Week of November 17, 2024

1) SJA Giving Tree Project 2024

The “Giving Tree Project” is a special charitable project designed to match our parishioners’ generosity with our community’s needs during the Christmas holidays. The project serves 100% local individuals who may not otherwise receive a gift at this special time of the year. This year, we have also taken on additional charitable organizations that focus solely on gifting children’s toys. In addition to our gift cards and online giving, we will have boards in the Gathering Space with tags for toys to be purchased.

HOW IT WORKS:

PURCHASE GIFT CARD(S): 

The Giving Tree will accept gift cards again this year. This decision makes it safer and easier for our parishioners to participate. It also makes the program more flexible for our charity agencies.

Buy plastic* gift card(s) valued from $15-30 (per card). You may purchase more than one, but please make sure limits fall within per-card limits of $15-$30.

* tangible gift cards, please, no electronic vouchers. Please ensure the cards have been activated by the retailer that issued them.

STORES ACCEPTED: Meijer, Walmart, and Target

WHERE TO BUY: At the named retailer, most drug & grocery stores, or online.

LET US PURCHASE THE GIFT CARDS FOR YOU: You may donate again this year via our online giving platform by clicking the button below and indicating the amount you want to donate. We will take care of the rest.

PURCHASE TOY(S):

New this year, there are 100 gift tags for toys on boards in the Gathering Space. They are specific to the age and gender of the child. Please bring the purchased toys unwrapped and place them in the red bins with the tag attached. Gifts can also be brought to the Parish Center.

DEADLINE for all donations: Monday, December 9, 2024

Bring your marked envelope(s) to the Parish Center Office during office hours or place it in the locked collection boxes in the Sr. Carol Center or the Parish Center Lobby.

2) Living Rosary

3) High School Youth Group

4) High School Information Night

5) Ascension's Bible and Catechism App

It's Here: The Bible & Catechism App!

The word of God and the complete teachings of the Catholic Church. Answers and commentary by Fr. Mike Schmitz, Jeff Cavins, and other experts. Video, audio, and textual commentary. Right on your phone.

6) Holy Hour on Thursdays

7) This Sunday's Readings: November 17, 2024 - the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

8) Sunday Reflections by Jeff Cavins

“Preparing for the End Times”

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

In this week’s Encountering the Word video, Jeff Cavins reflects on the readings for the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time. The readings are:

First Reading: Daniel 12:1-3

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 16:5, 8, 9-10, 11

Second Reading: Hebrews 10:11-14, 18

Alleluia: Luke 21:36

Gospel: Mark 13:24-32

9) Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon

A New World Unveiled

Friends, we’re coming toward the end of the liturgical year, and as is typical, the Church gives us readings of an apocalyptic nature dealing with the end times. “Apocalypse” means “unveiling,” and what’s being unveiled in our readings is the emergence of a new world—not so much in the literal, cosmic sense as in the sense of how we navigate and understand the world. Something has fallen apart; the old world has given way. 

10) Grow+Go

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.

Click the button or image below to download a PDF copy of this Sunday's Grow+Go.

11) Giving to SJA:

I'm truly grateful for your support of SJA. 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.

12) TALLer Tales

Traveling with Ms. Daisy (Part 9): This is a continuation of my travelogue about my journey with “Ms. Daisy” (aka my mom) on our Eastern Seaboard Journey on board the Viking Mars.

Our final day had to be timed out to the second because we had to sandwich in the helicopter ride between disembarking at 8:30 a.m. and leaving for JFK Airport at 12:30 p.m. Four hours is a lot of time in my book, but I had to worry about delays, traffic, motorcades, and air traffic. But, no matter what, this helicopter ride was going to happen for my mom because it was her ultimate bucket list item for the trip.

Once we got on our bus, we had about a 30-minute ride to where we would be dropped off at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Lower Manhattan, which was in the heart of Wall Street. Thankfully, the heliport was only a mile away. Once our bus was parked, we were instructed that we had to be back on the bus no later than 12:30 p.m. because we then had an hour’s drive to JFK airport. There were about 30 people on our bus, and all of our luggage would stay on the bus while we “wasted” time walking around Wall Street. There would be no wasting time with us as we had other plans … the helicopter ride! The helicopter ride was set for 11:30 a.m. Based on my precise timetable, I had no room for delays, motorcades, or restricted airspace. At this point, I was super focused on huffing it to the heliport as fast as I could once we got off the bus. 

