Nativity of Our Lord Detroit

A Year of Faith Journey to Detroit's places of Catholic worship.
Nativity of Our Lord Church.

We Are Here to Stay! proclaims a sign at the front of Nativity church. Recalling the East side neighborhood I just drove through, the sign has a powerful meaning.

Our Christian faith, the universal church, has endured for over 2,000 years. Neighborhoods may crumble, membership may dwindle, wars may destroy and yet the church endures.  The church is more than just a sum of the earthly parts. Ours is a church that exists here on earth and in Heaven. While cities rise and fall, and loved ones pass from the face of the earth our Church and God's love endures. With tears of lamentation or with shouts of joy the Body of Christ continues to proclaim the Good News. Our church continues, ever ancient, ever new.

The sign at Nativity church sums up the whole of Church history, we are here to stay

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Saints Peter and Paul West Side Detroit

A Year of Faith Journey to the Catholic worship sites of Detroit


Near the end of the homily the priest at Saints Peter and Paul began the first of his "Things we forgot about the Catholic faith" lessons. Using a copy of the Baltimore Catechism, an updated version he assured us, he began with the first of the Ten Commandments.  You Shall Worship the Lord Your God and Him Only Shall You Serve

So often, the priest instructed, we let the gods of our disposable culture come between us and loving God or come between us and loving our neighbor. The priest rattled off a familiar list of false gods; mindless consumption, the drive to buy more and more. Loss of value and worth for all we consume and discard. When was the last time you repaired something? Obsessions with gossip, celebrity or personal power. And then a jolt as the priest mentioned one final obstacle, one final false god. Are we too busy comparing ourselves to others, he asked.

Are we too busy comparing ourselves to others? Are we too concerned how others perceive us. Could this really prevent us from having a relationship with God? We paused to reflect on our own disruptions.

It has been many years since the catechism classes of my youth and a refresher course is certainly needed.  Perhaps I should mention these weekly lessons at Sts. Peter and Paul to my parish priest. Maybe we could organize a weeknight class for adult Catholics to learn anew what makes our faith so rich and beautiful. A Catholic should reflect on what we believe and why, for it will certainly bring us closer to God. The priest at Sts. Peter and Paul understands this and with a few minutes taken at the end of each homily to teach our faith he is strengthening that love.

When was the last time you read a book about Catholicism? Perhaps this is a good week to select one from your library or bookstore. A beautiful feature of our faith is the wealth of writing available to us. From the ancient Christians writers to those of the present, we are a religion that loves to write!

Suggestions

The Mass: The Glory, The Mystery, The Tradition

Consuming the Word: The New Testament and The Eucharist in the Early Church

The Bad Catholics Guide to Good Living

Fearing the Stigmata (very funny and touching)

The Bible

Confessions- Saint Augustine

Presentation - Our Lady of Victory Detroit

A Year of Faith Journey to the Catholic worship sites of Detroit

The homily, at Presentation-Our Lady of Victory, was about thanksgiving.

The Eucharist is a sacrifice, and yet the word means thanksgiving. Oh, I know I had learned about this in Catechism class and yet somehow I had forgotten it. I was startled when the priest asked some routine questions during the homily. How often, he asked, do we thank God? Is it only after receiving grace that we express gratitude? Shouldn't we, said father,  be thanking God before asking for favor?

Being a Christian is being thankful no matter the adversity because there is always something to be thankful for. Go ahead said father, write a list of what your thankful for, except never stop adding to the list.

After Mass I started my list. I constantly add to it, especially when I am sitting in a quiet church silently praying. I have found that thankfulness certainly is a different way at looking at the world.

