20^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A20

One of the inconvenient truths of the Incarnation is that Jesus was born a Jew with all that it entailed. In today’s Gospel passage, we are faced with Jesus and his encounter with a Canaanite woman in which he is acting according to the prejudices and customs of his day. The Canaanites were to be avoided because they worshipped other gods and at first led Jesus’ ancestors astray from the devotion of the one true God; and the custom of not speaking to a woman in public was being breached by her begging for a cure for her daughter. Besides all that, Jesus thought he was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. She had 3 strikes against her! But she persisted and taught Jesus a lesson about being more inclusive. Why? Because she had great faith. It’s interesting to see the contrast between last week’s Gospel and this one: Peter being gently chided for having little faith and the Canaanite woman praised for having great faith.

How beautiful that in August we celebrate St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine on August 27^thand St. Augustine on August 28^th.  As patron saint of mothers, St. Monica dedicated her life to raising a son grounded in his faith.  May we pray that as we prepare our children to go back to schools we will have the tenacity, determination, love and patience of St. Monica with our own children and that they too will be grounded in their faith and service to our God.

All teens and young adults are invited to follow the St. John Fisher youth Instagram Ministry account at

sjf_youthministry.  Stay connected, grow your faith and be informed!

A program being offered at church this weekend on life skills for Catholic Teens,  We recently received funding from the Hartford Bishops’ Foundation to offer a series of workshops to our teens and young adults.  The first workshop will be a hands-on workshop of car care.  Space is limited to twelve individuals so we can follow social distancing guidelines.  Please register using the link below.

CLICK HERE

This is the link for the sign-up Teen car workshop 

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

            Elijah was in trouble. While he had proven himself as a great prophet before the people, his mockery of the god Baal and the ensuing massacre of the priests and prophets  had angered Queen Jezebel who was a devoted follower of that religion and now wanted him dead. Led by the Spirit he made his way to Horeb, a.k.a. Sinai. Here he was to encounter God, just as his ancestors in faith had done. But this meeting was surprising; for God did not come in a strong and heavy wind (like last Tuesday’s damaging tropical storm), or in thunder or lightning, or an earthquake. Instead, Elijah is brought to his knees by a quiet breeze that is filled with the God's presence.

RESCHEDULED TO Wednesday, August 26th

Due to power outages, we are unable to record Mass this week. Please view one of our recent Mass recordings if you have access. Thank you all for your prayers. Be well and stay safe.

If you receive an email proported to be from "Fr. Thomas J. Sas", be very vigilant. Hover your cursor over the name in the email. You should be able to see the origin email address. If that email address is "Fr. Thomas J. Sas" at a GMail account it is a scammer. Delete the email. DO NOT respond. I've reported the email address to Google as a phishing scam.

Anytime you receive an email from someone who does not normally communicate with you, always approach the email mail with caution. Read the content and ask yourself; Is this something this person and I would normally talk about? Am I being asked to do something this person would normally ask me to do? Does the use of the language, syntax, spelling and manner of speaking sound like the person I know? Ask! DO NOT click reply. Instead, create a NEW email (or message) to an address you know is valid and ask. Or try a phone call.

Read the email conversation ...

Mass ~ 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Download: An Act of Spiritual Communion

18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Year A

You’ve seen it; perhaps even done it yourself: in a supermarket people examining labels, checking them for fat content, carbs, sugar, and the all important dietary fiber.  

But, approximately 850 million people in the world according to Bread for the World Institute don’t have that luxury. They are literally starving, unable to meet their most basic need for nourishment. We have all seen the pictures of people fighting one another to get even a cupful of rice. Our hearts go out to them – for a while. And then we go back to the supermarket to choose what we going to have for supper or to a restaurant where we again get to select what somebody else is going to prepare for us, maybe eating only a portion, with the rest becoming garbage to be thrown out.

17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A20

I was preaching at a 3^rd grade children’s Mass many years ago. I asked a simple question to which I expected an equally simple reply: If you were granted one wish, what would it be? After getting those expected simple replies such as a new bike, good grades, longer recesses, or pizza, one young girl raised her hand and said, “A Maserati!” Did she even know what a Maserati was? The congregation had a good laugh when I repeated her answer. Her parents slid down in their pew and covered their faces, wishing they could hide.

Our parish Book Club with Father Sas continues on Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in our downstairs hall. The book, The Passion and the Cross by Ronald Rolheiser, is proving to be an interesting and compelling read, and our conversations on each chapter have been very inspiring and thought provoking. For this week, we are on Chapter 5. All are welcome even if you have yet to attend. Use of masks and social distancing are required.

Please help our local food bank and church community by donating any of your extra produce from your home gardens. Just leave them at the garden behind the church on Monday afternoons. Any questions, please call Peg at 860.841.9137

Are you an “in-ie” or an “out-ie”? No, I am not talking about your belly button

Do you remember the scene in Mark’s Gospel where Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived as Jesus was seated in a circle, surrounded by his disciples? When he was made aware that they were outside, he remarked, ”Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle [inside the house] he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”1

Once again I ask, “Are you an ‘in-ie’ or an ‘out-ie’?”