Thankfully, we made it to the heliport at 10:30 a.m. I breathed a sigh of relief because I had hoped we could get up in the air, do our tour, and get back on the ground so we could enjoy a leisurely stroll back to the bus. The helicopter ride was only going to be 15 minutes because the airspace was still somewhat restricted. We couldn’t fly over much of Manhattan because of the UN Meeting, but we could still get in a tour of the harbor. At first, they didn’t have us on their list, which caused a bit of frustration, but after a few phone calls and desperate looks from me at the ticket counter (at this point, I left like Kate McCallister in the Scranton Airport ticket counter scene in the Home Alone), they were able to confirm that my mom and I were indeed scheduled for the 11:30 a.m. ride. After filling out all the paperwork and wavers at the ticket counter, the guy told us we had to step on the scale. WHAT? SCALE? My mom stepped on it first. Then I stepped on the scale. The guy looked at me and said, “You’re overweight… by five pounds.” I was stunned. I looked at him, then at my mom, and said, “NOW WHAT?” The guy behind the counter said, “Well, we have very strict weight limits, and even though you are only five pounds over, we can’t just let it slide. The FAA and TSA are here today, so everything is by the books today.” But that didn’t answer my question. “What does that mean for me,” I asked. The guy said, “Well, you’ll have to buy another ticket.” “WHAT? Can’t I take my shoes and belt off and call it a day.” My mom looked at me, and I looked at her, and she asked, “So what are we going to do?” With a very “calm” and reassuring voice, I said, “WE ARE GOING ON THIS HELICOPTER RIDE. We’ve come this far, and we aren’t turning back. I don’t care how much it cost.” “Yeah, but how much is this going to cost me,” my mom said to the ticket counter guy and me. He did some quick calculations and added a child’s ticket to our reservation. I was mortified. I knew I needed to lose weight, but now I had to pay twice … or at least an adult and a child’s ticket to make this happen. At this point, I just pulled out my credit card, tapped, and paid. We didn’t have any time to haggle this one out.

We then waited to go through security and eventually got ushered into a small hallway with the others traveling with us. I was watching my watch because seconds counted. It was now 11:25 a.m., and the helicopter had just landed with the previous tour. We were actually on our way out to board the helicopter when the pilot said he needed to go and get fuel. We then got ushered back to the terminal, and I was panicking because we didn’t have time for re-fueling … but I understood THAT was necessary for many reasons. “How much time will this take,” I asked. “Well, it’s just around the corner. So a few minutes at most.” The helicopter took off and disappeared. It was now 11:35 a.m. I needed at least 25 minutes to huff it back to the bus. I was sweating bullets. My mom looked at me as we waited, and I just saw this long, sad face like she feared the helicopter ride would never happen. Having gotten this far, I wasn’t going to bail out too easily. The helicopter returned at 11:40 a.m., and we were in the air by 11:45. We got in our entire 15-minute tour, which was absolutely amazing. Viewing the New York Harbor and Lower Manhattan from the air was so cool. I also thoroughly enjoyed watching my mom take in all the sights and the whole experience. We landed, grabbed a thumb drive of pictures they had taken, got my mom situated in the rollator, and RACED back to Holy Trinity Church. But we found a nano-second to stop and take a picture in front of the iconic Wall Street Building. We were the last to board our bus … at PRECISELY 12:30 p.m. I couldn’t have cut it any closer than that!

I knew I had to lose some weight after the cruise, but having to pay for two tickets for the helicopter ride was a rude awakening … but worth it in so many ways.

Next week: The airport experience … and some final thoughts about the journey!

Enjoy the week. Know of my prayers!

In Christ,

gmb@sjascs.org

13) Voiland's View

In my homily last weekend, I spoke about Jesus reminding us that the second greatest commandment is: “You shall love our neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12: 31). I spoke about this commandment with regard to the poor widows highlighted in last week’s readings. As you might recall, one of the widows was on the verge of starvation due to a famine. She was approached by the prophet Elijah, who asked her to share the last of her food with him – and she did. The other widow was the one pointed out by Jesus as she put her last two coins into the collection box at church. Referring to her contribution, Jesus said that the tiny amount she gave was actually a huge contribution. My homily questioned how these two extremely poor women could have fulfilled God’s commandment to love their neighbor as themselves. I felt lacking in my thoughts on how these women succeeded to do God’s will. So, I ask you to bear with me as I try to go a bit further.

These women, poor as they were, were obligated, like anyone else, to keep God’s commandments. So, certainly, they were obligated to keep the second greatest commandment – “Love your neighbor as yourself.” How were they to do this? More specifically, what was there to love in themselves that they could then love in others? This is an important question to answer because love of self logically has to come before love of others for the process to work. Yet, thinking about loving ourselves is not an activity that humble people are comfortable doing. Even so, we need to think about this. Self-love (the term itself seems offensive!) is something with which we all need to come to terms.

