Federal Income Taxes

For those who file Schedule A and deduct donations to qualified eleemosynary organizations, you will be anxious to receive your statement of donations made in envelopes to either St. Ann or Sacred Heart.  At Sacred Heart, we will try to send out statements to all who used their envelopes or electronic giving regularly.  We will try to get these out by the end of January.  At St. Ann, we ask that you send us a self addressed envelope, and we will send a statement of your 2016 donation back to you in the envelope. 

Remember that if you have made single contributions of $250 or more during the year, you should have received a contemporaneous letter of acknowledgement in the mail for each large donation.  If in filing your tax return, you choose to deduct contributions on Schedule A, you should retain not just the statement we will supply, but also the individual contemporaneous letters of acknowledgement, as these may be required in addition to the statement of donations should you be audited and have to prove your Schedule A deductions.

Didn’t we miss some feasts during the Christmas Season?

We celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on Monday, January 9 this year.  Usually we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord the Sunday after the Sunday when we celebrate the Epiphany.  Because Christmas was on a Sunday, we had the Feast of the Holy Family on Friday, December 30.   Because New Years Day was on a Sunday, we celebrated the Feast of the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God on that day.  And thus, within the Christmas Season we had run out of days and had to celebrate the Baptism of the Lord on a Monday.  This is the result of Christmas and New Years Day falling on a Sunday.

Christmas 2017 is on a Monday.  This means we will celebrate Sunday Masses on Saturday evening and Sunday morning and Christmas Masses on Sunday afternoon  and Monday morning.

Reflection on Scripture

John says of Jesus, “Look the Lamb of God.”  The lamb was the common sacrificial animal.  John was prophesying that Jesus would sacrifice himself for the remission of our sins.  Thus we have the term, “Lamb of God.”  Jesus is confirmed to be the Son of God by the Holy Spirit.  The baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan serves as the inauguration of the public ministry of Jesus.  John the Baptist points out who Jesus is.

Do we point to Jesus in all we do?  Are our lives a prophetic witness to the primacy of Christ?   Priests are called to live in persona Christi.  But as members of the Mystical Body of Christ through the Most Holy Eucharist, we accept a similar commission at every Holy Communion!  May we live counter culturally!  Not as Hollywood tells us to live!  Not as hedonistic society tells us to!  But we live as members of the Body of Christ.

Readings for Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is 8:23-9:3

1 Cor 1:10-13, 17

Mt 4:12-23

Theme:  Jesus calls his disciples.