Sacred Heart Parish
MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK
Monday, April 6
12:05 PM Maria Parillo
THE SACRED TRIDUUM
HOLY THURSDAY: Morning Prayer and Office of Readings at 10 a.m. in the Lower Church. Celebration of the Lord’s Supper will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Upper Church. This will be a concelebrated Mass for the deaf and hearing members of our Parish with shared participation. Please note that a morning Mass is not allowed in canon law for a parish in our circumstances. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will be until 10:00 p.m.
Holy Thursday Offerings: Parishioners have been very responsive to the Lenten appeal for new underwear and socks for St. Francis House and the Walden School for the Deaf. The collection will end at the Mass on Holy Thursday evening when the baskets will be brought to the altar in the offertory procession.
The Rice Bowl offerings will be brought to the altar also. The money that you saved during Lent for this project may be placed in the baskets on the tables as you enter church. If you are not present on Holy Thursday, you may place the envelope marked “Rice Bowl” in the regular collection on Easter or leave it at the rectory.
GOOD FRIDAY: Morning Prayer and Office of Readings at 10 a.m. in the Lower Church; Stations of the Cross for our grammar school children at 11 a.m. in the Upper Church; Stations of the Cross again at 3:00 p.m. in the Upper Church; and celebration of the Lord’s Passion at 7:30 p.m. in the Upper Church. This celebration is for the deaf and hearing members of our Parish.
HOLY SATURDAY: Morning Prayer and Office of Readings at 10:00 a.m. in the Lower Church. The celebration of the great EASTER VIGIL at 8:00 p.m. will be in English only. Gather in the lower church to pick up tapers and programs or on the front steps of the church. If the weather is not good, we will all gather in our gathering space in the upstairs church. As usual, after the Easter Vigil there will be a reception at the MacKenzie Center.
(PLEASE NOTE: There will be no 4:00 p.m. Mass on Holy Saturday.)
EASTER SUNDAY
Please note that the last Mass on Easter Sunday will be at 12 noon.
OFFERTORY INCOME
Weekend of March 28/29 $4,544.50
GOOD FRIDAY COLLECTION FOR THE HOLY PLACES
On Good Friday, our parish will take up the annual collection for the Holy Land. We ask you to be generous. Your financial contribution will support the works of the Catholic Community in the Middle East and to protect the Holy Places and Christian shrines. Please be generous.
EASTER SUNDAY COLLECTION
At the Easter Vigil and all the Masses on Easter Sunday, the one collection to be taken up will be directed entirely for the support of priests serving the Archdiocese of Boston, to provide for their health and retirement needs. Your customary generosity is essential and greatly appreciated.
EASTER FLOWERS
Once again it is time to think about our beautiful Easter flowers. If you would like to donate monies in memory of a loved one, please feel free to do so. The names of the deceased will be placed in the bulletin at Easter time, and we will remember them in our prayers at all the Masses. Checks may be made payable to Sacred Heart Parish and mailed to the rectory.
EASTER VIGIL RECEPTION
April 11, 2009
The Easter Vigil Reception will be held in the Parish Center immediately following the Easter Vigil. It is an opportunity to gather in a spirit of joy after we, as a community, have experienced together the highpoint of the liturgical year. If you would be willing to contribute some refreshments, please add your name to the sign-up sheets that will be on the tables at the back of the church and on the table near the elevator. Crackers and cheese, desserts, and other finger foods are requested. Your items can be left at the Parish Center on Holy Saturday morning between 10 a.m. and noon or just before the Vigil.
EASTER EGG HUNT
On Easter Sunday morning after the 9:00 AM Mass, there will be an Easter Egg Hunt on the rectory grounds for children ages 1-10. We will be filling the eggs on Monday, April 6 at 7:30 PM in the convent. If you can help please call Lisa Nahabedian at 617-244-7756.
BOSTON CATHOLIC CONFERENCES
Please consider attending the Catholic Men’s Conference on April 18 or the Catholic Women’s Conference on April 19 at Boston College’s Conte Forum. There is a $5 savings off the door price if you purchase tickets by April 11. You can purchase tickets on line at www.CatholicBoston.com. This is a great follow up to the ARISE program!
