Sacred Heart Parish
MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK
Saturday, January 30
4:00 PM Irene Bernadette Harris
Sunday, January 31
9:00 AM Anne and Russell Harney, Agnes and John Walsh
11:45 AM Parishioners of Sacred Heart
Monday, February 1
12:05 PM Roland and Frances Labreche
Friday, February 5
12:05 PM Sgt. Anthony Esposito
Saturday, February 6
4:00 PM Henry, Mary and Paul Brissette
Sunday, February 7
9:00 AM Michael J. Fairley
10:30 AM John Augustine Riley
11:45 AM Leo and Ann Waters
CELEBRANTS FOR NEXT WEEKEND’S MASSES
Saturday, February 6
4:00 PM Fr. Connelly
Sunday, February 7
9:00 AM Fr. Imbelli
10:30 AM Fr. Carey
11:45 AM Fr. Connelly
CONFESSIONS
Saturday, February 6 – 2:00 to 3:30 PM – Fr. Connelly
READINGS FOR THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
First Reading: Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Gospel Reading: Luke 5:1-11
PETER’S PENCE COLLECTION FOR
THE HOLY FATHER – FEBRUARY 7, 2010
Next weekend’s special collection supports the Holy Father in providing emergency assistance to suffering people throughout the world. Contributions to The Peter’s Pence Collection are given directly by the Holy Father to individuals who are suffering from immediate emergencies as a result of war, oppression, and natural disasters. Please visit www.usccb.org/ppc for more information.
GUILD OF ST. FRANCIS “BOOK AND BAKE SALE”
The Guild of St. Francis will hold a “Book and Bake Sale” during the Coffee Hour on Sunday, February 7, from 10 AM to 12:30 PM. Donations of baked goods are welcome and can be dropped off before the 9 AM Mass at the kitchen door entrance of the Parish Center. For additional information, please call Mary English at 617-332-8656 or Gloria Rausa-Thompson at 617-964-2054.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS
A Parent Workshop on Reconciliation will be provided today, Sunday, Jan. 31st from 10:30-11:45 am in the Convent for all parents of students preparing to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Saturday, March 6 (Provided for both Sunday and Tuesday CCD programs). THE ATTENDANCE OF AT LEAST ONE PARENT IS REQUIRED. Babysitters will be provided for anyone in need, as well as coffee and donuts. Please come to the Convent immediately after Mass to arrange contact with the babysitter that will be watching the children in the gym of the MacKenzie Center.
There will be no CCD classes during Winter Vacation. However, classes will be held for the Sunday CCD program on Feb. 21, which is the end of the winter vacation. Grade 2 Sacramental preparation students particularly need to be present on this date.
Our Confirmation speaker series continues on Tuesday, Feb. 2nd from 7-8:30 pm with Fr. Dan Hennessey, Vocations Director for the Archdiocese of Boston, who will be speaking on Sacraments of Service: Holy Orders, Matrimony/Marriage. Any parents and parishioners are warmly invited to join us! The complete schedule of speakers for the Confirmation series is at the back and side doors of the church. Come and learn with us!
Michelle Solomon, Religious Ed. Director
DISCERNMENT RETREATS FOR MEN
Discernment retreats will be held on Feb 5-6 at Blessed John XXIII Seminary for men 40 and over and on February 5-7 at St. John’s Seminary and Connors Family Retreat Center for those 18-40. The Vocation Office invites you to submit names of men you think might have a vocation to the priesthood to be considered for one of these retreats. Please send their names and contact information to the Vocation Office, 66 Brooks Drive, Braintree, MA 02184, call 617-746-5949, or email Dfortin@rcab.org.
BEATRICE FAMILY FUND DINNER DANCE
Saturday, February 6 at the Newton Post 440 – Dinner Dance with live and silent auction. Doors open at 6:30 pm with cocktails and a performance by Newton North High School choral group. Dinner includes a variety of food stations with catering by Sysco and Peter Budge; DJ and live band (Suburban Renewal). Tickets can be purchased at www.beatricefamilyfund.com.
