Issue: #14042015
April 14, 2015
ST. IGNATIUS WEBPAGE

 You can view or read last Sunday's Homily by clicking on links below:

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TRUTH SERUM
This past Sunday was "Divine Mercy Sunday", and so this week's Truth Serum is Joe Simmons, S.J. observation Divine Mercy Amidst the Messiness. click here

 

POOR BOX COLLECTION

Each weekend 
St. Ignatius specifies a Poor Box collection for
a needful cause. This week's focus is The Catholic Medical Mission Board. To learn more click here


MASS MUSIC

Attached is the listing for the music selections
at next Sunday's
10:30 Mass.
click here

WORLD WATCH

Weekly updates on Christian persecution around the globe. Keep a prayerful watch on what is happening with your brothers and sisters! - click here.
ST. IGNATIUS CALENDAR
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Pope Francis Releases a Papal Decree Announcing An Extraordinary Year of Mercy

 

"Jesus Christ is the face of the Father's mercy. These words might well sum up the mystery of the Christian faith. Mercy has become living and visible in Jesus of Nazareth, reaching its culmination in him. The Father, 'rich in mercy' (Eph 2:4), after having revealed his name to Moses as 'a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness' (Ex 34:6), has never ceased to show, in various ways throughout history, his divine nature. In the 'fullness of time' (Gal 4:4), when everything had been arranged according to his plan of salvation, he sent his only Son into the world, born of the Virgin Mary, to reveal his love for us in a definitive way."


My Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Faith,
 

On the eve of the Octave of Easter and the celebration of Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis presented to the world a formal letter of 16 pages, Misericordiae Vultus (The Face of Mercy), called a Papal Bull, announcing that he was decreeing a HOLY YEAR OF MERCY. The year will open on December 8, 2015, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, and will close on November 20, 2016, the Solemnity of Christ the King.

 

While this unique Holy Year will begin on December 8th, Francis will open formally the Holy Door of the Cathedral of Rome, namely the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, on December 13th, the Third Sunday of Advent.

 

Francis states that he has chosen to inaugurate the YEAR OF MERCY on the 50th Anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council because "The Church feels a great need to keep this event alive." At the Council, "The Church sensed a responsibility to be a living sign of the Father's love in the world."  Francis recalls the poignant words of John XXIII when he opened the Council and pointed to the path the bishops were to follow: "Now the Bride of Christ wishes to use the medicine of mercy rather than taking up the arms of severity...The Catholic Church, as she holds high the torch of truth at this Ecumenical Council, wants to show herself a loving mother to all; patient, kind moved by compassion and goodness toward her separated children (Christians of other denominations)." The hope, the desire of Francis is that God's "balm of mercy may reach everyone, both believers and those far away, as a sign that the Kingdom of God is already present in our midst."

 

The Pope emphasizes that "the mercy of God is not an abstract idea, but a concrete reality through which God reveals God's love as that of a father or mother...It is hardly an exaggeration to say that this is a 'visceral' love. It gushes forth from the depths naturally, full of tenderness, indulgence and mercy." Francis goes on to open up the scriptures, of both the Old and New Testaments," pointing out passage after passage where God's word speaks of God's endless mercy for sinners and for the human person and community. He also turns to John Paul II's Encyclical, Dives in Misericordia, in which that Pope spoke at length about the need to proclaim and give witness to mercy in our contemporary world.

 

Setting a thematic motto for the Jubilee Year, Francis focuses on the Lord's words: Merciful like the Father. It is the evangelist who "reminds us of the teaching of Jesus who says, 'Be merciful as your Father is merciful.' (Lk 6:36). Noting the important place of pilgrimage in the Holy Year, Francis speaks about the role of confessors as authentic signs of God's mercy, even to the point of asking bishops to appoint priests from their dioceses to be sent elsewhere as Missionaries to preach mercy and to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation among the people.

 

Before closing with a touching reflection on Mary who "treasured divine mercy in her heart in perfect harmony with her Son Jesus," the Pope takes up the question about the relationship between justice and mercy. He affirms that "These are not contradictory realities, but two dimensions of a single reality that unfolds progressively until it culminates in the fullness of love." He reminds us that "Mercy is not opposed to justice but rather expresses God's way of reaching out to the sinner, offering him a new chance to look at himself, convert, and believe...God's anger lasts but a moment, God's mercy forever."

