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Confession

Saturday: 10:00am-10:30am (English)

Sunday: 3:00pm- 4:00pm (español)

by Fr. Don Heet, OSFS

This past December 28, the 450th anniversary of the day when Francis de Sales died, Pope Francis issued an Apostolic Letter, Totus Amoris Est (“Everything pertains to Love”), in which he reflected on the spirituality of Francis de Sales as manifested in his life and his writings. As the name of the letter suggests, the Pope finds the foundation of that spirituality in a sentence taken from De Sales’ Treatise on the Love of God: “In Holy Church, everything pertains to love, lives in love, is done for love and comes from love.” Flowing from that insight, De Sales’ developed what he called a spiritual “method” built on three principles.

The first is the attractiveness of the love of God. In other words, humans are designed to love God; this is engrained in our nature, regardless of our state. Pope Francis reflecting on Francis’ method of evangelization, concludes, “His was not the way of external imposition, despotic and arbitrary power, or violence, but that of a persuasiveness that respects our human freedom.” God’s goodness attracts us, but we remain free to accept or reject the divine invitation to love him. Francis’ gentle preaching, writing, and spiritual direction reflect this understanding of our relationship with God.

Secondly, Francis offers a refined understanding of what is meant by devotion. True devotion is much more than specific religious practices that one might or might not do. Summarizing Francis de Sales’ understanding, the Pope writes, “[Devotion] becomes a style of life, a way of living immersed in our concrete daily existence. It embraces and discovers meaning in the little things: food and dress, work and relaxation, love and parenthood, and conscientiousness in the fulfillment of our duties. In a word, it sheds light on the vocation of each individual.” This insight led Francis to write that everyone is called to be devout, regardless of their state in life; in a real sense, he anticipated the Second Vatican Counsel’s teaching that all Christians are called to be holy.

The third principle that the Pope identifies in Salesian spirituality is what Francis calls “the ecstasy of work and life.” In describing how Christians respond in love to the love that God has for them, Francis de Sales recognizes the ecstasy of the intellect (we delight and are caught up in the knowledge of God) and ecstasy of the will (we delight and are caught up in the love of God); both of these are good but not as perfect as the ecstasy of work and life. Allowing joy to blossom in our hearts is what Francis de Sales means by “the ecstasy of work and life.” In this way, “we live not only a civil, honest and Christian life, but a superhuman, spiritual, devout and ecstatic life, a life that is beyond and above our natural condition.”

In the letter Totus Amoris Est, Pope Francis finds that the flexibility and his far-sighted vision of Francis de Sales have much to say to us. “Partly by God’s gift and partly thanks to his own character, but also by his steady cultivation of lived experience, Francis perceived clearly that the times were changing. . . .The word of God that he had loved from his youth now opened up before him new and unexpected horizons in a rapidly changing world. That same task awaits us in this, our own age of epochal change. We are challenged to be a Church that is outward-looking and free of all worldliness, even as we live in this world, share people’s lives and journey with them in attentive listening and acceptance. That is what Francis de Sales did when he discerned the events of his times with the help of God’s grace. Today he bids us set aside undue concern for ourselves, for our structures and for what society thinks about us, and consider instead the real spiritual needs and expectations of our people.”

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SJN Black History Celebration at 7:00pm on Friday, February 10. The event features Bishop Roy E. Campbell, Jr.. of the Arch-Diocese of Washington, who will speak on the theme "From Businessman to Bishop: God Always Gets His Man." Bishop Campbell will be joined by the world-famous St. Augustine Gospel Choir.

SJN Parish Lenten Mission - Sunday, March 12 - Tuesday, March 14: More details on the mission's theme and speaker will be forthcoming.

Live Jesus! 2023 - Saturday, March 18: "Live Jesus" 2023 will take place at St. Paul VI High School,  42341 Braddock Rd, Chantilly. Speakers will include Br. Mickey McGrath, OSFS; Sr. Susan Louise Elder, OSFS; and Dr. Thomas Opfer, Ph.D. Registration will open soon.

Look for details on all of these events in the weekly SJN bulletin.

There are three themes that run through the lives of long-time SJN Parishioners Bill and Carol Eager, the subjects of this month's Parishioner Spotlight. Those themes are love, a staunch commitment to preserving life, and, oddly, Deacon John Wagner.

