INTENTIONS OF THE

EUCHARIST

THIS WEEK AT

ST . MATTHIAS

Saturday, January 23 — 4:00 p.m.

Sr. Elish McPartland — Mass of Healing

Sunday, January 24 — 10:00 a.m.

Marie Winske — 1st Anniversary Memorial

Friday, January 29 — 9:00 a.m.

Kimball Family — Memorial

Saturday, January 30 — 4:00 p.m.

Edward Mulvaney—Memorial

Claudette Fisher—Memorial

Sunday, January 31 — 10:00 a.m.

Sr. Ann Roussel—Mass of Healing

Saturday, January 23

Celebration of the Eucharist Church, 4:00 p.m.

Sunday, January 24

Faith Formation—Grades 1 — 5

Classrooms, 8:30 a.m.—9:45 a.m.

Celebration of the Eucharist Church, 10:00 a.m.

Faith Formation—Grades 9—10

Mass, 10:00 a.m. / Classroom 11:15 a.m. — Noon

Faith Formation—Grades 6 — 8

Classrooms, 6:00—7:15 p.m.

Monday, January 25

Triduum Kick-Off Meeting Downstairs Conference Room, 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday, January 27

Shawl Ministry Downstairs Conference Room, 6:45 p.m.

Thursday, January 28

Choir Rehearsal Church, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, January 30

Celebration of the Eucharist Church, 4:00 p.m.

Sunday, January 31

Faith Formation—Grades 1 — 5

Classrooms, 8:30 a.m.—9:45 a.m.

Celebration of the Eucharist Church, 10:00 a.m.

Faith Formation—Grades 9—10

Mass, 10:00 a.m. / Classroom 11:15 a.m. — Noon

Faith Formation—Grades 6 — 8

Classrooms, 6:00—7:15 p.m.

ST. MATTHIAS PARISH, MARLBOROUGH, MA

Weekday Masses for the Week of January 25

Monday, Tuesday and Friday

9:00 a.m. in the Downstairs Conference Room.

Office Hours — Week of January 25

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday

9:00 a.m. — 3:00 p.m.

Wednesday

9:00 a.m. — Noon

You are encouraged to pray these readings at home during

the week as you reflect on this Sunday’s Word and prepare

to celebrate next week’s Eucharist.

Readings for January 24, Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Nehemiah 8:2-4A, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-30;

Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21

Readings for January 31, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19; 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13;

Luke 4:21-30

SCRIPTURE READINGS

CELEBRATION OF THE EUCHARIST

MUSIC

Gathering Song: All Are Welcome hymnal #741

Psalm 19: Lord You Have The Words hymnal #20

Preparation Rite: We Are Many Parts hymnal #727

Communion Song: Taste And See hymnal #827

Recessional: Go To The World

hymnal #469

JANUARY 24, 2016

PARISH FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP

FROM FR. FRAN

You will find in the pews this weekend a booklet with

a new Mass setting called Mass of God’s Mercy. This is a

newly composed setting which, once again, I am grateful

that our parish community will help me fine tune over the

next few months. We will be learning the various pieces

before Mass for the next weeks and then, with the

beginning of Lent, we will be using this setting at Mass.

As a composer, I am always looking for feedback, so

please don’t hesitate to let me know what you think of the

Mass setting. What I am interested in knowing is if you

think the Mass is easy to pick up, is sing-able, will hold up

over weeks of use, is not pitched too high or too low. All

constructive comments are welcome!

Last Sunday after Mass a parishioner came up to me and

said a few people were wondering if I was reciting the

Creed softly at Mass to see if the people had it memorized.

Well, I was saying it softly because, like many, I don’t

know the whole thing yet either! The text is always

included in our seasonal worship booklet, however, since

this season of Winter Ordinary Time is so short, we

decided not to put a worship booklet together. I completely

forgot that this would leave us without the text of the

Creed. ( Our hymnal is no help because it contains the old

translation.) So, you will notice that in the Mass of God’s

Mercy booklet in the pews, the Apostles Creed is

included. So now we have our “cheat sheet” back!

Our 2016 Grand Annual Appeal continues during the

winter months. While we have a way to go to hit our goal,

we are getting there! Thank you so much to all who have

contributed so far, and a word of encouragement to those

who have yet to contribute. If your finances allow, know

that your contribution will go directly into our operating

budget which funds everything from our pastoral and

liturgical ministries to our keeping the lights and heat on.

