Epiphany of the Lord—January 5, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ:

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. The very word Epiphany means “manifestation.” The definition can at times be elaborated to say that an Epiphany is: “an intuitive grasp of reality through something simple and striking.” Something as simple as a child. Something as striking as a star, the star of Bethlehem. Remember our Advent theme: Longing for Light?…Follow the Star…this Star is something so simple and yet so striking that brings us to the Light of the World, Jesus Christ. The Feast of the Epiphany is an opportunity for us to focus, not on the Magi and who they were, but on Jesus Christ, the mystery of God revealing Himself through the incarnation of His own Son.

History is silent about just who or what the magi in the gospels really were. In some translations, they are astrologers, in others they are kings or “wise men.” And, in fact, we don’t know exactly how many of them there were. But because they brought three gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh – tradition has held that there were three of them. It’s a meaningful number. Three is the number of the Blessed Trinity. It is the number of days Christ spent in the tomb. But it also signifies something more meaningful and, for us, much more important. They are not solitary. They are a group. They are a community.

Again and again, when Christ revealed himself to the world, he rarely showed himself to just one person at a time. This will happen repeatedly. It’s the beginning of a pattern.

· Think of Christmas night, when the news was announced to shepherds not just one.

· At Jesus’s baptism, there will be a crowd of witnesses.

· When he preaches, he will speak to multitudes.

· When he performs his first miracle, it will be at a public gathering, a wedding.

· When he reappears after his resurrection, it will be to a roomful of believers.

· Even on the road to Emmaus, he presents himself not to one person, but to two.

That is part of the great message of Christianity. We are meant to receive the good news together…to live it together…to celebrate it and share it with one another, and isn’t that what we are doing together as a parish family!

We are so blessed at Saint Bridget of Sweden Parish with many ways in which we do just that. We strive hard throughout the year to find new ways to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. We have countless ministries seeking to meet the spiritual needs of our parishioners, we have book studies and adult education programs to help us grow in knowledge of our faith and of Jesus Christ, and we have many spiritual programs, activities, and events such as Eucharistic Adoration to bring us closer to Christ.

God is at work in our midst as He brings us together as one family of faith. We see the work of the Spirit manifested each day in the many parishioners who volunteer their time, their talent, and their treasure as we make this journey together. As we begin this New Year, and the beginning of a new decade, we are filled with great joy as we witness the beginning of new ways in our parish family to share the Good News with our Youth and our Young Adults. As the Archdiocesan Synod 2020 theme so clearly states Grow and Go, we, as a parish family, are tremendously excited for the many ways we witness this happening in our parish family day in and day out. It gives me great joy as your Pastor to witness the work of the Holy Spirit in the midst of our family of faith. I am most confident that the year 2020 will be a year of profound blessings on our parish family as we continue to hear His voice and follow Him, and as we continue to find ways to help each other Grow and Go: Grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ and Go make disciples!

Next Sunday the Knights of Columbus, Sante Fe Council #2978, will be holding a membership drive. As you may remember I have been working for almost two years to help build up our Council and truly see our Council be a shining star in the Order throughout the world and of course a very visible and active presence right here in our parish family. In addition to the Tootsie Roll Drive and their traditional Pancake Breakfast, the Knights of our Council have been more and more active in our parish life. We see them helping to lead the rosary before the Saturday Vigil Mass, helping to organize the Clean-Up Days on our Church campuses, actively working to solicit support for our Parish School, and helping with any number of other improvements throughout the year. I am taking this opportunity to personally invite all men of the parish, over the age of 18, to consider becoming a Knight of Columbus, or if they are one already to become active in the Council once again! I am confident that we can accomplish much more for our Parish, our School, and the wider community with more Knights in our midst. Won’t you consider joining? For more information please contact our Grand Knight Ronald Painchaud at ron12pain@gmail.com.

As we have begun this New Year, I take this time to express my gratitude to you all for the blessings of the past year. First and foremost I express gratitude to God, for His guidance of our family of faith and for His love for us. Father Federico and I see God at work in our midst every day and stand in awe at all that He does in the lives of our parishioners.

I express my personal gratitude to Father Federico, Deacons Iadarola and Wilber, Sister Patricia and the entire Pastoral Staff...I can never adequately thank the members of our Pastoral Staff who meet every Friday to collaborate as we seek to continually work with parish volunteers to implement new programs and activities to bring us together as a family of faith both spiritually and socially. I am most grateful to each of them for their love for the Church, their love for our parish, and their hard work and dedication in pointing the way to Jesus Christ.

