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Fr. Don's Weekly Letter 18 December 2022
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
In our liturgical prayer, one of the most common petitions we make in the Mass is a plea for unity. There are so many references to this prayer it might be possible overlook them:
"...bless these gifts, these offerings, these holy and unblemished sacrifices, which we offer you first for your holy catholic Church. Be pleased to grant her peace, to guard, unite and govern her throughout the whole world..." Eucharistic Prayer I
"Humbly we pray that, partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ,
we may be gathered into one by the Holy Spirit." Eucharistic Prayer II
"...grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son and filled with the Holy Spirit, may become one body, on spirit in Christ." Eucharistic Prayer III
"Lord Jesus Christ... look not on our sins but on the faith of your Church, and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will."
Unity is a precious gift and something that is very fragile, as we often can find individuality more desirable, especially in a world where it seems you could easily get ignored or lost. It is important to stress that Mass is the place where this will never happen. All are vital, the engagement of all is needed to make our offering as one Christ to the Father. There is a radical equality that disarms the divisions which can come from a need for identity. Our identity is Christ himself.
On several occasions over the years I have given a talk at the beginning of the school year, when kids complain about wearing uniforms or being limited from particular hair styles or make up. People use fashion or styling often to define their image, compared to others. Imagine how I would stand out on the altar if I suddenly dyed my hair blue!
I believe you would agree that my hair would be a problematic distraction. Why? Because my role is not to stand out. It is unite all of you in a sacred gathering and collect your offerings and prayers into one expression of faith and worship.
I always tell the kids that if I look out on a class with uniforms, it is not the diversity of clothes and styles that I see: it is their faces.
This is the difficulty with individualism, we can focus on how we are different and forget how united we truly are. It is more than just school uniforms, however. Nationality and race can become reasons to divide that are contrary to the prayer for unity that we need to pray together.
We need to pray for the courage to look beyond differences and recognize the heart of each other as the same as mine, in need of each other and made in the likeness of the heart of Jesus, himself.
Unity is hard work, and we may not be able to see a clear path of how it will come about, but we can commit to not become an obstacle, avoid judgment and welcome each other to accompany one another on a way forward that brings us together. It is for this reason Jesus is coming! He will show us the way. Come, Lord Jesus!
The Lord be with you,
Streaming Masses and Announcements for the week of 11 December 2022
STREAMING SUNDAY AND WEEKDAY MASSES
Today's Live-Streamed Mass
Worship Aid for the Third Sunday of Advent
Starting Friday, December 2, we will begin to have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every Friday during Advent in the church, 7 - 8:30pm.
You are invited to a special bilingual Mass honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas and the unborn tomorrow evening. Procession begins at 7pm, Mass at 7:30pm followed by reception in the church vestibule.
Please join us on Wednesday, December 14 for our parish Advent Penance Service. Confessions begin at 6:30pm and we will have 16 priests. Please mark this date in your calendar and celebrate the sacrament on this date, as opportunities will be limited in the days up to Christmas.
The Saint Bernadette Bake Sale is December 10 & 11 after all Masses in the Church vestibule. Please consider signing up to donate an item to the bake sale. All proceeds go towards our Capital Campaign.
Give the gift of life! Donate blood! INOVA Blood Services will be providing donation services on Saturday, December 17, 2022 from 8:30am to 2:30pm in the school cafeteria. Please mark your calendar.
Join us for Taizé Prayer, Monday, December 19 at 8pm. Come pray for Christian unity in our community and in the world. All Christians are warmly invited; invite your friends!
The Knights of Columbus will be selling Christmas trees in the lower parking. Please support the charitable work of the Council. The lot will be open from 5pm to 9pm on weekdays and 9am to 9pm on weekends.
Upcoming Second Collections:
December 11 - CATHOLIC CHARITIES CHRISTMAS COLLECTION
December 18 - Parish Special Needs
December 25 - Parish Facilities and Maintenance
Fr. Don's Weekly Letter ~ 11 December 2022
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
Last week I reflected in my letter about the difference between liturgical and devotional prayer and how, perhaps, the confusion we have today about liturgical styles and the division that results might be the effect of so many who actually consider the Mass today as a private devotion. Devotional prayer, private prayer, is something relational that happens between me and God; in liturgical prayer the me exists only as a part of us. Liturgical prayer is the relationship between God and his people, and his people form the Body of his beloved, only-begotten Son in his offering of himself to the Father. It is corporate (corporeal), incarnate.
Several people actually commented this past week, that they and were surprised to learn that the Mass wasn't meant to be an individual prayer just between them and God. One of them said, "Now I understand the emphasis on gestures and singing!"
