Sacred Heart Parish
MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK
Sunday, January 2
9:00 AM Parishioners of Sacred Heart
11:45 AM Robert and Timothy Groden
Saturday, January 8
4:00 PM Donald Burke
Sunday, January 9
9:00 AM Parishioners of Sacred Heart
11:45 AM Luis and Elda Tonelli
CONFESSIONS
Saturday, January 8 – 2:00 to 3:30 PM – Fr. Connelly
READINGS FOR THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD
First Reading: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
Second Reading: Acts 10:34-38
Gospel Reading: Matthew 3:13-17
OFFERTORY INCOME
Weekend of December 18/19 $5,401
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS
There will be no CCD classes on Sunday or Tuesday during the Christmas break. Classes resume for the Sunday program on Jan. 16th and Tuesday, Jan. 18th. Please note that there will be no classes on Jan. 2nd and Jan. 9th for the Sunday program and no classes for the Tuesday program on Jan. 4th and 11th!
There will be a workshop for all CCD teachers on Sunday, Jan 9th from 5-7:00pm in the Convent. We will have a special guest. All please attend!
A Blessed New Year to All.
Michelle Solomon, Dir. of RE
THANKS FROM MOTHER CAROLINE ACADEMY
We received a lovely note from Dr. Ingrid Tucker, President of Mother Caroline Academy and Educational Center thanking us for our continued support in providing school supplies. “Your contribution allows Mother Caroline to continue its critical mission as a center that provides educational opportunities for children, teens and adults from Boston’s inner city.”
SAINT FRANCIS HOUSE
Thank you for your continued support of St. Francis House. Items needed for January are canned vegetables. You may bring your donations any time during the month and put them in the cart or bins provided at the church entrances.
SIGNINGS
The wreaths that we all made together for supporting our youth in their WYD pilgrimage represent a lot of work. It also represented a trust in the goodness of God that we know through faith exists in His Holy People. This knowledge was our cherished hope and by God's grace, it has come to be realized. We now see that the support of love is really there. People joyfully and quickly and easily came out of the woodwork to buy the wreaths and we now see that goodness of God made visible! This is a success! This is a completion! This is a realization about God that dawns upon the mind's eye and rejoices the spirit. This is like a little Epiphany!
The great Epiphany that we celebrate today is the memory of the first time the truth about who Christ was dawned on the mind of man. Can you imagine how special a realization and a love that must have been! Can you imagine being there at the very first Christmas and seeing that manger and that baby and having it hit you that this little baby is God come down from heaven! It shows that God is so in love with us. It shows that God is so amazing that He can even be small. It shows that God really wants to be with us. It shows that by a gift we can be so close to God. It shows that our helplessness and dependence is part of God's plan. Since he is really human and destined to die, it even shows that our death is transformed from darkness into light. He is the light shining in the darkness of Bethlehem, shining in our mind's eye, and enlightening our hearts with love.
Thank you all for the little epiphany of the wreaths. May the joy of knowing Christ enlighten you.
In Christ,
Fr. St. Martin
PARISH PICTORIAL DIRECTORY
Many of our parishioners did not sign up to have portraits taken for our Parish Directory. While we can no longer make appointments for you, there may be a few slots left for January 4th, 5th and 7th should you still wish to participate. Please call 1-800-866-2263 to talk with an Olan Mills representative.
We are also still waiting to hear from those who have close family members on active military duty. Let us know at the rectory – 617-969-2248.
HELP NEEDED FOR ILL PARISHIONER
Homemaker needed in January for ill female Sacred Heart parishioner. This is a paid part-time position, 5 days a week. Please contact Dr. Catherine Mintzer at 617-864-0029.
CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS FROM ANCIENT TIMES
Christ has been born:
as God of the Father,
as man of his mother;
of his Father without a mother,
of his mother without a father;
of his Father as the beginning of life;
of his mother as the end of death.
– St. Augustine, Sermon 194
Christ,
finding the holy body and soul of the Virgin,
builds for Himself a living temple,
and as He had willed,
formed there a man from the Virgin;
and, putting Him on, this day came forth;
unashamed of the lowliness of our nature.
For it was to Him no lowering
to put on what He Himself had made.
Let that handiwork be forever glorified,
which became the cloak of its own Creator.
For as in the first creation of flesh,
man could not be made
before the clay had come into His hand,
so neither could this corruptible body be glorified,
until it had first become the garment of its Maker.
– St. John Chrysostom
THE BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS
By the Catholic faith we believe
that the whole of human nature –
body, soul, and spirit –
is assumed by the Word of God.
