Holy Thursday, April 1 Tenebrae, 8:00 AM Mass of the Lord’s Supper 7:30 PM, followed by adoration until midnight.
Good Friday, April 2 Tenebrae, 8:00 AM Tre Ore: Meditations on the Last Words of Christ, Noon - 3:00 PM Solemn Celebration of the Lord’s Passion, 7:30 PM
Holy Saturday, April 3 Tenebrae, 8:00 AM Blessing of Easter Food, 1:00 PM Easter Vigil Mass of the Resurrection, 8:30 PM
Easter Sunday, April 4 Masses of the Lord’s Resurrection, 7:30 AM, 9:00 AM, 10:30 AM, Noon, and 5:45 PM
Sacrament of Reconciliation Thursdays after the 8:00 AM Mass, Saturdays 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM, or by appointment ~ There are no confessions during Holy Week ~
This Lenten season our Blessed Sacrament's penance service is being combined with Mercy Night and will take place on Friday, March 19th, from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. Our Dominican priests will be hearing confessions throughout the evening.
Originating from the Emmanuel Community in Europe, Mercy Night is a beautiful candlelit evening of prayer and adoration, with contemplative music. Come anytime, and stay for as little or as long as you like.
"It was love that motivated His self-emptying, that led Him to become a little lower than angels, to be subject to parents, to bow His head beneath the Baptist's hands, to endure the weakness of the flesh, and to submit to death even upon the cross." - St. Bernard
Join us on this upcoming Friday, March 5th from 7:30pm - 8:30pm** at the Newman Center. Spend some quiet time in prayer before the Eucharist during this Lenten season. This month's Holy Hour will offer time for silent reflection while incorporating rosary recitation and scripture. Fr. Raphael Mary will be present for Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
**Please note that we have changed the time of Holy Hour to 7:30 p.m.
You are all invited to join the True Compassion Advocates on Friday, March 5th, 2010 (the one year anniversary of legalized assisted suicide) from noon - 1pm for a protest against Assisted Suicide at the University of Washington Medical Center (one of the few hospitals in our area to "opt in" to offering assisted suicide). Please consider coming out as a witness of love to show our community that is precious in all of its forms. (For more information, please read the letter below.)
Dear True Compassion Advocates,
It’s hard to believe that we’re more than two months into the New Year. Now, with February passing quickly and March only a few weeks away, the one year anniversary of legalized assisted suicide in Washington State is just around the corner.
No doubt this date will be celebrated by suicide promoters like Compassion and Choices, but compassion advocates will commemorate this tragic anniversary by joining together to demonstrate on behalf of those victimized by suicide and assisted suicide. We’ll meet at UW Medical Center in Seattle—one of the few hospitals which decided to opt in to offering lethal drug overdoses to suicidal ill people under the Act. Please join us March 5th, on the sidewalk near the front of the UW hospital at 1959 NE Pacific St. from Noon-1 PM. Mark your calendars and make demonstrating compassion on March 5th a priority. With lives at risk, what could be more important?
One year later, it’s clear that “choice” is a lie. Washington’s voters mistakenly thought they voted for a law full of safeguards from abuse. Instead, the so-called Death with Dignity Act has become a recipe for elder abuse and an occasion for encouraging “well seniors” to commit suicide. In the last few months alone, True Compassion Advocates has fielded phone calls
about senior citizens feeling pressured to commit suicide, assisted suicide, or euthanasia because “my children told me the cost of my assisted living is eating into their inheritance,”
from upset family members, frightened a loved one is planning “choose” assisted suicide because of economic pressures or inadequate health or home care coverage,
from devastated health care professionals, anguished at feeling forced to assist suicidal patients in killing themselves,
about an unsavory suicide promotion group hosting a ‘how to commit suicide’ workshop for “well elders” and making plans to open an office to facilitate suicide-related tourism.
Clearly, sitting at home and hoping the abuse of assisted suicide will go away is not an option. So what can we do?
Join us on March 5th. Save lives and influence people. Help us get the message out: "We're here for you. We care for you. Suicide and assisted suicide are not the answer." Help TCA create safe harbor communities in your area—places where vulnerable ill people can go to receive health care they can trust with their lives—care which includes true compassion, rather than the false choices like assisted suicide.
