Saint Aidan Catholic Church - Livonia, MI
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  • Discover
    • Schedule >
      • Holy Week
    • Livestream Masses
    • Lent Fish Dinners
    • Contact
    • Register
    • About >
      • Our Patron Saint
      • Church Tour
      • PRES Plan
    • Groups >
      • Women of St. Aidan
      • Men's Club
      • Men's Prayer Group
      • Young(ish) Adults
    • Links
  • Grow
    • March Enrichment
    • Lent '23
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    • Blog
    • Bible Studies >
      • Exodus
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Good Trees Bear Good Fruit

2/28/2022

 
The First Reading from the Book of Sirach, the Responsorial Psalm (#92) and the Gospel of St. Luke this Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, all use the image of a “good” tree and its fruit—and then likens them to “good” speech and a “good” soul.

​“The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had; so too does one’s speech disclose the bent of one’s mind.” (Sirach). The Psalm tells us that it is good to give thanks to the Lord (good speech!) because then we will flourish like a palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon shall we grow. “They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish…bear fruit even in old age, be vigorous and sturdy…” St. Luke writes what Jesus says in instructing His disciples: “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit…and from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.” We are shown to be what we are by what we say (and do)—whether from the “store of goodness in our heart, or a store of evil.”

The Living Liturgy writes that we as people sometimes assume masks with each other. Jesus’ message is to be and act consistently with who we are—that ultimately who we are will eventually be clear to all anyway as we go through life together—but it is a matter of choosing, too. Sirach says “When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so do one’s faults when one speaks…so in tribulation is the test of the just.”  Do your moments of tribulation—of sadness, sorrow, anger, disappointment, fear, injustice, envy, and temptation—cause you to step away from your Christian discipleship and mission? This is a good question to ponder as we turn toward the Lenten season this week and turn inward for reconciliation and prayer.

Think about the things we humans sometimes say to one another: how we sometimes are people have “no filter” or we excuse people’s rudeness as free speech, or we manipulate a situation. What we say and what we do exposes who we are to those around us. Have you ever heard someone apologize for what they are about to say? In my opinion, if you need to apologize for something before you actually say it, you probably shouldn't say it at all. If we think about it, with just a few more minutes delay (count to ten?) or even sleeping on those thoughts for at least a night, isn't it possible that we could come up with a better way to say whatever it is we need to say? However, what is your motivation for speaking, and will it be productive: loving, caring, compassionate, merciful? Knowing that speaking what you have to say could be more readily accepted by the hearer. You might even decide that you don't need to share those words at all, or maybe they would be better received by someone else. Maybe what you need to say crosses lines of MYOB (mind your own business), judgyness, meanness, or self-serving words. A moment of reflection or reconciliation or consideration might lead to better communication, peace and resolution.

I know that sometimes it is necessary for most people to express concerns, or to sometimes vent their emotions. Even then, I believe that we can all work toward better communication and care of each other. A strategy that magnifies the negative is rarely productive. The effective loving conversationalist always begins with words that build relationships up and invite understanding.

All these readings today speak about the fruit of our words: what we say to each other can kill our spirits, injure our hearts, destroy our relationships, and tear down the very temples of our physical beings. Our words may also show us to be doers of God’s Word: saving and salving our spirits, shoring up the edifices of our hearts, spreading God’s grace and mercy to those around us. A tree is known by its fruit—whether for good or evil. Time to choose…

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

Just a Note:   Abide in the Lord to bear good fruit, the fruits of the Spirit.

Mass for the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2/27/22

2/28/2022

 

The Common Good and the Golden Rule

2/21/2022

 
This Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time we hear King David say in the First Reading from the Book of Samuel “The Lord will reward each man for his justice and faithfulness.” St. Paul reminds us that we bear the image of the heavenly one: Jesus Christ. In the Gospel from St. Luke Jesus clearly gives us the Golden Rule and enjoins us to stop being “judgy.”

​I have always understood the Golden Rule (do unto others…) as a true commitment to our faith and  to the Common Good. The Common Good is an ancient idea which is needed at this time more than ever before—or at least, that’s how it feels to me. Our life together can be better. Ours is a selfish, self-serving age; we are so in need of conversion—from looking out just for ourselves to looking out for one another. It’s time to hear and heed a call to a different way of life, and Jesus issued that call and announced the Kingdom of God: a new order of living in sharp contrast to all the political, social and religious kingdoms of the world. That better way of life was meant to benefit not only His followers but everybody else too.

Christianity is not a religion that gives some people a ticket to heaven and allows them to be judgmental of all others. WE hear that from Jesus, Himself, today. Rather, it’s a call to a relationship that changes every one of our relationships. Jesus told us a new relationship with God brings us into a new relationship with our neighbors, especially with the most vulnerable of this world, and even with our enemies. This call to love our neighbor is the foundation for reestablishing and reclaiming the common good which has fallen into cultural and political—and even, sometimes, religious—neglect.

