Category: From the Pastor’s Desk (Page 29 of 76)

by one of our parishioners, Kathleen McDermott…

I recently returned from my 11th medical mission to Cevicos, Dominican Republic in a dual role of nurse and pharmacist. I traveled with the Holy Family Mission from Cape Ann, MA. For the past 22 years, the Holy Family Mission has worked in partnership with a congregation of Catholic Missionary sisters, The Dominican Sisters of the Rosary of Fatima, who dedicate their lives   to serving Christ by loving the poor. The Sisters arrange for  the U.S. missionary team to collaborate with local medical professionals to staff four medical clinics during the week. Two in Cevicos and the other two, traveling as a “mash unit” to rural villages, setting up in the local school. Often, the entire population of these villages: newborn babies, schoolchildren, their families, workers from the fields and elderly men and women take this rare opportunity to consult with health care professionals and obtain medicines and supplies they have little or no access to otherwise. Also, missionary teams spend a day visiting homes to provide medical care for the homebound. During last month’s mission, we served a total of 650+ local Dominicans and  immigrant Haitians. Answering Jesus’ call to serve, the Holy Family Mission with Dominican Sisters of the Rosary of Fatima strive to enrich the physical and spiritual well-being of our    extended family in Cevicos. In so doing, we all experience God’s love.

Kathleen McDermott

Please remember in your prayers the repose of the soul of John “Jack” McDonald, a former No. Woodstock      resident and a parishioner at St. Joseph’s Church, who died in Dover, NH on November 6, 2023.  His Mass of Christian Burial will be on November 22 at St. Mary’s Church in Dover, NH.  May he rest in peace.

If the readings at Mass sound better these days, it’s because we have a new            Lectionary! When Paula Strickon spotted the broken binder and crumbled pages of our old Lectionary, she donated a brand new one. It makes a difference!          Thank you, Paula!

Elizabeth Beaudin
Committal Service on Saturday, November 4, 2023
at 11:00 A.M. at Riverside Cemetery

Do you merely “watch” Holy Mass when you come to church? Or do you worship God in Spirit and truth as He wishes – by your full, conscious, and active participation?

As Catholics, we worship God principally by following the command that Jesus gave us at the Last Supper, to “Do this in memory of me.” In other words, God Himself has taught us how He wishes us to worship Him.

Church teaching instructs that the Catholic Faithful worship God by participating at Holy Mass as a right and duty by reason of their baptism, and that they  do so by their “full, conscious, and active participation” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 14).  This means that one’s heart, mind, and soul are awake, alert, and engaged at the sacrifice of the Holy Mass, as opposed to merely attending or “watching” from the church pews without responding as the Church asks.

The liturgical directives in the General Instruction to the Roman Missal stress the importance of the Catholic  Faithful engaging “dialogically” at Holy Mass with the

Priest-Celebrant. There are certain acclamations and  responses that belong solely to the Faithful. These include the singing or recitation of the Mystery of Faith, the Great Amen, the conclusion of the Our Father (“…for the Kingdom the power and the glory …), and the Lamb of God. The Priest-Celebrant is directed to sing or recite with the Faithful the Holy, Holy, Holy (the Sanctus) and the “Lord I am not worthy…”.  Because there are acclamations and responses at Holy Mass that belong to the people, for the priest to say or sing them as well diminishes the dialogical and shared responsibility intended by the Sacred Liturgy.

In order to ensure that you have obeyed fully and  fruitfully the meaning of the Third Commandment by worshiping God in Spirit and in truth, please bring your best gift to the altar with your full, conscious, and active participation at Holy Mass.

With prayerful best wishes,

Fr. John Mahoney