PENTECOST SUNDAY

PENTECOST  SUNDAY





The Book of the Gospels for this Sunday has a big OR in it. We can hear John’s story of the “first day of the week” when the Risen Lord stood with his disciples behind locked doors and said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

OR


We can listen in on Jesus’ promise at the Last Supper to send the Advocate, “the Spirit of truth.”

The fact is, however, there is no OR. It’s a great big AND. Peace AND Truth! As I reflect on our experience at KidsRelig, I see the AND as one of our challenges. Peace must be our gift to our kids—a peace that invites, welcomes, comforts and keeps safe. But truth must also be our gift—a truth that informs, guides, challenges and inspires. It is an awesome task we have, as awesome as that which faced the Church on Pentecost. But it is a joyful task, as joyful as that which filled the Church on Pentecost.

Come, Join Us

New teachers, new substitute teachers, new assistants, new helpers in the office and the hallway. We need as many of you as possible. Not just to do the jobs that have to be done, but to create a wider and deeper community of parishioners sharing in the awesomeness and joyfulness of KidsRelig. Please give it some serious and prayerful thought. It’s you we need, and you and you and you. Say “yes,” and contact me at

kidsrelig@optimum.net

Love,

Deacon Charlie

SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

This Sunday, we published in the Parish Bulletin the names of all our Second Graders, who made First Holy Communion last Saturday.  We chose not to publish their names in the Blog for their safety and protection.  We pray for them and ask God to bless them and their families.

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your j0y may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. (Today’s Gospel)

The force of Jesus’ words seems centrifugal—from the Father, to me, to you, to one another. A force always pushing away from the center. But the physics teachers in the crowd will remind us all that there is no such thing as centrifugal force. It has long been called the fictitious or false force or even the ghost force. Its definition is in the negative: a non-existent force which is actually the absence of a centripetal force. We are not thrown off the merry-go-round by some outward pushing force called centrifugal, but by our weakness to exert enough centripetal force to hang in there. And what is centripetal force? It is a center seeking net force required to keep moving objects in circular paths around the center. If not met, objects move away from the center in larger curved paths or go off on a tangent.

First Communion 2012

Yesterday, our Second Graders received First Holy Communion. We will publish their names next week for all to see and celebrate.

We teach them to be good and kind, to be courteous and considerate, to be attentive and respectful—all elements of love one another. But yesterday at First Communion, our kids were drawn into that single, most important, center seeking force, which gives ultimate meaning to what we do, especially to what we do well. Without this force in our lives, we wander away on curved paths and go off on tangents, even if good ones.

Yesterday, we were all filled with joy, and Jesus’ prayer is that our joy be complete by filling us with that force of love, which can only live and work in us if we exert all our strength and every effort to come to the center. God!

Love,

Deacon Charlie

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples." (Today’s Gospel)

With the image of the vine and branches, Jesus tells us that our every word and action must find their source in Him. But more than source in the sense of starting-point; it is connection and inter-connection. We must live in Him as if there is no living without Him, and through him, share in all that is living.

What better way to start this last week of preparation for First Communion than to hear this Word and live it! To teach our kids that they can hold Jesus in the palms of their hands; they can take Jesus into themselves and let Him live within them, and because He is in them to live He is for them to give.

I am reminded of the Godspell song, which is actually based on this prayer of St. Richard of Chichester:

O most merciful redeemer, friend and brother,

may I know thee more clearly,

love thee more dearly,
and follow thee more nearly, day by day.


Amen.

May this be the prayer of each of our First Communion Kids as they come to the Table of the Lord.

FIRST COMMUNION NEWS

• Rehearsals for First Communion continue this Tuesday (5/8) for the 9:30 Mass Kids and Thursday (5/10) for the 11;30 Mass Kids

• Emails have gone home about dress code, seating for families at First Communion, arrival times, photography and more; if you haven’t gotten an email, let us know at kidsrelig@optimum.net and we will get it to you.

• Look for More Emails in your Inbox with seating charts for each Mass (i.e., where your child is sitting at Mass), assignments for participation in the Mass, arrival time and where your child should report (Saints to Skelly Hall and Angels to Community Room A/B)

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

SATURDAY

MAY 12TH

9:30 AM

&

11:30 AM

Love,

Deacon Charlie

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

THANKS

for all your support of

the KidsRelig Annual Funraiser

Our last days at KidsRelig were fun and through your generosity we were able to donate almost $500 to each of the charities we chose this year: Desda’s Grate (a home for homeless young mothers in New Rochelle) and The Catalyst Foundation (fighting family poverty and child trafficking in Vietnam).

This Sunday is Good Shepherd Sunday. What better way to end the year at KidsRelig than to hear Jesus say to us: “I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me.” As I watched Middlers milling about with pizza in hand or Elementaries running around after ice cream sundaes were quickly downed, I had a vision of sheep. And my prayer was one of gratitude and hope. Gratitude to all of our teachers, who have let our sheep know Jesus and Jesus know them. Hope that after another year of KidsRelig each of our kids in her/his own way is closer to Jesus. That’s what the Good Shepherd Gospel is all about—needing to be close, wanting to be close and just being close to Jesus.

CHAPPAQUA INTERFAITH COUNCIL

FAMILY FUN DAY

Sunday, April 29

1-4 PM

Wagon Road Camp

The Chappaqua Interfaith Council is holding a Family Fun Day. People of all faiths can come together for a relaxed afternoon of shared food, games and music ,and community service. The event will be held on Sunday, April 29 (1 - 4 pm, rain or shine) at Wagon Road Camp, 431 Quaker Road in Chappaqua. It is free to the public. All ages—from young children to high schoolers, adults and sprightly seniors—are encouraged to attend.

