Sacred Heart

Clarifying

My husband and I have started attending the Church of the Assumption on the other side of town in order to go with my father, who dislikes attending Mass alone. A year and a half after my mother's passing, we finally decided to move to be with him. It's been more difficult than I thought it would be; both Nick and I miss the familiar faces and warmth of the community at Sacred Heart.

That said, we return on occasion and last Sunday was one of them. Fr. Qui-Thac talked for short time at the end of the service about the election. I grabbed a pencil and envelope and took notes, knowing this would be a cause for discussion later, and it was. I am shocked at the variety of reporting - about 10 people reported the same brief statement 10 different ways. Some of these folks attended the 8:30 and I attended the 11:00, but I thought I'd put down what I heard, just as  reference point.

After much prayer and reflection, Fr. Qui-Thac said he had 3 points to make:
1) we need to stop assuming another's intentions in this election. We are all pro-life, we vote accordingly but there are difficult choices to make here.
2) we need to be open to the teachings of the Church. No politician can say that their primary concern is for our soul. The Church can say this.
3) He is personally hurt by the tone of the fighting over this election.Both parties are inconsistently pro-life - life at the beginning, the middle and the end. We need to demand that our political parties be consistently pro-life from beginning to end. Our energy should go there, and not in fighting with each other.

"There," he said. "That wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be."

Ash Wednesday

Have you ever visited Sacred Space? They have an excellent Lenten webpage, which I have linked here.
It is run by the Irish Jesuits. Blessings on your Lent!

Social Justice Events at Sacred Heart

There are many Social Justice activities going on in the next month or two.  So I wanted to let you know when they are happening.  Hopefully some of them will be of interest and will work into your schedule and you can volunteer to help.

Dan Larguier
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Mon. Feb. 4-     Rick Steves slide show at Sehome High School at 7 PM                          www.ricksteves.com/about/pressroom/activism/letter.htm  (proceeds benefit-Whatcom Peace and Justice Center)

Tues. Feb. 5-     Pax Christi at 7 PM (Stafford Room-Assumption Parish)-on Gandhi and his
                            concept of Satyagraha (Soul Force)

Mon Feb. 11-     Social Justice Book Discussion 7 PM (Sacred Heart Library)
                            books by Jean Vanier and Thomas Merton's "Cold War Letters"

Sat. Feb. 16-     Social Justice Movie Night and potluck-  6:30 PM at Sacred Heart Library
                                Fair Trade- movie "Strong Coffee" -women in Peru-Trudy from Moka
                                Jo's will talk about the movie 

Sun  Feb. 17-    Catholic Social Teaching Meeting- 12:20 PM at Sacred Heart Library-
                              History/work of the Catholic Relief Services/Lent's Operation Rice Bowl

Tues. Feb 19-    Pax Christi at 7 PM in the Stafford Room at Assumption- Cultivating
                             Reverance for the Earth

Thurs. Feb. 21-  Human Rights Film Festival at Fairhaven College  (WWU) 7 PM
             Mar. 2         for information www.whrtf.org/filmfest/

Fri.  Feb. 22       Catholic Advocacy Day in Olympia, WA- begins at 9 AM
                              for more information go to www.ipjc.org/  (Intercommunity Peace and
                              Justice Center in Seattle- their reources pages are excellent)

Mon. Feb. 25      Social Justice Committee meeting- 6:30 PM at Sacred Heart Library

Tues. Feb. 26     Soup Supper at Sacred Heart after 6 PM Mass- put on by JustFaith and
                            Social Justice Committee

Tues.  Mar. 4      Soup Supper at Sacred Heart after 6 PM Mass-put on by Pax Christi
                             (Pax Christi- afterwards- Nonviolence and Social Transformation)

Sat.  Mar.8         Bread for the World- Offering of Letters workshop
                               at Garden St. Methodist 9:30AM-12 PM

Sun. Mar. 9        Catholic Social Teaching meeting- Health Care in the U.S.-
                               what is wrong/how it relates to social justice-
                               Sacred Heart LIbrary 12:20 PM

