Sacred Heart Parish
MASS INTENTIONS FOR NEXT WEEK
Saturday, October 1
4:00 PM Barry Joseph O’Leary
Sunday, October 2
9:00 AM Parishioners of Sacred Heart
11:45 AM Olga Holbik
Monday, October 3
12:05 PM Deceased Members - Guild of St. Francis
Friday, October 7
9:00 AM Suzanne Myette, John Norman Myette, Edgar and Agnes Capell
Saturday, October 8
4:00 PM Jennie, John and Dawn DeFelice
Sunday, October 9
9:00 AM Parishioners of Sacred Heart
11:45 AM Donald Ferreri
CELEBRANTS FOR NEXT WEEKEND’S MASSES
Saturday, October 8
4:00 PM Fr. Imbelli
Sunday, October 9
9:00 AM Fr. Connelly
10:45 AM Fr. St.Martin
11:45 AM Fr. Connelly
CONFESSIONS
Saturday, October 8 – 2:00 to 3:30 PM – Fr. Connelly
READINGS FOR THE TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
First Reading: Isaiah 25:6-10a
Second Reading: Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20
Gospel Reading: Matthew 22: 1-14
GUILD OF ST. FRANCIS DAY OF RECOLLECTION
Sister Laura Brown of the Daughters of St. Paul will be the speaker at the Guild of St. Francis Day of Recollection on Monday, October 3, from 10 AM to 2 PM. Her topic is: “The New Roman Missal: An Opportunity for Growth”. Lunch will be served after the 12:05 PM Mass. Cost for the day is $15. To make reservations, please call either Sally Daly at 617-527-4468 or Jane Murphy at 1-508-359-1026.
WOMEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP BEGINS 10-2
The Women’s Discussion Group has selected Faith That Dares To Speak by Donald Cozzens, (Liturgical Press) as their next book. The first meeting will be held in the convent dining room on Sunday, October 2 at 10:30 AM. New members are encouraged to join and are most welcome.
OFFERTORY INCOME
Weekend of September 24/25 $5,165
Church in Latin America $ 620
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS
Another year has begun and we have a wonderful new staff of teachers for our Religious Ed program. We ask your prayers to support their work with our students. Together with them, our parish is joined in this mission to teach with heartfelt prayers to the Holy Spirit. Here are the catechists to pray for: Grace Alexander (Coordinator for Sunday CCD), Lija Joseph, Christine Sanroma, Kasey Bree, Tisha Stadnicki, Annette Rodriguez, Laura Heras, Jasmine Coste, Roseann Furbush (Confirmation Coordinator), Lisa Green, Theresa Bucher, Caitlin Johnson, and Liz Rider, and Fr. St. Martin.
Please continue to pray for a grade 4 teacher in the Tuesday afternoon program (4-5:15 PM).
Michelle Solomon, Director of Religious Education
OCTOBER IS RESPECT LIFE MONTH
Since 1972, the Church in the United States has recognized October as Respect Life Month. Here are some of the ways you can be involved:
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Pray: Each Saturday morning a group of parishioners pray the Rosary for Life following the 9:00 AM Mass. Come join us!
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Donate: Sacred Heart will once again be collecting items to aid Pregnancy Help. Donations of new baby items may be dropped off at the entrances to the Church throughout the month of October. Thank you for your support of this important ministry.
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Stay informed: Throughout the month we will have a Respect Life display at the main entrance of the Church with literature available on: euthanasia, capital punishment, abortion, and stem cell research. Please take a moment to stop by the table and pick up some literature when you come to Mass.
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Walk for Life! Join us on Sunday, October 2nd for the Massachusetts Citizens for Life annual Walk for Life. Come to show support for the many wonderful pro-life programs doing good work and saving lives across the state. The Pre-Walk Celebration begins in the Boston Common at 1:30 pm and the Walk begins at 2:30 at the Parkman Bandstand near the corner of Tremont and Boylston Streets. Registration is $5 per person payable at the event. Sacred Heart Parish is pleased to provide round trip bus transportation for those interested in attending. The bus will leave from the parking lot adjacent to the Church at 1:00 pm, following the 11:45 Mass.
SAINT FRANCIS HOUSE
The items needed for October are peanut butter and jellies. Bring donations any time during the month. Thanks!
