Help Keep Our Community Safe- A Special Message from Fr. Rob

Please help us keep our community safe by always wearing a mask when you are in church at Mass or in the Parish Center. Thank you for your cooperation!

Fr. Rob’s Scripture Challenge

At Mass on the weekend of October 3/4, Fr. Rob challenged us to read the second reading in the morning and at night for one week. He then asked those who accepted this challenge to let us know how it made their day/week better, or if it changed their outlook at all.

PHIL 4:6-9

Brothers and sisters:
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious,
if there is any excellence
and if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.
Keep on doing what you have learned and received
and heard and seen in me.
Then the God of peace will be with you.

If you would like to participate, please tell us your experience below.

Anti-Racism Resources

Anti-Racism Resources

Prayer for an End to Racism Prayer Service Outline

US Conference of Catholic Bishops Pastoral Letters/ Documents

All of these documents and more resources are available on the web or at the USCCB website: www.usccb.org

  • Racism: Confronting the Poison in Our Common Home, USCCB: Dept. of Justice, Peace and Human Development, January, 2016
  • The Racial Divide in the United State: A Reflection for the World Day of Peace 2015, A Pastoral Letter, Most Reverend Edward K. Braxton, Ph.D., S.T.D., Bishop of Belleville, IL, January 1, 2015
  • Statement of Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, of Louisville, KY, President of the USCCB to the Spring General Assembly, June 10,2015
  • 25th Anniversary: U.S. Bishops’ Pastoral Letter on Racism, October, 2004
  • In God’s Image: Pastoral Letter on Racism, Most Reverend Harry J. Flynn, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, MN, September 12, 2003
  • Created in God’s Image: A Pastoral Letter on the Sin of Racism and a Call to Conversion, Most Rev. Dale J. Melczek, Bishop of the Diocese of Gary, IN, Aug. 6, 2003
  • Dwell in My Love: A Pastoral Letter on Racism, Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago,IL, April 4, 2001 (33rd Anniv. of the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.)
  • On Racial Harmony, A Statement Approved by the Administrative Board, National Catholic Welfare Conference, Aug. 23, 1963
  • Brothers and Sisters to US, US Catholic Bishops Pastoral Letter on Racism, 1979
  • The Ghost of the Legacy of Racial Inequity Continues to Haunt Us, Bishop Michael Pfeifer, O.M.J.
  • Diversity and Racial Justice Resources, www.wearesaltandlight.org 
  • Resources on Racism for Youth Ministry Leaders, http://www.nfcym.org/racism.htm

Books

  • Racial Justice and the Catholic Church, Bryan Massingale, S.T.D. (a must read!)
  • America’s Original Sin, Jim Wallis
  • Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation, Jennifer Harvey
  • Everyday White People Confront Racial and Social Justice: 15 Stories, Eddie Moore, Jr, Ali Michael, Marguerite W. Penick-Parks, Editors
  • Understanding & Dismantling Racism, Joseph Barndt
  • The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander
  • Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
  • Between The World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Nobody, Marc Lamont Hill
  • Why Race Matters, Cornel West 
  • The Cross and The Lynching Tree, James H. Cone                                            
  • White Like Me, Tim Wise
  • Waking Up White, Debbie Irvin
  • Witnessing Whiteness, Shelly Tochluk
  • Race is a Nice Thing to Have, Janet Helms
  • Lies My Teacher Told Me, James Loewen
  • People’s History of the US, Howard Zinn
  • Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice, Paul Kivel

Movies

  • 13th XII (on Netflix)
  • Loving
  • 12 Years a Slave
  • The Help
  • Selma
  • Birth of a Nation
  • Hidden Figures
  • Just Mercy (free on streaming platforms for the month of June)
  • American Son (on Netflix)

Articles

  • Still Separate, Still Unequal: White Catholics and the Perduring Sin of Racism, America Magazine Aug. 29-Sept. 6, 2016
  • Breaking Silence on Racism, America Magazine Nov. 30, 2015
  • Editorial: New Dialogue on the Old Problem of Racism, National Catholic Reporter March 24, 2016
  • As Church Demographics Shift, Catholics Urged to Address the “Sin of Racism.” National Catholic Reporter Nov. 10, 2015
  • Blind Spots: Reckoning with Racism, Commonweal Magazine Oct. 5, 2016
  • Racism: Will We Ever Overcome?, U.S. Catholic Magazin, July 13, 2016
  • Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack  (A classic in literature about race,) Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D. nationalseedproject.org/white-privilege-unpacking-the-invisible-knapsack
  • Race/Related: New York Times – weekly email newsletter, NYTimes.com/race-related
  • When Whites Just Don’t Get It: Parts 1 -7, Nicholas Kristof, New York Times Sunday Review, 8/30/14; 9/6.14; 10/11/14; 11/15/14; 11/29/14; 4/2/16; 10/1/16
  • Is Everyone a Little Bit Racist?, Nicholas Kristof, New York Times Opinion Pages, Aug. 27, 2014
  • Why Talk About Whiteness: We Can’t talk About Racism Without It, Emily Chiariello
  • Teaching Tolerance: www.tolerance.org/whiteness, Summer 2016
  • Confronting White Privilege, Katy Walwell, Teaching Tolerance Fall 2012
  • Can We? A Brief History of American Racism, Melissa Harris-Perry, The Nation Sept. 1, 2009
  • Black as We Wanna Be, Matthew McKnight, The Nation Sept. 15, 2016
  • Embrace Race: Raising Kids in a World Where Race Matters, www.embracerace.org

Speeches

  • YouTube: What I Didn’t Tell My White Friends Jim Crow Explained – Keith Hughes
  • Ted Talks:  Talks to Help You Understand Racism in America (9 talks)
  • Ideas.Ted.Com: My Hopes, Dreams, Fears for My Future Son, Clint Smith May 1, 2015
  • The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander speaking at Union Theological Seminary, www.utsnyc.edu
  • Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University, www.ferris.edu/jimcrow

Resources courtesy of Pax Christi USA.

