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Worship Aid for Second Sunday in Lent
Lenten Observances
Fasting: Food equivalent to one regular meal, one small meal – Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
Abstinence: No meat – ALL Fridays
Parish Soup Suppers: Fridays in Lent, 6pm
Stations of the Cross: Fridays, 7pm in English, 8pm in Spanish, in the church
Lent Confessions: Wednesdays, 6:30-8pm, Saturdays, 3:30-4:30pm (as usual). Please plan confessions early in the season to avoid running out of time.
Parish Penance Service: Tuesday, April 8, 6:30pm
Bishop’s Lenten Appeal continues we are currently 64% of our parish goal of $ 560,000. Pledge envelopes can be found in the pews of the church or visit : www.arlingtondiocese.org/BLA. Please indicate you are a parishioner on the envelope.
Now accepting applications for PRE-Kindergarten in our school. Interested in joining our school community? We focus on faith formation, academic excellence, and community service. Visit our website: www.stbernschool.org/admissions-process/
All women in the parish are invited to a Lenten Night of Reflection with a special talk given by Fr. Don, Saturday, March 29th from 7-9:00pm in the Saint Bernadette School Gym. Please join us for refreshments and for small group discussion.
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
You may have noticed a new addition to our worship space last weekend. Half a year ago I designed and contracted the finish carpenter, John Matson who made all our sanctuary furnishings in the style of the altar, to make us a baptismal font.
For nearly nine years I have celebrated baptisms in the vestibule and it has never seemed right. Although it is beautiful, its utility is limited. It is a tight space with an uneasy step up/down to the font, and people have fallen. If you have more than two families it is uncomfortable, gathering in what seems such a transitional space with no seating. This does sometimes become a problem because grandparents and great grandparents often need to sit, and they can’t. Conscious of this, I have been aware of rushing baptisms because the space is simply uncomfortable.
The new font in the center of the church will allow us to truly celebrate the Rite of Baptism with standing and sitting as the Rite is written. People, seated in the back center sections of pews will be able to see and participate in the Rite without distractions.
Brides: don’t get nervous. The font is moveable and the aisle is still yours!
I don’t know if you have ever attended the Easter Vigil, probably the most ancient and beautiful Rite of our Church – the blessing
of fire, the lighting of the candle, the blessing of Easter water, the celebration of the sacraments of initiation, the renewal of our baptismal promises – if you have, you will see immediately how beautiful this is going to be, baptizing new members in the heart of the assembly. The font we have used for the past eight years in the sanctuary (actually a landscaping water feature) has become too heavy to lift as we get older.
(By the way, the Easter Vigil this year is on Saturday evening, April 19 at 8:30pm, until probably about 11pm. Try to join us and celebrate with all the new members of the Church and their families. You will be glad you did.)
As we have had a lot of new members join the parish, I find that many people do not know the story of our altar, a great treasure. If you look to the left just inside the front doors of the church around the corner, you will see a photo of Saint Pope John Paul II celebrating Mass in 1979 on the Mall in front of the Smithsonian Castle. That is our altar, the biggest relic I’ve ever seen. In its first years it was smooth and square... Made from green wood, over time it has dried, shrunk, twisted in a most interesting way, and provides a great reflection for us for Lent. We often hear of the cross as Jesus’ altar of sacrifice, but few people can meditate on an altar that literally looks like the wood of the cross!
The Lord be with you.
Worship Aid for First Sunday in Lent
Lenten Observances
Fasting: Food equivalent to one regular meal, one small meal – Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
Abstinence: No meat – ALL Fridays
Parish Soup Suppers: Fridays in Lent, 6pm
Stations of the Cross: Fridays, 7pm in English, 8pm in Spanish, in the church
Lent Confessions: Wednesdays, 6:30-8pm, Saturdays, 3:30-4:30pm (as usual). Please plan confessions early in the season to avoid running out of time.
