Ave Maria Parish, Lexington, MI

09/04/2026

on FORMED.org

This is a moving, artistic portrayal of the life of Jewish philosopher, Catholic convert, and Carmelite martyr, Edith Stein. It captures the interior struggles of this extraordinary woman, as well as the great conflicts from her decision to convert to Catholicism. Deeply influenced by the writings of St. Teresa of Avila, she joined the Carmelites, took the name of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, was put to death in Auschwitz in 1942, and canonized by John Paul II in 1998. This film shows how two worlds, the Jew and the Christian, were united within her in absolute coherence in her search for truth. She has become one of the most beautiful symbols in a horrifying period of history because she sought to transform her sufferings under the N***s into a journey through the ""interior castle"" as the way to mystical union with God. One phrase, ""Love Conquers Fear,"" embodies her philosophy of life. Shot in a kind of rich expressionist realism, it's backed by poignant chant music that makes every frame haunting and alive.

http://watch.formed.org/videos/edith-stein-the-seventh-chamber

This is a moving, artistic portrayal of the life of Jewish philosopher, Catholic convert, and Carmelite martyr, Edith Stein. It captures the interior struggles of this extraordinary woman, as well as the great conflicts from her decision to convert to Catholicism. Deeply influenced by the writing...

09/02/2026

Do You Know?

1. The Christian faith confesses that God has three distinct natures. True or False?
-> False

2. The Fatherhood of God is the first origin of everything. True or False?
-> True

3. Who is “the exact imprint of God’s very being” according to Heb. 1:3?
-> Jesus Christ

4. What Council in the fourth century (325 A.D.) declared that the Son is “of one being” with the Father? (a) Council of Nicaea (b) Council of Constantinople (c) Council of Chalcedon
-> Council of Nicaea

08/31/2026

Saint of the Week –August 30, St Jeanne Jugan

When Jeanne Jugan was three and a half years old, her father, a fisherman, was lost at sea. Her widowed mother was hard pressed to raise her eight children alone; four died young. At the age of 15 or 16, Jeanne became a kitchen maid for a family that not only cared for its own members, but also served poor, elderly people nearby. Ten years later, Jeanne became a nurse at the hospital in Le Rosais. Soon thereafter, she joined a third order group founded by Saint John Eudes.

After six years she became a servant and friend of a woman she met through the third order. They prayed, visited the poor, and taught catechism to children. After her friend’s death, Jeanne and two other women continued a similar life in the city of Saint-Sevran. In 1839, they brought in their first permanent guest. They began an association, received more members, and more guests. Mère Marie of the Cross, as Jeanne Jugan was now known, founded six more houses for the elderly by the end of 1849, all staffed by members of her association—the Little Sisters of the Poor. By 1853, the association numbered 500 and had houses as far away as England.

Abbé Le Pailleur, a chaplain, had prevented Jeanne Jugan’s reelection as superior in 1843; nine years later, he had her assigned to duties within the congregation, but would not allow her to be recognized as its founder. In 1890, the Holy See removed him from office.

By the time Pope Leo XIII gave her final approval to the community’s constitutions in 1879, there were 2,400 Little Sisters of the Poor. Jeanne died later that same year, on August 30. Her cause was introduced in Rome in 1970. She was beatified in 1982, and canonized in 2009.

08/30/2026

Anointing of the Sick - celebrated on the last Sunday of each month following the 10:30 am Mass.

08/30/2026

Thank You to Catholic Rural Life for sponsoring a Relational Evangelization Workshop for us! Thank you to those who participated. Let's practice.

