Weekly message

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.”  (Luke 10: 41)

Mary Parish Activities, Weekly message

Summertime is marked by family reunions, barbecues, neighborhood parties and travel. It is a time for showing hospitality to family and friends and to be surprised by the welcome of others wherever we find ourselves. In the business of summer activities, God’s Word suggests another type of hospitality. We are encouraged to slow down, take time to smell the flowers and most especially, to pay attention to God.

 Today’s Gospel passage recounts the famous story of the hospitality of Jesus’ friends, the two sisters, Martha and Mary. Each sister offers hospitality in a different way. Martha serves and waits on the Lord while Mary welcomes Jesus by sitting at his feet and listening to him.

 The rivalry between the two sisters has often been cited as an example of the tension between active and contemplative life in the Church. However, each sister represents an important aspect of our calling as disciples. We are to serve and pray. We are to meet Jesus in the needy as well as to listen to his word. Each sister models the hospitality that we are to extend to others and to receive from those we welcome.

One commentary on this Gospel story offers these suggestions: “in our daily concerns we may sometimes lose sight of being attentive to God. Some people use simple reminders to help them not to forget God. A prayer taped to the bathroom mirror, a religious image on the desk, a screen-saver of a holy site or a CD with religious music in the car are all simple ways to remain attentive to the Lord in the busyness of the day.” Another way to be hospitable to God is to drop into church for a visit. Keep in mind our church is open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday thru Friday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. on Sunday.

Fr. Kishore Battu SAC

Parish Activities! – Save the Dates

August 25— Parish Picnic

St. Valentine Church picnic will be held on Sunday, August 25th. We will begin with an outdoor Mass under the tent at 12 noon followed by our picnic. This is a fun-filled day to share with your family and fellow parishioners. Volunteer to bring a dish to pass. Hotdogs and burgers provided by the Men’s Club.

 September 15—14th Annual Fun Run & Spaghetti Dinner

 Fun Run and Spaghetti Dinner – or all those trying for a personal best time on their 5 K Run—the date is set…September 15th!

Volunteers Needed!

As always, we need a lot of volunteers to help make this day run smoothly. We always need you …. Young or the Young at Heart all are needed!

Sponsors

In the past we have only solicited businesses to sponsor our Fun Run/Walk, BUT if a family/anyone would like to sponsor the Fun Run we would more than graciously accept your donation. A donation of $100 or more gets your name on the back of the shirt OR 225 of an item to put in the runners goodie bags. Please feel free to contact Bonnie at the parish office 313-532-4394 x201.

 

Weekly Message for July 7th

Kathy Weekly message

Vincent Bocher a Jesuit Brother use to organize social projects helping mission places in India. In 2012, he inspired some  youth in France to raise some funds and come to do mission projects in India. These were students from France pursuing medicine. We were fortunate to have them come down to our Parish for their field mission experience. They spent a month helping the poorest of the poor in missions constructing fresh rooms for families. 

 

They had themselves trained in the most effective way of communicating the Gospel message. Taking time off from their studies, they travelled to the area chosen and spent a month giving themselves completely to this work. Things like this are happening all over the world. There are indications that we are now in the age of laity. Throughout the church today our lay people are feeling the stirring of the spirit. They are no longer content to be passive members of the church. They want to play an active role in the church. They play a large role in having an effective say in the running of the church affairs. For instance, taking part in decision making, knowing what money is received and how it is spent, having a greater part to play in liturgy, etc.

  In today’s Gospel passage we find Jesus sending out seventy-two of his disciples on a missionary journey. These seventy-two are distinct from the 12 Apostles who had already been sent out on a similar journey (Lk.9). They are committed followers of Jesus but do not appear to have held any position of authority. They belong to the body of Jesus’ followers that today we would call the laity. Later, in the Acts of the Apostles, we find these followers of Jesus leaving Jerusalem during the persecution that broke out after the martyrdom of Stephen. They travel north to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, “Preaching the Lord Jesus”, and a great number believed and are received into the church. 

Friends, this is not surprising for the whole Church is missionary, as we have been reminded so strongly by Vatican II.  Today’s Gospel reminds each one of us that every Catholic is called and commissioned by his baptism and confirmation to be sent forth to spread everywhere the Good News proclaimed by Jesus. As we understand more clearly this truth and respond to it, we can see a glorious period of evangelization opening up for the Church.

 The question for us today: Do I volunteer and participate in Parish apostolate?  

 Fr. Kishore Battu SAC

Sudden Cardiac Arrest /AED Awareness Presentation

Combat Sudden Cardiac Arrest— Help Save a Life!

All are invited to an Awareness Presentation for the AED’s located in the Church and 2 in the School. The presentation will take place on Thursday, July 18th at 7 p.m. in the School Gym.

This presentation provides general knowledge of the lifesaving capabilities of Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) use.

Please contact Bonnie at 313-532-4394 x201 if you will be attending.

 

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Kathy Weekly message

This weekend the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity is at the core of our faith.  It is an integral part of our sacramental life and prayer. We were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  

Each time we sign ourselves with the cross to pray, we use those same words. The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity “the central mystery of Christian faith and life.” (#234) It also says, “The Trinity is a mystery of faith in the strictest sense, one of the ‘mysteries that are hidden in God, which can never be known unless they are revealed by God.’” (#237) The Catechism of the Catholic Church goes on to explain the revelation of the Trinity: basically that the Father was revealed by the Son – “he is eternally Father by his relationship to his only Son, who reciprocally, is Son only in relation to his Father.” (#240) As for the Holy Spirit, before the Passover, Jesus announced the sending of the Paraclete who would be with and in all the disciples to teach them and guide them “into all the truth.” (#243) “The Spirit is sent to the apostles and to the Church both by the Father in the name of the Son, and by the Son in person, once he has returned to the Father. The sending of the person of the Holy Spirit after Jesus’ glorification reveals in its fullness the mystery of the Holy Trinity.” (#244) 

 As we celebrate the mystery of our Triune God this week, we give glory to God who is perfect love, who demonstrates that love in the relationship and unity between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We give thanks to God for his unconditional love for us and for sharing his very divine life with all of us. 

Let us continue to praise God by taking time each day this week to pray a simple prayer we learned as children: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.  

 

Father’s Day

On this Father’s Day weekend we wish many blessings on all Fathers, may the Spirit continue to guide them as they play their role as Fathers.

Blessing of Fathers

God and Father of all creation,
we come before you today

with humble hearts.
You are our model of a loving father.
When we fail and fall short of your expectations,
you are always there at the end of the day with open arms, ready to heal the cuts and scrapes of the day and to encourage us to try again and not to give up.

We hold up these men in our midst who act in the world as fathers to their children or models of fathers for others.

Bless them in their moments of doubt and frustration with their children.
Give them warm and open hearts to forgive failures.

Provide them with the words needed for encouragement and perseverance.
We ask all this in the name of Jesus.
Amen.