Mon  Mar 10       Social Justice Book Discussion- 7 PM Sacred Heart Library
                               The Call to Discernment in Troubled  Times:  the Transformative Wisdom
                                          of Ignatius Loyola by Dean Brackley
                               A Sacred Voice Is Calling:  Personal Vocation and Social Conscience
                                                  by John Neafsey

Sat.  Mar. 15      Social Justice Film and Potluck- Sacred Heart Library 6:30 PM-
                               not sure on the film- might be the movie- "Gandhi"

Mon. Mar. 17       Social Justice Committee meeting-6:30 PM Sacred Heart Library

Mon.  Mar. 24      Beyond JustFaith meeting at Nancy Orlowski's house-
                               potluck starts at 6 PM.

Guest Post from Marlene Ayala

This past October 20 and 21 twenty-seven parishioners from Sacred Heart attended an environmental retreat at the North Cascade Institute’s Environmental Learning Center.  The place was cloaked in brilliant yellows, oranges and reds against a vibrant backdrop of tall green cedars, hemlocks and fir.  Our resident priest was Father Steve Booth, a Maryknoll Missioner.  He was available to us to talk to at any time and he said Mass for us on Sunday.  He gave an outstanding sermon on the environment. Jessie Dye from Earth Ministry was our guest speaker.  She spoke to the question of why people of faith care about the environment and once we know this and why what can we do about it.  The accommodations were comfortable and clean.  The dining hall served delicious and healthy  meals.  The food was as local and organic as they could get it.  The Learning Center recycles or composts almost everything.  What an example for a way to live!  We enjoyed a beautiful hike in the woods lead by an NCI Naturalist. One of the highlights was observing a completely white female doe in the wild.  Some people even learned about wild mushrooms.  We had reflection times when we could read, make a holy card, paint, draw and journal.  The evening brought us together in the spirit of entertaining each other. So, we told stories, played charades & sang songs. Our song leaders were Paul Orlowski and Danny Langdon. We closed the evening with an hour long yoga session led by Tana DaSilva.

So why did we choose to do this?  The Just Faith group wanted to respond to the call of the tenets of social justice set forth by the Catholic Church.  We chose the environment for this project since that was one of the topics we chose to focus on for the year.  We also wanted to build community.  We thought a parish wide retreat somewhere in the wild would be the perfect place for accomplishing this. And it was!

Some things we learned:
1.    Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict are environmentalists
2.    The Vatican is going “green”
3.    As Catholics we have a moral obligation to care for the earth.
4.    Earth Ministry is a group you can be involved with to make a difference
5.    Earth Ministry was influential in getting four bills passed last session
    Clean Air/Clean Fuels
    Eliminating toxic flame retardants
    Saving our Sound
    $100 million for wildlife and recreation programs
6.    This year’s four priorities are:
    Washington climate action
    Local solutions to global warming
    Evergreen cities
    Local farms/healthy kids
7.    Calling your representative is as easy as dialing for pizza
8.    Legislative Hotline 1-800-562-6000 during session, 8am -  8pm, M – F; 9am – 1pm, Sat

At the end we had an exercise in which we each came up with three things that we could do to make a difference for the environment.  We each have a 1 month item, a 3 month item, and a 6 month item.
We had a really good time together.  We fed our souls, our minds, our hearts and our bodies.  Many people have asked for follow-up and want to know what’s next.

More than the gift: the Giver

The homily on the Gospel this week was insightful.
Father Qui-Thac suggested that the other 9 were indeed obedient. They did exactly what Jesus told them to do. But the one who returned! Ah, he looked to the Giver. What does it mean to go deeper?

As a side note, in the prayers of the faithful, did you catch that last one? About visiting someone who is alone this week? I thought of Grace Rogan over at St. Francis.

What we don't do

Last weekend we were in New York City attending 2 weddings. One wedding was of the son of wealthy Foreign Service friends' son, and so we sat at a table with old colleagues. Listening to people talk about their lives, I couldn't help but hear the Gospel of the previous Sunday of Lazarus, the poor man, and Dives, the rich man AND Fr. Qui-Thac's voice saying, "It's not what Dives did. It's what he didn't do." Our colleagues are all rich, healthy and retired. They have time and money and talent. A great sadness swept over me; it all seemed to naught. They are not bad people at all. And yet.

