The weekly donation review covers the weeks of February 21st and 28th. We’ve included the CSA update just to make sure you all see how close we are and to remind you to get those donations in when the request card from the AOD comes. We’re excited at the prospect of exceeding our assessment and look forward to closing out the CSA campaign at the end of May.

Those of you on the automated donation program will be receiving a letter (before Easter) for you to indicate if you want your Easter donation to be automated and what amount you want to donate. It will be the same type of arrangement we had for Christmas which went very well. We did have a few hiccups, but nothing we were not able to resolve quickly. You will then receive a second letter after Easter containing the remaining Holy Days through 12/31/10; you’ll be able to indicate if you want those donations automated and what amount you want to donate, return that to me and we’ll do the rest. There will also be categories for automated maintenance, flower, and outside beautification (flowerbeds, general upkeep) donations for you to participate in if you like. I would like to encourage one and all again to consider the automated program. We now have 164 families on the program with monthly donation levels of $19,983 (includes weekly, semi-monthly, and monthly). It seems that almost every week now we are getting 1 or 2 additions to the list. The forms are available in the narthex and also at the parish office. If you need more information or just want to discuss the options, feel free to call or e-mail me direct.

We are reaping the benefits of the Kroger Community Rewards program and as of this writing have been informed of a check being sent to us in the amount of $791.96 for the period of 11/31/09 to 1/31/10; together with our last check from Kroger in November, we’ve now benefited from that program for a total of $999.64. We’ll put the sign-up info in the bulletin next week for any of you that may want get on board as right now we have a total of 129 families that have signed up…for a parish this size we feel there should be more.

God bless, Franz

   St. Paul also had a burning bush experience on the Damascus road, and the passionate faith in Jesus that took root that day is visible in all his writings. Samuel and Isaiah discovered their burning bush in the temple. Each went forth from their experiences to serve God and God’s people as best he could despite the personal cost.

   Mary’s initial burning bush experience was mediated by the angel-messenger in whom she recognized the divine presence. She listened as the voice of God changed her future forever.

   Joseph’s experience came to him in a dream that encouraged him to surrender his own sense of morality and his logic to a plan he had not made, but in which he was invited to participate in a very important way. As for their son, Jesus, his burning bush took place in a garden after an intimate meal with his friends. Agonizingly alone before the reality of what lay ahead for him, Jesus knew the presence of God in the depths of his suffering. Even before his death on the cross, he allowed himself to be consumed by the will of God for him.

   With those experiences to ignite our own, each of us is challenged this Lent to be willing to discover those burning bushes through which God is revealed to us and we are revealed to Him. This Lent through prayer and penance let us ignite our own fire.

In His Burning Desire,
Deacon Ron

PRAYER ENCOURAGMENT – When Jesus taught us to pray, i.e. The Lord’s Prayer, he emphasized brevity, trust and intimacy. The intimacy achieved in prayer is one of those things that we have to accomplish on our own. Nobody can do it for us. Speaking with God is an intensely personal event. Since Lent is our annual attempt to improve our prayer, I thought it might be helpful to encourage you by pointing out a few things. First, there are two extremes that make prayer difficult. The first is that we often confuse prayer with our daily routine. Prayerful living is not identical with prayer. If tossing in a few greetings here in there as we get through our day is all we do, then prayer can lose its distinct character. The opposite extreme identifies prayer exclusively with surges of mysticism.  In fact, a rapid pulse and wild transports of spiritual passion are not attractive to many folks. Therefore, achieving some form of middle ground is what is helpful to many. My suggestion to you is that you create a set time for personal prayer every day (when you are not distracted, rushed, or tired). For me, that means doing it before my day really gets going. I usually get up early and sit with Jerry and a cup-a-joe. My mind is still relaxed from sleep and I’m not going 1000 miles a minute. In addition, it can be helpful to set aside a place for prayer in your home. Obviously, prayer should be authentic. There is no need to posture before God or recite prayers written by a great saint which we think God would like to hear. Another key thing is to wait for the Lord’s response. With this aspect, we often need to be very patient, after a while, you will not be greeted by silence. You will slowly tune in to what the Holy Spirit is saying. We can get our response through feelings, homilies, Scripture, or even through a passing comment from someone else. The Lord is not going to miss an opportunity to touch you, so it is always important to be alert to the many ways he is reaching out. Another important thing to remember is that the God of the Universe wants to connect with us. Therefore, reading a great deal “about” prayer is not always the best approach. Like swimming, we have to start at some point and we will improve slowly. After some time, books about prayer can be more helpful. Through prayer we locate the still point inside ourselves. When we locate that point, we will find the Spirit of Christ.