AND WITH YOUR SPIRIT
Surely, as we all know by now, the English speaking world – the largest language grouping in all the world – will be welcoming the New Missal on the First Sunday of Advent. In many other countries’ language groups, eg., France, Italy Germany, Spain, South America, have been using the New Missal since 2002. Many of our parishioners have been reading each week in the bulletin marvelously helpful excerpts and notices which our Pastoral Associate has been making known to us. This column today will give some background for a very simple change but a change that we could say is truly substantive.
Since the Second Vatican Council the celebrant greets the congregation by saying – “The Lord be with you.” The members of the congregation respond – “And also with you.” At first glance this seems to sound like a colloquial hello that we give to one another but there is much more to this exchange than that. First of all, for centuries, we in the Latin Rite have been saying – “Dominus vobiscum” and the congregation would often respond “et cum spiritu tuo”. The New Missal will preserve this literal translation as does the Italian version, the French version, the Spanish version, the German version and many others I’m sure. There is no change in the celebrant’s speaking and it is to be found in a variety of places in the sacred scripture, eg., the book of Judges, 6:12; the book of Ruth, 2; Second Chronicles, 15:2; Luke 1:28, the way the Angel Gabriel greets Our Lady.
What about the response “And with your spirit?” We find this response in a number of New Testament letters: 2 Timothy closes the letter with these words – “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.” In Galatians 6:18, Paul ends the letter by saying: “My brothers and sisters may the favor of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” In chapter 4 verse 23 of the letter of Paul to the Philippians we find a similar phrase in these words – “May the favor of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” (The word ‘favor’ in St. Paul’s letters is equivalent to the word ‘grace’.)
There is a deeper meaning in all of this if we turn to the book of Numbers. The Israelites were grumbling terribly at God and at Moses. Their journey was difficult, the food was awful, dangers were abounding. According to the author of Numbers, the Lord became angry and Moses asked the Lord “Why do you treat your servant so badly? Why are you so displeased with me that you burden me with all this people? Was it I who conceived all these people? Or was it I who gave them birth, that you tell me to carry them in my bosom? Where can I get meat to give to all this people? I cannot carry all this people by myself. They are too heavy for me. If this is the way you will deal with me, then please do me the favor of killing me at once so that I need no longer face this distress.” The Lord replied to Moses – “Assemble for me 70 of the elders of Israel, men you know for true elders in authority among the people. I will come down and speak with you there. I will also take some of the spirit that I gave you and bestow it on them that they may share the burden of the people with you. You will then not have to bear it by yourself.”
The above scene became very real for me on the day of my ordination. The bishop said to me and my classmates in 1950 “Remember how the Lord took the spirit of Moses and gave a share of this spirit to the 70 elders. So the Lord must take from me some of that Apostolic spirit conferred on me by my ordination and give it to you so that you may assist me in my responsibilities for I cannot do the work of the dioceses alone.”
Perhaps the above paragraphs can help us with the new translation. The priest celebrant says to the people on several occasions in the course of the Eucharist – “The Lord be with you.” The members of the congregation say to the priest – “And with your spirit.” A more colloquial translation would be “And with you, Father, as you take up the role that your ordination gives in this most important work of the Eucharist.” As one commentator suggests, this brief dialogue between priest and people establishes the interdependence of the priest and the people as they take up their various roles as they praise God in the Eucharist.
Father Connelly
PRAYING THE LITURGY
Dialogue responses: During the Introductory Rites of every Mass, we pray the Penitential Act. There are 3 options to use. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy remains the same. A less familiar option B now reads: Priest: Have mercy on us, O Lord; People: For we have sinned against you: Priest: Show us, O Lord, your mercy; People: And grant us your salvation.
The Confiteor option has several changes. New translation: I confess to almighty God…that I have greatly sinned …through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore… “The new translation does have us express more grandly the seriousness of our sin and the sincerity of our contrition. It offers a humbler way to collect ourselves before stepping any further into prayer” (Understanding the Revised Mass Texts, Paul Turner, p.11).
GREAT NEW RESOURCE
Pick up a copy of the Catholic Update at the church entrances this week: (“Whenever we experience a change in our cherished rituals it is a matter of concern. And as the Eucharist is our most cherished religious ritual – the very source and summit of our faith – any change in the way we celebrate the Eucharist will naturally produce a certain amount of anxiety.”) “In this Catholic Update we will ‘walk through’ the ritual prayers and actions of the Eucharist to examine why we do what we do at Mass.”
