Marie Santos, Maria Bourget, Bob Walczak,

Bruce Lowie, Kathy Tailer, Scarlett Bosque, Jean Hawkins and Chuck Evans.

Also, for all of our loved ones serving our Mili-tary and for the Christians in the Middle East

~ WELCOME TO NATIVITY OF OUR LADY PARISH ~ December 24, 2017 ~ ~ fourth Sunday of advent ~

If you are not taking your bulletin with you, please return them to the back table. Thank you. If you are not taking your bulletin with you, please return them to the back table. Thank you.

December 16 & 17

Offertory $1,986.55 Flowers $40

Candles $10.42 Mass Intentions $5

Catholic Schools $10 Solemnity of Mary $50

Donations for lights $27.80

Diocesan News Nativity News

Please join us for coffee after Sunday mass in the hall behind the church.

L I t u r g I c a l

M I n I s t r i e s

S c h e d u l e

D E CE M B E R 2 0 1

Fr. Tim’s Reflection

CATHOLIC PILGRIMAGE BELLA-ITALIA!!!!

12 DAY PILGRIMAGE Now is the best time ever to take a

Pilgrimage! BELLA-ITALIA TOUR takes you to Rome,

Vatican City, Assisi, San :Giovannie Rotondo, the house of the Blessed Mother in Loretto, the Eucharistic miragle of Lanciano, cave of St. Michael, Venice, Padua, the cata-

combs, and audience with the Holy Father and praying at the four major Basilicas. Experience a once in a lifetime pilgrimage with two Priests, including daily Masses, first

class hotels, meals and round trip airfare for 12 days (June 12-23, 2018).

This affordable and inspiring pilgrimage takes you to beautiful breathtaking areas with Spiritual meanings. This tour is fully escorted, customized and guided, with daily

Masses. Call Father Hoyer at 954-854-0079, or the tour agency at 1-800-242-4122 (Altura Tours) for complete information

and group pricing for Catholic Italy! Come and experience a pilgrimage of a lifetime!

Saturday, Dec 23 @ 5 pm SI Morgan Martin

RB Theresa Morgan

Sunday, Dec 24 @ Midnight †Les Thomas Jr.

RB Les & Eleanor Thomas

Monday 25 @ 9 am †Al Karwacki

RB Lorraine Karwacki

Sunday 24 @ midnight GREETER: READER: Jedon Lilliston COLLECTORS: Kevin Heying EUCH MIN: Laura Daniel & Olivia Daniel ALTAR SERV: Madison Daniel Monday 25 @ 10 am GREETER: READER: Kieran McMullen COLLECTORS: EUCH MIN: Rick & Catherine Caauwe & Laura Daniel (stairs) ALTAR SERV: Joseph & Jacob Ali Saturday 30 @ 5 pm GREETER: Jane Meyer READER: Carl Inacio COLLECTORS: Jerry Meyer & Bill Wikoff EUCH MINS: Rick & Catherine Caauwe ALTAR SERV: Abby Sipe & Aman-da Wood Sunday 31 @ 10 am GREETER: Sandy Stalgaitis READER: Kieran McMullen COLLECTORS: Carlos Chacon & Kevin Heying EUCH MIN: Laura Daniel, Jedon Lilliston & Olivia Daniel (stairs) ALTAR SERV: Joseph & Jacob Ali

Christmas Mass Schedule

Sunday, Dec 24 @ 10 am (regular mass) Sunday, Dec 24 @ midnight

(Christmas Eve mass) Monday, Dec 25 @ 10 am

(Christmas Day mass)

Mass this week for Jan. 1 Mary Mother of God is at 9:00 a.m. While it is a holy day it is not obligatory this year. But

what a great way to start the New Year of 2018!

There will be a second

collection December 25 for Catholic

Schools

March for Life 2018 ~ “Let your light so shine before men….and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16 A March for Life bus trip is planned for Friday, Jan-uary 19, 2018! This will be the second pil-grimage organized by the Savannah Dean-

ery Respect Life Ministry to Atlanta, Ga, on the anniver-sary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. The pilgrimage will begin at 7:00 a.m. in the parking lot off of I-16 at Dean Forest (307) and Town Center Rd. (directly across from the entry gate to Southbridge). Parking is free. Prayer, scripture reading, singing and other activi-ties are planned on the way to and from our state capital. Upon arrival in downtown Atlanta, we will visit a local par-ish and eat lunch. At 1:00 p.m., we will take part in a road-side witness until 2:00 p.m. and around 2:30 p.m. the bus will load for the return trip to Savannah. Arrival time back at the point of departure will be approximately 6:30 p.m. Due to the generosity of the sponsoring Savannah Dean-ery Churches and the Knights of Columbus, the cost of the bus trip is FREE! (Food and incidentals will be the respon-sibility of each pilgrim, as well as any tip for the bus driv-er.) A reservation form is required so that reservations do not exceed seats (56) on the bus. You may get a form in the Nativity church office.

