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January 8, 2023Dear Parishioners,
Last weekend Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI passed from this world to God. We pray that he may rest in peace. He was one of the most influential figures in the Church in the last one hundred years (up there with St. John Paul II and Mother Teresa). While a quiet man by nature, his influence spread through his work as a thinker, theologian, and author. His book series Jesus of Nazareth is a wonderful work on our Lord. He gave us the hermeneutic of continuity interpretation of the Second Vatican Council; that the Council should be interpreted not as a break with the past, but as continuous with it. He was only thirty-five years old when he was made a theological expert to the Council. As such he had an influence on many of its documents. He would spend a lot of his life defending and trying to give a proper interpretation to the Council. In addition, he fought against (his words) the “dictatorship of relativism.” Above all, he was in love with Jesus Christ. His last words were “Lord, I love you,” the same last words as our patroness St. Therese of Lisieux.
Our work as a parish dedicated to helping our community continues. First of all, thank you to everyone who donated to the Pawtucket Falls Nursing Home Gift Drive. You brought Christmas joy to the residents. Additionally, we delivered around five hundred cards and prayer squares to local nursing and veteran homes. Finally, in addition to our regular deliveries of food to the St. John Paul II food pantry, the Hasbro Quarter Century Club collected additional canned goods at their Christmas party to donate. There were enough canned goods to fill the bed of a pickup truck. The St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry at St. JPII sends its thanks: they were well stocked for those in need at Christmas.
This weekend is the last for our Christmas decorations. Once again, a thank you to Mr. Andres Montoya who helped arrange them beautifully to help us worship at Christmas. The trees surrounding St. Therese’s statue also came down this weekend: thank you to the Frisina family for organizing that great event. It was very nice having those decorations adorn our parish for the season.
This weekend I gave a retreat to young men thinking about entering the seminary and becoming priests. My topic was “Come and See.” Those words come from our Lord to two disciples. It is encouraging to see these young men thinking about the priesthood, and I ask for your prayers that the Lord inspire more young men to follow him to the priesthood and religious life. I also ask for your prayers for more young women to follow him in consecrated and religious life as well.
In the weeks ahead we return to Ordinary Time in the Church’s calendar. We hear again the beginnings of our Lord’s ministry in our readings such as the calling of the Apostles at the Sea of Galilee.
God bless,
Fr. Barrow
