On behalf of myself and the priests and staffs at St. Francis and St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parishes, I want to wish all of the wonderful families in our community a Happy Father’s Day. I was privileged to grow up in a home with both parents and this day was always sacred to us and was highlighted with a meal at the dining room table prepared by my Italian mother. My father always sat in the same seat at the head of the table. There was no question about that. Life was a lot simpler in those days. It was all about God and country and we never questioned either one. Anyone in authority in the Church and the Government was always right because they were in authority. We were in our own little world and we liked it there. I am grateful to have grown up at that time and have the best of memories. The world has evolved and changed greatly over the years. Nothing is simple anymore. We have access to so much more information and no one has all the answers including those in authority. As a result, we have come to realize that the truth for someone may not be seen as the truth for someone else. This has caused major upheavals in society but that is what education and knowledge will do. I’m at peace with that. I respect the past but I don’t live there. As an example, we see how family life has evolved. Concepts of family that we never imagined are very much a reality today and contribute positively in the lives of our children. We are blessed with many happily married husbands and wives raising their children together. We have couples with children who may be divorced and share custody, many have adopted children into their family, there are gay couples raising children, single parents, biracial couples, foster parents, children being raised by their grandparents. I respect everyone’s story. Our cultures, religious affiliations, sexual orientations, gender preferences and value systems may differ but it is our humanity that we share. I am so grateful that my concept of God has expanded throughout my life. There is room for all of us and we can all embrace our world. May we spend this Father’s Day surrounded by those we love.

I also realize there are families who will not be celebrating due to painful experiences and tragedy in their lives. Some of these situations may heal with time, others will not. Life can be so challenging for some.

Meanwhile, I want you to know what a joy it is to be back in Charlestown. I have met so many wonderful people from my past and renewed many friendships. Everywhere I go I run into people from the years I served at St. Catherine’s (1990-1996). We shared great times together and it was the Church that made that possible. In many cases, we also shared sad experiences when the Church was very present to offer us hope. For many of us, our relationship with the Church fluctuates and has its peaks and valleys.

What a privilege it is for any priest to be invited into our parishioners lives to share their joys and the sorrows. I thank you once again for making me feel so “at home” in this wonderful neighborhood.

Enjoy life!
Fr. Coyne

PS. The receptionist walks into the doctor’s office and says “there is a patient in the waiting room who thinks he is invisible, what should I tell him?”
The doctor says, “Just tell him I can’t see him today.”

What an honor it is for me to return to the neighborhood of Charlestown and to serve for a month at St. Francis and St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parishes. For those residents who have lived in this community for awhile, you may remember me as the “young priest” who was at St. Catherine’s from 1990 – 1996. They were six wonderful years in my life and in the Catholic Church in Charlestown. I had the privilege of serving in this community alongside the legendary Fr. Dan Mahoney at St. Francis. At that time Fr. Jim Canniff was at St. Mary. The three parishes were all vibrant and thriving in those years. The Catholic faith has a long history in this neighborhood and you have been served by wonderful priests and faith filled women religious who taught at all three parish schools. I grew up in Roslindale and West Roxbury (Holy Name Parish) and was very involved in my parish as a child and teenager. I know how vital those early years are to families and to the Church. The pandemic has had and will have a lasting effect on if and how many people celebrate their faith. I respect people’s choices on whether they return to Church or not. But every pastor will tell you how much we miss those families who are no longer physically with us.

I am on the Emergency Response Team (ERT) for the Archdiocese of Boston. After serving five years as the pastor of three parishes in Hyde Park (Most Precious Blood, St. Pius X and St. Anne) I decided in 2019 to volunteer for the ERT. I now am available to fill in temporarily in various parishes for weeks or months whenever necessary. Most priests live alone so if that priest (usually the pastor) gets sick, goes on a sabbatical, dies suddenly or retires, I am available to replace them until the Archdiocese finds a successor – e.g. – since I left Hyde Park, I have served in Marblehead, Millis, Medway, Hudson and most recently for 6 months in Wilmington. I have met many wonderful people and it has brought me to towns I may never have seen otherwise. When I leave Charlestown on July 1, I will be going to St Cecelia in the Back Bay for three months. It’s a good life!

