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Fr. Don's Weekly Letter ~ June 11, 2023

Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

It is a season of change: graduations, weddings, new employment assignments, and deployments. For many people, this can be a great source of anxiety, but I like to think of what a good friend of mine always said. It’s definitely going to be different. But it just might be better.

I used this in a reflection with our eighth graders at one of their graduation ceremonies last week. Leaving middle school and transitioning to high school involves a lot of tears. But the future’s uncertainty can be just as much a source of hope as worry. And as people of faith, although worry can be very real, hope is certain. Pope John Paul I, though he was only pope for about a month, gave his first and only three Wednesday audiences with concise and complete teachings on faith, hope, and love. He said we can be certain to be hopeful. First, God can do anything. Second, he loves you perfectly. Third, he always keeps his promise.

At times of change, rather than trying to concentrate on what you don’t know (which is a completely useless pastime), why not reflect on what God’s promises actually are, known to us in both his words and his actions. He went to a lot of trouble to bring us home. He still would have sent his only Son to become one of us and die on the cross so that we might rise with him even if you were the only person on this earth. “I don’t deserve that,” you might say, and that is true. It isn’t because I did anything to deserve it. It is just what God is. Complete love.

We tend to complicate this with human judgment, judging both ourselves and others. If I don’t deserve it, you probably don’t, either. And then I might be able to decide that somebody deserves it even less than I do. You can see where this goes, and why the world is in such a mess. People are always trying to be something else because they desire the love that is already given but doesn’t realize it. They haven’t learned to recognize it and receive it.

The simple peace that comes with the knowledge of this bedrock divine love is all we need to carry us through the most difficult times, times of uncertainty, or change, knowing that we are not left to save ourselves. It has already been lovingly accomplished.

This love, which of course is the Holy Spirit, the bond of love that unites the Father and the Son as well as all of us, is the foundation of the Body of Christ we celebrate today. The feast of Corpus Christi today is the celebration of the communion we know in the unity of God’s love. Communion is the path of unity in God’s life, as we enter into the life of the Trinity as members of the Son, in the Body of Christ.

The Lord be with you,

Streaming Masses and Announcements Sunday, June 11, 2023

Today's Live-Streamed Mass

Worship Aid for the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi Sunday)

 

fleur cross logo Mark your calendars: we will celebrate and thank Father Rich for serving our parish as he prepares to start his new assignment at the University of Mary Washington. The parish will host a Farewell Celebration for Father on Sunday, June 11, from 2-4 pm in the Gym.

fleur cross logo Thank you to everyone who has made a gift to the capital campaign. Please consider a contribution or pledge to our “Behold, I Make All Things New” campaign.

fleur cross logo Registration for 2023-2024 Religious Education classes is now open. Click here to sign up today.  Registration will close on August 18, and the first classes of the new year will be on Sunday, August 27, and Monday, August 28. Contact the Religious Education Office if you have questions about registering your children.

fleur cross logo Mass cards for the Father’s Day Novena of Masses are available in the vestibule or parish office. Our Fathers will be remembered at all Masses for nine days starting Sunday, June 18. Please return your envelopes by Friday, June 16.

fleur cross logo Sunday is the Feast of Corpus Christi. Please join us for a procession and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament following the 5 pm Mass.

fleur cross logo Next week’s second collection is for Diocesan retired priests.

fleur cross logo All are warmly invited to Taizé Prayer on Monday, June 19, at 8 pm. Come pray for Christian unity in our community and the world.

fleur cross logo Our parish office will be closed Monday, June 19th, for the federal holiday.

fleur cross logo Next week’s second collection is for Parish & facilities maintenance.