Speaking of our heat, we have sprung a leak! One of our

circulator pumps that was rebuilt a few years ago is on its

last leg, resulting in a 4 thousand dollar expense that was

not in our budget! I can sympathize with the pump. It

seems that everything over 50 years old starts to show its

age!

Do you still have your palm from last year’s Palm

Sunday celebration? It’s time to collect it and bring it to

Mass next weekend, January 30/31 as we get ready for

the ceremonial burning of palm on Sunday February 7

after the 10 AM Mass. Last year’s palm will become this

year’s ashes which we will wear on Ash Wednesday,

February 10, as a symbol of our reliance

on God’s mercy and compassion. Yes,

Lent is just around the corner, as is

Spring!

Weekly Offertory Goal: $4,000.00

Total Collection of January 16, 17.…….....……. $ 3,171.00

Of that amount ParishPay donations were $ 567.00

Offertory shortfall……………...………..……. $ 262.00

Parishioners celebrating January 16, 17 .......……. 362

Catholic Schools Collection January 16, 17….. $ 615.00

Of that amount ParishPay donations were $ 5.00

January Special Collections

Churches in Latin America January 23/24

December Financials

Total Income for the Month of December $64,996

Total Expenses for the Month of December $37,015

Net Income: $27,981

December Total Offertory $17,607 ($1,607 above goal)

Christmas Bazaar Income: $ 9,692

Christmas Bazaar Expenses: ($ 1,430)

$ 8,262

2016 GRAND ANNUAL

Goal: $80,000.00

Total Pledged: $52,775.00

Total Received: $47,195.00

Total Number to Reach Goal: $27,225.00

Number of Families Pledged: 100

If you have a Verizon email address you may not be

receiving emails sent from the parish office. This is an issue

that happens periodically. The email may be going into your

spam folder or may be automatically deleted by Verizon

before it gets to your account. To correct this you will need

to either contact Verizon at 800-837-4966 or go online and

fill out a Verizon Whitelist form. The link to do so is http://

my.verizon.com/micro/whitelist/RequestForm.aspx

ATTENTION VERIZON USERS

http://my.verizon.com/micro/whitelist/RequestForm.aspxhttp://my.verizon.com/micro/whitelist/RequestForm.aspx

THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Please Pray For...

Donny Courteville, Connie Cyr, Clara Mae Dickerson,

John Gifford, Joe Gillis, Pat Gowaski, Russ Hokanson,

Kathryn Keeler, David Martin, Frank Mangan, Margaret

McNeil, Betty Montgomery, and Jean Peltak. Please submit any names you wish to be included on the

prayer list by calling the parish office 508-460-9255 or

emailing admin@stmattpar.org. Thank you.

Pray for the Heal ing

of the s ick

Faith Formation gatherings for Sunday, January 24 are as

scheduled:

Grades 1-5 8:30 - 9:45 a.m.

Grades 6-8 6:00 - 7:15 p.m.

Grades 9, 10 10:00 a.m. Mass attendance

followed by class until 12:15 p.m.

Children's RCIC 10:00 a.m. Mass

As we continue our Year of Mercy we reflect on Pope

Francis' words:

"Let us treat others with the same passion and

compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek

for others the same possibilities which we seek for

ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to

be helped ourselves."

(Year of Mercy, December, 2015 - November 20, 2016)

TRIDUUM 2016 NEEDS YOU!

First Meeting: Monday, January 25 at 7:00 p.m. Despite the blast of winter we are experiencing, Spring

will soon be here and with it so will the Paschal Triduum.

Triduum is the most important liturgical event in our

Catholic Christian year. It is the three day celebration of

the Paschal mystery of Easter. Together, as a faith

community, we walk the journey that took Christ from his

last supper with his apostles to his suffering and death on

the cross, to the culmination of Christ’s glorious

resurrection on Easter.

Triduum here at St. Matthias is an intensely beautiful

experience but it takes many people and much preparation

to make it such an exquisite spiritual celebration. We

would like to extend a special invitation to each of YOU,

especially to those who may not have taken part in the

past, to join us on this spiritual journey.

We have a very dedicated team of people working on

Triduum but are in need of new members to help us out.

If you would like to enrich your spiritual life here at St.

