Ascension of the Lord May 24, 2020

Pastoral Staff Fr. Bill O’Donnell, C.PP.S. (Pastor)

Fr. Jim Smith, C.PP.S. (Parochial Vicar) Br. Nick Renner, C.PP.S. Deacon Jerry Buschur Deacon Randy Balster Deacon Gregg Elking

Of ice Staff Pat Stachler Karen Heath Sue Nietfeld Amy Brunswick Rachel Niekamp Joe Hemmelgarn

Parish Life Coordinators Sharon Ranly - St. Aloysius

Kelly Jo Siefring - St. Bernard Mary Schmitmeyer - St. Francis

Carmen Beyke - St. Henry Karen Post - St. Wendelin

Mass Schedule

beginning 06 / 01

St. Henry Church Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. *

St. Henry Church Saturday 4:30 p.m. *

St. Bernard Church Sunday 7:30 p.m.

St. Bernard Church Sunday 7:30 a.m.

St. Henry Church Sunday 9 a.m. *

St. Bernard Church Sunday 9:30 a.m.

St. Henry Church Sunday 11 a.m. *

Cluster Address 272 East Main Street Box 350 St. Henry, OH 45883

sthenrycluster.com

Phone 419-678-4118 Fax 419-678-8285

* streaming online

Air Force MSgt. Danielle Kremer (SH) TSgt. Darren J Siefring (SB) Army Sgt. Austin McClure (Reserves) (SH) Lt. Col. Charles (Chuck) Whitsett (SH) Marine Corps LCpl Randy Albers (SH) LCPL David Dennings SSgt. Adam Wolters (SA)

Navy AN Zachary Miller (SB) National Guard PV2 Timothy Burrows (Army) (SH) SrA Austin Clune (Air) (SH) Sergeant Klint Hemmelgarn (SH) Major Matthew Lauber (SA) Sgt. Cory Mescher (SH) Sgt. Christina Moore (SH) PV2 Jake Schlarman (Army) (SH)

St. Henry Cluster Parishes Phone ............................................................................................ 419-678-4118 Priest Residence ........................................................................ 419-925-2075 Fax ................................................................................................... 419-678-8285 Cluster Website ....................................................www.sthenrycluster.com Fr. Bill O’Donnell, C.PP.S. .................... williamodonnell49@gmail.com Fr. Jim Smith, C.PP.S. ........................................ jimsmithcpps@gmail.com Br. Nick Renner, C.PP.S. ................................... nrenner7343@gmail.com Deacon Randy Balster ..................................... randybalster@yahoo.com Deacon Gregg Elking ........................................... greggelking@icloud.com Business Manager - Sue Nietfeld ................. shcluster@hotmail.com Cluster Secretary - Pat Stachler ........ shclusterof ice@hotmail.com Bulletin Editor - Amy Brunswick ................ shcbulletin@gmail.com Director of Youth Ministry .............................................. 419-678-4118 Joe Hemmelgarn ................................ joseph.hemmelgarn@focus.org Coordinator of Church Music Ministry ..................... 419-678-4118

Karen Heath .................................... sthenryclusterliturgy@gmail.com Parish Life Coordinators St. Aloysius - Sharon Ranly ......................................... 419-678-3227

sharonranly@yahoo.com St. Bernard - Kelly Jo Siefring ..................................... 419-852-9884

saint.bernard.plc@gmail.com St. Francis - Mary Schmitmeyer ................................. 419-336-7745

bmschmit@bright.net St. Henry - Carmen Beyke ............................................... 419-678-0172

cbjbeyke@aol.com St. Wendelin - Karen Post ............................................... 419-375-2380

karenpost@bright.net Religious Education Rachel Niekamp 419-678-3811/ sthenryccdcenter@gmail.com

Facebook: St. Henry Catechetical Center Jill Gelhaus ................. 937-459-6771 / st.bernardccd@gmail.com

Precious Blood Residence 1509 Cranberry Road, St. Henry OH 45883

Bulletin Deadline Deadline for bulletin information is Monday of each week at 12:00 noon. Notices should be in writing or emailed to shcbulletin@gmail.com

Address, Phone & Email changes Please contact your Parish Life Coordinator or the Cluster Of ice at 419-678-4118 if your address, phone numbers or email has changed so we can keep our records up to date. Thank you.

