Mass Times: Saturdays at 5:00 pm;
Sundays at 8:00 am and 10:30 am.
Mon, Tues, Wed* (*Communion service),
and Fri at 8:15 am;
Thurs at 6:00 pm.
St. Rita Roman Catholic Church
1008 Maple Dr., Webster, NY 14580
585-671-1100
 

The Parish Office is open from 9 am to noon, Monday through Friday.  Stop by or give us a call at 671-1100.

Pastoral Messages

Together We Bring Hope

As Francis of Assisi grew in his faith but was not yet fully converted, he suffered from an extreme disgust of those who suffered from the disease of leprosy. Even seeing a leper at a distance would cause him to double over with nausea.

He would go well out of his way to avoid the places where they lived.

One day, while riding home on his horse, there was suddenly a leper in his path. The leper stood there with his hand out and with pleading in his eyes, begging for alms. Francis, made stronger than himself, got down from his horse and not only gave the man alms, but also kissed the open sores on his hands.

Francis turned and got back on his horse and when he turned back to the path, the leper had vanished.

This is my favorite story of my favorite saint. I have always loved how the Grace of God transformed Francis’ heart and made him “stronger than himself”.

Another way that God helps us to be stronger than ourselves is when we come together as a faith community.

Joyfully living the Gospel of Jesus, we can do so much more when we journey through life together. We do this as St. Rita Parish and as the Diocese of Rochester. When we realize our unity as a diocese, we are literally made stronger than ourselves. The work and love extend so much further and bear so much more fruit than we could ever hope to accomplish on our own.

Please support our parish and our diocese. Please give generously and early to the Catholic Ministries Appeal.

For six straight years, we have finished before Christmas. The CMA is important and deserves our attention and energy. But we also have other important things that God is calling us to do. So, let’s do the CMA well, complete our responsibility before Christmas, and move into the new year able to devote ourselves to other ministries.

And also, if at all possible, please increase your ongoing regular contributions to St. Rita. In your envelopes, or even better, online, support all the ministries that St. Rita is involved in. There is so much more happening and being accomplished than any of us could hope to do on our own. But it all does happen. It happens by the grace of God and because together we are made stronger than we are on our own.

Thank you for all that you do. I am so proud of the people of our parish.

Yours in Christ,
~Fr. Tim


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Scripture

An Introduction to the Sunday Scripture Readings - November 9, 2025

“You Are God’s Building”

The Feast of St. John Lateran Basilica is unusual in the Church’s calendar because it is a feast for a building rather than a saint or an event. The Basilica of St. John is dedicated to both St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.  Pope’s cathedral. While this feast is for a building, the purpose is to help us reflect on the true Church, the Body of Christ—we the faithful who believe in Jesus, the Christ.

Our first reading is from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel Ezek 47:1-2, 8-9, 12). Ezekiel wrote at a time when the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed and the people exiled to Babylon. His intent was to give them hope of a future time when God would build a new temple in a new Jerusalem. Ezekiel’s vision saw a new temple with a river of life flowing from it that would bring new life to all the land. This river was similar to the river of the Garden of Eden. As the River of Life flowed from the original Eden, it brought life to all the land and watered the whole earth.

In our Epistle reading (1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17), St. Paul tells us that we are the true Church and the Holy Spirit dwells within us. “You are God’s building”, and Jesus is our foundation. Paul writes, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” This indwelling of the Holy Spirit is what inhabits each one of us and makes us holy.

In our Gospel reading (John 2:13-22), we hear John’s account of Jesus cleansing the temple, overturning the tables of the money changers and telling the vendors to “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” Here, Jesus was exercising His authority of the Son of David, who was given the responsibility for maintaining the “House of God.” When questioned for a sign of His authority, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up....But He was speaking about the temple of His body.”

Jesus identifies His body as the new Temple. Thus Ezekiel’s vision of a new Temple applies to Jesus’ body. The river that Ezekiel saw in his vision is the Holy Spirit, the giver of life. While we celebrate today the Cathedral in Rome and the chair of St. Peter, our readings tell us that the true temple is Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit joins each of us to God’s temple.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/110925.cfm


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© 2014 St. Rita Roman Catholic Church - Last updated 2022-09-13 21:11:10
Mass Times: Saturdays at 5:00 pm;
Sundays at 8:00 am and 10:30 am.
Mon, Tues, Wed* (*Communion service),
and Fri at 8:15 am;
Thurs at 6:00 pm.