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St. Anthony Shrine
& Ministry Center
Sunday, December 15 Saturday, December 21, 2013
Welcome to the St. Anthony Shrine
Community. All are welcome here.
No one is excluded.
Please take this bulletin home with you as
well as the many brochures that advertise
the programs and services of the Shrine.
Thank you for being with us today.
Franciscan friars and staff
St. Anthony Shrine community
D E C E M B E R
14 Saturday
Like Stars on Earth film & discussion, 12:30 to
3:30 p.m., 2nd fl. classroom (See ad for details.)
15 Sunday
Prison Ministry, SCHC, 8:15 to 11:30 a.m.
Fasting Cholesterol check, Blood pressure &
Blood Sugar check, Flu vaccine, 9:00 a.m. to
1:30 p.m., Wellness Center.
Damietta Project core team planning meeting,
1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Turkish Cultural Center,
Boston (See ad for details.)
16 Monday
Dental screening*, 10:00 a.m. to Noon
(*by appt. 617-542-6440, ext. 118)
Blood pressure & Blood Sugar screening,
Flu vaccine, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.,
Wellness Center
17 Tuesday
Blood pressure & Blood Sugar screening,
Flu vaccine, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.,
Wellness Center
Advent Communal Penance Service,
12:10 p.m., 1st fl. Church
18 Wednesday
Blood pressure & Blood Sugar screening,
Flu vaccine, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.,
Wellness Center
Seniors Mass 10:00 a.m., Christmas Craft
Project 11:00 a.m., lunch noon
19 Thursday
No scheduled events.
21 Saturday
Advent Communal Penance Service,
11:30 a.m., 1st fl. Church
Christmas Concert, 7 p.m., 2nd fl. Church
(See ad for details.)
WHATS HAPPENING THIS WEEK
REGULAR EVENTS
Monday A.A. Step Meeting 5:45 p.m.
Tuesday Seniors Crafts Group 10:30 a.m.
A.A. Open Meeting Noon
Mens Cursillo Reunion 5:15 p.m.
Wednesday Remembrance Day for Deceased (3rd Wed.) All Masses
Womens Spiritual Refl. Group (2nd & 4th Wed) 12:30 p.m.
Seniors Computer Lab 1:30 p.m.
Grupo Hispano de Oracin 4:15 p.m.
A.A. Open Meeting 5:45 p.m.
Bread on the Common (2nd & 4th Wed.) 5:45 p.m.
Anointing of the Sick Mass (2nd Wed.) TBA
Thursday S.L.A.A. Meeting Noon
Mens Spirituality Group (2nd & 4th Thurs.) 5:00 p.m.
A.A. Big Book Meeting 5:45 p.m.
Saturday Vietnamese Secular Franciscans (2nd Sat.) 9:30 a.m.
Secular Franciscans (2nd Sat.) 10:50 a.m.
Centering Prayer Group (1st & 3rd Sat.) Noon
Sunday 20/30 Boston Young Adults Coffee (4th Sun.) 10:30 a.m.
alt. Wine & Cheese Social (odd 4th Sun.) 4:30 p.m.
Pieta Ministry Coffee (1st Sun.) 11:00 a.m.
Healing Service (2nd Sun.) 1:00 p.m.
Separated and Divorced Catholics 1:30 p.m.
Hispanic Secular Franciscans (1st Sun.) 3:00 p.m.
READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Monday: Nm 24:2-7, 15-17a; Ps 25:4-5ab, 6, 7bc-9;
Mt 21:23-27
Tuesday: Gn 49:2, 8-10; Ps 72:1-4ab, 7-8, 17;
Mt 1:1-17
Wednesday: Jer 23:5-8; Ps 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19;
Mt 1:18-25
Thursday: Jgs 13:2-7, 24-25a;
Ps 71:3-4a, 5-6ab, 16-17; Lk 1:5-25
Friday: Is 7:10-14; Ps 24:1-4ab, 5-6; Lk 1:26-38
Saturday: Sg 2:8-14 or Zep 3:14-18a;
Ps 33:2-3, 11-12, 20-21; Lk 1:39-45
Sunday: Is 7:10-14; Ps 24:1-6; Rom 1:1-7;
Mt 1:18-24
2 Saint Anthony Shrine The Church on Arch Street
SAINTS AND SPECIAL OBSERVANCES
Sunday: Third Sunday of Advent
Monday: Las Posadas begins
Saturday: St. Peter Canisius; Winter begins
Pray for Peace in the Middle East!
Events This Week
100 Arch Street Boston, Massachusetts 02110 617.542.6440 3
Cover Art... Natale Francescano (lit. Been Born Them
Franciscan friars preparing Crche), serigraph from
Assisi focused on life of Franciscan Friars in Assisi.
Inconvenient Film Series
Like Stars on Earth
Saturday, December 14, 2013,
12:30 to 3:30 p.m., Cost: $5.
2nd fl. classroom
Ishaa Ishaan is an 8 year old
whose world is filled with
wonders that no one else
seems to appreciate; colors,
fish, dogs, and kites are just not
important in the world of adults,
who are much more interested
in things like homework, grades
and neatness. Ishaa just cannot seem to get
anything right in class. When he gets into far more
trouble than his parents can handle, he is packed
off to a boarding school to be disciplined. Things
are no different at his new school, and Ishaa has to
contend with the added trauma of separation from
his family. A new art teacher infects the students
with joy and optimism and breaks all the rules of
how things are done by asking them to think,
dream and imagine. All the children respond with
enthusiasm except Ishaa. The teacher soon
realizes that Ishaa is unhappy and sets out to
discover why. With time, patience and care, he
ultimately helps Ishaa find himself.
Contact: Dr. Jackie Stewart, St. Anthony Shrine, 617-
542-6440, ext. 143 or email SAS.Evang@gmail.com.
Offered by the Franciscan Adult School
The Damietta Project
Catholics & Muslims working together
for the Common Good
Core team planning meeting
Sunday, December 15. 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Turkish Cultural Center, Boston
Our interfaith group grew out of the recently
completed Just Matters study module In the Spirit
of St. Francis and the Sultan that began last Fall.
Information will appear in upcoming Bulletins about
community-wide events and our work-in-
progress on projects in food sustainability and
food waste management.
St. Anthony Shrine Just Matters Group
Peace & Social Justice
& Peace Islands Institute/Turkish Cultural Center
Advent Penance Services
(1st floor church)
Tuesday, December 17, 12:10 p.m.
Saturday, December 21, 11:30 a.m.
CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS ON

