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Faith Sharing Fridays November 20, 2015

Gospel for Sunday, November 22nd

When you are a child, and another child takes your toy from you, it seems like your world has been turned upside down. When you are a teenager and you feel like you don’t have any true friends, again your world is turned upside down. When you are in college and you don’t know what you want to do with your life or who you want to be, your world feels upside down. When you have a stressful job and that is all that is on your mind, once again, you feel your world turned upside down.

No matter what phase of life we are in, we have experienced those difficult moments where it seems like it is impossible to get through it. The challenge is overwhelming and you don’t know how to make it work. Yet, somehow, we always make it to the other side. Looking back on these challenges, I can see that they are “worldly”. And in the Gospel, we are reminded that the kingdom of God does not belong to this world.

Of course, this does not diminish the challenges we have, but rather this allows us to put it into perspective and hopefully make it through our challenges with courage, like Jesus. The kingdom of God does not belong to this world, but it can still be found within it. Those moments of pure joy and peace are the moments when we rest in the kingdom of God on earth. Those moments can give us courage to continue through our challenges.

An Undergraduate Woman

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As I read this reflection, I realized that the events of this past weekend are spoken through these words. Lives were turned upside down, the world was turned upside down in shock and horror as we watched the headlines ablaze with news of death and terror. BUT out of that darkness, love and light poured through – a call for peace, a call for solidarity, a call for prayer – for God’s Kingdom to reign here on Earth. In the outpouring of support for the victims of the Paris attack, in #prayforParis, I saw God’s kingdom giving courage to those suffering to make it through the challenge. So for this week, I chose a picture that shows that God’s kingdom can still be found within our world.

An Undergraduate Woman

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From Isobel Bowdery, a survivor of the attack:

“But being a survivor of this horror lets me able to shed light on the heroes. To the man who reassured me and put his life on line to try and cover my brain whilst I whimpered, to the couple whose last words of love kept me believing the good in the world, to the police who succeeded in rescuing hundreds of people, to the complete strangers who picked me up from the road and consoled me during the 45 minutes I truly believed the boy I loved was dead, to the injured man who I had mistaken for him and then on my recognition that he was not Amaury, held me and told me everything was going to be fine despite being all alone and scared himself, to the woman who opened her doors to the survivors, to the friend who offered me shelter and went out to buy new clothes so I wouldn’t have to wear this blood stained top, to all of you who have sent caring messages of support – you make me believe this world has the potential to be better. to never let this happen again.”

Faith Sharing Fridays November 13, 2015

Gospel for Sunday, November 15th

It can be really important to wrestle with this passage and this particular style of scripture. With all the references to the end of time, this is part of the genre called apocalyptic literature. Often, these types of readings leave me feeling unnerved or confused. When I encounter it in the Bible my first thought is often, “oh no, this is clear evidence that Jesus was wrong. That generation has definitely passed away and the apocalypse hasn’t happened (or at the very least I haven’t been informed).”

When I read apocalyptic literature I have to remind myself that it is the genre of the disposed. It is often written by captives and exiles, people who are clinging to hope in desperate situations and yearn for a better future.

To understand and enter into this passage I need to do some soul searching. How is the current “world order” serving or not serving me? What advantages do I have over some of my brothers and sisters around the world? Depending on where I live or where I was born, I may not want a new world order. I may or may not want a complete restructuring of society.

But why?

Where am I afraid to embrace change? What privileges do I enjoy that others may be able to access? Who has been left on the margins? Who would find great hope and consolation in a restructuring of our world? Looking closely at these questions can help me to enter more deeply into the feelings and the movements of gospel passages like this one.

A Male Campus Minister

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What privileges do I enjoy that others do not? What parts of my lifestyle affect others? Are there patterns of consumption in my country that hurt others who are less fortunate?

These questions make me think about the massive flow of immigrants or exiles fleeing from violence and death as they make their way from their homeland to where it will be a safer “world order” for them and their families.  How close they must be in their struggle to the mercy of Jesus.  In turn, how can we be the hands and feet of Jesus in our response?

In the words from the Book of Daniel .. it is “a time unsurpassed in distress” …..a time when “your people shall escape” and “those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever”.

This painting of Koder’s evokes images of the flight of the immigrants towards the safety they desire and the need for mercy and justice for these our brothers and sisters.

A Married Couple

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Background on artist, Sieger Koder

Sign Up for 2015 Feast Day of Service

St. Mary Student Parish honors our patron Mary on her Feast Day by gathering for prayer and serving those in need.

If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others,
if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little,
we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much.
Pope Francis

Schedule for Saturday, December 5, 2015

Mass 10:00 AM at St. Mary Student Parish
Lunch Boxed lunches will be provided for those participating in the day of service.
Volunteer Service 12:00 Noon – 4:00 PM

Click Here to Register!