Parish Penance Service: Monday, April 4, 6:30pm
40 Hours and Parish Lenten Mission: Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Sunday–Tuesday, March 16-18. Begins with 5pm Mass Sunday followed by adoration and mission talk by Fr. Bill Quigley, CICM, director of Missionhurst’s Mount Tabor Retreat House in Arlington at 6:15pm. Additional Masses on Monday and Tuesday evening at 6:30pm followed by Lenten Mission talks at 7:30pm. Close of 40 Hours with Benediction, Tuesday night after the talk.
Bishop’s Lenten Appeal continues we are currently 39% of our parish goal of $ 560,000. Pledge envelopes can be found in the pews of the church or visit : www.arlingtondiocese.org/BLA. Please indicate you are a parishioner on the envelope.
Now accepting applications for PRE-Kindergarten in our school. Interested in joining our school community? We focus on faith formation, academic excellence, and community service. Visit our website: www.stbernschool.org/admissions-process/
All women in the parish are invited to a Lenten Night of Reflection with a special talk given by Fr. Don, Saturday, March 29th from 7-9:00pm in the Saint Bernadette School Gym. Please join us for refreshments and for small group discussion.
No Taizé this month in lieu of our 40 Hours Observance. We will resume next month 21 April at 8pm.
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
Now that we have begun the season of Lent, I thought I would offer to you a perspective of the season that might be a little different from they way you have approached Lent in the past.
True, it is a penitential season: we do penance to make amends for the sins we have committed. We often use the word reparation -- a repairing or healing of the disorder we have caused in our own lives, the way we have impacted others, been unfaithful or indifferent to God, and his creation.
But this was not the origin of the season of Lent, it is what it became around the time of the middle ages when there was a growing obsession with sin itself and who we were becoming. We were not good people who did bad things, but just bad people. The Reformation took place, in part, because the Catholic Church was literally telling people they could buy their way out of hell through the Church. The divisions in Christianity which came later were often driven by different leaders outdoing each other over just how unsalvageable humanity was.
The ancient feast of the Pasch, or Easter, is the day of resurrection. It was the morning that the Church observed Jesus’ rising from the dead and the fullness of our hope. It was always the day of baptism as people converted from non-Christianity to be received into the Body of Christ. The Church celebrated it not only in one day, but grew into a series of days not really to reenact the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, but to actively, ritually remember it. It is the seamless transformation of the Passover given to Moses by God as a feast forever, given new fullness and meaning as Christ becomes the paschal lamb that delivers us from death by his own sacrifice.
The triduum, the three days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil/Day expanded as a time for preparation for those who were to be baptized. See the emphasis on preparation: the saving rites that deliver us were yet to come. It is only afterward that we turn it into a penitential time because we have acknowledged that
we have been unfaithful to God’s saving act.
So, those who had come into the Church in previous years soon began to seek a longer time to “put things in order” for the celebration of baptism at the Easter Vigil, when each year the Church renews those baptismal promises which were made in the past. For most of us, those promises were made for us as infants or children by our parents and godparents. We must own them more each year we are alive.
The Church already had, in the blending of Judaism and Christianity, the feast of Pentecost. The coming of the Holy Spirit 50 days after the resurrection, 10 days after the ascension of Jesus into heaven, seemed like a good development. The Church has always like symmetry in her celebrations and this is the classic example. The 40 days up to the ascension and the significance of the number 40 (years wandering in the desert being prepared by God for the promised land, Jesus’ own post-baptismal 40 days in the desert preparing for his public life, the purification of the world by the great flood’s 40 days and nights, the 40 days that Moses spent on Mount Sinai receiving the Torah), 40 being the number in the Bible and Talmud representing change, renewal and transformation made 40 days of preparation before the Triduum the perfect solution. We got Lent.
The season of Lent, then, is for those coming into the Church either by baptism or profession of faith the time of proximate preparation. You will see at Mass different celebrations. The parish Rite of Sending of catechumens Saturday, March 8 to the Rite of Election with Bishop Burbidge on Sunday, March 9. The Penitential Rite for those already baptized on the second Sunday of Lent (9am) for candidates to prepare for their profession of faith. The scrutinies on the third (Vigil 5pm), fourth (9am), and fifth (11am) Sundays of Lent, when the assembly prays over catechumens to open their hearts to fully receive the grace of the sacraments of initiation.