God bless,
Fr. J.J.

Website Features - Our website has groovy new features you may want to see: (1) You can look for any event fliers by clicking on the purple “Event Flier” tab on the left side of the homepage. This feature is to help you easily see the details about special events. (2) You can subscribe to the website by entering your email address at the bottom left of the homepage. A subscription will get you a once-daily update in your email inbox if St. Anastasia posts anything new that day. I have tried it; it works well. We still encourage subscribers to visit the website to see if there are any changes within the pages themselves; posts and pages are two different things. (3) Please remember, when you visit, that the Search Button will help you navigate if you are not sure where to look. And, anytime you see something Underlined in Purple on the site, you can click on it to learn more; the Back Arrow on your browser is the best way to return to any page you’d like to revisit. Lastly but my favorite: If you’re looking for Christian Service stuff, it’s under Stewardship, of course!

Ministry Moments - One of the main goals of our Parish Pastoral Council is to “better tell the story of who we are.” So, last week we began a new feature in our bulletin: Ministry Moments. The content of this regular (2x/month?) article is the stories of our ministries – the generosity we have met, the love we have witnessed, the healing we have known. The end goal of this feature is twofold: (1) Increase readers’ awareness of the abundant love of God in our midst; and (2) Encourage and inspire the desire to become involved in sharing His love. I will need your participation! If you are involved in ministry here, please send in your stories. Keeping in mind that articles should be about 200 words, you can include: factual information about the purpose of your group, some kind of spiritual or emotional testimony which will touch readers’ hearts, anecdotes, thank-you notes, bible quotes, and/or personal reflections. Let’s remind each other how blessed we are – and how blessed we can be by serving. Please send this information to me by email (preferred) or through the parish office (mail or drop-off). Articles should ideally be typewritten in Arial font, 10 pt., using regular margins. Writers may remain anonymous, if they wish. Please be aware that some editing could occur.

I want St. Anastasia to sponsor a week-long “Unplug/Reconnect” program. The point of the week would be to encourage people in our community to turn off their electronic devices and look into each other’s eyes instead — to break away from immersing ourselves in the media’s version of reality so that we can celebrate the truth God plants in our own hearts.  To recognize that, as Pope Benedict XVI puts it, “Life only becomes real life when it receives its form from looking toward God.”

Everyone would be welcome.  We could have people sign pledges, wear T-shirts, and join in on communal activities. Perhaps each day could focus on a different way to connect with what’s truly important.  We could put on events each evening – perhaps a fun one, a service one, an educational one, a worship one, a feast one, or others. (Ooh – What’s your idea?) We could link up with other houses of worship, schools, the community center/library, and local businesses. Maybe the whole week could even earn money to support the Canticle Cafe – which is in serious financial distress – or some other cause.

This could be a week that can make a real difference, in thousands of ways.

We’ll need planners, callers, sponsors, printers, party-throwers, decorators, speakers, and more. We’ll need fund-finders, food-makers, cleaners, greeters, promoters, shoppers… and more. We’ll need you.

The first “Unplug/Reconnect” will probably take about a year to plan. Please call or email me to let me know how you can be involved.

Let’s enable our whole community to peel our eyes away from the fleeting charms of our flat screens long enough to experience the deep, real joy of following St. Paul’s timely advice: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).

I’ll be waiting to hear from you. Really.

Marian Bart

248-689-8380 ext. 108

Saturday, March 13th from 6:30 to 10 p.m. in the Davidson Activity Center

Enjoy a fabulous Corned Beef and Cabbage meal, Irish Sing-a-long, Games, Face painting and more!
Fun for the whole family!

Questions? Contact the Parish Office at 248-689-8380

Space is limited. Reserve your seats today!

Please bring a sweet treat or a dessert to share!

Adult beverages (beer/wine) available for a donation.