Our Word Incarnate was born lowly,
that he might thereby heal the proud.
We humans exalted ourselves and fell;
God humbled himself and lifted us up.
We fell, and Christ descended;
We were down and he stooped.
Christ’s very nativity is lowly and exalted.
Why lowly?
As human he was born of humans.
Why exalted?
He was born of the ever Virgin Mary.
– St. Augustine
CHRISTIAN, REMEMBER YOUR DIGNITY
Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness.
No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man free from sin, came to free us all. Let the saint rejoice as he sees the palm of victory at hand. Let the sinner be glad as he receives the offer of forgiveness. Let the pagan take courage as he is summoned to life.
In the fullness of time, chosen in the unfathomable depths of God’s wisdom, the Son of God took for himself our common humanity in order to reconcile it with its creator. He came to overthrow the devil, the origin of death, in that very nature by which he had overthrown mankind.
And so at the birth of our Lord the angels sing in joy Glory to God in the highest, and they proclaim peace to his people on earth, as they see the heavenly Jerusalem being built from all the nations of the world. When the angels on high are so exultant at this marvelous work of God’s goodness, what joy should it not bring to the lowly hearts of men?
Beloved, let us give thanks to God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit, because in his great love for us he took pity on us and when were dead in our sins he brought us to life with Christ, so that in him we might be a new creation. Let us throw off our old nature and all its ways and, as we have come to birth in Christ, let us renounce the works of the flesh.
Christian, remember your dignity, and now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God’s kingdom.
Through the sacrament of baptism you have become a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not drive away so great a guest by evil conduct and become again a slave to the devil for your liberty was bought by the blood of Christ.
From a sermon by Saint Leo the Great, pope
MASTER OF ARTS IN MINISTRY PROGRAM
Learn more about your Catholic faith. Attend graduate evening courses for laity held at 149 Washington St., Brighton, MA. Register now as spring courses start on Tuesday, January 11. Call 617-779-4104 or visit www.sjs.edu.
SAVE THE DATE!
The next Social Justice Forum will take place on Sunday evening, January 30, at 7:30 p.m. in the lower church. The speaker will be Gordon Martin, who will talk about his new book – “Count Them One by One: Black Mississippians – Fighting for the Right to Vote”.
SAINT MARY MAGDALEN COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP
The College of Saint Mary Magdalen in Warner, NH is pleased to offer a four year, academic, full tuition scholarship in honor of Pope Benedict XVI to be awarded to an eligible incoming freshman who has written a compelling essay in response to one of Pope Benedict XVI’s encycals – Deus Caritas Est, Spe Salvi, or Caritas In Veritate. Submission deadline is January 15, 2011. For eligibility requirements, contest details or to schedule a visit, go to www.magdalen.edu and contact Lauren Hardegen in the Admissions Office at 603-456-2656 or Admission@magdalen.edu.
WORLDWIDE MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER
MARRIED COUPLES - IT'S NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION TIME. Resolve to start a new love affair with your spouse that's beyond your wildest dreams. It can happen on a Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend. Sign up soon so you can renew your love for one another. The next Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekends in New England are January 14-16, February 11-13, and March 18-20. For more information call Ralph and Jane Becker at 1-800-710-WWME or visit our webpage at www.wwmeMARI.org.
2011 FAITH AND REASON ESSAY CONTEST
Thomas More College in Merrimack, NH invites all high school seniors to join us through the “2011 Faith and Reason Essay Contest” in pondering how the rich heritage of the Church’s culture can offer hope to the world today. Essay submissions must be mailed by February 25, 2011. Awards will be made by March 15. To learn more, visit www.ThomasMoreCollege.edu or contact the Director of Admissions, Mark Schwerdt at 800-880-8308.
CALENDAR NOTES
EXTENDED COFFEE HOUR:
Sunday, January 2 – 10AM – 1 PM – Parish Center
BOY SCOUTS:
Monday, January 3 – 7:30 PM – Parish Center
SACRED HEART SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY:
Tuesday, January 4 – 7:30 PM – Convent (Library)
PRAYER GROUP:
Wednesday, January 5 – 7:30 PM – Convent Chapel
PANCAKE BREAKFAST:
Friday, January 7 – Following 9 AM Mass – Parish Center
LITURGY, ADORATION AND THE ROSARY:
Saturday, January 8 – 9 AM to 12:30 PM – Lower Church
EXTENDED COFFEE HOUR:
Sunday, January 9 – 10 AM – 1 PM – Parish Center
CCD TEACHERS’ MEETING:
Sunday, January 9 – 5 to 7 PM – Convent