Not so much reparation as preparation: so much more than just giving something up out of sorrow for sin, it is a conscious walking into the new light of Jesus’ resurrection that brings us to life.
The Lord be with you.
Worship Aid for Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lenten Observances
Fasting: Food equivalent to one regular meal, one small meal – Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
Abstinence: No meat – ALL Fridays
Parish Soup Suppers: Fridays in Lent, 6pm
Stations of the Cross: Fridays, 7pm in English, 8pm in Spanish, in the church
Lent Confessions: Wednesdays, 6:30-8pm, Saturdays, 3:30-4:30pm (as usual). Please plan confessions early in the season to avoid running out of time.
Parish Penance Service: Monday, April 4, 6:30pm
40 Hours and Parish Lenten Mission: Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Sunday–Tuesday, March 16-18. Begins with 5pm Mass Sunday followed by adoration and mission talk by Fr. Bill Quigley, CICM, director of Missionhurst’s Mount Tabor Retreat House in Arlington at 6:15pm. Additional Masses on Monday and Tuesday evening at 6:30pm followed by Lenten Mission talks at 7:30pm. Close of 40 Hours with Benediction, Tuesday night after the talk.
Bishop’s Lenten Appeal in-pew pledge weekend is this weekend, or you can give at: www.arlingtondiocese.org/BLA. Please indicate you are a parishioner here and it will count toward our parish goal of $560,000.
Now accepting applications for PRE-Kindergarten in our school. Interested in joining our school community? We focus on faith formation, academic excellence, and community service. Visit our website: www.stbernschool.org/admissions-process/
All Saints Church (Manassas) has invited our parishioners to participate in their Multi Car Raffle. Tickets are being mailed to households in the next week A portion of the proceeds raised are granted back to our parish school. See today’s bulletin for more information.
Inclement Weather Delays and Closures
Saint Bernadette Parish and School follows the Fairfax County School System regarding closings for snow and other inclement weather. If public schools are closed, our school is closed and all activities on the campus for that day and evening are canceled. Please take this policy into account when scheduling use of Parish facilities during winter months.
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
There was something incredibly right about our Evening Prayer for Hope and Healing, as we seek to accompany anyone who is worried or scared, or anxious right now over employment and recent events. As I said with my opening comments, this was not intended to be another opportunity for polarization or judgment or even opinion about current events. It was a moment for us to come together as a community to let everyone know that they are not alone but in the embrace of this community, to pray for healing and renewed hope, to listen to the word of God, to be healed through the beauty of music, and receive a teaching from Father Cedric on living with anxiety.
His message was really good. Anxiety is, of itself, not a desired emotion. It has many causes, and many effects on our bodies and our minds. But it is also, in that classic Catholic way of stating the unlikely obvious, an opportunity to experience our powerlessness and tune our hearts to God and grow closer to him. We know, as Father said, that God did not create the situation that faces us, but he is nevertheless sovereign over it. In that reassurance we can confidently confront whatever worries us knowing that, not only is he victorious over all passing things, he actually entered into the experience itself in Jesus Christ, who has gone before us and experienced it all already. Wherever we go, he has been there before, from the danger his family faced at the time of his birth all the way up to his agony in the garden and subsequent execution on the cross.
Anyway, I wish I had had the presence of mind to record his talk, and I could have added it to the website where I post my weekly homily... but I didn’t. Many people came away from our prayer service on Monday night with a renewed peace, spoke of a consolation and healing that they felt restored them and better readied them for whatever may happen. One person told me that she was reminded that our lives are so much more uncertain than certain, and you can convince yourself in moments of difficulty that the world probably isn’t going to go according to my plan for it. There is only One whose plans are big enough for the world to take notice, and the world would have to desire his plan. We are currently in a season when it does not seem to be interested in him.
