Mon. Aug. 8
8:00 Sr. Virginia Gereau PBVM
by Sr. Lou & Sr. Catherine
Tues. Aug. 9
8:00 Living & Deceased members of the
Grimm & Tragnitz Families
by Lou & Shirley Grimm
Wed Aug. 10
8:00 Louella Colosimo
by Linda Thusing
Thur. Aug. 11
8:00 Communion Service
Fri Aug. 12
8:00 Joseph Anthony Bauer
by Theresa Bauer

Sat. Aug. 13
8:00 Purgatorial Society
5:30 Jim Trask
& Lou & Shirley Grimm
Sun. Aug 14 Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
8:00 Rosalee Gacke
by the Parish Family
11:00 Heneriette Gregor
by Paul Veldhuizen & Family

THANK YOU
Thank you to all whom contributed to the collection on the weekend of July 30th and July 31st. The amount collected was $1,012.00.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE SICK
Linda Jones
Ann Knight
Rita Schreiber
Lou Grimm
Corine Murphy
Ann Dytrych
Julie Laur
Adeline Deneen
Betty Nemecek
Helen Blaha
Betty Paschal
Ann Mysliwiec
Julius LoCicero
Osie Dompier
Eileen Desidero
Bernadine Smith
DoDo Dove
Terry El
Eugene Orris
Margaret Lee
Bunny DuBois
Brittany Dubs
Lillian Coughlin
Dorothy Loeffler
C. Campbell
Marge Straub
Shaun Deneen
E. Thielmann
Della Herrod
B. Chambers

Anyone who is ill in our parish and would like to receive Holy Communion; call (708) 331-8400. If you can be removed from the sick list at this time, please call the parish office.
REFLECTION
We are on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, in Galilee. An event will happen that is quite similar to one that took place a little earlier (cf. Mt. 8:23 et seq.): "And when Jesus got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, "Save, Lord; we are perishing." And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O men of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm." (Mt. 8:23-26)
In the episode in which Jesus sleeps in the boat, the Master is with his disciples, and yet he is absent, for he sleeps. Here, Jesus prays on the mountain, while his disciples are in the boat tossed by the waves: Jesus is near his disciples, in prayer, which allows him to rest in the Spirit of the Father and thus be close to his disciples; and yet, Jesus is on the mountain and thus is far from his disciples, who are on the lake, in the boat jostled by the winds!
While these two episodes are somewhat similar, they are nonetheless different in certain ways. First of all, there is an inversion: when Jesus sleeps in the boat, he is near his disciples in body, but far from them in spirit; here, Jesus is near his disciples in spirit, praying for them, but far from them in body, since he is on the mountain and not in the boat.
There is also another inversion. In the boat in which Jesus sleeps, it is his disciples who go to Jesus to wake him: "And they went and woke him." (Mt. 8:25). Here, it is Jesus who goes to meet with his disciples in order to encourage them: "Jesus came to them, walking on the sea... He spoke to them, saying, "Take heart, it is I; have no fear." (Mt. 14:25-27)
Our entire life here below closely resembles that boat of the disciples, shaken by the violent waves! Soon we will be there, before the Blessed Sacrament: Jesus is truly present, near us, and yet he does not say anything... For our spirit is so preoccupied by worries of all kinds that we do not hear his Word...
Sometimes we are deprived of the Holy Eucharist for a long time: I am thinking here of Christians who are isolated, whether through sickness that keeps them from getting to church, or through the lack of priests, who only rarely can come to them... And this sometimes troubles our soul, whereas we could think about making a spiritual communion and joining Jesus in Heaven...
" And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus; but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "O man of little faith, why did you doubt?"
Peter walks on the water! A miracle that is out of the ordinary! Forgive me for the pleonasm... For a miracle is always out of the ordinary... Is this miracle greater than that of resurrecting the dead? I believe so. For if Peter had not done this, if Peter had not one day, for a few moments, walked on water to go to Jesus, then would Peter have believed that God, responding to his prayer, would resurrect the woman named Tabitha (cf. Acts 9:40)? Not even an entire life would be enough to understand the miracle of Peter walking on the water...
Let us think about what Peter says, under the inspiration of the grace of God: "Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water!" Certainly, this is folly, the folly of God (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18)! For, in the present case, it is not solely a matter of physically going to Jesus, but it also involves spiritually going to He who is the only Savior of men! Now, only the Father can give man the grace to go to his Son Jesus: "No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." (Jn. 6:65) Only the Father, and he to whom the Father speaks (cf. Mt. 16:17), can say to Christ: "Bid me come to you!"
May the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, who never lets us out of her sight, watch over us each day of our life!

