Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary’s,

Most of our Town Life is focused on our Educational Plans for our young people. We also still hear about various colleges and universities as they change their plans which may greatly impact some of our highest education young people. It is clear that the Franklin Educational Department is doing its best to plan for our young ones. This is true whether we like or dislike their plans. We must faithfully pray for them and also for the teachers and school personnel as they begin their active Mission of educating our children in the most difficult of circumstances.

The COVID Pandemic has certainly had us all experience how fleeting life can be. As time moves on, everything still is constantly changing. Sometimes we observe how things are getting better, and then all of a sudden we hear of “clusters” and “hot spots” and how things must again become immediately more restricted. We are living in a day-to-day period of great instability and uncertainty. Our civil society is in turmoil as it is fractured. The long complex history of racism in our country is at the forefront and should be. The great divide of super wealth and the average American’s income exacerbates everything. Race, class, and income are three areas that collide and cause such turmoil during these days. Our governmental leaders have lost sight of what matters for the people. Their common purpose and vision for all of us are missing. The Common Good for all of us is not held as a primary value.

Nowadays many times our smartphone can open a door. We can use them via apps to open garage, house, or work doors. We no longer need a traditional metal key. In fact, hotels now give arriving guests an electronic card or send them a special code to their phone to a hotel app so that they may use the elevator or open their room. Some homes now use special lock systems that open via Wi-Fi with an app or a special numeric code. Most of us, however, still use traditional keys to open our houses, even if we use a “fob” to open and start our cars. Although metal keys are slowly being replaced, the name and concept of “key” are still very much in common use. I notice sometimes I need “an electronic key” to get into a file or a network system. Keys, whatever type they may be, are meant to provide security and safety. They are to protect and also at the right time to open up. They also strongly represent power. Who controls the key, to whom is it given, who has a Master Key, and who is “allowed to come in”: all these questions and more tell us about the power of keys and who possesses them. The keys of various categories and concepts are very important in our lives.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary Parish,

We have rounded the corner of summer and are heading straight towards Labor Day and the start of Fall and the new School Season. These coming days of decision making about your children and school with the complexity of remote learning and proper child care are very upsetting and confusing. Our college and university students also are going through great struggles over their futures. We pray for all of you as you make decisions. We must rely on the strength and grace of the Lord Jesus.

The first reading this weekend addresses the Jewish people and, by scriptural interpretation, ourselves, about a common human problem called “insiders and outsiders.” In matters of faith, there is often that human weakness to label people as “good or bad,” or “orthodox or heretical,” or just simply “in or out,” or, in a sense as “true Catholics or bad Catholics.” In religious circles, this decision is often based on membership in an elite or selective religious group. This first passage tells us clearly that what it should be based on is a person’s attitude of faith, not on a real or imaginary membership card to a special society. Oftentimes this drive to have an exclusive faith has many unwritten rules with self-appointed leaders. The rules usually involve extreme pietistic or ascetic practices directed by leaders who are arbitrary and often capricious in their treatment of their members. The prophet Isaiah in this passage reminds us that God is not exclusionary, but God is always welcoming and open to one and all. Indeed, the house of God “shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Another week has passed in this quite hot and sunny summer. I much prefer this heat and humidity to the winter’s cold and ice. New England is not really known for a steady temperate weather pattern at any time of year. I think the constant and sudden weather changes help us to be a little more sturdy and reliant as people. Certainly in this time of the Pandemic we need to have substance and strength. Our God will provide us with this as we step into each day to deal with all the difficulties and worries that come to us. Life is not easy or smooth these days. Putting one foot forward at a time and doing our best actually will achieve a lot of good for everyone.

At Mass this weekend our opening prayer reminds us that the Spirit is the one who is given to us and that the Spirit will guide us to our promised inheritance. Certainly, this Holy Spirit is hard to pin down or see or recognize most of the time. For us to sense the presence of the Spirit of God requires us to become quiet, centered, and focused. None of this is easy for us as our heads are often filled with flashy lights and booming sounds.

In our first reading, we learn that the prophet Elijah, with a very open mind, was willing to wait for the Lord to appear in some form or way. Recall that the great appearance of the Lord on Mount Sinai was accompanied by great rumbling of thunder and gobs of thick smoke. It made sense that Elijah would be right to expect some dramatic natural event to signal the Lord’s presence. We learn instead that God was not in the earthquake nor in the mighty wind nor in the fire; he was, instead, in the quietest possible breeze. We are happy to learn that Elijah discovers the Lord’s appearance and responds to it. Elijah, who never writes a word, is indeed a man of God for he was in the Lord’s presence and he knew it. Clearly he is a prophet worth listening to and heeding.

For forty-one years our Parish has celebrated in various ways a special religious and at times a social tribute to Saint Rocco, a renown Catholic saint of healing. At its beginning, this feast was small. As time progressed, it grew to a giant outdoor weeklong feast of food and fun, but bear in mind what was always the most important in all of the activities was the spiritual dimension. After the 40th Anniversary we changed the style again; we re-focused its directly on its spiritual roots. The Feast of Saint Rocco became a special Mass with invited guests who sought the sacramental healing of Anointing of the Sick through the special intercession of Saint Rocco.

