The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord will be celebrated on Thursday of this week, May 25. Our regular weekday Mass schedule will be in effect:
7:00, 7:45, 8:30, 11:30 AM;
12:15, 1:15, 4:30 and 5:30 PM.
The 4:30 and 5:30 Masses on Wednesday, May 24, will also be celebrated for the holy day.
The Saint Francis Korean Community invites you to the 19th Annual Bazaar for the Breadline, Poor, Needy, and Refugees on
Sunday, May 21, 2017
from 10 AM to 5 PM
on Broadway between
31st & 32nd Streets
A drawing will be held at 4 PM and winners will be announced on our website.
Raffle Tickets are on sale nowat the Reception desk:
1 for $2 & 6 for $10
You are invited to attend the Revive Parish Mission!
Dominican Father Innocent Smith will be leading our REVIVE! three day Parish Mission using as his themes the Easter Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist.
Each evening Fr. Smith will reflect on one sacrament and share with us his thoughts on how the sacrament can inspire our Christian living.
Join us for this time of prayer, reflection and inspiration. Come to one, two or all three evenings.
All are welcome!
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: May 15, 16, 17 at 6:30 PM
Church of St. Francis of Assisi
135 West 31st Street
New York, NY 10001
Guest Speaker: Fr. Innocent Smith, OP
FREE ADMISSION
Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children 100 years ago at Fatima, Portugal.
Join us for our Days of Prayer at The Church of St. Francis of Assisi
On Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: May 10, 11, 12
Special Prayers after the 11:30 AM and 4:30 PM Masses
Saturday, May 13 at 11 AM: Mass in Honor of Our Lady of Fatima
The St. Francis of Assisi LGBT ministry is hosting a Cinco de Mayo celebration
at Therapy Bar on 52nd Street between 8th and 9th avenues in Manhattan
Friday, May 5th from 6:00 to 10:00 PM
Join us!
The St. Benedict the Moor Fraternity of the Secular Franciscans invites everyone to acelebration of the Feast of Divine Mercy next Sunday, April 23, from 2:45 to 4:30 PM atthe lower church.
The celebration will start with the recitation of the concluding Novena prayer. At 3:00 PM, the modern musical version of the Chaplet will be played.
You can then attend the regular Sunday Mass in the upper church at 5:00 or 6:15 PM.
For inquiries,please call Vicky Vinuya at 347-653-8133.
During the Sacred Triduum, beginning with the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, the Church enters into a retreat-like meditation on the death and resurrection of Christ. Ideally, all unnecessary work and preparation should be done before this begins.
Masses: 8:00 AM and 12:15 PM
Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Washing of the Feet and Procession to the Repository: 6:00 PM
Mass of the Lord’s Supper (Korean): 8:00 PM
Confessions: 7:30 to 8:30 AM; 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
The Seven Last Words of Christ: 12:00 Noon
Solemn Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion: 3:00 pm
The Stations of the Cross: 6:00 PM
Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion (Korean): 8:00 PM
Confessions: 8:00 to 11:00 AM ONLY
There will be no confessions on Holy Saturday; the Church will remain closed until 4:00 pm.
The Great Vigil of Easter (Korean): 5:00 PM
The Great Vigil of Easter (English): 8:00 pm
–>Doors will open for the English Vigil at 7:30 PM.
Masses: 8:00, 9:15 (Korean), 9:30 (Lower Church), 11:00 am,12:30, 5:00 & 6:15 PM
There will be no confessions on Easter Sunday.
Easter Monday • April 17
Masses: 8:00 & 11:00 am; 4:30 & 5:30 PM
There will be no confessions and the Church offices will be closed.
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Come and listen to original poetry by members of the adult education program and the parish community.
This free program will take place
6:00 to 8:00 PM
on Wednesday, April 19,
in the Clare Room on the first floor of the St. Francis Parish House.
In honor of the 100th Anniversary Year of the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, the Ugnayan Filipino Ministry is organizing a Weekend Pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima and Niagara Falls from May 6 to 7.
The cost is $200.
For more information, please email: filipinoministry@stfrancisnyc.org.
This week we celebrate the third and last Scrutiny with our elect who are preparing to be baptized at the Easter Vigil. Their time of pre-baptismal preparation is quickly coming to an end and the Sacred Triduum is fast approaching. The Gospel for the Third Scrutiny recounts Jesus’ greatest and final sign before his death and resurrection: the raising of Lazarus from the dead. This is the scrutiny of life. The Elect are asked, together with all of us who pray for them and celebrate the Rite with them, to make a fundamental choice. Will we chose the path of life or will we chose the path of death?
In the Gospel, Lazarus is dead already four days. His body is rotting. The tomb is sealed. He is gone. His sisters had called for Jesus to come while Lazarus was gravely ill but still alive and Jesus arrived too late. Or so they thought. Jesus must push Mary and Martha to the limits of their faith in Him. Can they truly believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life? Can their faith in Him be stronger even than the stone tomb, with its huge rock sealing it and the darkness and death lying within?
“Lazarus come out!”
Jesus does not drag Lazarus out of the tomb. He calls him out. Lazarus must hear the Lord’s voice and he must abandon his tomb. He must come out of the darkness and decay within.
This Sunday we pray that the Elect will make the same choice. The path of the Gospel offers life. The path of this
world devoid of God leads only to death. It would seem that the choice would be easy, but it is not and that is why during the scrutinies we pray for them to make the right choice. The tomb has a seductive safety and reality, as does sin: wealth and money are real and they make people feel safe and secure, but can wealth save anyone from death? Anger and violence are real and they make people feel good at times, but do they give anyone the serenity that comes with peace and patience? Prejudices are real and they make people feel superior to others, but do they real cure anyone’s sense of inadequacy? Lust and gluttony offer real pleasures but does using other people and the good gifts of God’s creation for my selfish amusement really offer meaning and joy? Do any of these cure the ache in our hearts that there must be more to this life that God has given us than a slow march to the dark tomb?
No, but their attraction is strong, and so we pray for help. We pray that the Spirit lets us hear the voice of Christ calling us: “Come out!” Come out into the light, come out into life, come out into love, into peace into justice, into mercy, into forgiveness, and into all the joy that God promises us. God did not create us for death. He created us for life –abundant life. The final scrutiny asks us all, as Good Friday and Easter approach: will we choose life no matter what the cost?
-Joseph Nuzzi,
Director of Evangelization
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