6.11.20

Hello Family,
 
Congratulations to all of you, Moms, Dads, Grandparents, Guardians, Teachers, Administrators, etc.! You have made it, or are about to make it through a very different school year!  Our prayers have been with you through this all and we hope you are staying close to God in prayer to help know you are very much Loved and will never be abandoned by Him. 
 
We are opened up again for worship and wanted to give you some updates on timing, etc.  Please come join us if you are comfortable, or continue to worship at home through the website at 5PM Saturdays, 11AM Sundays and 8:30AM Mon-Thurs.  Daily Rosary is also live-streamed at 7:45AM, Mon-Thurs.
 
This coming Sunday, we celebrate “Corpus Christi” Sunday, which translated means The Body of Christ!  Now, as we all know, as Catholics, we believe that at every mass, weekdays and weekends, we receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, which is our bread for the Journey of Faith. Our Journey to know, love and serve the Lord and one another, is not an easy one, but we have all we need through faithfully and intentionally living the life God intends us to, and receiving the Holy Eucharist!  A Spiritual Communion when attending a live-stream is also an acceptable way during this time, to receive Holy Eucharist!
 
As we think about the Body of Christ, we need to remember the bodily suffering that He endured for our sake.  And to remember also that when He was resurrected and appeared to the Apostles, His first words were “PEACE BE WITH YOU!”  So, on this upcoming Corpus Christi Sunday, please let us give great thanks to Jesus for showing us that He understands all our suffering and that He gives us the means(the Eucharist) to be strengthened through our own suffering.  He asks us to LOVE peace and bring the world to the peace that only He gives, the peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:7).  During this time of unrest due to suffering in our country, we need to first and foremost pray to God to help us to always foster peace in our own relationships and to not only respect our neighbors, but to think about what they need, not only what we need.  As Christians, we especially need to understand our purpose and trust in His strength to help us do what we need to do to make this earth what God intended (in the Our Father, we say, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will (God’s Will) be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven!) Attached is a coloring page on how we can all help bring God’s Kingdom to Earth!
 
Children’s Bulletins are available at the end of this week’s published Bulletin. For more ideas for celebrating the feast of Corpus Christi, please go to the following links:
 
https://cathfamily.org/god-is-here-the-eucharist/ - an explanation of the Real Presence for families.
https://cathfamily.org/corpus-christi-stained-glass-window/ - a stained glass window craft for Corpus Christi.
  
RAFFLE FOR JUNE:  June is one of my favorite months;  it brings with it great joy, freedom from routine and a chance to enjoy family more!  So, you know how I Love giving out raffle prizes during the year, here is a chance to be in the running for a raffle prize for June!  Do any of your children remember the First and Greatest Commandment?  If so, please have them write it down and you can send me an email by June 30 and I will add their name to a June Raffle for a gift card to Haywards! (Raffle to be drawn on June 30.)

Maryann
Images: 4lpi.com with permission

Frontline Family Heroine!

6.3.20
Ruby is one of our own students from the Family Home Study program and is enjoying a well-deserved reward as a  “Frontline Family Heroine!”  Ruby’s mom, Kate, supervises a COVID-19 floor at a Massachusetts Hospital.  Kate and Ruby have been key to helping the sick and dying during this pandemic. There was a time when Kate and Ruby were separated from each other temporarily to avoid any potential transfer of the virus.  Thank you Kate and Ruby for your witness in responding to Jesus’ call to loving our neighbor-even when it is hard!

Maryann

ZaRa’s story

How Zara and her parents helped out during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Here is a story that I read that warmed my heart!  Zara is one of our young parishioners, age 10, who has been living out her mission as a daughter of God in a very special way! I asked Zara’s parents if I could share and they said yes! 
  
Here is What ZaRa’s Dad shared:
 
"Kusina ni Zara, is happy to have served those in the frontlines. Two weekends, three dishes, all to warm the hearts (and tummies) and to put a smile on their faces.
 
It’s a small gesture but as what my favorite quote says, "What we do is just a drop in the ocean, but if we didn’t do it, the ocean will be one drop less.""
 
Thank you Zara for showing us that we all have something to give during even the darkest times! Jesus is the light inside us and the Holy Spirit will help us all move to share ourselves with others! Zara brightened the day for many!