Fr. Dan Mahoney and Fr. Jim Ronan have been welcoming and hospitable to me and I wish them the best as they enter another phase in their lives. They both deserve our accolades, applause and a standing ovation. I realize they have been able to minister so effectively because of the staff in both parishes who are dedicated to the Church and the people they serve. I will be blessed to work with them. I also know both parishes are served by priests who assist weekdays and weekends with Masses and other liturgies. I believe they will continue to serve you. I will be living at St. Catherine’s Rectory while I’m here.

Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of Boston is searching for a new pastor for your parishes. I’m sure they hope to have that person(s) in place for July 1 but if not they may have to have another interim priest. I realize how difficult it is for parishes to experience change and how challenging the unknown can be. But your greatest asset is your faith and the history of that faith in the parishes of Charlestown. I pray that the priest(s) selected will realize how blessed he (they) will be to be among you.

May God continue to bless you and those you love with peace, happiness and good health.
Enjoy life!

Fr. Coyne

As I look back over these many years as a priest and before, I realize that my life has been more of a response to rather than a planning for.

Before I was a priest, my brother, Ed, and I would often meet up in the city for lunch or dinner. I recall on one occasion, he asked me what my life plan was. Where did I see myself in 5 and 10 years? I came up with an answer that was nothing more than spontaneous. Somehow, by God’s generous Grace, I have found my purpose and joy in being, especially as I have sought to respond to the call and prompting of God’s loving Spirit.

For me, the consequence of living in this way has been an overarching sense of gratitude to God for all I have received. I have found God’s Grace is ever-present, even in the most troubling of times.

Today, concluding these 18 years as pastor in this vibrant faith community and 40 years as a priest, I am amazed by all that has happened and overwhelmed by gratitude to God and to so many who have been part of this journey with me. The support and love of my dear family while I served in places near and far away has meant so much to me.

The parish pastoral team along with councils and committees and so many others have been a joy, literally and figuratively! Parishioners here, now, and so many who have moved on and passed away have enriched my life in countless ways.

So it is, this is the day that, once again, I thank God and all of you. I am blessed beyond measure – spoiled you might say! I carry all of you and the experiences of these years with me as I leave. And in return, for all I have received, I can only offer a promise of my continued prayers for this beautiful parish community.

Fr. Jim Ronan

While Memorial Day has its origin as honoring war veterans, many citizens choose the day to remember their deceased loved ones as well. The birthplace of Memorial Day is Waterloo, NY. There on May 5, 1866 local veterans remembered those who served and lost their lives in the Civil War. Shops were closed, flags were flown at half-mast, and flowers were placed on the graves of the deceased veterans.

From that time, and especially in 1888 when a major observance was held at Arlington National Cemetery, until the end of the 19th century, Memorial Day ceremonies were held on May 30 throughout the nation. State legislatures passed proclamations designating the day, and the Army and Navy adopted regulations for proper observance at their facilities.

It was not until after World War I, however, that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday in May.

As a child, one early memory of this important day of remembrance was getting into our old Chevy wagon and going over into Forest Hills, Hyde Park and those neighborhoods where there are several cemeteries. On the way we would stop and purchase flowers, baskets, ivy, and the like. The whole experience was unusual for me as family members explained that a deceased grandparent or other relative was buried here and on this day we place flowers at the graveside to honor and remember. I had never met any of these deceased and so the occasion offered family a chance to tell me something of their story. Looking back over the years, I can see that the simple experience of going to the cemetery and remembering brought into the present the reality of that person’s life and often a recollection of the blessings that one brought to our family.

