Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

It is hard to believe how much quicker time seems to be passing. It seems each day is over before I even get started on my lists. It occurs to all of us here in the office that Holy Week is already nearly here, and there is a lot to talk about.

First, I’ve failed to mention in all of our schedules that we will have an Easter Food Blessing on Holy Saturday morning in the church at 10:30am. The timing might be a little odd, you would think - at a time when there is no holy water. We drain the holy water we have on Holy Thursday night when the church is stripped following the procession to Gethsemane, and there isn’t any holy water available until the font is blessed at the Easter Vigil. But prior to Vatican II, when the midnight to Mass/Communion fast was still in force, it was the common practice to celebrate the Easter Vigil in the morning on Holy Saturday. In people’s minds, Lent therefore ended on Saturday morning. I remember when we were kids if we had given up candy for Lent, we were allowed to start eating candy again at noon on Holy Saturday. By then, there would have been holy water! So we are going to hide some on Holy Thursday. Shhh. We will use the blessings of the Eastern Catholic Ukrainian Rite. If you would like to participate and learn how to arrange your basket with the eggs, the butter, the meats and cheeses, you can find it at http://www.polishamericancenter.org/SwieconkaBasket.htmConfessions might be brisk this Holy Week, I hope everyone went to the Parish Penance Service last week when we had all the visiting priests! For the scheduled times during Holy Week (Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and Good Friday 12-3pm), please arrive at the start of these scheduled times. If the line runs out we will figure that we’re done. We will finish confessions exactly at 3pm, as we do not celebrate any sacraments during the time that we observe our Lord’s being buried.

On Holy Thursday night, rather than processing to the chapel as has been the practice in the past, we will process to the gym in the school. There, we will have a chapel set up in the center of the room where we will place the Blessed Sacrament, with chairs in circles around it. It would be impossible for everyone in the church to follow our Lord (symbolically) from the Upper Room to Gethsemane where he asks us to wait and pray with him until his arrest at midnight. I’ve been told that most people don’t bother, because the chapel is too small and the crowd is too close. I would imagine, also, that there isn’t even enough distance between the church and the chapel to get a real procession going. We will process into the gym, with the Blessed Sacrament coming last, and people will be invited to stay as long as they can. We will celebrate night prayer at 11:50pm and then the Blessed Sacrament will be removed in preparation for Good Friday.

We have commissioned a woodworker to make a simple cross for the veneration of the wood of the Cross on Good Friday. Many people don’t realize that it is actually the wood itself that we venerate, not the Body of Christ (he is in the tomb). Saint Augustine said that the wood of the Cross represented our own humanity, which Jesus chose as the vehicle of our salvation. You can see the cross displayed in a stand in the vestibule of the Church.

For Palm Sunday this year, we ask that you NOT bring old palms back into the parish. We won’t be burning them. Instead, I recommend that you cut them into small pieces and turn them into your gardens. As with any sacramental, the reverent way to dispose of them is either by burning or burying.

Finally, it gives me great gladness to invite everyone who attends the beautiful Easter Vigil to a reception following in the gym. Our wonderful ladies in the Friends in Need Committee will prepare a simple and refreshing repast for you following the Mass. It is a long Mass - often exceeding three hours, in my experience - so it will be good to strengthen weak knees and drooping spirits! Please join us.

An Interfaith Vision for Our Community

As faith leaders from the greater Washington, DC area, we offer this as a statement that arises from our trust in God and belief that good government is exercised “under God,” with respect for the inalienable rights of all. The theological underpinnings that form the foundation of our principles and values have, at their root, our responsibility to serve humanity and these values call us into community. The truth of our common humanity is shared by all, including atheists, agnostics, and those who claim no particular religious affiliation. These values are in harmony with the best of the values undergirding the founding documents of the United States.  

This interfaith vision for our community is founded on the hope that leaders and citizens alike might use this fundamental truth as the basis of particular practices of citizenship and express these values legislatively across all the governmental, civic, corporate and not-for profit organizations that make up our diverse community.  

First and always, we are neighbors. We don’t get to choose who is our neighbor. The neighbor is a gift. We are neighbors regardless of creed, religious affiliation or non-affiliation, race, gender, gender identity, country of origin, political party affiliation, mental or physical ability, or socio-economic condition. We are called fundamentally to be good neighbors with and for each other.  

There are, in fact, moral requirements for society. We do not merely live for ourselves, but with and for each other.  We are not exempt from serving our neighbors. We proclaim that other people may never be reduced to opportunities for our own pleasure or success; they aren’t commodities to be traded, or inconveniences to be ignored or rejected.  

As religious communities we are committed to these values. We invite all area businesses, organizations, government entities, and individuals to prayerfully join us in this commitment:

1. to be a good neighbor.

2. to value life. We oppose slavery, human trafficking, economic or sexual exploitation, torture, racism, sexism and any other practice that harms life.

3. to value families and the safety and nurture of children within those families.

4. to value quality education for all - children, teens, adults, seniors.

5. to aspire to meaningful vocations for all adults and a living wage for reasonable labor serving the common good.

6. to embrace mutually beneficial commerce that serves the common good. We oppose any commerce that demeans human life, practices usury, benefits a few while harming others, or harms the common good.

7. to promote responsible environmental stewardship of the earth and its resources. 

Our urgent concern is to remind our fellow citizens at a time when our beloved country experiences anguish and division that there are in fact values which unite us. We insist our religious communities and individuals be free both to speak of and also to act on these concerns in order to help heal wounds and comfort those in need of God’s healing through prayer and neighborly service to their fellow human beings.

In many ways, these conversations are becoming more and more common today, in response to what seems to be a growing desire for a renewal of religious values in society. Let us keep each other in prayer, not only Christians, but people of good will of all faiths.

God bless you.