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Welcome
Our Pastor is
Reverend
Polycarp
Otieno
Welcome, and thank you for visiting Our Lady of Sorrows Church online. We hope that our website gives you the information you are seeking. Please feel free to read more about our church on this site, or come in for a visit. We would love to greet you and share with you our love for Jesus Christ and for you, our neighbor.
245 W. Hwy 90, China, Texas 77613
Our Faith
We believe that the door to salvation is always open and so are the doors to our church. Our mission is to be fully devoted to Jesus by opening our arms to those in search of the truth. We show God’s love and concern for our fellow man at every opportunity. Through works of charity and opening our doors to listen and love, we feel that we are walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.
Church Office- 409-752-3571
Church office hours-
Mon-Thur. 8:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.
Friday 8:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.
Mass Times
WEEKENDS
Saturday at 4:00 PM
Sunday at 8:30 AM
Weekdays:
Tuesday 8:00 AM
Wednesday- 8:00 AM
Thursday- 8:00 AM
Friday 8:00 AM
Reconciliation: Saturday 3:00- 3:45 p.m.
Adoration- Wednesday
8:30 a.m. -10:00 a.m.
Baptism: Please call the
office for appointment. Baptism Classes are required.
Weddings: Diocesan policy for Marriage requires that you make an appointment with the pastor at least six months before the anticipated wedding. Please meet with the pastor before setting your final date.
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JOIN US FOR CHILDRENS MASS
the second Sunday of each month.
Sunday November 30, 2025
First Sunday of Advent Year A
Stay Awake, we know not when the Lord will come
Advent is to prepare our hearts for the 3 comings of Christ
His birth , His return , & His coming to us right now
First Reading- Isaiah 2:1-5- The prophet Isaiah describes a vision of an ideal time of peace when all nations will come to the mountain of the Lord.
PSALM- 122:1-5- R/. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
Second Reading- Romans 13:11-14- St. Paul urges the faithful of Rome to be ready, the time of salvation is nearer now than when they first believed.
Gospel- Matthew 24:37-44- Jesus teaches his disciples that they must stay awake, for they do not know when the Son of Man will return. He gives examples throughout history of people not being prepared.
3rd Annual Christ in Her Women's Conference Register now!
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Appeal for Catholic Ministries 2025
Thank You For Sharing In Our Need
We give thanks to our God at our every remembrance of our generous stewards, our pastors, parish leaders and all those who partner with us in grace to carry out the work of Jesus through diocesan ministries and Catholic Charities of Southeast Texas. We pray always with joy in our hearts at our every thought of them. Remembering how they have helped us to spread the Good News. We are confident the One who began this good work in them will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Stay Awake
As we enter the first week of Advent, we hear in Matthew’s Gospel, “Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.” This is a familiar verse and one that we might be tempted to gloss over. Yet, Advent is an invitation to a time of expectation, of quiet waiting, and deep spiritual preparation. It is a time to slow down and consider what it means in our lives in 2025, to stay awake. Have you ever been so exhausted that you cannot physically stay awake? Merely resisting sleep in this exhausted state is not what this passage means by staying awake. Sure, we can keep our eyes open when we are tired, but we are not alert enough to pay attention and perceive what is happening around us. Today’s Gospel reading is a call not just to have our eyes ajar, but to be alert, attentive, and expectant. That is what it means to stay awake. In this passage, Jesus invites us to recall the Old Testament story of Noah when people were going about their daily lives. They were “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark.” Though Moses and his family were building an ark with precise measurements in the midst of their community, onlookers were not sufficiently alert or awake to realize that a great flood was coming. Many people found themselves unprepared when the flood arrived. In a similar way, we too, can live life in a distracted state. Especially in this modern age, our lives are fast and overstimulated. During the holiday season, we zip from parties, to shopping, to school plays and concerts, fueling ourselves on cookies and coffees. Our bodies are in motion but not necessarily alert or awake to the miracle of Advent: Christ is coming.
The invitation to stay awake beckons us to be conscious of the virtue of hope, of the miracle of life, and the prodigious love that our God has for us in choosing to become incarnate. Let us stay awake this season to be attentive to the details surrounding Jesus’ birth and to prepare ourselves for His ultimate return in glory.
SAFE ENVIROMENT FOR ALL
We all need to be nourished and fed. Let's get Back to the Table with our families and eat meals together 2 or 3 times each week. And let’s get Back to the Table of our Lord by going back to Church on Sunday.
