OUR LADY OF VICTORY CHURCH

December 22-23, 2012

MASS INTENTIONS
Sat., Dec. 22 Advent Weekday 5:00p +Dan Lolli (Family) Sun., Dec. 23 Fourth Sunday of Advent 8:30a +Felice & Silvia Ciotola (Family) 11:00a +Guy & Angie Missimi (Msgr. Missimi) Mon. Dec. 24 4:00p 7:00p 10:00p Vigil of Christmas +Minnie, John & Johnny Bolognone (Family) +Mary & Oscar Jeany (Family) +Luigi Rotolo (Mafalda Rotolo) Sunday, Dec. 23 8:30a 11:00a 7:00p Mass - Church Mass - Church Confessions - Church

Monday, Dec. 24 4:00p Mass - Church 7:00p Mass - Church 10:00p Mass - Church Tuesday, Dec. 25 10:00a Mass - Church Wednesday, Dec. 26 8:00a Mass-Church Thursday, Dec. 27 8:00a Mass - Church 7:30p RCIA-Christmas Break Friday, Dec. 28 8:00a 5:30p Mass - Church Wedding Rehearsal-Church

Tues. Dec. 25 The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) 10:00a +Rose Lombardi (Flo Tooke) Wed., Dec. 26 St. Stephen 8:00a +Franco Policaro (Family) Thurs., Dec. 27 St. John, Apostle 8:00a +Henry Konkel (Hank Scaperoth) Fri., Dec. 28 8:00a The Holy Innocents +Aida M. Mehlman (Hank Scaperoth)

Sat., Dec. 29 St. Thomas Becket 5:00p +Vince Hackney (Family) Sun., Dec. 30 The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary & Joseph 8:30a +Holy Family (Armando & Elva Falasca) 11:00a +Col. Joseph A. Grotenrath (Mary Jo Grotenrath)

Saturday, Dec. 29 5:00p Mass-Church 7:00p Wedding (White/Avery) Sunday, Dec. 30 8:30a 11:00a Mass - Church Mass - Church

CONFESSIONS WILL BE HEARD SUNDAY, DECEMBER 23, 7:00-8:00PM 7:00-

CHRISTMAS MASS SCHEDULE SCHEDULE

Christmas Vigil: Monday, December 24 4:00p (Rel. Ed Children Sing) 7:00p (Brass Quartet) 10:00p (Beginning @ 9:30p 30 min. of choral, instrumental & organ music prior to Mass)

Msgrs. Romano, Borrelli and Missimi, Deacons Baumann and Joseph and the parish staff extend to all of you Best Wishes for a Merry and Blessed Christmas! On this wondrous Feast Day, which sees worshippers gathered in our Churches as perhaps on no other celebration throughout the year, we should cast out all fear and anxiety, all worry and concern. As we open and cherish our gifts, and the love of others that they express, as we hear again and again the word Glory sung, or seen on our cards, and as we absorb the glow of Christmas lights and candles, let all of these remind us that God has sent His only Son, Jesus, to become flesh, one of us. God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in Him will have eternal life.

Christmas Day: Tuesday, December 25 - 10:00a

NEW YEARS MASS SCHEDULE SCHEDULE

Mary, Mother of God, Vigil: Monday, December 31 - 7:00p New Years Day: Tuesday, January 1 - 10:00a

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

MINISTRY SCHEDULES

ADVENT REFLECTIONS
MARYS OPENNESS
During...Advent, the Liturgy puts particular emphasis on the figure of Mary. The beginning of the Incarnation of the Redeemer took place in her heart, from her Here I am full of faith, in reply to the divine call. If we wish to understand the genuine meaning of Christmas, we must look at her, call upon her. Mary, Mother par excellence, helps us to understand the key words of the mystery of the birth of her divine Son: humility, silence, wonder, joy. She exhorts us, first of all, to humility, so that God can find space in our heart, not darkened by pride and arrogance. She points out to us the value of silence, which knows how to listen to the song of the Angels and the crying of the Child, not stifling them by noise and confusion. Together with her, we stop before the Nativity scene with intimate wonder; savoring the simple and pure joy that this Child gives to humanity.
~John Paul II, Angelus, December 21, 2003