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Sacred Heart Chapel at Marygrove College Detroit

-A Year of Faith Journey- A pilgrimage to the Catholic worship spaces of Detroit

Sing to the Lord a new song

Sing to the Lord, praise his name

It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High

Praise Him with trumpet sound

Praise Him with string and pipe

From the Psalms to the Acts of Apostles where Paul and Silas sing hymns of praise, the bible is filled with references to joyous song.
Acts of the Apostles
But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them

At Sacred Heart Chapel, the organ filled the worship space with layer upon layer of sound. It was music with no beginning or end, like the angels singing continuous praise around God's throne. Voices lifted praise towards heaven and mixed with sounds of the organ. It was a moment that plays out at Catholic churches the world over. And here in the Gothic style chapel it felt medieval, for a brief moment I closed my eyes and was transported to a soaring cathedral in old Europe. 

Catholicism is filled with song and music. The ancient church sang in times of happiness and in times of sorrow, just as we sing today and we bible mentions the angels singing praise to God.

Song is both heavenly and earthly and ties both places together. We join with the voices of Heaven and sing praise to God.

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My Year of Faith journey will continue!

Holy Family Church Detroit

"Increase our faith."-Luke

So often, like the apostles, we yearn for a deeper and stronger faith. Our world is full of violence, sadness, and loss that can erode faith. When a loved dies, when a child dies, and when war strips compassion from the earth we find reason to lose faith.

What will increase our faith? Perhaps a set of rules. Perhaps fasting or attending daily prayer service? Or certainly some sign from God, since surely it is God's responsibility to increase our faith.

Or is it our responsibility? And how do we measure faith? Maybe sometimes we need to lose faith in order to increase in faith.

On a rainy Sunday morning in downtown Detroit I pondered this homily message at Holy Family Church. All through the Latin Mass I struggled to keep up, always a few moments behind in the kneeling and standing. When it was time for the readings and homily I felt relief since it was back to English. 

Faith can be a struggle and the struggle is part of being Christian. We can follow all the rules, fast and pray and still struggle in faith. During the homily the priest explained that we must open ourselves to grace and open ourselves to God so that we may increase in faith.

And there lies the challenge.

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Pilgrim Detour - Vespers at Shrine of the Little Flower Royal Oak

A vespers service celebrating the Feast of Saint Therese, the Little Flower, prompted me to make a return visit to Shrine Church in Royal Oak. This wasn't my only return visit, since I love showing visitors this amazing Art Deco worship space. That evening I was excited to find out that the church is applying for designation as a Minor Basilica.

Attending vespers is new to me as a Catholic. While the Office of Vespers is rooted in the ancient church, I have somehow missed participating in this beautiful service. There is a sense of wonder when a lifelong Catholic experiences such a service for the first time. Wonder? maybe awe is a better description of the feeling, or better yet, joy! There is an intense flood of joy as the incense smoke billows heavenwards. A feeling of intense joy as we recite psalms and sing the Magnificat. Yes, a feeling of joy as we proclaim the greatness of God.

That evening Shrine Church was filled with many joyful voices praying as one. Indeed, it sounded heavenly. Catholicism celebrates the voice, an instrument given to us by God. We honor Him with song. We proclaim the Good News with our voices, lifting up our words joyfully in hymns.

Find vespers near you and attend. This is a tradition that must be rediscovered by the faithful.

 

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Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament - Detroit

My Year of Faith journey continues with a visit to the Cathedral.

I thought I would conclude my Year of Faith pilgrimage with Mass at the Cathedral. Instead, with quite a few more churches to visit, I participated in a tranquil Saturday morning Mass. Tucked away in the side chapel of the immense stone structure, a good number of worshipers had gathered on a brisk weekend morning. I could see the immensity of the central worship space between the delicate stonework making up one side of the chapel and the Mass began and ended with a song.

 During the homily the priest reflected on the presence of God in the Eucharist and then he paused and sat, allowing us to meditate on this.

Nestled below soaring stone arches and columns I reflected on this awesome truth. God is present in the Eucharist. In silence with other believers I contemplated the awesomeness of that presence. On a quiet Saturday morning in the Cathedral I found myself humbled.