541 Washington Avenue • Kenilworth, New Jersey 07033

PHONE: (908) 272-4444 -:- FAX: (908) 272-4424

MASS SCHEDULE:

Saturday Vigil 5:30 pm | Sunday 9:00 am - 10:30 am - 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Daily Services: 7:00 am - 9:00 am | Saturday 9:00 am ONLY | Monday 6:30 pm

Italian Memorial Mass, First Friday - 6:30 pm

Divine Mercy First Sunday of the Month after 12:00 pm Mass

Holy Days of Obligation Schedules will Appear Separate

The Church of Saint Theresa

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Fr. Giovanni Rizzo

Archdiocese of Newark
2025 Lenten Regulations

1. The days of both Fast and Abstinence during Lent are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. If possible, the fast on Good Friday is continued until the Easter Vigil (on Holy Saturday night) as the “paschal fast” to honor the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus, and to prepare ourselves to share more fully and to celebrate more readily His Resurrection. The other Fridays of Lent are days of Abstinence.

On a day of Fast, only one (1) full meal is permitted, and two (2) smaller meals, which, if added together, would not exceed the main meal in quantity.

Those between the ages of 18 and 59 are obliged to fast

On a day of Abstinence, no meat may be eaten. Those who have reached the age of 14 are obliged by the law of abstinence.

1. The obligation to observe the laws of Fast and Abstinence “substantially”, or as a whole, is a serious obligation.
2. The Fridays of the year, outside of Lent, are designated as days of penance, but each individual may substitute for the traditional abstinence from meat some other practice of voluntary self-denial as penance.
3. The time for fulfilling the Paschal Precept (Easter Duty*) extends from the First Sunday of Lent, March 9, 2025 to The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, June 15, 2025.

*Canon 920,1. All the faithful, after they have been initiated into the Most Holy Eucharist, are bound by the obligation of receiving Communion at least once a year.

Will you prayerfully consider making a gift to the

2025 Annual Appeal?

https://rcan.org/sharing

 St. Theresa Church’s Goal:  $46,118

The feast of the Annunciation, now recognized as a solemnity, was first celebrated in the fourth or fifth century. Its central focus is the Incarnation: God has become one of us. From all eternity God had decided that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity should become human. Now, as Luke 1:26-38 tells us, the decision is being realized. The God-Man embraces all humanity, indeed all creation, to bring it to God in one great act of love. Because human beings have rejected God, Jesus will accept a life of suffering and an agonizing death: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

Mary has an important role to play in God’s plan. From all eternity, God destined her to be the mother of Jesus and closely related to him in the creation and redemption of the world. We could say that God’s decrees of creation and redemption are joined in the decree of Incarnation. Because Mary is God’s instrument in the Incarnation, she has a role to play with Jesus in creation and redemption. It is a God-given role. It is God’s grace from beginning to end. Mary becomes the eminent figure she is only by God’s grace. She is the empty space where God could act. Everything she is she owes to the Trinity.

Mary is the virgin-mother who fulfills Isaiah 7:14 in a way that Isaiah could not have imagined. She is united with her son in carrying out the will of God (Psalm 40:8-9; Hebrews 10:7-9; Luke 1:38).

Together with Jesus, the privileged and graced Mary is the link between heaven and earth. She is the human being who best, after Jesus, exemplifies the possibilities of human existence. She received into her lowliness the infinite love of God. She shows how an ordinary human being can reflect God in the ordinary circumstances of life. She exemplifies what the Church and every member of the Church is meant to become. She is the ultimate product of the creative and redemptive power of God. She manifests what the Incarnation is meant to accomplish for all of us.

Reflection— Sometimes spiritual writers are accused of putting Mary on a pedestal and thereby, discouraging ordinary humans from imitating her. Perhaps such an observation is misguided. God did put Mary on a pedestal and has put all human beings on a pedestal. We have scarcely begun to realize the magnificence of divine grace, the wonder of God’s freely given love. The marvel of Mary—even in the midst of her very ordinary life—is God’s shout to us to wake up to the marvelous creatures that we all are by divine design.

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/annunciation-of-the-lord/