Sacred Heart Parish
MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK
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
Monday, May 3
12:05 PM Jeanne-Marie Myette
Saturday, May 8
4:00 PM Josephine Nicolazzo (in Thanksgiving)
Sunday, May 9
9:00 AM Parishioners of Sacred Heart
11:45 AM Julia and Martin Groden, and
Claire Groden Smith
CONFESSIONS
Saturday, May 8 – 2:00 to 3:30 PM – Fr. Connelly
READINGS FOR THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
First Reading: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Second Reading: Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23
Gospel Reading: John 14:23-29
25TH AND 50TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY MASS
AT THE CATHEDRAL
Seán Cardinal O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap., invites all couples of the Archdiocese of Boston celebrating their 25th or 50th wedding anniversary in 2010 to the Wedding Anniversary Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Sunday, June 13th at 11:30 AM. Mass will include a renewal of vows. Family members and friends as well as the general public are welcome to attend. Please register with the parish office by May 7, 2010. A formal invitation and more information will be sent from the Archdiocese to anniversary couples. Congratulations on your anniversary!
BLESSED JOHN XXIII SEMINARY GOLF TOURNAMENT
The 18th Annual Blessed John XXIII National Seminary Golf Tournament is scheduled for Monday, May 24th, at The Weston Golf Club. This premier charity event is held to benefit the educational program for the seminarians. Tuition covers only half the cost of educating a seminarian and the proceeds from this tournament will help bridge the gap and keep the cost of educating them affordable. The $250 player entry includes lunch at the Club, 18 holes of golf with cart, and door prizes; followed by a social hour, silent auction and dinner for each golfer and a guest at the seminary. To register, call Kate Folan at 781-899-5500 or visit www.blessedjohnxxiii.edu.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS
Our Confirmation Speaker series has ended for this year. I would like to thank all those who attended from our parish and joined us to continue learning about our rich and glorious Catholic faith! It was good to have our students see that our learning is never over.
Sponsors of Confirmation Students will be asked to attend CCD class with the student they are sponsoring on Tuesday, May 11 from 7:15 – 8:30pm 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.
Our 1st Communion classes are preparing their minds and hearts to receive Our Lord under the faithful guidance of Christine Sanroma and Mary Hoppe. Please pray for our teachers and for our children to be open and ready to receive the Body and Blood of Christ for the first time on Sunday, May 16 @ 9 AM Mass. A rehearsal for 1st Communion is scheduled for Saturday, May 15th from 1:30 – 3 PM in the Upper Church. At least one parent must attend!
Michelle Solomon, RE Director
Reminder: For First Communion on May 16, the 9 AM Mass is always heavily attended by family and friends of the First Communicants. Preference in seating will be given to the families.
PROJECT RACHEL
Project Rachel is a confidential Catholic outreach ministry offering hope and healing to women and men hurting from past abortions. Project Rachel is named after the Old Testament figure Rachel, who weeps inconsolably for her children "who are no more" until God came to her, offering hope for her future. (Jeremiah 31:15-17)
A Day of Prayer and Healing from the pain of abortion will be offered on Saturday, June 5, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This day is designed to help women to experience the personal love of Christ and find hope for healing. It will offer a loving and confidential environment to:
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Hear stories of post-abortion healing
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Share Scriptural stories of Christ’s healing love
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Spend quiet time in prayer before God
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Receive Sacramental Reconciliation (Confession) and the great gift of Christ in the Eucharist.
For more information, contact Project Rachel at (508) 651-3100 or email: help@projectrachelboston.com
OFFERTORY INCOME
Weekend of April 24/25 $4,137
OUR LADY OF LOURDES, PRAY FOR US
As I look back at the history of Sacred Heart Parish while I’m walking around the property, my thoughts often focus on “Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto” at the back of the school. As I write this, I must confess that I do not know the date of origin of our lovely shrine. The school’s date of origin is that most auspicious year, 1922, but I do not have any figure available for Our Lady’s statue. At the moment the grotto is for all practical purposes non-existent. As a result, nobody is saying his or her rosary at the shrine, and no one is ever saying “Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us”. However, in the future, we can resume our prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes and make our grotto the locus of such processions as the May Procession and the Corpus Christi Procession. How are we going to do that?
