Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary’s,

During this past week, a Parishioner looked at me with confusion on his face when I was talking about how Fr. Jack, the Pastoral Staff and I have been trying to plan Christmas Masses and Services for the last 6 weeks. I could not figure out if he just realized how much thought, planning and work it takes to plan for Parish Masses and Events. Or he may belong to the “magic school” that because he thinks it simply happens. Or maybe he could have been horrified to think that Christmas is not that far away and that because of the Pandemic slowdown, he needs to get cracking and start the Christmas Shopping. Whatever it all was, we as the Pastoral Ministry Staff are sensitively, thoughtfully and carefully planning for Christmas at Saint Mary’s. We want to be able to welcome everyone in various ways in light of their decisions and limitations about participation in light of the Pandemic.

We all as humans share common feelings, such as joy, happiness, sadness, or emptiness. We do not always experience the same events that others do, but the commonality of what joy or sadness or any feeling means or feels like lets us relate to another person in their feelings. We do not have to experience exactly what someone else has experienced to be able to empathize with the feelings people are experiencing or have experienced. We like to think that our personal feelings are singular, whereas in reality they are only singular to us, but in common with the human heart of others.

Our first reading from Exodus notes how God reminds the Israelite people that they were once outsiders. He reminds them of their time in Egypt. He tells them that they know how it feels to be foreigners in a strange land, and therefore they should do nothing against the disadvantaged. That remembrance of those common human feelings should impel them to be careful and respectful in how they treat others who are seen as outsiders.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary’s,

We are blessed that our Parish of Saint Mary’s strong faith and spirit keep us focused on the important things of our lives. We have our faith in Christ to help center us during these difficult and turbulent times. Although many are not able yet to attend Mass on the weekends, many hundreds literally now participate via our Live Stream Masses or the Masses on Catholictv.org. Who would have envisioned that technology could so support our faith? We are also using technology to assist parents with Religious Education for our Young People. Although every student has a book at home, the Directors of Religious Education are also using ZOOM and Webinar Sessions in limited ways for our young people and their parents. Even our Adult Spirituality programs are using technology for enriching and developing people’s faith.

Sometimes after I finish speaking with someone, I later think if only I had said this or that. Or other times: Why did I not think of that answer yesterday when I was talking? Often I realize that I should have said something more or different. One priest, I know always said, Do not ask me a question when I am standing, I cannot understand or give a good answer. I think as I live a life that this response makes more and more sense to me. In the Gospel passages, Jesus is about the only one who has a corrector good answer or comment when he is asked a question or needs to say something. The rest of the characters in the gospel stories seem to be stymied at times or give incorrect answers.

All through the many, many chapters of the Prophet Isaiah we discover the true greatness of God. We are reminded that not only did God create us and know us intimately, but also this great God of ours is so unbelievably incomprehensible that his glory is greater than anything we know. This means that all the “greatness” we know in this world, whether it be super-wealthy, awesome power, or international fame, could only be accomplished through God’s authority. Thus Paul writes to the Thessalonians that God has created them for great things and that God has the power to transform their lives.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary Parish,

The Fall Season moves on in our lives as some important activities re-start with the COVID in place. Our Parish will again be supporting the Men’s and Women’s Faith Formation Programs this year via the media of ZOOM. I invite you to consider involving yourself in this wonderful spiritual enrichment program on one Saturday a month for one hour. Please refer to our parish website to learn more and gain access to the program. You can be part of it from your home this year! Our Religious Education Program for our Young People has also started with a parent friendly approach. The Program will work its way out for everyone. With a little patience and a dab of faith, the various parts of the program will work out fine.

In the sacred scripture this weekend we are to reflect upon images of banquets (sometimes called dinner parties) and celebrations to come to some meaning and understanding of our relationship with God. The prophet Isaiah in his passage writes that all people, not just the selected and chosen ones, will be invited to a special banquet. It appears that this title “banquet” is inadequate in describing the special celebration that was planned. Isaiah is reminding us that when we remember all of the joy and fun found at the best party we’ve ever been to, we still only have a slight glimpse of the day God has planned. This day, this celebration will be the end of all the hurt, suffering, and sadness we have ever known. This great celebration is in honor of salvation, the victory over death.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary’s,

Our First Communion Mass last Sunday at Noontime was absolutely so spiritual and beautiful. One of my most cherished memories of church in my now long life is my Reception of First Communion. Long ago when I made my First Communion, only parents could attend. With the COVID restrictions, we were able only to invite the young child’s entire household and not the usual cast of thousands.

Our first reading this weekend, which comes from the Old Testament from the Book of Isaiah, is a poem or song composed by the prophet about his friend, a vineyard keeper. This composition contains a lot of symbols and has great meaning. The storyline is about his friend, the vineyard keeper, and what can happen. We do not learn right away, but ultimately we discover that this vineyard keeper is God. What happens in the vineyard is important to hear and understand as it has great meaning. His friend the keeper had to first decide what field to use and also to make sure that it was free from rocks and stones and ready for planting. He then had to plant the vines, and in addition, he constructed a vat and tower. The story tells us that he did everything right as a farmer, but that crop did not come out the way it should have. Wild grapes resulted, not finely cultured and luscious grapes. This keeper became really angry and decided to just let it all go back to seed and lay fallow. The field and vineyard would be as it would be.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary’s,

During these coming days many wonderful and sacred events are happening at Saint Mary Parish despite the limitations imposed by the COVID Pandemic. Starting this Sunday, October 3 we will be holding First Communions for our 2020 Class at a special Noon Mass. These Communions will continue for the 3 remaining Sundays of October. Each young person is welcome to have his/her own family household(s) in their special bench in our church, and then the family comes forward and witnesses their young one receive the Body of Christ. What a great and blessed occasion it is for them and also for all of us in our parish faith community. We must rejoice that these children whose parents pledged to bring them in the ways of our faith have now prepared them and presented for Holy Communion.

