January 2, 2005

Home Blessing for Epiphany 

   Epiphany is traditionally the day when homes are blessed.  This could be done with a procession through every room to capture the spirit of the magi’s journey.  Everyone involved may have something to carry: candles, cross or crucifix, or symbols that represent the gifts of the Magi.  In each room one person asks the blessing.  For example: “May this room [living room, kitchen, etc.] be blessed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  Then water may be sprinkled, or incense burned and moved throughout the room in order to honor the room, and anyone can wish a blessing on what happens in that room: “May this basement stay dry and cool!” “May this bedroom be filled with sweet rest and good dreams!” 

  At the end all can gather near the main entrance as the entranceway is marked with the traditional initials of the Magi (Caspar, Melchior, Balthasar, according to legend), separated by crosses and surrounded by the year we are in: 20+C+M+B+05.  All conclude with a prayer: “Keep our home a peaceful and safe haven, we ask you, O Lord.  May our door be always open to those who need us.  Send your holy angels to live with us and keep us at peace. May your blessing be always upon us. Amen,” with all making the sign of the cross over themselves at the end. 

Pastor’s Perspective

*Feast of the Epiphany

  The word ‘epiphany’ means to ‘shine forth’ or ‘make manifest’.  It is especially used in connection with the manifestation of something divine.  The Eastern Churches consider this the most important Christmas season feast because it marks how God intends for all people, Gentiles and Jews, to seek for and find salvation in Christ Jesus. 

  As we remember the story of the magi (also called astrologers, wise men, or kings) the focus is not on what caused the star in the sky or which countries the magi were from or whether there were three of them or even whether this was from the beginning meant to be read as a story with a theological meaning, not literal history.  We don’t know the answers to such questions and the Bible is not concerned about such questions.  The focus is on how all human longing can lead to Christ and how Jesus is the goal that fulfills all of human life. 

  The story of the wise men (traditionally three because there is mention of three gifts in the story: gold, frankincense, and myrrh) is a story of the universality of God’s saving love.  Not just God’s chosen people and not just those nearest to Jesus end up finding the right way.  The universe itself breathes forth and reveals the truth (the meaning of the star).  Those attentive to the world around them who are willing to risk taking a life-changing journey are lead to that truth (the meaning of the magi).  Those too preoccupied with their own power (Herod) or wisdom (those Herod seeks counsel from) might discover the truth but will not be able to embrace it unless their hearts are truly open (the meaning of the magi leaving without telling Herod). 

  The Feast of the Epiphany is celebrated on January 6th traditionally (and still is by many Christian churches).  The Roman Catholic Church leadership moved it to the second Sunday after Christmas because it is such a marvelous extension of the Christmas message and they didn’t want to add yet another holyday of obligation to attend Mass in such a short stretch of days (Immaculate Conception, Christmas, and January 1st are enough!).  This way we all get to hear the Epiphany Scriptures, meditate on the surprising ways that God’s saving love moves well beyond what we could anticipate, and give thanks to God that we are part of God’s plan for salvation.   

*A New Year

  A very blessed New Year is my hope for you, the parish, all our families, and this world.  May 2005 bring us closer to ending conflict in the Middle East and other troubled areas of the world.  May it see families through to better jobs where needed.  May we find our lives moved out of our comfort zones, yet our faith strengthened.  Happy New Year!  

*Christmas Thank You

  What a wonderful set of celebrations over the last weekend.  Thank you  to all  the musicians and choirs who put in so much extra time.  Thank you  to all who helped decorate and prepare the Church environment for the season—isn’t it beautiful, around the altar and also the Nativity Scene?  Thank you to the staff who worked so hard behind the scenes to help get everything ready.

  But most of all, thank you to all of you who make this such a dynamic parish. All the Masses were full, none were packed beyond reason.  I am grateful that  a number of you stayed away from the 5 p.m Christmas Eve Mass and chose to attend Midnight, 9:30 or 11:30 a.m on Christmas Day.  All three Masses were full.  I was especially pleased to see our children’s Mass at 11:30 a.m. so full with a special thanks to our children’s choir. 

