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Streaming Masses and Announcements for the week of 26 November 2023
Today's Live-Streamed Mass
Worship Aid for The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
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Any boys or girls interested in learning to serve at the Mass as Altar Servers in 4th grade through high school, please contact the parish office. We are planning a training in December.
Keep Christ in Christmas! The Knights of Columbus will be selling Christmas cards in the vestibule after all Masses on the weekends of November 18-19 and November 25-26. You may contact Mike Candalor at mcandalor@cox.net to get information or arrange another opportunity to view/purchase cards.
All women are invited to an Advent Evening of Reflection on December 9 from 7-9 pm in the school Gym. This event is free, and registrations aren’t required but greatly appreciated. Please see the bulletin for more information.
Our 2023 Giving Tree is now in the vestibule. Please consider taking a tag and helping make someone’s Christmas special this year. You can also click here.
The Knights of Columbus will begin their Christmas tree sale on November 25th. The tree lot will be open weekdays from 5-9pm and weekends from 9am-9pm.
Friday, 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 Thursday evening with a Vigil at 7:30pm, and on Friday at 7 and 9am, noon, and 7:30pm (bilingual).
Concerts at Saint Bernadette presents Advent Lessons and Carols, on Sunday, December 10 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.
Shop our Christmas Bake Sale after Masses the weekend of December 9 & 10. Thank you for your support!
Fr. Don's Weekly Letter ~ 26 November 2023
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
Many say that the pathway to the spiritual life -- to any kind of peace, really -- is the pathway of thanksgiving. You focus on what you are thankful for, and prayer begins. Healing begins. It is the cornerstone of any 12-step program; it begins to reorder behavior and change people’s lives. It opens the channel of communication between you and God, especially in times when it seems too hard.
Well, you might say, “I have nothing to be thankful for.” I suppose there might be such suffering and difficulty in life that it might seem impossible to be grateful for it. After all, the One to whom we would be grateful, might be the One we blame for that suffering. How can I be thankful to him?
This kind of thinking, however, twists reality. God is the author of all that is good, and he is exactly the One whom we need to turn to at such times to help us to see the many things we are thankful for. If thankfulness is the remedy, we are allowing our difficulties to be the distraction that keeps us from healing.
Looking around the world today, we can see so many ways we can be grateful because we aren’t in a war; we aren’t suffering senseless suffering of terrorism and violence on a scale the world has seldom seen. Still, our country is plagued with many forms of suffering which we need to be delivered from -- these record numbers of mass shootings in our country are only a symptom of a sickness that pervades our society. But even here, thankfulness is the key that can turn the hearts of those who are committing these crimes of anger and hopelessness. We need to teach each other how to be thankful.
Our country pauses for a moment this weekend under the title of Thanksgiving Day. Hopefully, there will be moments of loving kindness and service to others, maybe even the opportunity to get together with loved ones for a special shared meal. I know this letter is a little late for Thanksgiving Day itself, but it is never too late to intentionally add thankfulness to our Thanksgiving Day weekend. It is far from a rote custom that serves up the same menu every year. Take some moments to actually exercise your gratitude power and be truly thankful. Then, when we find ourselves in darker times or circumstances, we can remember the many things that matter for which we are thankful.
The simplest place to start is where you are right now. If your usual daily prayer includes “grace” before meals, add a quick prayer at the end of the meal. “We give you thanks, almighty God, for these and all the gifts we have received from your bounty through Christ, our Lord.” It provides a second bookend that completes the meal and acknowledges our dependence on God. In our house growing up, we added, “May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.” Do you see how that happened? Your gratitude just suddenly grew into a spiritual work of mercy, to pray for the dead, for those who are waiting on our help to find their way to heaven but they can’t pray for themselves. Let’s be grateful for us -- and for them -- while there is time.
The Lord be with you,
Fr. Don's Weekly Letter ~ 19 November 2023
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
When you read this, we will already be back from the parish pilgrimage to Portugal and Spain. I have included a few photos later in this bulletin of some of my favorite along the way.
Each stop along the way allowed us to consider the reality of pilgrimage more deeply and how you don’t have to fly to a distant place to make the journey of life in companionship with God.
We started at the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua. Yes, that is correct, he was born in Lisbon, Portugal. We reflected on his life of how he followed God’s call which took him to surprising and unexpected places in his life, which was a pilgrimage.
