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Update from your pastor 03-24-2020
Dear Parishioners:
I hope and pray that all of you and your families are staying well. I have a few updates I want to share with you as we continue to live through this difficult and unprecedented time.
Starting tomorrow, daily Mass and Sunday Mass will be uploaded onto our parish website for you to watch and pray with us at home. Just go to our parish website (www.stmartindeporres.org) and click on the Mass for the day which will have been recorded earlier from our own beautiful church. Again, you can also view Mass everyday online at these websites: www.catholicfaithnetwork.org and www.saintpatrickscathedral.org/live, www.wordonfire.org, and on television on EWTN at 8:00am, 12:00pm, and 7:00pm.
Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter: We received the official word from the Archdiocese this weekend that Palm Sunday, the Liturgies of Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum, and the Easter Masses will not be open to the public, but will be celebrated by the priests and deacons in private. I know this sounds unthinkable, but this is where we are. The Sacred Liturgies of the Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection will still be celebrated by the Church throughout the world, but it will be a great sadness for us priests not to have our people physically present with us, although we will be together spiritually.
Palms will still be blessed on Palm Sunday and left on the table in the vestibule of the church for you to pick up and take home. There will be plenty of palms so please come and take them. There will also be on the table Matthew Kelley’s book, “Rediscover Jesus” as an Easter gift from your parish for you to take. Our weekly Sunday bulletin will also continue to be published and placed on that table in the vestibule for you to take when you stop in to pray and is also available on our Parish Website.
Reconciliation Monday: The Confessions scheduled from 3:00 to 9:00pm on Monday of Holy Week here and throughout the Archdiocese will not take place. Fr. Charles and I, and Fr. Walter Genito who is staying with us now as he finishes his studies from home, will continue to be present on Saturday afternoons for Confession as well as other times by appointment. We will be standing outside the Church doors for Confession.
Funerals, Baptisms, and Weddings: We just received a new directive this morning from the Archdiocese that these must be postponed until further notice. In the case of Funerals, Funeral Masses in Church as well as a Funeral Service at the Funeral Home cannot take place at this time. Burial prayers can be said at the cemetery by one of us priests or deacons and a Memorial Mass for the deceased and the family offered at a later date. In the case of Baptisms, only in the case of an emergency (in danger of death) can a Baptism take place right now. In the case of a wedding, if it cannot be postponed for some serious reason, only the bride and groom, two witnesses, and the officiant can be present. These are painful restrictions, but ones that we have no choice but to obey.
We simply do not know at this point how long it will be before we can be together again at Mass and things get back to normal. For now, the Church will remain open every day from 6:30am to 5:30pm for private prayer.
Your priests continue to be here for you. Please call us if you need us for any reason. Especially if someone is seriously ill or approaching death, please call the Rectory any time of day or night and one of us will come. Holy Communion right now can only be given as viaticum, that is when death is imminent. All other Communion calls to the homebound must be suspended at this time. Again, these are all directives from the Archdiocese.
We are concerned about our elderly parishioners and neighbors who might need help. If you know of an elderly neighbor who is shut in and alone without family and needs help with getting groceries or medicine, please let us know. We have volunteers ready and willing to help. Also, please call the Rectory if you are willing and able to help with this.
Let us stay close to our Lord and to each other in these days through prayer in our homes. In addition to watching the Mass online or on television, try to read the Scripture readings for Mass each day, spending some time with them in prayer. You can find the readings for Mass with a reflection each day by going to our website and finding “Todays Readings” or at www.wordonfire.org. Also, try to pray the Rosary together as a family which apart from the Mass is one of the most powerful and efficacious forms of prayer that we have. The Stations of the Cross and the Divine Mercy Chaplet are also powerful and beautiful devotions to pray at home.
I strongly suggest for all of us, and in a special way for the parents of the children in our School and Religious Education Program, that you become familiar with the website FORMED which gives you immediate access to the best Catholic movies, faith formation videos, audio talks, and great children’s videos. There are so many inspiring movies that families can watch together, so many ways for families to pray together and grow in their knowledge of and love for our beautiful Catholic Faith. Go to www.stmartindeporres.formed.org to sign up as a member of St. Martin de Porres and use our parish code P4QHJ3. It is all free.
This is really a time for the “Domestic Church” to come alive. Parents are the first and most important teachers of their children in the ways of Faith. The family is the first place where the seeds of faith are planted in our children’s hearts, where they first learn to pray, to love God and others, and to come to know and believe in the great love God has for them. This unique time of being together more in our homes can be a tremendous opportunity to watch something as a family that will inspire and deepen the faith of our children and teach them that Jesus is with us in good times and in bad.
Let us continue to face this most difficult time as people of faith, of hope, of prayer, and of charity. May we come through this stronger than ever in faith and in holiness, and with a deeper appreciation for the great gift our Church is, the great gift the Sacraments are, and what an incredible gift we have in our ability to attend Mass and receive Jesus, Himself, in the Eucharist.