*A Christian Understanding of God (or a ‘Theology of Everything’ continued)

The Christmas season from Christmas Day through the Epiphany through the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord emphasizes again and again that God is a God who transforms human history.  God reveals Godself to us as a God utterly beyond our comprehension and grasp—thus the silliness of thinking that we can control God through sacrifices, proper prayers, spiritual feats, promises, or even magic and the like—and yet a God who is intimately, passionately involved in human life. Thus the core of our faith might be called an ‘historical creed,’ something we inherited from our Jewish roots. 

  God is the God of specific ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; who adopted the people of Israel as his people; who led them out of bondage in Egypt; who wandered with them in the desert; who established a covenant with them forever; who brought them to the land of milk and honey; who sent them the prophets to keep them faithful to the covenant, who chastised them for their infidelity and yet pardoned them and brought them back out of exile. 

  This concrete historical naming of God is peculiar to the Jewish faith.  It preserves the two-fold sense that God is transcendent, utterly beyond us, and yet intimately concerned with leading humanity, through the people of Israel into its full destiny.  The transcendence of God is symbolized in the Jewish faith by never pronouncing the specific Hebrew name of YHWH (the Hebrew letters for the name which God gives to Moses at the burning bush when Moses asks “who should I say sent me?”, see Exodus 3:13-14).  Instead the vowels for the more generic, middle Eastern name of God—Adonai (which means “Lord God”)—are written in between the consonants of YHWH so that the sacred name of God will not be uttered. Rather, the reader will remember to say ‘Adonai’ and the utter beyondness of God will be preserved. 

  In a sense, this approach says to us:  not only are we not capable of knowing and understanding the ways of God, we are not even to speak the name of God, lest we in our ignorance really think we know the mind of God.  [A little aside: when the Hebrew rendering of what we call the Old Testament comes into English, the translators didn’t know exactly what to do with this hybrid which uses the consonants YHWH and

the vowels from Adonai.  In English ‘y’ becomes ‘j’ and ‘w’ becomes ‘v’.  The vowel sounds from Adonai are rendered ‘e’, ‘o’, and ‘a’. Thus we get the word ‘Jehovah’.] 

  The Christian revelation then is simply an extension of this Jewish mode of thinking about God.  God is not only the God who led his people out of Egypt and so forth, but the God who sent us the Savior, Jesus the Messiah; who was born of the virgin Mary; who proclaimed the breaking in of God’s kingdom; who healed the sick and forgave sinners; who gathered a community of disciples and named the Twelve as symbolic leaders; who was crucified, died and  buried yet on the third day God raised  him from the dead; who appeared to the apostles and disciples; who sent the Holy Spirit on the community of disciples. 

  Our Christian lives are an even further extension of this historical naming of the work of the utterly transcendent yet intimate God: who formed us in our mothers’ womb, who baptized us to share in the pattern of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection; who calls us to be in the community of faith, the Church, who dwells within us and communicates God’s own life to us through Jesus and in the Holy Spirit. 

  Like the Jewish faith of which we are an off-shoot, Christian faith is thoroughly concrete and centered on what is and will be happening in history.  It is about each moment of life opening itself to being lived in and through YHWH, the God of Jesus, Abba, Father, who comes to us as both Word and Spirit. Though God cannot be captured and named to our advantage (though we try to do that all the time and thus turn faith into abuse of power), God is a God who is always relational and personal, who wants us to know God’s own life and love.  This understanding of God leads to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity: God is one God and always only one God, yet God relates to us always in a tri-personal way (we have come to use the language of ‘Father, Son, and Spirit’ for this). 

  The whole point of the course I taught on the Christian understanding of God was to get the students to re-focus on the meaning of and importance of this Trinitarian understanding of God.  It offers us the uniquely Christian way to think about prayer, suffering, facing evil, the incompleteness of the world, in a sense, everything (thus the ‘theology of everything’!).  I will end this series of articles over the next couple of weeks, trying to capture for you how the early theologians and Church at large came to see that to be authentic to the gospel revealed by Jesus meant that one had to name God in a tri-personal way.  But to appreciate the importance of re-capturing that Trinitarian thinking, I want to set up what happened to that understanding in the course of Church history. 

