Sacred Heart Parish
MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK
Saturday, December 5
4:00 PM Parishioners of Sacred Heart
Sunday, December 6
9:00 AM Pasquale Nuzzi
11:45 AM Owen and Theresa Keefe
Monday, December 7
12:05 PM Albert Genetti
Wednesday, December 9
7:00 AM Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Thursday, December 10
7:00 AM Robert P. Carey
Saturday, December 12
4:00 PM Antonio Nicolazzo
Sunday, December 13
9:00 AM Frances and Roland LaBreche
10:30 AM Albert “Mickey” Folkard and Charles Napoli
11:45 AM Parishioners of Sacred Heart
FATHER MCCOY
Many of us were saddened by the news of Father McCoy’s death. This is so very true of our “Philippian” brothers and sisters whose pastor he was. On Sunday, the 27th of December, the 9 o’clock Mass will be celebrated as a Month’s Mind Mass for Father McCoy.
CELEBRANTS FOR NEXT WEEKEND’S MASSES
Saturday, December 12
4:00 PM Fr. Collins
Sunday, December 13
9:00 AM Fr. Fr. Imbelli
10:30 AM Fr. Carey
11:45 AM Fr. Connelly
CONFESSIONS
Saturday, December 12 – 2:00 to 3:30 PM – Fr. Connelly
FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
Tuesday, December 8, is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary which is a holyday of obligation. Mass will be celebrated in the Lower Church at 7 AM, 12:05 PM and in the Upper Church at 7:30 PM.
ADVENT PENANCE SERVICE
The best preparation a person can make for Christmas is to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Our Lady Help of Christians Parish invites us to prepare to receive the Lord with a clean heart by attending a Penance Service to be celebrated on Thursday, December 17, 7:30 PM at Our Lady Help of Christians Church.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS
For the coming 4 weeks we will light the Advent wreath and sing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” as we yearn for Christ’s coming, just like our Jewish ancestors who longed for the coming of the Messiah for thousands of years. We prepare our hearts for his coming by keeping his commandments and loving Christ in the presence of our neighbors. Help us keep watch by helping those in dire straights this season. Please bring your food bags for needy families in Dorchester to the lower church in these weeks of Advent: Here are the items needed:
1 bottle of vegetable oil 1 bag of rice,
1 jar of spaghetti sauce 1 box of pasta,
1 box of cereal 1 jar of peanut butter,
1 jar of jelly 1 can of gravy
1 can of cranberry sauce
1 can each of: peas/carrots/corn
Please drop off bags before Tuesday, December 15th.
All CCD parents and students from grade 8 and older are invited to a special and entertaining presentation by Jason Evert on Chastity, this afternoon, Dec. 6th from 3:45-5:15 pm at Corpus Christi Church in Auburndale. Jason Evert’s humorous and poignant style have deeply affected young people nation-wide. Please don’t miss this!
Here is a calendar of upcoming CCD events:
Sunday, Dec. 13: CCD classes will be from 10:30-11:15 am in order to allow the students to attend the Parish Advent Celebration at the MacKenzie Center.
Tuesday, Dec. 15: CCD classes will meet as usual.
Sunday, Dec. 20 & Tuesday, Dec. 22: CCD classes held as usual.
Sunday, Dec. 29 & Tuesday, Dec 31: No CCD classes: Christmas Vacation.
Sunday, Jan. 3 & Tuesday, Jan. 5: No CCD classes: Christmas Vacation.
Michelle Solomon, Director of Rel. Ed.ANNUAL ADVENT CELEBRATION
Plans are underway for our annual Advent Celebration to be held in the Parish Center on Dec. 13 from 10 AM to 1 PM. (This event takes the place of the usual Sunday morning coffee hour.) The party always includes finger-foods that can be enjoyed by people stopping by to leave off their Christmas gifts and to have a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. We invite you to bring a finger-food (baked goods, canapés) for the refreshment table. If you can bring a tasty something, please help our planning by signing up on the clipboards at the doors of the church or by contacting Mary Murphy at mmmurphy17@comcast.net or 617-332-8587.
