For a complete statement, please see https://www.aod.org/announcements-newsroom/newsroom/2020/march/updated-march-13-archbishop-vigneron-temporarily-suspends-masses-in-the-archdiocese-of-detroit
Journeying through Lent is a beautiful experience and this third week of Lent urges us to journey more deeply into the movement of Lent. Our pilgrimage should be taking us closer and closer to God, so it is no surprise that this Sunday, and throughout this third week, we are brought face to face with Gospels that challenge and puzzle us, almosAt as though God is giving a little push to keep us on the move. Thus today’s readings are directing us to take a good look into ourselves and experience the divine insight.
It is a time when we are challenged to look at what needs to be changed in our lives. Even when our answer involves doing things for other people, the focus is still on what we are doing for God to save our souls. St. Paul drives home to us that it is God who tried to show us how much he loved us by giving his only Son to die on the cross for us. Was there anything else God could have done to better prove his love for us? Was there a greater sacrifice that he could make for us? God himself initiates the move in every person to bring them closer to Him through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
One of the repeated themes throughout the Lenten season is the compassion and mercy of our God that conveys His love. This requires a spirit of sincerity and a sense of honesty to self and recognition of our nothingness before God. Once a person has accepted this change, God has a ready mission prepared for us to continue to spread his love.
Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman at the well and gives her the living water. Receiving the living water the woman goes to the town and shares with others all that has taken place and invites them to experience Jesus. Like the woman at the well, may we come to understand better and more clearly this Lent, that in thirsting for God, above all else, we will be receiving the fulfillment of all life’s longing. Let us then in this third week of Lent experience more deeply the depth of God’s love for us and respond to him positively.
I would like to thank you for holding me in your prayers as I thanked God for the gift of life he has blessed me with. 52 years of His kindness and love has given me the opportunity to share the same with others. Thank you also for accepting me and giving me the opportunity to serve you. May the Good Lord continue to walk with each one of us and bless us and our loved ones.
Irish BlessingMay the road rise up to meet you, May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, The rain fall soft upon your fields, And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Fr. Socorro
The Archdiocese of Detroit has announced the closure of all Catholic schools within the archdiocese on Friday, March 13 and Monday, March 16 due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
The St. Valentine Friday Fish Fry scheduled for Friday, March 13th has been cancelled due to virus concerns. Please check back to see when the best fish fry in Redford Twp. will resume!
As a Church, one of our sacred duties is to look after the health and safety of the community in our parishes and schools. Part of that duty is to help prevent and respond to infectious diseases that may be in the community.
In light of growing concerns about the coronavirus and its effects on those who have contracted the disease, we ask each of our parishes and schools to implement the following precautionary measures to help prevent the transmission of any virus.
Click here for more suggestions and information about the coronavirus from the CDC.
Please know that Archdiocese of Detroit has been, and will continue to, monitor news concerning the coronavirus. We are preparing for any potential impact on our parishes, schools and other ministries, and will follow any recommendations from local, state and federal officials.
We are in the second Sunday of Lent and a spontaneous question that can arise in our mind today is why the scene of transfiguration, a scene which portrays the glory of Jesus is inserted during the time of Lent. We know very well that Lent mainly focuses on the passion and death of Jesus. The transfiguration scene is presented today to remove the fear and the despair of every believer. This presentation of the glory of Jesus urges us to live the remaining time of Lent with courage and conviction.
The transfiguration is a special and privileged moment both for Jesus and his disciples. For Jesus, it was a moment of manifestation of his glory, divine confirmation of his status as the son of God and an affirmation of his mission. With all these extraordinary events confirming Jesus’s true identity, the one response demanded from us is to listen to him.
The transfiguration beautifully portrays the effects of God-experience. God-experience reveals one’s true identity; Jesus heard the voice from the cloud confirming his sonship. Dear friends, God-experience is an experience of God’s love; Jesus experiences the love of Father in the voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” God-experience transforms; Jesus’ face shone like the sun and his clothes became bright as light. For the disciples, the divine experience was so awe-inspiring that they became ecstatic.
The divine experience was also so overwhelming that the disciples became terrified. Though the disciples preferred to remain on the top of the mountain, Jesus leads them down. Thus, Jesus offers us a lesson that contemplation and action should go hand and in hand. The experience of the Lord should lead us to corresponding action, and our actions should receive their vitality and energy from our God-experience in prayer.
The question for us: How am I experiencing the Lord in this Lent season?
Fr. Kishore Babu Battu