  Basically and especially in the Western Church including Catholicism, theological thinking about what God has done in history for us and our salvation turned into theological speculation about who God is in God’s own inner being.  Thus theology about God was more and more divorced from any considerations of ordinary human life.  We still prayed in Trinitarian language (“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” or “We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever”).  But when we talked about God’s action in the universe and in history, we moved away from biblical language of God the Father, Jesus God’s Word and Wisdom, the Holy Spirit, and turned toward philosophical language and speculation on “the one God.” 

  In the modern world, thanks particularly to the influence of a man named Rene Descartes, God was seen as being completely understood once one talked of one supremely perfect Being, the first Cause who causes everything else, the first Mover who moves everything else, the exemplar of Beauty, Truth and Goodness who makes possible those attributes in creation.  Moreover, God’s existence was thought to be proved through philosophical speculation on the need for a Being who was not contingent or dependent on other beings for its existence. This ‘god of the philosophers’ was a far cry from the biblical God who loves, cares, has compassion, chastises, etc. 

  The name we now give to such philosophical speculation on the existence of God and God’s attributes is “theism”.  Not surprisingly, once such theism arises, philosophers begin to speculate on whether such a God is really necessary and, even more, whether belief in such a God diminishes an appreciation for humanity.  In other words, theism arises and modern atheism is born! And with it, the whole modern story of antagonism between faith and science, human wisdom and religious truth.  Who would have thought it possible?  Faith in a God who reveals a union of the human and divine gives rise to an anti-faith that believes all such religious faith destroys the human spirit! 

  Yet atheism and the modern story do not have the last word.  Science reveals a world that is awesomely complex and mysterious, where energy and matter are interchangeable, where processes evolve over billions of years, where measurements are necessarily indeterminate and there is no such thing as a neutral observer, where matter gives rise to life and life to spirit and consciousness.  This modern “universe story” challenges science to re-think its own self-enclosed systems even as it invites people of faith to humbly admit that, if the universe is thus, we really have very little understanding of God. 

  Thus we are at a new juncture that invites people of faith to get beyond a naïve belief in a supreme Being, existing alongside us, only bigger and better and eternal.  And, interestingly, that does not mean jettisoning our Christian faith, but re-embracing it more fully and appreciating what the great theologians of antiquity were trying to do when they faced the crises of their day and came to understand that YHWH, the one and only God, the Father of all, the Origin of All, comes to us fully as God in Word and Spirit.  In other words, God is tri-personally One. 

  More next week. 

   May the Christmas season and New Year continue to break open too comfortable and too settled ways of living and thinking.  May the Spirit of God re-mold us ever anew. 

  Fr. Buersmeyer

Bulletin advertisers 

  Kathleen Ford representing Diocesan Publications (our bulletin publisher) will be at the parish January 10. She will be renewing present advertisements and seeking new ones. If interested, please call the parish office. We feel this is an excellent service and that the sponsors get good coverage with their ads. Thanks to you and Diocesan Publications, the bulletin is published weekly at no cost to the parish.

Sunday readings 

  Books containing the Sunday readings for the next liturgical cycle (A) are now available.  We encourage anyone interested in preparing themselves for the next Sunday’s reading to ask for a book.  Reading the assigned scripture passages for the coming Sunday will help you to understand and be more open to hearing God’s word.    

Highlights of Hospitality

Committee meeting

December 15, 2004 

·          Meeting opened with prayer and a sharing of home baked Christmas goodies. 

·          An update on the parish Recipe Project was given (125 recipes received) and the timeline was reviewed.  Work will begin in January for the committee to begin making final preparations for the book to be published. 

·          It was noted that newly registered families of the last 3 months will be receiving a call from our outreach ministers sometime in January. 

·          The remainder of the meeting was a review of the goals given to the Parish Pastoral Council to be discussed in our January Council/Commission meeting. 

·          A January potluck is scheduled for Friday the 21st. 

·          Next meeting:  January 19th, 7p.m. 

Sharing Tree 

Dear Fr. Buersmeyer,

  I want to thank you and the members of SS. John & Paul for your support of the Archdiocesan AIDS Forum Giving Tree of Hope this Christmas season. The many gifts you gave were greatly appreciated by the people with HIV/AIDS.

