Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time — March 3, 2019

Dear Friends in Christ:

Last weekend we heard one of the most challenging, most difficult, most confounding passage in all of the gospels. As I mentioned in my homily, it is also the most fundamentally Christian because it is the passage that calls on each of us to be the most like Christ. More than that, it calls on us to be “merciful, like the Father is merciful.” That is a tall order. And look at what it entails. Turning the other cheek, giving away your cloak, and the most radical and counter-cultural of all, Loving your enemies and praying for those who mistreat you. WOW! But it’s hard! It almost seems impossible and yet he showed us it is possible by His example! He taught us what he meant. He practiced what he preached. Pray for the grace to love the unlovable, to forgive the unforgivable, and to remember in prayer those you’d rather forget.

This weekend we celebrate the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time which is often skipped over but, given that Lent is so late this year, we get to celebrate this Sunday. It is a Sunday in which the readings are full of aphorisms. An aphorism is an adage or a tersely phrased statement of truth. This weekend we hear three in our Gospel. “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?” Of course we know that this is true, but it also points to the reality for us as people of faith that we cannot teach until we have learned. We cannot guide someone in the faith until we have done our part to learn the faith. Then we hear, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?” We can relate with this one as well. It is easier to point to the faults of others than to recognize our own or, even more so, it is a mechanism by which we feel better to point out the failings of others as a way of hiding our own. Finally, we hear, “For every tree is known by its own fruit.” We interpret this one to point to the fact that when a person does good things, we know this is a good person. When a person is continually stirring up trouble, we know that this person is troubled. The fruit reveals the person. Yes, of course, we always depend upon the mercy of God, but we have to respond to this mercy by doing our best to live the Christian life to bear fruit that points others to God.

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday the beginning of the Holy Season of Lent! I need this Lent. Perhaps you do too. Lent is a time for us to grow in our faith life to let the magisterium and Holy Spirit guide us. Lent is a time for us to look into ourselves. How is the upset we have with others a reflection of our own faults? Lent is a time to consider our living of the Christian life. Do our actions demonstrate a continual conversion to Christ?

This Wednesday we will mark our foreheads with a cross of ashes, the traditional sign of repentance. We will distribute ashes during Masses at Saint Bridget Church at 7AM and 9AM, and at Saint Thomas Becket Church at 5:30PM, as well as during the Prayer Service at 3:30PM at Saint Thomas Becket. Please join us as we begin this most holy season of preparation.

How will Lent be different for us this year? This weekend we have the opportunity to think about how we will make Lent meaningful this year. What will we do to make this Lent different? What will we do to Encounter Christ during the coming weeks of Lent?

This weekend we are distributing the “Little Black Book” for Lent (available at all church entrances) and we find that it encourages us in these final days before Ash Wednesday to take a few minutes to sketch out our plans for the 40 days ahead. Of course our Lenten journey will include the three pillars of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. But, concretely, what will this look like in each of our own lives?

Prayer—Will I make a little extra time for some prayer, scriptural or spiritual reading? Will I stop in at Adoration on Friday afternoons? Will I attend a weekday Mass or two in addition to our Sunday worship? Will I attend the Lenten Evening of Reflection on Tuesday, March 12th? Will I come to pray the Stations of the Cross on the Fridays of Lent?

Fasting—What will I fast from this year? Can I truly give up something I routinely enjoy, whether food, drink, entertainment, social media, and the like? Or perhaps I will fast from being negative for the 40 days? Fasting and Abstinence are not meant to torture us, but to give us some sense of discipline and control over our passions and desires. What will you fast or abstain from?

Almsgiving—Sharing the time and resources we’ve saved with someone in need helps us connect with the sacrifice Christ made for us. Giving alms to the poor is one of the most concrete ways of fraternal charity. I have heard of some of my friends, fellow Amazon Prime people, who have literally spent Lent putting things in their shopping cart, then ask themselves if they can do without the items, and then took the money they would have spent on those items and gave it to a charity. One such friend donated over $1,000 at the end of Lent! It wasn’t easy but it was so rewarding when he presented the check to the local food pantry to know that his little sacrifices all Lent will help to feed his neighbors in their time of need. Our young people can learn this practice as well with the help of the Rice Bowl Project which our students in religious education and our school will be participating in. This is a wonderful program that teaches our children not only about giving up and putting their change into the little box, but it also teaches our young people about our responsibility to help the poor throughout the world in their time of need. The Rice Bowls will be handed out to classes beginning this Sunday so all children will have them before Ash Wednesday!

