"The Conditions of Discipleship:
 

Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them:
Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the gospel will save it."

 Mark 8: 34-38
 

St Mary and St Joseph will be participating in a parish survey about discipleship conducted by the Catholic Leadership Institute!  We need your help!

Please help us by participating in a 10-15 minute survey online. This survey will ask you to reflect on your own spiritual growth and enable you to provide feedback on our parish’s efforts to help you grow.  All responses will be confidential, and the parish will only receive information about the community as a whole. There are two different ways you can participate in this survey.

 1).  The survey can be accessed at www.disciplemakerindex.com from Feb. 8 – Mar. 1 and

2). If you don’t use the computer - there will be opportunities to complete the survey after daily and Sunday Mass and you can obtain a paper copy in each of our gathering spaces or by contacting either of our parish offices. When they are completed, you can drop them in the basket labeled Completed Surveys or simply hand them off to our parish office.

We are trying to get the highest response rate possible.  This information will be invaluable to our parish of St Mary and St Joseph and our various ministries as we plan for the future and strive to be the best disciples we can be.  We will receive the results this spring/summer at which time we will share what we have learned with the entire parish.

Thank you for helping with this important project!
 

The next event will be held on February 15, 2020, starting at 6:30pm at our Gaines Location.  We will be playing Chicken Feet and enjoying tacos.  A sign up sheet wil be in the gather spaces for taco meat, shredded cheese, sour cream, taco shells or dessert. View the event image on our Events Page.

What can I do?
Every year with the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade and the March for Life, the issue of abortion is discussed. It is a topic that raises a history of pain for some; for others thoughts of helplessness. Anger, arguments, lines drawn.
God wants to bring healing to pain, balm to wounds, light to darkness, hope to helplessness and love when there is hate.  You, one person, can help bring God’s loving presence to the issue of abortion through 40 Days for Life, February 26 – April 5.
Be a part of the real solution.  To find out more, go to 40DaysforLife.com or email 40daysforlifelansing@gmail.com
 

Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter, Motu proprio "Aperuit illis", published on 30 September, establishes that "the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time is to be devoted to the celebration, study and dissemination of the Word of God".
By Vatican News
The timing of the document is significant: 30 September is the Feast of Saint Jerome, the man who translated most of the Bible into Latin, and who famously said: "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ". This year also marks 1600 years since his death.
The title of the document, “Aperuit illis”, is equally important. They are its opening words, taken from St Luke’s Gospel, where the Evangelist describes how the Risen Jesus appeared to His disciples, and how “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures”.
A response to requests
Recalling the importance given by the Second Vatican Council to rediscovering Sacred Scripture for the life of the Church, Pope Francis says he wrote this Apostolic Letter in response to requests from the faithful around the world to celebrate the Sunday of the Word of God.
An ecumenical value
In the Motu proprio (literally, “of his own initiative”), Pope Francis declares that “the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time is to be devoted to the celebration, study and dissemination of the Word of God”. This is more than a temporal coincidence, he explains: the celebration has “ecumenical value, since the Scriptures point out, for those who listen, the path to authentic and firm unity”.
A certain solemnity
Pope Francis invites local communities to find ways to “mark this Sunday with a certain solemnity”. He suggest that the sacred text be enthroned “in order to focus the attention of the assembly on the normative value of God’s Word”. In highlighting the proclamation of the Word of the Lord, it would be appropriate “to emphasize in the homily the honour that it is due”, writes the Pope.
“Pastors can also find ways of giving a Bible, or one of its books, to the entire assembly as a way of showing the importance of learning how to read, appreciate and pray daily with Sacred Scripture”.
The Bible is for all
The Bible is not meant for a privileged few, continues Pope Francis. It belongs “to those called to hear its message and to recognize themselves in its words”. The Bible cannot be monopolized or restricted to select groups either, he writes, because it is “the book of the Lord’s people, who, in listening to it, move from dispersion and division towards unity”.
The importance of the homily
“Pastors are primarily responsible for explaining Sacred Scripture and helping everyone to understand it”, writes Pope Francis. Which is why the homily possesses “a quasi-sacramental character”.  The Pope warns against improvising or giving “long, pedantic homilies or wandering off into unrelated topics”.
Rather, he suggests using simple and suitable language. For many of the faithful, he writes, “this is the only opportunity they have to grasp the beauty of God’s Word and to see it applied to their daily lives”.  
Sacred Scripture and the Sacraments
The Pope uses the scene of the Risen Lord appearing to the disciples at Emmaus to demonstrate what he calls “the unbreakable bond between Sacred Scripture and the Eucharist”. Since the Scriptures everywhere speak of Christ, he writes, “they enable us to believe that His death and resurrection are not myth but history, and are central to the faith of His disciples”.
When the sacraments are introduced and illumined by God’s Word, explains the Pope, “they become ever more clearly the goal of a process whereby Christ opens our minds and hearts to acknowledge His saving work”.
The role of the Holy Spirit
“The role of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures is primordial”, writes Pope Francis. “Without the work of the Spirit, there would always be a risk of remaining limited to the written text alone”. The Pope continues: “This would open the way to a fundamentalist reading, which needs to be avoided, lest we betray the inspired, dynamic and spiritual character of the sacred text”.  It is the Holy Spirit who “makes Sacred Scripture the living word of God, experienced and handed down in the faith of His holy people”.
Pope Francis invites us never to take God’s Word for granted, “but instead to let ourselves be nourished by it, in order to acknowledge and live fully our relationship with Him and with our brothers and sisters”.
Practicing mercy
The Pope concludes his Apostolic Letter by defining what he describes as “the great challenge before us in life: to listen to Sacred Scripture and then to practice mercy”. God’s Word, writes Pope Francis, “has the power to open our eyes and to enable us to renounce a stifling and barren individualism and instead to embark on a new path of sharing and solidarity”. 
The Letter closes with a reference to Our Lady, who accompanies us "on the journey of welcoming the Word of God", teaching us the joy of those who listen to that Word – and keep it.