There are so many Americans who have served in the military. And for we who have, this day has a special meaning. We recall those with whom we have served and/or those in the same branches of the service who served in the same places, bases, ships, planes … who lost their lives in service. And on this day, everyone is caught up, once again, in the tragedy of war. How many great leaders of nations, religions and armies have made impassioned pleas to end war and not to go to war? And yet our human condition is such that at times we are unable to resolve the intractable issues of world conflicts without going to war.

This Memorial Day, as is at times the case, falls in the Easter Season. The centrality of the empty tomb and belief in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead frees us to see the grave as not the end of the story of a life. And so we remember how fragile is this sweet experience called life. And we ask our merciful God to receive our beloved dead to a place of eternal peace and to bless us, the living, with courage to create an ever more just world. For the words of Pope Paul VI in the late 60’s remain prophetic and wise, “If you want peace, work for justice”.

Fr. Ronan

MEMORIAL DAY PRAYER

Most Loving and Faithful God, You loved humankind into being and you bless us now with each precious moment of life. Our hearts are grateful for your loving faithfulness. Grateful, too, are we for the millions of loving acts that blossom from human hearts around us every day.
On this Memorial Day Weekend, we remember those we love who are now enjoying the fullness of Your promise.
We especially remember with deepest gratitude and awe the extraordinary men and women who, out of love, followed in the footsteps of your son, Jesus, and made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy every day. Keep these fallen heroes in the light of your loving care.
Help us to be mindful of the wounded heroes in our midst who, with valorous hearts, risked their lives that we might prosper and that our children’s futures might be secured. Shower your love and care on the families of our troops. We ask for your unique blessings to fill their homes, and we pray your peace, provision, and strength will fill their lives. May the members of our armed forces be supplied with courage to face each day. May they feel our love and support, and may they trust in You who are with them always.
We ask you this through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

In today’s Gospel we hear part of Jesus’s final discourse to his Apostles. Jesus speaks from his heart, giving instructions and encouragement to his closest friends and then turns to pray to his Father. Listen to his prayer. It is his prayer for us: “…I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me…”
Take time this week to reread this gospel as Jesus’ prayer for us.
What feelings does his prayer evoke in you?
How will you respond to Jesus in your prayer?

“My spirit was broken and as far as I knew beyond repair. I was consumed with feelings of remorse. During the retreat, I realized the lasting impact of forgiveness. I knew God had forgiven me, and now I needed to forgive myself.” – A Project Rachel Retreat Attendee. The Project Rachel ministry of the Archdiocese of Boston extends a special invitation to women suffering from the pain of a past abortion to attend a Come to the Waters of Healing one-day retreat.

Retreats will take place on June 4. Locations are confidential. Limited to ten participants per retreat. For more information, contact Project Rachel at
508.651.3100 or help@projectrachelboston.com

We welcome the opportunity to provide the Sacraments of Confession, Communion or Anointing of the Sick to anyone
who is home bound, either on a short or longer term basis.
We want to do our best to help them feel connected to our community.
Please call us at 617-242-4664, if you, a relative or neighbor is open to
having a home visit for some friendly conversation and prayer.

Transformed in Love
Marriage Prep
is the Archdiocesan program for marriage preparation.
For upcoming 2019-2020 dates, locations, and registration information, visit
www.bostoncatholic.org/transformedinlove;
or contact
Liz Cotrupi at ecotrupi@rcab.org

Through the years, most parish priests encounter strangers who, after a moment or two, say to them something like, “Father, I am a Catholic, but ….”  This is always the beginning of a personal story wherein they share something of their life journey and seek to explain where God is in that journey; or it may be better said, where they see themselves in relation to God on that journey. No two stories are alike. Sometimes they have been baptized Catholic but no other faith formation has taken place. Other times they have received all of the sacraments yet the commitment to practicing the faith on the home front has been nonexistent. And at other times, they have been raised in the practice of the faith, but then “life happens” and they have fallen away and/or put it aside.

