National Gun Violence Awareness

We have an obligation to respond. Violence — in our homes, our schools and streets, our nation and world — is destroying the lives, dignity and hopes of millions of our sisters and brothers.
– U.S. Catholic Bishops, 1994

The local chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is reaching out to faith communities in our region to inform us that each year the first weekend in June is set aside to acknowledge and amplify the impact of gun violence in this country.

Friday, June 2nd will be recognized as the 9th National Gun Violence Awareness Day followed by Wear Orange Weekend, June 3rd & 4th. During Wear Orange, everyone who believes we can and must solve the problem of gun violence in America will take action and stand together in a bold statement of resilience and fortitude as we advance our efforts to prevent gun violence.

On January 21, 2013, Hadiya Pendleton, a high school student from Chicago, marched in President Obama’s second inaugural parade. One week later, Hadiya was shot and killed on a playground. Hadiya’s childhood friends decided to commemorate her life by wearing orange, the color hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others. Wear Orange originated on June 2, 2015, and it is observed nationally on the first Friday in June and the following weekend.

There are countless stories behind every gun violence statistic – parents who never got to kiss their kids goodbye, gunshot victims living with physical and emotional wounds, and entire families heartbroken by gun suicide. During National Gun Violence Awareness weekend, we take stock of the terrible human toll of America’s gun violence crisis – and recommit ourselves to preventing it.

We are asking that you recognize the weekend of June 2-4th in a way that is appropriate to your faith tradition; such as a prayer, wearing an orange ribbon in support, a moment of silence, or lighting a candle. We also wish to extend an invitation to your congregation to attend an interfaith observance of National Gun Violence Awareness Day on June 2nd, 7-8 PM at St. Johns Episcopal Church, 405 N. Saginaw Rd., Midland.

Gun violence in any form leaves an enduring mark on the lives of those who are personally impacted. The United States has faced at least 131 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. There have been more mass shootings than days in 2023. More than likely, gun violence has affected people in your faith community, and is definitely on the minds of our teachers and school children.

If you would more information about our local group, please contact Kathy Kinkema. Thank you for your spiritual support in this effort.

Garden Stroll

Come celebrate the beauty of God’s creation by joining us for the Garden Stroll on Sunday, June 25 from 1:00 pm-4:00 pm.

These parishioners are generously inviting you to enjoy their gardens as well as the company of one another: 

Cathy and Tim Richard:
The Joyful Garden, 2 Lexington Ct 

Angela Pasek and Ginny Zorn:
The Prayer Labyrinth Garden*, 5109 Drake St 

*Notes: Please park on Gibson St. Tiered garden may be difficult for those with limited mobility.

Ginger and Steve Dombrowski:
Tranquility Garden, 460 E Old Pine Trail 

Elaine and John Warakomski:
The Serenity Garden*, 2701 Mt. Vernon Dr 

*Note: Whitewood Dr. is closed.

You can visit the gardens in any order, but please be sure to register below or by calling the Parish Center. 

Garden Stroll Registration

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Faith Beautifully Crafted

I try to make sense of life. I try to keep myself open to people and to laughter and to love and to have faith.
– Sr. Thea Bowman-

Stacey Trapani is teaming up with Anne Boyd to provide a third opportunity for us to tap into our creativity and faith this spring!

Join us on Tuesday, June 6 from 6:30 pm-8:30pm as we craft our own individualized and meaningful set of prayer beads. Like rosaries, a string of prayer beads serves as touch points while we pray with different stones and pieces having different meanings.

“Beads have been used as tools for spiritual practice for millennia and across multiple faith traditions, drawing seekers closer to the Divine with each bead touched and prayer offered. Some of the commonly recognized prayer beads being mala beads, used by Buddhists and Hindus, and rosaries, used by Catholics. In fact, at least in the English language, the words “bead” and “prayer” are connected—the word “bead” comes from the anglo-saxon bede, meaning prayer. Even the Desert Mothers and Fathers used a tangible object similar in shape to a bead as a vehicle for prayer, carrying pebbles in their pockets and dropping them as each prayer was released.”
~A Sacred Journey


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Holy Week Schedule

Holy Week is a privileged time when we are called to draw near to Jesus:
friendship with him is shown in times of difficulty. ~Pope Francis

Palm Sunday - April 2, 2023

Mass Schedule

Saturday Vigil – 4:00 pm
Sunday Masses8:30 am & 11:00 am

The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road. The crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying:
“Hosanna to the Son of David;
blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.”

And when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken and asked, “Who is this?” And the crowds replied, “This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Matthew 21:8-11
Holy Thursday - April 6, 2023

Schedule

Potluck – 5:30 pm

What to Bring:

  • Place settings (enough for your family)
  • A main dish
  • One of the following
    • salad
    • vegetable
    • dessert

Mass of the Lord’s Supper – 7:00 pm

Night Prayer – 10:00 pm

Good Friday - April 7, 2023

Schedule

Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion – 12:30 pm

There’s a certain presence in the air on Good Friday. There’s a feeling of the ominous as you walk into the church, the feeling that something terrible is going to happen, but there’s also this feeling of the numinous- that feeling that something holy, something mysterious is happening. I imagine the world woke up to this same feeling however many years ago when Jesus the Christ, Savior, Redeemer, King, and friend was crucified on the cross for sins he didn’t commit. 