Thank Zara and family for your witness and inspiration!

Maryann

For more images of our families living the faith, please visit our Media Library
 

Pentecost - The Birth of the church

5.29.20

Hello Family,

Praise the Lord, Immaculate Conception Parish will be resuming the Distribution of Holy Communion beginning Saturday, May 30 and Sunday, May 31 for Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is the Birthday of the Catholic Church - so let us truly celebrate and give thanks to the Lord for giving Himself to us through Holy Communion on this very special day!

Your children are certainly welcomed to be with you when you come to receive the Eucharist.  Please keep in mind that masks will be required on children ages 5 and older.  And, in order to comply with safety recommendations, children must stay with parents at all times, in the line to receive. For further instructions, please carefully read the Latest Updates. 

Connect with our friend Lacy at Catholic Icing for some fun snack and craft ideas for Pentecost:catholicicing.com/holy-spirit-resources-for-kids-crafts-printables-more/
 

Mary, Mother of the Church

5.29.20

Thank you to all who prayed the Rosary with us in May! 

We continue to celebrate Mary as we prepare for her next feast day, a fairly new one: Mary, Mother of the Church celebrated, this year, on Monday, June 1.

The Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, was observed for the first time on Monday, May 21, 2018; the movable feast is set for the first day following Pentecost. In his homily on the first celebration of this new feast day, Pope Francis said the first virtue of a mom is tenderness.
 
Look to Him and be Radiant has a really beautiful free printable Mary, Mother of the Church:
looktohimandberadiant.com/search?q=mother+of+the+church

Sadlier.com  has a beautiful reflection on the Hail Mary: Floral Reflections on the Hail Mary 

Finally, scroll down for a wonderful story of how one of our young students surprised some local Frontline Heroes!  Great job Zara!

Many Blessings - hope to see you all soon!

Maryann

pick a day to pray IN MAY, 2020

Hello Family,

Praying for you all today!  No matter what each of you are going through, there is nothing that we cannot ask for in prayer!  My prayer for you is to know that you are truly loved and truly cared for, all the time.  If you feel you are called to be praying at this time for others, I would like to invite you to join me in a month-long Rosary prayer to Our Blessed Mother. May is traditionally a month to celebrate Mothers and of course Mary is our Blessed Mother in Heaven who is our most perfect mother!  Together, in this effort, our voices will join with hers in bringing our petitions to Jesus to relieve all from the effects of the Coronavirus at this time. 

I am asking please, for you as a family to commit to praying a Rosary on any one day in May. You pick your own date, starting this Friday, May 1. All are welcome to join.

CLICK HERE to sign up, or if you have any questions.

You may say an entire Rosary on that day - I will send you specific instructions - most of you do have a little Rosary guide from our Family Home Study this year. If you have little children and would like to abbreviate the prayer, you may say 5 decades of the Rosary with only 3 Hail Mary’s vs. all 10 Hail Mary’s for each. Our Mother will be pleased with all efforts to storm heaven with this request.

A Special Place to Pray

You are welcome to pray anywhere, at home, inside, outside, or on a walk.  Father Ray has graciously invited each family, if they wish, to come to the outside of the church on your day to pray.  You could pray your Rosary with your family at the Rosary Garden facing E. Dunstable Rd, or at the Blessed Mother statue between the stairs facing the parking lot, or at the statue in the rear of the parking lot, up on the hill. 

Please email me your date in May, as soon as you decide to join us in prayer and tell me which place and time (if you are coming to the church so we can give families privacy at each location)! I am grateful to all who consider joining us in this “Pick a Day in May to Pray!” You may also pray for your personal intentions during this time and keep a “Praise Journal,” because when praying the Rosary with Mary-Mary wants to outdo us in generosity-so just keep asking!

In Jesus Name through Mary,

Maryann

P.S.  HERE is a Saint Coloring Page and biography; St. Louis de Montfort - one of my favorite Marian Saints. He loved Mary as I do!

 

Mother's day, May 10, 2020

Hello Family,

Happy Mother's Day!

Here is a Mother’s Day Card for the children to make and some coloring pages:

Mother's Day Card from iheartcraftythings.com
Mother's Day Coloring Page from joditt.com
Our Lady of the Rosary Coloring Page from
immaculateheartcologingpages.wordpress.com

Maryann

Thank you!

