THE WEEKLY MISSIVE

February 20, 2026

We are the Body of Christ

Dear Friends,

As we begin Lent, we are reminded of the 3 key aspects of the season: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. 

Two Sundays ago, our Paulist Center families embodied what almsgiving means: by sharing time, talents, and compassion with those in need.

Over a hundred community members came together to create 400 hygiene kits for our immigrant and migrant brothers and sisters in Catholic Charities programs. 

This group of K-12 students and their families assembled, boxed up, and labeled these kits in under an hour! 

I mean, really, this group should assemble cars, or space shuttles, or something! 

The efficiency, energy, kindness, and passion of these Catholic Christians, being the hands and feet of Jesus, was breathtaking.

A friend who was at the PC for the first time, witnessing this activity, said, "This is what Church should be about."  

Our families are not only incredibly devoted to being true Partners in Faith in their children's religious education, but they truly walk the walk when it comes to putting their faith into action.

As part of our religious education curriculum, all children and families participate in an annual service project, working together to reinforce the idea that we recognize the dignity of all people because they are created in the image of God, and that God calls us to treat each other as brothers and sisters. 

These children are, indeed, young disciples in training. (Our kindergarteners and first graders put toothbrushes in bags like nobody's business!)

I am also so impressed by our teens who spent their Saturday afternoon here setting up this massive endeavor. 



I am so grateful for our teachers Kathleen, Chloe, Brigid, Meg, Joan, Gretchen, Grace, and Rick, who give of their time and talent every Sunday to share their faith with the youngest members of the community.

Thank you, Brigid Byrne Rowlings, for organizing this incredible learning experience.

Together, we are the Body of Christ!



Please see the missive below for information on all upcoming Lenten programs and other happenings at the Paulist Center.

Susan, on behalf of the Paulist Center Staff

Alvaro, Barbara, Deb, Dorothy, Gus, Liz, Norm, Fr. Rick, Rob, Sal, Susan, and Timmy

In This Week's Bulletin

• Lenten Faith Sharing Groups
• Prayer and Action - Economic Justice for All
• Prayer and Action - Spotlight on Migration
• No FREP - 2/22
• Next 1st Communion Gathering
• Black History Month

• Worship Matters
• Paulist Center Auction
• Parent/Godparent prep for infant/child baptism
• Greener Lent
• Prayer Amid Resistance - A Lenten Saturday
• Stewardship/Community Gift

Lenten Faith Sharing Groups:

Please join us for this prayerful, community-building opportunity as we again convene small faith sharing groups for five sessions between Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday.

We will use the Ignatian Solidarity Network’s Lenten series, 

Stubborn Hope, which provides daily reflections to “nourish our faith to build a more just world.”

Groups will meet weekly at the Center, or via Zoom, as detailed below.

To register for a group, or for questions, email smallgroups@paulistcenter.org.

Saturdays (February 21 - March 21)

In Person 3:15 - 4:45 p.m.  

Facilitator: Barbara Lapinskas

Young Adult Ministry: Sundays (February 22 - March 22)

In Person 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.

Facilitator:  Gus Kellerman

Mondays (February 23 - March 23)

Via Zoom 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.  

Facilitator: Mary Sullivan/Lev White

Thursdays (February 26 - March 26)

Via Zoom 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.

Facilitator: Jonathan Yu-Phelps

Participants will sign up with ISN to receive brief daily written and audio reflections via email, featuring a wide range of contributors.

(There is no charge for the series.) 

Visit Stubborn Hope or scan this code to learn more and to receive the reflections. We hope you will join us!

Prayer and Action In Troubled Times:

this Sun, Feb 22

Joim us to hear about the encyclical, Economic Justice for All, a pastoral letter by US Catholic Bishops applying Church teaching to the economy, emphasizing that moral principles

- not just market forces - must guide economic life.

Raúl E. Zegarra, a community member and Assistant Professor of Roman Catholic Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School, will lead the sessions.  

This Sun, Feb 22 at 7pm in the 3^rd Fl Library.  

Pizza will be served.

Protecting Human Dignity

in Prayer and Action -

Spotlight on Migration

Tuesdays in Lent on Zoom:

All that we do in the service of justice is a form of prayer. Whether we march, accompany our neighbors, organize, attend training, write letters to our legislators, carry banners, speak out, or witness – all these activities are prayer in action, where we do this to make real God’s call for justice and mercy.