And in this same moment, Jesus overcame sin and death so that we might live.

I’d say that those ominous and numinous feelings are appropriate today, but they point us to something greater: a Love that overcame death so that we might have eternal life.

Holy Saturday - April 8, 2023

Schedule

Blessing of Food – 11:00 am

Easter Vigil – 8:30 pm

Dear brothers and sisters,
on this most sacred night,
in which our Lord Jesus Christ
passed over from death to life,
the Church calls upon her sons and daughters,
scattered throughout the world,
to come together to watch and pray.
-If we keep the memorial
of the Lord’s paschal solemnity in this way,
listening to his word and celebrating his mysteries,
then we shall have the sure hope
of sharing his triumph over death
and living with him in God.

April 9, 2023

Schedule

Easter Sunday: The Resurrection of the Lord
Masses: 8:30 am & 11:00 am

Lent 2023

Lent is a time of going very deeply into ourselves… What is it that stands between us and God? Between us and our brothers and sisters? Between us and life, the life of the Spirit? Whatever it is, let us relentlessly tear it out, without a moment’s hesitation.
~Catherine Doherty

Please consider joining us for prayer this Lenten season. Below you will find a list of prayer opportunities at the parish.

 

Mass:

Wednesday & Thursday: 8:30 am

Saturday: 4:00 pm

Sunday: 8:30 am (livestreamed)

Sunday: 11:00 am

Evening Prayer:

Wednesdays at 6:30 pm

Stations of the Cross:

Fridays at 7:00 pm

Reconciliation

Communal Reconciliation

March 5 | 2:00 pm | Assumption

March 14 | 7:00 pm | Blessed Sacrament

Individual Reconciliation

First Saturday of the month at 2:30 pm.

Taize Prayer

March 22
Soup Supper at 5:30 pm
Prayer at 6:30 pm

Labyrinth:

Parishioner, Jean Thiele, has donated her labyrinth for use during this Lenten season.

It is available to walk 8:30 am – 4:30 pm Monday – Thursday beginning March 6 through March 31.

2nd Stations of the Cross, Jesus is given his cross, Church of the Holy Trinity in Gemunden am Main, Bavaria, Germany

Around the MACC

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Our Lady of Grace
St. Brigid of Kildare

Beyond the Nudge: Rediscovering the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Too often, the Holy Spirit seems to us to be an impersonal reality, a nebulous vapor swirling around us. Yet our faith teaches us that the Holy Spirit is a Person, one of the Three Persons of the Trinity.
-Joe Poprocki

Two years ago, Eileen Grew came to the Faith Formation Office with whispering in her heart. She believed God was calling our Blessed Sacrament family to spend some quality time learning about and praying with the Holy Spirit. After a few more visits to the office and enlisting the help of two other faith-filled women, Jean Thiele and Sheryl Lane, Eileen’s nudge from the Holy Spirit became a push!

And this push led to ninety people gathering on January 28 for a “Spirit-filled” morning led by Father Alberto Vargas.  Participants were treated to a delicious breakfast as Father Alberto shared insights about the Holy Spirit as a person of the Trinity as revealed to us through Scripture. Using the teachings of Pope Francis, he invited us to consider the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit and what they look like lived out in our lives. Father also took time to answer the many questions people had regarding baptism and the relationship between the Spirit, prayer, and hardships in life as well as global tragedy.

The morning was interspersed with prayer, music, table discussion, and individual reflection opportunities. Each participant received a “gift box” with one Gift of the Holy Spirit in it and three envelopes with questions to help illuminate the gift. Envelope 1 encouraged the participant to reflect on what they had heard in Father’s presentation. Envelope 2 challenged the individual to come up with their own definition of the “gift.” And, Envelope 3 contained a definition and a prompt to think about a time when they had experienced that particular gift. A “Going Deeper” section was also included to encourage participants to prayerfully consider how they might further respond to the Spirit’s prompting in their life.

The day concluded with a slide show highlighting the Fruits of the Spirit as well as a blessing that participants bestowed upon one another. The morning was a beautiful expression of the Spirit alive in our minds and hearts and lived out through our words and actions.

Thank you to Father Alberto, Eileen, Sheryl, and Jean for the inspirational retreat.

Fr. Alberto’s Presentation

Pictures from the Day

Divorce Care

Alone we are strong… together we are stronger.

Sacred in the Secular: Rosary on the Go

If you enjoy walking or jogging by yourself or with others why not turn it into a time of prayer so that you can exercise your body and your soul at the same time?!

If you are new to the Rosary on the Go, Blessed Sacrament will provide rosary rings for each participant and a weekly prayer intention based on Pope Francis’s monthly prayer intention. Please contact Lyn to request your rosary ring(s) and list of weekly intentions. In Mark 16:15 Jesus said, “GO into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature…” On your mark, get set, GO!!!!