Fr. George Darling, Pastor SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION Saturdays at 3:30 pm or by appointment. SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM Parish registration of six months is required. Preparation session required. Contact the parish office for details. SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY Contact the parish office a minimum of six months prior to the preferred wedding date. Marriage preparation sessions are required. PASTORAL COUNCIL Scott Ware, Chair. Liz Connell Jim Fochtman Kelly Garbacik Doug Graves Jeremy Reed Kathy Schwartz Mark Steiner Donna Wrona FINANCE COUNCIL Jim Wila, Chair. Jim Frey, Vice Chair. Tim Callery Tammy Chartier Bob Dean Barb Lawrence Deb Schmalzel Terry Staskey Steve Stoddard PARISHIONER MEMBERSHIP New members are always welcome to our Parish. Parishioner status is maintained by registration in the parish, active participation in weekend liturgies and full participation in the parish stewardship program. All family members 18 years and older should be individually registered with the parish. Parish membership and participation is required of those desiring the Sacraments of Baptism, First Eucharist, Confirmation and Matrimony. OFFICE HOURS: Monday - Friday, 8:30am–4:00pm LITURGICAL SCHEDULE Weekday Mass: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 8:30am Wednesday: 10:30am Weekend Mass: Saturday: 4:30pm Sunday: 9:00am & 11:00am 2275 Diamond Avenue NE Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 Telephone: (616) 447-7554 (616) 447-7629 Fax: (616) 447-7548 E-Mail: [email protected]www.bsacrament.net ASA telephone: 616-447-2997 The 4th Sunday of Lent Blessed Sacrament Parish
Transcript
Fr. George Darling, Pastor
SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION Saturdays at 3:30 pm or by appointment.
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM Parish registration of six months is required.
Preparation session required. Contact the parish office for details.
SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY Contact the parish office a minimum of six
months prior to the preferred wedding date. Marriage preparation sessions are required.
PASTORAL COUNCIL Scott Ware, Chair. Liz Connell Jim Fochtman Kelly Garbacik Doug Graves Jeremy Reed Kathy Schwartz Mark Steiner Donna Wrona
FINANCE COUNCIL Jim Wila, Chair.
Jim Frey, Vice Chair. Tim Callery
Tammy Chartier Bob Dean
Barb Lawrence Deb Schmalzel Terry Staskey
Steve Stoddard
PARISHIONER MEMBERSHIP New members are always welcome to our Parish. Parishioner status is maintained by registration in the parish, active participation in weekend liturgies and full participation in the parish stewardship program. All family members 18 years and older should be individually registered with the parish. Parish membership and participation is required of those desiring the Sacraments of Baptism, First Eucharist, Confirmation and Matrimony.
BLESSED SACRAMENT CHURCH PAGE 2 GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN
BY GEORGE….
Sat, Mar 21 VIGIL: 4thSUNDAY OF LENT **No Mass** Sun, Mar 22 4th SUNDAY OF LENT **No Mass** **No Mass** Mon, Mar 23 LENTEN WEEKDAY **No Mass** Tues, Mar 24 LENTEN WEEKDAY **No Mass** Wed, Mar 25 THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD **No Mass** Thurs, Mar 26 LENTEN WEEKDAY **No Mass** Fri, Mar 27 LENTEN WEEKDAY
**No Mass** Sat, Mar 28 VIGIL: 5th SUNDAY OF LENT **No Mass** Sun, Mar 29 5th SUNDAY OF LENT **No Mass** **No Mass**
YTD $522,111.66 Budget YTD $535,653.85 Last YTD $533,507.07
5% Tithe this week $402.20 YTD Tithe $26,105.58
While we are all living under the cloud of the coronavirus we have to decide if that cloud has a silver lining or not. To me it seems to have one that can perhaps make this Len-ten season our best Lenten season ever. One of the pur-poses of the season of Lent is to help us to discipline our wills. How often is it when we find our selves in a situation of sinfulness that it is a matter of knowledge, meaning that we don't know what the good is that we should do or don't know what the evil is that we shouldn't do? How many times is it that we know what the good is and what the evil is but we lack the sufficient strength of will to do the good
and not do the evil. Just like an athlete goes to spring training, or preseason, or training camp to discipline their bodies such that in the midst of the competition their bodies are trained to respond to the stresses encountered by that competition, so too for us Lent is the time of our training our wills to respond properly in the midst of the stress of the life situations in which we find ourselves. In the midst of those difficult situations if we have trained our wills we discover that we can respond without anger, or envy, or lust, or greed, or whatever the temptation may be but rather can respond with love for our God and for our neighbor as we love ourselves. We are in one of those situations now with regard to the coronavirus. How many of us have willed this situation on ourselves? For how many of us is this situa-tion something beyond our control? As a preacher I miss the 3
rd, 4
th, and 5
th Sundays of Lent this year because we
are in the year A readings on Sundays meaning the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, the man born blind, and the raising of Lazarus -- three great stories which are some of my favorites on which to preach. How many of us who are addicted to sports have chosen by our own wills to can-
cel the Masters, or March Madness, or spring training, or maybe even the Olympics? How many of us are happily choosing to watch the stock market and our retirement funds crashing? How many of us have chosen to be out of work and therefore not drawing a paycheck? How many of us have chosen not to be able to participate in the Eucha-rist each Sunday or being unable to see our family and friends at Church? Obviously this is not a situation that any of us would have chosen -- hence its connection to our season of Lent and the disciplining of our wills. Remember that the sin of Eve was that she wanted to be equal to the gods. How many people believe that they are the center of the universe and life is supposed to happen the way they want it to happen and that God is here to make darn sure life happens that way for them or they reject God as being useless to them? Well, what is God teaching us by the coronavirus other than that the universe is a much bigger and more complicated place than any of us might desire it to be such that things happen that are beyond our control. The lesson this time is being taught to us by a coronavirus giving us the wonderful Lenten opportunity of disciplining
our wills that baptized in Christ we may choose for God's kingdom to come and God's will to be done and not delud-ing ourselves that it is all about me, since obviously this time none of us have any control over this teeny tiny bug we call the virus that wants to do each of us harm.
