THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Pss III  Seasonal prop and of the day

Rose    EPMag ant:  “O Wisdom” (O Sapientia)

Prop Cr  Adv Pf I or II Sol Bl 1

9: Zep 3:14-18a  (Ps) Is 12:2-6

Phil 4:4-7  Lk 3:10-18

Rejoice in the Lord always (2)! Great in our midst is the Holy One of Israel, a mighty savior (1,Ps). It is he whom John foretold; it is he who will baptize

in the Holy Spirit (3).

Stewardship

Today’s Gospel provides a blueprint for good stewardship: “Let the man who has two coats give to him who has none. The man who has food should do the same.”    See Luke 3:11

PLEASE PRAY FOR ALL OF OUR PARISHIONERS who are sick at home, in the hospital or in nursing homes, especially for John Vanderhoff, Tony Gangitano, David King, Mary Pokotello, John & Peter Foxwell, Haley Weber, Frank Stashak, Blanche Ferarro, Josephine Sarnoski, and Elizabeth Connelly

Collections

Immaculate Conception, December 8^th  $998.00

Sunday, December 10^th  $4076.05

Retirement for Religious, December 10^th  $1648.00

December 17^th, 2006

Counters Team #2

Bingo Team #2

DIOCESAN NEWS

www.diometuchen.org

** Vocations Awareness Week * January 8-12 **

From the desk of  Rev. Randy J. Vashon, Director of Vocations

I pray that all parishes will be willing to celebrate this week so that all parishioners will be made more aware of their responsibility to pray for and encourage vocations to the priesthood and religious life. It is important that we all work together to promote and encourage vocations.

Jan. 5^th, we invite men who are interested in the possibility of priesthood or have a vocation to the priesthood to an informal dinner with Bishop Bootkoski. This will be held at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Old Bridge at 7:00pm. Please talk to Father Herlihy if you’d like to attend or get more information on vocations within the Church.

Mount Saint Mary Academy

1651 U.S. Highway 22

Watchung, NJ 07069-6587

(908) 753-2091 msmhope@att.net

Year-End Day of Prayers

Dec 30, 9:30 a.m.- 3:00 p.m - Quiet time of prayerful reflection. Bring bag lunch, (Donation), Opportunity to walk the labyrinth, 1:30-3:00

OUR LADY OF MERCY NEWS

Bishop's Annual Appeal Update

As of Dec. 7, we exceeded our goal of $27,800!! A total of 167 donors pledged $27,810 to put us at 100.04% of our goal. Once again, the parishioners of Our Lady of Mercy have come through. Thank you so much for being so generous to those that the diocese serves through the agencies funded by the Annual Appeal.

Serve the Lord

All boys and girls in grades 3 through 12 are invited to become Altar Servers. Training will begin on Saturday January 6, 2007 at 10:00 AM in the church and last approximately 3 weeks.  We are also interested in any adult that wishes to become a Senior Acolyte to help serve the Mass at funerals.  Questions may be referred to Mr. Reid at 732-469-2335.

The Rosary Altar Society

An end of year message from Joan McArdle, President of the Rosarians

2006 has been a wonderful year for the Rosarians and I would like to say thank you to the people who made that happen. Thank you…

v      to all the Rosarians and Parishioners who helped make this past year a success.

v      to All who lent a hand and donated to our bake sales and craft fairs this year

v      to All who attended our Annual Women’s Communion Breakfast

v      to All who make the effort to come to our Adoration Hour at the church on Thursday mornings.

We finished 2006 with the Annual Rosarian Christmas Luncheon. This year’s special guest was Sister Katherine. It was wonderful to see her again and everyone enjoyed speaking with her-she holds a special place in our hearts. Our other special guest was Father Dan, whose company we always enjoy when he joins us Rosarians for an occasion.

Looking forward to 2007.

v      We are ready to start planning our breakfast at another hotel this year since everyone had a great time at the last one.

v      We will be doing more of our famous bake sales in the coming year since they are a big hit with the Parish.

v      We will be making a special effort to recruit more women into the Rosary Altar Society. The women of the parish are invited to join. You do not have to be there for every meeting, we are looking for fresh faces and ideas.

v      We meet the Last Monday of each month at 7:45 PM. Come and sit with us, come talk with us, come be part of a community of women who care about our church and about each other.

Holiday Diet Tips

·  If you eat something and no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.

·  If you drink a diet soda with Christmas cookies, the calories in the cookies are cancelled out by the diet soda.

·  When you eat with someone else, calories don't count if you do not eat more than they do.

·  If you fatten up everyone else around you then you look thinner.

·  Cookie pieces contain no calories--the process of breaking causes calorie leakage.

·  Things licked off knives and spoons have no calories if you are in the process of preparing something.

·  Foods that have the same color have the same number of calories. Examples are: spinach and pistachio ice cream; mushrooms and mashed potatoes.

·  Chocolate is a universal color and may be substituted for any other food color.

·  Anything consumed while standing has no calories. This due to gravity and the density of the caloric mass.