St. James Catholic Church

The Catholic community of St. James Church is made up of loving and sensitive members seeking to meet their spiritual needs, strengthen their faith, and affirm their continued existence as the church of Jesus Christ today and tomorrow.  In their quest to evangelize, it is their mission to assist everyone toward a more abundant experience of the riches of their liturgy and scaraments, and to convince all of Christ's sheep that the Lord's Day is indeed for all.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Closed Wednesday

Thursday at 12:00 Noon, please bring your announcements and notices to the office in legible and written form for insertion into the bulletin. Thank you!

https://diocesecc.org

COVID-19 PROTOCOL

Public Masses continue at 100% capacity; with, responsible distancing.

The obligation to attend Sunday Mass is restored for the faithful in the Diocese of Corpus Christi.  Those who continue to be dispensed are those who are symptomatic or who have been exposed to another with the virus within 7 days are to remain home, in accordance with national, state, and local health directives. All attendees are asked to check their temperature at home before coming to church.  Those who are at risk because of an underlying health issue should remain home.

Directives for:
Returning to Mass

Online Mass Resources:
https://diocesecc.org/faith-resources/

CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention)
coronavirus (covid-19) information

St. James parish welcomes all newcomers.  Please contact the parish office to register.

Cyber scammers are impersonating Priests, CFOs and people in ministry leadership roles. They are asking for money, gift cards and personal information.  DO NOT reply and immediately delete any email or text.  This is NOT a request from our parish priest, deacons, administrative personnel or any of its ministry leaders.

A bag of rice to share:   From her personal experience, Mother Teresa relates a story demonstrating the generosity of  the poor, rising from their personal experience of hunger and poverty, as contrasting with the rich who have had no such experience to teach them.   Learning of a poor Hindu family in Calcutta who had been starving for many days, Mother Theresa visited them and brought a big parcel of rice to the mother.  She was surprised to see how the mother divided the rice into two equal portions and went out with one bundle to give it   to her Moslem neighbor.  When she returned, Mother   Theresa asked her why she had done such a generous deed.  The woman replied: “My family can manage with half the rice in this bag.  My neighbor’s family has several children and they are also starving."   Today’s Gospel tells the story of a small boy who showed this same kind of generosity.  By sharing his small lunch (which consisted of five barley loaves and two dried fish), he became the instrument in Jesus’ working of a miracle that fed thousands.

Our God is a personal God who is concerned about each and everyone and takes care of his people. He is like a benevolent Father caring for the needs of his children and planning a future of each one.  The Bible presents us the story of a benevolent God who took care of his chosen people in the Old Testament leading them through the desert and being with them when they were attacked by their enemies. He gave people the bread sufficient to satisfy their hunger and made them comfortable. In the New Testament, we have the love of God manifested in Jesus. He leads them to faith and gives them his own body and blood as proper spiritual nourishment. He promises them that he who eats his flesh and drinks his blood will never die. The Gospel of today begins with the narrative that Jesus is being followed by a very large crowd as he came to the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The people had heard his teaching, had seen his miracles, and had experienced his personality. He realized that they were all hungry and took upon himself the responsibility to take care of them and fed five thousand people with five barley loaves and two fish.  In the first reading, we hear the prophet of God feeding many people from just a few loaves of bread, indicating that there is no limit to God’s resources. All the people had enough to eat and there was extra food remaining. In the second reading Paul, a prisoner of the Lord urges the community to live as one. They have to bear with one another in love and strive to live in peace. He invites them to do all they can to preserve the unity in spirit.

Although Jesus had the intention of preparing the minds of the multitude for his discourse on the heavenly food which he would make the following day, his principal motive in working this miracle was pity and compassion. He was fully aware that they were all hungry including his own disciples. They had been away from their homes for a few days already. They were willing to suffer this inconvenience but he did not want them to do so.  Even though he was aware that some among them would not accept him and some may join his enemies at a later date, yet he made no distinction. He had compassion for all.  This miracle convinces us that Jesus is interested in our daily needs too just as he was interested in those of his contemporaries in Palestine. He is there willing to help us and comes to us in our needs.

We have the message and teaching of Jesus in and through the miracle:

★ *Jesus’ sensitivity: The crowd never complained about being hungry rather Jesus Himself understood their need and asked His apostles about buying bread. Let us have a heart that understands the needs of others.

