St. Gertrude Chicago

All are Welcome

1420 W. Granville, Chicago, IL 60660

773.764.3621

stgertrude1420@stgertrudechicago.org

www.stgertrudechicago.org

Bulletin for Sunday, February 26, 2023

First Sunday in Lent

Ways to Deepen Your Lenten Experience

• Pray more.
• Attend Mass daily or commit to going on Sundays if you don't attend weekly.
• Spend time with the daily scripture readings.
• Spend five minutes daily in silence with the Lord.
• Pray the Stations of the Cross at church or at home.
• Fast from specific things or foods.
• Turn off electronic devices for 30 minutes daily.
• Behavioral fasting from criticism, negativity, judgmentalism, resignation, self-righteousness, cynicism, know-it-all-ness, provincialism, self-absorption, divisiveness, intolerance, violence in thought, word or deed, excess pride, blindness to your own involvement in sin, criticism, anger, bitterness, despair, and hatred.
• Give to those in need. There are so many meaningful programs that could benefit from help! They include Almoner Program, Care for Real, Heart to Heart, our Refugee & Immigrant Ministry and more!
• Join our choir. One way to deepen your Lenten experience is through music. Please consider joining the choir and singing at the 10:30 am Sunday Masses during Lent and Holy Week. The group practices on Thursday nights from 7:00-8:15 pm in the church and usually gather about 9:30 am on Sunday mornings before Mass. Email Mary Clare Barker at mcbarker@stgertrudechicago.org if interested. 
• Little Black Books of Lenten Reflections. These small books offer daily six-minute meditations on the Passion according to Matthew. The books are available for a suggestion donation of $1.
• Catholic Relief Services Rice Bowls. Join our faith community—and more than 12,000 Catholic communities across the United States—in a transformative Lenten journey with CRS Rice Bowl. Visit crsricebowl.org to learn more about this long-standing Catholic tradition. CRS bowls are available in Church.
• Use the National Pastoral Migratoria's Lenten Calendar. This fantastic resource asks all Catholics to accompany immigrants and refugees on their journey for justice. The calendar offers short, daily prayers and reflections.
• Listen to the Ignatian Solidarity Network's Lent 2023: Finding God in the Chaos podcast. Search for it wherever you listen to podcasts.
• Receive a daily email reflection from the Ignatian Solidary Network. Visit https://ignatiansolidarity.net/lent-2023/ for information and to sign up.

Lenten Activities at St. Gertrude



Care for Real Food Drive in Church This Saturday, February 25 and Sunday, February 26

As we celebrate our blessings given in love, perhaps consider sharing your gifts and donating to the St. Gertrude monthly food donation benefiting Care for Real. The first donation opportunity will be Saturday, February 25 and Sunday, February 26 in the back of the Church.

Please see the list of requested items in the above image. You can also make a donation online to Care for Real, help with their Amazon Wish list or Chewy Wish List (for pet food), or drop-off your donation at their facility. Information about all of these options can be found here: https://careforreal.org/wishlist/.

Almoners Lenten Ministry

Each weekend during Lent, we will have a weekly second collection for the Almoner’s Program. The funds raised will be used to purchase $10.00 McDonald gift cards which parishioners can pick up at the weekend Masses and share with those in need.

Distribution of the gift cards will begin this weekend.

Lenten Study: The Crucible of Racism by Patrick Saint-Jean, SJ - Thursday Mornings & Evenings During Lent

The Lenten book study this year will continue the work begun last year on racism. We will be reading The Crucible of Racism, the second book by Patrick Saint-Jean, author of the book we shared together last year, The Spiritual Work of Racial Justice. In this book, Saint-Jean shows how Ignatian Spirituality and faithful hope can, in fact, change us, the Church, our nation, and the world. 

Study groups will meet weekly in the Ministry Center on Thursday mornings at 9:00 am and Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm until March 30. Each meeting is about one hour. Sign-up sheets are on the tables in the back of the church. We have copies of the book available for $20. For further information, contact Fr. Mike Gabriel at mgabriel@stgertrudechicago.org.

Stations of the Cross: Fridays at 3:00 pm & 6:00 pm

Every Friday during Lent, we will take time from our busy schedules to reflect on the suffering journey of Christ and others in the world. On Friday afternoons at 3:00 pm, we offer the traditional way of the Cross.

At 6:30 pm, we will also have stations of the Cross joining Jesus’ journey recognizing the present struggles and crosses that challenge the modern world.

The Mystic Path in Song Planned for March

On Wednesday, March 15th, we will have a special evening in the Church. Titled "The Mystic Path in Song", the evening will feature Gerry Dignan. It will be a time of reflection on the spiritual journey of the great saints and the ups and downs they faced in their own life.