Virtually all the world’s major religions say that you cannot separate your love for God from your love for your neighbor. Even the nonreligious will affirm the idea of the Golden Rule. Some form of the Golden Rule has been around for thousands of years, but we seem to have lost a sense of its importance and its transformative power. Now is the time to reclaim the neglected common good and to learn how faith might help in that important task. Our public life could be made better, transformed, healed and enriched if only our religious and social traditions practiced what they preached in our personal lives; in our families’ decisions; in our work and vocations; in the ministry of our churches, synagogues, and mosques; in our collective witness. In all these ways we can put the faith community’s influence at the service of this radical neighbor-love ethic that is both faithful to God and to the common good.

“The Catholic vision of the common good is as clear as it is challenging. The Compendium of Social Doctrine of the Church which the Vatican released in 2004, notes that the specific “demands” of the common good are deeply connected to the fundamental dignity and rights of the human person: these demands concern above all the commitment to peace, the organization of the State’s powers, a sound juridical system, the protection of the environment, and the provision of essential services to all, some of which are at the same time human rights: food, housing, work, education and access to culture, transportation, basic health care, the freedom of communication and expression, and the protection of religious freedom.” (Thanks, Rev. Rohr!) A true commitment to the common good dates back to the very beginnings of our faith and is rooted in both the Old and New Testaments. The Gospels teach us to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

The common good also requires a concern for the entire world community.  In 1963, Pope John XXIII introduced the phrase “universal common good” in the Catholic social tradition in recognition of the duty to promote the good of our neighbors around the globe as well as at home. If love is truly your purpose and path, it is time to double down on prayer. That means getting on our knees (if you can) to pray. It means standing on our feet and marching in the streets. It means praying through participation in the life of our government and society, and through creating a civic order that reflects goodness, justice, mercy, and compassion—this is the very heart and dream of God for all of God’s children and God’s creation. Now is the time to commit to the Golden Rule and the Common Good. Food for thought…

Keep singing!

​Elizabeth Dyc

Mass for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2/20/22

2/21/2022

 

Funeral Mass for James Gromek - 2/14/22

2/14/2022

 

Blessed Are They Who Hope in the Lord

2/14/2022

 
Today is the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The refrain from this weekend’s Responsorial Psalm says it all in terms of (all) the readings for this Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time: “Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.” This is a phrase, a reminder—sung or spoken—that may help in any of our desperate, unkind, sorry or sad moments in our lives.

​Today, we hear the “Blesseds” of the Beatitudes and in this Gospel of Luke we also hear the “Woes.” The Old Testament reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah is utterly descriptive about people who trust in human beings rather than the Lord. It has contrasting poetry—not unlike the Blesseds and Woes of the Gospel reading. Jeremiah describes the former people as “a barren bush, enjoying no change of season, standing in lava waste, a salt and empty earth.” Compare that to the latter—people who put their trust in God: “Blessed are you…like a tree planted beside the waters, not fearing the heat, its leaves stay green, in draught it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.” This is a very clear depiction from a desert people who liken God to the blessing of life-giving water!

When we put our trust and hope in the Lord, in God, we will not be spiritually thirsty and emotionally barren; instead, we will be replete in the Lord’s abiding and abundant mercy, contented and gratified in his love, no matter what happens in our lives. The psalm response reflects the basic criterion for all three readings—it is the image, the paradigm and the example for the message we are meant to understand: “Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.” (May we believe what we sing, and sing what we believe!)

“Blessed” is the translation of the word makarioi, used in the Greek New Testament. But if you look even further back to Jesus’ Aramaic the original word for “blessed” was ashray, from the verb yashar. Ashray does not have a passive quality to it at all. It means “to set yourself on the right way for the right goal; to turn around, repent.” (Thanks, Rev Rohr!) So in following the Beatitudes we are to act upon our blessings in an active way: “get up, go ahead, do something, move, you who are hungry and thirsty for justice, for you shall be satisfied. Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you peacemakers, make peace and you shall be called children of God.”

This action of a blessing that we are called to be as believers reflects Jesus’ words and teachings. I can hear Jesus saying: “Get your hands dirty to build a human society for human beings; otherwise, others will torture and murder the poor, the voiceless, and the powerless.” Christianity is not passive but active, energetic, alive, going beyond any despair in this field of souls. “Get up, go ahead, do something, move,” Jesus may have said to his disciples. However, when you work outside the system for peace, justice and mercy you will not be admired inside the system. You will look dangerous, subversive, a troublemaker, unpatriotic. One thing you cannot call Jesus was a patriot. He was serving a far bigger realm, as should we.