Streaming Masses and Announcements Sunday, June 4, 2023

Today's Live-Streamed Mass

Worship Aid for the Most Holy Trinity Sunday

 

fleur cross logo Mark your calendars: we will celebrate and thank Father Rich for his service to our parish as he prepares to start his new assignment at the University of Mary Washington. The parish will host a Farewell Celebration for Father on Sunday, June 11, from 2-4 pm in the Gym.

fleur cross logo Thank you to everyone who has made a gift to the capital campaign. Please consider a contribution or pledge to our “Behold, I Make All Things New” campaign.

fleur cross logo Registration for 2023-2024 Religious Education classes is now open. Click here to sign up today.  Registration will close on August 18, and the first classes of the new year will be on Sunday, August 27, and Monday, August 28. Contact the Religious Education Office if you have questions about registering your children.

fleur cross logo Mass cards for the Father’s Day Novena of Masses are available in the vestibule or parish office. Our Fathers will be remembered at all Masses for nine days starting Sunday, June 18. Please return your envelopes by Friday, June 16.

fleur cross logo Next weekend we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi. Please join us for a procession and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament following the 5 pm Mass on Sunday, June 11th.

fleur cross logo Next week’s second collection is for Diocesan retired priests.

 

Fr. Don's Weekly Letter ~ June 4, 2023

Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

 

Saint Paul writes about the fruit of the Holy Spirit in his letter to the Galatians, chapter 5. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

Notice – as I have only recently – that the singular word “fruit” is used for these nine symptoms. Unlike the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which work together to bring us fully into the life of the Holy Trinity, once received, the Holy Spirit’s effects are one unity manifested in us. It would seem that you can’t have one without the others. They are nine attributes of a godly life, a life led by the Spirit, contrasted by Paul in the same chapter as “acts of the flesh.” When a person accepts Christ as Savior, they receive the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the effects of original sin on human nature and develop the character of Christ. And the character of Christ is marked by the fruit of his Spirit.

In Catholic theology, we believe that a sacramental character, an indelible spiritual mark, is imprinted by the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and holy orders. This doctrine was expressed by Saint Augustine of Hippo in his Religious Controversies (c. 400), and was dogmatically defined at the Council of Trent in the 16th century. By these, we are conformed literally to the person of Jesus Christ and brought into full communion as members of his Body in the eucharist.

Being members of Christ is sometimes misunderstood as something like being a member of a country club, an elite group of those who are chosen. Rather, it expresses that each of us are actually members: hands, feet, organs, liver? Without each, the body cannot fully function. Everything we are depends on each other and our relative health. It is the Holy Spirit that animates the Body, as a soul, because he is the Spirit of Jesus who has received everything he has from the Father.

You see where I am going with this. In the character received in sacraments, we are not individually recipients of this fruit, as if some kind of reward. We are brought together into a unity of many persons in one Christ, in the same way the Holy Trinity must be three in one. We are transformed in the person of Christ, the Son of God, as I have preached so often this season, from those who are made by God into those who are begotten by God. We are essentially changed in such a way that only God can accomplish it. And it happens through the sacraments.

Are there other ways in which God can accomplish this work of our redemption? Of course. God cannot be limited from pouring out his love, his Spirit, over all creation. And there are other ways hearts can respond to his love. We have been given the infallible path of the sacraments to follow our Shepherd, where he leads us, into the arms of the Father, with his gentle, nailed hands.

Today on Trinity Sunday, we are not here for a theology lesson, however. This is the celebration of the life to which we have been called, a life already begun, that looks forward to that day of perfect love and beauty.

 

The Lord be with you,

Fr. Don's Weekly Letter ~ May 28, 2023

Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

On this Pentecost Sunday, consider the Holy Spirit as love shared itself in the life of the Trinity with the Father and Son. We are made in God’s image, and love shared becomes the rule of our life, even in the way we approach an encounter with each other. Imagine how different the world would be if we did not stop first to decide whether the other is worthy of our love, but if we led with love. I was reminded of the Rule of Saint Benedict (53) and found this amazing Benedictine commentary from the Christ in the Desert Monastery website as our guide to letting the Holy Spirit be the creator of our bonds of friendship and love with each other:

53. All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Mt 25:35). Proper honor must be shown to all, especially to those who share our faith (Gal 6:10) and to pilgrims. Once a guest has been announced, the superior and the brothers are to meet him with all the courtesy of love... All humility should be shown in addressing a guest on arrival or departure. By a bow of the head or by a complete prostration of the body, Christ is to be adored because he is indeed welcomed in them.

