From Father Steven - April 23, 2023

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Dear Brothers & Sisters,
 
I hope you are still experiencing the graces of Easter! Remember that we celebrate Easter for 50 days!!! As if that was not enough cause to rejoice, we have some exciting events about to happen in the parish that I would like to point out to you.
 
Next weekend, we will officially start our “Wedding Season”. We have 21 Weddings scheduled so far in the next few months to be celebrated in the parish. There are a few other weddings from parishioners who will be having their ceremony elsewhere. Among these couples, we have a great variety of backgrounds, ages, and time together. As we pray for all of them, I also exhort to pray daily for the vocation to married life. It is a beautiful vocation and not often spoken about. Holy couples are the source for every other vocation, and families are very much under attack nowadays.
 
Next week, we will also have our first round of first communions. Both our Brazilian and Spanish communities will be celebrating their first communions on Sunday at 9:00am and 1:00pm respectively. Our English first communions will be the following weekend, Sunday, May 7th at the 11:00am Mass. All together we have over 80 children receiving Jesus for the first time. Let us also keep our youth in prayer that they may continue to grow closer to Jesus in their journey.
 
The Weekend of May 13th & 14th is full of graces. First of all, on Saturday, we celebrate Our Lady of Fatima. There are many people devoted to her and still many more who could learn more about it. The latest Netflix movie on Fatima was quite good. On that day we will be having our confirmations here in the parish. Bishop Reed will be the celebrant this year. The mass will be at 2:00pm for anyone who would like to attend. Earlier that day, one of our seminarians, Gabriel Hanley, tall, lean who sings very well, will be ordained Transitional Deacon at 10:00am at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross along with a few other men by Cardinal Sean. If you have never been to an ordination, it is something to be seen! Please call the office for more information. Then, the following day we celebrate Mother’s Day. Besides honoring our earthly mothers, we shall also do a crowning of the Blessed Mother at the 9:00am,
11:00am, and 1:00pm Masses. As we get our processions back in place, this one will be a short one. We will be crowning the statue of Mary that is in the front of the church. All are welcome to bring flowers to Mary and deposit at her feet. On that day, Birthright, one of our pregnancy help centers in town, will be having their annual fundraiser to help mothers in need.
 
Although it is not a local event, the weekend after that one there will be the priestly ordinations at the Cathedral also at 10:00am. And that leads us to the final weekend of May where the Church celebrates Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. It is a very intense period, but also a very special and grace filled time. That should lead us to our “last” weekend of events which will be June 10/11th. The Brazilian community will be doing their annual Brazilian Festival on Saturday late afternoon/evening. Then on the following day, we will be doing the Corpus Christi Procession. We don’t have all the details yet, but we are looking into the possibility of celebrating one big trilingual mass at 11:00am outside and then march through downtown Marlboro with the Blessed Sacrament. We have started looking into our wood-dust carpet that this year should be even bigger and prettier.
 
Last but not least, there is a very important mission to all of us. You may have heard that there will be a Satanic Conference held in Boston next week. The Archdiocese has instructed us not to protest, because that would only generate more attention to them. Instead, we will do what we do best, namely, to call to God in our prayers. Over the three days (April 28, 29, 30), we are all urged to pray the Rosary, and the prayer of St. Michael for that intention. There will be a prayer card available this weekend for you to take home, along with a pledge form. Our Church will be open all day, as it is every day from 6am-7pm, for everyone to be able to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament. The Rosary is our strongest weapon against the devil, so it is time to use it up! I count on you!
 
God Bless,
Fr. Steven