★ *Jesus’ generosity: Jesus did not multiply five loaves exactly for 5000 instead He multiplied the bread in surplus so much so that 12 baskets were left over after feeding the crowd. When God gives He gives in abundance. Let us be generous in giving because no one becomes poor by giving.

★ *Jesus’ selflessness: Jesus after having fasted for 40 days was also hungry and He could have very well made use of His divine power to satisfy His hunger but He didn’t do so instead when He saw the hungry crowd He made use of His divine power to multiply the bread and feed them. Let us put other’s benefit before our personal gain.

★ *Jesus’ gratefulness: Though it was little [5 loaves and 2 fish] Jesus thanked God for them. This is something we need to learn from Jesus. To be always grateful to God even for the little that we have.

★ *Jesus’ attitude of non-wasting: Jesus by asking his disciples to gather what was leftover teaches us another great lesson of never to waste food. Because the food that we waste is the food we deprive the poor.

★ *Jesus’ omnipotence: Philip calculated in terms of money and said 200 silver coins would not be sufficient to buy bread. Andrew calculated in terms of numbers and said 5 loaves and 2 fish of what good are these for so many. From a human point of view, it seemed impossible but to God who loves and cares everything is possible.

★ *Jesus’ greatness: Jesus by His miraculous power could have produced bread out of nothing but He preferred to use the little given by the boy. When we place our littleness in the hands of the great God miracles occur. Jesus uses our littleness to manifest His greatness.

messages: A challenge to generous sharing: As Christians we need to commit ourselves to share and to work with God in communicating His compassion to all as the early Christians did. God always blesses those who share their blessings, time, and talents with loving commitment. We can begin our own humble efforts at "sharing" right in our parish by participating in the works of charity done by different organizations. Once physical hungers are satisfied, then we are challenged to satisfy the deeper hungers, for love, mercy, forgiveness, companionship, peace, and fulfillment.

A Coronavirus Prayer

Jesus Christ, you traveled through towns and villages “curing every disease and illness.” At your command, the sick were made well. Come to our aid now, in the midst of the global spread of the coronavirus, that we may experience your healing love.

Heal those who are sick with the virus. May they regain their strength and health through quality medical care.

Heal us from our fear, which prevents nations from working together and neighbors from helping one another.

Heal us from our pride, which can make us claim invulnerability to a disease that knows no borders.

Jesus Christ, healer of all, stay by our side in this time of uncertainty and sorrow.

Be with those who have died from the virus. May they be at rest with you in your eternal peace.

Be with the families of those who are sick or have died. As they worry and grieve, defend them from illness and despair. May they know your peace.

A prayer for first responders during the coronavirus pandemic

Loving God, in the midst of our world’s—your world’s—coronavirus crisis, we beg to bring before you the brave women and men who are closest to the sick and suffering. In earlier times, such bravery appeared in direct service by saints—the young Jesuit Aloysius Gonzaga contracting the plague from the poor of Rome and dying with them at 23, the Belgian missionary Damian of Molokai becoming a leper to live and die with lepers over 16 long years of being theirs for Christ. Today the tools of science—medicine and surgery and, yes, ventilators—have changed the scene but not its anguished human face.

Be with the doctors, nurses, researchers and all medical professionals who seek to heal and help those affected and who put themselves at risk in the process. May they know your protection and peace.

Be with the leaders of all nations. Give them the foresight to act with charity and true concern for the well-being of the people they are meant to serve. Give them the wisdom to invest in long-term solutions that will help prepare for or prevent future outbreaks. May they know your peace, as they work together to achieve it on earth.

Whether we are home or abroad, surrounded by many people suffering from this illness or only a few, Jesus Christ, stay with us as we endure and mourn, persist and prepare. In place of our anxiety, give us your peace. We ask these through Christ our Lord. Amen

1)      Diocese of Corpus Christi:  https://diocesecc.org

2)      Vatican website: http://w2.vatican.va/content/vatican/en.html

3)      Monks of the desert video: https://youtu.be/U5YY684ZXDE

4)      Catholic League: http://www.catholicleague.org/ 

5)      Community in mission blog: http://blog.adw.org/author/cpope/

6)      Church teachings index: http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/teach/index.html

7)      Catholic liturgy library: http://www.catholicliturgy.com/

8)      Church cartoons: http://www.toonfever.com/

For supporting this ministry please make checks payable to:

St. James Catholic Church
605 S. Alta Vista
Beeville, TX  78102

Thank you for your generosity
May God Bless you and your Family abundently