This Lent we will be focusing our homilies on the Seven Sacraments. We as a Pastoral Staff thought it was a good time to use the weeks of Lent to focus on the Seven Sacraments since they are the lifeline of our faith. “The whole liturgical life of the Church revolves around the Eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments. There are seven sacraments in the Church: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church #1113) “Sacraments are ‘powers that comes forth’ from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and life-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are ‘the masterworks of God’ in the new and everlasting covenant." (Catechism of the Catholic Church #1116) Given the importance of the Sacraments, we are excited to use the readings of Lent to offer some spiritual reflections on the Sacraments in our lives as followers of Christ.

As I mentioned last week, our theme this year is Encounter Christ #prayfastgive. The themes we will work on communicating through homilies, programs, and activities will be the 4 R’s of Lent: Renew, Reflect, Respond, and Repent. We will strive to show how it is through the Sacraments that we come to Encounter Christ as we seek to repent of our failings and be renewed by His Grace so we can then respond to His will and reflect the presence of Christ in our lives.

HERE are some of the other activities and programs you can expect this Lent, in addition to regularly scheduled Masses and activities:

1. Weekly Confessions in Saint Bridget Church on Monday mornings from 7:30-8:30a.m. Please note this is in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Hartford and the Lenten Confession Program. We will also hold an evening of Confession during Holy Week.

2. Stations of the Cross…every Friday at Saint Thomas Becket Church at 3:30p.m. and at Saint Bridget Church at 7p.m.

3. Lenten Suppers…Every Friday evening of Lent from 5-7p.m., a Lenten meal is prepared at Saint Bridget of Sweden Parish Center. Menu always includes Pasta with sauce, salad, bread, a variety of soups each week, beverages and so much more. Cost is $10 per adult, $5 children and seniors, and $25 max per family. PLEASE JOIN US!

4. A Lenten Evening of Reflection for ALL parishioners…on the evening of Tuesday, March 12th the Pastoral Staff will, once again, lead an evening of reflection. We will begin with a Pasta Dinner at 5:30 pm cooked by our Cheshire Knights of Columbus, which will be followed by presentations and age-appropriate activities for adults and children! There will be an adult presentation, presentation for High School Students, as well as various presentations with activities for children in various age groupings. REGISTER NOW!

5. Our Weekly Corporal Works of Mercy…see below…

We as a parish family of Saint Bridget of Sweden Parish will focus in a special and meaningful way on the Corporal Works of Mercy during the weeks of Lent. It will be an opportunity for us as a family of faith to reach out to others with the mercy and love of God and to fulfill the call of Pope Francis to be instruments of mercy in the lives of others.

We have developed a program that will run from the First Sunday of Lent right through Easter. Each week, at both of our church campuses, we will be focusing on a particular Corporal Work of Mercy and we invite you all to participate. See the details for this program on page 7 of this bulletin so you can cut it out and put on your refrigerator! Thank you for helping our brothers and sisters in need this Lent!

Finally, I offer you a Lenten Challenge and Invitation…This Lent share with someone what we are doing in our parish. Share with them your experience of the activities and events both spiritual and social that make you proud to be part of our parish family. Invite someone to join us! Bring a family member or friend to our Lenten Suppers or Adoration or Stations of the Cross. Bring someone who may have stopped practicing their faith to Mass with you. You are the means through which others come to know the Lord and His love, why wait to bring them to the table where He nourishes us in Word and Sacrament? Can we all invite one person back to the Church, back to the practice of their faith? I think we can! The Challenge Is ON!!!

As always, remember to pray for our parish families and ask God’s blessings as we build His kingdom here. Please know that I am praying for you, and I ask for your prayers for me, that together through the intercession of Saint Bridget of Sweden, our Patroness, and united in the Eucharist, we will reflect the presence of Jesus to the world.

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time—February 24, 2019

Dear Friends in Christ:

UPDATE ON the Church of the Epiphany—as you know from the reading of the Canonical Statement a couple of weekends ago and from information in the local newspapers, we are in the process of selling the Church of the Epiphany. It was determined months ago by our Parish Finance Council and our Trustees, and with consultation from our Parish Pastoral Council, that we could see no long term need for a third campus in our parish family. I realize, I do, that this may be hard for our parishioners who used to worship there and who called that Church building their spiritual home. I realize that the grief you have already gone through may come to the forefront once again and I promise you my prayers.

While we do have a very interested buyer I was hesitant to address this matter prior. That being said, I am well aware that the potential buyer did an interview with the Meriden newspaper and that many of you saw that. I AM SORRY you heard this information from the newspaper and not from your Pastor. I was advised not to say anything publicly until we were ready for the closing. I am sure you know from selling your own home a potential buyer is not always the one who eventually sits at the table at the closing so we did not want to get ahead of ourselves.

