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Showing posts from August, 2016

You Have Prepared a Home for the Poor ~ Fr. Tom Wyndham August 28, 2016

Homily for August 28, 2016 Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings for today's Homily To watch Mass in its entirety click The Mass

To Boldly Go:

For those of you who do not know me yet, my name is Daniel Nunes and I am a seminarian for our diocese studying for the priesthood. I have been assigned to Christ the King Parish for a pastoral year. Fr. Healey thought it would be great for me to give a brief biography so here is the reader's digest version.  I am 33 years old and was born and raised in Swansea Ma.  From 2001 to 2010 I was a seminarian for the Diocese of Fall River, however, I was not ready to be ordained at the end of my studies.  I left to get some real world experience, and so for the last few years, I have been a Director of Religious Education, a phone service representative, a supervisor and a team lead. Through it all, however, there was an emptiness in my soul; something that was missing. Last year, I contacted Fr. Kevin Cook our vocation director, and asked for a process of returning to the diocese and seeking priesthood once more.  Fr. Kevin in consultation with the bishop welcomed me back and asked

A Month of Mary

Last week we began a special month marked by what are known as the "bookend feasts" -  the Assumption (8/15)  and Queenship of Mary (8/22) on one end and the  Birthday of Mary (9/8) and the feast of  Our Lady of Sorrows (9/15) on the other end.  This special thirty days which span the second half of August and the first half of September is a month of Mary in the liturgical year.   Certainly popular piety has not given up on May,  the month of mothers, as a time to honor our  Heavenly Mother, yet so often the focus placed upon  our Blessed Mother during May ends up inappropriately  shifting it away from  her Risen Son during the Season of Easter.   How much more then is this present month more appropriate as a special time bracketed by special Marian feasts to pray to, and honor Mary as the only boast of our fallen human race because it does not compete with any other season or major feasts of the church year.      We begin  these thirty days  celebrating  her glorious As

Relationships With Self, God and Others ~ Deacon Frank Fantasia August 21, 2016

Homily for August 21, 2016 Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings for today's Homily To watch Mass in its entirety click The Mass

Honey Rose

The Lord speaks in mysterious ways.  Some would say the events in our lives are simply happenstance.   We would say the Holy Spirit is actively involved in our lives, and we're guided by the Spirit that is with us during the good times and the bad. For my wife and I a "good time" occurred on the 17th when our third grandchild, Melina Rose, was born.   She weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces, a 77 reminding me of my blog of a week ago about the number 77 and Jesus' words about forgiveness. Then today I spotted this cartoon from Non Sequitur by Wiley.   Happenstance?   No, I'd say just another message from the Holy Spirit reminding my wife and me about "divine perfection" and the Spirit's gifts.      Melina means "honey" in Greek - the name of our new little sacred Rose.

That Time of Year

It's that time of year of again - back to school time!  We are constantly seeing advertisements on TV or in the newspaper for Back to School "Shopping."  There are ongoing sales for school supplies, backpacks, lunch boxes, and clothes. This past Sunday, I moved back to Maine for my senior year.  It is hard to believe that another summer has gone by...and that I am soon to begin senior year .  Time really flies! I know that these new beginnings can be nerve-wracking for some, particularly those beginning anew in a new place.  It is a time to trust in God and rely on the Holy Spirit.  I know that many Catholic Schools begin the year with a Mass of the Holy Spirit, which has become part of "history" in the Church.  This year, on freshman move in day, we are planning a Family Welcome Mass - using the Mass of the Holy Family.  Jesus too was part of a family, and during his life on Earth, bid farewell to Mary and Joseph as well. Let us keep all students, famil

Blessing Upon College Students ~ 8.14.2016

click for Blessing Upon College Students

Unfolding ~ Fr. Edward Healey August 14, 2016

Homily for August 14, 2016 Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings for today's Homily To watch Mass in its entirety click The Mass

Unripe Green Grapes

Our first reading from Ezekiel (18:1-10, 13b, 30-32) begins: “The word of the LORD came to me: ‘Son of man, what is the meaning of this proverb that you recite in the land of Israel: Fathers have eaten green grapes, thus their children’s teeth are on edge’?...” What’s the prophet’s meaning that’s relevant for all of us today? First, some background. The unfermented juice of green, unripe grapes is called verjus, according to the magazine Modern Farmer. It can add acidity to savory and sweet dishes. At the height of the Roman Empire around 71 AD, the juice was called acresta. Its use peaked again in medieval France cuisine sometimes in the form of crabapple. Traditional Dijon mustard still gets is slight acidic bite from verjus, and European chefs continue its use. So, Ezekiel is referring to unripe grapes, but more than that, as his proverb suggests. During Ezekiel’s day the people believed they were punished for the sins of their ancestors rather than their own. 

