Heading 1
245 W. Hwy 90, China, Texas 77613
Welcome
Our Pastor is
Reverend
Polycarp
Otieno
Welcome, and thank you for visiting Our Lady of Sorrows Church online. We hope that our website gives you the information you are seeking. Please feel free to read more about our church on this site, or come in for a visit. We would love to greet you and share with you our love for Jesus Christ and for you, our neighbor.
Our Faith
We believe that the door to salvation is always open and so are the doors to our church. Our mission is to be fully devoted to Jesus by opening our arms to those in search of the truth. We show God’s love and concern for our fellow man at every opportunity. Through works of charity and opening our doors to listen and love, we feel that we are walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.
Church Office- 409-752-3571
Church office hours-
Mon-Thur. 8:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.
Friday 8:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.
Mass Times
WEEKENDS
Saturday at 4:00 PM
Sunday at 8:30 AM
Weekdays:
Tuesday 8:00 AM
Wednesday- 8:00 AM
Thursday- 8:00 AM
Friday 8:00 AM
Reconciliation: Saturday 3:00- 3:45 p.m.
Adoration- Wednesday
8:30 a.m. -noon
Baptism: Please call the
office for appointment. Baptism Classes are required.
Weddings: Diocesan policy for Marriage requires that you make an appointment with the pastor at least six months before the anticipated wedding. Please meet with the pastor before setting your final date.
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STATIONS OF THE CROSS
We will have Stations every Friday during Lent. 6:00 p.m. In the Church.
CONFESSIONS HEARD
Confessions will be heard at regular time Saturdays 3:00 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. AND on Friday Febr
Friday March 17th 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Friday March 24th 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Thursday March 30th 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Good Friday Friday April 7th 12:30 p.m.
EASTER SCHEDULE Our Lady of Sorrows
Holy Thursday Mass 6:00 P.M.
Good Friday Service 6:00 p.m. with adoration until midnight.
Saturday Easter Vigil- 8:15 p.m.
Easter Sunday Mass- 8:30 a.m.
APPEAL for CATHOLIC MINISTRIES- "Building the Kingdom Together" has kicked off! Formerly the BFA this is the annual appeal. The funds are used throughout the Diocese to fund the many needs of our people. There are several ways to give. Envelopes can be found in the church, or go online to www.dobgifts.org. Scan codes are also available.
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CCD/CYO CLASSES HAVE STARTED
It's never too late to join us!
"Let the little children come to me"
Religious Education and Youth Group has begun. Come be a part of a great year, as we get closer to God!
Classes are on Sunday- Pre K through 5th are 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
6th through 12th & CYO is Sunday night 6:00 to 7:15 p.m.
SACRAMENTS IN ACTION
BAPTISM- we are united with Jesus
RECONCILIATION Returns us to Grace
EUCHARIST- Jesus lives in us
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TODAY’S READINGS
First Reading — As the prophet Samuel anointed David with oil, the spirit of the LORD rushed upon David
(1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a).
Psalm — My shepherd is the Lord; I shall not want (Psalm 23).
Second Reading — You who were once darkness are now light in the Lord. Live as children of light (Ephesians 5:8-14).
Gospel — The man who was blind from birth proclaimed: The one called Jesus made clay with his saliva, anointed my eyes with it, and told me to wash. When I washed, I was able to see! (John 9:1-41 [1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38])
March 19, 2023 Fourth Sunday of Lent
SEEING THE LIGHT
Our Lenten journey continues this Sunday as we hear of Jesus healing a blind man in the Gospel of John. Jesus proclaims himself the light of the world, a light that overcomes darkness and enables a new capacity to see. The man, blind from birth, was able to begin his path to sight by first acknowledging his blindness. We are reminded of God’s ongoing invitation to us to journey from blindness to sight. We begin by acknowledging our own capacity for “blind spots,” and so open ourselves to uncomfortable truths and to God’s healing. We are invited to see beyond appearances, as the reading from Samuel indicates, and to look into the heart of things. We are invited to “live as children of light” as the letter to the Ephesians teaches. Like the man healed from blindness, we may gradually learn to see fully and to follow Jesus.