Sacred Scripture Readings for the Week of March 22, 2020 Sunday 4th Sunday of Lent 1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a; Ps 23:1-6; Eph 5:8-14; Jn
9:1-41 or 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38 Monday Is 65:17-21; Ps 30:2, 4-6, 11-12a, 13b; Jn 4:43-54 Tuesday Ez 47:1-0, 12; Ps 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9; Jn 5:1-16 Wednesday The Annunciation of the Lord Is 7:10-14, 8:10; Ps 40:7-11; Heb 10:4-10; Lk 1:26-38 Thursday Ex 32:7-14; Ps 106:19-23; Jn 5:31-47 Friday Wis 2:1a, 12-22; Ps 34:17-21,23; Jn 7:1-2, 109, 25-30 Saturday Jer 11:18-20; Ps 7:2-3, 9b-12; Jn 7:40-53 Sunday 5th Sunday of Lent Ez 37:12-14; Ps 130:1-8; Rom 8:8-11; Jn 11:1-45 or 11:3-7, 17, 20-28, 33b-45
4th Sunday of lent PAGE 3 march 22, 2020
You can make your CSA donation online by visiting our parish website. On the main page there is a link to the Diocese of Grand Rapids website, grdi-ocese.org. Go to that link and it will tell you how to make your donation. Don’t forget to reference Blessed Sacrament when filling out the form.
~This Week in our Parish~ Sun Mar 22: Watch Mass on TV with your family Mon Mar 23: Read a Bible Story to your children Tues Mar 24: Pray the Rosary as a family Wed Mar 25: Call someone with whom you have not talked for a while Thurs Mar 26: Mail your donation to the Parish Fri Mar 27: Enjoy tuna fish sandwiches Sat Mar 28: Rest Sun Mat 29: Watch Mass on TV with your family
Sponsor of the Week This week’s sponsor is Amy K. DeYoung, DDS, MS, PC. Please see this ad on the back of the bulletin.
These advertisers help to defray all publishing costs which the Church would otherwise incur. Please patron-ize the sponsors on the back of this bulletin and thank them for their kind generosity.
~In Our Thoughts & Prayers~
Homebound Parishioner of the Week
Have you had a change of address, phone number or
email address? We are currently updating our data-base in preparation for the new ver-sion of Parish phone/address direc-tory. If you have had a change of address, phone number or email ad-dress, please let us know by calling the Parish Office, emailing us at [email protected], or you can go to our website, under the tab “About Us” and use the form there to get us that info. Thanks for helping us keep our Parish records up-to-date.
2233 Diamond Ave./447-2997 4 Mile Rd./363-7725
Michael Debri, Principal www.asagr.org
School Closed
Both school campuses and offic-es are closed until April 3, 2020 for the COVID-19 State of Emer-gency. We will be checking mes-sages weekly. Teachers have be-gun providing online lessons via Canvas. Anyone having trouble accessing Canvas, please email [email protected] for assis-tance. For now, both school offic-es are scheduled to be open 7:00 am until 5:00 pm on March 31 for students to drop off completed work and pick up any additional materials they may need. This schedule is subject to change.
School Events Cancelled
All scheduled school events have been cancelled through April 3, 2020.
~Outside the Parish~
Parish Membership Directory
The new membership directory for Blessed Sacrament Church should be ready for publishing in May, 2020. Anyone interested in placing an advertisement or personal message in our new directory should call Jill Garner at 800-544-6903 ext. 109 toll free or email her at jgarner@cathe draldirectories.com. Your current ad or business card could be used or help in making up a new ad could be arranged. Please feel free to pass this information on to others. Adver-tisers do not need to be members of our church.
All Masses and Parish Activities are now cancelled until further notice.
The Diocese of Grand Rapids Catholic Cemeteries located at Holy Cross, Ss. Peter and Paul, Mt. Calvary, St. Andrew and Resurrection Cemetery would like to remind you that all Christmas wreaths need to be removed by March 31, 2020. Any wreaths that remain after this date will be picked up and disposed of. All in-ground vases may be turned up and have flowers placed in them starting April 1, 2020.
PLEASE NOTE: Refer to the cemeteries’ rules and regula-tions as to what is allowed for memorializing a grave or call the office at (616) 453-1636.
Automatic Giving
We encourage parishioners who normally bring their contri-butions to Mass to sig up for automatic giving. There is a form on our website that you can print, fill out and mail to the parish office, or you can email us the information. If you have any questions call Lori or Dar-rell in the Parish office, 616-447-7554.
