St.

Mary Magdalene Parish

St. Catherine, Aledo • St. Anthony, Matherville
Rev. John Thieryoung, Pastor

106 NE 4th St. Aledo, IL 61231

(309) 582-7500 • www.cpomc.org

FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME February 4, 2024

Monday 7:30 AM St. Catherine Tammy Watkins by Margaret Ludwig
Monday 7:00 PM St. Catherine HOLY HOUR
Tuesday 7:30 AM St. Catherine Janice Doherty by Jason & Kimberly Anderson
Wednesday 7:30 AM St. Catherine Gary Mitchell by Family & Friends
Thursday 7:00 AM St. Anthony HOLY HOUR
Thursday 8:00 AM St. Anthony Jim Slavish by Darrell & Pauline Luepke
Friday 8:00 AM St. Anthony Tom Harris by Beth Ann Gird
Saturday 7:00 AM St. Catherine HOLY HOUR
Saturday 4:00 PM St. Anthony Joan Mack by Annette Doonan
Saturday 5:30 PM St. Catherine Pastor’s Intention
Sunday 8:00 AM St. Catherine Lois Carlton
Sunday 9:45 AM St. Anthony Parishioners of St. Mary Magdalene

Next Week’s Readings: Lv 13:1-2, 44-46 / Ps 32:1-2, 5, 11 / 1 Cor 10:31—11:1 / Mk 1:40-45

Weekly Collection $2,560

Parish office hours: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday 9am-12pm. Please leave a message at any other time.

Confessions: Thursday, 7am to 7:50am, during Holy Hour. Saturday at St. Catherine from 7am to 7:55am, during Holy
Hour. Saturday at St. Anthony from 3:00pm to 3:50pm, and Sunday at St. Catherine from 7:10am to 7:50am.

You Are Invited – to spend time in loving adoration in the presence of our Lord at the Holy Hours on Thursdays at 7am at
St. Anthony, and Saturdays at 7am at St. Catherine. Our Lord bestows many blessings to those who pray in His Holy
Presence. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available too. The 1st Monday of the Month we have HOLY HOUR at
7:00PM St. Catherine.

Nursing Home Masses: We will celebrate Mass on Monday, February 5th at 10:15am at Brookstone, and on Wednesday
February 7th at 10:30 at Mercer Manor. Everyone is invited to join us.

Lenten Magnificat Booklets are available at the entrances of the churches. There is a limited quantity. The Booklet
provides daily reflections for the Lenten season. Free for the taking. Some copies of One Bread One Body remain as
well.

Chili/Taco Supper Fundraiser: Saturday, February 24th, 4-7pm at St. Catherine Hall. This fundraiser will be open to the
public and is being held to raise money for property improvements at both churches of St. Mary Magdalene Parish.
There will be sign-up sheets at the entrances of the churches to donate and help with the supper. We need your help to
make this successful. For information on how you can be of help, call Paula Ryan at 309-371-5368 or JoDene Huntley
at 309-337-9737.

Bishop Robert Barron on the Sacraments: The next presentation will be at St. Anthony Church Friday, February 2nd,
following the 8am Mass. Bishop Barron’s video presentation will be followed with discussion. All are invited.

HALLOW APP: Please share the free Hallow App with family and friends – a great way to spread the Word. Check out
The Bible in a Year with Fr. Michael Schmitz, reflections from Imitation of Christ (the most popular Christian book next to
the Bible in history) featuring Jim Caviezel, the actor who portrayed Jesus in The Passion of the Christ, and Sr. Orianne
who read and reflect on one chapter of the book each day. Cards with the QR code to register for the app are at the
entrances of the churches. Register under “St. Mary Magdalene Aledo.” FREE subscription through Easter!

LENT: Ash Wednesday is February 14th. There will be three Masses: 7am and 12 noon at St. Catherine, and 7pm at St.
Anthony. Please note on the back of the bulletin the regulations for fast and abstinence during this holy season.
The collection for the Church in Eastern Europe is taken on Ash Wednesday. The proceeds go to help rebuild the
Church in those countries who were subject to atheist Communism for almost half a century or more.
Beginning on Thursday, February 15th, we will celebrate Masses on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:30pm followed by
Stations of the Cross at 7pm: Tuesdays at St. Catherine Church, and Thursdays at St. Anthony Church. (The Thursday
morning Holy Hour in Matherville will move to Friday during Lent.)
"From the Eucharist comes strength to live the Christian life and zeal to share that life with others." - Pope John Paul II
My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As we enter into this Lenten season, the Church once again invites us to use this opportunity to share
more fully in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ. It is essential that we cultivate a deeper sense of
prayer, fasting and almsgiving to better offer our lives to Our Lord.

As we make our way through the Triduum and to that glorious day of the Lord’s Resurrection, I pray
that all of us will be ever more attentive to our spiritual devotions and especially to the Word of God
during these forty days. May the guidance of the Holy Spirit assist us in our Lenten journey.

REGULATIONS FOR LENT AND THE EASTER TRIDUUM

Lent is the principal season of penance in the Christian year. Priests, religious and laity are strongly
urged to develop and follow a program of voluntary self-denial, attentiveness to prayer, and especially
to works of charity and mercy.

Everyone of 14 years of age or over is bound to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, February 14,
2024, and all the Fridays of Lent.

Everyone 18 years of age and under 59 years of age is bound to fast on Ash Wednesday, February 14,
2024, and Good Friday, March 29, 2024.

On these two days of fast and abstinence, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, only one full meatless
meal is allowed. Two other meatless meals, sufficient to maintain strength, may be taken according
to each one=s needs, but together they should not equal another full meal. Eating between meals is
not permitted on these two days, but liquids including milk and fruit juices are allowed. When health
or ability to work would be seriously affected, the law does not oblige.

To disregard completely the law of fast and abstinence is a serious matter.

May our Lenten journey bring us closer to the cross and our Resurrected Savior.

Peace and Prayers,

Most Reverend Louis Tylka, Bishop of Peoria

Pope Benedict XVI on fasting

We might ask ourselves what value and meaning there is for us Christians in depriving ourselves of something
that in itself is good and useful for our bodily sustenance. The Sacred Scriptures and the entire Christian
tradition teach that fasting is a great help to avoid sin and all that leads to it. For this reason, the history of
salvation is replete with occasions that invite fasting.... Since all of us are weighed down by sin and its
consequences, fasting is proposed to us as an instrument to restore friendship with God.
...
Jesus brings to light the profound motive for fasting, condemning the attitude of the Pharisees, who
scrupulously observed the prescriptions of the law, but whose hearts were far from God. True fasting, as the
divine Master repeats elsewhere, is rather to do the will of the Heavenly Father, who “sees in secret, and will
reward you” (Mt 6,18). ... The true fast is thus directed to eating the “true food,” which is to do the Father’s will
(cf. Jn 4,34).
...
Fasting represents an important ascetical practice, a spiritual arm to do battle against every possible disordered
attachment to ourselves. Freely chosen detachment from the pleasure of food and other material goods helps
the disciple of Christ to control the appetites of nature, weakened by original sin, whose negative effects impact
the entire human person.
...
It is good to see how the ultimate goal of fasting is to help each one of us to make a complete gift of self to God.
May every family and Christian community use well this time of Lent, therefore, in order to cast aside all that
distracts the spirit and grow in whatever nourishes the soul, moving it to love of God and neighbor. I am
thinking especially of a greater commitment to prayer, lectio divina, recourse to the Sacrament of
Reconciliation and active participation in the Eucharist, especially the Holy Sunday Mass.