There is an important message for all of us that applies to our entire life in this weekend’s scripture. We are being advised to not live in the past with any of its negative ways, but to live in the present in a changed and healthy way. Clinging to the past with any of its wrongs or flaws limits us and ultimately can destroy our very being. The courage or valor to change what was wrong to what is right is essential to living a healthy and faithful Christian life. Our scripture this weekend encourages us to change and grow as we need to in life.

The prophet Ezekiel who spoke the message of God during the Babylonian Exile clearly informed the Jewish people that they were responsible for their own actions. He blatantly told them they had failed to accept these responsibilities and always tried to blame their separation from God on other people, namely on their ancestors. They always had excuses for their behavior and never failed to blame their problems on the sinfulness of the many generations before them. Ezekiel boldly challenged them to live in the present time of their lives and take responsibility for their own actions now and also to do what they knew was right regardless of past events.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary’s,

Our Parish is moving along with the flow of life. I notice each week a few more folks are coming to weekend Masses. Please remember we are here ready to welcome you whenever you return. What is wonderful news is almost 1000 people (or technically views) saw our three Confirmations on Live Stream or on our You-tube channel. (“St. Mary Franklin Live Stream” is its name) Usually over 120 people (views) watch our Saturday 4 PM Mass. We will be adding this weekend the 10:30 AM Sunday Mass so that you may see it in “real time” on our Live-stream.

There are many themes in this weekend’s scripture and one of them is that life does not work out equally for everyone. Life is not distributed to everyone in equal parts at the same time. We are all proud believers in egalitarianism for one and all, yet we know that in many ways life rolls ours differently for each person. There is in life some randomness if badness that is not the result of malfeasance or sin takes place. And more importantly, there is some randomness of goodness in our lives that we cannot justify or explain. It is very difficult in life to sort through the many complaints people have. We are biased by our personal histories and so is the complainer. We tend to remember our negatives and nurse them along in our lives and often miss seeing or valuing the many good things that we have. We often carry resentments and grudges quite tightly to our hearts and very rarely carry gratitude and appreciation in the same way. The larger theme of this weekend is how we see life.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary’s,

Pride prevented me from turning on the heat this morning when I saw that the indoor temperature had dropped to below 60 iu the Rectory. These few mornings of coolness can make us think that there is no more summer weather to arrive. This is, however, New England and some heat will surely return. Hopefully the heating season starts closer to early November. One of the Almanacs that people read says we will have a snowy winter, another says the opposite. None of us “control the weather” although we must pay attention and respond to the Climate Change crisis throughout the world.

Our first reading this weekend is a fitting foundation for the Gospel of this Sunday. This passage from the Book of Sirach is a strong platform on which an understanding of our Gospel selection can be built. Sirach was a sacred book that was composed roughly 200 years before the time of Jesus. It was the son of Sirach who wrote this book in an attempt to help the Jews of then live in peace and harmony in the world of their day. He had much to tell them. He told them to let go of anger, as many of them held on tightly to this negative emotion. To them, anger seemed valuable, even when it was not. More importantly, he tells them our sins will be forgiven if we forgive others and, as importantly, we must show mercy in order to receive it.

In our Gospel passage, the Lord Jesus shows this great wisdom of Sirach when his follower Peter asks how often we need to forgive someone who has hurt us. In the story told by Jesus, we learn the king forgave the enormous debt of his servant, but the servant demanded payment and punishment when a fellow slave could not pay what he owed. Clearly we are to be like the king.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary’s,

We all stepped along this week to the post Labor Day start-up of our lives. In New England life now takes on a rhythm and vibrancy which was missing in the summer. Education restarts, although this year in a radically different way; sports restart, again in a radically different way; special enrichment programs for our youth start again, some this year in a radically different way and Religious Education starts again in a radically different way.

Nostalgia exists for everyone shortly after we start to create and reflect upon our memories. We all remember “the good old days” when we were young(er) and things were different. We remember them as better or as worse than they were. Memory is an emotional intellectual activity when we think about our past. Memorizing the time's table or historical information or data” is different. All generations and cohorts of ages of people think about their past with the same sense of subjective nostalgia. This nostalgic memory influences how and what we think in the presence of ourselves and what we think of others.

The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel and the Gospel writer Matthew tell us that we are obligated to speak up when we see something or someone doing or going wrong. Ezekiel is quite bold and tells that if we fail to correct the person, that person’s fate is considerably our fault. I would say that is a rather great responsibility for most of us. I suspect this is an exaggeration because we cannot control someone else’s free will decision. As we know, many people will never listen and to try to speak to them does far more harm than good. Matthew says the same thing. We are to go directly to the person if something is not right. And he says if that does not work, there is still more to be done according to Matthew’s passage.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary Parish,

Labor Day has arrived. The summer has run its course and now we step forward to begin a new Fall Season which has all sorts of challenging and demands for us. I wish to share with you one memory of Labor which I had in my childhood. On September 5, 1954, I won First Place in the footrace for 5-year-olds in the Sand Hills Scituate MA Annual Labor Day Festivities. (sort of the seaside Olympics!) The One Dollar prize is framed along with the sketch of a little dog and is with me to this day. My memory of the “Great Race” is that my father told me when the whistle blows, I was to start running straight and keep running until you are told to stop. I ran my little legs along the route and was shocked to find out that I actually won. I must say that I have not won any races since then, but it does not matter.