6 TH SUNDAY OF EASTER YEAR B , MAY 9 TH, 2 02 1

“If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my

love, just as I have kept my father’s commandments and remain in his love.” —Jn 15:10

W E L C O M E T O O U R PA R I S H

MASS SCHEDULE Sunday 10:00 am Sunday (Spanish) 12:00 pm Monday (Private) Tues. & Fri. 5:30 pm Wed. & Thurs. 8:00 am Saturday 5:00 pm

PARISH STAFF Very Rev. Jovita C Okonkwo,

Pastor & Vicar Forane Debbie Osborne,

Secretary & Office Manager John Wolf,

Director of Communications Pam Pulchny,

Director or Religious Education Sean Fredricks,

Maintenance

CONNECT 300 E Washington, McAlester OK 74501

Office # 918-423-0810 Fax # 918-423-0825

Rectory # 918-429-0096 stjohmcalester@yahoo.com www.stjohn-mcalester.org

New Parishioners: Welcome! We are glad to have you. Please register in the vesti-bule, parish website, or at the parish office.

Sacrament of Reconciliation: Offered on Saturdays 4:00 p.m. to 4:55 p.m.; Sundays 9:30 a.m. to 9:55 a.m. or by appointment.

Sacrament of Anointing: Offered during Mass for the Sick on 1st Tuesdays of the month. Call the office/rectory for sick visits.

CHURCH CONTRIBUTION There’s no word so misused in English language as the word “love.” Hence, the teenage girl who justifies moving in with her boyfriend by saying, “I love him” fails to understand the difference between her statement and that of her dad who drops her off at school, kisses her goodbye and says, “I love you;” or yet another statement by her classmate who says, “I love mission work;” and accordingly, during spring break, chooses to go to some hunger-ravaged part of the world to serve children suffering from kwashiorkor. While an English person will use the same word ‘love’ for the three expressions above, a Greek person would have used three different words. This makes it difficult to interpret Jesus’ words in today’s gospel, given that our English Bible uses the same word “love” where the Greek Bible says, “agape,” “eros,” or “filia.” In fact, one of the words for love, “eros,” which means sexual attraction never appears in the entire New Testament; and while “filia” (affection or friendship) in all its variations appears 45 times, “agape,” which means divine or sacrificial love is found 320 times. So when I say “love,” in the course of this reflection, I say it with tongue in cheek. Jesus didn’t just emit the “I love you” expression as we so often hear it today—from celebrities, for whom “I love you” means, “buy my line of products, or music, or movie, or vulgarity, or primed body poses;” or from politicians, for whom it means, “vote for me;” or from every pimp or lustful person out there, for whom “I love you” means, “I want your body as apparatus for money or pleasure.” Jesus tells us that He draws His love for us from His Father—“As the Father loves me, so I also love you” (John 15:9). It may sound clumsy, but next time you want to truly tell someone that you love them, you can use Jesus’ formula and say: “As God loves you, so also I love you” or “I love you with the love of the Lord.” By saying so, you indicate that you’re not after their body for pleasure, or their approval, or whatever else they can do for you. This is love made in heaven, love free from deceit, greed and pervasion. It is the only way that Jesus instructs us to love one another; anything short of this might be a glandular or thrill-searching exploit, not love. The tragedy is that many persons, including followers of Christ, have never genuinely loved another with the love of God. Many live under the illusion that they have deep affection for another while it’s only their ego that is “projected into the other person” (F.J Sheen). What is loved, according to Sheen, is the pleasure desired from the body of the other person—like desiring to eat the frosting on the cake while ignoring the cake itself. As the sugar that coats the cake cannot transform into cake, so pleasure cannot replace love. It is out of His generosity, and to fulfill His own design that the Divine Lover chose to coat even eros with pleasure. For without the pleasure of eros, humans may never engage in it and procreation would be hampered. I once heard someone say that, without the pleasure attached, the sexual act could be utterly repulsive both for the energy it saps and its awkwardness. Who can offer to drink a shot of another’s saliva? This explains why rape, which compels another to engage in the sexual act, is criminal. Although eros generates tremendous thrill, it is also the greatest cause of anxiety, depression and neurosis that afflict the multitude to whom lust and love are identical. How many lives have been wrecked by eros? How many children have died in the abortion mill as a result of this mismatch? How many are left without a father or guardian? Eros has dominated our literature, our media, our politics, and worst, our schools. Our sight and sound are insulted daily and steadily by it. It is a siege. But the love of God is greater than the mind can imagine. St. John tells us that love isn’t just a feeling or an idea, but a person. “God is Love. He who abides in love abides in God and God in him.” May we truly love one another.