At the present time, the parish and the school are discussing a new contract. Our thought is, through careful construction work, the shrine will be taken down and then re-established in its exact present form in the lawn at the back of the convent. This will give us a chance to spruce up the area behind the convent and make it a lovely garden area. This will enable us to have great access to the grotto and utilize it both for our religious education purposes and some of our para-liturgical activities. In this way many more voices will be saying, “Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us”.
THE RISEN CHRIST’S MINISTRY OF CONSOLATION
Where did the risen Christ go on the day of his resurrection-ascension? This is really not a good question to ask because the Lord’s resurrection and ascension are not questions of being here and then going there, but rather entering fully and completely into the mystery of our Three-Personed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, maker of all that is seen and unseen. Our Creed tells us that the risen Lord sits at the right hand of the Father from whence he will come again to judge the living and the dead. At the same time, the Lord Jesus, prior to his departure from his apostle-friends, promised he would never abandon them, that he would be always with his faithful people until the end of time. How often we say, in prayer to the risen Christ, “you came in history to gather us into the peace of God’s kingdom; You come now in word and sacrament to strengthen us in holiness.”
We can try a second question: Now that the Lord Jesus has been victor over sin and death, what is he now doing for the salvation of the world? Our Preface Prayer today will tell us that Christ our Savior is still our priest, our advocate, who always pleads our cause; Christ is the victim who dies no more, the Lamb once slain who lives forever. Ignatius of Loyola in his incomparable book – The Spiritual Exercises – in introducing the retreatant to the glorious mysteries of our Catholic faith, speaks of a new role, a new office assumed by the risen Christ: it is the risen Lord’s ministry of consolation. Ignatius says to the retreatant in the fourth and final week of the Spiritual Exercises – “Consider the office of consoler that Christ, the risen Lord, now exercises and compare it with the way friends are accustomed to console each other.” Noah Webster tells us that to console is to comfort, to alleviate the distress and the depression, the grief and anguish of others, to raise their spirits, to encourage and to support. Perhaps Ignatius was thinking of the ritual in the prayers for those who have just died – Praise be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation. He comforts us in all our afflictions and thus enables us to comfort those who are in trouble, with the same consolation we have received from him. As we read the resurrection narratives, we see Christ at work in his office as consoler – with Mary Magdalene at the tomb, with his disconsolate disciples on the road to Emmaus, with Thomas in the midst of his doubting. This ministry of consolation is the work of Christ our Shepherd, portrayed in our Gospel reading today. We have his word, which is spirit and light, to which we must have constant recourse in these days of awful darkness that hangs over the Church at this time. He is at work in the Eucharist; he abides in us and we in him as the branches live only in union with the vine. He, indeed, is our Shepherd – we hear his voice, we follow him, he gives us eternal life and promises that those who follow him will never perish. No one, nothing, no scandal, no crisis can ever snatch us from his hands. In this moment of deep sorrow in the Church, the risen Lord is in our midst and comforts us with his word: Blessed are the sorrowful for they shall be consoled.
We need to do a good bit more thinking about the many ways the risen Christ is present to us. Christ is present in the Church when the Church prays since it is He who prays for us, and prays in us and to whom we pray as to our God. He is present in the Church as the Church performs works of mercy, not only because we do to Christ whatever good we do to one of his least brothers, but also because it is Christ performing these works through the Church. He is present in the Church on her pilgrimage of struggle to reach the harbor of eternal life, since it is He who through faith dwells in our hearts, and, through the Holy Spirit, whom he gives us, pours his love into those hearts. He is present in the Church as the Church preaches, since the Gospel which the Church proclaims is the Word of God, which is not preached except in the name of Christ, by the authority of Christ and with the assistance of Christ. In this way there is formed one flock which trusts its only Shepherd.
Father Connelly
ST. FRANCIS HOUSE
Thank you for your ongoing donations to the food pantry at St. Francis House. In May, we will be collecting sugar. Your continued support is very much appreciated.
