Happy Thanksgiving!
11-23-2021Letters From Fr. BrianRev. Brian F. ManningDear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary Parish,
This letter will be a bit short because the parish work schedule is a very short week with the staff only in for two and a half days along with my heading to the family home at the Cape to help with food and guest preparation (and of course my specialty: dropping the turkey (!) and also (lots and lots of) dish and pot-washing). On behalf of our Pastoral and Support Staff along with Deacons Guy and Ron and also Fathers Jack and Frank, I wish you a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving. May this holiday weekend bring some joy and light to your life.
On this coming Sunday we begin the Season of Advent. This year there are almost four full weeks of Advent until the Feast of Christmas. On each Sunday evening from 7 PM until 8 PM we will be offering a “Holy Hour” of Prayer, Reflection and Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament in our chapel on the lower level of the church building. Please come and pray for a while or the whole hour in the special presence of Our Lord.
Some folks tell me that the wonderful pies which are a fundraiser for the Knights of Columbus for their charities do not last beyond the day they come home, which was this Tuesday. They do not even make to Thanksgiving morning! That is what happens when you have an “epic pie”. The Knights never rest from their charitable works. They will on next Saturday/Sunday, December 4 & 5 be selling their gift cards from the Stop and Shop. They use the gifted cards and money that is raised to support our own Saint Vincent de Paul Society and their feeding of the hungry throughout this winter. The Respect Life Committee ran a “sock drive” this past month and was most successful. People are not aware that the most needed item in homeless shelters is socks. Thank you for helping with a desperately needed item for those who have no home. “Respect Life” includes the unborn, the hungry, the homeless, the refugee, the immigrant, the abused and the lost and many more who are considered “less” in our society and world. The Saint Vincent’s has also launched its “Christmas Giving Tree” Program. Please see the website or bulletin for details. They are requested “gift cards” in place of actual gifts. They did this last year and it worked out extremely well for those who were able to give and those who were in need.
Well, I am off to the Cape to put on my apron and get to work. Enjoy the time which you share with your family and friends. Keeping grudges and resentments is foolish, so do not let these coming days be made negative by you. Offer peace and bring peace to wherever you are or go. You cannot change the past, but you must live in the present in order to change the future. Make your present a moment of peace and joy. Make the world better now, not later. We pray through the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God and our Patroness. We ask the intercession of Saint Rocco upon all who are ill, especially our young people.
God bless,
Father Brian