Sacred Heart Parish
MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK
Saturday, April 24
4:00 PM Linda Capodilupo
Sunday, April 25
9:00 AM Parishioners of Sacred Heart
Monday, April 26
12:05 PM Timothy Herlihy
Tuesday, April 27
7:00 AM Domenico Esposito
Friday, April 30
12:05 PM Fernando Migliassi
Saturday, May 1
4:00 PM Bridget and Martin Thomas Finnerty, Martin Finnerty, Jr. and Rita and Paddy O’Brien
Sunday, May 2
9:00 AM Parishioners of Sacred Heart
10:30 AM Emma Folkard
CELEBRANTS FOR NEXT WEEKEND’S MASSES
Saturday, May 1
4:00 PM Fr. Connelly
Sunday, May 2
9:00 AM Fr. Imbelli
10:30 AM Fr. Carey
11:45 AM Fr. Connelly
CONFESSIONS
Saturday, May 1 – 2:00 to 3:30 PM – Fr. Connelly
READINGS FOR THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
First Reading: Acts 14:21-27
Second Reading: Revelation 21:1-5a
Gospel Reading: John 13:31-33a, 34-35
CATHOLIC APPEAL 2010
We want to thank everyone from Sacred Heart Parish who has participated in the 2010 Catholic Appeal. As of April 20, our parish has raised $33,220, or 68.5% of our goal of $48,500. The Appeal is to our Archdiocese what the weekly offertory is to our parish. Because of the economic downturn, support of the Catholic Appeal is even more urgent this year. If you have not yet made your gift, please consider making a pledge this weekend. You can pick up information packets with pledge forms on the tables at the entrances to the church. For more information, please visit www.BostonCatholicAppeal.com or call 617-779-3700.
HOME CARE WORKER AVAILABLE
A parishioner of Sacred Heart Parish, who is experienced in working with the elderly or children in their home, is available for work. If you are looking for such a person, please call Lynette at 617-306-6072.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS
There will be CCD classes this Sunday, April 25, the last day of Spring Vacation.
Our final Confirmation Speaker will be on April 27th with Fr. Shawn Carey teaching our students on how to be "Media Savy”. All parents and parishioners of Sacred Heart are welcome to join us and learn about our Catholic faith together! CCD begins with a decade of the Rosary in the Chapel and class at 7:15 – 8:30 pm.
Sponsors of Confirmation Students will be asked to attend CCD class with the student they are sponsoring on Tuesday, May 11 from 7:15 – 8:30 pm in the lower church during regular CCD classes to instruct them on the rite of Confirmation and the role of the sponsor. Please notify the Religious Education office if attendance is not possible. A parent may attend in lieu of the sponsor under special circumstances.
If you are a parent of a Confirmation I & II student, please take note if your son or daughter has a make-up assignment or if they have not completed their service hours. They are required to complete these assignments and service hours prior to the end of classes on May 25th! There are a number of opportunities to complete service hours in the parish within these next 6 weeks, but they must sign up and complete a service form in order for it to be counted.
Michelle Solomon, RE Director
ATTENTION ALL WHO KNIT OR CROCHET
Are you interested in joining with others in the parish to work in the Prayer Shawl Ministry? This involves making shawls to be given to the sick and/or hospitalized persons in the parish. The pattern is simple enough for beginners and work can be done in the group or on your own time. Anyone interested is asked to contact Peg Miller at 617-969-2248 or peg.miller@sacredheart.ws so that enough materials will be available. We will meet at 7 PM on April 27 in the Convent Library. Please come to learn how you can help with this outreach ministry to bring comfort, hope and healing to those in need.
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS REQUEST
The Sacred Heart Knights of Columbus would like to remind parishioners that they are looking for items for a yard sale to be held next month. If you have anything to contribute, please talk to either Bob Terwilliger or Peter Castellanos. All donations accepted.
