From Father Steven - June 26, 2022

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
  
June is almost over! There were a lot of events recently from graduations to the Procession of Corpus Christi.  It would be good to look at them once again.
 
First of all, I would like to draw our attention to April. It may sound like a long time ago, but we had a great Easter Sunday, where some adults were welcomed into the Church, some youth were baptized, confirmed and received their first communion. All our cantors, servers, and decoration team did an extraordinary job to make our celebrations so beautiful. Following that, we began our Easter time with many weddings from all three communities. It’s always a beautiful moment in the life of the parish when young (and not so young) couples get married. Some did not have children, while others had as many as 6. But what counts is that all of them are now living in God’s grace!
 
In May we had our first communions in all three communities. Shortly after that, we also had our confirmations. Along with the youth, we had some adults who received their first communion and/or confirmation. None of that would be possible without the help of our catechists, parents, and those who were present in their lives witnessing their faith in action, like grandparents, uncles and aunts, older siblings and friends.
 
As we turned the corner into June, the celebrations continued. The first weekend we celebrated Pentecost. The Brazilian and the Spanish prayer groups came together for the first time to have an evening of prayer worship. It was an amazing moment of prayer and of communion. Even though we were speaking different languages, the Holy Spirit made us into one spirit! The following weekend we had the Brazilian Junina Festival (Festa Junina). It is a Brazilian Tradition that every June the faithful get together to celebrate the three “big saints” that we honor in June, namely, St. Anthony, St. John the Baptist, and St. Peter. There was a great turn out of families from the Metrowest area who came to celebrate. People were also very generous in their time and talent, donating all sorts of things. With everyone’s help, the Festival raised $62,003.61 to the parish! Finally, last weekend we had the 24hr adoration in preparation for the Feast of Corpus Christi. Once again it touches me to see how many people come to pray, whether during the day or in the middle of the night. For several weeks, a group of parishioners were planning the decoration of the sawdust carpet for the procession. While some were coloring the sawdust, others were researching and drawing the moldings to be used. After some hard work (and prayers that the rain would not damage what was already done), they had a beautiful red carpet for our Lord to walk through. Many thanks to all the work that was done throughout this month.
 
As we look forward, we are having a Raffle for two Honda CR-Vs for the benefit of the parish with a small percentage going to the Seminary. We are looking for anyone who is willing to help us sell tickets to family and friends. We have envelopes with 20 tickets in each envelope that would be handed to the volunteers to be sold through the summer. If you are interested, please contact the priests.
 
During the summer, there is a group of the Neocatechumenal Way who will be participating in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land along with other 8,000 youth from all over the States. Please pray for them as they will be praying for all of our parish in the different holy sites.
 
July and August will be months for us to rest, charge our batteries and continue to move forward in September. During these months, we will have confessions only Saturday 2-3pm, and in July the office will be closed on Fridays. The mass schedule will continue the same.
 
God Bless,
Fr. Steven