Although you cannot receive Jesus physically in the Eucharist right now, making an Act of Spiritual Communion each day is a source of grace when circumstances prevent us from attending Mass and receiving Holy Communion as they do now. Here is a beautiful prayer to say while watching the Mass online or on TV at the time of Holy Communion: My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire You in my soul. Since I cannot now receive You Sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You; permit not that I should ever be separated from You. Amen.
Finally, thank you again for your love and concern for our parish. So many have been dropping off at the Rectory or mailing into the Rectory their weekly contributions, as well as signing up for our electronic giving system, WESHARE, which allows you to continue to make your donations to our parish. You can come off it at any time after things get back to normal if you wish. Please go to our parish website or call the Rectory for more information. I know this is a very difficult time for all us and that many are struggling financially in these days. We can only do the best we can.
Let us continue to pray for each other and for a swift end to the spread of this virus. Let us pray for those who are sick and for those who have died. Let us pray for the doctors, nurses, health care workers, and our law enforcement and first responders who are on the front lines exposing themselves to this virus every day to save others. Let us pray for those who are researching to find a cure and a vaccine. And let us continue to pray for all who are struggling spiritually, financially, and in so many other ways during all of this, and for peace and calm in our hearts. We know that God is with us, that our lives are in His hands, and that all will be well. He just needs our patience and our trust. As always, “Jesus, I trust in You.”
Sincerely in Christ,
Rev. Matthew J. Furey
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A note from our pastor 03-20-2020
Dear Parishioners:I pary that all of you and your families are staying well. As we continue to live through this unprecedented time, please know how much we miss you and that you are in our prayers every day and at every Mass we celebrate each day in private. Although Fr. Charles and I still have the joy of offering Mass each day, it pains us not to be able to offer it with our people. I pray that this will be a time when all will come to appreciate on a much deeper level what a tremendous gift our faith is, that the Sacraments are, and that we will return one day soon to normal with renewed vigor and a deeper hunger for the Eucharist.Yesterday at 12:00 Noon we, together with all the parishes in Dutchess County, brought the Blessed Sacrament outside the Church for a blessing upon our people seeking God’s Mercy and forgiveness, asking for His protection from the spread of the Coronavirus, and an end to this pandemic. This concerted effort by all the Parishes in our County was a powerful expression of our faith in the healing power that flows from Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, reminiscent of what Saint Charles Borromeo did during the plague in Milan in the 16th century. We were strictly told we could not announce that this was happening beforehand, but I hope you take some comfort in knowing that it was done and in our solidarity in prayer before the Real Presence of our Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.We hope by next week to have a plan in place to stay connected through the internet by getting together each day for the Rosary and perhaps some Spiritual reflection and catechesis using the technology available. Hopefully we will have something in place very soon. In the meantime, please remember that our Parish office is open as usual every day, and your priests are here for you as always. Please stay in touch by calling us if you need anything, and by checking in with our Parish Website and reading our Parish Bulletin each week. The weekly bulletin will be posted on our Website as always and copies will be in the back of the Church every week. The church continues to be open every day from 6:30 AM to 5:30 PM for private prayer and confessions will be available on Saturday afternoons from 3:45-4:45 PM and by appointment.Please see the bulletin for ways to watch the Mass every day on Television or live streamed from Saint Patrick’s cathedral. Another great site to go to for daily Mass and spiritual nourishment is Wordonfire.org with Bishop Robert Barren. You can watch the Mass and hear the Readings from Sacred Scripture and the homily each day, and when it is time for Holy Communion here is another Act of Spiritual Communion for you to pray: My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire You in my soul. Since I cannot now receive You Sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. As though You were already there, I embrace You and unite myself wholly to You; permit not that I should ever be separated from You. Amen.Let this be a time for all of us to embrace our Faith with renewed vigor and to nurture in our hearts a greater love for and desire to receive our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist and to never take this most precious gift for granted. We often do not realize how precious something is until we are deprived of it. I pray for a renewal of our faith in all of this.Indeed, we need to see this current crisis with the eyes of Faith. In the Gospel this weekend for the Fourth Sunday of Lent we hear how Jesus opened the eyes of a man born blind and enabled him to see. The healing of the man’s physical sight is a sign that points to something far deeper – he was able to see with the eyes of faith and to experience the joy of knowing and believing in Jesus as his Lord and Savior. The person of faith sees things differently and handles things differently. Jesus, help us to see this moment and to handle it as people of Faith in You as our Lord and Savior.On a final note, I want to thank all of you who have been concerned about your Sunday envelopes and have been dropping them off at the Rectory or mailing them in. I know this is a time of financial hardship for many who find themselves out of work at this time, so we can only do the best we can. Our Parish, too, has to continue to meet its’ payroll for our employees and all of our