Easter Baskets - Preparation and Delivery

Come help us spread the Easter spirit. The Young Adults will be gathering on Saturday, April 4th from noon to 2pm in the Parish Hall for some fellowship and to prepare the Easter Baskets. We will then go out in teams of 2 or 3 to deliver the baskets to homebound members of our parish community. Please bring something (cookies, candies, etc...) to include in the baskets. For details and to RSVP, please contact Lara at laraserene@gmail.com

Even if you can't join us, we are also in need of donations and supplies. Donations should be dropped off in the church vestibule during the Parish Penance Service/Mercy Night on Friday evening, April 3rd, between 7:00pm and 10:00pm. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Mercy Night

Drop by our grand century-old brick church in the U-district on Friday, April 3rd, from 7:00pm to 10:00pm for another beautiful candlelit evening of prayer and adoration. Priests will be available to hear confessions all evening. Originating from the Emmanuel Community in Europe, Mercy Night offers an extraordinary setting in which to reconnect with God and experience His beauty and goodness. Come anytime, and stay for as little or as long as you like. Bring friends, too!

Everyone is welcome. For more information, contact Janelle Bighinatti at bighinatti@gmail.com

How to Pray the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours)

How to Pray the Divine Office
(Liturgy of the Hours)

With Jesson Mata

March 16, 23, 30 at 7:00pm

**UPDATE THIS CLASS IS NOW BEING HELD ON MONDAYS**
(Contact Jesson Mata: jmata@bspwa.org for more information.)

This three-part series will introduce the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours) to those who want to learn how to pray the official prayer of the Church. Jesson will be using the four-volume breviary, but a single volume set will be acceptable for use by students.

The series will include presentations and discussions on theology and spirituality of the Divine Office, as well as a practicum - that is, we will be chanting some of the offices.

This series is intended to be introductory for those who wish to learn more about the Divine Office. All are welcome.

For more information and location, please contact Jesson Mata at 206-732-7343 or jmata@bspwa.org.

Our Memories of Fr. Tom

Our Memories of Fr. Tom

Sunday, March 29, 7:00 PM in the Church

An evening of prayer, discussion, and reflections on the life and legacy of Fr. Tom Kraft. OP.

Since his death two months ago, many people continue to face the challenges of grief at the loss of Fr. Tom. Others are dealing with his death by memorializing his legacy through various activities, prayer and the comfort of friends. Still others are finding it difficult to express their feelings and fondness for Fr. Tom, because there is no proper venue for them to express the complexity of their emotions. If you would like to take this opportunity to share your experiences and memories of Fr. Tom, please join the Blessed Sacrament community, his friends and colleagues, for an evening of reflection. The evening will include a public reading of a letter Fr. tom wrote to Jesus, dated March, 2008. We will also hear a recording of a reflection he gave on the Last Words of Christ from 2008. Our hope is that this event will allow all of his beloved friends to share their fondest memories with one another. The evening will be moderated by Jesson Mata. For more information, please contact Jesson at 206-732-7343 or jmata@bspwa.org.

Daily Reading Podcast

Want to hear the daily Mass readings any time, any where? Daily Readings from the New American Bible are available on podcast!! Click here if you're using iTunes and click here if you're using something else. Enjoy!

Relay for Life: Team Veritas

Join the Blessed Sacrament Young Adults as we participate in the UW Relay for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. We are Team Veritas.

Veritas, Latin for Truth, is the Dominican motto upon which all the pillars stand. Our team this year is dedicated to our dear friend and priest, Fr. Tom, and to all those we love who suffer from cancer. Please join us at Husky Stadium May 9th and 10th, as we Relay for Life.

Join or Support Team Veritas.