Everyone—everyone—is received as Christ. Everyone receives a warm answer—on the phone, at the door, in the office. Sarcasm has no room here. Put-downs have no room here. One-upmanship has no room here. Classism has no room here. The Benedictine heart is to be a place without boundaries, a place where the truth of the oneness of all things shatters all barriers, a point where all the differences of the world meet and melt, where Jew and Gentile, slave and free, woman and man all come together as equals.

But whatever happens to the heart is the beginning of a revolution. When I let strange people and strange ideas into my heart, I am beginning to shape a new world. Hospitality of the heart could change domestic policies. Hospitality of the heart could change foreign policy. The hospitality of the heart could make my world a world of potential friends rather than a world of probable enemies.

Yet, Benedictine hospitality is more than simply thinking new thoughts or feeling new feelings about people we either thought harshly of before or, more likely, failed to think about at all. Benedictine hospitality demands that we open our lives to others as well... the extra effort, the extra time, and the extra care that stretches beyond and above the order of the day. Real hospitality for our time requires that we consider how to take the concerns of the poor, the hungry, the lonely, and the dying into our own lives.

It is not enough simply to change our minds about things or to come to feel compassion for something that had never touched us before or even to change our own way of life to let in the concerns of others. Real hospitality lies in bending some efforts to change things, to make a haven for the helpless, and to be a voice for the voiceless. Hospitality means we take people into the space that is our lives and minds and our hearts and our efforts. Hospitality is the way we come out of ourselves. It is the first step toward dismantling the barriers of the world. Hospitality is the way we turn a prejudiced world around, one heart at a time.

 

The Lord be with you,

Streaming Masses and Announcements Sunday, May 28, 2023

Today's Live-Streamed Mass

Worship Aid for the Pentecost Sunday

 

fleur cross logo Parish offices are closed on Monday, May 29th, in observance of Memorial Day. Parish offices are closed on Monday, May 29, in observance of Memorial Day. Please note there will be no 7 am Mass that morning.

fleur cross logo Mark your calendars: we will celebrate and thank Father Rich for his service to our parish as he prepares to start his new assignment at the University of Mary Washington. The parish will host a Farewell Celebration for Father on Sunday, June 11, from 2-4 pm in the Gym.

fleur cross logo Phase II of our parish Capital Campaign, “Behold, I Make All Things New,” is underway. Even before the in-pew commitment weekend last weekend, we received 98 gifts totaling over $1M! If you have not yet done so, please commit to a sacrificial pledge or gift. We thank you for your generosity.
As you know, we hope to complete this $3M+ pledge process by the end of May, so we ask you to prayerfully consider what you can do for our new Parish Life Center. Our community life is in your hands!

fleur cross logo Come join us as we celebrate the end of the Easter Season with Solemn Vespers (Evening Prayer II) of Pentecost at 6:15 pm, Sunday, May 28. It’s a fully sung Vespers with beautiful musical settings of the psalms and antiphons chosen for easy participation for all. It will last about 25 minutes. The great Paschal cycle that we began with the Eucharist of Ash Wednesday concludes now with this joyful liturgy.

fleur cross logo Registration for 2023-2024 Religious Education classes will begin on June 1. The link will be live on the parish website, and all current students will receive a Flocknote email with instructions on how to re-register. All students must re-register each year, including those who have completed the first year of sacramental preparation classes. Contact the Religious Education Office if you have questions about registering your children.

fleur cross logo There are still volunteer opportunities for the Together We Rise Against Hunger Event being held at Christ Church, June 7-10. Join local houses of worship in our community to pack and distribute 200,000 life-changing meals. Please see the bulletin for more information, or visit https://www.christchurchva.org/twrah/ to volunteer or donate.

fleur cross logo Thank you to everyone who generously contributed to the Saint Lucy Project Food Drive last weekend, May 20-21. We collected over 6,500 pounds of food and $800 in cash/check donations. Also, thanks to all the helping hands that distributed bags and loaded the truck over the past two weekends.

fleur cross logo Next week’s second collection is for ECHO. ECHO is an all-volunteer non-profit that gives food and financial help to people with short-term emergencies and provides clothes and household items to people with low incomes.