Matthias by helping out at Triduum, please contact Patricia

Fischer at either patfischer60@comcast.net or 508-485-

5473 or Diane Balinski at dbalinski@stmattpar.org. Our Triduum meeting will be held on Monday,

January 25 at 7:00 p.m. in the downstairs conference

room. Please consider joining us.

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE

LITURGICAL COMMISSION MEETING

MONDAY , JANUARY 25—7:00 P.M.

The Liturgical Commission meeting scheduled for

Monday, January 25 at 7:00 p.m. has been changed to

the kick-off meeting for Triduum 2016. Please welcome

our Triduum Coordinator, Patricia Fischer, and help us

plan a beautiful Paschal Triduum

FAITH FORMATION

THANK YOU Thank you to all those who made the wake and funeral

of our beloved Mary Diebel such a beautiful

experience. Our parish family joined together, with love, to

greet Mary’s family and friends and provide baked goods so

everyone could sit, relax and reminisce about Mary over a

cup of coffee and some delicious food. Thank you to our

wonderfully talented bakers including Nathalie Dolan,

Renee Kossuth, Marie Mangan, Terry Paladino, Ellen

Teplitz, Lydia Whitcomb, Jean Peltak, Hilary Kushi, Gina

Mulvaney and Fay DiNitto. Thank you also to Patricia

Fischer, Jane Jones, Meagan McLean, and Geralyn Strella

who not only baked but help set up, clean up and also made

sure refreshments were replenished throughout the

afternoon. Thank you to Doreen Martin for helping with set

up and flower arrangements.

Our greeters Gene Balinski, Lillian DeBeaucourt, Gerry

and Nathalie Dolan, Mike Fallon, Marge Shea-Burke, Steve

Strella and Lydia Whitcomb made everyone feel welcome

as they entered the church – thank you.

Thank you to Joe Curley Joanne Litster, Ed McManus

and Marge Shea-Burke for serving as Eucharistic Ministers

and Acolytes as well as our wonderful choir, Judy

McManus and Joyce Belliveau for the beautiful music at

both the wake and funeral. Finally, thank you to Fr. Fran

and Deacon Doug who provided spiritual support to Mary

and her family throughout her final journey and whose

homilies captured the true essence of this wonderful, much

loved woman.

mailto:patfischer60@comcast.netmailto:dbalinski@stmattpar.org

TOUCHING TRIBUTE TO

SAYING GOODBYE Replying to a question as to whether or not traditional

Works of Mercy remain relevant today, Pope Francis said,

“They are still valid, still current. They help us open up to

the mercy of God, to ask for the grace to understand that

without mercy a person cannot do a single thing…” One of the Corporal works of Mercy is to bury the dead. This

action on our part takes many shapes and forms and goes a

long way in revealing the kind of community we are. The

works we do are not about us as individuals, but gives

witness to the communal nature of our collective faith. We

are always attempting to bring greater meaning and

awareness to our service to all God’s people.

As such given that we are called to walk with those who

mourn the loss of a loved one, how can we be present to

their needs? Infrequently, for the most part because it isn’t

the norm in this part of the country we will have a person’s

wake service in the church proper. This has taken place

twice in the last couple of weeks due to the deaths of two of

our beloved parishioners. I can assure you not only is it a

powerful experience for their families, but a gratifying and

humbling experience for St Matthias Parish.

There are so many beautiful aspects of celebrating one’s

wake as well as funeral in our parish. One of these aspects is

the generosity of parishioners who bake or make

sandwiches, or assist us in various ways. The refreshments

and hospitality are expressions of our love. In order to do

this more effectively and with greater ease we are appealing

to the wider community for help. I know many times people

have said they wish they could be more involved, but the

various ministries may not be for them. For those who are

looking for ways to make a difference in the lives of others,

here then, is an opportunity.

Since we do not anticipate that we would have to call on

people that often, would you consider being part of a

consolation ministry, whereby you could help us with baked

goods or sandwiches or as a greeter or server? I can tell you

that when people come here for a wake, see the effort put

forth, and experience the hospitality, they are deeply moved.

What a powerful sign it is that we are willing to put forth

our best effort in a time when members of our community

are so very vulnerable.

I ask that you give this serious consideration because it is

such a rewarding experience to touch the lives of others.

Together we can lighten the load for all and bring great

glory to God. Please contact me if you are able so that, we

can have things in place when we are called upon. I thank

you in advance and pray for the success of this effort.

Thank you for you consideration. Doug Peltak

dcnpeltak@stmattpar.org or 508-460-9255.