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
    • Families
    • Blog
    • Bible Studies >
      • Exodus
    • Sacrament Prep >
      • Reconciliation & Holy Communion
      • Confirmation
    • Young(ish) Adults
    • Youth Ministry
    • Ongoing Enrichment >
      • Online Studies
      • Sacraments
      • Faith Basics
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The Gift of a Sacred Night

3/24/2018

 
I invite you to be caught up with me in the awesome wonder of a love that cannot be contained in a tomb.  Join me in the celebration of the Easter Vigil, Saturday, March 31 at 8 P.M., when we will tell the story that takes up the question: who are you, O God, you who create, redeem, and promise future glory?  Through the proclamation of nine scripture readings (seven from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament) we will be led into a contemplation of the mystery of salvation history - from the beginning of time, when God created the world, to this present moment of the Church gathered in prayer, to the end of time when all things will be brought to perfection.  This “mother of all Vigils” (St. Augustine) is a longer liturgy than we are used  to participating in, but that makes it all the more important for us to do so, immersed as we are in a culture of instant gratification.  We need this opportunity to savor and celebrate the reality of the saving work of God in cosmic history, of which the Resurrection of Christ from the dead is the first fruits of the new order of creation, for which we instinctively yearn.

The instructions for the Easter Vigil in the Roman Missal begin by stating, ”By most ancient tradition, this is the night of keeping vigil for the Lord”.  However, the concept of "keeping vigil" in a culture of instant gratification might seem archaic, especially when our Masses too often embody a "get-to-the-point" attitude rather than a sense of deliberate and patient contemplation.  Vigilant prayer is difficult work, and the reality is that we are not well trained to "vigil" well.  "The dynamic of hearing the texts, responding in psalm and collect prayer is meant to foster abiding gratitude and awareness of how salvation is effected among us, especially through word and sacrament, particularly baptism and eucharist" (Kevin W. Irwin). However, "to foster abiding gratitude and awareness" of how God acts to save us requires a true investment of time and concentration. For this reason, the tradition of the Church attests to the uniqueness of the Easter Vigil and the unparalleled gift of "this night" to Christians everywhere.  

This gift the Easter Vigil desires to give us is the answer to our question, “who are you, O God, you who create, redeem, and promise future glory?”  This is best answered according to the context in which the nine scripture passages are proclaimed, for it is a context unlike any other in our liturgical calendar. The Church assembles in the evening shadows around the flames of the new Easter fire. There, the Church blesses God's gift of light, which provides us direction and warmth, signs of Christ's abiding presence among us. The Church processes with this light and sings the Exsultet, our victory hymn in which we announce that "This is the night" of the Church's Passover from bondage to freedom.  The Celebrant will then announce to us:

​"Dear brothers and sisters, now that we have begun our solemn Vigil, let us listen with quiet hearts to the Word of God. Let us meditate on how God in times past saved his people and in these, the last days, has sent us his Son as our Redeemer. Let us pray that our God may complete this paschal work of salvation by the fullness of redemption."

We will settle in, and listen quietly to the nine scripture readings, making our pilgrim way in confidence and faith that "Christ our Passover" (from the prayer after the First Reading) is the incarnate answer to the question we pose to God.

I look forward to having you join me in savoring these stories of God's gift of salvation on March 31 at 8 P.M.  They are a reminder that God did not merely create the world and then get out of the way; God is intimately invested in His creation. Keeping Vigil is a pilgrim journey out of the darkness of sin and slavery into the light of freedom and hope. History fulfilled and promises assured are what mark the scripture readings of this sacred night.  We are reminded that God loved the world into being, is unfailingly patient and merciful with us, loved us unto death, and conquered sin and death by Christ’s Resurrection.  We will be caught up in the awesome wonder of a love that cannot be contained in a tomb.  

Keeping Vigil with you,

David J. Conrad

Stark Reality

3/24/2018

 
Today we enter the holiest week of the year for Christians around the world. We hear, we sing, we pray, and we recount the scripture stories of the fulfillment of all God’s covenants: the realization from the beginning of time of God’s plan for us—the Paschal Mystery—the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This time for we who believe, is not about coloring eggs and Easter egg hunts, or chocolate, or bunnies, or butter shaped like lambs, and ham. All of these things are lovely custom and tradition: they celebrate the end of the Lenten season and new life in the start of Spring—new life in the world of nature. This time for us as believers is to understand and experience in our very core and center that Jesus sacrificed himself for us. He died and rose; alive after death! 

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord allows us the time to prepare our hearts and minds for the Paschal Mystery. We turn toward the cross today; we are in the shadow of the cross this week until the beginning of the Triduum on Thursday.  We are in the stark reality of the sacrifice; and yet, at the same time, we are all fallow ground for the faith-filled growth of our spirit. 

