Notes/Sermons
OUR SAINT PATRICK WINDOW
Our front-cover for this week's Bulletin is another "find" by our parish archivist Mrs. Marty Phillips. It shows one of the pages from the DaPrato Statuary Company's catalogue for stained glass windows made by the Royal Bavarian Institute of F.X. Zettler in Munich, Germany. One of the exemplars features the St. Patrick's window from our parish church. The caption of the picture reads: "SAINT PATRICK PREACHING TO THE KING AND PEOPLE OF TARA. Executed for St. Mary's Church, Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts."
This is a particular scene from the Life of St. Patrick. On Easter Eve, 433 A.D., Bishop Patrick landed in Ireland with his missionary band, close to the Hill of Tara where Laoghaire the High King of Ireland was meeting with his chieftains. Then, the next morning, Easter Sunday, these missionaries made their way in procession, the Cross held aloft before them, seeking an audience with the King. Permission was granted. It was at his second audience with King that Patrick picked up a three-leafed clover from the ground, a "shamrock", and used it as an aide to try to explain the Mystery of the Holy Trinity—how God could be both Three and One: Three Persons, "FatherSon-and-Holy Spirit", but in one undivided Godhead. This is a most distinct window, one more of the treasures to be found in this heritage church. It serves as a beautiful catechetical lesson on the Mystery of the Trinity, which Mystery we celebrate today following the end of Paschaltide.
Fr. Higgins
FATHER SALAKO
Recent communication from Fr. Desiré Salako in Benin, West Africa:
“We are struggling here not because of COVID19 but because of the consequences of the lock -down. Families become poor and we have to assist them, to feed them. But God is in control. I’m so proud of you in the USA, the way you want to raise up and continue your daily life. May God be blessed. I pray for you. Be in peace and feel deep serenity and be full of joy.”
Fr. Salako’s tribute to Mrs. Joan of Arc Dougherty on receiving the news of her death at age 100:
“JOAN OF ARC! Her smile was sincere, and her look was deep. I always waited eagerly for her greetings every Saturday or Sunday evening and that for me was the last consolation and the best of my day's offering.
I'm not sure if she understood all my homilies, due to my francophone and African accent. But we communicated with our hearts. Her simplicity touched me. Her prayers followed me. Her support helped the missions. There is a saying in Africa that when an elderly person dies, a whole library is burnt. She has gone with some nice secret treasures. By praying in the Communion of the Saints, her children will surely discover these treasures, in addition of what they have received already from her. May she praise God forever from now.
If anyone is sad, let it be because she is physically absent, but be convinced that she has gone home. The lady with a good heart, "the lady with hat", has gone to her ancestors. She belongs, she is with the generation of gooddoers who see God's face forever.”