2018 catholic

calendars are here

Please pick one up in the church entranceway. One per family please.

Reminder: There will be a Rosary pri-or to the Sunday 10 am mass on the first and fifth Sunday of the month. The next Rosary will be December 31.

Mass Intentions

HOLY FAMILY

In the secular world Christmas is already over. In the Church, however, we celebrate until the feast of the Baptism of our Lord on January 8. Through this extended season of celebration the Church is saying, "Christmas is too much of a mystery to celebrate in one day. We will take two weeks to ponder its meaning." As part of this celebration we ponder the mystery of the Holy Family today.

Today we hold up their example and ask their intercession for our fami-lies. Whatever our living situation, we can draw strength from the Holy Family, whether we are two-parent families, single-parent families, single people, reli-gious or anything in between, we can learn from the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Some people might say, "There is no way we can be like the Holy Family. They were all saints! They had it made. How can I relate them to my family? How can the Holy Family empathize with me?" At first glance this may appear true but upon further examination we can see the great difficulties in life that the Holy Family experienced. What situations do you have to deal with? A difficult situation in life? Mary was an unwed, pregnant teenager, a situation that probably led many people to talk behind her back and question her virtue. Hardships? While nine months pregnant she had to travel the hills of Palestine from Nazareth to Beth-lehem, probably seated on a donkey. Doors being closed in your face? When it came time to give birth and she gave birth in a barn on straw and surrounded by field animals. Persecution? Soldiers came to kill her baby and still recovering from birth she had to flee to Egypt and later learn that dozens of young male babies had been slain in Bethlehem. Problems with adolescents? As Jesus grew there were times when Mary couldn't understand Him. We remember when Mary and Joseph could not find Jesus for three whole days because he was busy in the Temple talking to the teachers of the law. Having to face a tragic death? Mary's greatest sorrow was to view the Passion of her Son as He carried His cross up Calvary. Grave in-justices? Her son had never even sinned and He was convicted and executed as a common criminal. Beneath the Cross stood the sorrowful Mother weeping. Are you called to make sacrifices? Joseph led a hard and honest life as a carpenter. Although having Mary as his wife he was called to lead a celibate life and be a foster father to Jesus. I think the Holy Family can emphasize with many of the problems families encounter today. From not understanding your chil-dren to encountering death, Mary and Joseph have been there and done that.

If we're ever tempted to romanticize life in the Holy Family we can read over the passage of Matthew's Gospel when we see the Holy Family travel from Bethlehem to Africa and back to Nazareth. We can confidently bring them our cares and concerns and seek to learn from their holy lives. Although their lives were holy they were filled with the trials that many families encounter today. Today we stop and thank God for the gift of family. They are the build-ing block of society and the sanctuary of life. We thank God for our families that God has entrusted to us. We thank God for the example of Jesus, Mary and Jo-seph. We are thankful for our many beautiful families here at Nativity of Our Lady. May the Holy Family of Nazareth pray for all of our families. -Fr. Tim McKeown

We’d like to welcome back Madison Daniel, from Nativity of Our Lady, from her first half of service with NET Minis-tries. As a parish community we are excited that Madison is serving with NET (National Evangelization Teams) Minis-tries and are proud of the amazing work that the teams are doing with our Catholic youth. In this upcoming year, the traveling teams of NET Minis-tries will reach over 90,000 youth with the Gospel while five parish and school NET teams will spend hundreds of hours evangelizing youth through faith formation classes, small groups, and other discipleship activities that help Catholic youth enter into a deeper relationship with Christ. Because serving as a NET missionary is one of the most transformational years of their life, the missionaries return home for the Christmas break with a zeal and excitement to share their ministry highlights and the work that the Lord has done through their team. Madison will share briefly at the end of the mass about her experience from the first half of her experience. Madison will be returning to NET within the first few days of the new year, and so we continue to support her with our prayers and words of encouragement. If you care to write to Madison throughout this year you may do so by writing to her at: Madison Daniel 110 Crusader Avenue West West St Paul, Minnesota

HOLIDAY CHURCH OFFICE HOURS

The Church Office will closed December 25 & 26, 28 & 29 and January 1.