Some synonyms for the word stark are: barren bare, severe, harsh, desolate, and austere. This is a time of paring down; stripping, trimming and preparing ourselves for this time ahead. Those persons who join us only for Christmas and Easter are very welcome; but they miss the point. They miss the experience of the stark reality of our faith—our whole year of faith. The reason Jesus came as a babe was to witness God’s love, to teach and help us to understand God’s word, and to sacrifice himself on the cross and save us. Then He rises  from the dead for us and sends us an advocate—so we too, may be as He himself was among us in this field of souls. That is the point; that is the stark reality of our faith. But Be Not Afraid of this demanding love! For there is great joy in the journey of your spirit—if you would only show up to travel the way…

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

A Clean Heart

3/18/2018

 
The Mass this Fifth Sunday of Lent brings us directly into the Paschal Mystery: Jesus suffers and dies in order to draw all people to Himself.

The Responsorial Psalm for the Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year B readings) is basically what this whole Lenten Season is about: “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” We understand that Lent is about repentance and reconciliation: change and conversion. We change our lives in order to obey the Lord, because we know that those who serve Him must follow His way. 

So, how do we change our hearts? The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “the interior penance of the Christian can be expressed in many and various ways…above all in three forms, fasting, prayer and almsgiving, which express conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others.” In order to obtain forgiveness of sins and a clean heart, we should all make “efforts at reconciliation with one’s neighbor, the intercession of saints and the practice of charity which covers a multitude of sins.” These are “trinities” of conversion, belief and behavior!

Here’s an idea with which to begin: focus, attention and participation at Mass! The well-known liturgist and musician Elaine Rendler suggests a liturgical conversion: our communal prayer as a means of expressing our interior change in relation to God. She says to “encourage (no, urge, demand, offer rewards, beg, beseech) people to pray (to read!) the readings for the rest of Lent before you come to the Sunday liturgy.” She invites us (the Community) “to pray at the liturgy in song and in silence, in dialogue with the Priest, and in union with the prayer of the Priest and with us all.” This would be one way to enter into the Spirit of this Lenten season (or any season of the year)—to demand of ourselves a focus in our sung and spoken prayer together during the mass. 

Whichever Mass you attend this weekend, you will have the opportunity to be drawn into the Paschal Mystery. This is why we gather weekly in praise, thanksgiving and worship. We pray for clean hearts in order to follow Christ and the Paschal way. We sing what we believe, we believe what we sing!

Keep singing! 

Elizabeth Dyc

Let My Tongue Be Silenced

3/12/2018

 
The Responsorial Psalm (#137) for the Fourth Sunday of Lent (Cycle B readings), is one of my very favorites: “Let my tongue be silenced if ever I forget you.” It is all about the lament of the Israelites living captured, as aliens, in a foreign land. It is a petition and promise to God that they (ie: we) will never forget Him - no matter what - in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. To promise to be punished with silence as a result of not fulfilling one’s commitments is a dire result indeed for failing. It is a deep and dark promise of something intrinsically vital in all our lives - a voice in the midst of any and all circumstances.

​This is a Psalm of strong and timely sentiment as we hear daily news of the captured, the forsaken, the tormented, and the marginalized. The emotional and sacrificial plea of this psalm—to be silenced—is a strong image for me personally, as a singer and musician. My life is sound and singing. I think about what it would mean to be silenced - especially now as we see more and more people are speaking up about systemic injustice, racism, oppression and predation. I think about what it would mean to me to not be able to share the truth in word or song...this gives me profound pause. What would life be like if we couldn’t sing about our faith, hope and love? 

But God, in His mercy, saves a dispersed and discouraged people then as now; God saved us all by sending us the light of Christ.

St. Paul tells us today that “everything exposed by the light becomes visible.” He is telling us, reminding us, to choose always to live in the light of Christ, “for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.”  We will see more clearly by His light, and we will speak and sing what we believe in truth. Raise your voices!

We did not earn salvation; it was a pure gift of love. “Let my tongue be silenced if ever I forget you God,” - or your grace - by which we have all been saved. Speak up! 

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

Chaplains Courageous

3/3/2018

 
Father Anthony Rey - U.S. Army Chaplain, War with Mexico

​First to Serve, First to Fall

Every year from 1845 to 1851, a deadly blight attacked Ireland’s potato crop causing severe famine. Well over a million people died of starvation and disease and more than a million others emigrated to the United States. Thousands of young Catholic Irish men from among them joined the United States Army. However, because there had never been a Catholic chaplain in the U.S. Armed Forces, these troops had to serve without spiritual guidance or ministrations from their faith.

