Author: Fr. Mahoney (Page 20 of 65)

Bishop Peter A. Libasci invites couples celebrating
5, 10, 25, 50, and 60+ years of marriage in 2024 to
attend a Mass, followed by a cake and coffee reception,
on Sunday, May 5, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. at St. Joseph
Cathedral, Manchester. To register, please contact
the parish office by April 12, 2023. The parish office
will gather and submit all necessary information to the
Cathedral. All couples will receive a mailed invitation
to this special celebration. (Registration will remain
open until the capacity is reached; please no guests.)

A special word of thanks to Mike Iarocci, Chairperson of the Buildings and Grounds Committee, for completing the unenviable task of putting in order the rectory garage!  And, many thanks to Jan Wolowski and Steve Babin for replacing light bulbs to brighten the worship space in the church!

Dear Parishioners and   Visitors:

The prayers of the liturgy refer to Lent as “this joyful season.” Though the character of the 40-day period  is penitential, the intent of Lent is to prepare us spiritually for the greatest feast of the Church year, the always-jubilant Easter Season.

So where did Lent come from? Let’s start by saying that Christianity embraces one key belief: the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This central article of faith shapes everything we do as Christians, how we live, how we die, and certainly how we express our faith in worship. Easter is, therefore, the primary day of rejoicing, and every Sunday is considered a “little Easter,” a commemoration of how Jesus triumphed over sin and death. 

In the early Church, Christians prepared for the  Easter sacraments by fasting for up to a week, but by the 4th century, a full 40-day period of preparation was observed, imitating the 40-day fast of   Jesus in the desert before undertaking his great mission. Almsgiving was added to the practices of Lent as it, too, was a traditional way of making sacrifice to God in the wake of sinfulness. 

Easter, the Christian Passover, was fixed by the Council of Nicaea in 325 to coincide with the first full moon after the vernal equinox. That makes Lent the annual “springtime” of faith, quite        literally, as the word Lent means “spring.”

Let us pray together, as a community of faith, that this Lenten Season will be a time of faith development and growth in the Spirit for us, for all who gather here, and especially for those who have lost their way in faith.

With prayerful best wishes,

Fr. John Mahoney

Dear Parishioners and  Visitors,

For centuries, the Memorial of Saint Blaise has been  celebrated with crossed  candles held under the throat of the Christian faithful and the invocation pronounced, “Through the intercession of Saint Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat and from every other illness. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Saint Blaise’s life is known primarily through legend written some 400 years after his death, yet the tradition of seeking his intercession and blessing throats lives on in countless parishes today. It is a good time to remember that when you come to God or seek the prayers of a saint or a blessing of some kind, you are not practicing magic or being superstitious: You are acting out your faith in God’s love and care. See in the story of Saint Blaise an occasion to commit yourself again into God’s hands.

With prayerful best wishes,

Fr. John Mahoney