4.23.20

Dear Immaculate Conception Family, 

Thank you all who are staying close to us during this time of social distancing!  Whether you are tuning in on our Live Stream offerings (weekend, weekday Masses, special services and Adoration), email messages, thank you cards, notes, cookies, donuts, and/or sending us Easter pictures of your family to post on the website, we are most grateful for it all!  You are so important to us and we miss you a great deal.  We will get to see each other face to face soon, but in the meantime, honor the Greatest Commandment that we learn from Jesus - Honor the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, AND LOVE one another (your neighbor - or your spouse, your sibling, etc.-) as you love yourself!  And definitely start with loving yourself, how God first Loved you-completely! 

Please know that we praying for all of you who are sick, or who have family members who are sick and/or financially, psychologically or situationally compromised at this time!  As the Psalmist reassured us in today’s readings:

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;  and those who are crushed in spirit he saves. 
Many are the troubles of the just man, but out of them all the LORD delivers him (US).”
Psalm 34:19-20

Maryann

CLICK HERE to see our growing Photo Library. Keep sending in your pictures!

CLICK HERE to visit our Archives of previous publications. 

Divine Mercy Sunday, April 19, 2020

Hello Family, 

Happy Easter!  We are an Easter people, who know that with God, there is always life after death and light after darkness!  Therefore, we are privileged to have 50 days to celebrate - from Easter until Pentecost on May 31. So keep greeting everyone with “Happy Easter!”  In our current environment of uncertainty, therefore, we will BE the light needed to get through this!

We continue our celebration with our regular weekend masses at 4pm on Saturday, 4/18 and at 10am on Sunday, 4/19 through Live Stream at iccnashuanh.org.  In addition, we will present a very Special Divine Mercy Celebration this coming Sunday, 4/19, at 3pm also through Live Stream.  We invite all our families each year to join in this life-changing celebration!
 

Divine Mercy

One of the amazing graces that Jesus continues to give us (if we know about it and ask for it!) every day is Divine Mercy.  Divine Mercy was given to us from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, while He was on the Cross.  When the Roman soldier pierced the Heart of Jesus on the cross, “...immediately, blood and water flowed out…” John 19:34.

But, I guess God did not think we understood what actually happened when that blood and water flowed out to the world.  So, He sent messages and visions to a humble nun from Poland in the 1930s.  The nun, who became Saint Faustina, eventually wrote a diary to specifically describe the incredible meaning of Divine Mercy.  From her encounters with Jesus, St. Faustina described and had painted a beautiful image and gave us a most powerful prayer called the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

Here are the ABC’s of Divine Mercy:

Ask for God’s Mercy - God wants to hear from us constantly, asking Him to forgive our sins and to have Mercy on us and on the whole world!

Be Merciful - God wants us to receive His Mercy and to have it flow through us to others! We are to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does for us-we pray this every day in the Our Father (forgive us our trespasses AS we forgive those who trespass against us!)  We are praying at this time in the prayer that Jesus taught us, for Him to HELP us forgive others, as most of the time it is hard to do on our own!

Completely Trust in His Mercy - God wants us to know that the graces of His Mercy are dependent upon our trust!  The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive it! 

For a fun craft, and a yummy ice cream snack to remind your children of the Divine Mercy Message,  please visit the fabulous Lacy at Catholic Icing:

catholicicing.com/celebrating-divine-mercy-sunday-with-kids/




 

Easter Triduum 2020

Hello Family,

Our entire Immaculate Conception Parish Staff is praying for you all and I am letting you know that we WILL see a Resurrection this weekend in our Easter Sunday Mass!  May it give us all hope that we too will rise out of this COVID-19 Pandemic.  Let us do the praying for the sick and dying, our Church and our clergy, our government leaders, all those working on the cure and the vaccines, and all the healthcare workers, essential employees and the media who are working very hard (I know that is some of you-Thank you!) Also, let us not forget others who are homeless or food insecure at this time.  I wanted to share something I read this week from the “Little Black Book,” that we all received on Ash Wednesday that really hit me as something that can help us all who believe, through this trial:

“Jesus never promised that he would prevent all evil, sickness, tragedy or sin.  After all, he gives us free choice.  But he did promise that he could come to any evil situation or our own doing or of someone else’s doing—small or great—and pull goodness and life out of it.
Jesus said that his goodness would be more powerful than any evil.  He was that good.
Well, if he could go even to death on the cross-a senseless death at the age of 30 or so-a humiliating, repugnant, awful death-and pull life out of it, then the good news is true. 
He can come to any human situation and draw life.
And so, the early Church told the story over and over again-long before the Gospels ever were written….of the way Jesus died and they ended that story with the announcement that he pulled life out of it-the announcement of the Resurrection.
Great story…and all true!”