PRAY FOR THE SICK Ada Nell Ward, Alan Holloway, Annette Davis, Bette Santine, Cheryl Horrocks, Chris Lenardo, David Griffin, Darrel Manuel, Don Laws, Donna Espinosa, Donnie Sherman, Elizabeth Thompson, Elizabeth Tweedel, Frank Gonzales, Gary Jackson, Grace Black, Guy Hudson, Hal Dalton, Herman Seiter, Ian Leybas, Irma Gonzalez, James Gray, Jamie Keef, Jason Wright, Jim Kelley, Jonathan Reed, Juanita Zummer, Kimberly Thomas, Lorie Davis, Marybeth Grosfield, Mr. Homer Sr., Paul Mills, Paul Zoller, Ray Sellmeyer, Sue McMullin, Sue Tillman, Tad Bowden, Tammy Gardner, Teddy & Janet Bernasky, Tony Helmert, Zearley Families, Zoe Durant, Andrew Zdeb, SSG Ben Ales, Edward Zdeb, PVT Erick Palacios, SGT Greg Thompson, AMN James Lisle, PFC John W. Pelzel, PVT J P Dunlay, AMN Michael Kaskie, SGT Pierre Terlaje, SSG Timothy Moore, All those who suffer from the Coronavirus. (To add or remove a name on this list, please email stjohnmcalester@yahoo.com or call 918-423-0810).

R E F L E C T I O N Fr. Chukwudi Jo Okonkwo

MAY. 2, 2021

Total M-T-D

Main $4,912 $4,912

Assistance $875 $875

Bldg/Main $15 $15

Youth $20 $20

HAPPY B IRTHDAY ! May 10—Paula Graham; May 12—Kelly Drusen

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ! May 13—David & Krista Adock

*N/B Our budgeted operating cost for May 2021 is $16,000. Your gener-osity has brought in $5,822. We’ll need an extra $10,178 to fully fund the parish this month. Thank you to all those giving larger donations. May God reward you tenfold!

F R I DAY H OLY H OU R A DO RAT ION Our F r id ay M as s , Ho l y H our , a nd Adora t io n w i l l no t h o ld fo r t he dura t ion th a t F r . Jo is a t tend ing h is mo ther ’s fune ra l .

M AS S INT ENT I ONS Sunday, May 9, Sixth Sunday of Easter 10:00 am † Bill Leinhard// Evelyn Lienhard Monday, May 10, Easter Weekday; St. Damien de Veuster, Priest No Parish Mass Tuesday, May 11, Easter Weekday No Parish Mass Wednesday, May 12, Easter Weekday; Sts. Nereus and Achilleus, Martyrs; St. Pancras, Martyr No Parish Mass Thursday, May 13, Easter Weekday; Our Lady of Fatima No Parish Mass Friday, May 14, Easter Weekday; St. Matthias; Apostle No Parish Mass Saturday, May 15, The Vigil of the Ascension of the Lord 5:00 pm † Jack & Tim Summers // Pat Summers

LITURGICAL MINISTERS SAT. MAY. 15, 2021 5 PM MASS Lector: Steve White; EMHC (Body & Blood) — To be announced Servers: TBA Music TBA Ushers: Bradley Bowhall, David Stizza

SUN. MAY. 16, 2021 10 AM MASS

Lector: Philip Stizza; EMHC (Body & Blood) — To be announced Servers: TBA Music TBA Ushers: Al Ross, Phillip Butler

TIPS FOR SURVIVING

THE PANDEMIC Make sure you test positive for Faith; Keep your distance from Doubt; Isolate yourself from Fear; And Trust God through it all. (Anonymous)

ST. JUDE’S CENTER The requested items for the St. Jude’s Helping Center this week are oatmeal and small can openers. The center still needs some men to help with stocking items on Wednesday and Friday morning/daytime hours. Please Contact Amelia London at 918-424-8833 to volunteer.

NOT I CE S : HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE! We rejoice at the Resurrection of the Lord and our hope of eternal life.

Easter has also brought us to a renewal of faith and life. We rejoice to see nearly all parishioners return to Mass. As we continue to observe the mitigation strategies against the Coronavirus, we urge you to join the entire Church in praying for the complete eradication of this strange virus and disease. We hope that our prayers will be answered and God will restore again our lives and heal our land.

FOR PARISHIONERS RETURNING TO MASS POST COVID-19 Kindly request for the new Word of the Lord Missal, which replaced our

annual subscription throwaway Missals. You can obtain your personal copy by calling the office or asking a member of the parish council (after Mass) to help you procure your own copy. A donation of $20 is requested for each copy.

CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR THE REPOSE OF PRISCILLA OKONKWO Fr. Jo and the Okonkwo family of Uli, Nigeria have celebrated the funeral of

their mother, Priscilla Okonkwo. The family continues to request your prayers for her repose and for health and safety as Fr. Jo plans to return next week. We thank Fr. Khiet and Msgr. Gier for serving our parish this weekend and celebrating Masses for us.

Visit our website or Facebook page to learn how you can safely and conveniently make a one-time or recurring contribution online. To give online, kindly visit: https://stjohn-mcalester.weshareonline.org/

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