Those dirt-poor widows are perfect models for us to understand how loving others like ourselves works. First, they obviously had no material wealth to love; neither widow was even sure where her next meal would come from. Furthermore, neither woman had any social status that would have drawn others to help them, much less respect them. They were widows in a heavily patriarchal society that viewed women as property. Women were valued by being attached to a man. They had no such attachments. Lastly, these women were entirely at God’s mercy to help them make it through another day. What was there to love in themselves that could develop into love of others?

The thing these widows could love in themselves was God’s love for them. They were created by God, and kept alive every day, for relationship with him. We can love God for the exact same reason. We can love ourselves because we are lovable – loved by God. God proves that we are lovable by having created us and then sustaining us until he brings us to him for a perfect, unending relationship in heaven.

An argument could understandably be made: “Yeah, some love, Mr. God! Leaving women alone in a hostile world, scrounging for their next meal, doesn’t seem to ooze with affection.” But leveling an emotional complaint against God is what we always do. We evaluate everything from our human perspective and decide that “Life stinks! There is nothing to be thankful for, nothing to love.” Yet, God is not the one who created the mess in which we find ourselves. God “created everything good.” He views the universe from an eternal perspective, not just our limited worldly view. We are the ones who make our world miserable. 

Yet even at that, the widow of Zarephath, and the widow at the temple didn’t get caught up in a spiral of misery. They did the unthinkable. They gave up their last bit of food and money to their neighbors. They loved because they were loved. They loved their neighbor as themselves – as part of themselves. By their example, we can see how love of God and love of neighbor are interdependent.

In St. Matthew’s account of Jesus restating the great commandments (22: 37-39), he says that the second greatest commandment – “Love your neighbor as yourself” – is like the first – “Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.” The likeness between the two commandments is not so much because they involve love, but because God is the foundation of both. God is the source of love; God deserves our love; and God enables us to love. When St. John says that “God is love” (1 John 4: 16), he really means it!

God’s love welled up in the two widows at a time when they could easily have said they simply didn’t care anymore. In the world’s eyes, they had nothing to give. Had they bought into the despair of overwhelming poverty, they would have turned inward and hoped to survive on their own. But we are not made to be alone. The widows knew they were daughters of God and sisters of humanity. They continued to give what they had, and Christ considered it a fortune beyond human counting.

We can continue to love even when we are down . . . sometimes way down. Yet, we are never out. We are never nothing, useless, unimportant, nobodies. We are God’s children and each other’s sisters and brothers. May we continue to love at least that connection, with God our Father, and with our neighbors.

Peace in Jesus,

Fr. Bob

rvoiland@sjascs.org

14) Ascension Presents: Father Mike Schmitz

How to Bring Order to Your Life

When you clean and organize a room, you have to ask one very important question first: what is this room for? Once you can answer that, everything begins falling into place.

In order to direct and order your own life, you must ask that same question. What is your life for? What is the primary purpose of the one life you’ve been given?

Fr. Mike proposes that, when you can answer that question, everything in your life will begin falling into place for you. And he might even take a crack at answering that question for you.

15) Words on the Word: November 17, 2024 - Neither Day nor Hour

Sometimes it can feel like we’re living in bible-scale end times.

A couple months ago the United States suffered horrific hurricane destruction with hundreds killed and thousands left homeless.

Then, just a few weeks ago, headlines around the world reported on unprecedented flooding in Spain that killed hundreds more and left a trail of destruction.

“Cars were piled on one another like fallen dominoes,” according to one news account by the Associated Press. “Uprooted trees, downed power lines and household items all mired in mud that covered streets in dozens of communities in …a region south of Barcelona.”

It was, the story said, like the “aftermath of a tsunami.”

Scary stuff, to be sure. And, indeed, it seems every few weeks, at most, we hear of another natural disaster – flooding, landslides, earthquakes, tornadoes, fires. One almost becomes numb to it all.

And yet, of course, we cannot grow numb. We cannot be complacent. Because it’s our lives and the lives of our loved ones, and our fellow humans, that are at stake.

It’s the same kind of reminder Jesus provides in today’s gospel passage from St. Mark.

Starting with a description of great tribulations – “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and that stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken” – he goes on to remind his disciples, and us, that we must live our lives in constant preparation, since we don’t know when we’ll be called home.

“This generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place,” Jesus says. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” 

© 2024 Words on the Word

16) This WEEK on FORMED:

Our parish has a subscription to FORMED, a premier online platform filled with over 4,000 Catholic studies, movies, audio dramas, talks, e-books, and even cartoons for our children. FORMED has content from over 60 apostolates, including Augustine Institute, Ignatius Press, and the Knights of Columbus, with material that is professionally produced, engaging, and solid in its catechism. Best of all, this material is free to you because of our parish subscription.

You have easy access to all of the material on FORMED to support your own faith journey and that of your family members.

