Fifth Sunday of Lent - St. Cronan Church

B.A.S.I.C ` (AA & NA) meets every Saturday from 11:00a-1:00p
in the lower level of the Parish Center (The Yellow Healing Room).
9-10 April 2011
Has your life been "Touched by an Addict"? Nar-anon Family
group has a new meeting forming at St. Cronan's. Meeting info:
Weds. 6:30 pm. in the Coffee & Donut room. For more info check out
our website: www.nar-anon.org or call or text Janice at 314-560-7300
or Heather at 314-650-4313. If you have a family member or friend
struggling with addiction and you need help, please join us.
T’ai Chi Chih 9:30a Sundays, outside (weather permitting) or in the
balcony.
Children’s Faith Formation
Children’s Faith Formation communities meet 1st and 3rd Sundays
from 8:45 a.m. to 9:50 a.m. at the Parish Center to nurture the
relationship with God and with one another.
Please continue to pray for Miles Diekemper, Claire Gondzur,
Kimberly Johns, Soren Davis, Greta Wimmer, Lawrence Doyle and
Carlow Doyle as they continue to prepare for their celebration of
communion on May 15th. During their blessing by the Cronan
community on April 3rd we reminded them "these people belong to
you, and you belong to this community." Please sign their posters in
the chapel to let them know you of your connection and prayers for
them
Supporting Our Community
Discussion group on Vatican II led by Kevin Minder after the
10:00 a.m. liturgy at the Parish Center this Sunday, April 10. Join us
for the refresher sessions on the history and teachings of Vatican
Council II presented by Kevin Minder, PhD. after Lenten Sunday
Mass at 10 AM.
Center for Survivors of Torture and War Trauma:
Volunteers Needed: The Center for Survivors or Torture and
War Trauma (CSTWT) offers an after-school program called Open
Door for refugee youth. The program gives them a place to create arts
and crafts, play sports and games, receive homework help, but most
importantly give them a place to begin to heal from their experiences
in war-torn countries. We are looking for volunteers (individuals or
groups) to provide an evening meal for the seven kids who
currently come to Open Door on a Wednesday or Thursday
before the end of the school year. A full kitchen is available for
cooking. Donating a meal for seven youth may sound like a small
task, but having someone care about them enough to provide a meal
for them means a lot to these kids. It is a tangible gift of love. If you
are interested in learning more or signing up for a day, please contact
Linda Davis at ldavis22 [at] wustl.edu.
The Catholic Relief Services Collection: This Sunday,
April 10, we can support families that face difficulties most of us
could not imagine, like famine, war, and life in refugee camps. The
CRS Collection helps families by working to reunite them, caring for
vulnerable and exploited children, changing unjust laws, and
providing pastoral care and humanitarian and emergency assistance
across the globe. How will you help? Please be generous to this
Collection to help the people of Japan’s earthquake and tsunami.
Pastor’s Peace
5 th Sunday of Lent
As was mentioned on the 3 rd Sunday of Lent, on the Third, Fourth,
and Fifth Sundays of Lent, the Scrutinies are celebrated. These
ritual celebrations of the RCIA invite those who are being baptized
at Easter to scrutinize their lives and allow God to scrutinize them
and to heal them. It is also an invitation for those of us already
baptized to scrutinize our own lives and attitudes.
The following reflection on this week’s Gospel of the raising of
Lazarus from the dead was taken from Creighton University’s
Online Retreat, Week 25.
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/cmoretreat.html
Martha speaks profound sorrow at the death of Lazarus, but it is tinged
with a touch of blaming Jesus: "Lord, if you had been here my brother
would not have died."
Where do I resent the losses in my life and somehow blame God
for them, rather than seeing them as places where God's glory will
be revealed?
Even when Jesus tells Martha, "I am the one who raises the dead to life!"
she finds it hard to believe he means now, in the case of her dead brother.
Where do I doubt that Jesus can bring life?
Jesus stands before the tomb weeping. He places no barriers to his
feelings about death. Could he be staring at and facing the tomb of his
own death?
Can I be with him there?
Can I stand before and face the tombs in my daily life?
Jesus shouts the liberating words of life, "Lazarus, come forth!"
How is he shouting that to me today?
The grace will come when I experience how my 'deaths' will not
end in death, but in giving glory to God. When I experience how
entombed I have been, tied and bound, no longer alive, dead for a
long time, I will sense the power of the command of Jesus that I
"come forth."
On April 14, at 7:00 pm, there will be an opportunity for our
community to gather to celebrate reconciliation, to be a
reconciling presence to ourselves, each other and to send
reconciling energy to all those places around the world where
God’s glory needs to be revealed.
LENT:
L is for Listening Prayer
E is for Eat Right and Exercise
N is for Neighborliness
T is for Thanksgiving, especially the Eucharist