Sacred Heart Parish
MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK
Wednesday, August 5
7:00 AM Berthé Gaulin Myette, Jacques Myette and William Myette
Saturday, August 8
4:00 PM Liam Walsh – Mass In Thanksgiving
Sunday, August 9
9:00 AM Parishioners of Sacred Heart
11:45 AM E. Riley Greene
CELEBRANTS FOR NEXT WEEKEND’S MASSES
Saturday, August 8
4:00 PM Fr. Connelly
Sunday, August 9
9:00 AM Fr. Connelly
10:30 AM Fr. St. Martin
11:45 AM Fr. Connelly
CONFESSIONS
Saturday, August 8 – 2:00 to 3:30 PM – Fr. Connelly
READINGS FOR THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
First Reading: 1 Kings 19:4-8
Second Reading: Ephesians 4:30 – 5:2
Gospel Reading: John 6:41-51
ST. FRANCIS HOUSE
Thank you for your continued support of St. Francis House. The items needed for August are fruit juices. You may place your donations in the containers at the entrances to the church at any time during the month.
CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES COLLECTION
Next week’s special collection is for Catholic Relief Services. This collection supports emergency relief, human development, and peace initiatives in 99 countries around the world, where nearly half the population lives on less than $2.00 a day. The collection funds the ministries of five Catholic Church organizations: Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), Migration and Refugee Services (MRS), Social Development and World Peace (SDWP), and The Holy Father’s Relief Fund. For more information, please visit www.usccb.org/crscollection. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.
OFFERTORY INCOME
Weekend of July 25/26 $3,917
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS
Has God’s love led you to a desire to express that love in service to His people? Then teaching CCD could be the way to respond to Christ’s great love for you! We are looking for new teachers for both our Tuesday and Sunday programs. Please contact the religious education office now, so that we can plan for this upcoming year. I look forward to hearing from you by phone or email: religious.education@sacredheart.ws !
We are also in need of TAT and KCS instructors for the upcoming year. These individuals are responsible for teaching the catechists how to implement the personal safety/abuse prevention education programs in the classrooms. If you are interested in learning more about this important and necessary part of our CCD program and would like to become a “trainer to train the trainers” please contact the religious education office by phone or email.
Fr. St. Martin would like to make a home visit before the end of August 2009 with families of 2nd year Confirmation students. He is available Sundays and Thursdays at 7 PM throughout the summer Please call the Religious Education Office (617-969-4031) or email with several options for this visit. This meeting would need to take place before your son/daughter begins this new year of Confirmation preparation.
CCD registration forms have been mailed. Early registration helps plan for how many CCD teachers we will need for the upcoming year. If you have not received a registration form and would like to, please look in the back of the church and side entrances in upper and lower church for forms and CCD calendars or call the Religious Ed. Office. Children who will be in grade 1 this fall must complete 1 year in order to be prepared to receive First Eucharist in grade 2. Two years of preparation are required to receive the Eucharist.
Don’t forget to pick up 1st Communion photos before you leave for vacation! They can be picked up during regular business hours, at the rectory.
Michelle Solomon, Director of R.E.
POPE’S INTENTIONS FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST
General Intention: That the world may become aware of the plight of the millions of displaced persons and find solutions to their tragic conditions.
Mission Intention: That Christians who suffer persecution and discrimination may be granted human rights, equality, and freedom to live their faith.
RICH FARE IN THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS
Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians is Paul’s great letter on the Church. Unlike his other Letters which focused on the concerns of a particular church, for example, at Philippi, Thessalonica or Corinth, Ephesians focuses on what was then known as the world-wide church, whose head is the risen Christ and whose purpose is to be God’s instrument for making God’s plan of salvation known to all people of all times and all places. Paul’s vision of things is anchored in God’s saving love in Christ Jesus – made real and effective in the world by the power of the Holy Spirit.
There are so many ways of talking about the Church. The Church is obviously institutional; it is also the herald of the good news; it is the great sacrament of the invisible risen Christ who in his days of history became the sacrament of his invisible heavenly Father. In his Letter to the Ephesians, Paul stresses the Church as the body of Christ and as Communion, our Communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, our communion with one another as members of the one body of which the risen Christ is the head.
For the past several Sundays we have been reading from the Letter to the Ephesians. At Mass throughout the Catholic world, Paul said to God’s Catholic people what he once put in writing to the Church at Ephesus – “I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received.” What call did the Ephesians receive? What call did we all receive? Paul responds – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love God destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in his beloved Son.” When did this choosing become real and actual for the Ephesians and for ourselves? The answer points to Baptism. In Baptism we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us. These blessings are indeed manifold in the call to holiness, the forgiveness of sins, the grace of our divine adoption, our sharing in God’s life through faith, hope and love, the pledge of eternal life through the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. These blessings are for all people. Paul would have said in his days – “Jews and Gentiles alike”. We read in the Letter to the Ephesians – “God sent his Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near”. By the expression – those who are near – Paul means the Jews, the first to hear the Word of God. By the expression – those who are far off – Paul means the Gentiles. The great secret, the great mystery, is that Christ came among us to reconcile Jews and Gentiles, thus breaking down the dividing walls that have kept all peoples from unity with God and from unity with one another. The good news is – God has made in Christ one new person, that is, the Christian community, a new corporate body, thus destroying and displacing all divisions and barriers. It was given to Paul to make known the secret of God’s new plan in Christ, a plan that came to light only through the preaching of the Gospel, a plan that said – the Gentiles are co-heirs with the Jews, members of the same body, co-partners in the promise of Christ in the Gospel.