My personal gratitude also to our hardworking Parish Staff…Our parish staff work so diligently in a variety of ways whether as Sacristan, Office Staff, Custodians, or any number of other positions held here. I am most grateful to all our staff for their daily work in assisting Father Federico and I in our ministry among you. Special gratitude for all their extra efforts in preparation for Christmas!

Gratitude also must be expressed to the many parishioners who volunteer in so many capacities…Each and every day our parish is blessed with countless volunteers who work to truly Go and Announce the Gospel in our parish and community. I wish to express my gratitude to each and every one of them who seek to serve the people of God in our Parish Family. Thank you for sharing your time, talent and treasure in building up our family of faith.

But most importantly, I wish to thank you the people of our parish family. I thank you for your love and dedication to our Parish, for your great generosity, especially financial generosity which enables us to offer the great variety of programs and activities and enables us to maintain our facilities, and I thank you for your presence at Mass both daily and Sundays. We exist as a parish family because of each of you and your relationship with Jesus Christ. God bless you and thank you for all you do for our parish family!

I express special gratitude to all who sent Christmas cards, cookies, and other delicious treats to Father Federico and me during the season. We are most grateful to you for your thoughtfulness, kindness and generosity to us.

As we continue to move into the New Year be sure to stay connected to the parish. Be sure you have visited our user-friendly website at www.stbridgetchesire.org. Through the website you will find out what is happening in our parish family. You can also “like” us on Facebook @stbridgetofswedenparish, and don’t forget to sign-up for our parish app by texting APP to 88202 and searching for our parish through the application. We are really hoping to better utilize these means of communication as a way to get information out to you in a timely manner. Of course, for more information on the life of our parish family and the many spiritual and social activities and events throughout the year, including a parish calendar, simply visit the parish website.

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.

Nota bene (Italian for “note well”) On the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, after the Gospel, the priest or deacon, in keeping with an ancient practice of Holy Church, announces from the pulpit the moveable feasts of the current year. Here is the announcement:

Know, dear brothers and sisters, that, as we have rejoiced at the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, so by leave of God’s mercy we announce to you also the joy of his Resurrection, who is our Savior. On the 26th day of February will fall Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of the fast of the most sacred Lenten season. On the 12th day of April you will celebrate with joy Easter Day, the Paschal feast of our Lord Jesus Christ. On the 21st day of May will be the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. On the 31st of May the feast of Pentecost. On the 14th of June, the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. On the 29th of November, the First Sunday of the Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph—December 29, 2019

Dear Friends in Christ:

This weekend we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The Sunday that falls in the Octave of the Solemnity of Christmas is always dedicated to celebrating the Holy Family. The Readings for this Sunday focus on the rights and responsibilities of family members toward each other, and the Gospel focuses on Saint Joseph, who cared for and protected the Blessed Mother and infant Jesus through the dangerous early years of Jesus’ childhood. The primary purpose of The Feast of the Holy Family is to present the Holy Family as a model for Christian families.

I have shared this in the past but I believe it bears repeating that there is a traditional saying in Italy, “La famiglia é tutto,” which means, “the family is everything.”

Family life today is experiencing a crisis of stability, partly caused by economic hardship, but often by other factors like lack of generosity, or too much insistence on getting one’s own way. Today’s feast invites us to meditate on our own contribution to family life. In the words of Sirach, we read how Jewish families in Our Lord’s time applied the Fourth Commandment as a promise of blessing. Then from Saint Paul we hear words of advice and encouragement for kindness within the family. Finally, the Gospel offers us the story of the flight into Egypt showing how even Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the best of all families, had to cope with dangers and hardships, which they faced together with the help of God. They faced it all together as a family!

How fitting it is for US then on this Feast of the Holy Family, in collaboration with our Knights of Columbus Sante Fe Council #2978 that we are inviting ALL families in our parish to celebrate this feast day by a special consecration of your family to the Holy Family. It is our hope that consecrating your family to the Holy Family will help your individual family to be strengthened in the bond of love and that through this spiritual exercise we as a parish family will, likewise, be strengthened in grace and love.

The Knights of Columbus together with your Priests invite each family of our Parish to be consecrated to the Holy Family and to devote yourselves to the ideal model of familial love set forth by Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Consecrating yourselves to the Holy Family provides you great intercessors to help you as a family to follow their model of living lives obedient to God’s Will, strong in faith, persevering in prayer, diligent in work, and generous towards those in need.

We will invite all families to consider standing up at the end of Mass this weekend and reciting the Prayer of Consecration to the Holy Family. Our local council has purchased prayer cards for you to use during those Masses and take home with you.