All publicly scheduled celebrated

Masses and liturgies are temporarily suspended until May 31.

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati announced on May 8 that public masses will resume Monday, June 1. Please see the “The Week Ahead” section for more information. Baptisms

Please contact the Saint Henry Custer of ices if you would like to schedule a baptism. Baptisms are currently scheduled at St. Henry Church and St. Bernard Church on the 2nd and 3rd Sundays of the month, limit of 2 children per baptism. Marriage

To schedule a date or for more information contact the Cluster Of ice. The Saint Henry Cluster requires at least 6 months before the date to begin the wedding process. An initial meeting is required before a date will be scheduled at the church for your wedding. First Communion

First Communion dates will be announced once public masses and social gatherings are permitted. Anointing of the Sick | Hospital Notification

Please contact the cluster of ice if a member of your family is need of an anointing. At this time, hospitals and nursing homes are signi icantly limiting visitors to address the spread of COVID-19. Mass Streaming Online

St. Henry Cluster offers live-streamed masses online now. The streams are available on the cluster website, our pages on Facebook, YouTube, and Streamspot. The links are:

tinyurl.com/StHenryFacebook tinyurl.com/StHenryYoutbe tinyurl.com/StHenryStream

When today’s irst reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes Jesus’ Ascension, it says that Jesus was lifted up and a cloud removed him from the disciples’ sight. It also says that the disciples kept looking intently at the place in the sky where Jesus had ascended. Then, it tells us that two angels appeared and said to the disciples, “Men of Galilee why do you stand there looking up at the sky?” Now the answer to the angel’s question is obvious. The disciples stood looking at the sky because that was the place from which Jesus had left them. Although they always knew that Jesus would be present to them spiritually, they understood that from this point forward they would not be able to see him as they did during his ministry and after the resurrection. Things had changed. Jesus would no longer be physically present to them. So, they stood looking up into the sky, looking after what they had lost. As long as we live, our lives will change, and in those changes, we will lose things that are valuable to us. It might be the loss of a particularly ful illing job placement. It might be the loss of our health. It might be the loss of our health. It might be the loss of a person that we love through death. But when something that is dear to us is taken away from us, then we like the disciples are inclined to look up, ixating on what we once had, but is no longer ours. It is for this reason that the next words of the angels are important, not only to the disciples but to us. The angels say, “This Jesus who has been taken up into heaven will return again in the same way that you saw him go.” You see, the angels did not dispute the fact that Jesus had left. His visible appearance is a thing of the past. But they promise the disciples that he will come to them again in a new way. The angels’ message to us is this: When one good thing is taken away, another good thing will be given. This is why we cannot stand looking at what we have lost. We need eyes to see the next good thing, the next blessing that is possible in our lives. When things change in our jobs, in our family, in our country, or in our church, it does us no good to think over and over, “I wish things were the way they use to be.” Instead we are invited as Christians to look for those places where new possibilities emerge. When our health fails, when we lose energy and perhaps mobility, when someone we love, a spouse or a friend, dies, the way forward is not to think over and over again what we used to be able to do and who was there to do it with us. The ways forward is to believe that there are new ways to live, new paths to joy, and new relationships to support us. When one good thing is taken away, another good thing will be given. The scriptures today challenge us to believe this message to the angels. They remind us not to stand looking up into the sky, looking at what was lost. If our eyes are always in the sky, we will not be able to see the next good thing that God is bestowing on us here below. I ind the message of the Scripture Readings for the feast of the Ascension to be especially relevant and compelling as we honor our graduates during this most unusual time. As Dag Hammarskjold, former Secretary General of the United Nations, said many times during his lifetime, “For all that has been thank you! For all that will be, YES!

Fr. Bill O’Donnell, C.PP.S.