Then we visited Fatima, literally one of the principal pilgrimage destinations in Christianity. It is a place where people go, mostly, to say thanks to God for his gifts, the most important of these is our Mother, Mary, who loves us.
Santiago de Compostela. Another pilgrimage destination in a town that still has buildings dating to the 700s. Our readings at Mass challenged us as the dwelling places of God we are, to see ourselves as the tabernacles of the Holy Spirit. Consider all the beauty we have seen already, and have yet to experience in this trip and in life, and try to remember as best we can that God has made us even more beautiful, destinations where people on their pilgrimages can encounter God in us. These churches and holy shrines are only human attempts (though truly incredible) to express the mystery of how God dwells in us. You are more precious and more beautiful than the greatest of these holy places and monuments because you are made by God, in his image.
Our next stop was the Cathedral of Leon, whose patroness is Saint Mary of Regla, a local Madonna venerated since the time of Saint Augustine, the 5th century statue of whom was at the altar where we celebrated Mass. The feast is the same as the Nativity of Mary, and we reflected on how the pilgrimage of the Blessed Virgin Mary was set in motion by her Immaculate Conception and how her “yes” allowed our salvation to unfold.
In Avila, we talked about how Saint Teresa of Jesus’ pilgrimage was both outward and inward. Answering the call to reform the Carmelite order to its original simplicity and poverty, she founded 17 convents and at the same time explored what she called the “interior castle,” a pilgrimage of discovery within herself where she went deeper and deeper into the relationship she had with God, as if discovering new rooms where she learned something always new. Her spiritual director, Saint John of the Cross, also a reformer of the men’s Carmelite order, experienced much suffering and persecution for his efforts, out of which came a new understanding of living the reality of the cross. His pilgrimage was one that took him through the “dark night of the soul” (his cross), literally a spiritual pilgrimage that took him through the real experience of death to new life. His poetry is considered one of the greatest treasures of Spain. We celebrated his feast today in Toledo.
If you haven’t figured out where I’m going with this, we will continue through Seville, Cordoba, Barcelona and Montserrat. Know this: all is pilgrimage until we are home with God -- and the good news is he doesn’t wait on us. He joins us all along the way.
The Lord be with you,
Streaming Masses and Announcements for the week of 19 November 2023
Today's Live-Streamed Mass
Worship Aid for the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Any boys or girls interested in learning to serve at the Mass as Altar Servers in 4th grade through high school, please contact the parish office. We are planning a training in December.
Keep Christ in Christmas! The Knights of Columbus will be selling Christmas cards in the vestibule after all Masses on the weekends of November 18-19 and November 25-26. You may contact Mike Candalor at mcandalor@cox.net to get information or arrange another opportunity to view/purchase cards.
Join us for our monthly (third Monday) Taize Prayer Service on Monday night, 20 November 8-8:45pm. Come for a peaceful moment of simple song and silence and pray for Christian Unity.
You are invited to the Thanksgiving Interfaith Prayer Service on Tuesday, 22 November at 7:30pm at Burke United Methodist Church as we celebrate Care of Creation with local interfaith houses of worship.
There will be only one Mass at 10 am on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 23. To thank 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 cash, checks, or gift card donations. All donations will benefit the Catholic Charities St. Lucy Food Project.
Bishop Burbidge invites everyone in the diocese to Solemn Vespers on the Solemnity of Christ the King on Sunday, November 26th, to open the Diocesan Golden Jubilee Year. It will be held at Saint Michael Church in Annandale, beginning with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 5pm and followed by a reception. Register as soon as you can online - space is limited
All women are invited to an Advent Evening of Reflection on December 9 from 7-9 pm in the school Gym. This event is free, and registrations aren’t required but greatly appreciated. Please see the bulletin for more information.
Our 2023 Giving Tree is now in the vestibule. Please consider taking a tag and helping make someone’s Christmas special this year. You can also click here.
The Knights of Columbus will begin their Christmas tree sale on November 25th. The tree lot will be open weekdays from 5-9pm and weekends from 9am-9pm.
Streaming Masses and Announcements for the week of 12 November 2023
Today's Live-Streamed Mass
Worship Aid for the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Give the gift of life! Donate blood! INOVA Blood Services will be providing donation services next weekend, Saturday, November 11, 2023 from 8:30am to 1:30pm at the Bloodmobile in front of the Bradican Rm.