Gerry will provide brief commentary for each of the eight stages of the Path, followed by songs that bring us to prayerful contemplation, deepening our understanding of the presence of God in the lives of the saints as well as in our own life.

The presentation will last about an hour. A flyer is available here.

Growing in Faith: Online Lenten Resources

1. An Ignatian Guide to Lent: This Lent, use Ignatian spirituality to breathe new insight into the sacred rituals of Lent

2. An Ignatian Prayer Adventure: An eight-week retreat online

3. Return to Me: Lenten daily reflections from Holy Cross College 2023 

4. Stations of the Cross: Renew the Earth

5. Lenten Prayers and Lenten Spiritual Reading

6. Praying Lent

7. Lenten audio conversations

8. User-Friendly Lent by David Steindl-Rast, OSB

9. My Favorite Thing to Do for Lent

10. Lenten Activities for Children

Wishing all a blessed Lent!

~ The Growing in Faith Committee

Pastoral Migratoria

LENTEN CAMPAIGN

40 Days of Prayer, Fasting and Action for Immigration Reform

Join us live via Zoom (Meeting ID: 87423832789) or Facebook Live

Every Wednesday in Lent at 6:00 pm CST

Starting Ash Wednesday, February 22 through Holy Week, April 5

All are welcome to join in the 2023 Multilingual Lenten Campaign for Immigration Reform. The campaign provides the opportunity to share one’s faith through prayer, fasting and acts of mercy to raise awareness of the need for immigration reform.

Please register at https://bit.ly/lenten-rosary. For more information, please visit https://pvm.archchicago.org/immigration-lenten-campaign.

Contact Mauro Pineda at mpineda@archchicago.org or 312.534.8103 or Huguet Gonzalez at mdgonzalez@archchicago.org, with any questions and/or if you would like to pray a decade in your native language.

The NCA Soiree is Saturday

Northside Catholic Academy’s annual fundraising gala, the 2023 NCA Soirée, will take place this Saturday, February 25, at the Ravenswood Event Center. This is NCA’s largest fundraising event, and helps to raise funds to support academic enhancements, facility improvements, and our Guardian Angel Scholarship program. There are a number of ways you can help support NCA in bringing quality Catholic education to students in our community.

Tickets Available! All tickets (event, raffle, Choose Your Own Adventure, and Sponsor-a-Staff) can be purchased at ncasoiree.com. 

• Enter the Grand Raffle for a chance to win $3,000, $2,000, or $1,000! Raffle tickets are $20 or 6/$100, and you don’t need to be present to win.
• Enter the Choose Your Own Adventure Raffle for a chance to win your choice of one of 6 fabulous trips, including an Alaskan Cruise, Barcelona, Napa Valley, Mexico, and more. Tickets are $100—only 100 tickets will be sold.
• Save $50 by purchasing the “All In For 2!” Deal: includes 2 event tickets, 6 raffle tickets and 1 Choose Your Own Adventure ticket.
• Can’t attend the event? Consider sponsoring a ticket for one of NCA’s amazing faculty and staff! 

Upcoming Mass Intentions

• Monday, February 27: 7:30 am - Living and deceased parents of St. Gertrude parishioners
• Tuesday, February 28: 7:30 am - Living and deceased Torreano family members
• Wednesday, March 1: 7:30 am - Sheila McGuire †
• Thursday, March 2: 7:30 am - Communion Service
• Friday, March 3: 7:30 am - Dan & Patt Elster †
• Saturday, March 4: 7:30 am - Purgatorial Society; 5:00 pm - James Corbett †
• Sunday, March 5: 8:00 am - Living and deceased Torreano family members; 10:30 am - Mary Lou O’Toole and Bobby Udrow †; 10:30 am Gym Mass - Matt Bussey †



(† indicates the person is deceased) 

Click HERE for the daily readings for Masses. Here is the list of readings for this week for parishioners that prefer to look them up:

• Monday, February 27: Lv 19:1-2, 11-18/Mt 25:31-46
• Tuesday, February 28: Is 55:10-11/Mt 6:7-15
• Wednesday, March 1: Jon 3:1-10/Lk 11:29-32
• Thursday, March 2: Est C:12, 14-16, 23-25/Mt 7:7-12
• Friday, March 3: Ez 18:21-28/Mt 5:20-26
• Saturday, March 4: Dt 26:16-19/Mt 5:43-48
• Sunday, March 5: Gn 12:1-4a/2 Tm 1:8b-10/Mt 17:1-9

If you would like to add a name to the prayer list, please contact the Rectory at 773.764.3621 or email stgertrude1420@stgertrudechicago.org. Names will remain on the list for three weeks. After that time, please renew the name using same contact information.