  Again, thank you very much . I wish you and all the staff and parishioners a very Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

  Respectfully,

  Bro. Paul J. Yasenak, C.Ss.R.

  AIDS Ministry Coordinator 

Samaritan House thanks

Dear Friends,

  Samaritan House would like to thank you so much for your generous donation of food and continuous support. Because of your thoughtfulness and caring, we are able to fill our clients’ needs.

  Bless you,

  Samaritan House 

CHRISTIAN FAITH FORMATION

2004-2005

Religious Formation

Program 

Early Childhood — Sunday

(ages 3-4-5 years)

During 9:30 a.m. Mass

Sessions:  Jan. 9, 16, 23   

Grades 1-6 — Tuesday

4:45-6:00 p.m. & 6:30-7:45 p.m.

Sessions:  Jan. 4, 11, 18    

Grades 7-8 — Sunday

6:30-8:30 p.m.

No session:  Jan. 16

Sessions: Jan. 9, 23, 30 

Children’s

Christmas Liturgy

December 25

at the 11:30 a.m. Mass 

      On the eve of Christmas so many of us find ourselves hurrying here and there trying to get to all of our family celebrations, as well as our church celebration of Christmas.  We wish each other peace on the run and yet when all is done, how much Christmas peace do we really experience  in the rush?

     If you haven’t attended the 11:30 a.m. Children’s Christmas Liturgy on Christmas Day yet, it is a must!    In a beautiful, simple, peaceful environment  we celebrate the birth of Christ with the presence of the children’s choir.  All children attending will have the opportunity to take part in the spontaneous nativity scene as the gospel is being read.  

      Come and join us.  Your hearts will truly be blessed with Christmas  peace on this day.   

Journeying in Faith 

      Someone once said, ‘It is hard to follow one great vision in this world of darkness and changing shadows.  Among those shadows people get lost.’    This is exactly what the Magi did—they set out in pursuit of a great vision and followed that vision to the end. 

      It was a bold, courageous and imaginative journey.  To some it appeared foolish, even a little crazy.  It wasn’t an easy journey, encountering many difficulties and having moments of doubt and danger.  Every time the star disappeared under the clouds or the light of day they would lose their bearings temporarily. 

      They must have asked themselves if they weren’t wasting their time.  What will people think of us?  Yet, they persevered in their goal and were rewarded when they finally found the Christ child. 

      Though the Magi were guided by a star, they didn’t know where it would lead them.  It was truly a journey of faith.  And even when they saw the Child, they still had to make an act of faith, for seeing is not always believing.  

     This story is of great importance to us because we, too, are on a journey—the journey of life.  We, too, are following a vision.  As the Magi were guided by the light of a star, we are guided by the light of faith.  Their journey can serve as a model for our journey of faith. 

      We have one advantage over the Magi, however.  We already know Christ and have encountered him in faith.  Christ, the light of the world, is the ‘star’ we are following.  But the fact that we haven’t seen him face to face means we haven’t yet arrived at our final destination.  The fact that we have faith doesn’t mean we know all the answers.  We are still searching, still traveling onwards. 

      We, too, have doubts and encounter difficulties.  Faith doesn’t mean an easy journey, but it does mean a meaningful one.  The Magi’s journey was one of searching and questioning, of pain and joy, of fear and hope.  Our faith journey has all these elements.   

      The Magi did not journey as individuals.  They had each other.  They formed a little community of believers.  We, too, have a community to support us in our faith journey. 

      May the lamp of faith never fail us.  May its light see us through the darkness of this world  until  we reach the heavenly Bethlehem where we shall see Christ in glory. 

A Star is Born 

  The Magi were led to Christ by the light of a star. But they saw the star only because they were not afraid to travel in the dark. The fact is, we cannot see the star in the bright light of day, but only in the darkness of night; and the darker the night, the brighter they shine. In a sense, all of us are night-time travelers.

   However, we need no longer fear the darkness, because with the coming of Christ a light has come into the world, a light that shines in the dark, a light that no darkness can overpower. 