 

 

Streaming Masses and Announcements Sunday, May 21, 2023

Today's Live-Streamed Mass

Worship Aid for the Seventh Sunday of Easter - Ascension Sunday

 

fleur cross logo  Please drop your blue bags of food for the St. Lucy Project to the truck outside after Mass today.

fleur cross logo Concerts at Saint Bernadette presents the Northern Virginia Chorale Sunday, May 21, at 7:30 pm, in their program “Love, Laughter, and Song.” With this concert, the Chorale bids farewell to their artistic director of over 40 years, Robert S. Webb, Jr., with some of the greatest and most enjoyable American choral music ever written: Aaron Copeland, Randall Thompson, Morton Lauridsen, current sensation Shawn Kirchner, and an arrangement of What a Wonderful World are only some of the highlights. The concert is free, no tickets are required, and a free-will offering will be accepted. Contact David Mathers at dmathers@stbernpar for more information.

fleur cross logo High Schoolers are invited to join us Sunday, May 21, after the 5 pm Mass for dinner and fellowship in the Bradican Room. 

fleur cross logo Middle schoolers are invited to join us this Wednesday, May 24, from 6:45-8 pm in the school Gym for Capture the Flag and ice cream! Contact Grace Rihl for more information. 

fleur cross logo The Northern VA observance of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is this Tuesday, May 23, at 7 pm at Saint Ann Catholic Church in Arlington, VA. Join Bishop Michael Burbidge, Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson (United Methodist VA Conference), Bishop Leila Ortiz (ELCA Metro DC Synod), and Bishop Mark Stevenson (Episcopal Diocese of Virginia) as we pray for Christian Unity. All are invited! A light reception will follow.

fleur cross logo St. Bernadette and other area houses of worship have partnered with Rise Against Hunger to purchase, pack, and distribute life-changing meals to transform the world. Our goal is to pack 200,000 meals! Please see the bulletin for more information.

fleur cross logo We will conclude this beautiful season of Easter with Pentecost Vespers Sunday, May 28th, at 6:15 pm. Please join us.

fleur cross logo Parish offices are closed on Monday, May 29th, in observance of Memorial Day.

 

Fr. Don's Weekly Letter ~ May 21, 2023

Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

Pentecost, the birthday of the missional Church, is the day that the Holy Spirit literally breathed life into the Apostles with the gifts which transformed them into living presences of God. It happened to all of us, once baptized, then anointed with the Sacred Chrism, consecrated oil under whose form we literally receive the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us. God knows us better than we know ourselves.

The early Church was empowered by the Holy Spirit to live differently amid a world waiting for the fullness of redemption; to be led back to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. What does this kind of transformed Christian life look like in the everyday experiences of your life?

There is a lot of “bad news” in our contemporary culture. But our culture is not that different from the cultures into which the early Christians were sent on missions. They were promised the inspiration and strength that can come from the Holy Spirit. They needed the Holy Spirit to do their work, just as we do.

The answer for this age is the same as the answer of those early disciples for their broken and lost age. You know the answer well: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Like them, we are called to present the new culture which is revealed in the heart of the Church through the power of the Holy Spirit to our own age. Pope Francis speaks much about this. We are living in a new missionary age and are called into the whole world to preach the Gospel in both word and deed.

The Second Vatican Council began with a prayer for a “new Pentecost.” I mentioned it last week; Pope Saint John XXIII prayed, “Renew your wonders in this, our day, as by a new Pentecost.” The Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost and continues to be poured out on, in, and through the Church for the sake of her mission in the world. The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church and the source of her power for mission. As a body has a soul that is its animating principle, so the Body of Christ has the Holy Spirit.

