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St. Mary's Catholic Parish: From the Pastor Fr. Paul E. Desmarais, Pastor - St. Mary's Parish
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For the Week of May 31, 2009
“Come Holy Spirit enkindle in us the fire of your
love.” How often have we prayed this prayer and forgot what it means
for us? We pray for the Holy Spirit to enter our lives, do we realize
what we are asking for? We pray for the power of God to enter our lives
to lead and guide us in all we do. We pray (enkindle in us the fire of
your love). We are asking the fire of God’s love to enter our lives
and help us to love all people as God wants us to.
Set our hearts on fire are powerful words. When was the last time you
felt the fire of love for someone? The fire of love allows us to live
our lives the way God wants us to. The fire of love creates in our hearts
a place for our Lord to live. We become living tabernacles of God’s
love through his Son. “Send forth you’re Spirit and we shall
be recreated and we shall renew the face of the earth.’ (Send forth
your Spirit).
We celebrate today the feast of Pentecost. The sending forth of the Holy
Spirit into the world to give us the fire of God’s love. (We shall
be recreated.) God wants to make us in His own image and likeness. Our
Lord wants to take away our sinfulness and give us new hearts that are
to bring mercy and compassion to others. Our Lord each day calls us to
a personal conversion to be more like him. (We shall renew the face of
the earth.) Our witness of love, compassion and mercy can change the hearts
and lives of others. We can bring grace where it is so needed. Pentecost
is the time of love, hope, compassion, forgiveness and mercy for our world.
For the Week of May 24, 2009
Jesus prays in the gospel today, “Consecrate them
in the truth.” Jesus touched their hearts with his truth. He taught
them how to love, serve, heal, forgive, and be patient and kind to all
they would minister to. He taught them to live for others. He consecrated
them in the love of God for them and for the world. He warned them they
would be met by jealousy, envy, pride and even hatred.
When they were touched by the truth of God’s love there was no turning
back. We too by the power of the Holy Spirit are touched by the power
of God’s love. We too are witnesses of this love to others. We too
bring the truth of this love to others. This is our vocation, we are to
proclaim God’s love by the way we care for others and forgive one
another. Then we can say we are consecrated to the truth. We are authentic
witnesses of the love of God to the world.
For the Week of May 17, 2009
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down
one’s life for one’s friends.” In the course of our
everyday life we don’t think of ourselves as laying down one’s
life for one’s friends, but we do it in many different ways, we
may not recognize.
Caring for a sick child or relative, taking someone to the doctor’s
or shopping because they have no ride. Running errands for someone homebound,
calling someone on the phone to say hello, cooking meals for someone who
is sick are all ways we sacrifice ourselves for others because we simply
care about them.
It is the recognition that we have gifts and talents given to us by God
for the love of other people. Love is sharing of our talents and goodness
with those who are most in need. As Jesus continues to say in the gospel,
“You are my friends if you do what I command you.” You and
I are his friends when we share the love he gives to us with one another.
SAINTS FUN FACTS: Exactly what is a saint? Simply put, it is a soul who
sees God and is with God in Heaven. No one knows exactly how many saints
there are because many saints led quiet, humble, simple lives. Some saints
become famous and recognized to teach us, and be examples for us. Some
say the One Holy Catholic Church has recognized over 10,000 saints in
its’ two thousand and three year history.
We are all called to be saints, but we needn’t worry about becoming
a famous saint. Many humble people have become saints in the little things
of life. Just love God, trust in God’s mercy, pray, die to yourself
and love and live for others!!
For the Week of May 10, 2009
The parish family of St. Mary’s would like to wish
all mothers a blessed and holy day. The greatest example of course of
a Christian mother is Our Lady. She had all the feelings and emotions
any mother would experience. She watched with joy her son grow up to be
or Messiah, she was heart sick when he was lost and found three days later
in the temple. She was heart broken when people insulted and hated her
son. No one can imagine the pain of her heart when she watched both Joseph
her husband and Jesus her son die. Through all of this her faith was a
source of comfort and healing to her. Our Lady is one we can find comfort
in as a mother, she knows our dreams, our hopes, our fears, our doubts.
She has appeared in our world to point the way to the mercy of her son.
She calls on us to trust him in our moments of need. She doesn’t
care who we are or what we are; she loves us with a mother’s love.
She appears to children and to the poor like Juan Diego, to let us know
she and her son care for all people.
May our Lady’s love and blessings be upon all mothers living and
deceased as we thank God for the gift of motherhood.