SJN Parishioners since 1979, Bill and Carol hail from New Jersey, him from Livingston, and she from Jersey City. The Eagers met in 1960 at a CYO talent show that Carol was attending with her cousin. Carol explains, "I was sitting there, watching the show, and this guy comes out on stage and does this act about selling used ties at a railroad station. I was in absolute tears as I was laughing so hard. He was so funny." The next day, Carol met Bill in person, and, as Bill says, "the rest is history."

After time serving in the U.S. Army as a Second Lieutenant, working on Wall Street, then as Assistant Vice President of Personnel for Food Services for Marriott Corporation, the couple ended up in the D.C. metro area, where Bill served as principal of a few Catholic schools - including St. Luke's in Mclean, and St. Anthony's in Washington, D.C. Their marriage has produced 11 children, 26 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Bill says, "our family has lots of celebrations and get-togethers, especially with 48 birthdays a year!"

Bill and Carol are best known around the parish for their involvement with the SJN Pro-Life Ministry. "In 2012, I saw a bulletin announcement that the Pro-Life Ministry was looking for a new leader, as the previous leader had left the parish," Bill explained. "I called the office and volunteered but was told someone else had taken the role. I was happy someone had picked it up. Two days later, I got a call from Sue Collier, who handled those matters, and she told me, 'the person who was going to lead can't, can you?' So, I said yes." Carol stated that they led their first pro-life ministry meeting in 2013.

When asked about their passionate commitment to pro-life causes, Bill replied: "Life is the fundamental gift God gives us. It is through life that we worship Him. It is through life we have families. It is through life that we give God's love to each other. All gifts proceed from life." Bill and Carol pointed out that being pro-life goes beyond the issue of abortion. "When I started with the pro-life ministry, Fr. Murphy, then pastor of SJN, called m and asked me, 'Do you want the ministry to be about only abortion, or about the full gamut of what it means to be pro-life?" I replied that "we wanted the full gamut." Today, the Ministry has several activities a year that support that gamut -their annual Baby Bottle Campaign, which raised over $12,000 this year for Tepeac OB/GYN, their annual Mother's Day Carnation Sale, engaging with our parish's homebound through sending cards, phoning folks, and in-person visits. "The Ministry is planning projects this year to minister more to the elderly,  people with special needs and continue to develop online resources for mothers in need."

Carol and Bill are also deeply involved in our KAIROS Prison ministry, providing aid and solace to those in prison. Bill is excited because this year will be the first year of in-person visits with the prisoners at Sussex 1 State Prison in Waverly, VA, since before COVID-19. Carol's KAIROS group visits the female prisoners at Goochland, VA, and this will be Carol's turn as the "Observing Leader" of the KAIROS weekend. This position will prepare her to lead next year's KAIROS weekend.

When not involved with their ministries, Bill likes to create art for holidays and other occasions, especially greeting cards. Carol loves taking classes in "spiritual direction and other areas of the Catholic faith." They are also very busy with family events and like spending time at their son's beach house at Bethany Beach, Delaware. "We love the beach so much we try to spend at least a few days a month there."

As for Deacon John Wagner, Bill explained: "So, I went to grade school and part of high school with him, and then he moved to Ohio or somewhere, and we lost touch. First day of college at St. Peter's College (now St. Peter's University), I'm walking down the sidewalk, and who do I see? John Wagner!" "We went on to graduate together, and then life intervened. We move here to D.C., I get to SJN, and who do I see? Deacon John Wagner!" He has been a constant in our lives."

Life, love, and Deacon John Wagner - all part of the Eager's remarkable legacy here at SJN.

by Duane Hyland

Born in 1924, Elizabeth "Betty" Louise Ebo, a descendant of enslaved individuals, became a pioneer of black healthcare management and a noted figure in the struggle for civil rights. She is the only Black nun to have marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. on his perilous crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 10, 1965.

Ebo's mother died when Ebo was six, and her father, due to disability, could not adequately care for Ebo and her siblings. As a result, Ebo and her siblings became residents of a Catholic orphanage in Bloomington, Indiana. While her parents had raised her in the Baptist faith, a childhood encounter with Catholicism had planted the seed of learning more about the religion. Subsequently, Ebo pursued study to enter our faith and was baptized a Catholic on December 19, 1942, at 18. 

For her career, Ebo desired to become a registered nurse and wanted to attend Catholic nursing schools. However, this goal took a long time to achieve, as the vast majority of Catholic nursing schools in the 40s discriminated against black women, refusing them admittance. Rejected by many schools due to her race, she remained undaunted; she continued praying to God to make her goal possible. God answered her prayers when the Sisters of Mary (now known as the Franciscan Sisters of Mary) admitted her to St. Mary's Infirmary School of Nursing in St. Louis, the first Catholic nursing school for black women. 