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Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Communion, Confession, Marriage, Holy Orders, and the Anointing of the Sick—are the life of the Catholic Church. Each sacrament is an outward sign of an inward grace. When we participate in them worthily, each provides us with graces—with the life of God in our soul. The Sacraments were given to us by Jesus to keep us closer to God and empower us to be a people of God.
CATHOLIC PRAYER CORNER
Prayer in Time of Sadness and Grief
O God of compassion,
your people are in pain.
Send your Holy Spirit among us
to dispel the fear that accompanies grief.
We cry out to you in our confusion;
comfort us in our affliction.
Help us to travel this road of grief and sadness
with our eyes fixed on the salvation
promised us through the death and resurrection
of your Son, who is Lord forever and ever. Amen.
OUR FASCINATING FAITH
The Three Lenten Disciplines: Fasting
The season of Lent is characterized by fasting and abstinence. I remember that when I was a child, my parents instilled in me the practice of give up eating sweets and abstaining from candy during Lent so I could share the bitterness of the suffering that Jesus endured for my sins. Eventually in our parish, the priest encouraged us to put aside the money saved from not buying candies in order to send it to poor children. Fasting and abstinence were not only ways to accompany Jesus in his suffering on the cross, but also means of encouraging and consoling him in his suffering children of today’s world. The pastor taught me that fasting is not simply refraining from sweets and candy; fasting teaches me how to deny myself so that it is not I who live but Christ who lives in me. To fast means to deny myself certain things in order to give life to others, and thus, with my small sacrifice, to make the world a little better.
—Friar Gilberto Cavazos-González, OFM,
CHARITY
If you truly want to help the soul of your neighbor, you should approach God first with all your heart. Ask him simply to fill you with charity, the greatest of all virtues; with it you can accomplish what you desire.
—St. Vincent Ferrer
LIGHT AND SHADOW
In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.
—Blaise Pascal
Baptism
For Catholics, the Sacrament of Baptism is the first step in a lifelong journey of commitment and discipleship. Whether we are baptized as infants or adults, Baptism is the Church's way of celebrating and enacting the embrace of God.
Eucharist
Catholics believe the Eucharist, or Communion, is both a sacrifice and a meal. We believe in the real presence of Jesus, who died for our sins. As we receive Christ's Body and Blood, we also are nourished spiritually and brought closer to God.
Reconciliation
The Catholic Sacrament of Reconciliation (also known as Penance, or Penance and Reconciliation) has three elements: conversion, confession and celebration. In it we find God's unconditional forgiveness; as a result we are called to forgive others.
Confirmation
Confirmation is a Catholic Sacrament of mature Christian commitment and a deepening of baptismal gifts. It is one of the three Sacraments of Initiation for Catholics. It is most often associated with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Marriage
For Catholics, the Sacrament of Marriage, or Holy Matrimony, is a public sign that one gives oneself totally to this other person. It is also a public statement about God: the loving union of husband and wife speaks of family values and also God's values.
Holy Orders
In the Sacrament of Holy Orders, or Ordination, the priest being ordained vows to lead other Catholics by bringing them the sacraments (especially the Eucharist), by proclaiming the Gospel, and by providing other means to holiness.
Anointing of the Sick
The Catholic Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, formerly known as Last Rites or Extreme Unction, is a ritual of healing appropriate not only for physical but also for mental and spiritual sickness.
READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Monday: 2 Kgs 5:1-15ab; Ps 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4;
Lk 4:24-30
Tuesday: Dn 3:25, 34-43; Ps 25:4-5ab, 6, 7bc, 8-9;
Mt 18:21-35
Wednesday: Dt 4:1, 5-9; Ps 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20;
Mt 5:17-19
Thursday: Jer 7:23-28; Ps 95:1-2, 6-9; Lk 11:14-23
Friday: Hos 14:2-10; Ps 81:6c-11ab, 14, 17;
Mk 12:28-34
Saturday: Hos 6:1-6; Ps 51:3-4, 18-19, 20-21ab;
Lk 18:9-14
Sunday: 1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a; Ps 23:1-6;
Eph 5:8-14; Jn 9:1-41[1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38]
SAINTS AND SPECIAL OBSERVANCES
Sunday: Third Sunday of Lent;
Daylight Saving Time begins
Friday: St. Patrick; Abstinence
Saturday: St. Cyril of Jerusalem