I am pleased that this potential buyer is another congregation that shares our belief in Jesus Christ. The Coptic Orthodox Church traces its roots back to Saint Mark the Evangelist. They are an Ancient Christian Church who believe God revealed Himself to us in Three Distinct and yet United Persons, they too believe in Scripture and Tradition, and hold belief in the Sacraments. The head of their church is the Patriarch of Alexandria of the Holy See of Saint Mark. So they do not recognize the Holy Father, Pope Francis. They split from the rest of Christianity after the Council of Chalcedon in 451AD. The Coptic language is the universal language of Coptic churches in every country.

Again, I remind you, we are simply in contract with this particular church. No closing date is set yet. I also must acknowledge that there have been a lot of comments made about this potential sale on the Community Forum of Facebook. It is unfortunate that some would put information on this Forum that is wrong. It is also disappointing to see people use this Forum to instigate anger and hatred. PLEASE think before you type. This is sound advice for all of us! Some of the things I read on that Forum are so mean spirited. Regarding the information in relation to this sale of the Church of the Epiphany I promise you will hear it directly from me here in this article or from the pulpit. Do not think that just because someone posts something on the Facebook Community Forum that it is valid. As always, if you have a question about something please contact me directly.

LENT IS ONLY A WEEK AND A HALF AWAY! The Pastoral Staff has been preparing for a busy Lent. We really have prayed about what our theme should be and what Lent offers to the soul.

Our theme this year is Encounter Christ #prayfastgive. The themes we will work on communicating through homilies, programs, and activities will be the 4 R’s of Lent: Renew, Reflect, Respond, and Repent.

HERE IS SOME OF WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT THIS LENT, in addition to regularly scheduled Masses and activities:

1. Weekly Confessions in Saint Bridget Church on Monday mornings from 7:30-8:30a.m. Please note this is in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Hartford and the Lenten Confession Program. We will also hold an evening of Confessions later in Lent.

2. Stations of the Cross…every Friday at Saint Thomas Becket Church at 3:30p.m. and at Saint Bridget Church at 7p.m.

3. Lenten Suppers…Every Friday evening of Lent from 5-7p.m., a Lenten meal is prepared at Saint Bridget of Sweden Parish Center. Menu always includes Pasta with sauce, salad, bread, a variety of soups each week, beverages and so much more. Cost is $10 per adult, $5 children and seniors, and $25 max per family.

4. A Lenten Evening of Reflection for ALL parishioners…on the evening of Tuesday, March 12th the Pastoral Staff will, once again, lead an evening of reflection. We will begin with a Pasta Dinner at 5:30 pm cooked by our Cheshire Knights of Columbus, which will be followed by presentations and age-appropriate activities for adults and children! There will be an adult presentation, presentation for High School Students, as well as various presentations with activities for children in various age groupings.

5. The Little Black Books…next weekend and on Ash Wednesday at the doors of the churches you will find the Little Black Books for your use each day of Lent with a short reflection for your prayer time. Be sure to take one!

6. Our Weekly Corporal Works of Mercy…see below…

We as a parish family of Saint Bridget of Sweden Parish will focus in a special and meaningful way on the Corporal Works of Mercy during the weeks of Lent. It will be an opportunity for us as a family of faith to reach out to others with the mercy and love of God and to fulfill the call of Pope Francis to be instruments of mercy in the lives of others.

We have developed a program that will run from the First Sunday of Lent right through Easter. Each week, at both of our church campuses, we will be focusing on a particular Corporal Work of Mercy and we invite you all to participate.

Weekend of March 9 & 10—Feed the Hungry

• non-perishable food items for the Cheshire Community Food Pantry

Weekend of March 16 & 17—Give drink to the Thirsty

• beverages (water, juice, coffee, etc.) for the Cheshire Community Food Pantry

Weekend of March 23 & 24—Clothe the naked

• new (WHITE) socks for the Saint Vincent DePaul Shelter in Waterbury or onesies for use at Carolyn’s Place

Weekend of March 30 & 31—Shelter the Homeless

• a monetary collection for the Saint Vincent DePaul Shelter in Waterbury

Weekend of April 6 & 7—Visit the Sick

• children of the parish are asked to make Easter cards to be given to those in skilled nursing facilities or our homebound parishioners

Weekend of April 13 & 14—Palm Sunday—Visit the imprisoned

• the chaplains in our prison ministry in the Archdiocese ask that we collect Good News Bibles and Pocket Dictionaries for use in prison ministry…you can purchase these at any retailer or on Amazon

Weekend of April 20 & 21—Easter Sunday—Bury the Dead

• as we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, we remember our loved ones who have gone before us in faith. May they share in His Resurrection!

As always, remember to pray for our parish families and ask God’s blessings as we build His kingdom here. Please know that I am praying for you, and I ask for your prayers for me, that together through the intercession of Saint Bridget of Sweden, our Patroness, and united in the Eucharist, we will reflect the presence of Jesus to the world.