ARCH STREET
A CONCERT OF LESSONS AND CAROLS

with The Arch Street Band
and the Friars of St. Anthony Shrine

Saturday, December 21, 7 PM
Sunday, December 22, 2 PM

$10 tickets ($15 at the door)

Sponsorships welcome!
$50 (Frankincense)
$100 (Myrrh)
$150 (Gold)

St. Anthony Shrine and Ministry Center
100 Arch Street
Boston, MA 02110
(617) 542-6440
www.stanthonyshrine.org














































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Is there someone you
know who will be alone
this Christmas? Invite
them to be part of your
Merry Christmas!
Peace and all Good!
4 Saint Anthony Shrine The Church on Arch Street
First Coming
God did not wait till the world was ready,
till. . . nations were at peace.
God came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.
God did not wait for the perfect time.
God came when the need was deep and great.
God dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine. God did not wait
till hearts were pure. In joy God
came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
God came, and Gods Light would not go out.
God came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.
We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
God came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!
Madeleine L'Engle
A joy ever new, a joy which is shared
5. The Gospel, radiant with the glory of Christs
cross, constantly invites us to rejoice. A few
examples will suffice. Rejoice! is the angels
greeting to Mary (Lk 1:28). Marys visit to
Elizabeth makes John leap for joy in his mothers
womb (cf. Lk 1:41). In her song of praise, Mary
proclaims: My spirit rejoices in God my
Saviour (Lk 1:47). When Jesus begins his
ministry, John cries out: For this reason, my joy
has been fulfilled (Jn 3:29). Jesus himself
rejoiced in the Holy Spirit (Lk 10:21). His
message brings us joy: I have said these things
to you, so that my joy may be in you, and that
your joy may be complete (Jn 15:11). Our
Christian joy drinks of the wellspring of his
brimming heart. He promises his disciples: You
will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into
joy (Jn 16:20). He then goes on to say: But I will
see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no
one will take your joy from you (Jn 16:22). The
disciples rejoiced (Jn 20:20) at the sight of the
risen Christ. In the Acts of the Apostles we read
that the first Christians ate their food with glad
and generous hearts (2:46). Wherever the
disciples went, there was great joy (8:8); even
amid persecution they continued to be filled
with joy (13:52). The newly baptized eunuch
went on his way rejoicing (8:39), while Pauls
jailer and his entire household rejoiced that he
had become a believer in God (16:34). Why
should we not also enter into this great stream of
joy?
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION EVANGELII
GAUDIUMOF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS,
Nov 24, 2013
ejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
Let your gentleness be known to everyone.
The Lord is near.
Philippians 4:4-5
R
Artwork: Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist.
(Gospel) Detail from Giovanni Bellini, Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and a Saint, 1500-1504
100 Arch Street Boston, Massachusetts 02110 617.542.6440 5
The Perspective of Justice
He Who Is To Come
From his cell in prison John the Baptist had heard stories about Jesus, and he sent
some of his followers to find out if Jesus is the messiah. Are you He who is to come
or do we look for another? they asked Jesus.