On this Feast of the Holy Family I wish to express my deepest and profound gratitude to all of you who assisted the Advent Giving Tree Program in helping our brothers and sisters in their time of need. The Feast of the Holy Family reminds us that we need one another, we should rely on one another, and we should help one another. Well, my friends, you have once again made an extraordinary act of love in your outreach to the less fortunate this Christmas. Our Advent Giving Tree was a tremendous success thanks to your generosity and your care and concern for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Your constant support and generosity to the less fortunate continues to be a great hallmark of our parish family, and for that I thank you! I am told by those who coordinated this effort that the presentation of the gifts was impressive. Thank you for caring enough to take the time to make the packages look special.

I want to share with you one story that occurred this year regarding the package seen in this photo. I was notified by one of the helpers to our Advent Giving Program through an email that said “Someone found tag in S & S lot. Anonymous generosity to be commended.” Curious!?!?! I was! So I asked was the tag returned with the gift item? He replied “yes they bought the gift too!” The tag was rewritten by the Anonymous person and it reads “Hi—Someone must have dropped this in the Stop and Shop Parking Lot. I saw it and picked it up so the baby boy would be sure to get his gifts. You might want to make another one though. Merry Christmas.” WOW! What a beautiful, generous, and loving act! May God reward this person’s generosity! May this story inspire each of us to seek ways in which to make a difference in the lives of others.

A word of special gratitude goes to Tina Kurtz who generously said YES when asked if she would take over the Advent Giving Program this year. Devorah Olewnik has served as the chairperson of this program for many years and to her we say a HUGE thank you! The work of the Giving Tree really goes for months in planning, preparation, execution, and delivering. Thank you Devorah for your years of selfless, generous, and extraordinary leadership and for your assistance in this time of transition this year. Thank you Tina for your unwavering commitment to the success of this effort and your willingness to chair such a great program in our parish life.

We also say thank you to all those who helped in countless ways this year. Some say it takes a village and the Advent Giving Tree is proof it sure does. To those who helped Tina in this effort including Devorah Olewnik, Cee Cee and David Johnson, Stacie Nole, Margaret Hardner & Steve Burner, Yan Yan Beach, Ronnie & Sheldon Pollock, Nancy & Bruce Humiston, Leah & David Judge, Jim Gragnano, Marcia Schoepfer, Cindy Smith, and Pat Figliola. Thanks too to the students from our parish who took time to cut out the stars for the tree.

Your generosity provided over 200 gifts to Saint Vincent DePaul Shelter & Soup Kitchen, 30 gifts to Carolyn’s Place, as well as gifts to the 23 residents at Marbridge, and gifts to the 139 families served by the Cheshire Community Food Pantry. Cheshire Academy, once again, gave books to the children of these families. The responses of those who benefited from your generosity was truly heartfelt. Again, please know of my personal gratitude to each and every one of you who give from your hearts to support those in need.

The New Year is approaching! This coming week we celebrate and enter into a New Year, 2020! Wow, how time flies by. Don’t forget January 1st is also a Holy Day of Obligation, the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. We will offer Mass at 5PM on Tuesday, December 31st in Saint Thomas Becket Church, and at 8:30 and 10:30AM in Saint Bridget Church on Wednesday, January 1, 2020.

Let us enter into this New Year mindful that it is a time of new hope, a time of new enthusiasm, and a time of new energy. It is a time of new opportunity, as well, as we continue to discern how God is calling us to live out our call as missionary disciples today as individuals and as a family of faith here at Saint Bridget of Sweden Parish. This is going to be an amazing year for our parish family; I just know it. With the new Youth Minister, Regis O’Neill, among us and already beginning to reach out to the youth of our parish family, and our efforts to partner with id 9:16 Ministry to reach out to our Young Adults, I am confident we will see much fruit as we continue to grow together in faith as missionary disciples of Jesus Christ.

So, as we embark on this New Year in God’s grace, let us pray that we will do so in the understanding that there is nothing that should hinder us from following the Lord completely. May I offer some 8 suggestions for New Year’s Resolutions? Here they are:

1. Read the Bible…we encourage you to read the bible. Can you read a chapter a day during your prayer time?

2. Get to know the Saints…read the book Rediscover the Saints which we gave out at Christmas, or go to Amazon and purchase a book on the lives of the Saints or start with just one Saint perhaps your patron for Confirmation.

3. Come to Eucharistic Adoration…it happens every Friday from 1-4PM in Saint Bridget Church. Come by for a visit with the Lord Jesus.

4. Commit to daily prayer…make a commitment to the Lord to spend time each day in prayer no matter what time of day, but make a commitment and keep it.

5. Celebrate the Sacraments…come to Confession more! Participate more frequently in the Eucharist! If you are doing both perhaps you can increase your prayer time?

6. Join a group…perhaps one of our Adult Ed Programs, our Parenting Circle, a book club, a bible study, or one of the many other opportunities we have in our parish.