In every circumstance, they acknowledge some measure of incompleteness, some experience of restlessness and see themselves as searching for something more than, to this point, life has offered. Ironic that, in many situations, the persons with whom I am speaking have been “successful” in life, are well educated, and outwardly would appear to “have it all.” It is as if the deception of “having it all” in life bringing happiness has been laid bare. The world and the popular culture hold out this promise – however it turns out to be false. But before this realization sets in, they diagnose that the incompleteness they are experiencing in life is due to not yet achieving everything necessary for the formula to work. Consequently, they work even longer hours, acquire more stuff, earn more and climb higher – in pursuit of that elusive sense of inner completeness and peace they long for.

Then experimentation begins with whatever movement seems to offer the most likely path to completeness. Variations of exercise and fitness rank high, diets and travel are popular, new age music and yoga fit in too – sexual experimentation in different forms, from excess to abstinence and more. There are gurus, guides, webinars, and any number of self-help/promotion products.

Usually, after some combination of failures and often as a result of being in relationships where honesty is called for, they come to recognize that “something is missing”. About that time, thoughts of God and returning to church surface – in fact they have been lingering around for some time – but now are allowed to be considered seriously. For many, this is a difficult threshold to cross, literally and figuratively. Making the hard call to cross it, speaking up, seeking out, and entering in, opens the door to the true path toward completeness.

This journey toward completeness about which I speak is the development of an even deeper relationship with God. It is the spiritual side of our very being, for we are more than flesh and blood.   We have a mind and a soul as well. Nourishing only one part of our beings leads to an imbalance, a lack of inner integrity and restlessness. The mystics and ancients have written about this journey for centuries, and contemporary popular authors as well write eloquently about this Holy Longing (Rolheiser).

For many of us who have been down this road, taking the step into a church, opening our heart before God, and seeking guidance from a competent spiritual guide are precisely the steps that truly lead toward satisfying that inner hunger for a more complete life.  And eventually, we come to discover that God has been very close to us all along, longing to be in a deeper relationship with us as well.

Fr. Ronan

In our first reading, we hear more about the growing pains of the early Church. The Apostles were creating something new ~ a community of believers, disciples of Jesus Christ. There was confusion and discussion about who could be a disciple and differing opinions about what was essential to being a follower of Jesus.
We hear those same discussions even today. However, first Christian did not let differences stand in their way or create divisions among them.
They relied on the Spirit’s prompting and on Jesus’ words “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”
The message today is rely on the Holy Spirit – the Advocate – who is still with us.

Do you ever feel as if you are in a rut? You know, getting up each day and going through the same motions, carrying out all the “stuff” that makes up your day in pretty much the
same way as the day before. And the weekends – well they end in the same direction – repeats of the weekends before, with appropriate seasonal adjustments. Do you imagine this is what life is supposed to be like? I don’t.

Christians look at Easter as the signature event of their faith; this is THE event that changes everything. Yet making the connection between a boring, “same old, same old” way of living and our faith in Jesus may appear to be a stretch. But it is a matter of perspective – how I think about life and the reasons behind everything I am and do. Once a Christian, and that means baptized into Life in Jesus, embraces this amazing status, everything changes. We think differently. We revise the reasons behind our actions in the Light of the Gospel.

From the earliest days the Church calls this personal development “metanoia”. It is the essential formula that changes our lives and opens one to a whole new way of being. For the Christian, there is a continual renewing of life and love – little remains static. In fact our journey “in Christ” is to develop us into an ever deeper relationship with the Son of God, in and through the Holy Spirit. There is NO limit to where this leads, it beckons us each new day into a life that is dynamic, even if our life appears to be routine.

How the Church presents this magnificent and amazing plan to all people is in and through “EVANGELIZATION. Joseph Cardinal Rattinger in an address to catechists and religion teachers in 2000 said: To evangelize means: to teach the art of living. At the beginning of his public life, Jesus says: I have come to evangelize the poor (Luke 4:18); this means: I have the response to your fundamental question; I will show you the path of life, the path toward happiness—rather: I am that path.