I would like to thank all who made the celebrations of First Communion
and Confirmation a special day. Thank you Mary Beth for all your hard
and dedicated work. Thanks to all the PEP teachers who make this program
possible. They are wonderful mentors for our young people. Thanks to Karen
Cottle for the music for First Communion and Confirmation. Thanks to Steve
Joss for the music he provided for every PEP Sunday. Thanks to all of
you for your time and dedication.
I want to thank Sandra Croce for her donation for the picture of the Divine
Mercy which hangs on the back wall of St. Mary’s Church. Thank you
very much, it is a beautiful picture.
For the Week of May 3, 2009
The job of a shepherd is not an easy job. So much responsibility
rests on the shoulder of the person in charge of looking after the sheep.
The shepherd has to develop a voice that the sheep will hear and respond
to. The sheep have to trust the shepherd. When Jesus calls himself the
Good Shepherd, he is calling us to a trusting relationship with him. He
calls us to have confidence in him. He calls us to have faith in him,
to believe that he will never let us down in our time of need.
We live in a time when so many institutions and people have let us down
or betrayed our trust. We live in a time when we have lost confidence
in so many things. We live in a time when we have to rely on our faith
to help us through these times. It is why the words of Jesus are so important.
I am the good shepherd. Who else can we rely on but our Lord. We have
seen how unreliable things can be, yet our Lord is here to help each of
us in our need.
For the Week of April 26, 2009
Whoever keeps his word the love of God is truly perfected
in him.” God has always wanted to live in our hearts. Our goal in
life is to have God live and reign in our hearts. The more we follow his
example, the more we pray, the more we are obedient to his will, the closer
he is to us. We are called to be living tabernacles. We walk around with
the presence of God in us. We are the walking, talking, living presence
of God in the world. We carry in us the sacredness of God. We are the
living holiness of God.
How does this translate into our everyday lives? How well do we treat
each other? How well do we treat our environment? We are called to treat
all people with respect and dignity. We are called to treat each other
with kindness and love. Where is the love and compassion when we insult
others or make fun of them. We all need to be aware of what we are and
what people see in us. Today and everyday we are the living presence of
God in our world.
For the Week of April 19, 2009
Jesus had been betrayed, denied, tortured, abused, and
crucified. People had mocked him, slandered him, spit at him, people made
fun of him: I’m sure the people who had hurt him the most were his
disciples.
When he walks into the room where his disciples were, instead of condemning
them, he says to them, “Peace be with you.” He shows them
how great and powerful his mercy is. His peace brings mercy, his peace
brings forgiveness, and his peace brings healing. His peace, his mercy
is greater than sin and evil. His peace and mercy are greater than the
darkness of men’s hearts that had crucified him. He shows that same
mercy towards Thomas a week later.
Despite Thomas unwillingness to believe the disciples when they tell him
Jesus is risen; Jesus offers Thomas his peace. Jesus mercy is about healing
hearts. His Divine Mercy is showing people that mercy is greater than
any sin. As we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, the focus is on Peace and
Healing. This weeks celebration has been on bringing a message of hope
to a sinful world. We need to remember that we are also called to bring
the same mercy and forgiveness to others.
For the Week of April 12, 2009
In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles Peter
points out to us the reason for the resurrection, “everyone who
believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Jesus came into the world to forgive us our sins through the cross. Many
people question why did Jesus have to die to prove this to us? Envy, hatred,
jealousy and pride allowed Jesus to suffer the cruelest death possible.
His love and forgiveness are greater than the cruelty and hatred shown
toward him.
Love is greater than the darkness of the world. Love and mercy overcome
hatred and sin. He had to prove this to us in the most powerful way he
could. Jesus had to overcome the cruelty of his own death. The resurrection
is about the power of love over hatred and cruelty. Even death itself
has no power over Jesus. Death cannot put out the flame of love. When
we face up to our own sinfulness we allow the power of love to transform
us into the people God made us to be.
Easter is the great day of our Lord’s victory over death and sin.
Have a beautiful Easter everyone from the entire staff of St. Mary’s
Parish family.
For the Week of April 5, 2009
We enter the most important week of our lives. We are
about to celebrate the greatest gift God can give to us. During Christmas
time, the emphasis is on what to buy, what material gift we can give.
The season of Lent and Holy Week celebrate our salvation. God has given
to us freedom from our sins. We have received the gift of forgiveness
by Jesus death on the cross. His resurrection is our victory over death.