The Business Community knows very well that nothing is for free, even when they announce “it is free!” They know, and we should know that somehow or somewhere along the chain of buying and selling, someone, usually we the buyers, will have to pay. The bald truth is that the ways of God are very different. Grace is free. God’s life is freely given. What this truth means for us is found in this weekend’s readings. The prophet Isaiah and the gospel writer Mat-thew tell us so much. The readings today reiterate this revelation. We are told this in the poetry of Isaiah, a letter from Paul, and a story from Matthew.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary’s,

Parishioners and neighbors who have been able to come to our Weekend Masses comment on how our Masses are very safe and most reverent. Please know that we will be here whenever you are able to return. I wish to thank all those involved in helping our Masses to be available to those who come through the doors of our church.

Back in “the olden days” when I was young, we did not have to know what our vocation and profession would be. We were encouraged, instead, to pursue knowledge and education so that we would become whole and good people who understood the meaning and purpose of life. Our work, whatever it would be, would come along as time shed light on our steps. If we asked the larger questions of our life and tried to pursue the meaning of our existence as given by God, we would be where we were supposed to be. Helicopter or drone parents were not necessary for us; instead, parents who led lives that were examples of being a Catholic and an adult were the only requirements. I suspect if we were given the one question that Solomon had in our first reading of “what did he want,” I suspect we would have asked for the same gift, that of wisdom.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary Parish,

The days of summer are moving along. Almost every day I take great delight in the hot sunny weather. Although I am no longer a “beach person”, I really enjoy the ease of living when we do not have to wear gloves, scarfs, hats and winter coats, nevertheless having to scrape ice or snow off my car each morning. Because I am a gardener at my family’s Cape House, I appreciate these long days of light and warmth. This year, however in this summer comfort all of us are constantly under the direct and indirect effects of the COVID Pandemic.

In our first reading this weekend we learn that God is truly supreme in all ways. This passage from the Book of Wisdom tells us that God is all-knowing, just, and powerful. Indeed we may not realize it, but even our hearts, thoughts, and actions are clear to God, in fact even before we know them. In contrast to his awesome and incomprehensible power, we learn that God is patient. The words of Wisdom illustrate for us how God tempers justice with mercy and also how God’s actions teach us to be patient, fair, and hopeful.

We find in our second reading that Saint Paul encouraged the Romans to have patience in dealing with the trials of this life. The “worrying” is not worth the effort when we think about the glory God has in store for us. Paul tells us that we are saved in the hope of what is unseen and also that we need to be patient to receive God’s promise of heaven. Bear in mind that even when we lack patience, the Spirit helps us and gives us the heart to hope, wait, and pray.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary Parish,

This past weekend our Parish had its first wedding since the beginning of the COVID Pandemic. This weekend we have two more weddings which will take place in our sanctuary and again under the special COVID restrictions. I understand why some couples move forward with their wedding date and also why some postpone. Like all decisions about events, even ones that are not church related, it is very hard to prudently decide what to do. The ripples of effects can be overt or subtle. I think it is really making the best informed and prudent decision you can and then move forward with grace, some courage and kindness.

Our first reading from the Book of Isaiah is a very beautiful reading as our summer now unfolds and all the wonderful plants and flowers around us grow in the sun-light and are watered by the occasional rain that falls. Our first reading tells us that it is God who makes the rain to fall on the earth so all things may grow. The symbolism is that God “waters” us with his sacred love and thus we grow in living a life of meaning and purpose. Ultimately there is a harvest time when all plants mature. The fruit of all this growing is that there is a spark of the divine in each one of us and it is clearly God’s everlasting love.

Yes, the summer is upon us and it is time to shorten my weekly letter. The “Good News” is that our weekend Masses are continuing to be very safe and reverent. We are blessed with volunteer Ambassadors who assist us all at each Mass. The simplified Music at the 4 PM and 10:30 AM Masses has its own innate beauty to inspire our souls. Christ is made present on the altar and people are able to receive the Body of Christ. What greater blessing is there? Our Funeral Masses, though slightly modified, are powerful instruments of prayer which also provide spiritual comfort for the mourners. Our Baptisms continue each Sunday, as needed, and welcome the Light of Christ into the hearts of our young ones.

This weekend includes our civic holiday July 4th, which is a celebration of our Independence Day. Although the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor came much later, this magnificent statue has inscribed on it these words “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free … Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me …” We must wonder: Did these words find inspiration in the Gospel of this weekend? It appears that this quote echoes the words of Jesus. The similar words welcome the humble.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary’s,

The recent rain caused our main server to stop working and the letter which I had been diligently writing over the previous few days is on it and I have no access to it. This is a small inconvenience in life for me, and actually a great gain for you! This substitute letter will be very short!

I would like to wish you, your loved ones and your friends a Happy Fourth of July. To be sure this is a very, very different holiday weekend for all of us, but we can still enjoy the time and days.