5:00p Saturday, December 29

Extraordinary Ministers: Lectors: Servers: Ushers: Karen Angelis, Joyce Gold, Linda Mazzitti, Christine Pirik, Mary Waterfield Joanne Bellisari, Sr. Dorothy Doyle Maria Krantz, Julia Krantz, Alex Sterneker Terry Rodeman, Nancy Tarini, Steve Tarini, Jim McCauley

8:30a Sunday, December 30

Extraordinary Ministers: Lectors: Servers: Ushers: Frank Bettendorf, Ann Cahalan, Marsha Dieker, Terrie Harlor Michael Phillian, Michael Reidenbach William Mason, Jack Mason Anthony DiSante, John Frary, Elaine Broderick, Bryan Corson Joe Giuliani, George Cumrine, Mary Blubaugh, Lily Bell, Laura Bolster

MARYS SONG OF CONFIDENCE

And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, According to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.
LUKE 1:46-55

Eucharistic Ministers To the Homebound:

11:00a Sunday, December 30

Extraordinary Ministers: Lectors: Servers: Ushers: Collection Counters: Pat Feamster, Krista Joseph, Rosemary Myers, Joy Russell, Debbie Sanese Steven Evans, Ann Gabriel Alexandra Joseph, Grace Schooley, Tia Williams Fred Lombardi, Tony Polletta, Mark McPherson Kathi Whisler, Cookie Rezabek

PRAYER
Mary, you are the model of faithfulness. As a young woman, you confidently opened yourself to Gods will and became the mother of our Savior. You remained a faithful disciple of your Son throughout his life. During this Advent season, teach me to be humble so that I too might be open to Gods will. Inspire me so that during the rest of my life I might follow your Son as faithfully as you did...to the foot of the cross.

PRAYER REQUESTS: Dorothy Lang, Eloise Miller, Elizabeth Rusnak, Irene Clay, Patricia Baumann, Patricia Sheehan, Eric Ray, Reid Hudson, Jada Brady, William Reed Orban, Jake Koch, Sr. Sharen Baldy, SCN, Casey Browning, Eloise McAllister, Tom Paoletti, Shirley Graessle, Eric Falasca, Betsy Holland, Isabella Karst, Margaret Richards, Mary Yvonne Rhoads, Jim Young, Bob Handy. Please remember in your prayers others who are not on this list. (Please notify the parish office of any changes.)

Save the date of Saturday, January 26. The annual volunteer dinner will follow the 5:00p mass. More information and how to RSVP will be coming in January.

OUR LADY OF VICTORY CHURCH

December 22-23, 2012

Donations received in the My Christmas Offering envelope is your Christmas offering to support the works of the parish; donations received in the envelope marked Diocesan Catholic Charities will be sent to the Diocese of Columbus to support its works of charity. May God reward you for your generosity.

Gifts for God

125 Envelopes Recd; 742 issued 25 Loose Checks Dec. 15-16 Loose Cash 25 Automated Giving 12/10/12 $4,956.00 2,416.00 434.00 2,065.00 $9,871.00

Donations for the 2012 Tax Year must be given to the church no later than 12/31/2012 or mailed to the church in an envelope postmarked no later than 12/31/2012.

Total

Thank you to all who support the work of God

~OLV Youth Ministry ~Holly Jo-coordinator

We had an awesome showing of middle school and high school teens for Christmas caroling last Sunday at First Community Village. The teens also collected gifts for Run the Race. Thank you to all who helped!