This is our first year utilizing online registration. For more information on service sites or to print the registration page and turn into the main office, please review the Feast Day of Service booklet below:

Faith Sharing Fridays November 6, 2015

Gospel for Sunday, November 8th

As someone who has not yet had a salaried career, I feel the burden of the woman who gave her “livelihood” instead of the others who just gave from their wealth. As I dwell on this more, I realize that while I might understand her in financial terms, when it comes to my relationship with God and my giving to the community, I would have to say I am more like the people giving just from their wealth. I hear Jesus teaching the disciples and us that it is important for us to give ourselves entirely to Christ, to give our livelihoods to Christ, and to give our lives to Christ. This could mean different things for everyone, but for me personally, I hear it as a call to action: a call to give more than just prayer now and then and mass on Sunday mornings, a call to serve those in need more than just when I have the free time and feel like it, a call to use all of the gifts that God so generously gave me to their full potential.

My contributions need to be more than just from my wealth. My contributions need to be all I have.

Imagine our God given livelihood as a bouquet of flowers: white roses and light pink peonies over top beautiful dark green leaves and with baby’s breath scattered throughout. This bouquet was a gift from God. He fashioned it just for you and expects you to use it. This bouquet has many parts. The roses might be your passionate interests and the dark green leaves your compassion for others. The peonies are your personality and the baby’s breath is a special and unique talent. Combined, this collection of flowers makes you God’s one and only beloved “you.” Now imagine trying to live out your life each day giving each person you meet your complete bouquet of flowers (of course God has an unlimited supply for you to share). How wonderful would that be to be sharing your passionate interests, your compassion for others, your personality, and your special gifts to every person you encounter? Instead I often find myself giving bouquets of just peonies or maybe just roses and a few leaves. I am only giving of my wealth and not my livelihood. I pray that we may be able to strive to give our entire bouquet of flowers to everyone we meet, to show everyone who God made us to be.

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What is in your bouquet of flowers? How can you share your entire bouquet with those around you?

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Written by an Undergraduate Woman

The Climate Consideration & the Common Good

On Thursday, October 22nd, parishioner Beth Gibbons presented on climate change and the impact it has on our local community.

While we may not see polar bears floating on the melting glaciers here in Ann Arbor, we do see more extreme weather patterns than ever before. Since 1951, annual precipitation in Ann Arbor has increased by 45% and the number of heavy storms has increased by 41.2%. That’s enough precipitation in one year to fill the Big House 117 times! Besides overwhelming our storm drainage systems and other resources, if this increase in precipitation continues, many of our fellow community members will be left without anywhere to live. This is because low-income neighborhoods and public housing in Ann Arbor are disproportionately located in flood plains. Over time, the city government will face the difficult decision to support neighborhoods that will simply be destroyed again.

In Pope Francis’ words, “The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all.” Beth Gibbons’ lecture reinforces this message and shows us that in being good stewards of the Earth God gave to us, we will improve the lives of our brothers and sisters.

Click Here to view the slides from Beth’s presentation.

Faith Sharing Fridays October 30, 2015

Gospel for Sunday, November 1st, 2015

“That woman’s a saint,” you might hear someone say. But what does it mean to be a saint? Our readings today present us with a “resume” of a saint in Matthew’s rendering of the Beatitudes, and with one of the possible paths to sainthood – persecution for being a disciple of Jesus – in the Revelation reading. But in the reading from the first letter of John, we hear something different about sainthood, something that I struggle to accept.

John exhorts us to “see what love the Father has bestowed on us,” a free gift, unsolicited, and undeserved. He tells us that this love allows us to “be called the children of God,” and then seems to anticipate our unbelief as he adds, “Yet so we are.” I sense that he might want to add, if he were our contemporary, “Can you believe it?!” Accepting my identity as a child of God can feel like an onerous responsibility. What happens if I do something “wrong” like ignoring the street person asking for money? Or like not making time for someone who needs to talk? Or even something worse, like betraying a dear friend? Am I no longer a child of God?

A sense of guilt for something we’ve done or failed to do can either make us feel too ashamed to face God and ourselves, or can compel us to run to God for mercy. Which path we choose seems to depend on our belief in the “love the Father has bestowed on us,” love that is limitless and not an outcome of what we do or don’t do. While saints were not perfect in their actions, I sense they became perfect in one thing: trust in the boundless love of God. May we draw inspiration from the saints we honor today as we open ourselves more and more to God’s loving embrace.

A Woman Parishioner

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Question for Reflection:

When you have done something you’ve regretted, how did you reconcile yourself to God and to yourself?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYCJ8EvkGCs

In 1 John 3:1-3 we are told that no matter how many times we feel that we have failed God, we will always be a child of God. His love will never fail, even when we do.

An Undergraduate Woman

Feed the Homeless in Ann Arbor

Sunday, November 8 at 5:00 PM
CLICK HERE to sign up!

Our Social Justice Ministry is seeking volunteers to help feed the homeless in Ann Arbor. We are committed to providing a Sunday meal quarterly for the former Camp Take Notice (CTN) residents that meet weekly at Mercy House for dinner.

Meal format is set and sign-up is done electronically. Other Sunday meal opportunities are scheduled for 1/24/16, 4/17/16 and 7/17/16.

How to Volunteer:
1. Provide a specific food donation such as an entree or dessert
2. Provide staple donations such as napkins, water bottles, etc.
3. Provide monetary support for the purchase of needed items
4. Provide transportation and/or serve food on the given day
5. Provide help in coordination of the donations

For more information or questions about this ministry, please contact Erin Telemaco, CTN Quarterly Sunday Meal coordinator at [email protected] or 734-368-5826.