The Mass isn't our prayer to change, or add anything to (before or after), or omit any elements. Divine worship is given to us through the teaching Magisterium of the Church, one of the three fonts of Revelation which are Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the living, teaching office of the Church, where we acknowledge that the Holy Spirit still inspires and works actively through his Church when we are gathered in Jesus' name. To deny this authority of the Magisterium, or to consider Tradition as a thing of the past, is a misunderstanding (Dei Verbum, chapter 2).
I have often used an image when I teach or write about the living Tradition of the Church. As a student of art and architecture, I loved to study the great architectural tradition of the Church. You can visit so many amazing structures of the Church's rich expression of faith throughout the centuries. You can approach it as a student, or as an admirer, or even as a curious tourist. But you will never understand it fully until you celebrate a Mass in it. The Church cannot be a museum; you can only see the sacred space as it was intended to be when it is used for its true, living purpose.
It worries me that so many people think of their faith as something that they received from their parents and grandparents, a nice thing (or maybe they don't think it's so nice) that they put on a shelf to admire now and then. Or ignore. Or even to venerate. This living Tradition of the Church is not an object to be treasured. It is the context in which our life relationship with God takes place. It is the being with God that is important, not the style of architecture where that happens. Sure, people will no doubt have plenty of opinions about the fashion, but the substance must not be confused with the vanity of personal preference.
It is also worrisome that the emphasis on the self in approaching the prayer of the Church liturgy as a devotional practice tends to absolve us of recognizing our responsibilities for one another. The person in the pew next to us might be just a nuisance, really, a distraction. We want to sit as far apart from each other as possible and respond to the prayers so that we can only hear ourselves... this is not a living Tradition but rather dry bones waiting to be reconstituted into a living Body.
The Lord be with you,
Streaming Masses and Announcements for the week of 4 December 2022
STREAMING SUNDAY AND WEEKDAY MASSES
Today's Live-Streamed Mass
Worship Aid for the Second Sunday of Advent
Starting Friday, December 2, we will begin to have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every Friday during Advent in the church, 7 - 8:30pm.
Representtives from the Office of Migration and Resettlement Services will join us after the 9 and 11am Masses this weekend to provide and overview of the mission, service opportunities and resources available through their program. Concerts at Saint Bernadette presents Advent Lessons and Carols, Sunday, December 4 at 7:30pm. Saint Bernadette Music Ministry, featuring our adult and young people’s choirs, and Lector Ministry present hymns, choral music and scripture readings from the rich treasury of the Advent Season. The event is free and open to all. A free-will offering will be accepted for ECHO.
Thursday, December 8 is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of our nation. It is a Holy Day of Obligation for all. We will offer Masses on Wednesday evening with a Vigil at 7:30pm, and on Thursday at 7 and 9am, noon, 6:30pm, and 7:30pm in Spanish.
Please join us on Wednesday, December 14 for our parish Advent Penance Service. Confessions begin at 6:30pm and we will have 16 priests. Please mark this date in your calendar and celebrate the sacrament on this date, as opportunities will be limited in the days up to Christmas.
Give the gift of life! Donate blood! INOVA Blood Services will be providing donation services on Saturday, December 17, 2022 from 8:30am to 2:30pm in the school cafeteria. Please mark your calendar.
Keep Christ in Christmas! The Knights of Columbus will be selling Christmas cards in the vestibule after all Masses on December 3-4. You may contact Mike Candalor at mcandalor@cox.net to get information or arrange another opportunity to view/purchase cards.
The Saint Bernadette Bake Sale is December 10 & 11 after all Masses in the Church vestibule. Please consider signing up to donate an item to the bake sale. All proceeds go towards our Capital Campaign.
Beginning next weekend the Knights of Columbus will be selling Christmas trees in the lower parking. Please support the charitable work of the Council. The lot will be open from 5pm to 9pm on weekdays and 9am to 9pm on weekends.
Upcoming Second Collections:
December 4 - School Tuition Assistance
December 11 - CATHOLIC CHARITIES CHRISTMAS COLLECTION
December 18 - Parish Special Needs
December 25 - Parish Facilities and Maintenance
Fr. Don's Weekly Letter ~ 4 December 2022
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
Of all the discord in the Church, the most unfortunate division for me is the battle that is being fought over the Mass, the one thing that can bring unity and peace to us. I've thought a lot about the crisis we are experiencing in the Church and thought I might think out loud.
First, a good friend of mine says that, in the scene of the last judgment in Matthew 23, there is no mention of being sheep or goats based on the manner of worship, only about how we treat each other. In that area, we are not doing so well.
The problem clearly stems from a misunderstanding of who we are at the Mass. When the reforms of Vatican II (which did happen, by the way) were implemented, even as a child I remember the confusion which resulted. I remember one Mass when the priest came down to the pews and took a rosary out of the hands of an elderly lady. He had a point, but it was made in every wrong way. Apparently there was not a catechesis which effectively explained why these things happened.