OFFERTORY INCOME
Weekend of April 17/18 $5,178.94
FROM THE CROSS FLOWED BLOOD AND WATER
The sacrifice of the cross is the fount of the sacramental economy of the Church. In a beautiful mosaic printed in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we see an image of Christ on the cross with Our Lady standing beside her son, her left arm around the waist of her son, her hand cupped to receive the blood and water which flowed from the open side of Christ and which are symbols of the Church’s sacraments, especially with the water as symbolic of Baptism and the blood as symbolic of the Eucharist. At Christ’s other side stands a picture of the soldier with his lance facing Christ, with his back to the viewer. As St. John writes in the 19th Chapter of his Gospel: “But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into Christ’s side and immediately blood and water flowed out.” We are reminded here of the magnificent Preface Prayer for the celebration of the Mass of the Sacred Heart. It reads as follows: “Lifted high on the Cross, Christ gave His life for us, so much did He love us. From His wounded side flowed blood and water, symbols of the sacramental life in the Church.” The following words are from St. Augustine as he comments on these words of St. John the Evangelist:
“Christ our Lord, who in his suffering offered for us what in his being born he took from us and who has become in eternity the greatest of priests, has commanded that this sacrifice which you see be offered, that is, his body and blood. Indeed, his body, rent by the lance, poured out water and blood by which he forgave our sins. Remembering this grace and working out your salvation (which is God then working in you), draw near and become a partaker of this altar with fear and trembling. See in this bread that very body which hung upon the cross and in this cup that very blood which gushed from his side. Even the ancient sacrifices of God’s People prefigured in their manifold kinds this unique sacrifice that was to come. Christ is at the same time the lamb by reason of the innocence of his pure soul and the goat by reason of his flesh which was in the likeness of sinful flesh. Any other thing which in many and various ways might be prefigured in the sacrifices of the Old Testament points solely to this sacrifice which has been revealed in the New Testament.
Take then and eat the body of Christ since you have become members of Christ. Take and drink the blood of Christ. So as not to be cut off, eat that which unites you, so as not to think little of yourself, drink what is the price of your person. As this food, when you eat and drink of it, is transformed into yourself, so also do you transform yourselves into the body of Christ if you live in obedience and devotion to him. He indeed, when his passion was near, celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples. Taking the bread, he blessed it, he gave the cup saying: This is my body which will be given up for you. In the same way, after having blessed it, he gave the cup saying: This is my blood of the new covenant which will be shed for all for the forgiveness of sins. This you have already read and heard of in the Gospel but you did not know that this Eucharist is the Son himself. Now with heart purified in an unstained conscience and with your body bathed in clean water, look to him and you will be radiant with joy and your faces will not blush with shame”
SAINT ANSELM
Today, April 21, is the feast day of St. Anselm of Canterbury. He was a monk of St. Benedict at the Benedictine Abbey of Bec in northern France. His work brought him to England and he was named Archbishop of Canterbury in England. In theology in Anselm’s day, as in our own day, one of the great hinges on which theological discussion hangs is the issue of faith and reason. Anybody exploring this faith, reason problematic cannot possibly overlook the contribution of Anselm to the discussions. Down through this history and in our own day, some spoke of the primacy of reason or the primacy of faith. As our Holy Father never tires of telling us – Reason alone or faith alone can lead us into gigantic mistakes and missteps along the road to the truth of things. Maybe a quote from Anselm is in order. He writes in one of his books and in prayer form – “I do not try, O God, to penetrate the depths of your mysteries because in no way do I compare my intelligence with yours, but I desire in some way to understand your truths which my heart believes and loves. I do not seek to understand in order to believe; I believe in order to understand.” The great historian of theology, Etienne Gilson, phrases this position in this way. He writes – “Between faith and the Beatific Vision, to which we all aspire, there is here below an intermediary which is the understanding of faith. To understand one’s faith is to draw nearer to the very sight of God. The order to be observed in the search for truth is therefore the following: first to believe the mysteries of faith before discussing them through reason; next, to endeavor to understand what one believes. Not to put faith first is presumption; not to appeal to reason next is negligence.” From this quotation we can conclude as follows: God has revealed himself in what we call the mysteries of faith which transcend the abilities of the human mind. God does not ask us first to understand them and then to believe, but to believe them and then try to understand them. The response to God’s word is what we call faith. When the outer word of the apostolic preaching, that is, the teachings of the Church are combined with the inner gift of the Holy Spirit, Catholic Christian faith is born. We do not believe primarily because we understand; we believe because we have God’s word and God is the fullness of truth and goodness, so his word is accepted as true and good. How does the act of faith express itself? We say to God, “We believe all you teach us in and through the Church, our teacher, the sacramental presences of Christ our teacher because you, God, have revealed them and you cannot
deceive or be deceived. Whether we are great theologians or ordinary parishioners seeking to understand the Catechism, we can use Anselm’s motto that such theological study is faith seeking understanding.