OFFERTORY INCOME
Weekend of November 28/29 $ 4,665
Retired Religious $ 2,753
THE COMING OF THE LORD
The Entrance Antiphons for the Advent Masses have an exciting ring to them: 1) “Nations, hear the message of the Lord and make it known to the ends of the earth. Our Savior is coming, have no more fear.” 2) “See, the Lord is coming and with him all his saints. Then there will be endless day.” 3) “The Lord is coming from heaven in splendor to visit his people and bring them peace and eternal life.” 4) “The Lord is coming and will not delay; he will bring every hidden thing to light and reveal himself to every nation.” As annual, catechetical instruction tells us – “We do not preach only one coming of Christ, but a second as well, much more glorious than the first. The first coming was marked by patience; the second coming will be the crown of a divine kingdom.” When the Lord came at the first Christmas it was to fulfill his plan of love and to teach all who would hear him by gentle persuasion. When the Lord comes at time’s end, he will come as judge when all men and women, like it or not, will be subjects of his kingdom.
Often times at the Eucharist when one confesses our sins at the start of Mass, we say three things in prayer to the risen Christ. First we say – “You came in history as our redeemer to gather us into the peace of God’s kingdom.” Then we say – “You come now in word and in sacrament to strengthen us in holiness.” Then we say – “You will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” From these three statements we can conclude that there is an intermediate coming between the first coming in lowliness and the second coming in glory. We speak of this coming as one of sacramental mystery. Perhaps we should look more carefully at this word “mystery”. There is mystery in the sense of Channel 2 or some unsolved crime or some strange event, which surprises us. In theology we speak of mystery as some truth of faith which far exceeds our ability to grasp in its entirety. In the liturgy, as in the Scriptures, we use the word somewhat differently. It refers to all that the Lord Jesus said and did in his human condition and all that the Lord Jesus says and does for us in 2009 when he comes to us in word and in sacrament. Take John’s Gospel, for example, we read of various signs and events, such as the healing of the blind man, the raising of Lazarus, the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes, the curing of the centurion’s son and the like. We see what happens on the surface of history, but we do not see, but comprehend in faith what underlies the surface event and we call that “mystery”. For example, as a matter of historical fact, the Lord Jesus cured the man born blind. The hidden meaning for us is that he, by the gift of faith, cures our blindness, which separates us from God and leads us to faith and hope and love. He forgives the sins of the Samaritan woman as the outward sign of his forgiving all who follow him through the grace of the Holy Spirit. A good word, then, for the liturgy is Christ in his mysteries. The remarkable thing, however, is that these mysteries are our mysteries also. The reason for this is three-fold: Christ
the Lord lived them for us; in them he shows himself to us as Exemplar; in them he unites us to himself as members of his body. The power of these mysteries, made available through the liturgy, will remain until the end of time.
St. Charles Borromeo, bishop of the City of Milano in Italy, wrote the following with regard to the Season of Advent: “Each year the Church urges us to renew the memory of the great love God has shown us. This holy season teaches us that Christ’s coming was not only for the benefit of his contemporaries; his power has still to be communicated to us all. We shall share his power if, through holy faith and the sacraments, we willingly accept the grace Christ earned for us and live by that grace and in obedience to Christ.”
Father Connelly
OUR NEW “RESURRECTION” ICON
The following note speaks to what is usually found in “Resurrection” icons typical of Eastern Christianity. The note is from a friend of Father Imbelli – a friend who is quite knowledgeable about Eastern iconology. “Having torn asunder the bonds of hell by His omnipotence, with His right hand Christ raises Adam from the grave (following Adam, our ancestress Eve rises with hands joined in prayer); that is, He frees Adam's soul and with it the souls of all those who wait for His coming with faith. This is why, to right and left of this scene, are shown two groups of Old Testament saints, with prophets at their head. On the left are king David and king Solomon in royal robes and crowns, and behind them John the Forerunner; on the right - Moses with the tablets of the Law in his hand. Seeing the Saviour descended into hell, they at once recognize Him and are pointing out to others Him of Whom they had prophesied and Whose coming they had foretold.”
HOLLY HARVEST FAIR
Thank you for coming to the Holly Harvest Fair. We hope that you had fun. Special thanks to:
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Everyone who donated items, helped at workshops and helped to transport items to the gym
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The Montessori students who carried items to the gym, and Confirmation candidates who helped at the Fair
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Everyone who helped during the Fair and especially the clean up
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Special thanks to Lita Altea who prepared lunch and the Waters family who contributed the chowder
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All the wonderful bakers who helped make the Bake table so successful
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All the volunteers at the various tables who put in long hours decorating, setting up and selling – you are all special angels!
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Lastly, please remember the generosity of our merchants who continue to support us every year.
Barbara Hatem Gloria Rausa-Thompson
SIGNINGS
NEED ASL CONFESSION BEFORE CHRISTMAS?