For a population that largely did not know Latin (not even to mention Africa, Asia and the rest of the Americas) the Mass had become, for many, a passive experience, something to be observed. It was the priest's Mass. The altar was his space, the sanctuary was off limits to non-clerics. For many faithful, the time of the Mass was spent offering unrelated private devotions (hence, the rosary debacle).
I think that many people today still consider the Mass a private devotion. Me and God. People have decided they don't have to fully participate. Singing is optional. Responses are made silently. The Church needs to promote an attitude of authentic commitment rather than compliance.
Private devotional prayer is very different from liturgical, corporate prayer. The Mass isn't our prayer. We don't get to choose variations or omit parts we might consider less important. We are configured by baptism and initiation through the sacraments into the Body of Christ. As his Body, we literally are he as he offers himself to the Father in the moment of eternity as the Son of God, which transcends all historical time and geography. We are not a group of "me"s performing rituals as individuals. It is corporate, embodied in us, incarnational. We provide the hands and voices and hearts to allow Jesus' work of salvation to permeate and transform all of creation. The Mass is the fullness of time.
It is so far beyond something that we could invent. We are united by what we do -- most of all in song, but also in words, gestures, and postures which are given to us from the living Tradition of the Church as she seeks Christ's authentic expression of love to the Father in his sacrifice of Holy Thursday and Good Friday, ultimately taking us with him from the empty tomb into a new time and new creation.
Eucharistic Prayer III includes this idea so beautifully and simply: Lord, may this sacrifice of our reconciliation advance the peace and salvation of all the world. Not something we could hope for on our own, it is this prayer that reveals our role in the fullness of time that is the Mass, and our fullness, too.
The Lord be with you,
Streaming Masses and Announcements for the week of 27 November 2022
STREAMING SUNDAY AND WEEKDAY MASSES
Today's Live-Streamed Mass
Worship Aid for the First Sunday of Advent
Join us for the first in a series of important presentations for parents on Tuesday,, November 29 at 7pm in the church. Our speaker is Dr. Nicole Joseph.
Starting Friday, December 2, we will begin to have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every Friday during Advent in the church, 7 - 8:30pm.
Representtives from the Office of Migration and Resettlement Services will join us after the 9 and 11am Masses next weekend to provide and overview of the mission, service opportunities and resources available through their program. Concerts at Saint Bernadette presents Advent Lessons and Carols, Sunday, December 4 at 7:30pm. Saint Bernadette Music Ministry, featuring our adult and young people’s choirs, and Lector Ministry present hymns, choral music and scripture readings from the rich treasury of the Advent Season. The event is free and open to all. A free-will offering will be accepted for ECHO. Keep Christ in Christmas! The Knights of Columbus will be selling Christmas cards in the vestibule after all Masses on December 3-4. You may contact Mike Candalor at mcandalor@cox.net to get information or arrange another opportunity to view/purchase cards.
The Saint Bernadette Bake Sale is December 10 & 11 after all Masses in the Church vestibule. Please consider signing up to donate an item to the bake sale. All proceeds go towards our Capital Campaign.
Beginning next weekend the Knights of Columbus will be selling Christmas trees in the lower parking. Please support the charitable work of the Council. The lot will be open from 5pm to 9pm on weekdays and 9am to 9pm on weekends.
Upcoming Second Collections:
November 27 - ECHO
December 4 - School Tuition Assistance
December 11 - CATHOLIC CHARITIES CHRISTMAS COLLECTION
December 18 - Parish Special Needs
December 25 - Parish Facilities and Maintenance
Fr. Don's Weekly Letter ~ 27 November 2022
The Lord be with you,
Streaming Masses and Announcements for the week of 20 November 2022
STREAMING SUNDAY AND WEEKDAY MASSES
Today's Live-Streamed Mass
Worship Aid for Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Please note there will be no 7 am daily Masses this week.
Join us for Taizé Prayer on Monday, November 21, at 8 pm. Come pray for Christian unity in our community and the world. All Christians are warmly invited; invite your friends.
. There will be only one Mass at 10 am on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 24. As a way of giving thanks to God for the many blessings in our lives, please help those experiencing food insecurity by bringing non-perishable food items to Mass on Thanksgiving day. You will be invited to place your contribution at the foot of the altar during the offertory. A basket will be available for donations of cash, checks, or gift cards. All donations will benefit the Catholic Charities St. Lucy Food Project.
Concerts at Saint Bernadette presents Advent Lessons and Carols, Sunday, December 4 at 7:30pm. Saint Bernadette Music Ministry, featuring our adult and young people’s choirs, and Lector Ministry present hymns, choral music and scripture readings from the rich treasury of the Advent Season. The event is free and open to all. A free-will offering will be accepted for ECHO. Keep Christ in Christmas! The Knights of Columbus will be selling Christmas cards in the vestibule after all Masses on November 19-20 and December 3-4. You may contact Mike Candalor at mcandalor@cox.net to get information or arrange another opportunity to view/purchase cards.