You can enjoy FORMED on your computer or on your television with an inexpensive Roku device or Apple TV. You can even listen on your phone as you commute to work or do chores. 

To gain access to all of FORMED’s content, follow these simple steps:

• Go to https://signup.formed.org/ 
• Enter our parish’s zip code 48080 or enter St. Joan of Arc
• Enter your name and your email address

That’s it! You’re in. Now you can get the free FORMED app for your phone by searching FORMED Catholic in your app store.



17) 52 Stories: Good News from Spirit Juice Studios

Prepare to be Inspired

Spirit Juice Studios is blessed to work with countless Catholic organizations, dioceses, parishes, and schools. We get to help them tell their powerful stories about all the good stuff that is happening within the Church. Sign up for 52 Stories so we can share them with you! You’ll meet the unsung heroes of the Catholic Church, discover the stories of holy women and men around the world, and witness miraculous moments of God’s grace in everyday life.

In a world full of bad news, these stories will give you 52 reasons to believe that God is working through the Catholic faith to transform lives through His love and mercy. Sign up today!

Songs of Hope for Ukraine

In this personal and behind-the-scenes video, Brothers Alex and Danylo Fedoryka share how their love for music and the Catholic faith is expressed through their membership in the Celtic rock band Scythian and the Knights of Columbus. The brothers also share what it means for them to be Ukrainian-Americans and how the Knights of Columbus has helped them to support the Ukrainian people impacted by the ongoing war.

18) Hallow App:

Are you looking for a one-stop app for prayer and meditation? Look no further than Hallow. Hallow is an awesome prayer app. Hallow is a Catholic prayer and meditation app that helps users deepen their relationship with God through audio-guided contemplative prayer sessions. The app launched 2 years ago and is already the #1 Catholic app in the world.

We have a number of parishioners who are already using the app and loving it (my mom being one of them and she is on the app most of the day). Great for praying alone or together with your spouse/family, Hallow truly has something for everyone, no matter what you are going through (see below for their different content categories).

Hallow is free to download and has tons of permanently free content, as well as a premium subscription, Hallow Plus.

To get started, simply click the button above/below to activate your free account on the Hallow website. Make sure to select “Sign Up with Email” when registering. For step-by-step instructions, you can visit this process guide. Enter the code stjoanofarcmi to obtain a discount on individual pro plans.

19) Mass Intentions for the Week:

Monday, November 18, 2024, Weekday Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne, Virgin (Green/White)

7:00 am: John Gaines

Tuesday, November 19, 2024, Weekday (Green)

7:00 am: Dennis Fleming

Wednesday, November 20, 2024, Weekday (Green)

7:00 am: Monsignor Ferdinand J. DeCneudt

6:00 pm: Kathleen Murphy

Thursday, November 21, 2024, The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (White) 

7:00 am: Teresa Lopez

Friday, November 22, 2024, Saint Cecilia Virgin and (Red)

7:00 am: The deceased members of the Calisi Family who died in the month of November 

Saturday, November 23, 2024, Vigil for the Solemnity of Jesus Christ King of the Universe (White)

4:00 pm: George Pare, Bonnie Batche, Blair Zernick, Marie Ann Easley, Mary Steele, Michael Timmreck, Raymond Strussione, David Sperry, Thomas Benoit, and Special Intentions for the J. Champine Family, the Thomas Family, for the VandenBoom and Haberek Families 

6:00 pm: Robert Swalec

Sunday, November 24, 2024, Solemnity of Jesus Christ King of the Universe (White)

8:00 am: The Intentions of SJA Parishioners

10:00 am: Joseph & Angeline Calus

12:00 pm Peter Sarra, Joseph & Angeline Calus, Jacqueline Bender, and William Gelineau

20) This Week on St. Joan of Arc LIVE:

This week's LIVE Stream

Schedule at St. Joan of Arc:

Monday (November 18)

7:00 AM - Mass

Tuesday (November 19):

7:00 AM - Mass

Wednesday (November 20):

7:00 AM - Mass

6:00 PM - Mass

Thursday (November 21):

7:00 AM- Mass

7:00 PM - Mass



Friday (November 22):

7:00 AM - Mass

Saturday (November 23):

12:30 PM - Baptism of Giovanni A. Ruggirello

1:30  PM Baptism of Emmett Carpenter

4:00 PM - Mass

6:00 PM - Mass

Sunday (November 24):

8:00 AM - Mass

10:00 AM - Mass

12:00 PM - Mass

Please note that all of our masses and events can be accessed through the ARCHIVE section of our Live stream page if you cannot 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.

21) SJA's Latest Parish Bulletin

Click on the image below

to download a copy of the bulletin

for November 17, 2024

22) Weekly Bulletin Mailing List

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.



23) Detroit Catholic