Dear Friends in Christ,
Here are a few updates from the parish for the week of February 7, 2021.
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1) National Marriage Week: Each year, National Marriage Week USA and World Marriage Day provide an opportunity for the Catholic Church to focus on building a culture of life and love that begins with supporting and promoting marriage and the family. This year, National Marriage Week USA will be celebrated February 7-14 and World Marriage Day which is commemorated on the second Sunday of February will be celebrated on Sunday, February 14.
The theme for this year’s celebration of National Marriage Week, “To Have, To Hold, To Honor,” was announced by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth. The theme was chosen to highlight how married couples live and renew their wedding promises daily in the building up of the domestic Church in their homes, particularly as many couples and families have spent more time at home together this year.
Each year, many resources are made available to celebrate National Marriage Week. A seven-day at-home retreat has been created. The retreat features reflections on aspects of married life rooted in Sacred Scripture and the promises couples made to each other before God on their wedding day. The retreat, which runs from Feb. 7-14, offers married couples an opportunity to pray and reflect about their marriage in God’s plan. To download the retreat reflection guide, click on the following button.
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2) National Marriage Week Live-Streamed Events on Facebook:
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Pray a rosary for married couples and families with us! The rosary will be led by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, the head of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, and live-streamed on Wednesday, February 10, at 2:00 pm ET on the For Your Marriage Facebook Page.
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Conversation on Fatherhood and Spousal Love – Tune in again on Facebook on Friday, February 12, at 2:00 pm ET for a live-streamed discussion between the associate director for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations, Fr. Daniel Hanley, and the director of Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, Mr. Dominic Lombardi as they discuss their reflections on fatherhood and spousal love looking to Saint Joseph as their example.
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3) Retrouvaille: HELP for Troubles Marriages: Retrouvaille is a program for couples with marital problems that want marriage help. Those who are considering marriage separation and those who are already separated or divorced are encouraged to consider the Retrouvaille Program. There is always hope of reviving your relationship.
Some couples come to Retrouvaille during the initial signs of a marriage problem. Other couples are in a state of despair and hopelessness when they attend the program.
Many lawyers and judges send couples to Retrouvaille as a prerequisite to filing for a divorce or rendering final decisions. Many marriage counselors and family therapists send their clients to Retrouvaille as a prerequisite to counseling. These professionals know that the tools of communication in marriage taught in the program are often what couples need.
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4) Holy Hour This Week: Please consider joining us for Holy Hour this Thursday (also live-streamed) at 7 PM. This week's Holy Hour will be silent (there will be no music).
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5) This Sunday's Readings - Sunday February 7, 2021
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6) Grow+Go for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time:
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Grow+Go, content is designed to help you understand what it means to be an evangelizing disciple of Christ. Using the Sunday Scriptures as the basis for reflection, Grow+Go offers insight into how we can all more fully GROW as disciples and then GO evangelize, fulfilling Christ's Great Commission to "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19) The concept behind the weekly series is to make discipleship and evangelization simple, concrete, and relatable. Look for Grow+Go in our weekly emails. |
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7) Sunday Reflection by Jeff Cavins: |
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In this weeks' Encountering the Word video for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jeff Cavins shows the difference between the world's version of good news and God's version of good news. |
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8) Giving to SJA: I'm truly grateful for all of your support of SJA during this pandemic. Your support means so much. The increase in electronic giving has been tremendous. Giving electronically, whether on a one-time or recurring basis is pretty simple. For more information on online giving, please click on the following button.
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9) This week's edition of TALLer Tales:
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You call that food? As my sisters and I were helping our parents during their time in the hospital and rehab center, they both went through a period where they couldn’t or wouldn’t eat solid foods. My Mom’s situation was that she couldn’t eat solid foods because of some soars that developed in her mouth from all the medications she was taking. My Dad’s situation was that he wouldn’t eat or drink most things. It became a challenge to figure out how we would get him to drink more fluids and get him nutrition since he didn’t want to eat most of the foods they were giving him. Our first solution was to get chocolate and vanilla Ensure. So, I dutifully went to Kroger and bought a bunch of Ensure. When I got to Kroger that day, I was amazed to find the variety of Ensure flavors and types. I stuck to the standard vanilla and chocolate. Being convinced this was going to be THE solution for both of them, I bought a bunch of it. Given all the restrictions, I couldn’t just walk into the rehab center and deliver my “goodies” to their rooms as I have always done for my Mom in the past. Instead, I had to drop it off at the front desk and then wait several hours for the stuff to be delivered to their room. So, for a couple of days, I could be found dropping off several Ensure bottles for each of them.