OFFERTORY INCOME
Weekend of January 23/24 $4,604
Haitian Relief (as of January 25) $9,009
FOR LOVE OF CHRIST, PAUL BORE EVERY BURDEN
Last Monday, at the liturgy, we celebrated the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. Down the centuries, Paul had many commentators. The first great commentator, and arguably the best, was John Chrysostom, one of the great Eastern Doctors of the Church. As Chrysostom writes in another place in thinking about St. Paul, we should not consider just his noble virtues, rather, we should remember that he shares our nature in every respect. This will enable us to recall how Paul said of himself, not boastfully, “I can do all things in Him who is my strength”. What Paul accomplished, he did by the grace and mercy of the risen Christ. In theory, can we not say the same? Let us listen to what Chrysostom has to say:
“Paul more than anyone else has shown us what man really is, and in what our nobility consists, and of what virtue this particular animal is capable. Each day he aimed ever higher; each day he rose up with greater ardor and faced with new eagerness the dangers that threatened him. He summed up his attitude in the words: I forget what is behind me and push on to what lies ahead. When he saw death imminent, he bade others share his joy: Rejoice and be glad with me! And when danger, injustice and abuse threatened, he said: I am content with weakness, mistreatment and persecution. These he called the weapons of righteousness, thus telling us that he derived immense profit from them.
Thus, amid the traps set for him by his enemies, with exultant heart he turned their every attack into a victory for himself; constantly beaten, abused and cursed, he boasted of it as though he were celebrating a triumphal procession and taking trophies home, and offered thanks to God for it all: Thanks be to God who is always victorious in us! This is why he was far more eager for the shameful abuse that his zeal in preaching brought upon him than we are for the most pleasing honors, more eager for death than we are for life, for poverty than we are for wealth; he yearned for toil far more than others yearn for rest after toil. The one thing he feared, indeed dreaded, was to offend God; nothing else could sway him. Therefore, the only thing he really wanted was always to please God.
The most important thing of all to him, however, was that he knew himself to be loved by Christ. Enjoying this love, he considered himself happier than anyone else; were he without it, it would be no satisfaction to be the friend of principalities and powers. He preferred to be thus loved and be the least of all, or even to be among the damned, than to be without that love and be among the great and honored.
To be separated from that love was, in his eyes, the greatest and most extraordinary of torments; the pain of that loss would alone have been hell, and endless, unbearable torture.
So, too, in being loved by Christ he thought of himself as possessing life, the world, the angels, present and future, the kingdom, the promise and countless blessings. Apart from that love nothing saddened or delighted him; for nothing earthly did he regard as bitter or sweet.
Paul set no store by the things that fill our visible world, any more than a man sets value on the withered grass of the field. As for tyrannical rulers or the people enraged against him, he paid them no more heed than gnats.
Death itself and pain and whatever torments might come were but child’s play to him, provided that thereby he might bear some burden for the sake of Christ.”
P.S.: On Tuesday, we celebrated the feast day of Saints Timothy and Titus. They were co-workers with St. Paul at various times and in various places on the missionary circuit. It would seem that Titus eventually was left in charge of the community on the Island of Crete, and Timothy in the city of Ephesus. I always love to comment on the opening paragraph of Paul’s 2 Letter to Corinthians. In greeting Timothy, Paul writes: “I am grateful to God as I remember you constantly in my prayers. I yearn to see you again so that I may be filled with joy as I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and I am confident lives also in you.”
This observation on Timothy’s grandmother and mother is so important for every Catholic parish throughout the world. It’s important for a parish to have good preaching, good teaching, wonderful music, a great sense of the Lord’s call to holiness of life combined with a great sense of the social teachings of the Church. After all we who are Catholic are citizens of two worlds, of two cities – God’s eternal city and the human city as well. When we speak of the strength of a parish, we speak primarily of parishioners like Lois and Eunice whose faithfulness to the Gospel is so essential for the well-being of future generations whose task will be to bear witness to the Gospel long after grandmothers and grandfathers and mothers and fathers have gone to the Lord. The Eunices and Loises of this world are the backbone of a vital parish. They are the ones who seem to strive for holiness, goodness, faithfulness, love, patience and gentleness. They are the ones the Church counts on by God’s grace to fight the good fight and to win the prize of eternal life. Let us pray, then: “God, our Father, you gave Saints Timothy and Titus the courage and wisdom of the apostles. May their prayers help us to live holy lives and lead us to heaven, our true home.”
HOME CARE WORKER AVAILABLE
A parishioner of Sacred Heart Parish, who is experienced in working with children or the elderly in their home, is available for work. If you are looking for such a person, please call Lynette at 617-306-6072.