The Saint Bernadette Bake Sale is December 10 & 11 after all Masses in the Church vestibule. Please consider signing up to donate an item to the bake sale. All proceeds go towards our Capital Campaign.
Beginning next weekend the Knights of Columbus will be selling Christmas trees in the lower parking. Please support the charitable work of the Council. The lot will be open from 5pm to 9pm on weekdays and 9am to 9pm on weekends.
Upcoming Second Collections:
November 20 - Campaign for Human Development
November 27 - ECHODecember 4 - School Tuition Assistance
December 11 - CATHOLIC CHARITIES CHRISTMAS COLLECTION
December 18 - Parish Special Needs
December 25 - Parish Facilities and Maintenance
Fr. Don's Weekly Letter ~ 20 November 2022
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
Having traveled together with a wonderful group of companions has been refreshment and new resolve for me. I wish all of us could benefit from the experiences we have had.
Again, it is Tuesday night and we are just arriving in Rome. We go to our audience with Pope Francis in the morning. They say it will be rainy all day tomorrow and the audience is outside on the piazza in front of Saint Peter. We keep reminding ourselves, it is a pilgrimage and not a vacation! Traditionally pilgrimages involved a great deal of sacrifice and hardship, even danger, as pilgrims awakened in the fourth century seeking to discover the places they had always read about in the Gospels. In our case, we have remembered the stories of the saints we have traveled with these two weeks, and the stories have come alive because we find ourselves in often unchanged places, in the context of the saints themselves. I found myself grumbling this morning - our time in Assisi was largely rainy and cold - not without some brilliant moments of incredible beauty - and all I had to do is reflect on how Saint Francis himself knew these rainy cold November days all too well, and without a home or an umbrella to keep the rain from soaking him.
We have had very little to complain about, truly. In fact, the surprising beauty of Ravenna, Modena, and Bologna, surprised nearly all of us, because they were new places for most of us. The cathedral in Modena exists today exactly as it did at the time of the Fathers of the Church in the fourth and fifth centuries. It is largely untouched, a place of deep faith and history.
The remarkable natural beauty that Francis found in the monastery he established on the mountain at La Verna was as transforming and restoring as much for us as it was for him. And the order and beauty of the perfectly ordered Renaissance city of Pienza which had been imagined and built by Pope Pius II had the same healing effect for all of us.
We celebrated Mass before the very tomb of Saint Francis yesterday morning in the crypt of the basilica in Assisi! Today we traveled to Orvieto and celebrated Mass in the cathedral basilica that was built in honor of the eucharistic miracle at Bolsena, the shrine which contains the linen corporal upon which the Body of Christ under the form of bread bled on the altar.
Now we are in Rome, and will be here for three full days before returning on Saturday. We have faithfully carried your intentions with us all along the way and pray that our return to Saint Bernadette with all our saint friends will be a source of renewal for all of us. God is glorified in his saints - which includes you!
The Lord be with you,
Streaming Masses and Annoucements for the Week of November 13, 2022
STREAMING SUNDAY AND WEEKDAY MASSES
Today's Live-Streamed Mass
Worship Aid for the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Please note there will be no 7 am daily Masses this week.
Join us for Taizé Prayer on Monday, November 21, at 8 pm. Come pray for Christian unity in our community and the world. All Christians are warmly invited; invite your friends.
This weekend, Nov. 12/13, our second collection will support the annual Mission Cooperative Plan Appeal for our diocese. Our parish mission organization is the Diocese of Kumbo in Cameroon. See p, 14 for more information. Please be generous.
. There will be only one Mass at 10 am on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 24. As a way of giving thanks to God for the many blessings in our lives, please help those experiencing food insecurity by bringing non-perishable food items to Mass on Thanksgiving day. You will be invited to place your contribution at the foot of the altar during the offertory. A basket will be available for donations of cash, checks, or gift cards. All donations will benefit the Catholic Charities St. Lucy Food Project.
The Saint Bernadette Bake is December 10 & 11 after all Masses in the Church vestibule. Please consider signing up to donate an item to the bake sale. All proceeds go towards our Capital Campaign.
Keep Christ in Christmas! The Knights of Columbus will be selling Christmas cards in the vestibule after all Masses on November 19-20 and December 3-4. You may contact Mike Candalor at mcandalor@cox.net to get information or arrange another opportunity to view/purchase cards.
Please consider a planned gift to the Seminarian Education Endowment Fund to cover the costs of the formation of our future priests. See p. 13 for information.
Upcoming Second Collections:
November 13 - Missionary Appeal, Diocese of Kumbo
November 20 - Campaign for Human Development
November 27 - ECHO