___ ___ ___
I have been meaning to announce in the last couple of weeks that our parish – as well as the Catholic community of our area – has been invited by the Muslim community to two iftars.
The season of Ramadan, much like our season of Lent, is February 28 - March 29 this year. They observe a mandatory fast from food and water every day of the season from dawn to sunset. Imagine if we Catholics had such requirements! When Ramadan falls in the summer months there is serious concern about hydration, especially for those who have outdoor jobs. Still they do not break the fast until sunset. The meal they gather to celebrate after sunset prayers is called the iftar.
Saint Bernadette has been especially invited to the iftar celebrated in the context of the Interreligious Community Project Sharing Sacred Spaces initiative which we have been active in for the past two years. It is being hosted by the Rumi Forum at Temple Rodef Shalom on March 6 (this week!) at 5:30pm, at 2100 West Moreland St., Falls Church. RSVP by March 2(!). If you would like to go, contact me before the end of this weekend! I will tell them how many of us are coming.
We are also invited to the Northern Virginia Faith Communities’ Iftar on March 9 at 6:30pm, hosted by Rumi Forum’s American Turkish Friendship Association (ATFA) at their center in Chantilly, at 16120 Newbrook Drive in the Westfields area on Hwy 28. Again, if you would like to attend, please let me know and I will tell them how many of us will be coming.
This has become a wonderful way that Christians and Muslims gather, as they say, to connect heart to heart, break bread, and enjoy a conversation. It has long been my experience that we just need to get to know one another to ease the anxiety of stereotypes and false information.
The Lord be with you.
Worship Aid for Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
The 2025 Bishop’s Lenten Appeal mailing was recently sent to parishioners. The 2025 theme is “Abounding in Hope,” which reminds us of this great theological virtue that is rooted in Jesus Christ and the victory he won for us. The in-pew pledge weekend is March 1 - 2, or you can make a gift at: www.arlingtondiocese.org/BLA. Please indicate you are a parishioner here and it will count toward our parish goal of $560,000.
The second collection is weekend is for the Black and Indian Missions.
The diocese just announced dates for eucharistic ministry training and they are soon. If you are interested in serving in this ministry, please contact Fr Don as soon as possible.
Please join us on Monday evening 24 February at 7pm. for an evening of prayer for healing and hope. Fr. Cedric Wilson, Osa will present “Anxiety and the Spiritual Roadmap Forward
Concerts at Saint Bernadette presents the first concert of the 2025 season, welcoming the US Navy Band Chamber Ensemble on Friday, February 21 at 7:30pm, in the church.
All Saints Church (Manassas) has invited our parishioners to participate in their Multi Car Raffle. Tickets are being mailed to households in the next week A portion of the proceeds raised are granted back to our parish school. See today’s bulletin for more information.
Knights of Columbus Springfield Council 6153 will be hosting a Spaghetti Dinner and Trivia Contest Saturday, March 1 in the school cafeteria. Dinner is from 6–7:30pm followed by trivia until 9pm. Please join us, more details in today's bulletin.
Congratulations on a successful St. Lucy Food Drive last weekend. Through your generosity Saint Bernadette parish collected 4 tons! (8,055lbs) of food and an additional $ 850 in cash donations. It a huge help to the start of their month! The team at St. Lucy extends their sincere appreciation for the support from our parishioners.
Inclement Weather Delays and Closures
Saint Bernadette Parish and School follows the Fairfax County School System regarding closings for snow and other inclement weather. If public schools are closed, our school is closed and all activities on the campus for that day and evening are canceled. Please take this policy into account when scheduling use of Parish facilities during winter months.