In his First Letter to the Corinthians St. Paul tells us that our faith is not in vain. Since Christ was raised from the dead, so shall we be too—blessed are we who hope in the Lord! According to St. Luke’s Gospel, our reward will be great in heaven, so rejoice and be glad! Do so because blessed are you if you are poor, or hungry, or marginalized, or weeping and grieving—that would be all of us…

In a few short weeks, the season of Lent will be upon us (before we know it). Changes in our Liturgy and in our worship environment will take place that will reflect this new penitential season. We will strive for the desert experience of Lent—no green plants, serious and sparse (yet rich) symbolism—Lent should make us “thirsty” for God. As we head toward Lent, here is an idea: rather than give up something, maybe the challenge should be to do something positive for others; in action— to be a blessing for someone. Be a blessing, rather than a woe, for those around us.  This is living the attitude of the Beatitudes we hear today; living in the hope of growing closer to God. “Blessed are they who hope in God.”

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

Mass for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time - 2/13/22

2/14/2022

 

The Sermon of the Plain on a Plane

2/11/2022

 

Funeral Mass for Matthew Polanski - 2/9/22

2/11/2022

 

Wake Up Call

2/7/2022

 
We have all experienced that shocking moment—when the alarm goes off and you aren’t ready to be up and out of bed. The sound makes us leap (as best we can) out of bed, heart racing, to stumble across the room to stop the terrible noise. It’s not always that way—but think about the phrase “wake-up call.”

​This Sunday, the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, we hear Isaiah receive his wake-up call from God and his response is: “Here I am, send me!” We hear the Gospel story in which Jesus invites his disciples to become “fishers of men.” They leave all things they have and follow Him. In hearing these two readings we all have the opportunity to compare our own responses to the call of God—and to consider our own personal spiritual wake-up call.

For most of us, it's time for a wake-up call!

I know that I need to wake up as well as anyone even though my “job” is in the church. Our daily routines and the rhythm of the world around us may easily lull us into a spiritual slumber. We begin to “go with the flow,” letting our circumstances dictate how we will feel and what we will do. We need that spiritual alarm clock that cries “Wake up!”, reminding us that drifting our way through life can only lead to disaster, apathy and carelessness. We should consciously think about priorities, consciously plan to resist pressures to conform and actively choose to be people of faith. If we don't wake up, complacency will creep upon us by night, overwhelming our defenses and destroying all that we hold dear—think about how we take so many things for granted... As the news of the day seems to grow worse and worse, we need to shake ourselves from our siestas, remember the things that we have heard in the Scriptures and obey them. And it's not just about knowing, it's about doing.

We might (and should) reflect on our own personal spiritual vocations; our own Communal and spiritual commitment because of these “call” stories today. There is so much to do, so much to be done, so much to learn, and yes, always room for spiritual growth through good works, prayer and praise. The Psalm Response today is: “In the sight of the angels, O Lord, may we sing your praises.” This psalm is one that I have often chosen for funeral liturgies and I believe that truly, this is our goal and our path of life on earth! (It is our goal to ultimately end up with the angels and with God!) This psalm gives us food for thought as we consider our own personal, vocational commitment. I don’t know about you, but I would like to be singing in that heavenly choir!

Here at St. Aidan there are many opportunities for prayer and praise in action now—especially as we prepare for the Season of Lent, and the opportunity this new season will give us to reflect on our choices.  As we turn toward Lent, may we all hear God’s wake up call to holiness, and be ready like Isaiah and the Disciples: to admit our sinfulness, to be open to hear God’s call and to have ready our answer: “Yes, Lord!” Wake up!

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

Just a Note: Some interesting quotes from different sources beyond Scripture about the action of serving others.

“The intelligent way to be selfish is to work for the welfare of others” — The Dalai Lama 
“What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.” — Aristotle 
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” — William Shakespeare 
“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.” — Oscar Wilde 
“Only a life lived for others is worth living.” — Albert Einstein 
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” — Winston Churchill 
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” — Mahatma Gandhi 
“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.” — Muhammad Ali 
 “As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands: one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” 
— Audrey Hepburn 
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?” — Martin Luther King, Jr. 
“Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in.” — Unknown
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    Authors

    David J. Conrad, M.A. Theology. Our Director of Faith Formation.

    Paul Pyrkosz. Our Youth Minister & Bookkeeper.

    ​Elizabeth Dyc. Our Director of Music Ministry.

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St. Aidan Catholic Church
17500 Farmington Rd. 
Livonia, MI 48152
Phone: 734-425-5950
office@saintaidanlivonia.org

Weekend Mass Schedule
Saturday Vigil: 5:00 p.m.
Sunday: 7:30, 9:30, 11:30 a.m.

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