I was coming down the stairs leaving the Sailors’ Home in Chelsea when a woman at the bottom of the stairs let out a gasp. “What was wrong,” I asked. She said she could see my aura. It was brightly colored, she said. I suppose it was a good opening line to meet someone but I have been told that before and even I have seen auras in other people. I wonder if the aura comes from being happy with life or some other inner disposition. I know that when someone is depressed or under great strain they seem to be under a cloud. I imagine their aura being black. This whole thing reminds me of “mood rings” which were popular some time back.

Perhaps it was an aura that Moses had when he came down from the mountain after talking with God. The scriptures tell us that people could not look at the face of Moses because it was so bright. He had to wear a veil.

Saint Paul in today’s second reading (Ephesians 5:15-20) perhaps had this in mind when he wrote: “be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord, in your hearts.”

If you make the morning offering whereby you give everything to God in the new day ahead you share joys and difficulties with the Lord. Again, we turn to Saint Paul who writes: “give thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.” I know a woman who makes the morning offering by praying: “ Every time I blink my eyes, I give You thanks. Every time I move a muscle, I give You thanks. Every time my heart beats, I give You thanks.” She must walk in the presence of the Lord giving so much conscious thanks to God each day. I wonder what color her aura is?

Readings for the Week of August 17, 2003

Sunday: Prv 9:1-6; Eph 5:15-20; Jn 6:51-58

Monday: Jgs 2:11-19; Mt 19:16-22

Tuesday: Jgs 6:11-24a; Mt 19:23-30

Wednesday: Jgs 9:6-15; Mt 20:1-16a

Thursday: Jgs 11:29-39a; Mt 22:1-14

Friday: Ru 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22; Mt 22:34-40

Saturday: Ru 2:1-3, 8-11; 4:13-17; Mt 23:1-12

Many thanks to all who use the parish envelopes each week. You are the mainstay of our parish support. This week we received 110 envelopes from the 650 families that are sent envelopes each month.

“Those who seek the Lord want for no good thing,” says today’s Psalm. But in the second reading St. Paul reminds us that, thus blessed by the Lord, the good steward should “give thanks to God the Father always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Pictures may be picked up in the Lower Hall classroom #2 (where you ordered them). If you forgot to order yours, they may still be ordered—go to the same classroom.

This week we ask you to pray for those who are ill, including, Brianna Cimino, Rosemary Harvey, Regina Jones, Andrea Hynes, Joyce Amos, James Reilly, Regina Wingard, Elaine Ring, Erin McMehon, Maria Aguis, George Beck, Dr. Kenneth Spengler, Josephine Murphy, Peter Bugda, Norma Berstein, Camille Michals, Rob Morway, Patricia Hassett, Paul McCann, William Francis, Lillian Davenport, James Fontaini, Henri Fradette, William Blair, Agatha Pals, Richard Gaudet, Kath Rodriegas, Estelle Szalajeski, Nancy Driscoll, Dante DiManna, Margie Levine, Ruth Pike, Doug Phillips, Ralph Tatro, Andrew Day, Peggy Sue Grow, Mary Serpa, Deborah Miller, Audrey Finn, Dorothy Lee, William MacKinnon, Mary Jefferson, Elizabeth Conte, Dave Rissmiller, Violet Caldaroni, Ruth McAleer, John McAleer, Monica Cotter, Frank Cote, Kathy Smith, Harold Johnson, James Bresnahan, Ann Mulray, Bea Lingane, Rita Mahan, Paul Bentley, Connie Perrotta, Jo Ciccarelli, Gerard Sarno, Dorothy Grant, Marisol O’Brien, Matthew Gablor, Ted Baird, Peter Bellini, and Don Sabat.

Today, the size of parishes does not always lend to small communities as it did in the early Church. The church of apostolic times was so much smaller than today...but that doesn’t diminish the need for establishing small faith communities. The tradition of small faith communities acclaims God as the perfect community, a community of love. Life in community is the primary way in which God prepares us to participate in God’s divine life. The deeper we enter into community, the more we prepare ourselves for our relationship with God, both now and in eternity when we realize the fullness of God’s unconditional love. There is an old song that says “No man is an island.” (To be more accurate today we would have to say person.)

The flowers this weekend are donated in memory of Mary & William Nolan by Louis Nolan.

Speed bumps called friends…

Our appreciation goes out to all parishioners who have made a gift to the 2003 Appeal. To date we have received $34,360 from 99 donors. We are at 44% of our parish target of $77,661. If you have not yet given to the Appeal, please consider making a gift and supporting the more than 80 agencies, ministries, and programs that serve two million people in the Archdiocese. Pledge forms can be found at the doors of the church.

There is a Zen tradition called “walking meditation” which invites us to do exactly what we do all the time: walk! But now we are invited to walk with awareness, slowly, mindfully. Not walking in order to hurry from here to there, but walking for its own sake and to be purely in the present moment, enjoying each step we take. If we transform our daily walks into a meditation, our feet will take each step with awareness. Our breathing and our stepping will be in harmony and our mind will be free to find peace and joy. And to cause peace and joy to flow through us to others. As far back as 1930, Romano Guardini, the great Catholic liturgist, also spoke of the sacramentality of walking: “Walking is the expression of essentially human nobility. The upright carriage of the who masters one’s self, who bears one’s self along calmly and quietly—that is a human privilege.” Walking upright means being a human.

But we are even more than just human. Scripture says that we are the “offspring of God, reborn of God to a new life.” Imagine! We should walk as though we remembered that Christ lives in us. His body dwells in our flesh; his blood circulates in our veins. For “they that eat my flesh and drink my blood, abide in me and I in them.” Guardini goes on to say “The knowledge of this mystery could find its expression in walking rightly, joyfully, with graceful and firm movement. It could be a profound fulfillment of the command: ‘Walk before me and be perfect.’”

We can transform our “daily constitutional” into walking meditation. Breathing and stepping in rhythm. Watching the firm, joyful steps we take. Walking in the faith that Christ is formed in us; that all that we do has become part of Christ’s life in us.

Copyright © 2001 Archdiocese of Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1800 North Hermitage Avenue, Chicago IL 60622‑1101; 1‑800‑933‑1800; www.ltp.org. Text and art by Gertrud Mueller Nelson. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Coordinator of YM: Maureen McKeown

SCRIPTURE STUDY: A small group of teens have been meeting regularly for several weeks in a relaxed atmosphere to read Scripture (God’s word), reflect on the meaning of the passage in their lives and share a simple meal. The Gospel of John is their focus.

Now that summer is here, they will continue their journey on Sunday morning at 11 AM (following the 10 o’clock Mass). If you have ever thought about why the stories from scripture are still around, or how you might begin to look more closely at those passages you remember from your childhood – or if there is a message here for you – a teen in a community of faith in Lexington in 2003 – then perhaps this is the summer to set aside that time. Come and see what it’s all about – no obligation, as they say!

We need you – you are welcome. Please give thought and prayer to how your gifts can enrich our entire community.

Sacred Heart Parish Bulletin - Aug 17, 2003

Readings for the Week of August 17, 2003

Speed bumps called friends…

Coordinator of YM: Maureen McKeown

GREAT OPPORTUNITIES: (Training provided!)

Sacred Heart Parish Bulletin - Aug 17, 2003