Source: The Little Black Book, Six-minute meditations on the Sunday Gospels of Lent (Cycle A) based on writings of Bishop Ken Untener (1937-2004)

Many blessings!

Maryann
 

Triduum Schedule 2020

With Readings and Family Fun Coloring, Food and Craft Ideas
to help you Remember, Celebrate and Believe!

Masses and Friday’s Stations will be live streamed on our Home Page at the times specified below.

HOLY THURSDAY, April 9
7pm Live Stream of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper (the First Mass ever!)
Readings: usccb.org/bible/readings/040920.cfm
Activitie: CLICK HERE to Print out a Holy Thursday Coloring Page thanks to Oriental Trading’s “Free-N-Fun” offering.
 
GOOD FRIDAY, April 10
3pm Live Stream of the Stations of the Cross;
7pm Live Stream of the Mass (Veneration of the Cross)
Try making this “Symbolic Lunch” with your children remind them of the significance of this day for all at catholicicing.com
Readings for the 7pm Mass: usccb.org/bible/readings/041020.cfm
 
HOLY SATURDAY, April 11
7:30pm Live Stream Easter Vigil (night before) Mass
Readings (note that it is most likely that not all of these readings will occur but there is flexibility to the pastors to chose): usccb.org/bible/readings/041120.cfm
Easter Coloring Pages (from OT Fun-N-Free) to enjoy:
Coloring Page 1 - Coloring Page 2 - Coloring Page 3
 
EASTER SUNDAY, April 12
10am Live Stream - and we can sing ALLELLUIA once again!
Readings: usccb.org/bible/readings/041220.cfm
Celebrate with Mass and then serve special food, dress up if you feel like it and THANK the Lord for this new day!
More fun Easter Crafts and Coloring Pages (from OT Fun-N-Free):
Activity Page 1 - Activity Page 2 - Coloring Page

Spy Wednesday

Hello Family,

I promised you would hear from me today regarding the Holy Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil and Easter!)  but I forgot to mention that today, Wednesday of Holy Week  is called “Spy Wednesday.” This is  Interesting, right?  Why?  Read about it:

Wednesday is known as Spy Wednesday because on this day Judas made a bargain with the high priest to betray Jesus for 30 silver pieces (Matt 26:14-16; Mark 14:10-11; Luke 22:1-6). This is also the day that Jesus was anointed with an expensive jar of alabaster by the woman at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper (Matt 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-19). Source: catholiculture.org

Spy Wednesday Food Idea from Lacy at catholicicing.com

For this day, (Lacy says) try making “money bag wontons” for dinner to symbolize the bag of silver that betrayed Jesus. 

I will be sending you more information and activities on the Triduum tomorrow that you can enjoy while at home.
Just a reminder, Holy Thursday Mass will be streaming live via the website at 7pm tomorrow night. No morning mass or Holy Hour tomorrow.

More to come. Stay tuned, but just in case you go for your shopping trip before Sunday, here is an amazing recipe for Resurrection Cookies for Easter Sunday:

Easter Story Cookies (multiple classroom and large group use)
 

Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020

Hello All, 

Our Children’s Enrichment Core Team is hard at work hoping to bring you some at-home experiences to share with your children for Holy Week, the week Jesus changed the world for us all!  Attached to begin, is instruction to make a cute little clothespin donkey, like the one Jesus road into Jerusalem on, as read in this Sunday’s Procession into Mass.  For many other activities, coloring pages and lessons for the entire Holy Week, go to this fabulous Catholic website: catholicicing.com
 

Pray with your children for the end of the Coronavirus and for all the sick and dying, for our families, our church and the world to keep hope alive to know God will provide!

God Bless, Maryann