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
Every once in a while things will come up in conversation that reveal misunderstandings of things that I believe are central to life in the Church. Often they are things that are the product of misinformation (maybe well-intended) that cause people to stay away from the sacraments or develop a bad self-image with regard to beliefs. I keep a list and, every once in a while, try to publish corrections. Here are a few major ones:
1) Being divorced does not forfeit your dignity in the eyes of God or make you any less a member of the Church. It does not exclude you from Holy Communion. Of course, Catholics must be married sacramentally in the Church, a civil marriage is not valid, only legal. So if you are a divorced Catholic who never married in the Church, civil divorce ends civil marriage, and a good confession is sufficient. If you were married in the Church and intend to remarry or start dating again, talk to one of the priests about the annulment process, because civil divorce does not end the sacramental bond. You are still married to that person sacramentally. We investigate the former marriage and determine if it was really sacramental, done for the right reasons with all the necessary intentions of fidelity, permanence, or openness to children, or if there might be any psychological incapacity on the part of either spouse. Once the former marriage is declared null (didn’t happen), you are free to seek marriage again for the first time.
2) The Rite of Christian Burial has three parts: the Vigil (commonly called a “wake” to make sure the person doesn’t merely seem to be deceased), The Funeral Mass, and the Rite of Burial. There is a current trend to move away from these Rites which the Deceased, if they were a person of faith and would have wished it, deserves. This happens for several reasons. Sometimes, surviving family members no longer practice Catholic faith and don’t understand the full impact of what a Funeral Mass is for. Much more than a “celebration of life” or tribute to the Deceased, it is actually a uniting of the Deceased’s earthly life in thanksgiving to the bread and wine of the sacrifice of Jesus to the Father in the Mass. This final communion is the commencement of that perfect communion which is the beauty of eternal life. More importantly, if the Deceased may not have been ready to enter the embrace of God needing further purification, they rely entirely on our prayers and the intercession of the saints to achieve that eternal life. The Mass is the greatest prayer we can offer for them, as well as the greatest act of charity we can do for them. Not to do so would be wrong.
Sometimes people make these decisions for economic reasons. Cutting out the Funeral Mass (the most important part) might be offered as a good option by the funeral home when, in fact, it costs the least. Our parish costs are only $100 for the church (which can be waived in difficult circumstances) and stipends for the musicians, if desired. The Church teaches that it is preferred to have the Funeral Mass with the body of the Deceased present and that cremation, if planned, be done after the Mass, but not required.
3) It seems that many people were taught as children that you may not receive Holy Communion unless you have been to the sacrament of Reconciliation. This seems to have had two results. On the one hand, too strict a rule can cause people to disregard it; on the other, scrupulosity can result as a response to the idea that I must find sins to confess. People can have unhealthy approaches to confession.
The official teaching: if you have committed grave (mortal) sin, you need to go to confession before receiving Eucharist. A regular practice of confessing is good, even if you don’t have mortal sin, because the grace of the sacrament deepens your relationship with God and brings about spiritual growth, but venial sins may be forgiven in many other ways: a sincere act of contrition, penance, fasting, almsgiving, works of mercy, the Penitential Rite at the beginning of Mass, even receiving Communion itself. Do you feel nervous going to confession? I have found focusing on the unconditional love and mercy of God is such a greater reflection than focusing on my sins. It brings about greater contrition.
The Lord be with you.
Worship Aid for Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The 2025 Bishop’s Lenten Appeal mailing was recently sent to parishioners. The 2025 theme is “Abounding in Hope,” which reminds us of this great theological virtue that is rooted in Jesus Christ and the victory he won for us. The in-pew pledge weekend is March 1 - 2, or you can make a gift at: www.arlingtondiocese.org/BLA. Please indicate you are a parishioner here and it will count toward our parish goal of $560,000.
The second collection is weekend is for the Black and Indian Missions.
The diocese just announced dates for eucharistic ministry training and they are soon. If you are interested in serving in this ministry, please contact Fr Don as soon as possible.
Please join us on Monday evening 24 February at 7pm. for an evening of prayer for healing and hope. Fr. Cedric Wilson, Osa will present “Anxiety and the Spiritual Roadmap Forward
Concerts at Saint Bernadette presents the first concert of the 2025 season, welcoming the US Navy Band Chamber Ensemble on Friday, February 21 at 7:30pm, in the church.