Join thousands across Washington and even more around the world who are receiving regularly-updated resources, information, and support from the True Compassion Advocatesweb site. Support family members, friends, and members of your community with TCA’s resources on health care choices, aging with courage, serious illness support, caregiver resources, and suicide prevention. Look for us on Facebook. You can either search for True Compassion Advocates, or click the link on the bottom of our homepage. Become a fan, invite your friends to do the same, and share our updates.
Answering the daily calls from those in need and from media, creating these extensive resources, and continuing our vital work takes both time and money—both of which are in short supply. There is so much more we can do, but we need your help. Please consider making a life-saving donation to the essential work of True Compassion Advocates.
Thank you for all you are doing to advocate for quality, compassionate care and to offer positive choices and alternatives to suicide and assisted suicide. It is an honor and a privilege to work alongside you. As always, please contact us if you have questions or need resources to support your role as a True Compassion Advocate. See you on the 5th! We’ll even bring the signs!
Sincerely,
Eileen Geller
Carrie Herring
Marie Harkins True Compassion Advocates
Senate Bill 6452 and House Bill 2837 target Pregnancy Centers with excessive regulation, unless they provide abortions and/or abortion referrals. SB 6452 and HB 2837 are part of a nationwide campaign by abortion advocacy groups to steer women to abortion providers instead of pregnancy centers for assistance with an unwanted pregnancy. These bills threaten the Pregnancy Centers ability to stay open.
The lives of thousands of unborn children are at stake!
Click here for more information, or you may receive updates via Twitter. The legislature is meeting TOMORROW, Wednesday, January 27th at 8am. There is still time to email your legislators. You may click here to find out who your legislators are and to get their contact information.
And above all else, please pray that ALL HUMAN LIFE will one day (soon!) be seen for the true gift from God that it is.
Friday, Jan 22nd is the Anniversary of Fr. Tom's death (and birth to eternal life). Please join the Blessed Sacrament Parish community for a rosary at 6:30pm and a candlelight Mass at 7pm at the Prince of Peace Newman Center. Reception to Follow.
In honor of Fr. Tom and his passion to help the poor, we are asking people to bring a can of food for Northwest Harvest.
Seattle IPA would like to encourage all of you to pray for the victims and their families of the Haiti earthquake and make a donation if possible at www.crs.org.
A Place of Prayer for the victims of the earthquake has been established in St. James Cathedral’s Chapel at the image of Mary known as Our Lady of Seattle. This 19th century statue was shipped from Italy around the horn of South America to Seattle via the Caribbean.
A special ecumenical prayer service will be held in St. James Cathedral TODAY Friday, January 15th at 6:30 pm. This service of songs from Taize will include prayers and readings.
You can read the full letter from CRS in response to the Haiti earthquake at the Seattle IPA blog.
This “Spa for the Soul” weekend, held at the Brannan House, Christ the King, is geared toward women who would not consider themselves to be “retreat going types.” The casual atmosphere & lively presentations will provide a renewed excitement about the Faith as well as an increased appreciation for our Christian Spirituality. Suggested donation: $50 for room & board.
This retreat will challenge you to reflect & pray about the most important things in life: God, your relationship with God, family, friends, & eternity.
Starts at 6 pm (show up anytime after 5), and ends at 10:30 am on Sunday.
For more information or to register, please email Lauren White at Christ the King Parish.
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,
and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee,
and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region
of Ituraea and Trachonitis,
and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,
during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,
the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.
John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan,
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
Lineage, more specifically paternal lineage, was so important in Jesus’ time and is still so important in the Middle East. We now think of John as Jesus’ cousin, but here he is identified as “John, son of Zechariah”.This description tells that John was just an average man. If he were someone “special” by secular standards, someone famous, his name would have stood alone. There would have been no need to identify him by his paternal lineage – just look at some of the others named in this reading – Herod, Philip, Lysanias, and Caiaphus. By all accounts, they were the important people. Yet, with the advantage of hindsight and faith, we know the truth… John, son of Zechariah, cousin of Jesus, a virtual unknown and a nobody, an average man was the most important person in this story – he is the one who was called to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah: “A voice crying out in the wilderness.”