Original Nakedness

Today’s reading from Ezekiel is a bit provocative (16:1-15, 60, 63).  Actually, it’s quite provocative and a bit reminiscent of the 1990 movie Pretty Woman starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts.  Julia is a prostitute who is transformed by wealthy businessman Gere who eventually falls in love with her, and she with him.  It’s a sort of Cinderella story.    Ezekiel has God (playing Gere) find a young woman (Roberts) born in Canaan of an Amorite father and Hittite mother.  God finds her “stark naked” and “old enough to love.”  God (Gere) covers her nakedness with a cloak and later bathes and anoints her; then clothes her with a gown, sandals, a sash, and robes.  That’s followed by jewelry and gold and silver. But then we depart from the Pretty Woman plot.  Instead of falling in love with God (Gere), she becomes impressed with her beauty and becomes a “harlot lavishing her harlotry on every passer-by.” 

Powers That Be

“Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?    Jesus answered, ‘I say to you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times...” (Matthew 18:21-19:1).    This is the curious advice we get today from Jesus as reported by Matthew.  I’m tying Lord, oh I’m really trying (not really Lord).   But I just cannot forgive Commissioner Rodger Goodell and the NFL for the outlandish 4-game suspension of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.   According to one ESPN account: “The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan issued a one-sentence rejection of requests by the National Football League Players Association and Brady to reconsider an April decision that found that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell acted within his powers by suspending the star quarterback for his role in a scheme to doctor footballs used in a January 2015 playoff game.” Perhaps what riles me the most is that Goodell “acted within his powers

Fall To The Ground

Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.   Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.  The Father will honor whoever serves me.” Many of us may be grains of wheat still in tightly sealed bags, yet to be thrown to the ground where we germinate to become fields of wheat – productive and giving life to those who are nourished by what we are and by what we do.

Eat It

Today's first reading says: “The Lord GOD said to me: As for you, son of man, obey me when I speak to you: be not rebellious like this house of rebellion, but open your mouth and eat what I shall give you. It was then I saw a hand stretched out to me, in which was a written scroll which he unrolled before me.  It was covered with writing front and back, and written on it was: Lamentation and wailing and woe! He said to me: Son of man, eat what is before you; eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat.  Son of man, he then said to me, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you.  I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.  He said: Son of man, go now to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.”   Ezekiel 2:8-3:4

Waiting With Anticipation ~ Fr. Edward Healey August 7, 2016

Homily for August 7, 2016 Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings for today's Homily To watch Mass in its entirety click The Mass

Four Faces

Today’s first reading from Ezekiel does not include all of the following text, so I include it here:  “…As I watched, a great stormwind came from the North, a large cloud with flashing fire, a bright glow all around it, and something like polished metal gleamed at the center of the fire.  From within it figures in the likeness of four living creatures appeared. This is what they looked like: They were in human form, but each had four faces and four wings, and their legs were straight, the soles of their feet like the hooves of a bull, gleaming like polished brass. Human hands were under their wings, and the wings of one touched those of another.  Their faces and their wings looked out on all their four sides; they did not turn when they moved, but each went straight ahead. Their faces were like this: each of the four had a human face, and on the right the face of a lion, and on the left, the face of an ox, and each had the face of an eagle . Such were their faces. Their wings were sp

Women as Deacons

I always thought that there would be the possibility of married priest within my lifetime. Actually there are. My sister in Minnesota had a married priest as her pastor who had a wife and children. He was previously a Lutheran minister who converted to the Catholic faith, and with a minimal amount of training and education he was allowed to become a priest, a married priest. Actually that is not so uncommon. Within the United States, there are several Anglican and Episcopal priests who converted to Catholicism and are allow to be priest in the Catholic faith. In addition, in the Eastern Rite Catholics, priests are allowed to be married if they are so when they are ordained. Actually the same goes for me. One of my classmates in diaconate training was unmarried when he was ordained so he was required to take the vow of celibacy. If for any reason my wife dies, I cannot remarry. We were always told, you better take good care your wife because she is the only one you will ever have. Be

WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?

Mt 16.13-23 A little over fourteen years ago I was ordained a deacon. So most people call me deacon now. It’s an easy first name to remember. Sort of like Monsignor for Msgr Hoye or Father for Fr. Healey or Wyndham. In fact a lot of people call me Fr. too. I usually can tell who the visitors are as they leave Mass during the summer. Even at the hospital people call me father when I say I am a Catholic Chaplain. I love being able to respond “Yes, I am a father, but I also am a grandfather”. So What Is In A Name? It is interesting that people call you different names depending on when you met them. It says a lot about who you are. Most friends call me Greg. My sister calls me Gregory John John. I’m not sure I like that but I also have a couple of names for her so we’re even. I wanted to choose Gregory for my Confirmation name but they wouldn’t let me chose my given name at the time so being a little rebellious I chose my second name for my confirmation name. Thus Gregory John Joh

The First Word

This is my first contribution as pastor of Christ the King Parish to the King's Corner, and so I think it appropriate then that what were largely my last words to the people of Holy Trinity Parish should also be my first words to you for they concern  my understanding of my role as priest and pastor as I begin my service among you. .    Back in the days of my seminary training our Pastoral Theology Professor forewarned us that when we serve a parish one third of the people will like us, another third won't and the remaining third will ask" Father who?"    Some will expect that we be a CEO or a "boss", others will ask that we be a social worker with a special collar, others will see us as the chief maintenance man, still others will want us to be an entertainer of sorts, consequently the number of those who will probably be disappointed in us is not small and Father Professor is usually proved right time and again!