A Note From Our Pastor
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A Note from our Young Church Ministry Coordinator,
As Julie mentioned last week, Fr. Palardy asked for parish staff to serve as guest columnists this month. I look forward to sharing with you.
Mission Events
Our service efforts for Fr. Bill’s Place & MainSpring, a homeless shelter in Quincy & Brockton, continue on a monthly basis. We had a number of parishioners generously make donations last Spring to financially support our packaged lunches which still continue to cover the costs of our efforts. At this point, we have made over 2,000 lunches since we started in Summer of 2020. This mission to support this wonderful organization has all stemmed from our Summer Mission Week.
Because we could not attend the Appalachia Service Project Trip in the Summer of 2020, Will Rein (the Youth Minister at the Visitation Collaborative) and I decided to run our own local service week. To lead the efforts, we had 12 teens sign-up to be on our Mission Leadership Team. They met on zoom weekly to plan and prepare for our local service week. The week was such a success that we decided to have our Mission Leadership Team continue throughout the year and plan service projects on a regular basis which includes our monthly lunch making for Fr. Bill’s Place. It has also included work at Catholic Charities, fundraisers for the Milton Food Pantry & Friendship Home, yardwork for those in need of assistance, clothing drives, and more!
We look forward to returning to Appalachia this April to help repair homes in Jonesville, Virginia, but beyond that, our teens have learned about our mission as Christians to serve those right in our own community. Our biggest hope for the coming months is to help connect service to a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.
Confirmation Preparation
Our Confirmation program has undergone a lot of changes since the start of COVID among which includes the launch of a Candidate Plan, a list of individualized goals for each Candidate to grow in Mass, prayer, community, formation, and service. All of these are crucial to a life of discipleship! Any person I know who is actively living out their Catholic faith is pursuing spiritual growth in these ways. I love this opportunity for our Candidates for Confirmation to use the training wheels of the Candidate Plan to prepare to ride the bike of lifelong discipleship!
The biggest anchor in preparing teens for the Sacrament of Confirmation has been this line from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
“Preparation for Confirmation should aim at leading the Christian toward a more intimate union with Christ and a more lively familiarity with the Holy Spirit—his actions, his gifts, and his biddings—in order to be more capable of assuming the apostolic responsibilities of Christian life.” (CCC 1309)
Bonfire & Prayer
One of our most consistent offerings throughout the pandemic has been our weekly Bonfire & Prayer which we have hosted over the last year both in person and on zoom. This is a time for our teens to check-in with one another and learn various avenues of prayer through which they can grow in intimacy and friendship with God. Among these include Lectio Divina (praying with scripture), Ignatian Daily Examen, Prayer Journaling, and Visio Divina (praying with art)!
EDGE Program
Our middle school EDGE program meets bi-weekly and we were excited to return in person this year after a year on zoom! This fall we are going through a series on the Mass which will dive into a deeper understanding of the Mass and the positive impact it has on their lives. Our first session kicked off the series with a little history of the Mass and a Christian version of a Passover Seder meal! As we continue, it is my hope that our middle school youth come to know how Jesus seeks to have a personal and intimate encounter with each of them through the Eucharist, His own body.
Grace
On a personal note, I have spent much time recently thinking about grace. Grace is the undeserved help that God gives us. We have not done anything to earn this gift of love from our Heavenly Father, but yet it is there to aid us in being His sons and daughters.
As I examine my life, I ask myself two questions:
(1) How often do I forget to extend the grace God gives me to those around me?
(2) How often do I neglect to receive the grace that Jesus wants to pour out upon me?
This past Sunday we heard in the letter to the Hebrews: “So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.”
Through the Sacraments, God imparts His grace on us. We find this most frequently through reception of the Eucharist each Sunday. When we approach Jesus at the throne of grace, He offers us everything we need.
With joy,
Helen Waring