Let us return to the reading from the Ephesians which we heard last Sunday in which Paul urges his readers “to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received”. What virtues does Paul have in mind? He speaks of humility and gentleness; he calls for patience which means bearing with one another through love. These few virtues can serve to remind us that down through the centuries God has been teaching first his Old Testament people, then his New Testament people, how to live in a manner worthy of God’s call for each of us to be holy as God is holy.
First came the natural law which God has written in every human heart. God has programmed his human creation to seek what is true and reject what is false; to seek what is good and to reject what is not good. To seek what is true in any area of truly human concern is to seek God. When the little child wants an ice cream cone, the child is unknowingly asking for God. Then came the Ten Commandments given to ancient Israel through Moses. Because God’s human creation is now “set in sin”, the Ten Commandments are the ways God spells out for us the important content of the natural law. Then comes the new law of Christ summarized by Christ’s new command of love, his new command of forgiveness, his new command of loving those who do not love us in return. Christ’s new law calls us well beyond, but always including, the ethical life. Morals and ethics are indeed important. However, the Christian life, by the grace of divine adoption, means sharing in the life proper to our Three-Personned God, a life brought into human history through Christ the Lord and made available to all who believe through the sacraments of the Church and through the virtues, human and divine, always under the grace of the Holy Spirit. No wonder St. Paul says to the Ephesians – “Be imitators of God as his beloved children and follow the way of love as Christ has loved us and has handed himself over in sacrifice for our salvation. It’s important to recognize that the goal of the natural law, the goal of the Decalogue, the goal of the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount, the goal of the new law in the New Testament, is our happiness.
What does the new law call for? What does the new law look for in practice? Often times in his letters, Paul encourages his readers to find their happiness in living the new law the way the saints have done. For example, in Ephesians Paul tells us – “Put away falsehood, speak the
truth, each one to his neighbor. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger.” And in Romans Paul writes – “Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold onto what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor; bless those who persecute you; rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation; do not repay anyone evil for evil; be concerned with what is noble in the sight of all.” Each day we are challenged to live worthily of the call we have received.
Father Connelly
LIFT – CATHOLIC WORSHIP FOR A NEW GENERATION
Tuesday, August 11th
Join us for LIFT – an exciting monthly worship event which includes vibrant praise and worship music, dynamic, challenging speakers and Eucharistic Adoration. LIFT is for all ages – from young adults to teens to entire families. Be with us on Tuesday, August 11th as we celebrate 3 years of ministry and welcome Chris Faddis as our guest speaker. The evening runs from 7-9 pm at Fontbonne Academy, 930 Brook Rd., Milton, MA. Directions and a downloadable flyer along with more information about LIFT, can be found at www.liftedhigher.com. Come join in worship with hundreds of Catholics from around the Boston area!
COMPLIMENTARY COPIES OF THE PILOT
ARE AVAILABLE
Sacred Heart Parish has ordered a number of subscriptions to the Pilot for the benefit of our parishioners. Please feel free to take a copy with you as you leave the church. This way you can keep up with diocesan events as well as read some good articles and interesting columnists. There will be a special edition for Cardinal Seán’s silver jubilee, so we will have plenty of copies available this weekend. Do yourself a favor – take a copy and enjoy reading this Catholic publication.
PROTECTING YOUR NEST EGG SEMINAR
Michael Broderick will be presenting a free seminar: Protecting your Nest Egg on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 from 12 to 1 PM in the large Conference room of the Mackenzie Center. Come learn about estate taxes, the probate process, managing retirement income, gifting, trusts, uses for life insurance & annuities, nursing homes & Medicaid, and long term care insurance. Refreshments will be served. RSVP to Gina@AtlanticPlanning.com.
SIGNINGS
Good People,
There is a saying that the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Another way we could say it is that the physical part of a person is joined to the spiritual part of a person and that the needs and desires of both parts relate to one another.
In the Gospel, Jesus told the crowd following him that they were more interested in the earthly and bodily, the physical side of life, and less interested in the spiritual side. The people were looking for an earthy king who could give them prosperity in this world. This is not a bad thing to want. However, it is not what Christ has planned for us – as we know.
The plan Jesus has is different. He comes to save us body and soul but it is through feeding our soul that he saves our stomachs. Christ requires us to starve and die to this physical world’s goods so that our soul can be pure and loving. Then on the last day he will raise up our bodies and make them glorious. Now we eat His spiritual food. He feeds our hearts – the true way to win our bodies.
In Christ,
Fr. St. Martin
MAKE OUR PARISH AND COMMUNITY SAFER FOR CHILDREN
You can help create a safer environment for children by leaving the parish or community environment safer each day than when you started. This could be as simple as training yourself to do a more effective job of keeping your eye on those around you when they interact with children. It sounds overly simple; but most of us don’t really do it, and it can be an easy habit to develop. It just takes persistence and a way to measure your success. For example, in order to make yourself notice those who are interacting with children, you could try counting the number of children you see each day interacting with non-parental adults. Okay…so this could be a little unrealistic for a schoolteacher…but for the rest of us it could be a very big learning experience. To learn more about parish efforts to create safe environments for our children, please contact Peg Miller at the parish office. For particular help you may call the Office of Child Advocacy at 617-746-5981.
CALENDAR NOTES
COFFEE HOUR AFTER THE ASL MASS:
Sunday, August 2 – 11:30 AM to 1 PM – Parish Center
PANCAKE BREAKFAST:
Friday, August 7 – Following 9 AM Mass – Parish Center
LITURGY, ADORATION AND THE ROSARY:
Saturday, Aug. 8 – 9 AM to 12:30 PM – Lower Church
COFFEE HOUR AFTER THE ASL MASS:
Sunday, August 9 – 11:30 AM to 1 PM – Parish Center