The Knights of Columbus have partnered with Cross Catholic Outreach to bring its Box of Joy ministry project. You can fill the box with small toys and toiletries for children in need. You are also encouraged to mail a $9 check separately for each box to cover international shipping costs. Don’t forget to return your box of joy presents this weekend, November 11 & 12.
Any boys or girls interested in learning to serve at the Mass as Altar Servers in 4th grade through high school, please get in touch with the parish office. We are planning a training in December.
Keep Christ in Christmas! The Knights of Columbus will be selling Christmas cards in the vestibule after all Masses the weekends of November 18-19 and November 25-26. You may contact Mike Candalor at mcandalor@cox.net to get information or arrange another opportunity to view/purchase cards.
Join us for our monthly (third Monday) Taize Prayer Service on Monday night, 20 November 8-8:45pm. Come for a peaceful moment of simple song and silence and pray for Christian Unity.
You are invited to the Thanksgiving Interfaith Prayer Service on Tuesday, 22 November at 7:30pm at Burke United Methodist Church as we celebrate Care of Creation with local interfaith houses of worship.
There will be only one Mass at 10 am on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 23. To thank 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 cash, checks, or gift card donations. All donations will benefit the Catholic Charities St. Lucy Food Project.
Bishop Burbidge invites everyone in the diocese to Solemn Vespers on the Solemnity of Christ the King on Sunday, November 26th, to open the Diocesan Golden Jubilee Year. It will be held at Saint Michael Church in Annandale, beginning with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 5pm and followed by a reception. Register as soon as you can online - space is limited
Fr. Don's Weekly Letter ~ 12 November 2023
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
Good evening/afternoon, depending on which side of the Atlantic you find yourself. Today (Monday, 6 November) was a long day for the pilgrims of Saint Bernadette. I have 14,980 steps on my watch, and I have to say after delayed flights, a 1.2-mile sprint between gates in Frankfurt, and finally arriving in Lisbon, we were glad to be here! But then we spent the rest of the day walking, walking. Lisbon is beautiful, I had never really seen the old city before, and we enjoyed (mostly) the walk. The monastery of Saint Jerome, the monument to Vasco de Gama and the many Portuguese explorers, the tower of Belem, then downtown, ultimately ending up at the church where Saint Anthony of Padua was born. Except here is known as Saint Anthony of Lisbon.
The church has, in its crypt, a small shrine which is the room in which he was born. His life is a good reflection of how important it is to remember that all our lives are always a pilgrimage and how easy it is to become complacent. On this journey of life we must always be on the move, led to the next truth and make sure we are being led by God. It is a kind of discernment which might take you somewhere unexpected in life if you are willing to be surprised by God along the way.
On the first day of our pilgrimage last year in Italy, we began in Padua, where Saint Anthony is buried. Italy gladly co-claims him as a beloved patron, but the truth is he is not Italian. He is Portuguese. Born in what is now downtown Lisbon, he discerned a vocation with the Augustinian monks, the same order to which belongs our Fr. Cedric. At the completion of his formation, he was moved by a story he heard of five Franciscan priests who died in the struggle with the Moslems in northern Africa. His zeal overflowed, and he joined the Franciscans so that he could go to northern Africa, too, and maybe be a martyr for the faith. When he arrived there, he contracted a terrible illness from which he nearly died. They put him on a boat bound for Portugal, but for whatever reason, the course of the boat changed, and he landed in Italy. Italy welcomed him with open arms, and he became a great and beloved preacher and teacher there. He died in Padua, just inland from Venice on the northeast coast.
Considering his life, can you see he is the perfect story of how we are journeying on a pilgrimage, listening to God’s call, and going where he seems to be taking you next? We love to control everything about our lives, but it is quite possible that we might end up with quite a bit left if we just do what is comfortable, familiar, and “just like we always do it.” God knows better.
We carry with us all of your prayers, your triumphs, your joys and sorrows, and sufferings as we walk these long paths! Once, around the year 325, when Christianity became legal, people were free to travel. The first thing they wanted to do was go to see the places where Jesus was born, lived, preached, performed miracles, suffered, died, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. Pilgrimages were born. And most people could not make the long journey, which was arduous. We are the ones representing Saint Bernadette Church and School to all the holy places of Portugal and Spain. More later! I am sharing photos along the way. We will make them available for you to see, too.