Jesus had to reply in such a way that John would have no doubt about the
genuineness of his messianic activity, and the message he sent back to John was about
the blind receiving their sight, the lame walking, the lepers being cleansed, the deaf
hearing, the dead being raised, and the poor having good news brought to them.
He did not say a word about people praying more or
going to the synagogue or making God the center of
their lives: The age of the messiah, as expressed in this
report, does not concern religion in the traditional
sense of the word.
One knows that the messiah has come because a real
change has taken place in society, a change that involves
the liberation of those who have always been cut off
from the main branch of society.
Jesus is the messiah because those who are blind,
crippled, diseased, and poor have been liberated from
the things which make them the victims of injustice.
We can turn the statement around to say that if the
dregs of society do not experience liberation, then Jesus
is not the messiah.
But Jesus is the messiah, and so the dead have come to
life: those who have been unable to live in a society
that has written them off, are now alive with hope.
The Gospel has truly been a leaven of liberty and progress in human history, even in
its temporal sphere, and always proves itself a leaven of brotherhood, of unity, and
of peace. Therefore, not without cause is Christ hailed by the faithful as the expected
of the nations, and their Savior (Antiphon O for Dec. 23).
Vatican II, Decree on the Missionary
Activity of the Church (1965) 8
Gerald Darring
Copyright 1994, Gerald Darring.
All Rights Reserved.
MINISTRIES OF SAINT ANTHONY SHRINE
WORSHIP/YOUR SPIRITUAL HOME RECONCILIATION MUSIC LAZARUS PROGRAM WELLNESS CENTER
SAINT ANTHONY BREAD FOR THE POOR BREAD ON THE COMMON FRANCISCAN SPIRITUAL COMPANIONSHIP MINISTRY
THE KIDS PROGRAM SENIORS ON ARCH STREET MYCHAL JUDGE CENTER FOR RECOVERY FRANCISCAN FOOD CENTER
EVANGELIZATION GOOD WORD: (617) 542-0502 HISPANIC MINISTRY FRANCISCAN ADULT SCHOOL PIETA MINISTRY
20S/30S BOSTON COME HOME PROGRAM PRISON MINISTRY LGBT MINISTRY GRIEF MINISTRY
CONTACT US:
Phone: 1-617-542-6440
Fax: 1-617-542-4225
Website: http://www.StAnthonyShrine.org
Address: 100 Arch Street
Downtown Crossing
Boston, MA 02110
EXECUTIVE STAFF
Fr. Thomas Conway, OFM
Executive Director
TBD, OFM
Assistant Executive Director of Ministries
SAINT ANTHONY SHRINE & MINISTRY CENTER
~ All Are Welcome ~
WEEKDAY MASSES
Celebrated in Second Floor Chapel
6:00 a.m. 7:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m. 11:45 a.m. 12:30 p.m.
1:15 p.m. 5:15 p.m.
Second WednesdayAnointing Mass:
time to be announced
Third WednesdayDay of Remembrance
SATURDAY MASSES
Celebrated in Second Floor Chapel
8:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m. 12:00 Noon
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
VIGIL MASSES
Second Floor First Floor
Chapel Chapel
4:00 p.m. ** 4:15 p.m.
5:30 p.m. **
SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION
Celebrated in First Floor Chapel
Weekdays: 6:30 to 8:00 a.m.;
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.; 4:00 to 5:30 p.m.
Saturday: 6:30 to 8:00 a.m. and
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Seasonal Communal Penance Service:
(to be announced)
Sunday: 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Legal Holiday: 8:30 to 10:00 a.m.
6:00 a.m. 7:30 a.m. 9:00 a.m.
Following Masses ** Music
10:00 a.m. 11:15 a.m. 12:30 Noon
4:00 p.m. 5:30 p.m.
Benediction
(First Floor Chapel)
Weekdays: 5:00 p.m.
Saturdays and Sundays: 3:30 p.m.
Holy Rosary of Mary Sundays: 2:45 p.m.
Chaplet of Divine Mercy Sundays: 3:00 p.m.
Vespers Sundays: 3:15 p.m.
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
(First Floor Chapel)
Weekdays at 1:45 p.m.
Saturdays at 12:30 p.m.
Sundays at 1:00 p.m.
Tuesdays: St. Anthony Devotions
Wednesdays: Spanish Mass - 5:15 p.m.
Thursdays: St. Jude Devotions
SUNDAY MASSES
Second Floor Chapel
** Music Masses
The Arch Street Band
MISA EN ESPAOL
Cada mircoles a las 5:15 de la tarde
8:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m.
LEGAL HOLIDAY MASSES
Second Floor Chapel
6 Saint Anthony Shrine The Church on Arch Street
Third Sunday of Advent A
Reading I: Isaiah 35:1-6A, 10
Responsorial Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17
Reading II: James 5:7-10
Gospel: Matthew 11:2-11
Wait and Be Small
Sundays readings are about patience, but they are
rooted in the reality of humility.
Patience says, No need to worry endlessly about
the future. Slow down, look around, live.
Jesus was patient this way. It was eons (in our time
measurements) till he was born into the world. He
suckled at Marys breast till full. He waited as he
was gently burped. And think of his years as a
carpenter. Gods beloved, making a chair. And