How will we this week thank God for the gift of the Eucharist or our redemption
on Good Friday? On Holy Thursday will we come to Mass or stay home and
watch T.V? On Good Friday will be come to thank God for the great sacrifice
of his son’s death on the cross? Will we come to hear the words
that the mercy of God is greater than the sin and darkness that exist
in the world today? Will we come and let our hearts be filled with hope
as we wonder what the future has in store for us? The healing power of
the Eucharist and the blood of Christ are Jesus greatest gifts to us.
This coming week how can we thank our Lord for all the good things he
has done for us?
For the Week of March 29, 2009
We are in awe of the power Jesus has to raise Lazarus
from the dead. We marvel at the power Jesus uses to do the impossible.
We sit back and hear this story and say to ourselves how wonderful God
is. If we focused only on Jesus power to raise Lazarus from the dead we
would be missing a small but important part of this story. Jesus says
to the people around him “Untie him and let him go.” Jesus
calls on the people around him to also help free Lazarus. They are called
to help Jesus in his miraculous work. They too have a role to play in
Jesus ministry.
Jesus feeds five thousand people with bread and fish because a boy comes
forward with five loaves and two fish so that Jesus can bless them. He
helps in Jesus miracle. The biggest obstacle to the power of God working
in our world today is fear. People are afraid to use their gifts and talents,
they are afraid to step out in faith and allow God to use them to help
his people. We see fear all around us as we wonder about the economy,
jobs, the future etc, etc. Only the grace of God can carry us through
these times and this grace can help us overcome our fear. Jesus wants
us to help him in caring for all people. He calls us today as he called
people over two thousand years ago to bring his love and mercy to each
other.
For the Week of March 22, 2009
This weekend we begin our Catholic Charity Fund Appeal
Drive. The financial crises our state and county are facing have put a
strain on all of us financially. All I can ask of you is to support the
Appeal as best you can. The agencies that the Catholic Charity Fund Appeal
supports have seen more and more people coming to them in their need.
People are using the services provided by the Diocese of Providence more
than ever.
One of the biggest needs that people have is health care. Our Catholic
hospitals such as Our Lady of Fatima, and St. Joseph’s both in Providence
are serving more people than ever. The greatest comfort people receive
is from the Chaplaincy teams at these hospitals and at other hospitals
throughout the state; again all I can ask you to do is to help us as best
you can.
St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians today says that “we are
his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that a God has
prepared in advance.” We are told that we are God’s handiwork.
Think of all the people who have been touched by God’s love through
you. Your love and goodness are so important. St. Paul reminds us each
day that we can build a better world: at home, or at work or school, in
our community and in our church, the gifts and talents we receive help
us make our world a better place to live. As Jesus came into the world
to be a light for all people, so too we can be his light for others.
For the Week of March 15, 2009
“Zeal for your house will consume me.” Jesus
had a great love for his Father’s house. The temple was a place
to meet God; it was a place to pray, a holy and sacred place, a place
of reverence. The Temple was a meeting place between God and his people.
Jesus wanted people to treat the temple with the dignity and respect that
it deserved.
Our church is where we come to meet our Lord. We come to spend an hour
with him. We come to worship Him, to talk to Him. We come to give Him
thanks for all the blessings he gives to us. We should have the same love
and respect for the church that Jesus had for the temple. How many times
do we come to church distracted by all that is happening around us and
then we don’t have the time we need to pray before Mass. It can
be really hard when we have children with us. Our Lord knows how hard
that must be, but at least it is a time where all of us can receive His
love and mercy. He has great mercy for all parents. The church can be
an oasis for us when we put ourselves in the presence; it is the time
and place where we find His peace. The Lord called us to keep this day
holy for Him and for ourselves. How can we better use our time in church
and how can we better use our time with our family on Sunday?
For the Week of March 8, 2009
We do not have the opportunity to see Jesus transformed
as Peter, James and John saw him at the transfiguration. We have not seen
him in all his splendor and glory, yet it would be a mistake to think
that we have not seen him at all. Each day we see his image and likeness.
We see him in people around us, we see him in our wife or husband, brother
or sister, mother or father, a friend or a co-worker or a teacher. Jesus
is revealed to us in so many different people. We see his love, mercy,
goodness, forgiveness, compassion when people share these virtues with
us. Others will be touched by these virtues when we share them with others.
We also see the glory of our Lord in a beautiful sunrise or sunset, the
birth of a child, the wedding of a son or daughter. We see Jesus glory
touching a child at First Communion or a teenager at Confirmation. The
glory of God is not meant for only a select few, but all of us can see
the glory of Jesus in many different ways. The greatest way that the glory
of Jesus is revealed is not on a mountain top, but rather on the cross.
The glory of the cross our Lord’s passion death and finally resurrection
reveal to us the glory of our salvation.