Easter-Card Project

Easter-Card Project

Wondering what you can do for others now that we’re all at home? The Blessed Sacrament community is coming together to reach out to those in our parish who may be most isolated at this time by making Easter cards for our parishioners who are 65 or over! There are a lot of them, but if every Faith Formation and School family committed to making 10 cards, we should be able to send a note to every single one of them!

Here’s how to participate:

  1.  Contact Lyn Pajk at lynp@blessed-midland.org and tell her how many cards your family wants to make. If you have a family of 5, maybe each of you could commit to making two cards!
  2. Lyn will send you the names and addresses of your family’s pen pals.
  3.  Make an Easter card or write a nice letter full of Easter joy to your pen pal. (Reminder: Wash your hands before writing your note or making your card! We don’t want to inadvertently spread germs through the mail!)
  4.  Address your envelope and send it off! We recommend sending your letter by Tuesday, April 7 to ensure delivery before or by Easter Sunday!
  5. Or, if you’d like to drop it at the Parish Center, one of the Faith Formation staff will be happy to mail them for you. Last day for drop-off is Tuesday, April 7. The drop-off bin is by the Parish Center doors of the big parking lot.

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Baptism of the Lord Icon Explained

What is the Baptism of the Lord or Theophany?

Theophany, or Baptism of the Lord, is upon us. The word Theophany means “Revelation of God;” Theophany therefore marks the revelation of the Trinitarian nature of God when Jesus was baptized.  Those who witnessed heard the Father’s voice from Heaven, saw the Spirit descending upon Jesus, and could see Jesus in the flesh, whom God confirmed to be His Son with His voice.

Theophany Icon:

Icon Theophany

The symbolism of this icon is deep and rich.  There is one particular part I want to focus on for this blog entry.

Jesus is naked, or nearly so.

Christ is purposely depicted with little or no clothing.  But why is that significant?

All throughout the creation narrative in Genesis we see God creating and then saying it is “good.”  Man and woman were created together in God’s image.  They were both beautiful, and while they lacked physical garments, they were clothed in the glory of the “image” and “likeness” of God.  However, when they fell into sin, they hid in shame until God brought them garments of skin to wear (which symbolizes the sinful tendency that now obscures our true nature).  Their natural beauty was transformed into an object of shame.  Adam and Eve fell, and with them fell creation.

Theophany iconNow, enter Jesus Christ: he represents the second Adam (1 Cor 15).  In shame and nakedness, Adam hid.  Yet Christ comes in his majesty, both as God and man, both in glory and nakedness completely unashamed, representing the beauty of the undefiled human made possible through Him (and in the subsequent centuries, Christians were often baptized without any clothing, shedding the garments of the “old man” to die in Christ and be resurrected in Him). But why was Christ baptized if He had no sin?

While Christ was baptized in the Jordan River, it was really the Jordan and all of creation that was baptized in Christ.  As Canticle Four of Compline of Theophany states, At Thine appearing in the body, the earth was sanctified, the waters blessed, the heaven enlightened, and mankind was set loose from the bitter tyranny of the enemy.

We see the beginning of a new creation in Theophany.  Things are being set right.  Christ has come not only to cleanse and restore mankind, but to adopt us as heirs into his Kingdom.  And when we receive His glory, not only are we redeemed, but we draw all of creation with us into the final restoration.  That is why “creation groans” in eager expectation, awaiting the glorification of the children of God. (Rom 8)

A few other notes about the Icon:

  • At the top the Holy Spirit is descending upon Jesus as a dove, the Holy Spirit is depicted in a Mandorla.  In this manner, The Father, using His own pre-eternal and consubstantial and subracelestial Spirit as His finger, crying out and point from heaven, openly declared and proclaimed to all that the one then being baptized by John in the Jordan was His beloved Son, while at the same time manifesting His unity with Him.” (St. Gregory Palamas, Homily 60.15).  St. John Chrysostom also emphasizes that the Gospels state the Heavens were opened, the Spirit descends upon us so that we can ascend with Christ and the Spirit to the Father in Heaven.  For the first time since the fall of mankind, the Heavens were opened to us.
  • The angels on the right side are waiting to attend and dress him after the baptism is over.
  • John the Baptist, while baptizing Jesus is usually turned away or looking at the Spirit descending upon Christ.  This signifies that Theophany is about elevating Jesus Christ.  If this were an Olympic race, it would be as if the Old Testament (John the Baptist and all before him) were passing the baton to the New Testament (Jesus Christ and all of the saints).
  • There is an axe near John the Baptist, which reflects his warning that our lives must bear the fruit of the Spirit or else we will be removed.  We cannot get comfortable or spiritually lazy.
  • Jesus is not submerged in the water, for creation was baptized in Him, not vice versa.
  • Lastly, the strange little creatures riding fish at the bottom represent the Jordan River and the Sea, both fleeing at the sight of something much bigger and greater than themselves entering the water.  As the Psalms say:
    • Psalm 73:14 –Thou did establish the sea by Thy might, Thou did break the heads of the dragons in the water.
    • Psalm 76:15 – The waters saw Thee, O God, the waters saw Thee and were afraid; the abysses were troubled.
    • Psalm 113:3 – The sea beheld and fled, [the River] Jordan turned back.

This explanation was taken from the website Orthodox Road. The full text can be found here.

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