then another chair.
Mary was patient this way. Her lifelong closeness
to God, her saying yes, her nine months, her days
at his side, her place at the cross. When the angel
first announced to her, she did not demanded
guarantees and security. She offered trust, not
demands.
Such beautiful sights.
We have some very long traffic lights in St. Louis.
They change to red just as I drive up. I examine my
watch to see how long the proud light will wield its
power. Sometimes it stays on forlisten to thisa
minute and thirty seconds! Forever! I am late and
in a hurry and a mechanical device is announcing,
No, no, you may not go, even though there is no
traffic whatsoever to stop for.
Do I seem impatient? I admit it, and I want to
become patient. I want it this Advent especially. I
want the desert and the parched land to exult. I
want them to blossom with abundant flowers and
cause me to rejoice with joyful song (First
Reading)! I am impatient for it. But I have to wait.
I want patience and I want it now (just kidding).
We all know reasons why patience should be in our
lives. It is a virtue. It is nice. Proper people have
it. Vulgar people dont. It is a help to others. Jesus
was patient, Mary was patient, God is patient.
Spirituality of the Readings
Why cant you and I be patient? It appears that we
are actually being impatient about patience.
Compare my description of the stop light above
with the following portrayal of a farmer from the
Second Reading:
See how the farmer waits for the precious
fruit of the earth, being patient with it
until it receives the early and the late rains.*
Can you feel the difference? The man tilling the
ground is quiet, almost glad to wait. He trusts that
the conditions will be right and that his waiting
will blossom.
I
sense something else here, and it helps.
Humility. We have spoken of it recently in
these pages. To be humble is to be exactly what
you are, not something larger or smaller than you
are. It takes time to arrive at this position, but it is
worth it.
In a famous poem, Percy Bysshe Shelley describes
a terrifying monarch from the past. The following
words appear on a broken-down pedestal lying all
by itself in the desert:
My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and
despair! Nothing beside remains.
Listen to the brag, look at the squashed wreckage
of pride.
Human beings have to become what they really
and truly are: small creatures. By means of waiting
we find that, tiny as we are, through gift, we still
have an openness to the real and consoling
presence of God. No need to dress in fine clothing
or live in royal palaces (Gospel).
Become humbly yourself and be content.
Be patient.
________
*I wrote a Church song called Patience, People (available on
iTunes, at John Foley, S. J.) that has these words of the
farmer in it. The translation I used was:
See the farmer await the yield of the soil.
He watches it in winter and in spring rain.
Fr. John Foley, S. J.
Copyright 2009, The Center for Liturgy at Saint Louis University.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
You are invited to write a note to the author of this reflection:
Fr. John Foley, S. J. (johnbfoley@yahoo.com)
100 Arch Street Boston, Massachusetts 02110 617.542.6440 7
Electronic Bulletins
St. Anthony Shrine & Ministry Center is striving
to be an eco-friendly environment. To help us cut
down in the use of paper we would like to start
emailing the weekly bulletin and newsletters to
you.
If you would like to receive our bulletin via email
please email mmacdonald@stanthonyshrine.org.
You may also sign up at the front desk in the
lobby. Please be assured that your contact
information will be never be shared with any third
parties and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Thank you for helping us leave this world a little
better for future generations.



























































































































































































































































































































































































































































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Not too early to Plan Ahead Join us on our
May 19-30, 2015 Holy Land Pilgrimage!
Leaders: Fr. Gene Pistacchio, OFM &
Dr. Jackie Stewart (Costs TBA)
Budget Suggestion: Start your Pilgrimage Club, (If you
start saving in December 2013, recommend saving
$87/wk pp thru Dec. 2014). To get on our interest list,
please contact Dr. Jackie Stewart,
SAS.Evang@gmail.com or 617-542-6440, ext. 143.
Offered by Franciscan Adult School
FR. GENE IN CAVE AT SHEPHERDS FIELD, BETHLEHEM