Join us for six Tuesdays in Lent for Zoom Prayer in Action at 7:30 PM, starting February 24 through March 31.

We’ll start with a prayer and then hear what others have been doing, receive training in non-violent protest, and meet partners for justice activities.

Zoom link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/_O5o0KuEQ9C5aoR1BfJ2mw

Family Religious Education Program (FREP)

There are NO Religious Education Classes this Sunday, February 22 due to school vacation. 

Classes resume March 1. 

First Communion Gathering - March 1

The next First Communion gathering is

Sun, March 1 in the auditorium from 11:15am to 12:30pm. Please email Susan Rutkowski, 

susan@paulistcenter.org, with any questions.

Happy 100^th Birthday,

Black History Month!

2026 marks a milestone in the United States.

The 100^th anniversary of federal recognition for Black Americans.

Our Racial Justice Group will share a poem from a Black artist each week this month.

This week we celebrate Maya Angelou.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

The Creation Care Ministry invites You To -

Join us for a Greener Lent



Again, this year, the Creation Care ministry invites you to direct your traditional Lenten practices of Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving toward Care of Creation and the Poor, with Greener Lent, a

Laudato Si'-inspired Lenten program.

Last year more than 20 Paulist Center members joined almost 400 people nationwide committing to:

PRAY - for the poor most affected by the climate crisis,

FAST - choosing one of several options to sacrificially eat more sustainably, and

CONTRIBUTE - any amount (perhaps money saved by eating less beef) to the building of life-giving water wells in two dioceses in sub-Saharan Africa.

Signing up takes only a few minutes; you provide your name, choose how you want to fast, and select Paulist Center as your parish. 

Participants receive periodic reports on how much carbon footprint has been reduced.

Sign up and learn more at greenerlent.org 

(Note: Scroll down to sign up.)

43^rd Annual Paulist Center Auction

Set Sail Together: A Mediterranean Journey

Saturday, May 2 - 6:15pm

Step aboard and set sail on an unforgettable evening inspired by the beauty and romance of the Mediterranean!

We hope you’ll join us for the Paulist Center’s largest annual fundraiser in support of our ministries and operations.

You can help make our Auction a winds-at-our-back triumph!

If you can assist by donating an item, sponsoring, or volunteering your time, please see our 2026 Auction Page.



Please contact Auction Co-chairs Maggie Keefe or Jordan Johnson with any questions or ideas at Auction@PaulistCenter.org.

Parent Preparation for Infant/Child Baptism

The Paulist Center offers an infant/child baptism preparation session for expecting parents and prospective Godparents.

The next session is on Saturday, March 14 from 10am - 12pm

in the 3^rd Fl Library/Chapel.

To register for the session, please contact Fr. Rick at rick@paulistcenter.org

A Lenten Saturday:

Prayer Amidst Resistance

in Troubled Times

March 21, 9am - 2pm, the Paulist Center

These months are propelling some to activism, prayer, or a stunned and frozen state - sometimes all in the same day.

Join us for pause and prayer that's: A time to look inward and bear witness to one another's experiences. An opportunity to share how you're called to meet the moment. A time to embrace Lent as we point towards hope together.

$20 donation - if you are able - to cover lunch. 

Please bring something to share for a morning treat. We'll have coffee and tea available.

Community members Emily Spicer Hankle and Sonia Caus Gleason will facilitate. 

Contact sonia@soniacausgleason.org with questions. 

Please click this link to register: https://forms.gle/CJvLnzX6Ye1FraEV6

Pastoral Planning Community Meetings

The Pastoral Planning Committee will be offering community meetings on Sunday, March 8 and Wednesday, March 11 to review the first draft of a pastoral plan. 

The committee and staff have worked with Jonathan Lewis, the Mission Strategy Officer of the Paulist Fathers, to compile the information gathered in the fall from the community and draft a plan for the next few years.

We will hold an in-person session after both the 10am and 6pm Masses on Sunday March 8 and an evening Zoom session on Wednesday, March 11.

More information will be provided next week. 

