Fr. Don’s Weekly Letter ~ 2 March 2025

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.