The Lord be with you,
Fr. Don's Weekly Letter ~ 5 November 2023
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
This week I have been struggling for something to say about the conflict and devastation in Israel-Palestine. It is Tuesday, the day we go to the printer, and I realize that, as bad as things are, they could be a whole lot more dire by the time you read this. Today there are more than 8,000 dead in Gaza, with an estimated 1,600 children missing where buildings have collapsed. This is on top of the original 1,400 brutal murders of Jewish people by Hamas, who started this war. One person I know from the Holy Land says that the reason communications (electricity, internet) have now gone dark in Gaza is that they don’t want the world to see people starving in real-time.
What we have seen is probably only a small part of the reality on the ground, but it is already too much. Our prayers today must be for the people who are trapped and under siege, particularly the innocent hundreds of thousands of people who have been caught between the savagery of the original terrorists and now the heavy weight of revenge that is destroying a culture. Words like “savages” and “barbarians,” which are being used generally to describe Palestinian Muslims and Christians, do not describe the vast majority of people who I have known, who now have no homes, no water, and only hope. I have been trying somehow to make sense of this.
In the Gospel for this morning, Jesus is trying to describe the Kingdom in a way that we can understand it. It’s like... a tiny seed that becomes a bush large enough for all the birds of the sky to rest. It’s like a measure of yeast that somehow brings to life the whole mass of dough. In other words, he is saying, you just have to trust me on this one. You can’t explain how, only that it is my Father’s plan, and my Father will not be frustrated.
But we will be, in the meantime, as we wait for the transformation of this earth into a place that is pleasing to God. The first reading this morning, Saint Paul writing to the Romans, expresses this. “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.” How great must that glory be, compared to the depths of our world’s suffering. ... “for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in the hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.” God’s Kingdom is yet to come and is greater than the best of this world, and only God knows how to make the seed a home for all the birds or leaven the bread that sustains us. “We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”
Saint Paul concludes: “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.” It is our powerlessness and faith in God that allows us to hope for what we ourselves cannot solve.
We witnessed/are witnessing the fact of our inhumanity. What is truly human now has been transformed by the divine nature of Jesus, and the Kingdom is already here within and among us, but not yet complete.
Our parish pilgrimage begins Sunday night, Nov. 5. We will carry your intentions with us as we travel through Portugal and Spain.
The Lord be with you,
Streaming Masses and Announcements for the week of 5 November 2023
Today's Live-Streamed Mass
Worship Aid for the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
The parish office will be closed on Friday, November 10, in observance of Veterans Day.
The Knights of Columbus have partnered with Cross Catholic Outreach to bring its Box of Joy ministry project. You can fill the box with small toys and toiletries for children in need. You are also encouraged to mail a $9 check separately for each box to cover international shipping costs. Don’t forget to return your box of joy presents next weekend, November 11 & 12.
Any boys or girls interested in learning to serve at the Mass as Altar Servers in 4th grade through high school, please get in touch with the parish office. We are planning a training in December.
Bishop Burbidge invites everyone in the diocese to Solemn Vespers on the Solemnity of Christ the King on Sunday, November 26th, to open the Diocesan Golden Jubilee Year. It will be held at Saint Michael Church in Annandale, beginning with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 5pm and followed by a reception. Register as soon as you can online - space is limited.
There will be a display of beautiful olivewood handmade carvings from the Holy Land. These carvings are made by the Christians of Bethlehem, who use them as their source of income. Below is a letter from Butros, whose family is from Bethlehem.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
For the past 2000 years, We, the Christian Families of the Holy Land, have endured all types of persecution, discrimination, and sufferings to continue to keep Christianity alive there. And despite the many efforts of displacements, we continued to remain strong, but today we need your support now more than ever. Bethlehem right now is isolated, seized, and blocked out from the rest of the world. Tourism has completely stopped. Hotels, restaurants, and souvenir shops are closed. The people of Bethlehem have lost all their sources of income. They are living in constant fear.
What is happening today will have a major impact on the Christian's presence in the Holy Land for generations to come. Gaza is only 45 miles away from Bethlehem. The few remaining Christian families there are being wiped out, and Christian hospitals have been completely destroyed. Last week, the Church of Saint Porphyrius, which is the third oldest Church in the world, was bombed while Christians were seeking refuge. Churches are holding collective baptisms to ensure that their children are baptized.