Fr. Shawn Carey and Fr. Jeremy St. Martin are pleased to announce that there will be opportunities for the Deaf Catholics to attend a confession in this season of Advent. Fr. Shawn will lead two penance services in ASL held at St. John the Evangelist Parish, 20 Church Street in Hopkinton on the following dates and times:
Monday, December 14 at 7:00pm
Monday, December 21 at 7:00pm
Confessions will follow the penance service. We encourage all Deaf Catholic members to take advantage of this opportunity to be fully prepared for Christmas. Advent is like a little Lent. It is a time of trying again to be holy. We need to start and restart this process again and again in this world. It is a skill that God helps us to acquire. God helped the people who would be the first to meet Christ by God's sending His prophet, St. John the Baptist, to teach people that if they admitted their sins, their sins could be forgiven.
Now we are helped by God's Church. He sends His Church to give us the message of our need to repent, to teach us about sin so we can discover our sins, and gives us the full means of grace to be freed from our sins.
Imagine how it would be if we did not have the Church. We might be full of sin but unaware of it. We might be aware of our sin but unable to find forgiveness. We might come to some kind of forgiveness but be unable to find healing.
Only the full truth about moral life comes from the Church. Everyone knows that heaven should only be for good people. But the question remains, what is a good person? Does a good person treat other people like servants? Many people outside the Church formally treat the opposite sex in this way and that is not good. But they don't know, so they suffer. Many people who have rejected the Church through history are easily entrapped by eugenics and Utopian philosophies which rob people of even the basic right to life. In China for example there is a group of rulers with a lot of power who think they are doing a good thing by forcing people to kill their children. The way it works out in that culture results in the biggest genocide in human history. It is a genocide of Chinese women. Where have all the women gone in China? They are dead. But the people doing this think they are good.
We have the gift of the Church. This really helps us to avoid evil and get busy doing good. We need to go all the way and also go to confession. This is the way to forgiveness. Then doing our penance united with Christ's innocent suffering brings the only and real satisfaction and healing.
Let's redouble our efforts and be good practicing Catholics for this Advent.
In Christ, Fr. St. Martin
CHRISTMAS FLOWERS
It has been our happy custom here at the Parish to accept donations for Christmas flowers in memory of deceased relatives and friends. Please include the names of those you would like listed in the bulletin. All of the people will be remembered during the Masses on Christmas Day and through Epiphany on Sunday, January 3rd. Checks can be made payable to Sacred Heart Parish and forwarded to the rectory.
A FESTIVAL OF LESSONS AND CAROLS
Come to St. Paul Church, 502 Washington St., Wellesley, to experience the story of the Nativity told through readings, Choral Settings and Audience Carols on the Feast of St. Nicholas, Sunday, December 6, 2009 at 4:00 PM. Features include The Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Charpentier and In Dulci Jubilio by Buxtehude performed by The St. Paul Choir, Mary Lee Cirella Conductor and Music Director.
ADVENT EVENING OF REFLECTION
On Wednesday, December 9, at 7:00 PM there will be an Advent Evening of Reflection at Corpus Christi Church, 45 Ash St., Auburndale. Guest presenter is Sr. Meg Guider, OSF from Boston College – her topic will be “Advent and Discipleship”.
ANNE MARIE DAVID IN CONCERT
Anne Marie David, wife of our music director JoJo David, has released her latest CD, "Turning Home." You are invited to this CD release concert on Friday, December 11, at 7 PM at Our Lady's in Newton. Join Anne Marie post-concert for some holiday goodies and a CD signing! Free will offering. For more information, visit www.annemariedavid.com.
CALENDAR NOTES
EXTENDED COFFEE HOUR:
Sunday, December 6 – 10 AM to 1 PM – Parish Center
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – GRADES 1 TO 5:
Sunday, December 6 – 10:30 to 11:45 AM – Lower Church
WOMEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP:
Sunday, December 6 – 10:30 AM – Convent (DR)
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – Tuesday, December 8
Grades 1-5: – 4:00 to 5:15 PM – Lower Church
Grades 6-10: – 7:00 to 8:30 PM – Lower Church
PRAYER GROUP:
Wednesday, December 9 – 7:30 PM – Convent (Chapel)
PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL MEETING:
Thursday, December 10 – 7:30 PM – Convent (Library)
LITURGY, ADORATION AND THE ROSARY:
Saturday, December 12 – 9 AM to 12:30 PM – Lower Church
PARISH ADVENT CELEBRATION:
Sunday, December 13 – 10 AM to 1 PM – Parish Center