• 1 pm — Kickoff Barbecue.

• All Afternoon — Music and Sports.

• 2 - 3:30 — Community Service to Help Wagon Road Camp.

• 3:30 - 4 pm — Music Sing-along, Drinks and Cookies.

FIRST COMMUNION NEWS

• Rehearsals for First Communion will be May 1, 3, 8 and 10, at 3:45 to 4:45 pm. There is NO BUS TRANSPORTATION on those days. Tuesday Rehearsals (5/1, 8) are for the 9:30 Mass & Thursday Rehearsals (5/3, 10) are for the 11:30 Mass.

• Emails have gone home about dress code, seating for families at First Communion, arrival times, photography and more; if you haven’t gotten an email, let us know at kidsrelig@optimum.net and we will get it to you.

• First Communion: May 12, 9:30 & 11:30

Love,

Deacon Charlie

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

"Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have." And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. (Sunday’s Gospel)

The last days of KidsRelig are this coming week (April 24, 25 & 26), except for First Communion Rehearsals for our Second Graders (see below). And in these last days, we put flesh and bones on Jesus by gathering in his name to celebrate and sacrifice at the

KidsRelig Annual Funraiser

               • Pizza & Soda for the Middlers


               • Ice Cream Sundaes & Lemonade for the Elementaries


               • Games on the lawn (we have placed an order for sunshine)

That’s the celebration part. The sacrifice is this. Every year, we choose two service organizations (one local and one international) for which we raise funds. This year, we are raising funds for

• Desda’s Grate, a home in New Rochelle for single mothers in need of housing, social, educational and employment support. Desda’s Grate was founded and is directed by Sr. Mary Alice Hanon, OP.


• The Catalyst Foundation (a CNN Freedom Project) helps families in Vietnam break out of the cycle of poverty, which has condemned them to living on their pickings from garbage dumps and victimized them at the hands of human traffickers of children.

$$$ HOW WE RAISE THE MONEY $$$

• MIDDLERS: A couple of Middlers will be in the parking lot when parents come to pick up on Tuesday and Thursday. The kids will have brown bags marked “FUNRAISER.” If parents could throw a couple of dollars in the bags, we would all appreciate it. A few of the teachers and I will be in the parking lot to supervise.

• ELEMENTARIES: Under the front portico, there will be a row of brown bags, all marked with teachers’ names. When parents come to pick up, we ask that they throw a couple of dollars in the bag marked with the name of their child’s teacher. (Although we will have been outside, the kids will be called back to the classrooms for dismissal, so that we can check them off before leaving with their parent.)

The kids have been asked to do one thing to prepare for the Annua Funraiser--pray for good weather.

FIRST COMMUNION NEWS

• Rehearsals for First Communion will be May 1, 3, 8 and 10, at 3:45 to 4:45 pm. There is NO BUS TRANSPORTATION on those days. Tuesday Rehearsals (5/1, 8) are for the 9:30 Mass & Thursday Rehearsals (5/3, 10) are for the 11:30 Mass.

• First Communion: May 12, 9:30 & 11:30

Love,

Deacon Charlie

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

The Middlers read Sunday’s gospel in parts. We heard Jesus break into the fear of his disciples through doors that had locked them into hiding. And we heard Thomas in his own fear bluster about the need for proof. The Middlers understood that this story about Easter Sunday evening nailed it when it described the human reaction to fear. We either hide from it or cover it up with false bravado. And Jesus’ reaction? To those cowering in the corner, it’s, “Peace.” But it’s not a peace that says calm down, it’s a peace that says get ready. Jesus sees that like all of us the disciples’ real fear is that they are not good enough. They just didn’t have what it takes to go on. And Jesus tells them they will go on with the Spirit in them. Indeed, they are good enough! But what will keep them good enough is their readiness to forgive each other—never better than anyone else, we each become good enough together.

And Thomas, humbled out of his fear and into reality by what he sees, becomes the promise of what is to come. The promise that there will be plenty of us to follow with the same chance to believe, as long as we are convinced that only through forgiveness are we a Church good enough to become the foundation of the Kingdom of God.

The Elementaries heard the Tale of Three Trees. Ask them how each tree out of ambition to be better than anyone else almost missed the chance to cradle and carry and proclaim the Best.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

1. 
   
   
   The last three days of KidsRelig will be April 24, 25 and 26, when we will have our Annual Funraiser


2. 
   
   
   Rehearsals for First Communion will be May 1, 3, 8 and 10, at 3:45 to 4:45 pm. There is NO BUS TRANSPORTATION on those days. Tuesday Rehearsals (5/1, 8) are for the 9:30 Mass & Thursday Rehearsals (5/3, 10) are for the 11:30 Mass.


3. 
   
   
   First Communion: May 12, 9:30 & 11:30

Second Annual Pillows for Puppies
Building Up Creation

The McCarthy-LePage Family is again spearheading an effort to protect rescued dogs and puppies. There will soon appear a big box in the Front Hall of the Upper Church to accept donations of pillows, blankets, towels, dog food and more. Information will be posted on the box explaining this effort and the items needed. In this Easter Season, our call to new life challenges us to build up the earth and care for all its creatures.

Love,
Deacon Charlie