Sacred Heart Parish
MASS INTENTIONS
Saturday, February 11
4:00pm, Betty DeMeo
Sunday, February 12
9:00am, Frances Coyne
12 Noon, Parishioners of Sacred Heart
Tuesday, February 14
7:00am, William R. Murphy & Laurinda Herlihy
Wednesday, February 15
7:00am, Ann Lulich
Saturday, February 18
4:00pm, Edward T. Aucoin
Sunday, February 19
9:00am, Michael Fairley
12 Noon, Parishioners of Sacred Heart
CELEBRANTS FOR NEXT WEEKEND
Saturday, February 18, 4:00pm Fr. Connelly
Sunday, February 19, 9:00am, Fr. Imbelli; 11:00am, Fr. Carey; 12 Noon, Fr. Connelly
READINGS FOR THE SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
First Reading: Isaiah 43:18-19, 21-22, 24b-25
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 1:18-22
Gospel Reading: Mark 2:1-12
OFFERTORY INCOME
Target Weekly Offertory $5,500
Weekend of February 4/5 $6,170
COLLECTION FOR THE CHURCH IN AFRICA AND CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
Next week’s special collection supports the Church in Africa and Central and Eastern Europe. These collections help the Church spread the word of God and train Church leaders of tomorrow, help needy families materially and spiritually, rebuild churches that have fallen, and support the sisters and brothers who have suffered for the faith. For more information, please visit www.usccb.org/churchafrica and www.usccb.org/aee.
CALENDAR NOTES
Extended Coffee Hour:
Sunday, February 12, 10am to 1pm, Parish Center
Guild of St. Francis Valentine Book and Bake Sale:
Sunday, February 12, 10am-1pm, Parish Center
Women’s Discussion Group:
Sunday, February 12, 10:40am, Convent Library
Boy Scouts:
Monday, February 13, 7:30pm, Parish Center
Prayer Group:
Wednesday, February 15, 7:30pm, Convent
Coffee Hour:
Friday, February 17, Following 9am Mass, Parish Center
Liturgy, Adoration and The Rosary:
Saturday, February 18, 9am to 12:30pm, Lower Church
Extended Coffee Hour:
Sunday, February 19, 10am to 1pm, Parish Center
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
God has blessed us with several new teachers for our Religious Education program. Paulette Adams has generously offered to be an aide in our 1stgrade Tuesday class. She is an alum from past years! We also would like to welcome Jennifer Burda, who is replacing Fr. St. Martin in teaching the Grade 9 Confirmation class. Jennifer is an aspirant with the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth, a new religious order begun by Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart. We are grateful for her witness to our young teens, as one who hopes to dedicate her life to the service of Christ.
We are so blessed to have Grace Alexander, Roseann Furbush and all our Religious Education teachers who are working each week to pass on to our students and their families, God’s great love for them!
There will be no CCD classes on Sunday, February 19 and Tuesday, February 21 due to winter school vacation.. However, there will be CCD class held on the last Sunday of school vacation, February 26.Please make note of this on your calendar.
Michelle Solomon, Director of RE
GUILD OF ST. FRANCIS BOOK AND BAKE SALE THIS WEEKEND
Be sure to stop by the Parish Center on Sunday morning for the Guild of St. Francis Valentine Book and Bake sale. Take home some goodies—both for your reading pleasure and your eating pleasure as well as some fun stuff for children.
SAVE THE DATE
Annual Family Night sponsored by the Guild of St. Francis will take place on March 10, 2012 from 5:00—8:00pm in the Parish Center. More details to follow.
MEETING OF DOMINICAN LAITY
The Greater Boston Chapter of Lay Dominicans will meet at 1:00pm on Sunday, February 19 in the lower Rectory Conference Room of Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Parish, 270 Elliot Street, Newton Lower Falls. This chapter of Lay Dominicans meets on the third Sunday of each month. At this month’s meeting, there will be a presentation on Dominican Spirituality. Persons interested in learning about membership in the Dominican Laity are invited to attend. Parking is available in the rear of the Church. Lay Dominicans are Catholic men and women, married and single, who live and work in the Greater Boston area and are affiliated with the world-wide order of Preachers (Dominican Friars). As Lay Dominicans we embrace the teachings of the Catholic Church and practice Dominican Spirituality, namely a life imbued with prayer, study, apostolate and community. If you have any questions or would like additional information, please attend the meeting, refer to our website at www.stdominics.opne.org or call 617-472-4446.
A SECOND COLLECTION
My aversion to a second collection at Mass began 62 years ago in the little town of Hopkinton (so vastly changed in our day). The pastor celebrated Mass rather rapidly one Advent Sunday but managed four collections within that short space of time—seat money, first collection, second collection, and baskets at the doors of the Church for those who wanted to contribute to Christmas flowers. My resolution on the spot was not to allow that if and when I became a pastor.