All Saints Church (Manassas) has invited our parishioners to participate in their Multi Car Raffle. Tickets are being mailed to households in the next week A portion of the proceeds raised are granted back to our parish school. See today’s bulletin for more information.
Knights of Columbus Springfield Council 6153 will be hosting a Spaghetti Dinner and Trivia Contest Saturday, March 1 in the school cafeteria. Dinner is from 6–7:30pm followed by trivia until 9pm. Please join us, more details in today's bulletin.
Congratulations on a successful St. Lucy Food Drive last weekend. Through your generosity Saint Bernadette parish collected 4 tons! (8,055lbs) of food and an additional $ 850 in cash donations. It a huge help to the start of their month! The team at St. Lucy extends their sincere appreciation for the support from our parishioners.
Inclement Weather Delays and Closures
Saint Bernadette Parish and School follows the Fairfax County School System regarding closings for snow and other inclement weather. If public schools are closed, our school is closed and all activities on the campus for that day and evening are canceled. Please take this policy into account when scheduling use of Parish facilities during winter months.
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
We have a few topics to consider this week.
1) First of all, I want to express my profound gratitude not only to the many volunteers who continue to serve our parish ministries where our parish finds its mission and purpose. Education, both in the school and religious education programs, provides a foundation for the future of our children. Our youth prograns, our adult formation programs, outreach to the poor -- all are necessary for our parish family to live into the Gospel which is so fulfilling not only for those we serve, but for ourselves, too.
All those who volunteer to enhance the quality and authenticity of our worship: musicians, choirs, altar servers, ministers of Holy Communion and lectors who deliver the Word of God whenever we gather. Just imagine what it would be like without you!
All those who serve on committees and councils -- you help us in our pastoral ministries to make the right decisions in seeking the will of God in our service.
Last weekend we had a wonderful celebration for you, but I also must express my gratitude to those who made it happen. Parish Staff all turned out to thank you for supporting our vocations and careers. Dr. Burgess and some teachers from the school came to serve our volunteers, reversing the roles at least in this hope that we can bring you joy with our Night of Gratitude celebration. We can’t do our jobs without your help. A few photos from our Night of Gratitude can be found on pp. 10-11.
2) I have the happy role of reporting in on the success of our Parish Center. We have met with the architects and our schematic drawings are underway. Design drawings will follow that will need to be finalized before they are given to engineers who will figure out how to make the building happen, that careful balance between watching the budget and ensuring we receive what we need. Once that step is done and, with the next okay from the Diocese, we begin to secure our GC, the bid process, construction drawings followed by applying for permits. This is one of those steps that you can never guess how long the process will take. The construction drawings scope can run over 100 pages which detail every wall, doorknob, technology and fixture. But with drawings we know will work, we can look forward to determining an estimated start of construction. There are probably steps I’ve left out, but you have the idea. The great news is we have begun!
3) Our country has joined the rest of the world’s problems in earnest now, and there is a great deal of uncertainty many of you have about employment, economy, security and our republic. I have spoken with many of you who speak about you or your friends experiencing a downward spiral of anxiety and stress.
We have decided to have a prayer service a week from this Monday, February 24, an Evening Prayer for Healing and Hope. It is an evening prayer, so families with members observing different Christian traditions can come together and truly pray together. It will include Scripture and prayers based on the Liturgy of the Hours, but will include additional reflections, as well as a talk by our own Fr. Cedric Wilson who has a PhD in psychology and has practiced as a therapist, “Anxiety: a Spiritual Roadmap Forward.” Many don’t know about Fr. Cedric’s professional life which he as served as an Augustinian priest.
This prayer service is intended for everyone, especially our many members who are employed by the federal government and its many agencies as well as those in the military who are facing uncertainty at this time. Please pass the word about this prayer service as you are able, it is intended to provide pastoral help to all of us who are wondering what is coming next. Please see p. 9 for details.
No matter what, know that you are loved and your first vocation as a follower of Jesus is, as Saint John of the Cross said, “Where there is no love, let me put love. Then, there I will find love.”
The Lord be with you.