When Jesus was transfigured and the apostles had seen him in his glory,
it was a reminder to them of their destiny and cross. In Philippians;
Paul reminds us that Jesus will transform this lovely body of ours into
the pattern of his glorified self. This is our hope and glory if we but
follow him.
For the Week of March 1, 2009
“Repent, believe in the good news.” We could
all use some good news, when we listen to the radio, or T.V. or read the
papers or surf the net, it seems we only hear bad news. It can be very
discouraging for us to be bombarded with all this negativity all the time.
Jesus comes to tell us good news: God will forgive us our sins. Jesus
comes into the world to heal our sickness, to bring justice, mercy, compassion
and peace to a world torn by strife injustice and violence. He says repent,
turn away from sin, do good for others, believe in the good news; believe
this world can be a better place. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus
tells us a better world can be had for all of us if we work for it.
The gospel talks about hope and promise for a better world but do we believe
it. Love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, justice, respect for others
is just as important as any economic stimulus package. As we begin the
season of Lent, we can look at ways to better treat other people. Maybe
this Lent we can be less impatient with others. We could be kinder or
more compassionate with each other etc, etc. This Lent we can all work
towards building up the kingdom of heaven in our world today.
For the Week of February 22, 2009
How many times do we see in the gospel that Jesus is able
to perform his miracles because of the help of others? In today’s
gospel four friends bring a paraplegic man to the house where Jesus is,
because of the large crowd they climb onto the roof and lower him through
the roof into the room. Jesus then can both heal and cure the man. Whatever
anger or bitterness or resentment he felt, Jesus healed him of it. Then
the man is cured of his illness. None of this can happen unless the four
friends bring their friend to Jesus. Jesus is dependent on their love
and generosity for their friend. The act of love that healed this man
began when the four friends decided to bring him to Jesus, the act of
love was complete when Jesus both healed and cured the man.
Again and again we hear in the gospel stories about people who bring the
sick to Jesus. We too can bring love to those most in need of it. St.
Luke in his gospel says “The Lord has sent me to bring glad tidings
to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives.” This Wednesday
begins the season of Lent. Over the next forty days we can look at the
ways we have fallen short in our efforts to love one another.
Please come to our parish mission on Sunday, Wednesday March 8 –
11 to see the ways we can grow in this love for God and for one another.
The flier in the bulletin will explain in detail the theme of this parish
mission. May we all learn to be better messangers of God’s mercy.
For the Week of February 15, 2009
St. Paul says in today’s second reading, “Brothers
and sisters, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do everything
for the glory of God.” Do everything for the glory of God, how well
do anyone of us live this in our daily lives. If we did do everything
for the glory, there would be no wars, or violence, or hatred or jealousy
or envy. There would be no hungry or homeless people. We are instead a
sinful people. We do things not for God’s glory but rather our own
glory. We can be jealous, envious, hateful, prideful even spiteful. We
can be greedy and self-centered.
St. Paul says the way to avoid all of this is to imitate Jesus. It means
everyday trying to live as our Lord did. Each day try to live out the
virtues of his life as best we can. St. Paul says, “Put on love.”
The greatest virtue we can have. Everything we do depends on our ability
to love. Without love all our rituals and laws and rules have no meaning.
They become empty gestures.
We can make our own world a better place to live in when we live our daily
life for the love of God. Then God can give you and I the grace we need
to do everything in our lives in his name.
For the Week of February 8, 2009
Job asks the question in the first reading today “Is
not man’s life on earth a drudgery?” Many of us feel this
way as people are laid off from work and the economy worsens. Simon Peter’s
mother in law probably felt the same way as she had to endure her sickness.
The sick of the town where Jesus stayed must have felt the drudgery of
their sickness each day. There seemed to be no hope, nothing to look forward
to. We can find hope in the promise that Jesus comes into the world to
heal us and cure us, and love us. He is the source of hope for us in our
dark times of uncertainty.
Faith helps us to have hope. Even when Job felt all was lost, he still
had hope that God would help him in the end. This week the church observes
“World Day of the Sick”. We pray the sick will not lose hope
or despair, we pray that Jesus healing love and mercy touch the hearts
and bodies of all who are sick.
This weekend at our healing mass, we as a parish family can offer our
prayers for all the sick who come putting their trust and faith in God’s
healing love and mercy.
For the Week of February 1, 2009
People ask where Jesus authority comes from. Where does
his power come from? How come he is not like the others? That is a good
question, how come Jesus is not like the others? What makes him different?
