Dear Parishioners,

Nearly two weeks ago on Ash Wednesday, when we began this season of Lent, we participated in a ritual that, despite its antiquity and archaic quality, has retained enormous appeal throughout the centuries of Christendom. Our foreheads were marked with ash, the remnants of last year’s branches from Palm Sunday. These symbols, which were once expressions of exaltation and triumph, were now expressions of human mortality as we were told, "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return." And so, we entered a sober forty-day period of self-examination and renunciation intended to foster conversion—a change in the way we view the world and a change in the way we live within it.

Dear Parishioners,

Having entered the liturgical season of Lent, which began this past Wednesday, we hear recurring references to the three time-honored disciplines that are associated with this time of penance: Prayer, Almsgiving, and Fasting. Over the centuries, the church has found that these three practices help to maintain a stable Christian life. No one would disagree that prayer is always necessary for deepening one’s friendship with God; and almsgiving is a practical (as well as spiritual) undertaking that supports our programs, projects, and physical temporalities that are essential for making the church visible to the world. But fasting can be somewhat controversial.

Dear Parishioners,

In last week’s bulletin article, I offered a very abridged history of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In that brief sketch, I failed to include a fascinating feature from the early seventeenth century which impacted this devotion. Around this time the first modern atlas of human anatomy got published. Soon afterward, William Harvey published his treatise on the movement of the heart and the circulation of the blood. This scientific description of the body’s blood pumping muscle fueled the religious imaginations of people, particularly artists. They, in turn, reflected this anatomical understanding in their iconography. All of this demonstrates that religion and religious practices are typically not created in vacuums.

Dear Parishioners,

As we continue to reflect on Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Dilexit Nos (“He Loved Us”), on the human and divine love of the heart of Jesus Christ, we have the opportunity to deepen our understanding of this time-honored Catholic devotion. While devotion to the heart of Christ has strong biblical roots, especially in the Passion narrative of John’s Gospel, it emerged more explicitly in the 13th century, due in part, to the mystical writings of the Benedictine nun, St. Gertrude (1256-1302). Gertrude lived in the monastery of Helfta in Saxony and is said to have received the stigmata (the physical wounds of Christ crucified) along with a divine light that pierced her own heart. Besides St. Gertrude, there were a number of other religious women during this period who nurtured a deep spiritual affection for Jesus as the Sacred Heart.

Dear Parishioners,

Our parish nurse, Pat Pusateri, who faithfully serves all of us at St. Joan of Arc in a variety of ways that promote good health (physical and spiritual), reminded our staff that February is named National Heart Month. I was not aware of this designation previously and suspect that the identification of February with the heart is partially due to Valentine’s Day, the celebration of which most often features the symbol of a heart. (The other identifying symbol of Valentine’s Day is the plump cherub brandishing bow and arrow as instruments used to foster romance and love. I much prefer the image of the heart!) No doubt our national medical professionals are hoping to remind us of the essential role that our hearts play in keeping us alive. This anatomical organ is centrally located on our torsos, allowing it to perform its most essential task, namely to purify our blood and re-send it throughout our bodies. The heart’s steady, rhythmic beating (the first sound that a child in the womb hears) is the sound that indicates life. When this unique bodily chant is silenced, we presume the person is dead.

Dear Parishioners,

With today’s feast of The Presentation of the Lord, the church brings the Christmas Season to what was its official traditional end prior to the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council. One can still see traces of this understanding in Rome and parts of Europe where Christmas Nativity Scenes and other decorations are kept in place until this day. Here at St. Joan of Arc, we honor that traditional closure by keeping most of our church decorations up until this day.

Dear Parishioners,

Among Christianity’s greatest concerns and most effective ministerial activities has been the care of the sick. This has been a consistent quality of our faith since the earthly ministry of Jesus precisely because it mirrors the priority that he himself placed on healing those who were ill whether of body, mind, or soul. We know that one of the most dreaded and harmful effects of sickness is that it marginalizes individuals – relegating them to the fringes of a society or culture. There they are frequently ignored or forgotten altogether which is why the phrase, “out of sight, out of mind,” is, unfortunately, aptly descriptive. Jesus, as part of his divine mission he received from his Father, was to restore unity to creation and to re-unite those who, for whatever reason, had been forced to the fringes of life and the void of non-existence.

Dear Parishioners,

By now, most Catholics are aware that Pope Francis has announced that 2025 will be a Jubilee Year for the universal church, with the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.” Some might wonder, what exactly is a “Jubilee Year” in the Catholic Church? Essentially, it is a year designated with the specific purpose of re-establishing a proper relationship with God, one another, and all of creation. This custom has ancient roots in the history of Israel and can be found in various places in the Old Testament, for example, Leviticus 25. The people of Israel celebrated these jubilee years every 50 years to re-align themselves with the covenant relationship that God had established with them. There was a strong emphasis on mercy and forgiveness. Legal debts were absolved. Broken relationships were to be healed. Even the earth was brought into this jubilee year by having its farmland lie fallow to rest and be restored after years of providing harvests.

Dear Parishioners,

I wish all of you a blessed New Year filled with peace, promise, and good health. At the dawn of each new year, many of us make bold declarations such as, "I know this is going to be a good year," or "This new year has got to be better than the last one." While hope springs eternal, we all know that every year has its share of blessings and challenges, both of which are somewhat relative depending on individuals. Nonetheless, we place our trust in God, believing that throughout the next 12 months, we will experience God’s abiding presence in both the blessings and the challenges as we ultimately pray, with Jesus, "not my will, but yours be done."

Dear Parishioners,

Today the Church celebrates the Epiphany of the Lord. In times past, this feast was consistently observed on January 6 (when most of the world continues to observe it), thus completing the 12 days of Christmas. The 12th day is actually Jan. 5, the eve of the Epiphany, because the greatest solemnities in the Catholic Church begin the evening before. The biblical narrative of the Epiphany, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew 2:1-12, and the various symbols and customs that have emerged from this story speak to the human heart on multiple levels of invitation.