 POTLUCK 

When:   January 21, 2005

Where:  Parish Activities Center

Who:  All who love to eat and have fun

Tickets:   $5 / couple, $3 / single

Plus:   Dish to pass for 8 people

Sign-up:  Begins next week! 

Vatican II continues…

  January’s insert is titled, “Catholicism Welcomes the World”.  It focuses on 2 of the shorter Vatican II documents, Decree on Ecumenism and the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions.

  Ecumenism, which simply refers to  unity among all Christians, was a theme of the papacy of John XXIII.  He wanted to better the relations between the Catholic Church and other denominations.  When the pope declared his intention to convene the ecumenical council, it was clear that ecumenism would be a pivotal theme. 

Available on video!

  Our library has three different sets of videos that are available to be checked out through the parish office.  These videos focus on Vatican II in different ways.  If you are interested in seeing any of them, call JoAnne at the parish office and she will tell you what is available.

  NOTE:  One of our videos is missing.  Number 4 of the set called “The Faithful Revolution, Vatican II.”  If by chance you borrowed it and just forgot to return it, please do so as soon as possible so others can view it.  

Music notes 

Christmas thank you!

  A special thanks to all who participated in making the Christmas liturgies beautiful and full of life, especially our awesome music ministers who gave so much time and energy preparing for the season. This has been a blessed Christmas for me and I look forward to many more with you! Thanks again for your patience during the transition time, your musicianship, and especially the love you generously bestow!

  Our regular rehearsal schedule will resume the second week of January, with the exception of the children’s choir. 

Children’s choir

  We are considering putting the children’s choir on Wednesdays from 5:30-6:30 p.m., alternating weeks with a new children’s hand bell choir. If this schedule works out, we will begin the third week of January with choir, and the fourth week with hand bells. If your child is interested in one or both of these choirs, please let me know this week if Wednesdays are good. You will be informed next week of the concensus.

  Carl Reyes 

Samaritan House January needs 

  The Samaritan House has submitted their list of needs for the month of January.  They are in need of pancake mix, paper towels, diapers (size 3, 4, 5, 6), Ensure (liquid), pancake syrup, baby wipes, tampons, laundry detergent, cooking oil, jelly, shampoo, canned fruit and dish soap.  Any non-perishable food items and toiletries that you can donate are always appreciated.  Pantry donations received by Samaritan House filled 103 food orders in the month of November and that amount fed 330 individuals for more than one week!

   Donations can be delivered directly to Samaritan House at 58944 Van Dyke in the Alward’s Plaza on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM and Fridays from 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM.  If these days/times are not convenient, items can be dropped off at church, clearly marked “Samaritan House”. 

MCREST volunteers needed 

  SS. John & Paul will be preparing and serving lunch for the residents of MCREST at St. Clement at 11:00 AM at St. Clement on Thursday, January 6th.  We will be serving about 35 people.  If you are able to spend 2 – 3 hours to help out at St. Clement on January 6th, please call Kathy at the parish office. 

  If you are unable to attend but would like to help, donations of home baked desserts are needed and can be delivered here at SS. John & Paul before 10:30 AM on January 6th.   

Highlights of Parish Pastoral Council meeting

December 15, 2004 

¨         Council held its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, December 15, with nine members present. 

¨         Work on the Parish Evaluation Inventory (PEI) is continuing and should be finished by mid to late February, 2005. Once Council agrees on the plan and the parish staff refines it, the “Together in Faith” committee will sign off on the document and it will be sent to the vicariate and the diocese. 

¨         Joe Cymbalski was commended by Council for the superb job he did compiling the data for the goal-setting process. 

¨         Council proceeded to list the goals collected from the various commissions under approximately five different “themes”. This information will be presented to the attendants of the “all commissions” meeting on January 19, 2005. 

¨         If necessary, a special meeting may be held by Council on January 5, 2005 to make certain the material is ready for presentation at the January 19 meeting. 

A Family Perspective

by Bud Ozar 

  Emmanuel means “God with us”. Christmas is a reminder that God is with us in every child. Don’t just look at the Baby Jesus in the crib; look into the eyes of every child and see the face of God. 