It then became apparent my Dad wasn’t an Ensure enthusiast. After discussing this with a family friend who’s a nurse, she suggested we switch to Ensure Clear. So, I dutifully went back to Kroger and found that, yes, indeed, there was clear Ensure and quite a variety of it too. Being convinced this was now going to be THE solution for our parents, I bought much more than I needed. Much like what happened with the normal Ensure, I played the game and dropped off several bottles of Ensure Clear for each of them for a couple of days. Well, it then became apparent my Dad wasn’t going to be an Ensure Clear enthusiast either. Mom was a willing participant because she was hungry and couldn’t eat solid foods. My Dad, however, didn’t want to eat or drink much at all.
As we discussed solutions, someone suggested we get baby food. So, I dutifully made the trek to Kroger again. After I found the baby food aisle, I became somewhat paralyzed trying to figure out what they would like given the wide variety of baby food I now found myself staring at. I was amazed the baby food aisle stretched almost a whole aisle! As I was perusing the baby food, I kept glancing to my right and left to make sure no one was starring me down. It was one thing to walk out of Kroger with Ensure. It was quite another to be caught with a bunch of baby food in my cart. What would people think? When you’re a public figure and run into people in the stores, what’s in your cart is noticed. I then decided the little baby food jars weren’t going to work. Those jars would require my Mom’s help to feed my Dad, and it would mean they needed spoons or something to get the food out of those little jars (seriously, could those jars be any smaller). I then zeroed in on what I could best describe as squirt pouches. They had a screw top, and you could squeeze the pureed food into your mouth (think of it as a wide toothpaste tube). So, being convinced this was now going to be THE solution for our parents, I bought a dozen of these Gerber products in a variety of flavors and foods. I got some vegetables and rice mixtures and then different berry and yogurt varieties. I delivered the goods and hoped they would enjoy it.
Unfortunately, my Dad didn’t live long enough to try the baby food. I think my Mom tried one of the pouches, but this was all around the time my Dad died, so we never talked about it anymore. Once we “kidnapped” my Mom and brought her to the condo, all of the leftover Ensure and baby food stockpiled in their rehab room made its way back to the condo. Thankfully, it was cold outside because we put a 6-foot table in the garage just to place all the food that was appearing each day. Since I couldn’t help but notice the CHOCOLATE Ensure sitting on the table, I decided to give one a try. Mikey liked it. It wasn’t so bad. On another pass (and another meal), I opened a vanilla Ensure. Mikey liked it. It wasn’t so bad. Since I was on a roll, I eventually tried the Ensure Clear. I didn’t mind that one either. Truth be told, I was doing all this Ensure consumption secretly because I’m sure my family would have had plenty to say about me drinking that stuff.
Then came the ultimate test. One of the Gerber baby food pouches found its way into my house. Seeing it one day, I thought I would give it a try. It was a berry yogurt, and I figured it would be no different than eating, well, berry yogurt. After unscrewing the cap, I squirted a bunch of it into my mouth. Now, let me tell you this. Have you tried baby food lately? I did what I see most babies do when forced to eat that stuff. I found myself spitting it out. IT. WAS. AWFUL. Seriously, how could you mess up on something like berry yogurt? I could see if it was a pureed apple berry spinach, but this was a berry yogurt! Ugh. I won’t be buying baby food again! But then again, that’s probably a good thing! Could you imagine what people would be thinking if they kept catching me with baby food in my cart!
Ash Wednesday: I don’t know how this happened, but Ash Wednesday is only a week and a half away. Before you know it, Christmas will be around the corner! Ash Wednesday will look very different for us this year. Given all the COVID precautions, several traditions we’ve become accustomed to on Ash Wednesday will change.
First, our public masses that day will be at 7 AM, Noon, and 7 PM. The celebration of Mass will include the distribution of ashes. All of our Masses will be live-streamed.
Second, many will remember that in the past we’ve opened the Church for private prayer and reflection throughout the day with opportunities for people to receive ashes from a priest or deacon. This year, the Church will be opened only after the Noon Mass until the 7 PM Mass. There will be NO DISTRIBUTION of ashes during this time. We will have handouts with the readings of the day and prayers for you to recite. The handout and resources will also be made available electronically and emailed, and made available on the home page of our parish website.
Third, the distribution of ashes will look much different this year. We are one of the few countries in the world where ashes are imposed on the faithful’s forehead in the form of a cross. In most places around the world, ashes are sprinkled on the crown of the faithful’s head. This is how ashes will be distributed at SJA this year. I’ll share more about Ash Wednesday and the Season of Lent in my article next week.
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Enjoy the week. Know of my prayers.