Luke tells us, though, that John didn’t just go to the desert to preach, rather the “word of God came to [him] in the desert”. What was it that first caused John to go out into the desert? I certainly don’t know… Most of you have probably never been to Palestine, but I can assure you that desert there is not a fun place. It is HOT, dry, dusty and sandy and brown, disgustingly brown. We complain here in Seattle about gray skies. There, you can go for miles and miles and see nothing but various shades of brown – brown sand, brown rock, brown “mountains” that are way too short to be snow-capped, and yes even brown shrubs. It is a harsh and unforgiving environment. And yet, John willfully chose to go out into the desert wilderness. Was he crazy as some thought? Or, could it be he felt a tugging in his heart? Could it be that God spoke to him? Certainly, something miraculous must have happened for him to go out into the wilderness.
In fact, something miraculous did happen – John heard God’s call and answered it. And the miracle didn’t just stop there… once John answered the call, he heard the word of God and began “to preach a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” to all the people he encountered. This baptism that John speaks of is a prelude and an epilogue to our own baptism through Christ. John baptized with water, Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit. - Just a couple of weeks ago, I had the honour of holding my Godson while he was baptized. Here was this tiny baby who in an instant became a member of the Body of Christ. As I watched the priest pour a bit of Holy Water on his head, I couldn’t help but think of the amazing gift that I was holding in my arms, the miracle of the gift that this little baby was receiving, and the awesome responsibility that had just been handed to him at 8 weeks old. – We, too, have this same responsibility inherent in our own baptism, the responsibility that calls us to the repentance about which John preached. As members of the Body of Christ, Jesus has washed away all of our sins with His Blood, but we are not blameless. We cannot run free, caving in to secular pressures and crazy whims. Rather, we must strive to live our lives for Christ, yearning for Him, seeking Him, despite our imperfections. And yes, we must repent – the responsibility of our baptism calls us to examine our lives, to repent, and to turn away from that which separates us from our Lord and Saviour.
This evening, we’re coming to the end of the first week of Advent. For the next three weeks, we, like John, are called to live in the wilderness, in the desert of introspection and repentance, as we prepare for the coming of our Lord. This is no easy task. It’s Advent and yet everywhere we look we see Christmas lights and decorations. Christmas music is on the radio and in the stores. We’ve already had Black Friday and Cyber Monday – the message that we’re surrounded by is one of consumerism and tangible gifts. But let us not fooled, the real gift at Christmas the one about whom John preached: the tiny babe swaddled and lying in a manger. So, let us all move away from distraction and enter into the desert of repentance as we pray:
Living God,
Help us as we remember Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection,to be ready to receive Him not just when He comes again but each and every day of our lives.
Help us to confess our mistakes. Forgive us for all the wrongs we have done; may we read your Word with new insight as we offer you our living worship, and turn from all that is wrong and faithless in our lives.
Help us to focus on what is central to this season and not just on the trappings with which we surround it.
Help us to open our hearts and minds to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and respond to His prompting.
Help us to follow in the way of Christ, loving Him as he has loved us.
You have promised that Christ will come again: so prepare our hearts for His coming.
"Come, let us worship the Lord, the King who is to come."
Join us this upcoming Friday, December 4th at 7:00pm at Blessed Sacrament** to spend some quiet time in prayer before the Eucharist this Advent season to prepare for the coming of our Savior. The holy hour will offer time for silent reflection while incorporating rosary recitation, scripture and meditative music.
For those of you still in town, there will be Mass at Blessed Sacrament at 10:00am on Thanksgiving -- a great opportunity to give thanks to God for all that He has done!
Drop by our grand century-old brick church in the U-district on Friday, November 13th, from 7:30pm to 10:30pm for another beautiful candlelit evening of prayer and adoration. Priests will be available to hear confessions all evening, and prayer teams will be available to pray with you for your intentions.
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. Anyone and everyone is welcome!
Also, please invite a friend, it is a great way for someone who has not been to church for a while (or ever) to experience God's love for them.
"O Trinity, eternal Trinity! Fire, abyss of love . . . Was it necessary that you should give Even the Holy Trinity as food for souls? . . . You gave us not only your Word Through the Redemption and in the Eucharist, But you also gave yourself In the fullness of love for your creature." -St. Catherine of Siena
Join us for our monthly YAYA Holy Hour, this Friday, November 6th from 7:00-8:00pm at the Newman Center. It's a lovely way to end the week with a bit of reflection, rosary recitation, music, and prayer all in the presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
All YAYAs are invited for a potluck and fellowship as we celebrate the work that God has accomplished during the fall Seattle 40 Days for Life campaign.