SIGNINGS
Good People,
We have a good number being added. We have been blessed with new "disciples." This is the experience of the early Church we hear about in the first reading. There were some who are looking for the truth and when they hear the good news proclaimed way back then or now they believe and become members of Christ's body through faith given through the sacraments.
But what is the requirement? Jesus gives a simple answer in the Gospel today: Love. Seems vague? He tells us more. He describes who to love: one another.
He tells us how to love: the way he loved us.
Love seems mysterious and hard to describe. How can you do a test for love? And yet, if there is a community that is loving toward each other, you know it. If it is not loving but divided and holding grudges, gossiping, and making up stories, that is easy to pick up on. When a community is really trying to persevere in forgiving each other that is something that is easy to pick up on as well.
Jesus tells us that we should love each other as he loves us. What does that mean? He loved us even when that meant suffering for us and by us. We too are called to this kind of dramatic love. It costs us a lot to continue to love. Ask any successful married couple. Ask any successful parents of grown children. It means that we can't always do what we want to do, are called to sacrifice personal opportunities, and can give us early white hairs and wrinkles. But that is o.k. Jesus suffered deep wounds and utter self sacrifice for us as an example. But his love, in the midst of all that, was greater and conquers hate and division.
We can love. We have the life of Christ in us. We have a life: Christ's and that means that we are not afraid. We love.
We keep our faith strong so that we can continue to be serious lovers. Loving one anther as Christ loves us.
In Christ,
Fr. St. Martin
INTENTIONS OF THE HOLY FATHER FOR THE MONTH OF MAY
General Intention: That the shameful and monstrous trafficking in human beings, which sadly involves millions of women and children, may stop.
Mission Intention: That priests, religious men and women, and lay people involved in apostolic work may understand how to bring missionary enthusiasm to the communities they serve.
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.
SOCIAL JUSTICE FORUM
Save the date of May 23 for the next Social Justice Forum at 7:30 PM in the lower Church with speaker Donna Barry, Advocacy and Policy Director of Partners in Health who will update us on progress in Haiti.
CHRIST SPEAKS IN THE CITY
Join other young professionals on Wednesday, May 12, from noon to 1 PM at the Old State House, 206 Washington St., Boston for the next Christ Speaks in the City Lecture. Rev. Romanus Cessario, O.P. Professor of Moral Theology, St. John's Seminary, Senior Editor of Magnificat, Catholic Author and Lecturer, will speak on “The Priest: Indispensable Vocation, Irreplaceable Gift.” Lecture is free; light lunch provided.
THE CHURCH IN THE 21ST CENTURY EVENTS
On Tuesday, May 4 at 5:30 PM, in Fulton Hall Rm. 511, Main Campus, Fr. Thomas Norris of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Ireland will present “The Exile and the Return of the Trinity.” Register at www.bc.edu/church21.
On Wednesday, May 5 at 7:00 PM, St. Ignatius Church, John Allen, Jr. will present “The Future Church: How Ten Trends are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church. For information, call 617-552-0470or visit www.bc.edu/church21. This event is free and open to the public.
CALENDAR NOTES
EXTENDED COFFEE HOUR:
Sunday, May 2 – 10 AM to 1:00 PM – Parish Center
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – Grades 1-5:
Sunday, May 2 – 10:30 AM to 11:45 AM – Lower Church
BOY SCOUTS:
Monday, May 3 – 7:30 PM – Parish Center
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – Tuesday, May 4:
Grades 1-5 – 4:00 to 5:15 PM – Lower Church
Grades 6-10 – 7:00 to 8:30 PM – Lower Church
GUILD OF ST. FRANCIS BOARD MEETING:
Tuesday, May 4 – 7:00 PM – Guild Room
PRAYER GROUP:
Wednesday, May 5 – 7:30 PM – Convent Chapel
PANCAKE BREAKFAST:
Friday, May 7– Following 9 AM Mass – Parish Center
LITURGY, ADORATION AND THE ROSARY:
Saturday, May 8 – 9 AM to 12:30 PM – Lower Church