St. John Neumann Catholic Community
Staffed by Oblates of St. Francis de Sales
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Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all public Masses in the Diocese of Arlington are suspended until further notice.
You can watch the recorded Sunday Mass at SJN
here
.
The de Sales Chapel is open:
Monday-Wednesday & Friday: 8:00am-5:00pm
Thursday: 8:00am-3:30pm
Saturday-Sunday: 8:00am-3:00pm
Please maintain social distancing while visiting the chapel.
The office staff will be working from home until further notice and responding to voice mails and e-mails.
Confessions are still being held at the regularly scheduled time:
Saturday, 10-10:30am (English)
Sunday, 12-1pm (Spanish)
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Mickie Abatemarco, SJN's Director of Faith Formation, is a guest writer for the Pastor's Perspective this month.
Dear Parishioners and Friends:
Throughout the last few weeks I have been thinking about how life is a journey and we never know where that Journey is going to take us. When we entered into the year 2020 none of us could imagine we would be where we are today. I began to think of the journeys of people who touched my life and how their journeys connected to their faith. Once in awhile we come across people in our lives who show us a glimpse of how true faith is really lived. My grandparents provided that glimpse of faith for me.
A while ago my sisters and I cleaned out their home and it brought back memories of their lives. They did not know where their journey would take them, but they believed wherever it did God would journey with them. They brought up 4 children during the depression. They sent off 3 sons to World WarII and only 2 came home.
When I was 12 my grandmother broke her hip and the healing was hindered by Parkinson’s disease. She spent the last seven years of her life in pain and bed ridden, but never stopped walking her journey. She smiled and told us stories when we entered her room. She shared her love, her life and her faith.
Faith is a great mystery we need to dwell upon. We need to stay with it, live it,feel it and never think we have uncovered it all. The essence of faith is believing even when we don’t see or know the answers.
We are presently walking a journey that is different than any we have walked before and we have no idea where it will lead us. I have been thinking that this experience leaves us like the disciples on the Road to Emmaus, just a little depressed and dejected. What changed the hearts of the disciples on the road to Emmaus? They recognized him when they broke bread with him. They became Resurrected people! Resurrection is the image of survival... Resurrection is the image of conquering. I believe, that is how we are going to be able to walk through this difficult time every single day.
My grandparents were empowered people. It was not a word they knew, what they knew was that Resurrection is in the image of survival...when they buried their oldest son. Resurrection is in the image of conquering...pain, illness to share life’s stories with those whom they loved.
These are hard times, with no immediate answers, but we are Resurrected people. The disciples took the challenge, my grandparents took the challenge. Today the challenge is ours!
Peace and Blessings,
Mickie Abatemarco
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Holy Water: One Way to Cultivate Your Domestic Church
Angela Davis
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We are always called to cultivate a domestic church within our homes; but now, more than ever, is the time to recommit our focus to creating a church within our families. Our current time is challenging and uncertain and is providing many of us with extra family time and an abundance of opportunity to rely on our faith. There are many ways this can be accomplished, but I’d like to share one of the ways that has been successful in our home.
I had previously received a holy water font to hang on the wall of our home, but despite the best of intentions, it sat in the box for well over a year. Fast forward to, what feels like a lifetime ago, when it became clear that we would soon be stuck in our house, social distancing from the world as we do our part to limit the impact of the Corona pandemic. I wanted to make the most of this challenging time with my family but didn’t have a clear plan. During my final moments in the Faith Formation office, while backing-up files to a thumb drive and throwing a laptop into my bag, I grabbed a small bottle, clearly labeled it, and headed to the Baptismal font.
SIDE NOTE ABOUT HOLY WATER: Did you know you can bring holy water home with you? You sure can! You should mention it to a staff member if you would like to take a lot. You should also be careful to label your holy water well so that it is not misused or drunk. If for any reason you need to dispose of holy water, remember that it shouldn't go down the drain, you can bring it back to the church and give it to a staff member or put it in the ground somewhere that is not typically walked on.
I think it was around day two of being stuck at home that I decided to pull out the holy water font and the tool box and have my kiddos (my son is four and my daughter is approaching two) "help" hang it by our front door. Once it was up we poured in some of the holy water and began blessing ourselves, and we haven't stopped since.
Weeks later and my kids still suggest we bless ourselves multiple times a day. Sometimes my husband and I trace a cross on their forehead and remind them that they were Baptized and talk about how we belong to God. Sometimes they practice making the Sign of the Cross while we each bless ourselves. Sometimes they bless us parents. Once we're able to leave the house regularly, we plan for it to be a ritual that accompanies exiting and entering our home. We've already built it into our bedtime and morning routines. During one blessing moment early on my son proclaimed "this is a church home, we're like a church family!" These comments made for one very happy Momma!
I realize that it's not the best time for purchasing non-essential items right now. You can improvise by just putting a bowl on a small table. You could even add other items of spiritual significance to the table (like a Bible, a cross, candles, a table cloth in a color matching the liturgical season, pictures of deceased loved ones, or pictures of your family during Baptisms or other sacramental moments.) Experiment with what might work best for you.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT CURRENT SAFETY CONCERNS: Be careful. Getting holy water can wait until it's safe to be out and about. We do NOT recommend anyone leave their home during this time if it can at all be avoided. You can always get some tap water and pray over it until you can safely obtain holy water from our parish’s beautiful font.
