Senior Parent Date Night:  As many know, I encourage couples to set up regular date nights each month.  These regularly scheduled nights have a great way of recharging a married couple.  They are meant to be an evening (or day) where true dialogue and conversation takes place.  A date night can’t be at the movies, a show, or with others.  Date nights are meant to be for the couple to enjoy some quality time with each other.  I know of one couple (let’s say for the sake of this story their names are Patty and Tim) who took my suggestion very seriously and have been regularly scheduling date nights for years.  They have become vocal evangelizers of these special nights and will testify that it has strengthened their already beautiful and healthy marriage.  I know of another couple, let’s say their names are Paul and Lauren, who likewise have made it an intentional practice to enjoy a date night once or twice a month for the last few years even with several very young and busy children.  I believe these date nights need to be intentionally scheduled, and they have to happen ideally twice a month.  Without a date night being intentionally scheduled, couples would rarely find the opportunity to spend quality time together given all the activity with kids, sports, work, and the barrage of incoming emails, texts, and calls.
 
Well, my parents recently had a “date night” (okay, they’re seniors, so it was a day event).  They decided to travel to Plymouth for a glass blowing event last Saturday.  They walked around downtown, watched some glass blowing, bought some glass pumpkins, had lunch, and then worked their way to the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica for a Saturday evening mass.  They had a spectacular day and thoroughly enjoyed the change of scenery and the opportunity to be with each other.  The following day at our family’s Sunday gathering, my parents shared how much they enjoyed their Saturday excursion.  But my mom wanted us to know why it was so special.  I figured she was going to say that it was because of their upcoming 57 ^th wedding anniversary; boy, was I way off base!  My mom explained:  “You have to understand:  a typical “date night” for us at this stage in our life is a trip to this doctor or that doctor.  It can be a trip to the urgent care lab or a trip to the hospital.  Many times it’s a trip to CVS to pick up our many prescriptions or to Binson’s for medical supplies.  That’s our normal daily life now!  So to enjoy a day together apart from all that stuff was pretty special!”  As a friend once shared, “It’s a good thing I’m retired.  I now have time for all my doctor appointments.”
 
Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Last week, I shared some basic information about the Divine Mercy Image Icon on the left side of the Church.  Today, I want to spend some time on the icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe found on the right side of the Church.
 
The feast in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back to the 16 ^th century.  A poor Indian by the name of Juan Diego lived in a small village near Mexico City.  On Saturday, December 9, 1531, he went to a nearby church to attend mass in honor of the Blessed Mother.  While he was walking on a hill called Tepeyac, he heard some music.  The music caught his attention, and then he caught sight of an Indian maiden dressed like an Aztec princess.  The lady spoke to him and sent him to the bishop with a message that he was to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared.  The bishop asked for a sign.  The lady provided roses for Juan Diego to carry to the bishop in his tilma (a cape).  On December 12, when Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop’s presence, the roses fell to the ground and there on the tilma appeared an image of Mary exactly as she appeared at the hill of Tepeyac.  That image was the now infamous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
 
The Guadalupe apparition is by far the greatest historical moment in the development of Christianity in America.  Within eight years of the apparition, some 8,000,000 indigenous people embraced the Catholic faith in the New World.  Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patroness of the Americas.  She is also the Patroness of the Unborn.
 
Priests’ Convocation:  This week, about 210 priests of the Archdiocese of Detroit will travel up to Boyne Mountain for our biennial (every other year) Convocation of Priests.  Our days at Boyne are a combination of enrichment, relaxation, and fraternity.  While we will have some talks and presentations, as well as table talk and process, most would agree that the priestly fraternity is what keeps bringing people back to these convocations.  We may live down the road from a brother priest, but the busy lives we lead don’t always allow us the opportunity to enjoy one another’s company, whether at prayer, meals, or whatever.  I value the time to be with my brother priests.  Our prayer experiences (sung morning and evening prayer along with mass each day) and our time together at meals give us the opportunity to chat with one another and often laugh about the past (even though we tell the same old funny stories every time we gather).  These gatherings also give us an opportunity to meet some of the newly ordained priests or those foreign born priests who are now working in our diocese.  The old meet the new and the new meet the old.  We come from different backgrounds and experiences, but we are one around the table of the Lord.
 
The theme of this year’s convocation is “Unleash the Gospel:  Sent on Mission.”  Our presenter this year is Cardinal Joseph Tobin, a native Detroiter who has several siblings in our parish.  Cardinal Tobin is now the Archbishop of Newark.  Our spiritual director is Archbishop Michael Byrnes (another familiar friend) who is now the Archbishop of Agana, Guam.  Please keep the priests of the Archdiocese of Detroit in your prayers as we gather up at Boyne Mountain these next few days.
 
IMPORTANT:  Mass Schedule this Week:  Given the convocation, our only mass from Monday through Thursday will be at 7:00 a.m. with Father Bob as the celebrant.  Deacon Tom will then preside at a communion service each day at 8:30 a.m.  Our regular liturgical schedule will resume on Friday morning.
 
Enjoy the week.  Know of my prayers.
 
In Christ,
 
gmb
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