 

It is clear that with this papal bull that summons the whole Catholic world to participate in a Jubilee Year of God's Mercy, Francis dramatizes for all of us how God is at work in this Pope's remarkable papacy calling all of us to ever deeper conversion of mind and heart and to join Francis in becoming ourselves disciples, ambassadors, dispensers of Christ's mercy in the world we find ourselves. To read the Pope's Decree,  Misericordiae Vultus, click here

 

Gratefully in the Risen Christ,

 


Next Sunday's Gospel Reading - Luke 24:35-48 

Caravaggio and TS Eliot on the Road to Emmaus
By Ken Sutter


Supper at Emmaus - Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio

 

This next weekend's Gospel reading centers on the two disciples in the aftermath of Jesus walking with them on the road to Emmaus. (Luke 24:35-48)

Luke's telling of the walk to Emmaus is delicate and complete with a sense of drama that endures even to this day.  It sets the characters onstage against an expressive backdrop, the action and movement build as the tension rises, a new character enters the scene, there is more tension. Then a sudden surprise ending and the curtain falls on the mystery. Where has he gone?

I suppose these pilgrims had spent a restless morning that Sunday, exchanging stories with friends, certainly they heard the stories of the vision of angels, of an empty tomb., that's what the women said. But they themselves had not seen it, and they had not seen their Lord.

They have witnessed greatness, beauty, honesty, the gifts of love to the world, swept away in a moment, at least I and you can forgive their loss of hope. It was the normal human response.

These two had heard the reports of resurrection, of a living Christ, but they had not seen it.. And this was the root of their question, "we've heard about it, but we hadn't seen it."  Clearly their hearts wanted to believe but their minds would not permit belief.

The pilgrims say their farewells to friends and turn their back on Jerusalem and its failed promises, and start their journey home through their own waste land of grief and uncertainty. They had been just that close, He was a prophet, clearly empowered, He was clearly the presence of God in the World, and like so many of the prophets, he was  grabbed away viciously and instantly, and thoroughly destroyed

T.S. Eliot had struggled with a literary effort he called "The Waste Land" for a year or so, It was a painful personal journey through the disjuncture of the modern post World War I Western world, through mythology, the search for the Grail, his own spiritual quest, a difficult  marriage.  Yet some insights flow more quickly than others.  As Eliot rested in Lausanne Switzerland it was as though the thoughts flowed out and he quickly wrote the section, "What the Thunder Said,"  I want to lay out a bit of its unmistakeable allusion to this walk to Emmaus.- READ MORE 
Values That Stand the Test of TIme

The Enduring Legacy of Bonhoeffer 
70 years after his death, what the theologian turned martyr is still teaching us.

by CHRIS NYE
 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer had a strong sense he was not doing anything of great importance. While his friendships with prominent theologians and members of the resistance to Hitler were numerous, the German pastor and theologian "would never imagine his actions as heroic in the least," writes Charles Marsh in the latest Bonhoeffer biography, Strange Glory.

And yet, 70 years after his death, Bonhoeffer remains a towering figure in recent Christian history and one of the patron saints of 20th century non-violence. Books on him are constantly being published as the obsession with his writing and life seems only to be growing.

In his unique Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker, Dr. Andrew Root tells about his experience presenting on Bonhoeffer at a youth worker convention with surprising attendance and response. After his presentations to packed rooms, he recalls standing around "for nearly an hour hearing one after another confess how this German man had impacted them."

While we certainly need to be careful about putting theologians like Bonhoeffer on too high of pedestals, I still feel as though there are things about him that are both commendable and, if repeated by modern Christians, could help shape our collective character for the better. Certainly there are more than what is treated here, but I've compiled a few ways Bonhoeffer continues to help us think through the faith. - READ MORE 
From Atheist to Christian
Meet Jennifer Fulwiler, a writer from Austin, Texas who converted to Catholicism after a life of atheism. 
Atheist to Christian Testimony - Powerful! 
Video: Atheist to Christian Testimony - Jennifer Fulwiler 


How the Search for Truth Led Me from Atheism to Catholicism

One thing I could never get on the same page with my fellow atheists about was the idea of meaning. The other atheists I knew seemed to feel like life was full of purpose despite the fact that we're all nothing more than chemical reactions. I could never get there. In fact, I thought that whole line of thinking was unscientific, and more than a little intellectually dishonest. If everything that we call heroism and glory, and all the significance of all great human achievements, can be reduced to some neurons firing in the human brain, then it's all destined to be extinguished at death. And considering that the entire span of homo sapiens' existence on earth wouldn't even amount to a blip on the radar screen of a 5-billion-year-old universe, it seemed silly to pretend like the 60-odd-year life of some random organism on one of trillions of planets was something special. (I was a blast at parties.)