This is a critical time for the Christian community in the Holy Land; I am here today to ask you to pray for peace and Justice for all the families and the children of the Holy Land and to support those families to keep Christianity alive in the Land where Jesus has lived in.
This display of olive wood today is one of the few remaining sources of income for those Christian families. Your support will be a turning point for many Christian families. It will strengthen the presence of Christianity in the Holy Land.
Please show your brothers and sisters in Christ that you remember and care about them. As Jesus has said in Matthew 25:40, "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me."
Streaming Masses and Announcements for the week of 29 October 2023
Today's Live-Streamed Mass
Worship Aid for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wednesday, November 1st, is All Saints Day. Please mark your calendars for this Holy Day of Obligation. All Saints Day Masses: Vigil on October 31 at 7:30 pm, 7 am, 9 am, noon, and a 7:30 pm bilingual. All Souls Day Mass 7 am, 9 am, noon, and a 7:30 pm bilingual.
Remember loved ones in the All Souls Day Novena of Masses. All Masses November 2nd-10th will be offered for those included in the novena. Remembrance envelopes are available in the church vestibule. Please return the completed envelopes to the parish office before November 1.
The Knights of Columbus have partnered with Cross Catholic Outreach to bring its Box of Joy ministry project. You can fill the box with small toys and toiletries for children in need. You are also encouraged to mail a $9 check separately for each box to cover international shipping costs. Pick up your boxes after Mass the weekend of October 28 & 29 and bring them back the weekend of November 11 & 12.
Next weekend, there will be a display of beautiful olivewood handmade carvings from the Holy Land. These carvings are made by the Christians of Bethlehem, who use them as their source of income. Let us support our brothers and sisters in The Holy Land.
Fr. Don's Weekly Letter ~ 29 October 2023
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
Last week, we laid to rest a very dear friend and colleague, Sister Susan Louise Eder, OSFS. We worked together for nearly 15 years – she as principal, I as pastor – at Holy Cross Academy, the parish school for Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Fredericksburg. She was greatly loved by so many children, families, and those of us who had the privilege of knowing her.
She was truly a daughter of Saint Francis de Sales, whose motto was “Live Jesus.” I have never known anyone who did it better.
As an educator and administrator, she was also one of the best. I was a first-time pastor when I went to Fredericksburg and learned much from her about being a good pastor.
The Oblate Sisters of Saint Francis de Sales, whose motherhouse is in Childs, Maryland (near the Delaware border), were asked by Bishop Keating to come to Stafford County and start a school that would ultimately become a parish called Holy Cross. The Sisters have a photograph of the first time they walked onto the empty field where the school would be born in 1998. There was urgency in establishing a school because the Daughters of Wisdom – the same Sisters who started our school at Saint Bernadette –
were closing their Catholic school in Fredericksburg, Montfort Academy, and a Catholic school was needed. The Oblate priests were already here in the diocese, having founded St. John Neumann and Our Lady of Good Counsel Parishes and Bishop Ireton and Paul VI High Schools.
Sister created the community at Holy Cross and gathered the people of God together. Holy Cross Academy thrived and was a model school academically and spiritually. When the Sisters were abruptly asked to leave five years ago, they were welcomed by the Archdiocese of Baltimore at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish’s school, which was at that time in crisis. Also, at that time, Sister learned she had cancer. The Sisters, with the leadership of Sister Susan Louise, were able to turn that school around. She gave everything she had to the people she served wherever God sent her. We celebrated her funeral at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church on October 20.
I write about her today because I miss her, and I want you to know the beauty of her vocation. She was the best of all of us, and her vocation as a religious sister needs to be remembered by all those who might be considering the beauty of a vocation like hers.
I write also about her today to all those who have this idea that women don’t have a role in the Church. This has been a topic of discussion at the Synod, which continues this month in Rome. It is inaccurate to say that women don’t have a role; you can only say that women aren’t priests. At the Synod, for example, there is a lively conversation about the possible role of women as deacons in the Church – it has happened in the past. But do not underestimate the amazing influence and contributions of women like Sister Susan Louise. Consider the impression she has made on children and parents as a principal of 500 students a year for 30 years, as well as her always active life in the parish. She was a great speaker and leader in the diocese and beyond in her order, and she was a dear friend to many.
May her memory truly be a blessing to all of us.
The Lord be with you,