When Jesus was baptized, God said to him, you are my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Jesus is in an intimate relationship with his Father.
All that he does is blessed by the Father. Love is the very foundation
of all that they do. As long as Jesus does the father’s will, the
Father’s love will bless all that Jesus does.
Jesus authority and power is the Father’s love. When people remark
that Jesus teaches with authority they are talking about God’s love
even though they do not realize it. Jesus reminds us we too are loved
by the Father. We too have the love of God in our hearts. We too can have
the Father Guide us and direct us with his love. In these times of uncertainty,
it is a comfort to know we can draw upon the same love from God that our
Lord felt in his live.
For the Week of January 25, 2009
This has been a monumental week; on Monday we celebrated
Martin Luther King Day. On Tuesday we had the inauguration of a new president,
Barack Obama, and on Thursday the march for life in Washington D.C. We
witnessed in our life time Martin Luther King fight injustice and prejudice.
We have seen President Obama as a beacon of hope for our troubled country.
The March for Life in Washington reminds us that there is still work to
be done to bring justice for all people. As long as abortions exists,
injustice exists, the injustice of an innocent life being aborted before
it has a chance to be born. With fighting any kind of injustice we always
need to be people of compassion. Compassionate to the unborn child, compassionate
towards the mother who struggles with having an abortion. Compassion teaches
us the virtue that all life is holy.
When we hear the words Respect Life, we are reminded to have respect and
compassion for all of God’s people. Hatred, prejudice, bigotry stop
all people of our humanity. We become objects or things rather than God’s
people. The events of this past week bring this issue to center stage.
The events of this week still have a long way to go to compassion and
respect and justice for all people born and unborn.
For the Week of January 18, 2009
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit within you?” This question from St. Paul today is a
very simple but profound question. How well do we respect the human body?
How well do we respect human life? Respect for a person’s life and
dignity of course begins from the moment of conception. Their life from
the moment of conception belongs to God. Since we are created in the image
and likeness of God, we are called to respect each other and treat each
other as temples of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit lives in each and every one of us. Imagine how different
things could be if we treated each other that way. What we are loosing
more and more of in our society today is respect for one another. People
are not treated with kindness or love or generosity. People can be mean-spirited
towards one another simply because we fail to see that God lives in each
and every person. St. Paul’s reminder to us is simple. If we are
to be people of goodness and compassion, we must remember that the mercy
and compassion of God lives in each and every one of us. We are its living
image.
For the Week of January 11, 2009
“He went about doing good and healing all those
oppressed by the devil for God was with him.” Acts 10:38
Jesus baptism in the Jordan River is the sign that God is with Jesus in
his ministry. Jesus doesn’t come into the world to do his work but
his father’s work. The healings, miracles, are to show us all how
much God loves you and me. The greatest of all miracles is how Jesus is
able to forgive sins. People caught up in their own sinfulness and human
weaknesses are given hope. The mercy of God is greater than the sinfulness
of our lives. Jesus baptism is a sign of hope for all of us.
How lucky and fortunate we are to receive such a great gift, a gift of
mercy, love, peace, compassion and joy. As we have entered the New Year,
we always enter into a time of hope and expectation. Many of us are glad
to see 2008 come and go. We hope and pray that our new president will
bring a new hope to our country, but that will only happen through the
power of the Holy Spirit. Our president and our country will need all
our prayers to heal the divisions and fears that grip our country. As
God was with Jesus we hope and pray that our new president will be guided
by the same power of God. The Responsorial Psalm said “The Lord
will bless his people with Peace.” As God blessed his son in the
Jordan River; may God also bless us and our world with his peace.
For the Week of January 4, 2009
The wise men ask King Herod, “Where is the newborn
king of the Jews?” It is a question we still ask today. Where is
Jesus in our world? Jesus represented the light of God to the world. Jesus
was the hope for so many people. All throughout his life people looked
for Jesus for many different reasons. Herod wanted to find him to kill
him. The wise men wanted to find him to adore him. People all throughout
his ministry looked for him so that he could cure and heal them or feed
them or forgive them.
The search for Jesus in our world today still continues. We search for
his light, his love, his forgiveness, his compassion in a world desperately
in need of it. Jesus also showed people they too could be the light, they
could be love, and they could be hope for others. The wise men went far
away to find our Lord. We only have to search for him in our hearts. The
light that guided the wise men was a star. The light that guides us today
to find our Lord in our hearts is his love.
From the Pastor: June to December 2008
From
the Pastor: January to May, 2008
From
the Pastor: September, October, November, December 2007
From the Pastor: June, July, August 2007
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