To form disciples who joyfully live out the Mission of Jesus Christ in Bowie

March 29, 2020

Click PLAY below to watch Father Mike's message to us this weekend!

WORSHIP

Watch our SPX Mass!

You can find us at spxbowie.online.church at our regular Mass times: Saturday at 5 pm, Sunday at 7:30 am / 9:00 am / 11:30 am.

You can also find our Mass on
YouTube starting at 5 pm on Saturday, March 28

or

Facebook starting at 5 pm on Saturday, March 29

Make a 'Spiritual Communion'

In these cases where you are unable to attend Mass, the Church encourages us to make an act of “spiritual communion,” where we unite ourselves to God through prayer. It is a beautiful way to express to God our desire to be united with him when we are unable to complete that union in the reception of Holy Communion. Here's what you do:

Gather with others in your household and begin a time of prayer with the sign of the cross.
Take time to read and reflect upon the readings from Sunday Mass. You can find the readings for this Sunday, March 29, HERE.
Share prayer intentions quietly or aloud.
Pray the Lord’s Prayer.
Pray 'An Act of Spiritual Communion by St. Alphonsus Liguori'
My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Close with the sign of the cross.

If you can't join SPX online for Mass, you can also tune in to:

A Mass filmed in the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception airs every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. on WDCW-50 and through free online streaming at adw.org/tvmass
You can also watch the Mass streamed online by our friends at Church of the Nativity on Saturdays at 5 pm and Sundays at 9 am, 10:45 am, 12:30 pm and 5:30 pm at https://live.churchnativity.com/

Reflect on the Gospel Reading with your Family

Take time to read the Gospel aloud You can find the readings at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/032920.cfm
Reflect on these questions:

1) What is something other people seem to do easily, but scares you?

2) What stood out for you most in this week’s message?

3) Imagine Jesus were standing in front of you and said “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” How would you respond to him?

You can also continue to use the Lenten Scripture Reading Plan in our series take-away. Download a copy below!

Spring Cleaning Series Take Away.pdf

SERVE

SPX Online HOST Ministry

With the start of SPX Online and our ability to worship together at spxbowie.online.church, Facebook, and YouTube we are in need of people to serve as 'hosts' for each of our Masses. All you need is your computer and training is provided. Contact Katie Skerpon HERE if you're interested in serving - you can even be in your PJs!

Help Contact Our Members

We've begun the process of making contact with all our members, particularly our elderly parishioners, to see if they have any practical or prayer needs at this time. If you'd be willing to help with these calls, please contact Suzanne Fanning HERE.

Helping Hands Ministry

This ministry is back up and running to assist members during this difficult time. In order to maintain the safety of those serving and those being served, at this time we're able to offer grocery delivery only.

If you are in NEED of someone to deliver groceries to your house OR
if you'd like to volunteer for this ministry (volunteers must be under the age of 60)

Call 301.262.2141 ex. 10 or email spxhelpinghands@gmail.com so that the coordinator can get you connected.

Sharing Pantry

The need for donations to our Sharing Pantry is growing amid this crisis. We always need: cereal, peanut butter and jelly, spaghetti noodles, canned veggies, tuna fish, soup, canned fruit, boxed noodles or Mac N Cheese.

To meet this unique situation, we've set-up an easy way for you to donate:

every Tuesday & Thursday you can place non-perishable food items in the coolers outside the SCHOOL ENTRANCE from 8 am - 2 pm.

OPPORTUNITY FOR CONFESSION

Fr. Mike is offering the opportunity twice a week to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Members of our staff will be there to direct you, and you'll be asked to wait outside until the person before you is done. The church will not be available for prayer before or after.

If you are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 either because of a compromised immune system or age, please use your best judgement and an abundance of caution in deciding whether or not to come.

Tuesdays from 11 am - 12 pm
Thursdays from 7 - 8 pm

RECTORY OFFICE

The Rectory Office will have reduced hours until further notice:

Tuesday & Wednesday from 9:30 am - 12:00 pm

PASTORAL NEEDS

If you have an urgent pastoral need, please contact us so that we can accommodate you as best we are able. You can always email us at office@spxbowie.org or call at 301.262.2141.

We are exploring creative ways to bring you pastoral care

during this time when we cannot gather as a large community.

Please keep an eye out for more information.

A GREAT way to do this is follow us on social media

@spxbowie

on Facebook and Instagram

GIVE

Thank you to everyone who has donated to SPX, for the first time or as continuation of their regular giving. We greatly appreciate your support. However, we wish to be transparent about how deeply this crisis is affecting our parish.

Our average weekly Sunday Offertory has been $9,500.00.

On March 15 we received $2,290.00.

On March 22 we received $4,169.00.

With the long-term economic and social impact of this situation, we encourage parishioners to please continue to financially give to make sure the parish can operate not just in these coming weeks, but in the months to follow. Our ability to offer activities and formation opportunities relies solely on the continued generosity of our parishioners. You can give in the following ways:

Use Faith Direct to make a one-time donation or set up recurring donations instead of using your offertory envelopes. Click HERE.

Mail your donations to the Rectory Office: St. Pius X Church, 3300 Moreland Place, Bowie MD 20715.

CELEBRATE

If you are celebrating a wedding anniversary in the month of April and would like it announced in the bulletin, please submit your names and how many years married HERE.

The deadline is Wednesday, April 1.

We know how hard it is to not be able to physically gather for Mass.... we miss you too!

In an effort to remember all our members joined in prayer, each family's name has been printed and taped to one of our pews as a placeholder.... and names are great, but...

WE WANT YOUR FACES!

Each family is asked to send a picture to us so that we can print it out and replace your name card with that picture.

You can email your pictures to adults@spxbowie.org

OR

mail it to

SPX Rectory

3300 Moreland Place

Bowie, MD 20715