DATES TO REMEMBER
Aug 6, 7, 12, 13 & 14 SGM Players Summer Show "Story Time"

MISSION APPEAL
Fr. Sammy Alvero will be celebrating Mass at St. Gerard during the weekend of Aug. 13th and 14th.
The beneficiary of this year's Mission Appeal is the Archdiocese of Palo in the Philippines. The Archdiocese of Palo is located in Leyte, Philippines. It has a population of 1,572,472 of which 1,257,977 are Catholic. A total of 133 priests serve the needs of these Catholics at 50 parishes and 1,270 Chapels.
The region where Palo is located is situated in one of the most depressed areas of the Philippines. It is also situated along the typhoon belt, where an average of 10 typhoons pass through each year. A recent survey indicated that 48.3% of the population live below the poverty line. A very clear gauge of this is finding that 71 % of the children are in varying degrees of malnutrition, with 3.8 % severely malnourished. Disease of the respiratory system posted the highest mortality rate with 21,701 cases per 100,000. Pneumonia is one of the highest causes of death. Tuberculosis, vascular diseases and hypertension follow this.
The help we get from the mission preaching goes a long way in promoting the various apostolates of the diocese, especially in the maintenance and support of the seminary and seminarians, most of whom come from poor families.
In behalf of their Archbishop Pedro Dean, they wish to thank us for sharing the work of the Church in that part of the world. They also send us their blessings.

CATHOLIC SCHOOL FUND
Did you go to a Catholic School? Then don't forget the Cardinal's School Fund, established to help archdiocesan schools face financial challenges.
The tax-deductible fund is seeking critical donations because increasing costs jeopardize the future of many Catholic schools.
For more information, call (312) 751-05250 or visit www.archchicago.org.
OUR CONDOLENCES
The parish family would like to express their condolences to the families of Robert Ward, Jr. and Rosalee Gacke. Mr. Ward was buried from our church on Wenesday. Mrs. Gacke's memorial Mass was Saturday morning. Please keep them and their families in your prayers.

ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
The Feast of the Assumption (Aug. 15th) falls on a Monday this year, therefore it is not a Holy Day of Obligation in 2005. St. Gerard Majella will only celebrate the 8:00 AM Mass on this date. Mass will be held in the Chapel located in the school.

CHRISTIAN VALUES
Christians today need to have greater conviction about the power of prayer than other people have about the power of money.

SGM PLAYERS
Tickets for the summer production, "Story Theatre" are now on sale. They may be purchased after each Mass or by calling the parish office, (708) 331-8400.
The production will include a "Spaghetti Dinner" featuring the food from the Country House restaurant on Aug. 7th and a "Lasagna Dinner" featuring the food from Rubinos on Aug. 13th. These meals are always delicious and you don't want to miss them.
The SGM Players would also like to thank the members of the Women's Guild and the Holy Name Society for making this show our churches first joint production with the three clubs. It is always wonderful when different organizations join together to achieve a common goal.

BLACK CATHOLIC MEN'S CONFERENCE
The National Black Catholic Men's Conference will be hosting A Call to Walk Upright II "Faithful To The Vision" on October 7th - 9th, 2005 at Marriott Chicago Southwest at Burr Ridge. For reservations call 1-800-228-9290 or (630)986-4100.

WHAT'S YOUR CATHOLIC IQ?
The answers to last week's questions were: 1. (b); 2. (T); 3. (c); 4. (Y); 5. (a)

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
The story is told that one day a beggar by the roadside asked for alms from Alexander the Great as he passed by. The man was poor and wretched and had no claim upon the ruler, no right even to lift a solicitous hand. Yet the Emperor threw him several gold coins. A courtier was astonished at his generosity and commented, "Sir, copper coins would adequately meet a beggar's need. Why give him gold?" Alexander responded in royal fashion, "Cooper coins would suit the beggar's need, but gold coins suit Alexander's giving."