In traditional potluck tradition, people with last names A-L please bring appetizers and non-alcoholic drinks, and M-Z bring desserts.
We will have announcements, prayer, and stories from vigil participants of experiences that touched them at the site this year. If you would like to share such a story, please email it to Monica and we will add you to the program.
We will also be talking about a follow-up group that will continue to meet in between campaigns. The reality is that the unborn are killed throughout the year and we cannot afford to lessen or cease our efforts as long as abortion is legal in this country. You will have the opportunity to sign-up to receive additional information at the rally, but if you are interested and cannot make it, please let us know!
Thank you for your faithful prayers and support during this fall season!
Requiem Mass for All Souls, Solemn High Mass according to the Dominican Rite. Music by 16th century Spanish composer Tomas Luis de Victoria sung by the Tudor Choir under the direction of Doug Fullington.
40 Days for Life incorporates the power of prayer and fasting along with a physical presence in the community to raise public awareness, and ultimately, to end abortion in America. Throughout this 40 Day period, pro-lifers of all faiths organize groups across the nation to pray peacefully in 12 or 24-hour shifts outside local abortion facilities. So far, the number of babies saved by their presence is 174 in this campaign, over 1,561 total and those are just the ones we know about. You can read more about the campaign here.
Your participation in this campaign is vital to its success. That's why we'd like to invite you out to a special prayer gathering on Saturday, October 17th from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. at the vigil site by the north entrance to Planned Parenthood at: 2001 E Madison St, Seattle, WA 98122. There will be prayer, song, reflections, and a chance for you to make a peaceful, public stand against abortion in the community. "Living the truth in love, we will grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ." (Eph 4:15)
Please join the Newman Center's very own, Sundays@7 music group for a spirit-filled evening of Praise and Worship music and Eucharastic adoration - Thursday (tomorrow!) October 1st from 7:00 to 8:30pm in the Newman Center Chapel.
Join us TOMORROW (Tuesday, September 22nd, at 7pm at the UW Newman Center) for an evening of fellowship and prayer, featuring local pro-life speakers. 40 Days for Life is a focused pro-life campaign with a vision to access God’s power through prayer, fasting, and peaceful vigil to end abortion in America. This fall, over 200 cities throughout the world will be joining in the 40 days campaign from September 23rd to November 1st. Let's begin the 40 Days for Life season in a positive, unified way by joining together and encouraging one another to take a stand for life!
The mission of the campaign is to bring together the body of Christ in a spirit of unity during a focused 40 day campaign of prayer, fasting, and peaceful activism, with the purpose of repentance, to seek God's favor to turn hearts and minds from a culture of death to a culture of life, thus bringing an end to abortion in America.
For more information about the 40 days campaign or to sign up for vigil hours on-line, go to the 40 Days Seattle website or email.
Come experience Mercy Night... on Friday, August 21st, from 8:00pm to 11:00pm, Blessed Sacrament Parish will be hosting a special evening of prayer and Adoration, with worship music and testimonies. The sacrament of confession and prayer teams will be available throughout the evening. Come for as little or as long as you like. Bring a friend with you who hasn't been to church in awhile! Questions? Contact Janelle.
Our parish, Blessed Sacrament, describes itself as a Center of Evangelization. Mercy Night is coming up next week, an evening of prayer/adoration and music, and a big aspect of this prayer event is just that, evangelization. Although we haven't been able to do this much in the past, we are now starting to develop this by bringing together an "Evangelization Team". The role of this group will be to stay outside of the church during Mercy Night, in pairs, on the steps or on the sidewalk (or going even further afield if you wish) and invite people - anyone! - to go inside BSC and pray. This is not about apologetics or defending the Church, but about giving an invitation to spend time with the Lord. Mercy Night is for everyone, not just Catholics, and it is a particularly safe, welcoming, no-pressure environment for non-Catholics to enter into. And especially since Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is there on the altar, whether people know it explicitly or not when they come in, He is present and can touch their hearts powerfully.
We are meeting this Thursday, August 13th at 7:30pm, in the Church to the right of the sanctuary. We'll be discussing the what and how of this and then will have a short prayer time at the end. Sorry for the conflict with TOB, we'll try to avoid that next time.
We want our city to come to know the Lord, do we not?? Join us!
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