By simply living my life, I felt like I was living a lie. I acknowledged the truth that life was meaningless, and yet I kept acting as if my own life had meaning, as if all the hope and love and joy I'd experienced was something real, something more than a mirage produced by the chemicals in my brain. Suicide had crossed my mind -- not because I was depressed in the common sense of the word, simply because it seemed like it was nothing more than speeding up the inevitable. A life multiplied by zero yields the same result, no matter when you do it. - Read More 
Family Prayer Opportunity
On Praying for Vocations  

We are all aware that there is a desperate need for clergy within the Catholic Church.  Since the family unit is the fertile ground where the seed of vocations is planted, we are asking families throughout our parish to commit to pray daily, for a period of one week, for the intention of an increase in vocations to the priesthood.

Each Sunday at the 10:30 Mass one of our parish families will be presented with a chalice to be taken home and placed in a prominent location.  Members of the family will gather each day to pray a certain prayer (which we will provide) asking God to open the hearts of young people to serve the church, and in particular to respond to the call to religious life. The following Sunday, the chalice will be returned and presented to the next family at the end of the 10:30 Mass. Please consider participating in this significant undertaking.  To schedule the date your family will take home the chalice, click here.

Upcoming Events
Inigo Book Group
- Tuesday, April 14
Inigo Book Group will meet on Tuesday, April 14 in Ignatian Hall to discuss "The Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr.  The meeting begins with social time from 6:30-7:00 and is followed by the discussion until 8:30.  All are welcome.  On May 12 the book group will discuss "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  Please contact Catherine Young at pianocate2@gmail.com with any questions.

St. Ignatius Movie Night - "Babette's Feast"

     - Friday, April 17

 

Presented by the St. Ignatius Cultural Arts Committee, the Friday Night Movie showing for April is the film, Babette's Feast. At once a rousing paean to artistic creation, a delicate evocation of divine grace, and the ultimate film about food, the Oscar-winning Babette's Feast is a deeply beloved treasure of cinema. Directed by Gabriel Axel and adapted from a story by Isak Dinesen, it is the lovingly layered tale of a French housekeeper with a mysterious past who brings quiet revolution in the form of one exquisite meal to a circle of starkly pious villagers in late nineteenth-century Denmark. Babette's Feast combines earthiness and reverence in an indescribably moving depiction of food-pleasure with lessons regarding piety, judgment, gossip, and grace.  

 

Date & Time:
Friday, April 17. 7:30PM.
Location:Ignatian Hall on the lower level of the church
Cost:There is no charge for this event. Popcorn, snacks and beverages will be provided.

 

 Runners for Others: an Ignatian 5K Run and 1 Mile Walk

- Saturday, April 18

The 3rd annual "Runners for Others: An Ignatian 5K" will be held Saturday, April 18, 2015, in Baltimore's Patterson Park. The 5K run and 1 mile fun walk in this historic and sprawling park help raise funds for the Maryland Province's social ministries. Last year, with hundreds of runners and walkers participating, eight Jesuit organizations in Baltimore, including St. Ignatius Catholic Community each received $1,500 to support their social justice ministry programs. To register, click here.    


Elliot Yang - Cello Recital

- Saturday, April 18 
140129 Elliot Yang, cello T5
Click Video to View

On Saturday, April 18 at 4:30 PM, Elliot Yang of the Peabody Institute will be presenting a cello recital in our church.  He will be performing Bach's Suite No. 5 in C Minor (Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gavottes 1 and 2, Gigue) and will be accompanied by piano in presenting Herbert's Concerto No. 2 in E minor Op. 30.  All are welcome and there is no charge. To read Elliot's Biography, click here.

Meet Artist Gus Muller after the 10:30 Mass 

- Sunday, April 19

Visit with Gus Muller in the Reeves Gallery after the 10:30 Mass this Sunday. Gus is the artist whose exhibit Stations of the Cross, Watercolors currently hangs in the Gallery. This artist is a young 91 years of age, and is the father of our own parishioner Bridget Sampson.  In 2006, Gus created a suite of watercolors depicting the Stations of the Cross paired with Saints within a published book, as a teaching tool for children. These impressions float within each page, and give us a powerful point of view. Join us as we meet with Gus! To learn more about Gus and his work, click here.

