Holy Week doesn’t just happen; lots of preparation is involved as well as many hands who share in ministry weeks before we gather. It was sixteen years ago when Pam Chaplin followed me through Holy Week and wrote down everything that needed to be done and made exhaustive check lists for each of our worship experiences and ministers. She also created a list of how many ministers are needed and wrote explicit instruction guides for the altar servers for each of these services. With the help of Tina Buckley pulling the schedule together, our faithful altar servers, ministers of Holy Communion, readers of the Word, musicians, cantors, videographers, ushers, greeters, and A/V ministers come together to serve the community. People are very faithful sharing their time and talents throughout Holy Week and I must say, our worship is well executed, with reverence and grace.
Throughout his ministry Jesus found refuge in the town of Bethany at the home of three siblings, Mary, Martha and Lazarus. This was the place where he could put his feet us and relax; a place of security and peace, a place where he could simply relax and have a good home-cooked meal. This was a place where he felt safe and secure.
We are in the last stretch of Lent and head toward Holy Week and Easter. Often times I see the “finish line” of Easter Sunday and forget to reflect on what I learned about God, my spirituality and myself during this Lenten Season. I have talked to a few others, and I guess I am not alone. This year I don’t want to miss the opportunity to miss the gifts I received during this Lenten Season, because the “prize” of Easter Joy overshadowed the blessings received during these 40 days.
Life-changing experiences are often few and far between. Sometimes they occur and we don’t even notice them until we stop long enough to let the events sink in and realize that God has brought us to a new point in life. Our understanding of God’s presence is enhanced. Patience as clay in the potter’s hands as we are molded and shaped more and more into the image of Jesus the Son is the life-changing experience awakened during this Lenten season.
Again, I wish to thank Tim Messenger, the Director of the Office for Youth and Young Adult Ministry of our Diocese for his reflection on ministry and encouraging us all to participate in our Annual Partners in Charity Appeal. As we gather this Fourth Week of Lent, we will conduct our in-pew solicitation; pooling our gifts with those of the other parishes throughout the Diocese to continue the wonderful works of ministry, charity and education in Worcester County.
As we continue our Lenten journey, allowing God as potter to shape us and mold us more and more into the image of Jesus the son; and as we rise to the occasion joining in the Annual Partners in Charity Appeal, our Pastoral Planning Team seeks to continue to grow our vibrant faith community.
The Lenten journey is similar to a tripod. It rests on three legs: prayer, fasting, and acts of charity. These three are, as we heard on Ash Wednesday part of a communal event. We are called as a universal Church to make this forty-day journey together as a community of faith.
“But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.” (Is. 64:8) As we gather to begin our Lenten journey, you are asked to take a piece of clay from the blocks of clay to remind us of that fact that we are all made in the image of God and we are as clay in the hands of God, the potter.
As Catholics we begin the season of Lent this Wednesday February 14th. Yes, I know it is Valentine’s Day. I am sure that many of you have looked ahead and Easter falls on April 1st; affectionately known as April Fool’s Day, but don’t be fooled, we believe Jesus rose from the dead! There will be three opportunities for receiving ashes on Wednesday: 9:00 A.M. Mass, 3:00 Liturgy of the Word, and 7:30 P.M. Mass. I am hoping one of those times fits into your schedule and we can begin our communal season of fasting, prayer and charity on the journey of spiritual growth and formation.
Seems like we just started our New Year’s resolutions (some of them already fallen to the wayside) and we are gearing up for the season of Lent. As I write it is another snowy New England day; after we got rid of all the snow from our January thaw. I am thinking of the book by Sr. Mary Fahey, an adult spirituality book written much like a children’s book: The Tree that Survived Winter. It is a quick read and worth getting through the library.
I have stated repeatedly that “faith is caught not taught!” That is why we are paying attention to Faith Formation in our parish as opposed to Religious Education. Keeping on top of the latest techniques in engaging our community in passing on the faith is a top priority here at Sacred Heart. With that goal in mind Pam Chaplin is participating in “Vibrant Faith Institute” and gaining the knowledge, skills, and practices we need as a Catholic Community to develop faith in the 21st century.
Several of you asked “my take” on the president’s comments about Haiti and African nations. I can’t comment on Africa and European colonization and the outside forces that had such a negative impact on African development. However, I can certainly comment on Haitian history and all the negative influences that impacted Haitian development.
Over these past years I have had conversations with many of you concerned about family members and friends who are Catholic and no longer practice their faith. Many have said these and similar words of concern; “Father, we did everything we could to raise them in the faith we cherish, they received all their sacraments, brought them to church every week, and now they do not practice their faith, and are not even baptizing their own children.” “I am broken hearted that my neighbor just buried her Mom, who was a daily Mass attendee, and because she doesn’t practice her faith any more, they didn’t have a Mass at church for her!”
It’s a New Year and still the Christmas Season through Monday, January 8 th when we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. I am sure that many of us have made our New Year’s resolutions with great intentions to keep them. As this New Year begins I invite us to focus on our spiritual lives and make time to attend the Annual Parish Retreat directed by Fr. Carl Chudy. It will be here in our parish center Friday January 19 th and Saturday, January 20 th. It is free, but due to meal planning you must sign up. Details are elsewhere in the bulletin, in briefs, on the website and on the pamphlets in the church.
What a Christmas Eve and Day our Catholic Community had at Sacred Heart! It was very affirming to hear so many positive comments as people were leaving church. Besides all the Christmas wishes, there were several that stood out in my mind and heart. “You couldn’t pay me to miss Christmas Mass at Sacred Heart!” “I’m not from the area, but since we first attended Christmas Mass here, we make it a point to return every year, this is our 6th Christmas here at Sacred Heart!” And from the 7PM Mass, “That was the most prayerful & relaxing experience I had all year.”
This is the shortest length of the fourth week of Advent we can have. We light the candle of “love” and this is truly what this Season of Christmas is about; not necessarily our love for one another, but a reminder that “God so loved the world that he sent us his son Jesus Christ to dwell among us. Emmanuel, meaning “God is with us!”
I my letters of the last five weeks I have been introducing you to the five “best practices” for revitalizing the Catholic Community as presented in Everyone Leads by Chris Lowney. I am hoping that we will keep these in mind as we move ahead into the New Year. The unpacking of them in these letters can be found on our parish website.
We have been looking at the five “best practices” for revitalizing the Catholic Community as presented in Everyone Leads by Chris Lowney. I have reviewed the first four; the ways we are entrepreneurial, strive to be accountable, how we serve the poor and marginalized and how we transform each worshipper’s heart and soul here at Sacred Heart. The fifth and last best practice is the most challenging: “Reach out to the world beyond our doors.”
We have been looking at the five “best practices” for revitalizing the Catholic Community as presented in Everyone Leads by Chris Lowney. I have reviewed the first three; the ways we are entrepreneurial, strive to be accountable and how we serve the poor and marginalized here at Sacred Heart. This week, the fourth “best practice” is to “Transform each worshiper's heart and soul.”
I have been using this space to address the five “best practices” for revitalizing the Catholic Community as presented in Everyone Leads by Chris Lowney. I have reviewed the first two, the ways we are entrepreneurial and strive to be accountable here at Sacred Heart. This week, I will talk about how we “serve the poor and marginalized.”