We need to pray for a new Pentecost to come and unite individual churches who suffer from internal divisions and schisms and for unity for all the baptized in this hour! The Holy Spirit is our hope for the new evangelization so she can take the mission to the whole world and heal its brokenness. We need to be renewed in the Holy Spirit in order to take our role as a member of the Body of Christ in this new missionary age.

Pray that the Church may rise up in this hour with the same power with which she transformed the world of the first centuries. She can...by the power of the Holy Spirit! We must be convinced it is possible.

Especially during this time of the Holy Spirit novena -- call upon the Holy Spirit who is just waiting to hear from you.

The Lord be with you,

Streaming Masses and Announcements Sunday, May 14, 2023

Today's Live-Streamed Mass

Worship Aid for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

fleur cross logo The second collection next week is for Catholic Communication Campaign.

fleur cross logo There will be no 7 am Masses the week of May 21.

fleur cross logo Phase II of our parish Capital Campaign, “Behold, I Make All Things New,” is underway. We have sent a packet to every registered family in the parish. Our In-Pew Commitment Weekend is next weekend. We thank you for your generosity. As you know, we hope to complete this $3M+ pledge process by the end of May, so we ask you to prayerfully consider what you can do for our new Parish Life Center. Our community life is in your hands!

fleur cross logo Join us for Taizé Prayer Monday, May 15, at 8 pm. Come pray for Christian unity in our community and in the world. All Christians are warmly invited; invite your friends.

fleur cross logo The St. Lucy Spring Food Drive is here! The St. Lucy Food Project collects and distributes food where it’s most needed in the Diocese. Our St. Lucy Food Drive is May 20 & 21. Blue bags and a list of needed items will be handed out after all Masses this weekend.

fleur cross logo The Knights of Columbus are handing out Project Manger envelopes after Masses this weekend. “A Woman’s Choice” pregnancy center in Falls Church serves over 1,000 families each year by helping mothers continue to choose life during pregnancy and providing assistance after birth, and by purchasing baby cribs for mothers in need. Please take an envelope and read the flyer. If you can support a donation, please send it in the envelope provided, or donate online, as described in the flyer. All funds collected go to the purchase of cribs and are 100% tax-deductible. Thank you in advance for your generosity and support for mothers in need.

fleur cross logo The Summer Theatre Program is back for its 28th exciting summer. Announcing auditions for the Wizard of Oz! Auditions are on Monday and Tuesday, May 15 & 16, at 7 pm in the gym. Join Dorothy and her friends on their exciting journey with witches, munchkins, good friends, lions, tigers, and bears (Oh my!) in this summer's production of The Wizard of Oz. Auditions are open to all current 6th-12th grade students. Students who cannot attend in-person auditions can submit a video audition on or before Wednesday, May 17. No experience is required. Please consider joining this great community of young people throughout our parish and the region. For more information about the program, auditions, and the summer ahead, please visit our website at www.summertheatreprogram.org or email info@summertheatreprogram.org. Wizard of Oz is produced through a special arrangement with Concord Theatricals.

fleur cross logo Our Novena to the Holy Spirit begins Friday, May 19. You will find the text of the prayers in the pull-out center of the bulletin.

fleur cross logo Concerts at Saint Bernadette presents the Northern Virginia Chorale Sunday, May 21, at 7:30 pm, in their program “Love, Laughter, and Song.” With this concert, the Chorale bids farewell to their artistic director of over 40 years, Robert S. Webb, Jr., with some of the greatest and most enjoyable American choral music ever written: Aaron Copeland, Randall Thompson, Morton Lauridsen, current sensation Shawn Kirchner, and an arrangement of What a Wonderful World are only some of the highlights. The concert is free, no tickets are required, and a free-will offering will be accepted. Contact David Mathers at dmathers@stbernpar for more information.