SIGNINGS
The Kingdom of God is going to be like what? It is an important question for many reasons. We can increase our hope if we think about it because whatever it is, it is the best, and we can more profoundly pray and live the prayer Jesus gave us when we ask that Earth become more like Heaven. How can we really desire Earth to become like Heaven if we don't know what that means? If we don't know it we can't desire it. And if we can't desire it, no work for it will succeed.
Jesus has been explaining what Heaven is like for the past three Sundays. One thought that comes in clear through all three Gospels is that it is not a place where everyone will be or is welcome to be, and that it is not a place where everyone is equal.
This is kind of alarming news to us. Jesus is telling the people of his day (who thought they knew all about God and his judgment) that they were wrong and so it is no surprise to think that we might be wrong as well. Jesus wants us to listen to Him.
The structure of Heaven is roughly the opposite of an earthly perspective in two ways: 1. Many people who think they are great here on Earth are actually not so great in Heaven. 2. The people who think they are most likely to become citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom are often the people who will not even get in at all.
Do you think you are going to Heaven? Do you think you will have a great place in there when you arrive? Healthy self esteem doctrines teach us that we should say, "yes, yes, yes." I don't know about that myself. As you know, I am not a psychologist.
What do you think? It is good to go back and read the three Gospels – reading the most recent in the Mass – and see what Jesus thinks. Then we will know Heaven a little better, hope for it more and be able to work toward it more successfully.
In Christ, Fr. St. Martin
OPEN HOUSES AT CATHOLIC SCHOOLS
St. John School, Co-ed, preschool to Gr. 6, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 8-9:30 AM; 6:30-8 PM, 9 Ledyard, Wellesley Hills. www.saintjohnschool.net
Montrose School, for girls, Gr. 6-12, Sunday Oct. 16, 2-4 PM, 29 North Street, Medfield. www.MontroseSchool.org
Catholic Memorial, for boys Gr. 7-12, Sunday, Oct. 16, 1-3 PM, 235 Baker St., W. Roxbury. www.catholicmemorial.org.
Theological Institute for the New Evangelization at St. John’s Seminary, Master Degree Programs, Tuesday, Oct.18, 7 PM, 149 Washington St., Brighton. www.sjs.edu.
HOLLY HARVEST FAIR – NOVEMBER 12-13
Workshops for the Holly Harvest Fair continue on Tuesday evenings at 7PM in the Guild Room, 2nd floor of the convent.
We would appreciate donations of dolls and boys items for all ages for the children’s table. We also need help and ideas for the Children’s Activities Table. If you can help with face painting or a special craft, please contact us. Lisa Nahabedian will be organizing the table – she can be contacted at 617-244-7756. We appreciate all your support and anticipate another successful event.
Barbara Hatem: 617-969-2567
Cindy Raymond: 617-527-3722
MOTHER CAROLINE ACADEMY
This is our final weekend to collect school supplies for Mother Caroline Academy. You may also help by making a monetary donation to support educational opportunities for this disadvantaged community. Checks may be written directly to MCAEC. Thank you for your generosity!
Margaret LeBlanc, Jane McGuire, Charlene Roberts-Hayden
ANNUAL NEWTON CROP “WALK”
The CWS Crop “Walk for Hunger” fundraiser is scheduled to begin October 16. Funds are needed to continue the response to the devastation caused by Irene in New England as well as other emergencies throughout the world. Contact Peg Miller at 617-969-2248 or peg.miller@sacredheart.ws for details on how you can help.
CALENDAR NOTES
EXTENDED COFFEE HOUR:
Sunday, October 2 – 10 AM – 1 PM – Parish Center
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – Grades 1-5
Sunday, October 2 – 10:30 – 11:45 AM – Lower Church
WOMEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP:
Sunday, October 2 – 10:30 AM – Convent Dining Room
GUILD OF ST FRANCIS DAY OF RECOLLECTION:
Monday, October 3 – 10 AM – 2 PM – Parish Center
BOY SCOUTS:
Monday, October 3 – 7:30 PM – Parish Center
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – Tuesday, October 4:
Grades 1-5 – 4:00 to 5:15 PM – Lower Church
Grades 6-10 – 7:00 to 8:30 PM – Lower Church
HOLLY HARVEST WORKSHOP:
Tuesday, October 4 – 7:00 PM – Convent Guild Room
PRAYER GROUP:
Wednesday, October 5– 7:30 PM – Convent Chapel
COFFEE HOUR:
Friday, October 7 – Following 9 AM Mass – Parish Center
LITURGY, ADORATION AND THE ROSARY:
Saturday, October 8 – 9 AM to 12:30 PM – Lower Church