While in school at St. Mary's, Ebo discerned a call to religious life, becoming one of the first three black women to enter the Sisters of Mary order. She received the name Sister Mary Antona and made her final vows in 1957. She did not become a nurse but earned degrees in the fields of medical record management and hospital management. After working in administrative roles, she earned a master's degree in the theology of health care and a certification as a hospital chaplain from the National Association of Catholic Chaplains. In 1967, she became the head of St. Clare's Hospital in Baraboo, Wisconsin, becoming the first black woman to lead a Catholic hospital in the United States. However, hospital management was not Sr. Antona's only calling - an event in Alabama thrust her on the national stage as a fierce advocate of Civil Rights.

The event that precipitated Sr. Antona's "Catholic first" happened on March 7, 1965, when Alabama State Troopers and sheriff deputies used clubs, dogs, and firehoses, to break up a peaceful demonstration against Alabama's racist laws and policies. During that event, later known as "Bloody Sunday," the "lawmen" shot Jimmie Lee Jackson, a 26-year-old Black man, to death as he tried to rescue his mother from the savage beating that the troopers were giving her. Outraged by the slaughter, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other prominent civil rights leaders planned a 54-mile march from Selma to Birmingham, the capital city, to protest the gross violations of rights of the protestors on "Bloody Sunday," and to call attention to the need for the abolishment of Alabama's "Jim Crowe" laws.

On March 10, 1965, the marchers set out from Selma with Sr. Antona joining them, along with many other Catholic religious, all white. Addressing the crowd of marchers, Sr. Antona proclaimed, "I'm here because I'm a Negro*, a nun, a Catholic, and because I want to bear witness." As the march left Selma, it went over the Edmund Pettus bridge, named for a former Ku Klux Klan state leader. When the march crested the bridge, marchers discovered: "A wall of state troopers, wearing white helmets and slapping billy clubs in their hands, stretched across Route 80 at the base of the span. Behind them were deputies of county sheriff Jim Clark, some on horseback, and dozens of white spectators waving Confederate flags and giddily anticipating a showdown." Ordered to disperse by an Alabama State Police Major, the leaders of the march refused to. After a short stand-off, the police lines charged the marchers. They "knocked the marchers to the ground. They struck them with sticks. Clouds of tear gas mixed with the screams of terrified marchers and the cheers of reveling bystanders. Deputies on horseback charged ahead and chased the gasping men, women, and children back over the bridge as they swung clubs, whips, and rubber tubing wrapped in barbed wire." It was a horrific and outrageous response to a request by our Black brothers and sisters to be treated decently and to enjoy the laws and protections then afforded to whites. 

While Sr. Antona was not wounded in the attack, the visceral horror of the day left psychic scars. The memory of the event also kindled a fire in Sr. Antona, who became a lifelong, fierce advocate for civil rights and human dignity. In 1968 she helped found the National Black Sisters' Conference (NBSC), the first national organization for black female religious. The Conference's vision statement proclaims its members are "...willing to be risk takers; taking a stand and working for the liberation of Black people." Sr. Ebo served as president of the Conference from 1980 to 1982 and received its Harriet Tubman Award in 1989. The award is presented annually and recognizes a member of the NBSC "who through her ministry is an advocate for Black people. She has a strong identity within the Black community. She is responding to the call to be a Moses to her people." 

One of her last acts to advance civil rights came in 2014. When Ferguson, Missouri, police shot Michael Brown, Jr., a 19-year-old black man, to death, Sr. Ebo was the first Catholic clergy of color to arrive. A reporter saw her and interviewed her about her presence there. This interview led Sr. Ebo to remind him and us that "You are not here to take a superficial picture... You are going to raise the rug up and look at what's under the rug." 

Sr. Antona died on November 11, 2017. Her life stands as a testament to the ongoing fight against racism in our nation, as well as a reminder that the Catholic Church has not always been on the side of the right in that struggle. Let us all heed Sr. Antona Ebo's call to raise the rug and find out what's under it, and then, let's eliminate that from our lives so that we may all live together as brothers and sisters in Christ. And remember her courage in marching with Dr. Luther King, Jr.

To learn more about Sr. Antona Ebo's involvement with the civil rights

struggle in the United States, click here or, to watch a video about her life here.