fleur cross logo The Saint Bernadette Pro-Life Committee invites you to pray the rosary and witness the sanctity of life on Tuesdays or Saturday mornings in front of the abortion facility on Sherwood Hall Lane in Alexandria. We legally, peacefully, and respectfully gather for an hour at around 10 am. Please email Tom Palumbo at tompalumbo@outlook.com to sign up.

fleur cross logo Join Bishop Michael Burbidge, Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson (United Methodist VA Conference), Bishop Leila Ortiz (ELCA Metro DC Synod), and Bishop Mark Stevenson (Episcopal Diocese of Virginia) as we pray for Christian Unity. The prayer service will occur on Tuesday, May 23, at 7 pm at Saint Ann Catholic Church, 5300 10th St. N, Arlington. All Christians are invited! A light reception will follow. 

fleur cross logo Tuesday, May 23, a Mass and Healing Prayer Service is scheduled for 7:30 pm at Holy Family Catholic Church, 14160 Ferndale Road, Dale City. Fr. John Melmer of Saint John the Beloved Church, McLean, will preside. Confessions will be available. This liturgy comes through the diocesan Catholic Healing Ministry. For more information, contact Grace Sims at 703-981-4620.

fleur cross logo Join us for Solemn Vespers for Pentecost on Sunday, May 28, at 6:15 pm.

 

Fr. Don's Weekly Letter ~ May 14, 2023

Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

Following a beautiful weekend of Masses celebrating our boys and girls’ receiving First Holy Communion, we are left with that image of innocence and beauty, which speaks of the reality of God with us. Ultimately, it will be the beauty and goodness of God that will call us to be victorious over the confusion and darkness of so many places we may find ourselves at times in our lives.

I spoke at Masses last weekend about how, as wonderful as it is to say “God loves me,” and he does – don’t doubt it for a moment –- how much more amazing it is to say “God becomes me.” Love is not something God does (or that we “do”) –- it is who he is. God is love itself. He can’t choose to love or not love. God, in his eternal moment of love, wants to share himself and begets the perfect gift of himself, the perfect sharing that is his only-begotten Son. The Son is sent both by the love of the Father and his own loving self-gift to empty himself of his Glory as the Son of God and enter into the limitedness and sin of our human experience. Imagine the selfless love that would be required for such a sacrifice, only to go deeper and lower into our human experience to include suffering, torture, death, and abandonment. Literally, God-forsakenness. He has gone as low as any of us can ever go, as the Fathers of the Church said, so that wherever we may find ourselves, lost and forsaken, running from the Father, we will always run right into the embrace of the Son who is waiting for us in the depths, like the father of the prodigal son in the parable. He is there waiting, as well as at the right hand of the Father. How amazing and attractive is this image of God. If only people didn’t have so many misunderstandings of who God might be.

“God becomes me...” We could not say this – it would be madness – if it weren’t for the fact that Jesus took the Passover meal at the Last Supper, the most sacred ritual of all that had come before, to show that it was a preparation for the fulfillment of his covenant with us – the new and eternal covenant – which he completes with us in his Body and Blood. We witness that moment of the Last Supper at every Mass as we recall his saving mysteries of the Cross, but we saw it in a particular way last weekend as our boys and girls, like the Apostles at the Last Supper, received First Communion. Boys and girls: you are now apostles – those who are sent to proclaim the beauty and goodness of God that can change the world. We see it in you.

After the Saturday evening Mass, a young man came up to me. It felt like a Gospel moment, one like when Jesus encountered the young person and felt at that moment the love which sent him and caused him to choose to be there. The young man said to me: “May I ask you a question? ...If God is love, ...and God becomes me, ...That means that I am love.” Yes, truly.

If our starting point is “God loves me,” we will never reach this conclusion. But if God is love itself, then it is in his image that we are made, but there is more. When God becomes one of us and calls us to communion in himself to be a part of that great act of love that is our redemption, he gathers us together as himself and brings us home with him. We are love.

The Lord be with you,