 

Immigration Detention Visitation Presentation and Workshop

- Sunday, April 19

"[I was] naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me." (Matthew 25:36, NABRE)

 

The U.S. government mandates the detention of 34,000 migrants each day - be they men, women or families with children. So every day, we have 34,000 opportunities to live out our faith by providing hope, strength and a voice to the detained by participating in an immigration detention visitation ministry.  On Sunday, April 19, after the 10:30 Mass, the St. Ignatius Justice & Peace Committee will host a presentation and workshop on Immigration Detention and Visitation in the Chapel of Grace. Parishioner Matthew Dolamore, who is the National Network Coordinator for the Community Support alternative to detention program at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, will speak. Fabio Lomelino, who is the Community Education Facilitator at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service will join him. There is no cost for this event.      

 

Young Family Ministry Spring Outing 

     -  Saturday, May 2
Who else has Spring Fever?!!?!? The Young Family Ministry will meet at Sherwood Gardens (close to Loyola University) for a casual family play-date picnic. The tulips should be at their peak, so we will be surrounded by God's beauty. If the weather is bad, we will take a rain check for May 9 at the same time/place. As always, babies and toddlers are welcome, but newlywed couples without little ones yet, please join us! Feel free to bring a blanket if you would like to relax, snacks or lunch if you would like to eat, and cameras because it's such a lovely setting. We will pick a central location and have a few balloons so you can spot us. Time of the event is 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM,

Sherwood Gardens is located one block east of the 4100 block of St. Paul Street. Turn east onto East Highfield Road to reach the gardens, which are bounded by East Highfield Road, Underwood Road, Stratford Road and the Greenway. Visit their website by clicking here. RSVP your intentions to Anne Mattia at annemattia@icloud.com
In the Media
 
How Pope Francis Awakened the Faith of a CNN Anchor
There is something about Pope Francis that's reawakened her faith, says CNN's Carol Costello
Carol Costello is an award-winning journalist and an anchor of "CNN Newsroom." 

(CNN) I remember the day I stopped praying. It was the day after my little brother, Jimmy, died of cancer. He was 25. I was so angry at God.


I was 27 at the time, and, like most young people I had stopped going to church. But, on that day -- that terrible day -- I desperately needed to understand why God took my brother. I called the nearest Catholic church, looking for a priest. A lady picked up the phone. "Can I talk with Father?" I asked.

I wish I could say her answer was "yes."

Instead, she asked me if I was a member of that particular parish. "Does it matter?" I asked. (At the time I lived far from my home parish.) I don't remember how she responded, but the answer about my being able to see Father was clearly no.

I don't know if all Catholic churches would have shut me out, but I figured, at the time, it was part of the long list of rules the Vatican required Catholic leaders to follow. I cried for a bit, then decided I would never ask God for anything. Clearly, his conduits on Earth did not have time for me -- a lifelong Catholic -- and sinner -- so why would he?

Ever since, I've considered myself a lapsed Catholic. Until Pope Francis.

There is something about Francis that's reawakened my faith. And it's not because he opened the floodgates to allow sin in the eyes of the church. He still argues against things I passionately support, but I find myself -- like many other lapsed Catholics -- enthralled. - READ MORE


Pope Francis and the New Rome
The most radical part of Francis' papacy is his embrace of the liberalizing principles of Vatican II-from poverty and sexual ethics to church governance.
By FRANCIS X. ROCCA
April 3, 2015 11:31 a.m. ET


One Saturday last month, Pope Francis celebrated Mass at Ognissanti (All Saints') Church in one of Rome's working-class neighborhoods. Little known to tourists or art historians, Ognissanti was the site of a momentous event in the modern history of the Catholic Church: Exactly 50 years earlier, Pope Paul VI had gone there to celebrate the first papal mass in Italian rather than in the traditional Latin.

In marking that anniversary, Pope Francis made plain his view of the vernacular Mass, one of the most visible changes ushered in by the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). The practice still pains Catholic traditionalists who mourn the loss of churchwide unity that came with a common language.

Allowing Catholics to pray in their local languages "was truly a courageous act by the church to draw closer to the people of God," Pope Francis told a crowd gathered outside. "This is important for us, to follow the Mass this way. And there is no going back...Whoever goes back is mistaken." - READ MORE


READER NOTIFICATION:  

"Parish: the thought" is a publication of St. Ignatius Catholic Community, Baltimore. Each edition contains articles and news feeds that are included for awareness of current topics in our world today. The positions expressed by outside authors and news feeds are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of St. Ignatius Catholic Community or its staff.

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                                                                                                                e-zine compiled by John. C. Odean