25th anniversary commemorative ornament 

Over the next few weeks, we will be selling Christmas ornaments which commemorate SS. John & Paul’s 25 years as a parish. The ornament will sell for $8 and will be available after all the weekend masses. We have a limited quantity, so be sure to purchase yours early.

Photos needed

  We are still looking for photos of parish events, family sacraments, daily Mass in the old rectory or elementary school, etc. that span our early years as a parish and will help us celebrate or 25th Anniversary.

  In addition, we would like to put together a parish album of parish members at this time. If you have a photo of yourself or family, put the names on the back and send it in. We’ll return it to you after scanning it into a database. Or, if you have a digital photo, e-mail it to us with the names. (It is absolutely acceptable to include a photo that has a deceased spouse or family member in the photo).

TEEN NEWS

Teen meeting January 9...

Bring a friend and join us for our teen meeting on January 9 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. 

Gift subscriptions to The Michigan Catholic

  2005 promises to be a great year for readers of The Michigan Catholic: Youth from the Archdiocese will share their experiences of World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany; Cardinal Adam Maida will offer monthly reflections on the Church’s Year of the Eucharist; the paper will keep readers up to date on the changes happening in the Archdiocese as a result of the strategic plan, “Together in Faith”, and much more.

  Consider sharing your faith with friends and family through gift subscriptions to The Michigan Catholic. Send names and addresses with $24 per subscription to: The Michigan Catholic, 305 Michigan Ave., Detroit, MI 48226.

  Just a note: Our official Archdiocesan paper received first place nationally in 2004 for news photography from the Catholic Press Association and second place for feature writing. A re-design of The Michigan Catholic is also set to be unveiled early in the new year — making each issue more attractive and easier to read. 

Bulletin advertising 

  Kathleen Ford representing Diocesan Publications (our bulletin publisher) will be at the parish soon. She will be renewing present advertisements and seeking new ones. If interested in advertising in our bulletin, please call the parish office. We feel this is an excellent service and that the sponsors get good coverage with their ads. Thanks to you and Diocesan Publications, the bulletin is published weekly at no cost to the parish.

Try it on—the priesthood 

  Christmas is a time for family. Advent should be, too. As parents, you can prepare for Jesus’ birth by explaining to your children what the Christmas mystery means: that God has fulfilled a marvelous plan to bring us to joy with him. But, it also means, that in response, we must pray to know our place in God’s plan: marriage, single life, priesthood or religious life. For more information visit www.vocationsdetroit.org or call the Vocation Office at (313) 237-5875.   

Together in Ministry

Ministry to the Homebound  

  There are several groups of people who extend our parish outreach into the homes of parishioners who are unable to stay connected to us physically because of ill health or other personal reasons.  The care and concern shown by these ministers to the homebound speaks loudly of their desire to follow in the footsteps of Jesus as he, too, cared so deeply for the sick and suffering in his midst. 

  The different groups that play a role in this extensive outreach to the homebound include:

·          Communion Ministers to the Sick

·          Parish Health Ministry Team

·          Christian Service Senior Assistance team

·          Card Ministry Team

·          Pastoral staff

·          Parish community at large 

  Each of the above groups plays an vital role in ministering to the homebound and maintaining their identity and connectedness to our parish family.  Next week we will begin to describe these roles so that we all have a better understanding of our own responsibility in this ministry.  

  Again...remember to keep these special ministers in your prayers.  

Saturday and Sunday

January 1-2, 2005

Issac Giffin by Gaffke Family

Giuseppe DeCarolis by Family

Gerald Hatcher by Wife

Edward Woytalewicz by Wife & Family

Julius Misuraca by Family

M/M L. Przyblowicz by Drozdowski Fam 

Monday, January 3, 2004

For the parishioners 

Tuesday, January 4, 2004

For the parishioners 

Wednesday, January 5, 2004

Betty J. Hacker by D. Peters Family  

Saturday and Sunday

January 8-9, 2005

.Katherine Miracola by C. LaRose

Rudy Keller by Family

Gertrude Wells by E. Willard

Alfred Baston by Stavenow Family

Dominick & Katherine Blues

by Stavenow Family