The Cardinal continued his comments with these insights: The deepest poverty is the inability of joy, the tediousness of a life considered absurd and contradictory. This poverty is widespread today, in very different forms in the materially rich as well as the poor countries. The inability of joy presupposes and produces the inability to love, produces jealousy, avarice—all defects that devastate the life of individuals and of the world. This is why we are in need of a new evangelization—if the art of living remains an unknown, nothing else works. But this art is not the object of a science — this art can only be communicated by [one] who has life—He who is. May the saving message of Jesus Christ bring us into the light with new insights to address the pressing issues of our time about the “Art of Living”.

Fr. Ronan

Fifth Sunday of Easter -May 14/15, 2022

In today’s Gospel Jesus makes a bold and clear statement to his disciples. “I
give you a new commandment: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
We are called to love others as a sign of our discipleship in Jesus Christ.
That includes even those “others” we might prefer to forget.
We are so often tempted to draw lines between those who we will love and those who we consider not worthy of
our love. This week take time to reflect on Jesus’ love command.
How often do we heed Jesus’ love command?
What change in our lives must take place in order for us to obey this command?

Kind of an interesting question, don’t you think? I wonder if each of us would answer in different ways. Would the answer of a child be different from that of a teenager or an adult? How about the response of an 80-year-old person – would it be very different from that of a 30 something? I wonder how my answer to this question has changed over the years. I mean there was a time when my graduate education and career were uppermost in my mind. Another chapter when my social life had high priority.

Is the “happiness” thing a sliding scale, changing from day to day or week to week or in different stages of our lives? I ask the question because these past weeks the readings at Mass in this Easter season have provoked me to wonder why I am happy and what causes my happiness. For example, we have been hearing how the Apostles Peter & John had been arrested and told to stop preaching in the name of Jesus. The early Christian community was on a collision course with religious and civic leaders of that time. Nonetheless, Peter & John and the others rejoiced that they had been found worthy of suffering for the name of Jesus!

One of the best-known persecutors of the early Christians was Saint Paul. However, after Paul’s conversion his whole life became one of service to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His own will was so impacted by love of Christ that it became configured to Christ’s will. This harmony of wills, fueled by love, explained Paul’s amazing and ever present Joy, even in the midst of suffering of all kinds. Paul would go on to write that his life included times of wealth and of poverty, times of hunger and of abundance, times of success and of failure and he had come to regard everything as having little value other than his relationship with Christ.

Perhaps it is, therefore, that the only common denominator in life that brings happiness to any person at any stage, is the presence of love. Not a love that is very self-serving, rather a mature love that is more other-centered. Again, Paul wrote elegantly of this as well; If I achieve everything that this world has to offer, with out love, I gain nothing. He concludes his marvelous treatise on love as follows: When I was a child I used to talk like a child, think like a child, reason like a child. When I became a man I put childish ways aside … There are in the end three things that last: faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13).

Each day of our lives there is something in front of us that promises happiness; more often than not, it includes everything from a laxative to a Cadillac. Sure, there is stuff that can be pleasing and meet passing needs and desires. However, true happiness, well that is something more. As St. Paul reveals, it is enduring, regardless of circumstances or stages of life. In fact, it sustains us throughout our life journey.

The whole world is searching for happiness – frenetically it seems. St. Paul found the answer and it is offered to each of us every day.

Fr. Ronan

Fourth Sunday of Easter – May 7/8, 2022

Jesus, the “Good Shepherd,” makes a promise in today’s Gospel to those who hear his voice and
follow him. He promises them eternal life. Amidst all the other voices that clamor for attention in
their daily lives, the voices that make demands, give advice, seek to persuade or like to gossip,
Good stewards listen for the Good Shepherd’s voice.
The other voices are legion and we do not always recognize how contrary they are to the voice of the Good Shepherd.
Good stewards know that it takes a compassionate heart, a habit of prayer, a hunger for the Eucharist and a love of neighbor for
them to truly hear the voice of the Good Shepherd.
What might we do in our daily lives to prepare us to more authentically hear the voice of the Good Shepherd?