In Christ,
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10) Tire Tracks in the d’Arc |
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When the Heart Speaks: Last week I went down to the monastery of St. Bonaventure and the Solanus Casey Center. I go there pretty frequently for confession and to spend some quiet time in prayer. It’s such a beautiful place to spend an hour or so, in the very place Blessed Fr. Solanus lived and worked. But something was different there last week. I noticed it, quite unexpectedly, as soon as I walked in the door, the sense of peace there was thick and tangible in the air. I’ve been there many, many times before and never experienced something like that there, even though it’s always a peaceful place to go. I just instantly had the thought “oh, Father Solanus is in his house today.” You see the brothers walking around the facility all the time, and I could picture Fr. Solanus walking around too, greeting the visitors.
It was about 10am. I walked over to the line for confession, but there was no-one in line. The door was open and so I walked right in with no waiting. It was unusually quiet in the building that day with very few people around. After confession, I walked over to the tomb of Blessed Solanus to pray there for a moment. I had taken with me that morning intentions for the grandfather of a friend, a 103 year old man who had been diagnosed with Covid-19 and pneumonia. This gentleman had not had an easy life and had expressed a readiness to meet the Lord. As I prayed there for Fr. Solanus’ intercession, the word just came out. I called Blessed Solanus, “Father.” I’ve never called him that before. I know he was a priest and I have called him, “Fr. Solanus” or “Blessed Solanus,” or “Blessed Fr. Solanus,” almost as though that was all just his name. But that day, he was just “Father.” He was my priest and I wanted to ask for his prayers.
I moved on and went to sit in the chapel to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. Again, it was so quiet and I just knew Fr. Solanus was there. I found it really quite moving. I thought of all the people who had come to see him and talk with him and ask for his prayers. Today, I was one of them. I knew he was hearing me and I found that very consoling. I just knew in that moment that my friend’s grandfather would be okay. At this moment, writing this, he is still struggling, and his family, including his 78-year-old daughter were able to Zoom call with him so he could at least hear their voices. God may not grant him much more time in this world, but the sense I had on that day that he would “be okay” was not tied to him living or passing away. Fr. Solanus would not tell people they would live if he knew they would not. His concern was their spiritual well-being more than their physical health. The sense I had was simply that this man would soon have peace.
As I left the Monastery, I had to call my friend and tell her of my experience. When you experience God’s consolation, share it!
The second consolation was that on the drive home, I drove by On the Rise Bakery and noticed it had re-opened after its Covid closure. God is good!
In these stressful and worrisome days of the pandemic, it’s so important as Christians that we pay attention to the consolations of the heart. They are one way in which God makes his presence known to us—a sign of his constant presence among us and his active engagement and involvement in our lives.
I recall a First Communion mass and an often mischievous 8 year-old boy receiving the Eucharist for the first time. He came back to his pew with watery eyes and told the Catechist, “I have happy tears!” From the mouths of babes, that’s a consolation of the heart.
I had a conversation with someone this week who said they’ve never heard God’s voice, but have heard other people saying that they hear God talk to them. He wondered if he was “praying right.” Then he told me that whenever he prays the Act of Contrition it makes him cry. I said, “don’t you think that’s God speaking to you?...that God is showing you the love that you have of Him, a love that deeply affects you because you want so much to please Him?” If God means little to us, then the heart is not stirred like that at the thought of our own sin. But when the thought of having offended God moves our hearts, when the realization that confession has restored a relationship that means so much to us that it brings us to tears, God is very much speaking to us. That’s a consolation of the heart.
During this time of pandemic, we are all aware of the frustrations of the heart, the many things we wish were different. But where are you finding God in all this? Are you remembering to look and to listen for Him? In a few days we shall begin another Lenten season, but many of us may feel we have been living through Lent for almost a year now, out in the wilderness, cut-off from family and friends, unable to engage in our normal social practices, even cut-off from our ordinary practice of our faith. Last year I referred to Lent as being “the most Lenty Lent” we had ever had. Think of it as a window into the life of St. Benedict the Moor, a Franciscan Monk of the 1500s. He chose to observe 7 Lents every year throughout his life, for a total of 280 days a year spent in fasting and repentance.
Our task as faithful disciples is to find God in and amongst the challenges of this pandemic. Our normal routines have been interrupted, but our call to be disciples should still be loud and clear, maybe all the more so because of the challenges. Our communities need modern-day saints who are willing and prepared to step-out from the background and into wherever they find the need to serve.
Last March, a 99-year-old WWII veteran by the name of Captain Tom Moore captured the affection of people in the UK. He wanted to do what he could to help the front-line health workers, so he decided that, with his walker, he would do 80ft laps of his backyard. He hoped to complete 100 laps by his 100th birthday that April. He hoped he could raise $1,200 in sponsorship money. By the time “Capt. Tom,” as he affectionately become known, celebrated his 100th birthday, his effort had amassed $45 million, garnered a number one hit record, and the Queen had awarded him a Knighthood and promoted him to the honorary rank of Colonel.
