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SFPR February News Update
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February 16, 2024are blessed and grateful for the many significant building projects under way in the San Fernando Region, projects that will serve our faithful for years and generations to come: St. Vitus - dedicated to the Extraordinary...
We are blessed and grateful for the many significant building projects under way in the San Fernando Region, projects that will serve our faithful for years and generations to come:St. Vitus - dedicated to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite - recently closed on a much-needed new church property, located at 9710 White Oak Avenue, Northridge - to serve the growing congregation. Renovations are expected to be completed soon.St. Geneveive in Panorama City has a new parish pastoral center and school performing arts complex under construction.Groundbreaking occurred in 2022 and the project is expected to be completed in 2024.Several parishes have new pastoral centers either recently completed or under construction - Holy Family (Glendale), completed in September 2023; Incarnation (Glendale) in the advanced planning stages; and St. Bede (La Canada),groundbreaking occurred this past December.WE HAVE TWO NEW CHURCHES BEING BUILT
Guardian Angel in Pacoima
and
Sacred Heart in Lancaster
Both are expected to be completed in the Spring of 2024!Lectio DivinaBishop Albert would like to share this article with you from
Shepherds and Fishermen Spiritual Exercises for Bishops, Priests and Religious.Martha and MaryRead Luke 10:38-42:As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary [who] sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.”It didn’t seem possible to Mary to have me all to herself for once, to be able to listen in silence to the words of eternal life that I was speaking even during times of rest, so she was listening to me sitting at my feet, like people still do today in the East. Martha was instead bustling around. It’s not difficult to imagine the “tone” – between resentment and joking – with which Martha tells me (so that her sister would overhear!), “Lord, doesn’t it matter to you at all that my sister has left me all alone to do the serving? Tell her to help me!” It was at this point that I spoke a word that constitutes a mini gospel in itself: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.”Tradition has seen Martha as the symbol of the active life and Mary as the symbol of the contemplative life, often contrasting them to affirm the superiority of the contemplative life, but I wasn’t speaking there only for monks who didn’t even exist yet. I was speaking to all my disciples. What did I correct Martha for? Serving? Certainly not, because I myself came “to serve.” Martha is “burdened with much serving”; literally, she is “pulled here and there.” She is not just occupied with serving; she is preoccupied by it. This is why she “is worried”; literally, she is anxious and not at peace. I was not disapproving of her activity but of her activism.Martha’s work was certainly not entirely altruistic. She was taking care not only of me and making sure I wasn’t lacking anything, but she was also looking out for her reputation as a good hostess. Often a job looks like a service being rendered, but in reality, it’s a service rendered to oneself, to one’s own positive image, to being appreciated by everyone. Thus, a job that is begun with good intentions can very quickly become a means to prove oneself or even a wall to hide behind.The danger for Martha is very similar to the danger for the majority of people in active life today who are dedicated to charity or the apostolate. The number of priests has diminished dramatically while the volume of work has remained the same. In this situation it is easy to end up doing things anxiously without the inner peace that alone allows union with God.To do things with anxiety indicates that the center of gravity has been lost, that you have lost sight of the essential thing, that you have become a slave to your work. Moreover, in general, the things that get done this way are done badly. The best way to be Martha is often … to be Mary! Attentive listening to the word of God, the habit of prayer and reflection, looking at everything from the viewpoint of eternity – these are all practices that purify action and allow you to recognize and pay attention to priorities. They help people to do everything calmly, which is the best way to do things well and to accomplish even more.Martha and Mary represent two sides found in every person. Martha, however, seems to have the best reasons for her side. The strongest voice inside you is the one that tells you to do something that can demonstrate a concrete result. When you’re in prayer, doesn’t the voice of Martha almost always resonate, reminding you of what you need to do? I need to take Mary’s side so that you let me speak to you. Imagine this scene: A king says to his servant, “It would please me for us to be together for a while, for you to keep me company – just you and me alone.” But the servant dodges the invitation with the excuse that he has to go deal with a task at home. Wouldn’t that be foolish? Yet how many times do you do that to me? You feel an inner call to prayer or to come before me in the tabernacle, but you don’t follow that prompting and you start doing something else, postponing prayer until later. And I am left there waiting for you.Each of the two vocations has its own value but also its own risk to guard against. Active people need to guard against getting worn down and having anxiety; contemplative people need to guard against inertia, disengagement, and wasting time. Everyone needs to have Mary’s heart and Martha’s hands. The one who balanced the two vocations perfectly was my mother. She was “Mary” when she meditated on God’s words in her heart and when she stood in silence at the foot of the cross; she was “Martha” when she went to help her cousin Elizabeth during her pregnancy and when, at Cana, she was the first to realize there was no more wine.Think about this. Every day I come to your house like I did to the one in Bethany. How do you relate to me? Is it easier for you to be Martha or Mary? Do you strive to have Mary’s heart while doing Martha’s tasks?*Cantalamessa, OFM Cap., Raniero, Shepherds and Fishermen Spiritual Exercises for Bishops, Priests, and Religious, Collegeville, Minnesota, Liturgical Press, 2020.
Sent by Edlyn Martinez
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