Drinks with the Dominicans

March 18th at 7:00 p.m. at Blue Star Cafe (4512 Stone Way N)

Join the young adults and Dr. James Felak (not a Dominican, but a great guy nonetheless) this month for a short presentation on "The Popes of Vatican II: John XXIII and Paul VI." Afterward, we'll have the opportunity to ask engage in some discussion and casual chit-chat with friends. Dr. Felak is a Blessed Sacrament Parishioner and an Associate Professor of History at the University of Washington. For questions, contact Teresa Dion (teresa.dion@gmail.com)

Holy Hour Reading and Reflection

Following our monthly Holy Hour of adoration, the reading (which is always the Gospel reading for the following Sunday) and reflection (which will be written by a different Young Adult each month) will be posted here. Here is the reading and reflection, written by Blaise Benapfl, from the March Holy Hour. (Make sure to check back after each Holy Hour for new readings and reflections!)

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Mk 9:2-10

Jesus took Peter, James, and John
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white,
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
"Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,
"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.

As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.

The Transfiguration is one of the better known gospel stories. We hear it every year at Mass, and it is the fourth Luminous mystery of the Rosary. When Jesus and his inner circle of apostles reach the top of the mountain we see him conversing with Moses and Elijah. In this there is a coming together of the Old Testament and the New Testament; of several old covenants with the one eternal covenant between God and man.

In the Transfiguration, Elijah represents the Old Testament prophets, and Moses the Law. These are the ways which God communicated to His people in the Old Covenants, and as Jesus Himself said, He came not to replace these covenants, but to fulfill them.

It was incredible what God did for us through Moses. Here we were, a stubbornly disobedient people who had already broken at least three covenants with our creator. But instead of turning His back on us, of calling creation just an experiment gone wrong, He gave us rules to live by, which were an insight into divine wisdom. And what was our response? We turned back to idolatry.

God had to up the ante. Due to our fallen nature, just giving us the Law would not suffice. This is how Jesus fulfills the Old Covenant. He didn't come into the world just to reaffirm the old Law, or even to give us a new one. We miss the entire point of the Incarnation and certainly the Passion if we think that Jesus only gave us a new way to live. "For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that world might be saved through him." We already knew how we were supposed to live. Jesus came into the world to make that life possible. It is only through the grace that Jesus provides that we can even begin to fathom the idea that we will one day, "be perfect, as our Father in Heaven is perfect." For most of us this won't happen until we ourselves are in Heaven, but we can get a head start here on Earth. In the graces of Baptism we are born again into the family of God. When we stumble in life we can turn to the graces of Confession, that we may once again echo our Mother's words, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior."

And this takes us back to the Transfiguration. It was here that Jesus's inner circle of apostles began to see for themselves what Peter had exclaimed six days earlier at Caeseria Philippi, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." Jesus tells us that these words were given to Peter by the Father, and at the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father Himself reaffirms the statement. "This is my beloved Son; listen to Him." If, by this point, the apostles had recovered from their shock, they certainly would have wanted to hear more from God. After all, how often is it that the Father communicates like this? But there is beauty in God's brevity. He tells us exactly who Jesus is, and exactly what we are to do. "This is my beloved Son; listen to Him." The day that we truly grasp God's words is the day we become saints.

The Apostles were given a brief glimpse of Jesus in His beatific glory. This splendor is camouflaged from us when we see our Lord in the Eucharist, but that doesn't mean that He isn't still there in all his glory. To contemplate that fact, that we are all here, quite literally enjoying quality time with our savior, I can only echo Peter's sentiment, "Lord, it is good that we are here."

Holy Hour

"In a world where there is so much noise, so much bewilderment, there is a need for silent adoration of Jesus concealed in the Host. Be assiduous in the prayer of adoration and teach it to the faithful. It is a source of comfort and light, particularly to those who are suffering."
-Pope Benedict XVI

Join us Friday evening, March 6th at 8pm in the Newman Center Chapel for another evening of prayer, song, rosary recitation and scripture reading before the Blessed Sacrament. (Please note that our Holy Hour will begin at 8:00 p.m. during Lent.)