My aversion has its “down” aspects. If folks do not know anything about the important special collection because they do not receive envelopes, then they cannot contribute to some very worthy causes which they might like to do. (For example, there is an upcoming collection next week for the Churches of Central Europe not yet recovered from the terrible years of communist domination.) Our Parish Financial Council has come up with a plan: announcement in the Bulletin one week before the special collection; then remind people the following week that there are baskets at the doors of the church into which they may place their contributions—cash or check or whatnot. Let me conclude with the following: My theological mentor and thesis director, Father Bernard Lonergan allowed some of his philosophical and theological essays to be published under the simple title “Collection”. Later on his disciples gathered more essays and so another book was published entitled “A Second Collection”. Some of my pastor/friends thought this might be pastorally helpful for them. Wow! Were they disappointed!
Father Connelly
RONAN TYNAN IN CONCERT
The Cathedral of the Holy Cross presents Ronan Tynan in Concert on Saturday, February 18 at 7 pm at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, 1500 Washington St., Boston. Doors open at 6 pm, concert begins at 7pm. The performance will feature music selections from Traditional, Irish, Religious and Classical venues. Tickets are $25 each and may be purchased at the Cathedral Office, 75 Union Park St. in the lower level of the Church M-F 9:30am to 4pm, or the Archdiocese Pastoral Center, 66 Brooks Dr., Braintree, M-F, 10am-2:45pm. For more information, call 617-542-5682 or email cathedral2@rcab.org, or visit www.holycrossboston.com.
RETREAT OPPORTUNITY
A Day of Healing-Spiritual-Emotional-Physical-Relationalat the Espousal Retreat Center, Waltham, MA on Sunday, February 26 9:30am—5:00pm. Offering $45 includes lunch. To reserve a place, phone 781-209-3120 or espousaladmin@gmail.com.
SIGNINGS
For certain, there are times when we ask ourselves the question, “How can we be holy?” and ponder on it. Perhaps, we may easily scoff at the question and say that holiness does not apply to our lives today and we do not even need to be holy. We can also say that life is short and we need to make the most of it so there is no need to be holy. Perhaps we can claim that being holy is too hard for our lives. There is definitely something wrong with these thoughts of ours about living in holiness. But we are correct with one thought, “Life is short and we need to make the most of it.” Indeed, our lives here on earth are brief, but what is our goal while living a short life here? Think about it.
In the first reading, as a way to maintain holiness, the Levitical Law required a leper to go through a lengthy ritual of cleansing procedures which included animal sacrifices and bringing oneself to be declared as cleaned and cured by a priest. Through this law of purity, a leper may have thought that he or she can be cured into holiness. This sounds like a “Levitical Bureaucracy” when a law tells us directly how to be holy.
How can we make the most of our lives today on earth? We need to look at Jesus’ holy actions in today’s Gospel as he was showing love and instant compassion to the leper. Often we can see lepers anywhere outside of their isolated camp and we can be scared of them as we do not want to obtain their diseases. We certainly can see them as unclean compared with ourselves being clean. Are we really that pure and clean in our lives? Think again. What kind of person was that man with leprosy who came up and knelt before Jesus and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.”? He was indeed a man of faith seeking hope of salvation. We, of all people, can be like that man as we really are seeking hope of salvation from God because we desire to join in a heavenly banquet with Jesus, all the saints and, depending on the mercy of God, our loved ones. That is our goal for living in holiness here on earth.
What happened next is the Good News as Jesus said to the leper, “I do will it. Be made clean.” This is the moment of his showing compassion and forgiveness by touching the leper against the Levitical Law (Jewish law). It is the holiness of Christ that healed and liberated the leper. Imagine how we feel when we are relieved from any burden or difficulty—such as from the experience of being discriminated against and isolated—and receive the joy of freedom. It is through Christ’s compassion and forgiving spirit that we are called to be his followers as we reach out to others by caring, forgiving and bearing our infirmities. This is the way to living holy. Let us not forget that Jesus has the power and the will of God to turn things around in our lives. He can turn our weaknesses to strengths. If we want to turn our weaknesses to strengths, we can live holy by following Christ’s examples and teachings. That will take us to our goal, that is heaven. Remember to make our lives here on earth worthwhile for heaven!
In Christ, Father Carey
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
Please mark your calendars to indicate that there will be NO 11:00am MASS AT SACRED HEART ON SUNDAY, March 4.Fr. St. Martin is being installed in his new parish in Townsend and most of the Deaf will be celebrating the Mass with him there. There will be interpretation at the Noon Mass, however, for those of the Deaf community who want to attend Mass at Sacred Heart.
ADULT ENRICHMENT
The Church in the 21st Century Center at Boston College is offering a free event on Thursday February 16. Fr. Michael Himes will present “Catholics: Why We Are a Sacramental People” at Gasson Hall, Room 100, 4:30-5:30pm. More information at www.bc.edu/church21 or 617-552-0470.
On Thursday, February 23, John F. Baldovin, S.J. will present “Why Be Baptized in the Catholic Church?” in the Heights Room, Corcoran Commons, Lower Campus from 5:30-6:30pm.
Both events are free and open to the public, but an
RSVP is preferred. Please email church21@bc.edu.
PARISH ADULT ENRICHMENT/FAITH FORMATION
Please remember to return your survey sheets so that we can adequately plan for our Lenten enrichment programs.