In 1846, when the United States went to war against Mexico, President James K. Polk had a problem. Mexican government propaganda was trying to portray the war as Protestants from the North attacking the Catholic population of Mexico. In fact, some Catholics in the U.S. Army deserted to the Mexican Army after receiving promises of land and position in the Mexican military. These men comprised the San Patricios Battalion. Attempting to counter the propaganda and to stop such desertions, Polk wanted to appoint Catholic chaplains to officially serve in the U.S. Army. He turned to Archbishop John Hughes of New York for help. Even though the Archbishop wondered about Polk’s possible political agenda, he recommended two Jesuit priests for the new chaplain positions. One was Father Anthony Rey, who was an immigrant like most of the U.S. Army Catholic troops during the Mexican War. Born in Lyons, France, on March 19, 1807, he would eventually study at the Jesuit College in Fribourg, Switzerland, before being sent to America in 1840 to join the faculty of Georgetown College in Washington D.C. First a Professor of Philosophy, he then became Vice President of Georgetown in 1845. Accepting his new appointment as one of the first official Catholic chaplains in the U.S. military, Father Rey joined the army of General Zachary Taylor in northern Mexico in time to participate in the Battle of Monterrey, September 20-23, 1846. Coming from a sheltered academic life, Father Rey was tossed into the vicious urban combat. Not willing to stay in the rear of fighting, he went right into the teeth of war to administer to the dead and dying. An admiring Protestant officer wrote about his courage and actions during the Battle of Monterey:

"The bulletins of your generals, and the glowing eulogiums of letter-writers of particular deeds, present no examples of heroism superior to this. That Jesuit priest, thus coolly, bravely and all unarmed, walking among bursting shells, over the slippery streets of Monterrey, and the iron storm and battle steel that beat the stoutest, bravest soldier down, presenting no instrument of carnal warfare, and holding aloft, instead of true and trusty steel, that flashed the gleam of battle back, a simple miniature cross; and thus armed and equipped defying danger, presents to my mind the most sublime instance of the triumph of the moral over the physical man, and is an exhibition of courage of the highest character. It is equal to, if not beyond, any witnessed during that terrible siege."

After the battle, Father Rey was stationed as part of the U.S. Army garrison in the town of Monterrey. Chaplain Rey not only helped the American wounded but ministered to his Mexican Catholic flock in the towns and surrounding area. U.S. Army officers warned Father Rey that the area where he would travel was bandit infested and very dangerous. Regardless of the danger, Father Rey felt obligated to carry out his functions as a Catholic priest. On January 19, 1847, Father Rey went missing after saying Mass in the village of Ceralvo. Several days later his lance pierced body was found. His death was not only a blow to both Catholic and Protestant U.S. troops, but also to the Mexicans for whom he was solely their priest. Father Anthony Rey was the first Catholic chaplain to be killed in service to his country.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War on February 2, 1848. The U.S. acquired Texas, New Mexico, and California. Following Father Rey’s example, Catholic priests continue to serve as chaplains in the U.S. military.
​
By:
Randal L. Hoyer, PhD, Professor Emeritus
Michael W. Marihugh, MA, Adjunct Assistant Professor Department of History
Madonna University – A Catholic, Franciscan University

Lift High the Cross

3/3/2018

 
In the end of the reading from the Gospel of St. John, for the Third Sunday of Lent (Cycle B), we hear that Jesus did “not need anyone to testify to human nature. He himself understood it well.” Jesus understood it well because He is God, He took flesh and became human, He lived among us and then suffered and sacrificed himself for us (in spite of our human foibles and frailties! He understood us very well, I would imagine, walking among us and witnessing our every day choices and priorities.
Today St. Paul tells us that we should proclaim Christ crucified⎯that our faith is a gift from God. It cannot be forced on anyone; it cannot be understood by intellectual reason and logical proof. This is a “stumbling block to Jews (who want signs of power) and foolishness to Gentiles” (who want proof). 
The cross of Christ reveals the central truth of our faith. As believers we must see beyond the reasonable and logical: we see the scandal, weakness and sacrifice of the cross as God’s ultimate example of love. He identified with our sin and suffering and so We Lift High the Cross, knowing that we, too, will rise victorious.
In the First Reading from the Book of Exodus we hear God deliver the Ten Commandments to us. From the Cross, Jesus takes upon Himself all of our failures in following His Word. He understood our nature and still He died for us and for our sins. This is why we gather in gratitude for praise and worship. We remember how He loved us to his death. This is the reason we proclaim Christ crucified. “The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” Our sign and proof is the cross.

Lift it high, and keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

    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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