HIGH HOLY DAYS
Not all our Jewish brothers and sisters are observant in terms of religious worship. Those who are, however, are most faithful to their high holidays. What about ourselves? Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday – and because of Easter Sunday, every Sunday of the year – constitute our high holy days. It is most important for our young people to begin the practice of participating in our high holy days. Our religious education program is going to make an effort to recommend to our students, grades 6 to 9, to attend all our ceremonies. The success of our hopes being realized depends so very much on our parents. In this column let me say a brief word about Holy Week and its high holy days.
Several years ago, I introduced in this column a remarkable woman and marvelous Catholic Christian – Sister Thea Bowman. The granddaughter of a slave, she entered the Catholic Church at age twelve as a result of her contact with Catholic priests and nuns. She was a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, a member of the faculty of the Institute of Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University in New Orleans. She once wrote an article entitled – “How to Celebrate Holy Week”. This is a good question for us to reflect upon as Palm Sunday comes around again on the liturgical calendar.
Because we celebrate Holy Week we should understand that we are not only reflecting on the holy things the Lord Jesus did for us but also on the things we must do if we are to be holy. A good start for Holy Week is to make the resolve to read carefully, to listen intently, and to meditate on the many wonderful Scripture passages in the Liturgy of Holy Week. Holy Week cannot be holy for us if we just try to fit it in with everything else we ordinarily do throughout the week. Holy Week constitutes our highest holy days. These begin with the celebration of Palm Sunday and end with the celebration of Easter. If we’re going to profit from the Scriptures we should resolve to make this week holy by sharing peace and joy within our families, doing a little bit of family prayer, sharing more readily in family work, being centers of love and not of hostility within the family home. If peace and joy are going to be genuine within the family home, we must strive to extend peace and joy to those who are ill, and to those who are alienated and lonely and in need. This is just another way of carrying out the morning offering which many of us make each day, whereby we offer to the Lord “our prayers, our works, our sufferings”. During Holy Week we do this by uniting our problems and inconveniences and annoyances with the sufferings of Jesus. For those who are young, it would be wonderful in Holy Week to be present to someone who is suffering, that is, with someone in our neighborhoods who is sick or elderly or alone or all three. This would be a wonderful way to remind ourselves of the sufferings of Christ for each of us.
Above all, we should participate prayerfully and joyfully in the Church’s liturgy during Holy Week. Perhaps I could offer a few modest suggestions with reference to each of the services:
Palm Sunday: During the blessing of the palms, we should be mindful that this is the way the Church loves to celebrate the mystery of Christ our King. He is a strange sort of king because his throne and his lifestyle are quite different from what we expect of royalty. Yet, he is the one who came among us to die for us. Should we not be filled with the generosity suggested by the Apostle Thomas – “Let us go with him that we may die with him”?
Holy Thursday: Holy Thursday gives us the opportunity to remind ourselves of the Lord’s gift of the Eucharist, the Lord’s gift of the priesthood, and the Lord’s command of genuine mutual love. The washing of the feet is a parable in action and makes us think about the Words of Jesus – “What I have done, you also do to one another”. The offertory procession on Holy Thursday will not only provide the bread and wine but will contain several “rice bowls” and other gifts for the poor, to remind ourselves that the Lord feeds us who are poor, and we must do the same for others who are poor. After the Eucharistic procession on Holy Thursday, the choir and the ministers on the altar will return in silence to the sacristy. This gives our parishioners a wonderful chance to remain in Church in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. I would suggest that one could probably bring along a copy of John’s Gospel and read prayerfully.
Good Friday: We should note that there is but one Good Friday liturgical celebration. There will be Stations of the Cross at 3:00 PM. Those who work and are free for an hour or so in the afternoon will find the Church open for a visit. You will note that the Blessed Sacrament will not be present, but such a visit can enable one to make the Stations of the Cross privately or to read one of the Passion Narratives from Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.
Holy Saturday: The celebration that begins at 8 PM. is, of course, the chief liturgical event of the Church. It would require a year of columns to do justice to the riches of the Easter Liturgy. Let me comment, however, on Holy Saturday morning and afternoon. Ideally, this is the time the Church waits at the Lord’s tomb, meditating on his suffering and death. Admittedly, much must be done in the home and market for Easter Sunday. However, we should set aside at least one hour of quiet prayer. Please come to the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer in the Lower Church at 10 AM.