MARCH FOR LIFE 2013 January 24th-27th Cost: $85 deadline to sign up: Dec. 31st We only have a couple spots left. Contact Holly Jo to sign up. STAND UP FOR LIFE!!! OLV Youth Ministry PANCAKE BRUNCH Sunday, January 13th Noon 2:00pm -after the 11:00am Mass-In the PLC FREE Donations accepted at the door. Proceeds benefit an upcoming retreat and mission trip. Sponsored by the K of C

RETREAT FOR WOMEN relaxation.rejuvenation.rejoicing Saturday, Jan., 19th, 8:45am-2:30pm. Treat yourself to a day of spiritual self care with a retreat - Spiritual Day Spa. We are hosting this event right here in the Parish Life Center. This event is open to all ladies of the parish and their guests. Sign up today! Registration forms available by the Church doors or online: www.spiritualdayspa.com

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Making our Hearts a Crib

By Fr. Roger Landry
St. John Vianney always loved the major feasts of our faith, but Christmas in particular filled him with extraordinary joy. In the tiny baby Jesus lying in the manger; the Cur of Ars saw enfleshed the amazing extent of Gods love and the central lines of his plan to save us. On [this] Christmas Eve, its fitting for us to turn to one of his Christmas homilies and let his prayerful insights catapult us, as they did his original listeners, to enter more deeply into the wonder of this mystery. Who can describe the joy of the feast of Christmas!, the patron saint of priests was accustomed to exclaim. The good news of great joy announced by the angels on the plains of Bethlehem is fundamentally, he stressed, that God is with us. Isaiahs prophecy that a virgin would conceive and bear a son and name him Emmanuel not only came true, but was fulfilled in a way far exceeding traditional Jewish hopes: Emmanuel was not just a symbol that God was with his people but actually was God himself, born of a virgin he had himself formed in the womb. Gods love for us was so great that he chose to become one of us to deliver us from sin, reconcile us to God and open heaven to us. St. John Vianneys amazement at Gods presence with us in the world, however, didnt stop there. It grew in three successive stages, corresponding to what he viewed as three different stages of Gods humility: first, in the Lords sharing our human nature; second, in his coming into our world as a little baby; and third, in his being born in abject poverty. The first step of the mercy of God that we devoutly adore in the crib of Bethlehem, he said, is that Jesus has taken a human nature, a human body, and a human soul, the same as we have. He has become one of us. This divine abasement astonished him. Who can measure the greatness of his compassion? A prince is certainly merciful if he sends a messenger with gifts to the poor in their forsaken garret. This is what God could have done. He could have sent us a Moses to break the chains of our slavery. He could have sent us a prophet Jonah to preach penance to us. He could have let Elijah appear to us again to bring the word of God like a burning torch. That would have been great mercy, but God wanted to do more than this. God came himself. If he had come in the brightness of his divine glory, St. John Vianney says, we would not have been capable of looking at him. So he divested himself of that glory to become one of us. Just as if the sun sank into a drop of water in the ocean and through this drop would light up all the other drops in the ocean, so God with us abased himself to exalt us. This blessing, this illumination, he said, begins already in the crib. St. John Vianneys awe for Gods merciful love as seen in Bethlehem only expanded when he contemplated that God had not merely taken on human nature but had become a defenseless baby. Without a doubt, the Cur of Ars preached, the Son of God might have appeared upon earth as a grown man. But he didnt. He abased Himself and lay in the crib as a helpless infant. The reason he did this, Vianney asserted, was to make it as easy as possible for us to approach him. We all, he said, approach a child without fear, the high and the low, the learned and the unlearned, the rich and the poor. Gods becoming a little baby allows us to go to the throne of His mercy with confidence. At the crib all fear vanishes, even the greatest criminal draws near to the child with assurance and confidence. What opens more easily than the hands of a little child?