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time—February 17, 2019

Dear Friends in Christ:

2018 Annual Report…This weekend I am pleased to present to you the 2018 Annual Report for Saint Bridget of Sweden Parish and to provide you with a highlight booklet found at the ends of your pews for you to take home and read.

I will be sharing some highlights with you all at the Masses this weekend, but I would like to make a couple of significant comments at this time as well.

I think it is safe to say that the calendar year of 2018 was a year of blessings for our parish family in many different ways, some of which will be clear in these printed pages, others are known only to God.

The year 2018 was the first full year for our new parish family. “The Parish is where the Church lives.” This profound statement was in the document Communities of Salt and Light by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. It went on to state, “parishes are communities of faith, of action, and of hope. They are where the Gospel is proclaimed and celebrated, where believers are formed and sent to renew the earth. Parishes are the home of the Christian community; they are the heart of our Church.”

It really does build up our family when we come together whether it be for spiritual or social activities. Families need to be together, whether we are speaking of our particular families or our parish family. Families need time to “be” together, to spend time with one another, to encourage one another, to support one another, and to care for one another.

It is in light of this that we as a Pastoral Team continually seek ways to bring our parish community together both socially and spiritually to grow together as a family. So many of the programs and events we offer throughout the year help each of us to grow in our understanding of the faith so that we may be nourished by word and Sacrament to go into our world and renew the earth. Each of us fulfills this mission each and every day by the way we live our lives, by the way our words and our actions show others that God is present within us, and by the way we share the joy and the love of Jesus with those we encounter. We are sent from each and every Mass to “Go, and announce the Gospel of the Lord,” or to “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.”

The Church is truly the gathered believers being sent out on mission. Pope Francis reminds us of this when he calls us to be missionary disciples. We are called to do this each and every day! We do this when we work together to serve the poor in our community and beyond, when we serve one another as brothers and sisters of the Lord, and when we reach out to those in need out of love. The opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others as a family of faith are endless.

To strengthen us for our role as missionary disciples I encourage everyone to join us for our upcoming spiritual and social events so that together we can be strengthened by one another and God’s Word to truly go forth and bring others to the Lord by our lives. More information on the events and activities that we have planned will be in our bulletins in the weeks ahead, posted on our social media sites as well as on our user-friendly website www.stbridgetcheshire.org.

One major highlight of 2018 was the creation of our new Saint Bridget of Sweden Parish Pastoral Council made up of representatives from the three former parishes in town. This consultative body has been hard at work discerning a parish mission statement, a parish vision statement, and a strategic plan for our parish family. This strategic plan narrows down to three important points or targets for us as a parish family to work toward:

1. The promotion of Saint Bridget of Sweden Parish in our local area.

2. Bringing parish youth into a more active role.

3. Increasing participation of parishioners in the life of the parish.

I must also express a word of profound gratitude to our Parish Finance Council and our Parish Trustees. I rely heavily on their counsel and remain appreciative of their desire to support our parish family and help me in my duties to ensure we fulfill our mission as a Roman Catholic parish by bringing the Gospel to the community and truly making disciples. They are dedicated to ensuring we properly utilize the gifts God has blessed our parish family with to further the vibrancy of our parish and enhance the life of our family of faith.

There are many factors that are not reflected in our 2018 Annual Report that define us as a parish family.

• We are a family that reaches out to those in need beyond our parish boundaries, we collect tons of food, clothing, and other items for the clients of the Cheshire Community Food Pantry, the Saint Vincent DePaul Mission in Waterbury, and countless other organizations throughout the Archdiocese and beyond.

• We are a parish family that has dedicated parishioners ready and willing to lend a hand to any number of programs and events to make a difference in the lives of their fellow parishioners and the less fortunate.

• We are also a parish family blessed with the dedication of hundreds of volunteers who serve their fellow parishioners through various ministries here in the parish.

• We are blessed with a competent and, dare I say, extraordinary Pastoral Staff and support staff who are always ready to give one hundred and ten percent to anything and everything they do.

The bottom line is that we are blessed.

Finally, I hope you will not just focus on the financial report but that you will look through this Annual Report and see that we are doing so much as a community of faith. We educate future generations, we gather in groups, we work together to enhance our liturgies, and we reach out to those most in need. That is what makes us such a strong family of faith! May God bless our efforts in the years ahead. Thank you for all that you do to make Saint Bridget of Sweden Parish such an amazing family of faith.

As always, remember to pray for our parish family and ask God’s blessings as we build His kingdom here. Please know that I am praying for you, and I ask for your prayers for me, that together through the intercession of Saint Bridget of Sweden, our Patroness, and united in the Eucharist, we will reflect the presence of Jesus to the world.