Father Connelly
SIGNINGS
Good People,
This Sunday we have the pleasure and honor of Deacon Shawn Carey Preaching for us. My thoughts on the Gospel in this article are therefore not the content of the homily given at the Deaf Mass this weekend.
Here is one point for your reflection: The world is indeed weary as the first reading reminds us. God gives us a way to help the world in its weariness. One of the mysteries present in the Gospel that can help free us from mystery has to do with art.
There is the mention of costly perfume. It is an expensive luxury and it is used up on directly honoring Christ. It touches his very body. There is a voice that complains, however - Judas the betrayer. He thinks it is a waste and thinks it would be better to spend money on the poor. The world now tends to agree with him. Isn't Christ present in the poor? He is, but he is also present in himself. If he is not present in himself in the first place then he is not present in the poor. Christ is present in the poor because he is in a human body. Respect for his body then causes respect for the poor.
It is like his presence in the Church. He is present in the Eucharist. It is his presence in the Eucharist that makes him present in us and in the poor. To love the poor and shun his presence in the Eucharist is strange. We don't worship Christ by worshiping the poor. Even the poor can become false idols. God is present in creation but creation is not God.
When we really worship Christ and joyfully even use our money in art and architecture for the pure and direct worship of Christ through the sacramental contact with his Eucharistic Body then we will be better able to help the poor because then we will be able to see the Jesus in them with his life in us.
The world needs to know this. The world is weary because it tries to love the poor like Judas who as we all know talks about it but fails to do it.
Don't be shy to make art to honor God. It is not bad. It is wonderful! It is joyful. We need this truth in our weary world.
In Christ,
Fr. St. Martin
PARISH PARTY – SAVE THE DATE
SAVE THE DATE: Friday May 1st at 7:30 PM – Mark your calendars! MAY DAY PARTY: with D.J MR. ED, Cash Bar, chit chat and dancing! No admission fee, bring dessert or appetizer and dancing feet. Spread the word to all adults.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS
There will be no Sunday CCD program held on Easter, April 12th. Classes are also cancelled on Sunday, April 19th and Tuesday, April 21st due to Spring Vacation week. However, classes will be held for the Sunday CCD program at the end of vacation week on April 26th. Please make a note of this.
Please remember to love the poor by filling your Rice bowls and giving to St Francis and the Walden School for the Deaf! Rice bowls and clothing should be brought in to CCD by April 5th for the Sunday program and by April 7th for the Tuesday program. Our gifts will be offered by some of our CCD students during the Holy Thursday Service.
Fr. Connelly will be ready to guide our children on the Road to the Cross on Good Friday at 11:00 am in the upper church. Won’t you be close to Christ along with His Blessed Mother, on the day that Christ offered his life for ours? Only Jesus can show us that death and sadness are not the end of the story. Jesus wants us to see that his death was a victory over sin. When we celebrate His rising on Easter morning, we know that dying to our old ways and habits can raise us up to be like Him!!
Michelle Solomon, Director of Religious Ed.
CALENDAR NOTES
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION:
Sunday, April 5 – 9:00 AM (ASL) – Lower Church
Sunday, April 5 – 10:30 AM – Lower Church
GUILD OF ST. FRANCIS “BAKE AND BOOK SALE”:
Sunday, April 5 – 10 AM to 12:30 PM – Parish Center
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – GRADES 1-5:
Tuesday, April 7 – 4 to 5:15 PM – Lower church
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – GRADES 6-10:
Tuesday, April 7 – 7 to 8:30 PM – Lower Church
MORNING PRAYER:
Thursday, April 9 – 10 AM Lower Church
MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER:
Thursday, April 9 – 7:30 PM – Upper Church
MORNING PRAYER:
Friday, April 10 – 10 AM – Lower Church
STATIONS OF THE CROSS:
Friday, April 10 – 11 AM and 3 PM – Upper Church
GOOD FRIDAY LITURGY:
Friday, April 10 – 7:30 PM – Upper Church
MORNING PRAYER:
Saturday, April 11 – 10 AM – Lower Church
EASTER VIGIL AND RECEPTION:
Saturday, April 11 – 8 PM – Upper Church and Parish Center
EASTER EGG HUNT:
Sunday, April 12 – 10 AM– Rectory lawn
COFFEE HOUR/EGG HUNT AFTER THE ASL MASS:
Sunday, April 12 – 11:30 AM – Parish Center