Although our building is temporarily closed due to Covid-19, our staff at AHM is only a phone call away! If you need help or assistance in any way, please contact us at 860-228-9488! We will be happy to connect you with resources that are available to the communities we serve within the towns of Andover, Columbia, Hebron and Marlborough.

The St. John Fisher Men's Prayer Group gathering this morning (4/18/2020) via ZOOM conferencing.  This is the second time we've done this, trying to keep our normal monthly - 1st Thursday evening and 3rd Saturday morning - gatherings going in the face of this necessary isolation.

As we enter the Easter season, and in preparation for celebrating Pentecost, Jen O'Neill is providing a weekly activity on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Check it out on this website where you will find a different gift highlighted each week with an activity to help experience the special gifts that we are all given. Check back each week for a new activity for individuals and families!

Please join the St John Fisher Pray and Play Activity Group on Facebook. Here you will find virtual storytime with a number of childrens books and many coloring pages and activities for your children to enjoy. Thank you to Amy Serrano for doing such a great job maintaining and updating this Facebook page.

Your Lenten participation in CRS Rice Bowl comes at a critical time in our world. Because of the impact of COVID-19, more people will be at risk of hunger. Those suffering from malnutrition have weakened immune systems and become more at risk. Here's the link to CRS Rice Bowl with information on how to send your remittance directly to CRS. No worries, the 25% which remains in our Archdiocese will be returned to us so that we can help address hunger issues for people in our local area. You can also send in checks made out to St. John Fisher with a notation for CRS, and we will write one check to CRS from our parish. Thank you for your consideration and generosity!

Our prayer line remains active with a day-line and night-line contact each week. For this coming week, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. will be on the day-line at 860-295-8112 and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. on the night-line at 860-798-7236. The church will be open for Adoration on Sunday from 4:00-4:45 pm and for individual prayer Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am-2:00 pm. Please observe guidelines for spatial distancing. There will be disinfectants available at the entrances, so you can be sure of a clean place to pray while you are in church. If possible, we ask that you wipe down your pew before you leave so it will be sanitized for the next parishioner who may come in.

Happy Easter!  But wait there is more!  The Easter season did not end on Sunday, but extends through until Pentecost, fifty days from Easter.  As we continue to journey together through this Easter season together, let us take some time to explore the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  We will have brief reflections for you each week as we, like the disciples, try to fully embrace the meaning of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descends upon the disciples giving them the courage to go out and spread the gospel message and  “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Mt. 28:19-20a)

 Father Sas celebrates a virtual Easter Sunday Mass so we can spend time worshiping together.

Please come celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ as a community,

together in spirit, even as we are separated by a pandemic that drives us apart physically.

CLICK THE IMAGE TO START

An Act of Spiritual Communion

My Jesus,

I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already there
and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You.

Amen.

Easter 2020

The Gospel reading for today’s Mass from John is lacking in drama in comparison to Mark 16:1-8, Matthew 28:1-10 and Luke 24:1-12.

For me, John’s version leaves me with a lot of questions: Who is the “we” in Mary Magdala’s statement? Who is “the other disciple whom Jesus loved”? Is it John as most assume? Could you unnamed be someone else or meant to stand for all who believe? What’s the significance of the head covering rolled up in a separate place? Did Simon Peter think the body was put in a different unknown place as Mary of Magdala assumed? How did the other disciple, seeing the same thing as Simon Peter did, come to believe instantly while it states in the closing, “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead”? If we only had this account of the early morning and the first witnesses of the empty tomb, and nothing afterward, who would you be, Mary of Magdala, Simon Peter or the other disciple?

The mystery of the Resurrection is something we understand more in our heart then in our heads. It’s so incomprehensible that even the people who first encountered it could not agree how to express the mystery (cf. read all the accounts listed above). But, it changes everything!

Yes, in this life on earth we are not spared from pain, disease, separation, disappointment, betrayal, and heartache. Jesus does not give to those who believe in him an exemption to all that and more. The novel coronavirus, aka COVID-19, which we are enduring now, causes some to ask, “Why is this happening? Why doesn’t God do something to rid the world of this evil scourge?” God ordinarily does not rescue us.  Jesus’s Father did not rescue him from the aloneness, humiliation and pain of the cross. Rather Jesus promises, that in the end, there will be redemption and eternal life. Love will overcome hatred; peace, fear; life, death. The Resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate sign and promise to us of the redeeming love of God!

HE IS RISEN! ALLELUIA!

Good Friday, 2020

Every Good Friday we read the Gospel of John account of the Passion of the Lord. It’s much different than Matthew’s which we read on Palm Sunday. Here are a few examples:

• There is no “Agony in the Garden”;
• There is no kiss by Judas to point out which person is Jesus;
• No one helped Jesus carry the cross;
• No mention of the passersby , the chief priests, the scribes , and the elders joined together in reviling and mocking Jesus;
• No mention of darkness covering the land from noon to three in the afternoon;
• No crying out, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

Holy Thursday 2020

The Gospel reading that the Church chose for today seems to me strange for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at which the Eucharist is honored, especially at the end with a procession and adoration afterwards. In John’s Gospel there is no mention of the institution of the Eucharist during the Last Supper or anywhere else, though some claim the discourse on the Bread of Life  ( Jn. 6:22-71) substitutes for it.

We hope God has been guiding your journey this very unusual Holy Week as we move into the Easter Triduum, the high point of the liturgical year. Perhaps you've been following the daily STJF reflections on Facebook, or maybe you took a walk past St. John Fisher earlier this week (before the rain!) to admire the beautiful and inspiring "Chalk the Walk" messages. (You can view a video collage here on our website and see more pictures.) Maybe you spent time reflecting on Fr. Sas's Palm Sunday message or creating rituals at home to celebrate the Triduum. If you've driven by St. John Fisher in the evening, you'll notice that we are lighting our big church tree in solidarity with the town tree and in honor of all those workers and patients fighting this virus.

Today's website articles offer a few more ideas to inspire your faith and enrich your Holy Week. You will also be able to read Fr. Sas's homilies for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. Whatever you're doing, know that the St. John Fisher staff and volunteers are praying for you, as our parish family makes this journey towards Easter together.