Saint John Chapel Bulletin
1397 Brick Church Rd.
Bland, Missouri 65014
(Highway P and Brick Church Road)
November 23, 2025
Last Sunday of the Church Year
Sunday, Nov 23, 9:00am
Twenty-fourth (last) Sunday after Pentecost, II cl., Green
Monday, Nov 24, 9:00am
St. John of the Cross Confessor & Doctor, III cl., White
Commemoration St. Chrysogonus Martyr
Tuesday, Nov 25, 5:00pm
St. Catherine of Alexandria Virgin & Martyr, III cl., Red
Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Wednesday, Nov 26, 8:00am
St. Sylvester Abbot, III cl., White
Commemoration St. Peter of Alexandria Bishop & Martyr
Thursday, Nov 27, 9:00am
Note Time: Votive St. Joseph the Worker, White
Thanksgiving Day
Friday, Nov 28, 8:00am
Votive Sacred Heart of Jesus, White
Saturday, Nov 29, 8:00am
Our Lady on Saturday, IV cl., White
Commemoration St. Saturninus Bishop & Martyr
Sunday, Nov 30, 9:00am
First Sunday of Advent, I cl., Violet
Commemoration St. Andrew Apostle
Officiant: Father Brendan Dardis, OSB
This is a Private Chapel dedicated to the Latin Mass and to the Traditional Sacraments
Prayer Requests:
Mother of Lu Prayer: After Mass at the Communion Rail every Sunday.
Confessions: 30 minutes before Mass: Rosary, 20 minutes before Mass
Collection: November 16: $ 495
Highlights of the Week
MON, 24 NOV: St. John of the Cross, great lover of the Cross, whose mystical writings led Pope Pius XI to proclaim him a Doctor of the Church in 1926. The Martyr, St. Chrysogonus, commemorated in the Mass, is mentioned at the Canon of the Mass., and a slight bow is made toward the Crucifix at his mention. TUES, 25 NOV: The body of St. Catherine was found on Mount Sinai in the XV Century. As a young Christian lady, she rejected the advances of the Emperor Maximinus who convened an assembly of philosophers to refute her Christian ideas and convert her to paganism. Turning the tables with her learning, St. Catherine successfully refuted their arguments whereupon she was martyred. It is said her body was taken from Alexandria, Egypt to Mt. Sinai by angels. St. Catherine is patroness of philosophers. WED, 26 NOV: Feast of St. Sylvester Abbot, THURS, 27 NOV: Thanksgiving Day, established formally as a holiday by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863.
Concerning Swearing Oaths
The Son of God here, and elsewhere in the gospel, confirms His word by an oath, as it were, for swearing is nothing else than to call upon God, His divine veracity, His justice, or upon His creatures in the name of God, as witness of the truth of our words. — Is swearing, then, lawful, and when? — It is lawful when justice or necessity or an important advantage requires it, and the cause is true and equitable. (Jer. IV. 2.) Those sin grievously, therefore, who swear to that which is false and unjust, because they call upon God as witness of falsehood and injustice, by which His eternal truthfulness and justice is desecrated; those sin who swear in a truthful cause without necessity and sufficient reason, because it is disrespectful to call upon God as witness for every trivial thing. In like manner, those sin grievously and constantly who are so accustomed to swearing as to break out into oaths, without knowing or considering whether the thing is true or false, whether they will keep their promise or not, or even if they will be able to keep it; such expose themselves to the danger of swearing falsely. "There is no one," says St. Chrysostom, "who swears often, who does not sometimes swear falsely, just as he who speaks much, sometimes says unbecoming and false things." Therefore Christ tells those who seek perfection, not to swear at all, (Matt. V. 34.) that they might not fall into the habit of swearing and from that into perjury. He who has the habit of swearing should, therefore, take the greatest pains to eradicate it; to accomplish which it will be very useful to reflect that if we have to render an account for every idle word we speak, (Matt. XII. 36.) how much more strictly will we be judged for unnecessary false oaths! God's curse accompanies him who commits perjury, in all his ways, as proved by daily experience. He who commits perjury in court, robs himself of the merits of Christ's death and will be consumed in the fire of hell, which is represented by the crucifix and burning tapers, in presence of which the oath (in some places) is taken. If you have had the misfortune to be guilty of perjury, at once be truly sorry, weep for this terrible sin which you have committed, frankly confess it, repair the injury you may have caused by it, and chastise yourself for it by rigorous penance.