May God bless you and your family. May you find ways to draw closer to Christ during this time of crisis.
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Catholic Mass Explained
The Liturgy of the Word, Part I: The Lectionary
Fr Don Heet, OSFS
In the
Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy
, the fathers at Vatican II declared, “In sacred celebrations there is to be more reading from holy scripture, and it is to be more varied and suitable.” Accordingly, a commission was established to develop a new lectionary based on this principle; its efforts were so successful that the Anglican Church and a number of Protestant Churches adopted many of the same principles in developing lectionaries that are quite similar to ours.
One of the basic principles that the commission adopted was that of semi-continuous readings for Sundays during ordinary time. As most Catholics are aware, we have a three year cycle of readings proclaimed on Sunday: we read the Gospel of Matthew in year A, Mark in year B and Luke in year C. John is read in the Christmas and Easter seasons every year and occasionally on other Sundays. Right now, for example, we are hearing the Bread of Life discourse from Chapter 6 of John; it has been inserted into Mark because it is the shortest of the four gospels. Semi-continuous reading means that we start at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and work our way towards the end. However it omits certain readings that appear at other times in the Liturgical year, especially in Advent or Lent; hence it is “semi” continuous.
The first reading on Sundays during ordinary time is chosen to complement the gospel. The phrase used in the Introduction to the Lectionary is “with an eye to the Gospel.” (Personally, I think “the eye” sometimes has to squint to see the connection).
However, the second reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, the Book of Revelation or one of the epistles, follows its own semi-continuous reading. It is independent of the gospel. That means that on Sundays during ordinary time, if there is a “common theme” among all three readings, it is there either by accident or, sometimes, by the “creative imagination” of the preacher. In any event it was not intentional on the part of the commission that composed the lectionary.
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Covid 19, Bubonic Plague, and St. Jane de Chantal
Fr. Don Heet, OSFS
St. Jane de Chantal was a close friend and collaborator of St. Francis de Sales; together they founded the Order of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The original idea was for a vowed group of women who would live in community, dedicate themselves to prayer and, on a limited basis, go as pairs into the the town of Annecy to visit the sick. However, as the order spread from the diocese of Geneva to other dioceses, their original vision had to give way to the traditional view of religious life for women at the time, that of a strictly cloistered monastic community.
Seven years after Francis died, bubonic plague struck various towns in the duchy of Savoy and eventually in Annecy, the home of the first Visitation monastery, where Jane had just been re-elected superior. Although the sisters were already compelled by canon law to practice what we know as “social distancing” and therefore were not able to leave the monastery and tend to the many sick and dying people of Annecy, they still responded to the pressing human needs.
First, Jane urged the sisters of her community to more fervent prayer for those afflicted by the plague. At the same time she gave orders for preventive measures to protect the sisters from inflection.
Secondly, Jane put into effect a food distribution program for the starving and a dispensary to distribute medicine to those who were ill. She continued to do so, even as the monastery’s own food supply dwindled and the sisters’ main source of nourishment was black bread.
Third, she opened the parlor of the monastery to clergy and lay leaders as a relatively safe place to meet, to plan a response to the plague and encourage one another. As one of her biographers, Andre Ravier, S.J., relates,”Every morning [the bishop] came to say Mass in the convent church of the Visitation and ‘to wish Mother de Chantal a good morning and tell her he had come get her orders (!!!) for what she wanted him to do that day’; then, in the evening, he came back to give his report of all he had accomplished.” In a real sense the bishop and his associates would be considered among the first responders of their day, experiencing the same sort of risks that medical personnel, food providers and delivery persons do today. They found in the parlor of the Visitation monastery a haven of safety and support.
Fr. Ravier concludes, “Secular people have a hard time understanding how fraternal charity can be exercised in the enclosure or what part zeal for souls and the missionary spirit can play in the contemplative life, but the fact remains that these features are just as capable of accomplishments by contemplatives as they are by active religious, even though they are worked in different ways.”
Certainly the example of St. Jane de Chantal and the early Visitandines can be a source of encouragement for us who, like them, are confined to our homes and wonder what we can to respond to the current pandemic. In the midst of a time of plague, prayer, words of encouragement, and acts of charity were the stuff of sanctity for St. Jane; in our current pandemic they can be for us as well.
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Jo-Ann Duggan
Director of Outreach
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Jo-Ann has been a member of the staff at SJN and a parishioner here for five years.
Why she loves being Catholic...
"My faith gives me hope."
Something that always makes her smile...
"One thing that makes me smile is sharing time with my grandchildren (and my co-workers)."
Something you might not have known...
"
I’m a 'Jersey Girl' who pumps gas!"
How to contact Jo-Ann:
jduggan@saintjn.org
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Parish Events & Announcements
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- Got Masks? YES WE DO! Thanks to one to one generous seed donation in honor of a loved one (and others that have followed) and over 34 amazing and dedicated volunteers sewing, assembling and delivering, masks are available for SJN parishioners daily from 10am-2pm in the SJN Narthex. Masks are limited to TWO masks PER FAMILY (while supplies last).
- Join us for Children’s Liturgy of the Word on Sunday mornings at 10:00am beginning May 10. We will be using Zoom to connect our online community. If you are interested please email Mickie Abatemarco at mabatemarco@saintjn.org for further details.
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Scripture verse of the month:
"A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."
(John 10:10)
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