That simple act of charity caught the attention of the public. It’s the simple acts of charity that are so much in need in our world. But think locally first. How can you share your gifts with others? What may be the most simple of acts to you can make a huge difference to someone else.
Share your gifts, share your talents, but most of all, encourage one another by sharing your faith and the ways God has spoken to you this week, this month, this year. It could make an amazing difference to someone who needs to hear it just now.
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You are in my prayers this week!
Fr. Andrew
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11) Words on the Word: February 7, 2021 – Get the Lead Out
Just in case a quick list might be helpful for reference purposes:
2020 brought us the global coronavirus pandemic, civic protests and violence, a bitter election season, a deep recession, killer bees, record-setting hurricanes, wildfires … and even the inability to enjoy evenings out or family get-togethers.
And 2021 started with a continuation of the pandemic, more civic protests and violence, and, as we saw in recent headlines, a report, covered in local media, showing elevated lead levels at eight sites in St. Clair Shores.
“Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery?” Job cries out in today’s first reading from the book of Job.
“I have been assigned months of misery, and troubled nights have been allotted to me… Remember my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again.”
In comparison to the tribulations faced by Job, perhaps our problems are minor. But we could hardly be blamed if we didn’t feel like that at times, especially as the bad news accumulates.
The story about the lead problem goes on to note that it impacts less than 3 percent of the city’s residents, which may be some consolation … unless, of course, you happen to be among them.
Regardless, whether it’s lead, extreme weather, politics, COVID or any of the other challenges of the day, it might be helpful to keep in mind that God hasn’t abandoned us any more than he abandoned Job all those centuries ago.
He has our back. He holds us in the palm of his hand. Brighter days are surly ahead.
“Praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted,” we say in today’s responsorial psalm. “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He tells the number of the stars; he calls each by name.”
© 2021, Words on the Word
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12) The Chosen: The Chosen is the first-ever-multi-season TV show about the life of Jesus. Created outside of the Hollywood system, The Chosen allows us to see Him through the eyes of those who knew him.
The series is incredibly done and I have been mesmerized by each episode I have watched.
Below is the series official trailer. If you are interested in being part of the watch party and discussion group, please click on the watch party flyer below.
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13) New Podcast From Fr. Mike Schmitz, featuring Jeff Cavins: The Bible In A Year:
If you’ve struggled to read the Bible, this podcast is for you.
Ascension’s Bible in a Year Podcast, hosted by Fr. Mike Schmitz and featuring Jeff Cavins, guides Catholics through the Bible in 365 daily episodes starting January 1st, 2021.
Each 20-25 minute episode includes:
- two to three scripture readings
- a reflection from Fr. Mike Schmitz
- and guided prayer to help you hear God’s voice in his Word.
Unlike any other Bible podcast, Ascension’s Bible in a Year Podcast for Catholics follows a reading plan inspired by the Great Adventure Bible Timeline® learning system, a groundbreaking approach to understanding Salvation History developed by renowned Catholic Bible teacher Jeff Cavins.
Tune in and live your daily life through the lens of God’s word!
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This week's LIVE Stream
Schedule at St. Joan of Arc:
Monday (February 8):
7 AM - Mass
Tuesday (February 9):
7 AM - Mass
8:30 AM - School Mass (Grades 5-8)
Wednesday (February 10):
7 AM - Mass
8:30 AM - School Mass (Grades 1-4)
Thursday (February 11):
7 AM - Mass
7 PM - Holy Hour (Silent)
Friday (February 12):
7 AM - Mass
Saturday (February 13):
2 PM - Baptism of Charles Roa
4 PM - Mass
6 PM - Mass
Sunday (February 14):
8 AM - Mass
10 AM - Baptism of Penelope Rutkowski
12 Noon - Mass
Please note that all of our masses and events can be accessed through the ARCHIVE section of our Live stream page if you are not able to watch it live!
We also have our own ROKU Channel. Search for "CATHOLIC" in the ROKU channel store, and you will find SJA's channel. A Fire TV Channel is also available.
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Click on the image below
to download a copy of our
Bulletin for Sunday, February 7, 2021
The Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Weekly bulletin: Sending the bulletin has been greatly received by so many people. IF you are getting the bulletin online and would prefer that it not be mailed to your home, please click on the button below to be removed from the mailing list.
At the same time, if you are NOT getting the bulletin and would prefer to get it, click on the same button and ask to be ADDED to the list.
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Read the latest from the DETROIT CATHOLIC
Click on the image below.
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