Prayer for Mothers

The springtime blossoms bursting with soft white flowers along Winthrop Street cast a festive glow over the Training Field. At the moment I am writing, families are gathered with
small children on blankets as a troubadour serenades the gathering and the kids sing along. Seasons changing is one of the many blessings of life in New England.

Yet the metaphor of changing seasons extends beyond climate and weather. The exquisite passage from the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes (3:1-8), has been read for thousands of years and appreciated for its wisdom and beauty. There are multiple seasons of our lives and the text eloquently describes them from birth to death, laughter to tears, war to peace, planting to harvesting and so many more. Each of us knows these seasonal changes in our own lives and in all around us – our families, our communities, and our world.

I am preparing for a change of seasons, so to speak, in my own life. On June 5, I will retire as pastor in Charlestown after 18 years. Now months after my 77th birthday, I am thinking a lot about seasons changing! Someone asked me after Mass on Sunday how good I was in “letting go”. I had to think about how I wished to answer, for I had not thought much about that.

Like every one of us, I have had to let go of many places, jobs, family members, homes, friends, and more over the years. Sometimes these changes are wrenching and other times less so. Leaving Charlestown will be hard to do. There is so much that is wonderful about the people in The Town and about being a parish priest here. Furthermore, returning to Boston after many years away has been a joy – I am a city guy and love this unique neighborhood.

There is, however, another aspect of this evolution that is constant. For forty years, I am an ordained Catholic Priest and a man never retires from the most essential life and work of a priest. Yet, retiring from being a pastor – that is another matter!

The final lines of the passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes are profound for me and perhaps also for you: “I have considered the task which God has appointed for us to be busied about. God has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into our hearts, without our ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done”.

With immeasurable gratitude to God and to so many in our community, I will let go of Charlestown and carry within me the multiple blessings of these years. A new season is ahead and God is good.

Fr. Ronan

Third Sunday of Easter – April 30/ May 1, 2022

This weekend’s Gospel reading from John enjoys a number of themes not least of which has to do with hearing Christ’s call to live differently but returning to our “comfort zones.” Even after seeing the risen Lord and receiving his blessing and missionary charge, his disciples go back to what they were doing before Jesus first called them.
Instead of continuing Jesus’ ministry, they return to the life they knew.
When faced with the choice between embarking on a new way of life or staying where life is familiar and comfortable, they chose the latter.
Good stewards know that Christ has called them to open their hearts and live in a different way.
How often do we retreat from the Lord’s call so that we may remain with what is ?

The community in Jerusalem was stunned. Some had seen the Risen Lord – all were talking about it and there was a confused, frightened hope growing in the group that would soon become the early Church. The days before Pentecost were trying for everyone, for the gifts of God’s loving and powerful Spirit had not yet been received. And so Peter and the others could not see and grasp the big picture. After 2000 years we can look back on those days as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles and almost feel the excitement and turmoil.

Throughout all of this there is one indisputable truth: Jesus has Risen from the dead. He has been seen and He is continuing His teaching and forming of the community of the faithful. Everything is different for the Cross now stands at the center of our understanding of Jesus. That He had to suffer and die to complete His work on earth remains an enormous mystery and truth. There would be no Easter if there had been no Good Friday and throughout the centuries this truth continues to touch our lives.

Last Sunday our parish church was full of worshippers who came to Mass to celebrate and pray on Easter Sunday. They came to services and heard the Good News. The event of Jesus’ Resurrection is not only an historical fact, it is a present reality and touches our lives as much today as yesterday. In our baptism we are baptized into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

To say, “I am a baptized Christian” is to say that I am a follower of the One who suffered, died and rose from the dead. It is to say that I accept that I, too, will struggle and suffer in my life, that I will also die and that I too will be raised from the dead. To celebrate these days is to grasp, again, our destiny and the path to fulfilling it. Our destiny is heaven, and the road there is within the Church, the community of believers, the followers of Christ.