7. Start fasting…fasting isn’t just for lent, it is a way for us to be conformed to Christ every day. Perhaps you can start by performing some act of penance every Friday throughout the year! It is only 52! You can do it.

8. Forgive…wow. There it is. “I knew he would throw that in there,” I could hear some saying right now. Yes I did. “He doesn’t understand how hard it is,” perhaps some are thinking. Yes I do. We all need to realize that forgiveness is a choice and not a feeling. Let’s all make a resolution to forgive one person for whom we have been harboring resentment and add them to our prayer intentions. It’s a good start!

As we continue to move into the New Year be sure to stay connected to the parish. Be sure you have visited our user-friendly website at www.stbridgetchesire.org. Through the website you will find out what is happening in our parish family. You can also “like” us on Facebook @stbridgetofswedenparish, and don’t forget to sign-up for our parish app by texting APP to 88202 and searching for our parish through the application. We are really hoping to better utilize these means of communication as a way to get information out to you in a timely manner. Of course, for more information on the life of our parish family and the many spiritual and social activities and events throughout the year, including a parish calendar, simply visit the parish website.

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. Happy New Year!

Christmas 2019

Dear Friends in Christ:

Merry Christmas! Christmas is a day for us to remember God’s merciful love. Through Jesus, we come to know who God really is—He is Love. After our weeks of preparation in Advent, we have finally come to this day when we gather with family and friends to hear the words of the angel of the Lord who says “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.”

We gather here in this holy place to celebrate the birth of our Savior; the Light of the World, the Prince of Peace, the Savior of the World, Emmanuel (God is with us). At Christmas we celebrate that in the person of Jesus, God humbled himself and became flesh. God-made-man enters the world as a newborn baby.

This is the Good News we gather to celebrate today! I thank you for your presence here with us today! I extend a warm and loving welcome to all who are with us to celebrate the birth of our Savior. In particular I offer a word of welcome to those who may not normally be with us in worship, to those home from college, to those who may be visiting us for the first time, and to those who may be searching for meaning in their lives and felt a tug at their heart to come to our parish family to celebrate this day of great joy! No matter what brought you to Mass today, we welcome YOU and we pray that all will come to know the joy, the peace, the hope, the love, and the mercy this Babe of Bethlehem brings into the world.

Just as the shepherds were led to a humble stable in Bethlehem to worship the infant Jesus, so have we been led to be together at this time in history and in this place to sing with the angels: Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests!”

Think of the power of what we celebrate in this infant baby. For us, for each and every one of us, for all people of all time this child is born. God gives His Son for you and for me! He sends His Son into the world for us!

The past year has seen so much activity for our family of faith! Saint Bridget of Sweden Parish is a growing, active, and vibrant family of faith and we welcome all to consider joining us. We have countless ministries seeking to meet the spiritual needs of our parishioners, we have book studies and adult education programs to help us grow in knowledge of our faith and of Jesus Christ, and we have many spiritual programs, activities, and events such as Eucharistic Adoration to bring us closer to Christ. There is so much going on each day, it is truly remarkable. God is at work in our midst as He brings us together as one family of faith. We see the work of the Spirit manifested each day in the many parishioners who volunteer their time, their talent, and their treasure as we make this journey together. As we look to the New Year we are tremendously excited to bring on staff a new Youth Minister dedicated to reaching our young people and helping them to grow in their faith! Likewise, we are super excited to begin a partner relationship with i.d.9:16 Ministry which seeks to form young adults into intentional disciples of Jesus Christ. We will be working in the coming weeks to establish a core group of young adults (20’s and 30’s) to come together and be formed in the faith to encounter Jesus Christ, hear His call, and decide to follow Him. The year 2020 will be a year of profound blessings on our parish family as we continue to hear His voice and follow Him!

May the birth of Jesus help our parish family to be a spiritual home and a center of missionary outreach where all may come to be nourished in the midst of their journey. May all who come here feel at home in our parish family!

On behalf of myself, Father Federico, Deacon Iadarola, Deacon Wilber, Sister Patricia, the entire pastoral staff, our parish staff, our Parish Trustees, the Parish Finance Council, and the Parish Pastoral Council, I offer our prayers for a blessed Christmas for you and your family. Thank you for making Saint Bridget of Sweden Parish such a vibrant community of faith, and thank you for your love evidenced in so many ways throughout the year. We offer our special prayers for all those who find these celebrations difficult, especially for those who have recently grieved the death of a loved one. Know you hold a special place in our prayers at this time and that we pray the Christ-child will grant you His comfort and His peace. To all we say Merry Christmas! Rejoice on this holy night, the night when Christ was born for He is the Prince of Peace and the Light of the World!

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.