First Reading Acts 1:1-11 In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While meeting with the them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 47 God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord. All you peoples, clap your hands, shout to God with cries of gladness, for the Lord, the Most High, the awesome, is the great king over all the earth. God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy; the Lord amid trumpet blasts. Sing praise to God, sing praise; sing praise to our king, sing praise. For king of all the earth is God; sing hymns of praise. God reigns over the nations, God sits upon his holy throne.

Second Reading Ephesians 1:17-23 Brothers and sisters: May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might, which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens, far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

Gospel Matthew 28:16-20 The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

For daily readings, please visit: usccb.org/bible/readings/index.cfm

Ascension of the Lord

Saint Henry Cluster - 2020 Graduates

God of joy and hope, We thank you for this time of graduation.

Your spirit of wisdom has empowered our hard work and discipline in such a way that our hunger for learning has been nourished

with knowledge, discovery, creativity, and determination.

As we prepare to walk across the stage to receive our diplomas, let us walk in prayerful gratitude for the many blessings

that have made this moment real and filled with great potential.

In gratitude, we pray for our families and the many

who have sacrificed and worked to see us to this hopeful moment. In gratitude,

we pray for the professors and administrators who have challenged, cared, and crafted us along this academic journey.

In gratitude, we pray for fellow students who have taught us more about

friendship, collaboration, and sharing.

God, even as we have faced challenges and accomplished much, we understand that our lives move into a new chapter

where there will be more challenges to face and more will be demanded of us in order to accomplish good things.

May your grace cover our anxieties and fears so that we may stay encouraged about the future.

Give us patience and hope to energize our search for work that is just and makes proper use of our gifts.

Give us courage to face the challenges of carving out a place in society where we might live in peace, service, and gratitude.

Give us strength to resist the temptations of greed, laziness, pride, and envy

as we strive to do and be our best.

May your spirit guide us as we unfold the next chapters of our lives. Help us to enliven hope in the world and bring good things to Your Kingdom.

And, may this celebration be a reflection of the blessings that we find in knowing and loving you.

For this is the day that You have made. We are glad and rejoice in it!

-author unknown

Tristina Bayles Justin Bertke Blake Beyke Brandon Broering

Kayla Balster Tracey Balster Jacob Barga Derreck Barhorst

Saint Henry Cluster Class of 2020

Anne Bruggeman Cody Bruggeman Ashley Bruns Hannah Bruns

Hayden Bruns Nathan Bruns Alyssa Buschur McKenna Buschur

Calli Hemmelgarn

Class of 2020 Saint Henry Cluster

Clarissa Clune Braden Deal Fleming Denham Gwyneth Elking

Lydia FranckCollin Evers Joshua Evers Ronald Evers

Logan Griner Jackson Heath Zachary Heitkamp

Elizabeth ImelCharlton HomanLauren Hemmelgarn Isabelle Jansen

Saint Henry Cluster Class of 2020

Kaylee Lange Jessica Langenkamp Shane Lefeld Riley Link

Trevor Kates Jackson Kiser Reed Koesters Andrew Lange

Sara Meier Andrew Mescher Colleen Meyer Aaron Oakley

Isaac Ontrop Hannah Osterholt Ethan Pearcy Alexxes Phillips

Class of 2020 Saint Henry Cluster

Brooke Speck

Brady Post Jacob Ray Kayla Rindler Brittany Romer

Jared SchwietermanWyatt Rose Hope Rosenbeck Bailey Schmitz

Aaron Seger Alana Siefring Caleb Siefring

Carter StauglerSteffany StammenCora Stammen Hannah Steinbrunner

Spiritual identity means we are not

what we do or what people say about us. And we are not what we have.

We are the beloved daughters and sons of God. - Henri Nouwen

Saint Henry Cluster Class of 2020

Bryce Topp Addyson Vaughn Marlee Vaughn Nora Vaughn

Olivia Sutter Katelyn Teeters Zoe Thees Jordan Thomas

Isaac Wendel Regan Wendel

SH