Meal includes corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, salad and rols.
Children’s meal includes hot dog, fries and a drink.

Click here for a registration form Irish Night 2010

Do you love Lent? I do, but a lot of folk don’t have all that much affection for the season. Many Catholics have come to think of it in negative terms; however, Lent is not about hair shirts, sour expressions and the like. Rather, it is a positive, strengthening, spiritual experience, and if you want to grow in your love of God and your neighbor, then Lent is for you!  We need to be single-minded and “do stuff” to gain a clearer vision of the Risen Christ, come Easter. Here are some suggestions to keep you focused: 

Mark your calendar and plan on attending  the  Parish Mission: March 7 – 10. We will offer 7 different sessions beginning Sunday, March 7 at 6:30 p.m. in the church. We have 3 different speakers lined up to lead us on a mission to greater understand and appreciation of “God’s Gift – Our Opportunity – My Response” in our daily lives. See page 5 of this bulletin for a schedule of the morning and evening sessions being offered.

Take a retreat. There is a Men’s retreat at Manresa  Retreat House on March 5-7. It begins on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and ends on Sunday at 1 p.m. Fr. Tim Babcock, one of my mentors and a great priest, will lead it. The theme is, “You too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus,” from Paul’s letter to the Romans. Take your dad, your son, or your brother. Or simply go on the AOD website and find a retreat center.

Pray for something other than your own needs.   Often we get so focused on our own junk that we forget to go outside of our own limited territory. Choose something or someone to pray for during this Lent. This is the “Year of the Priest” and you could choose one of us to pray for. St. John Vianney is the patron of priests and you could pray to him. You could offer this nice prayer which I like to pray: Loving and gracious Father, You are the author of priestly and religious vocations. Be ever near to those whom you have called to follow more closely your Son, Jesus Christ in serving you and your people. In spite of their human weakness, may they witness to the transforming power of your love. Give them the strength and consolation of your Spirit so that in times of trials, their fidelity to their calling may remain unshaken. May they anchor their lives only in you, the ever faithful One, so that they may be humble and dedicated servants in your Church. Amen.

Attend Mass more often. The Eucharist is the source and summit of what we are about as Catholic Christians. Get up a little earlier and attend one of our 7 a.m. weekday Masses or attend the 9:30 a.m. Mass. You could even visit our Mother Church, the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (how is that for a title!) will be celebrating Mass at the Cathedral on Mar 7 at 11am.

Read Scripture. Do this daily or join one of the many Bible studies we offer here at the parish. You can read the scriptures that are from the Mass of that day or read ahead for the weekend and prepare yourself and your family for the coming Sunday. If you haven’t availed yourself of reading the Daily Office (the prayer of the Church), you are missing out on the opportunity the Church has given you for daily study. There’s solace, insight, encouragement, grace and a whole lot more in scripture, and that can’t be said about any other book in your library. The Good Book is precisely that, and those who read it daily learn how to be good (Godly) themselves.

Young adults and teens are needed to participate in the Passion play on Palm Sunday. Call Dave Graves TODAY and let him know you want to be a part of this awesome and inspiring event. Details on page 8.

Fast-a-thon – Teens – check out page 8 of this bulletin to see how you can sign up for this year’s fast-a-thon. Challenge your friends and invite them to sign up with you! It’s a great way to prepare for the glory of Easter Sunday.

Do some ministry. You could help out here at the parish. Contact our   Christian Service Coordinator, Marian Bart, and find out the many opportunities offered. You could go to the Canticle Café or St. Bonaventure’s and help feed the homeless. You could join the 40 Days for Life campaign, or reach out in the 1001 other ways the Lord is inspiring you to get involved and use your gifts.

Whatever you do, I hope you take this season of Lent and put it to good use so that you can better celebrate Easter when it arrives.

God bless,
Fr. J.J.

P.S. You may have noticed that we are beginning and ending the weekend liturgies in a new way for Lent. There is no closing hymn so that we can reflect more and reach a quiet reverence for what we have just celebrated. I gotta say: “you guys are quick”.  Last weekend, I was not even down the aisle when the majority of the congregation was on their way out.  Do me a favor, wait   until I hit the narthex doors before you start elbowing me to get into the parking lot!?! Happy Lent