other expenses and bills that keep on coming. So I thank you for your concern.You might want to consider during this extraordinary time to sign up for our electronic giving system, WESHARE, which allows you to continue to make your donations to our parish. If you do sign up, you can come off of it at any time after things get back to normal. The information is on our Parish Website, or click on the flyer attached below, or you can call the Rectory. Again, I know many are struggling and we can only do the best we can during this time of crisis.Let us continue to pray for an end to the spread of this virus and that life will return to normal very soon. Let us pray for those who are infected with this virus and for those who have died. Let us pray for all the doctors, nurses, health care workers, and all those caring for the sick, and for all those whose businesses and livelihood are being so severely impacted. And let us pray for peace and calm in our hearts. We know that God is with us, that our lives are in His hands, and that all will be well. He just needs our patience and our trust. “Jesus, I trust in You.” “Lord, increase our Faith."Sincerely in Christ,Rev. Matthew J. Furey -
Prayers
Act of Spiritual CommunionMy Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire You in my soul. Since I cannot now receive You Sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. As though You were already there, I embrace You and unite myself wholly to You; permit not that I should ever be separated from You. Amen.A Prayer in Time of Need:Loving Father, our life and our hope, come to our aid in this difficult and uncertain time.Look with mercy on all who suffer from the coronavirus.Bless them and their families with Your healing, consolation and peace.Guide and be with all who care for them.Give wisdom and insight to those working to stop the spread of this disease, and help them find a way to cure it.Console our anxious hearts, strengthen our faith, and give us the grace to trust in Your goodness.Restore communities affected by the virus to wholeness and health, and in your loving mercy, give Your help and protection to all.Through Christ our Lord. Amen.Prayer to the Virgin Mary for Protection:O Mary, you shine continuously on our journey as a sign of salvation and hope.We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick.At the foot of the Cross you participated in Jesus' pain, with steadfast faith.You, Our Lady of New York, know what we need.We are certain that you will provide, so that, as you did at Cana of Galilee, joy and feasting might return after this moment of trial.Help us, Mother of Divine Love,to conform ourselves to the Father's willand to do what Jesus tells us:He who took our sufferings upon Himself, and bore our sorrows to bring us,through the Cross, to the joy of the Resurrection. AmenWe seek refuge under your protection, O Holy Mother of God.Do not despise our pleas - we who are put to the test - and deliver us from every danger, O glorious and blessed Virgin -
Welcome!
Good and gracious God,
On this 56th Anniversary of
St. Martin de Porres Parish
we give You thanks for the grace and blessings bestowed on us throughout these fifty-six years.
We give You thanks for the many priests, deacons, women religious and faithful laity who have shared their vision, talent, and hard workwith the people of this parish. Have mercy on all who have gone before us. Bless, keep and inspire all in our parish community.
As we continue our earthly pilgrimage, send down Your Holy Spirit. Touch our hearts anew with the love of Jesus Christ. Enlighten our minds and strengthen our hands. Prompt in each one of us a desire to serve one another, regardless of circumstance. Fill our homes, our Church, and our parish with Your presence. Give us the desire and zeal to be always building up the Body of Christ. Amen -
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Saint Martin De Porres
Rev. Matthew J. Furey, Pastor
Fr. Charles Achi, Parochial Vicar
118 Cedar Valley Road
Poughkeepsie, N.Y. 12603
Parish Phone: (845) 473-4222
Fax: (845) 473-4223
Email: smdppok@optonline.net or
smdpnorman@gmail.com
School 845-452-4428
Religious Education 845-471-8728 -
all activities cancelled
Due to continued concerns about the Coronavirus, all activities & classes are cancelled until further notice
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Mass Times
All Masses throughout the Archdiocese of New York have been canceled Until futher notice
Sunday Masses
Saturday Vigil: 5:00pm
Sunday: 7:30, 9:30, 11:30am
& 5:00pm
Weekday Masses
Monday to Friday: 6:45am, & 12:15pm
Saturday: 8:00amHoly Day & Federal Holiday Masses
Please consult the bulletinSacrament of Penance
Saturday: 3:45pm to 4:45pm
or at the Rectory by appointment -
online giving
Click here for Parish online giving opportunities
https://stmartindeporres.churchgiving.com
Cardinal's Appeal https://secure.archny.org/site/Donation2;jsessionid=00000000.app20102a?df_id=1480&mfc_pref=T&1480.donation=form1&NONCE_TOKEN=9844D006C70BCD2E6C3E943BF52CCE51&_ga=2.170126304.1703848964.1549290998-169030377.1541621436
Renew/Rebuild
Please rmember to designate St. Martin de Porres as your churh
http://www.renewrebuild.org/donate -
Sign up forFlocknotes & Formed
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Today's Readings
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Reading 1 Ez 37:12-14Responsorial Psalm Ps 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8.Reading 2 Rom 8:8-11Gospel Jn 11:1-45
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Lenten Fast & Abstinence
During this season of Lent, the Church urges the faithful to reflect a spirit of penance in their daily lives through preforming acts of Fast & Abstinence and intensifying our prayer and acts of charity.
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of Fast and Abstinence
FASTING: Requires that only one full meal a day be taken. Two smaller meals may be taken to maintain strength, but these taken together should not equal another full meal. Fasting obliges from the 18th to the 59th birthday.
ABSTINENCE: Forbids the eating of meat. Abstinence obliges from the 14th birthday and continues to oblige throughout life. Every Friday of Lent is a day of Abstinence -
Links
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News from the Vatican
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