Moving on Up!

Congrats and thanks to our "grads" from the children's choir, recognized at today's 9:00 AM Mass, who will be joining our 5PM Youth Choir! We are so blessed in this parish with the music ministries here. Our young people are a big part of the great music we sing along with in praise to God!

CATHOLIC HEART WORKCAMP 2009

We travel to Catholic Heart Workcamp in Groton, MA on Sunday, July 5th and return Friday, July 10th. Twenty one teens and four adults will share their faith through service to our neighbors in Lawrence and Lowell. Please keep our group in your prayers as we prepare ourselves for this exciting journey.  For more information on Catholic Heart Workcamp visit their website.  Or contact Scott Morin.

-SM

June 20th Car Wash Postponed

We are sorry to say that the Car Wash scheduled for Saturday, June 20th has been postponed due to the weather reports for the weekend.  We will reschedule, so keep watching for updates.

Picnic Pics

We had a ton of fun at the I.C. Parish Picnic... and stayed dry to boot. Hope you were there for the festivities- we took the first of (hopefully!) many yearly large group parish photos! We'll have that here for you to get a look at but in the meantime, click here for a view of the fun that day!

Baptism Day at I.C.

Congratulations to Isabella, Jacoby, Caleb, Francesca, Joseph and Brielle!

Parish Picnic TODAY - Rain or Shine!

Our Parish Picnic is TODAY - Sunday, June 14th from 12:00 PM- 3:00 PM. We'll have great food, fun games, good friends, happy times, and a bouncy house! What more could any Catholic ask for? 

Tickets are on sale at the Picnic (only $3.00 per, or $10.00 for a whole family) from the Knights of Columbus representatives.

The picnics at I.C. are always a lot of fun, come on down (or up) and check it out, rain or shine!

Hope to see you there!

-SM

Prayer In New Places

Paul told his followers (and thereby, us) to "pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17)." That sounds like kind of a tall order, doesn't it? In fact, it's been bothering me, that encouragement from Paul, for years- since I first read it. Pray unceasingly? Who can do that, outside of people cloistered in monasteries? (And for goodness sake, even there... seems impossible to me.)
But although so far I haven't figured out how to pray unceasingly, I have been inspired to look for more places in my day that I can get in touch with God. Lately I've been doing this new practice that has really made a difference in my daily prayer life.
Have you heard that to get your hands really clean, you're supposed to wash them for as long as it takes to sing the Happy Birthday song twice? It's a trick that kids are taught nowadays to help them know how long it takes to get really clean.
I've commandeered this idea, and now when I wash my hands periodically through the day, I say the Hail Mary. But to make it really prayerful, I pray for a specific intention, usually a person I know in need of prayer. To make the prayer personal, I add the name of the person to it: "Holy Mary,Mother of God, pray for Scott, now and at the hour of his death."
I am really loving this new practice of prayer, and am grateful to take advantage of the opportunity to pray for the people in my life throughout my day, something I had trouble scheduling in, in the past.
When do you pray? What opportunities do you take throughout the day to connect with God?
-MM