WORSHIP MATTERS

February 22, 2026, Issue #18

LITURGICAL YEAR:

Lent - A Season of Return

By the year 330, the early Church had already embraced a forty-day Lenten season — a sacred period set aside to prepare hearts for the mystery of Easter. From its earliest beginnings, Lent has never been merely about sacrifice or deprivation. Beyond being a time of purification and preparation for those entering the Church through Baptism, it is a season to renew our commitment to living the Resurrection of Jesus in our own time and place.

Considered the three pillars of Lent, the practices of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving are spiritual disciplines that, at their heart, are about relationship — our relationship with God, with ourselves, and with others. Through prayer, we open ourselves to the many ways God is revealed in each moment and encounter. Through fasting, we become more aware of how easily we are driven by distractions and impulses — whether from screens, societal pressures, or personal expectations. Fasting reminds us of our innate capacity to choose. It empowers us to step away from automatic responses and make conscious decisions about our actions and habits. Through almsgiving, or acts of generosity, we recognize our connectedness to others and become more sensitive to their needs, especially those who are marginalized or forgotten.

Across these six weeks, grounded in the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we are also invited to slow down and look inward — to examine our hearts and to ask again who this Jesus is, and what his life, death, and resurrection truly mean for our lives today.

It is a time of re-cognition, or re-knowing — to, in the words of Richard Rohr, “return to the Garden, where our true Center lies in the life of God.” It is a time to discover anew that before fear, before our endless striving for control, before believing we were not enough, we were created whole and free. Lent invites us to rediscover that original blessing — to trust that our identity begins not in failure, but in love.

It is a season of remembrance — or more deeply, re-membering: reconnecting heart and mind to the way of Jesus. To follow him is to “do this in memory of me” — to wash the feet of others, to love without counting the cost, and to recognize that blessedness is found in humility, compassion, and our shared belonging with all creation.

And Lent calls us to awaken: to resist the relentless prodding of the egoic mind and rest in the ever-present power of the Spirit. It is a process of conversion, lived out through daily practice: attentive to God’s presence in this breath, in this moment, and in this encounter.

Lent gently reminds us that renewal begins not by striving harder, but by returning home — to God, to ourselves, and to one another.

Singing Resistance Community Sing-Along

Sunday, March 1, 2-4pm

SEIU 32BJ Union Hall

26 West St in Downtown Crossing



The Minneapolis singing resistance has been rising to Stop ICE, and all across the country the resistance will be singing during the weekend of Feb 28/Mar 1. 

Join BVOCAL (Boston Voices of Community and Labor) and Boston Area Singing Circles, along with other local song leaders, to learn the songs in community and get inspired to take action through song.

For more information, go to bvocalchorus.org.

Come Celebrate with Us!

We hope to see you at Mass in person, but if you can't make it through the big red doors,

we welcome you to join us online:

Remember: all of our live streams are available in real time on our YouTube channel & available there afterwards as recordings.

Ongoing Opportunities/Needs & Notes



The most comprehensive listing of what's going on at the

Paulist Center is in the bulletin. Check it out!

• Encouragement to sustain our vibrant liturgies and our mission of healing, reconciliation, & justice through your financial investment in the Paulist Center. We prefer that you donate electronically through our website, but you can also use Apple Pay or Google Pay to donate via DonorBox if you do not require an annual tax donation statement. More info in the bulletin.

• The Community Gift the weekend of February 21 - 22 is Catholic Relief Services in their mission to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas.

• Young adults (ages 18-39), whether or not Catholic, are welcome to schedule a one-on-one conversation with our Young Adult Minister, Gus Kellerman.

How can the Paulist Center Community accompany you on your faith journey?

• Our Rosary Circle meets 7:30pm via Zoom on Mondays.

ID: 487 503 158; passcode: 021078. 

Submit a prayer request.

• Mass Cards - Please stop by the Front Office during the week, email Sal Whooley at sal@paulistcenter.org, or call 617-742-4460, if you would like to arrange for a Mass and/or purchase a Mass card:
• in memory of someone who has died, 
• in honor of a special occasion, 
• or for the special intentions of yourself or a loved one.

Attentive to the Holy Spirit and nourished by vibrant liturgy, we are a Catholic community that welcomes all, fosters healing and reconciliation, and acts for justice.