OUR LADY OF VICTORY CHURCH

December 22-23, 2012

In the baby Jesus, St. John Vianney saw personified many of the truths that the Lord and his apostles would later preach. He chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong (1 Cor 1:27) and proved that when I am weak, it is then I am strong (2 Cor 12:10). We see this clearly in the infant who, even though he is so helpless in the crib, holds the world in his arms, the saint said. Jesus would teach that unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt 18:3), and shows us how to do that in Bethlehem. The Son of God preaches to us in his infancy from the crib, the Cur stated, and in his childhood draws our hearts toward him, vanquishes the world and teaches us how to become as children, that we may obtain the kingdom of heaven. For Vianney this reality gave new meaning to Isaiahs prophecy that a child is born for us whose name would be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace (Is 9:6). He was all that and more as a little baby! More than becoming man or entering our world as an infant, St. John Vianney was most stupefied at the Lords mercy in being born in indigence. Stable, crib, swaddling clothes represent the greatest poverty, he said, the poverty of dwelling, the poverty of the way of living. The kings and emperors of this world are born in palaces and yet the Son of God was born in one of the most impoverished manners available. That provoked the patron saint of priests to ask, Why did he choose poverty? The answer, he discovered in prayer, was so that Jesus could be even closer to us. Poverty is our very existence. How poor and helpless is even the rich man, Vianney preached. Therefore the Savior wanted to be nearer to the poor man; that is why he appeared upon this earth in the utmost poverty. He used another great image to show us why. When Cyrus had vanquished the Persians by the sword he possessed dominion over them, but when he wished to win the hearts of the Persians, he clothed himself as a Persian. That is how our Savior wished to win our hearts. He took upon Himself our weakness, our lowliness, our poverty, so as to approach us as nearly as possible as a poor child. The great sermon that Jesus preached in the poor stable and proclaimed from the poor crib was, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:3). Jesus voluntary embracing of poverty inaugurates that new kingdom. Through Him, the Son of God, poverty is no longer despicable, no longer shameful, no longer mean; through Him is poverty ennobled, exalted and sanctified. The poor, coming to kneel at the crib, find the only thing that can bring them happiness in their poverty: Christ himself, the Savior, born poor like them. The rich, coming to that same crib, recognize that possessions and money cannot redeem them or make them free; only Christ can. Thats why St. John Vianney encouraged all his listeners to make their hearts into a poor crib so that we may have a dwelling that we can offer to the divine Savior. He seeks and desires a dwelling of poverty, so that he may return into our hearts. Thats the humble path by which the divine Savior will take possession of us and fill our hearts with that message of joy and peace to men of good will upon the earth. St. John Vianneys heart was always a crib poor in spirit that solicited and treasured the presence of the King of Kings. This Christmas he doubtless intercedes from heaven so that the earthen vessels of our hearts might become just as enriched.
Fr. Landry is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts. This article is made available courtesy of The Integrated Catholic Life.

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

DISCOVER THE RICHES OF THE MASS

A Biblical Walk Through the Mass
In this study, you will come to know and understand the Mass like never before. You will discover the rich meanings behind why we say what we say and do during the Liturgy. The words and gestures of the Mass will be seen in a new light, leading you to a richer, more fruitful worship experience.

Tuesday morning 9:30-11:00 amJanuary 22, 29, February 5, 12, 19, 26 Wednesday evening 7:00-8:30 pmJanuary 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, February 6
Please fill out and return this form. The cost of the study set is $17, checks made payable to Our Lady of Victory 1559 Roxbury Road, Columbus, OH 43212 Name________________________________________________________________________ Phone________________________________________________________________________ Email________________________________________________________________________

Give Thanks to the Lord, For He is Good; His Love is Everlasting. (Psalm 136). On the occasion of my 50th Anniversary as a Priest, I am very grateful to God for so many blessings. One of my special blessings is serving as a priest at Our Lady of Victory Parish. My thanks to Fr. Romano and parishioners for the Mass and Reception last Sunday, here at Our Lady of Victory. I enjoy being a part of this loving and caring community. I ask for your continued prayers in my priestly ministry. Monsignor Missimi

A bereavement support group will be held in the basement of the Parish Life Center on January 2, 9 and 16, 2013 from 10:30a12:00N. (Enter from the lower level parking area.) Weekly sessions will give you the opportunity to share with other grieving people who can understand and support you through your journey. For

Grieving Holidays:

Through

the

those unable to attend weekday meetings, would you be interested in a Saturday group? Contact Sister Dorothy at 276-9700.