Father Connelly
SIGNINGS
Justin, Rachel, and Mary become full members of the Church today. They have been meeting, studying and preparing together with other adults. They have been raised in Catholic families and Justin went to a Catholic college where he had the good influence of brothers. Rachel had the benefit of art history to help her see the beauty that results from the cultures where the Church is planted and grows. Rachel had the recent blessing of twin boys who inspired her adult search for the truth about God. Together we all looked more deeply at the Creed and the Our Father. We spoke about the life of grace and gifts that flow from the sacraments. We spoke of the new life of grace and the meaning of forgiveness. We talked of the call to love and the wisdom of God and his Church.
It is also the case that Justin and Mary, two good and serious people, are looking forward to the sacrament of marriage. This great project of love, this work of motherhood, this outpouring of love and rearing of new life which they prepare now to share together is something they know they cannot do on their own. They have sought the help of God and His faithful people, the Church, and they are on their way to the altar of the Lord to celebrate that great Sacrament.
We are also going to be baptizing the twins!
In the first reading, the Apostles are preaching. The Apostles were the ones who really knew who Jesus was. They had been with him in Galilee. Their witness needed to be accepted in order for people to be brought into union with Jesus and with the Father. Some people believed and some did not.
Today we see others who have believed the witness that we received from the Apostles. We have kept that witness alive in our teachings and have found that following it does really unite us to Christ. These others, Justin, Rachel, and Mary are now counted among those God has chosen to be his own. They are not the people who heard and did not believe. These three are those who have heard the voice of the Church and heard the voice of Christ. They have believed that God has sent us and that we have been sent by the Son. Now together we, brothers and sisters in the Son, have the courage to call God Our Father. God is good.
In Christ,
Fr. St. Martin
SUPPORT TEAM SACRED HEART
Please support our team as we participate in the 2010 Walk for Hunger to raise money for the hungry of Massachusetts. This year the walk is on Sunday, May 2nd and we have set a goal to raise $2,000! We need your help. Visit: www.projectbread.org/goto/sacredheart to learn more, donate money, or join our team walk! For more information, please contact Danielle Betancourt: dbetancourt@boston.k12.ma.us.
ST. COLUMBKILLE PARTNERSHIP SCHOOL
St. Columbkille Partnership School in Brighton is now accepting registrations for the 2010-2011 school year. A limited number of seats are available in grades Pre-K through 8. The St. Columbkille Partnership School is an exciting learning environment where students have access to the newest curriculum materials and technology. For more information, call 617-254-3110.
CHURCH IN THE 21ST CENTURY EVENTS
The Emerging Call: Discipleship and Ministry in a Changing Church Conference featuring Marti Jewell and Edward Hahnenberg will take place on Thursday, April 29 from 5:30 to 7:30 (free) and Friday, April 30, from 9 AM to 3 PM, ($15 includes lunch) in the Heights Room, Corcoran Commons, Lower Campus of BC. Information at 617-552-0470 or www.bc.edu/c21emerging.
CALENDAR NOTES
EXTENDED COFFEE HOUR:
Sunday, April 25 – 10 AM to 1:00 PM – Parish Center
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – Grades 1-5:
Sunday, April 25 – 10:30 AM to 11:45 AM – Lower Church
WOMEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP:
Sunday, April 25 – 10:30 AM – Convent (Library)
BOY SCOUTS:
Monday, April 26 – 7:30 PM – Parish Center
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – Tuesday, April 27:
Grades 1-5 – 4:00 to 5:15 PM – Lower Church
Grades 6-10 – 7:00 to 8:30 PM – Lower Church
PRAYER SHAWL INTRODUCTORY MEETING
Tuesday, April 27 – 7:00 PM – Convent Library
PRAYER GROUP:
Wednesday, April 28 – 7:30 PM – Convent Chapel
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS:
Wednesday, April 28 – 8 PM – Convent (DR)
COFFEE HOUR:
Friday, April 30– Following 9 AM Mass – Parish Center
LITURGY, ADORATION AND THE ROSARY:
Saturday, May 1 – 9 AM to 12:30 PM – Lower Church
EXTENDED COFFEE HOUR:
Sunday, May 2 – 10 AM to 1:00 PM– Parish Center