SIGNINGS
Good People,
God communicates to us in sweet and easy ways. This happened through the prophet Jeremiah about 700 years before Christ. God established Jeremiah to give messages to the world. God sent Jeremiah to teach us in patience and humility about God's own love. Not all accepted Jeremiah. Not all believed that Jeremiah was really giving them God's message.
When God, "Our Father", sent "The Eternal Son", into the world in the form of a man this was the best. This was really "God with us." Jesus is not only the one who gives us God's message of Love. He is more. Jesus is God. Jesus is Love itself. Not all accepted Jesus. Why did Jesus and Jeremiah not find everyone open and ready?
God is Love. Love does not force. Love does not demand. Love requires one thing. Love must be free.
God speaking through Jeremiah, "God with us": Jesus, is not in desperate need of our loving Him back so as to satisfy His need to esteem Himself.
God is Love. He freely shares His love with us by making us and giving us the rare and radiant chance to enjoy His overflowing love.
Not all accepted Jeremiah. Not all accepted Jesus. Not all accept the Church. Not all accept us when we offer them the love we have from God.
When the Love is responded to with a joyful "yes", we rejoice with an "Alleluia!" When it is not? There is no surprise, there is a pouring out of more love. This pours from Christ's wounded side, and there is a chance for the rejector of love to experience love even more.
In Christ, Fr. St. Martin
NEW HEART, NEW SPIRIT
There is still time to sign up – this weekend – for Season Four of ARISE New Heart, New Spirit, which offers a Catholic understanding of the need for healing and reconciliation. Registration forms are on the table at the back of the church. Parishioners can also call Winnie Murphy at 617-969-4021 or email Peg Miller at peg.miller@sacredheart.ws. Season Four begins the week of February 14 and ends before Palm Sunday. The schedule of small group sessions is as follows:
Sunday: 10:15 AM & 7:00 PM Wednesday: 7:30 PM
Monday: 7:30 PM (Spanish) Thursday: 10:00 AM;
Tuesday: 12:30 & 7:00 PM 1:30 PM
Please note that ARISE seasons are independently structured; one does not need to have attended the prior sessions to participate. So if you are a newcomer, please DO NOT HESITATE TO SIGN UP FOR THIS SEASON. If you have
already been a member of an ARISE group, share your experiences and spread the word about the next season!! Let us know if you or another parishioner will need transportation. Let us all Pray: that we will become “better hearers and doers of the Word of God.”
TIME TO REPLENISH SCHOOL SUPPLIES!!!
It’s that time of year – replenishing school and office supplies! Our parish-wide project to provide Mother Caroline Academy students and teachers with school supplies will run from January 31 through February 7. For two weekends, baskets will be placed at church entrances for collection of “new” items. Since the school is totally privately funded, they depend on donations from individuals, churches, and organizations. So, as you purchase school items or refill your own home and/or business office supplies, please consider buying and donating the following supplies for 64 middle school students and 9 volunteer teachers:
AAA batteries for graphing calculators (4 per calculator)
white board markers (black and other colors)
index cards highlighters
tri-fold poster boards colored pencils
xerox paper markers
3-ring notebook paper graph paper
glue sticks
You can drop off donations in the collection baskets near church entrances through next weekend, February 6/7.
Any contribution you could make to MCAEC would be profoundly appreciated. Your support makes it possible for much-needed educational opportunities to a disadvantaged community, ultimately helping many families to break free from the cycle of poverty. Thank you for your generosity!!!!
CALENDAR NOTES
ARISE SIGN-UP WEEKEND:
Sat/Sun, January 30/31 – following Mass – Church entrances
EXTENDED COFFEE HOUR:
Sunday, January 31 – 10 AM to 1 PM – Parish Center
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – GRADES 1-5:
Sunday, January 31 – 10:30 to 11:45 AM – Lower Church
BOY SCOUTS:
Monday, February 1 – 7:30 PM – Parish Center
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: Tuesday, February 2
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, February 3 – 7:30 PM – Convent
LITURGY, ADORATION AND THE ROSARY:
Saturday, February 6 – 9 AM to 12:30 PM – Lower Church
GUILD OF ST. FRANCIS “BOOK AND BAKE SALE”:
Sunday, February 7 – 10 AM to 12:30 PM – Parish Center
WOMEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP:
Sunday, February 7 – 10:30 AM – Convent (DR)