08/28/2026

on FORMED.org
Island of the World is the story of a child born in 1933 into the turbulent world of the Balkans and tracing his life into the third millennium. The central character is Josip Lasta, the son of an impoverished school teacher in a remote village high in the mountains of the Bosnian interior. As the novel begins, World War II is underway and the entire region of Yugoslavia is torn by conflicting factions: German and Italian occupying armies, and the rebel forces that resist them—the fascist Ustashe, Serb nationalist Chetniks, and Communist Partisans. As events gather momentum, hell breaks loose, and the young and the innocent are caught in the path of great evils. Their only remaining strength is their religious faith and their families.
For more than a century, the confused and highly inflammatory history of former Yugoslavia has been the subject of numerous books, many of them rife with revisionist history and propaganda. The peoples of the Balkans live on the border of three worlds: the Islamic, the orthodox Slavic East, and Catholic Europe, and as such they stand in the path of major world conflicts that are not only geo-political but fundamentally spiritual. This novel cuts to the core question: how does a person retain his identity, indeed his humanity, in absolutely dehumanizing situations?
In the life of the central character, the author demonstrates that this will demand suffering and sacrifice, heroism and even holiness. When he is twelve years old, his entire world is destroyed, and so begins a lifelong Odyssey to find again the faith which the blows of evil have shattered. The plot takes the reader through Josip's youth, his young manhood, life under the Communist regime, hope and loss and unexpected blessings, the growth of his creative powers as a poet, and the ultimate test of his life. Ultimately this novel is about the crucifixion of a soul—and resurrection. http://watch.formed.org/videos/islandworld-full-pt-1

Island of the World is the story of a child born in 1933 into the turbulent world of the Balkans and tracing his life into the third millennium. The central character is Josip Lasta, the son of an impoverished school teacher in a remote village high in the mountains of the Bosnian interior. As th...

08/26/2026

Do You Know?

1. What is the belief that there are many gods? (a) monotheism (b) protestantism (c) polytheism
-> Polytheism

2. Belief in a false god is called the sin of ___? (a) blasphemy (b)idolatry (c) polygamy
-> Idolatry

3. Faith in God is necessary for salvation. True or False?
-> True

4. The Christian faith confesses that God is one __. (a) in essence (b) in substance (c) in nature (d) all the above
-> All of the above

08/26/2026

The annual White Elephant Season is here!

08/24/2026

Congratulations, Sister Maria Gabrielle!
Visit the Sisters’ webpage for a reel.

08/24/2026

Saint of the Week –August 27, Saint Monica

The circumstances of Saint Monica’s life could have made her a nagging wife, a bitter daughter-in-law, and a despairing parent, yet she did not give way to any of these temptations. Although she was a Christian, her parents gave her in marriage to a pagan, Patricius, who lived in her hometown of Tagaste in North Africa. Patricius had some redeeming features, but he had a violent temper and was licentious.

Monica also had to bear with a cantankerous mother-in-law who lived in her home. Patricius criticized his wife because of her charity and piety, but always respected her. Monica’s prayers and example finally won her husband and mother-in-law to Christianity. Her husband died in 371, one year after his baptism.

Monica had at least three children who survived infancy. The oldest, Augustine, is the most famous. At the time of his father’s death, Augustine was 17 and a rhetoric student in Carthage. Saint Monica was distressed to learn that her son had accepted the Manichean heresy—”all flesh is evil”—and was living an immoral life. For a while, she refused to let him eat or sleep in her house.

Then one night she had a vision that assured her Augustine would return to the faith. From that time on, she stayed close to her son, praying and fasting for him. In fact she often stayed much closer than Augustine wanted.

When he was 29, Augustine decided to go to Rome to teach rhetoric. Saint Monica was determined to go along. One night he told his mother that he was going to the dock to say goodbye to a friend. Instead he set sail for Rome. Monica was heartbroken when she learned of Augustine’s trick, but she still followed him. She arrived in Rome only to find that he had left for Milan. Although travel was difficult, Monica pursued him to Milan.

In Milan, Augustine came under the influence of the bishop, Saint Ambrose, who also became Monica’s spiritual director. She accepted his advice in everything and had the humility to give up some practices that had become second nature to her. Saint Monica became a leader of the devout women in Milan as she had been in Tagaste.

She continued her prayers for Augustine during his years of instruction. At Easter 387, Saint Ambrose baptized Augustine and several of his friends. Soon after, his party left for Africa. Although no one else was aware of it, Saint Monica knew her life was near the end. She told Augustine, “Son, nothing in this world now affords me delight. I do not know what there is now left for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled.” She became ill shortly after and suffered severely for nine days before her death.

Almost all we know about Saint Monica is in the writings of Saint Augustine, especially his Confessions.