At the Easter liturgies and during these days it is a common practice to begin the Mass with a sprinkling of holy water recalling our baptism and the promises thereof. This is a simple gesture, yet one that can awaken in us a refreshing newness – a reminder of our dignity as God’s precious children.

In the midst of this early springtime with the harrowing issues of our times swirling around us, we need such a reminder and affirmation more than ever.

Fr. Ronan

We Are Grateful

The liturgies of Holy Week, the Sacred Triduum and Easter Sunday were very beautiful. Many members of the parish came together to give of their time and talents to prepare this week to rehearse the music, proclaim The Word, distribute Holy Communion, take up collections, clean the church, arrange the flowers, livestream the Masses, and help in countless other ways.
To all of you, on behalf of a very grateful parish and pastor, a most sincere THANK YOU!

Holy Week in our Parish

Holy Thursday

Good Friday

Easter Vigil

Easter Sunday

Cleaning and Flower Display Team

THERE ARE NO WORDS
There are times in the lives of all of us when an experience comes along that stretches us, makes it hard to understand, explain and grasp. Sometimes the experience is beauty and loveliness, for example, the birth of a child. At other times the event might be terrible, ugly and tragic, a fatal auto accident, the atrocities happening in the Ukraine. And when
we move from such moments and later try to explain to another what we heard, what happened, what it was like, we fail; there simply are no adequate words.

For more than 2000 years Christians have tried to put into words the Easter story. The Passion gospel is proclaimed during this Holy Week and narrates the story of the Last Supper, the arrest and torture of Jesus and His crucifixion and death. On this Sunday of Easter, we proclaim the story of the empty tomb: Jesus has been raised from death and now lives again.

So it is that we can tell the story, just like we can say that at a certain time and place a precious child was born and similarly at such and such a time, a terrible and fatal accident occurred. And yet the narration only tells a part of the story and there is so much more to really begin to understand the event. It is moving beyond the story and into the real meaning of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that brings one into the place where we struggle to find the words.

Music, poetry, literature, drama, opera, art in every form has all sought to lead us into the depths of the Jesus story. Often all of these most noble of efforts are helpful in lifting us beyond mere words toward a mystery as elusive as it is alluring. For we are seeking to know something of God, the ineffable and omnipotent One, and still, there are no words. Yet the magnitude of the Easter story impels us to seek to understand, something!

Our tradition asserts that this broken world, including you and me, with all of the evil, fear, darkness and sadness of our time, has been embraced by the Son of the Living God,
nailed to a primitive cross to suffer, die and be buried. And early in the morning of the third day, this same Jesus rose from death, conquering the power of evil and death forevermore. On the first Easter morning, Hope was born. It is not a theoretical and distant Hope, rather one that is available to all. On Easter the Church celebrates in a particular way the Sacrament of Baptism, initiating a person into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

There is a stirring in people, an inner something that longs to grasp this enormous truth, for which there are no words. Christ is Risen and in the midst of all the activities of humankind, the joyful and the sad, Hope is present and can never be diminished. To move beyond the story this Eastertime, to let the inadequate words lead us deep into our heart
and to listen to that inner longing for Hope and walk in the promise of Easter is the gift God offers every one of us.

Fr. Ronan

Lily

All of us who have been privileged to share our lives with a dog dread
the day when our dog ages and can no longer continue in long established and mutually appreciated routines.
My English Labrador Retriever, Lily, has been a fixture at the Parish for more than 10 years as was her predecessor, Daisy, for many years before.
Lily is now more than 13 years old and unable to climb the impossibly steep stairs in Charlestown.
So she has retired from her active ministry and is at home with family – enjoying a more quiet life out of the city.

\She is well with some of the issues that come with a dog of her age.
Many parishioners have enjoyed coming to know this gentle loving Lab, as the picture shows!