I do not want to be judgmental and if I said anything more I would be. The lesson here is not about other people and what they do or do not do, but what I am doing - and not doing.

Sunday's homily: a different take

Sunday's readings were particularly striking this past Sunday. I think "striking" is the word. Amos 6: 1a, 4-7
and the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16:19-31. Fr. Qui-Thac focused on why the rich man was in hell; afterall, he didn't DO anything. And, of course, that was the problem.

The verse that struck me (and Larry O'Conner) was the last line of the Gospel, "Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"
It follows then to ask ourselves "Are we listening to Amos? REALLY listening?"

Here's the Peterson translation of those verses:

Woe to you who think you live on easy street in Zion,
Who think Mount Samaria is the good life.
You assume you’re oat the top of the heap,
Voted the number one best place to live.
Well, wake up and look around. Get off your pedestal.

Woe to those who live in luxury
And expect everyone else to serve them!
Woe to those who live only for today,
Indifferent to the fate of others!
Woe to the playboys, the playgirls,
Who think life is a party held just for them!
Woe to those addicted to feeling good – life without pain!
Those obsessed with looking good – life without wrinkles!
The could not care less
About their country going to ruin.
But here’s what’s really coming:
A forced march into exile.
They’ll leave the country whining,
A rag-tag bunch of good-for-nothings.

Away from home

Yesterday we went to the 8:30 Mass at Assumption with my father, since it is his home parish. I miss going to Sacred Heart and seeing folks I know and love, but I think we may become a bi-parish family here.

This morning I was listening to a sermon on tape, as I do when I walk. Gordon Cosby, pastor of the Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C. was speaking on the text from a week ago, about leaving everything for God. Here's what he says " Our responsibility in the face of the clearly approaching God who has already come and is coming is to be totally committed and unreservedly do God's will. We give our heart simply, wholly to God. Everything else is secondary... We change our lives... We cannot serve two masters... Is this a hard saying or the richest promise that has ever been made?"

St. Gertrude's Monastery

Just last Sunday we came off of a rafting trip down the Salmon River in Idaho and went to Mass (a bit sandy) at the St. Gertrude’s Monastery in Cottonwood. The little church, about the size of Sacred Heart, is old-fashioned and rather ornate. The homily was simple – and profoundly moving. The pastor there (Fr. Meinrad) spoke on the Gospel reading which always seem harsh. It IS harsh. Jesus is railing against a sin…but what sin?

The pastor said, “Six years ago I heard from this pulpit an explication of this Gospel which I have never forgotten. I had always wondered just what Jesus seemed so upset about. The question seemed innocuous enough and Jesus' response rather harsh. I can hear her now: she said that the sin was complacency. We can richly illustrate this sin in our own parishes and Jesus was rightly harsh about it. It is pervasive and insidious.  The response to this sin of complacency  is …”
He went on for a bit, and I was left to think about just what virtue would be the counterbalance to complacency. It is not zeal. Zeal is when I love God. But the root of complacency is NOT a lack of love of God. In fact, we can be very zealous, and still get it wrong.

“The response which Jesus is looking for here is gratitude.” That shocked me and all week I’ve been thinking – is the practice of gratitude the antidote to complacency? And I think it is. Gratitude reminds us of how much God loves and cherishes US, how much God loves me in a particular and personal way. THIS is the fire – not how much we love God, but how much God loves us. Contemplating this fire, letting ourselves bask in it, changes everything.

Feast of the Assumption

August 15, the celebration of the Assumption of Mary, is one of my favorite days. I think of it as a celebration of the body of a woman, an honoring of her physicalness. Getting to Mass on a Wednesday in the summer is not so easy, though. There is no vigil Mass tonight and no early morning Mass tomorrow at either of our Bellingham churches. I'm searching the internet to see what time evening Masses are tomorrow in Seattle, where we will be. This, too, is not so easy. Any ideas on how one searches?