Liturgy in-Person & on Zoom Indiana Interchurch Center 1100 W. 42nd St. Indianapolis IN 46208 Liturgy schedule When Marion County is HIGH on the CDC Covid map, St. Mary of Magdala liturgies will be on Zoom only.
For prior homilies, visit our blog.
God Is Sending Us
March 23, 2025 Third Sunday in Lent Helen Weber-McReynolds, RWCP Exodus 3:1-15; Ps. 103; Romans 2:1-11; Luke 13:1-9 I think I have mentioned before that I used to teach Religious Ed to 6th, 7th, and 8th Graders. I really loved teaching that age because they asked a lot of questions, mostly to try to distract me from covering too much class material. But I found that if I did it right, I could get them to puzzle out how to answer their questions themselves, and learn the curriculum in the process. One concept they really grasped was the idea of repentance as a turning around, a changing of your mindset and behavior to become closer to God. They started calling it “the holy U-turn.” The Greek word metanoia, used by the gospel writers when recounting Jesus’ teachings, comes from a combination of the word meta, meaning “beyond,” or “change,” and the word noia, meaning “mind.” So to repent is to change your mind, and to change your behavior. Fortunately, the students were also able to understand that repentance was not the same as penance, or self-punishment of any kind. It was about recognizing God’s love in their lives and trying to respond in loving ways to God’s people around them. They understood that God is a God of love, and does not inflict punishment. When bad things happen to people, they knew, it was not because God was punishing them. I think these are the same points Jesus was trying to make in today’s gospel. He and the people he was teaching were suffering from tremendous political abuse from the Roman occupiers of their territory, many of whom were in league with the religious hierarchy. So the people were oppressed by both. When Jesus spoke of the victims of Pontius Pilate’s cruelty, or of natural disaster, he affirmed that those people were not killed in punishment for their sins. But he did emphasize that everyone needed to continually repent, or turn around, to change their mind. Everyone needed to try to love more, to try to increase justice, especially for the marginalized, so that they would not die without a close relationship to God, and without working to build God’s Beloved Community. When he told the parable of the struggling fig tree, he was explaining what continual loving repentance was like. It was like working with a patient gardener, who was willing to give the tree time, and to feed it and enrich the soil around it, so that, with time, it would bear abundant fruit. Paul echoed similar ideas in the second reading, when he said that God is the only one who can judge evil and sins, not people. He went so far as to say that meditating on the depth of God’s kindness can lead us to repentance. In other words, serious consideration of the wrongs we have done, contrasted with the love God continues to have for us, can motivate us to change our mindset and behavior to love more like God loves, and to care for others with the same honor and tenderness God has for us. Here in the US in 2025, we are all, Republican and Democrat, liberal and conservative, also suffering from political abuse, as Jesus’ compatriots were. Our first reading tells how God sent Moses to help those suffering under the cruel regime of the Egyptians. God communicated to Moses understanding of the Israelites’ suffering, saying, “I have witnessed the affliction of my people… I have heard their cry… I know well that they are suffering.” God then appointed Moses to talk to Pharoah, to secure release of the Israelites from their enslavement. It is interesting that Moses did not protest, did not give excuses why he was not up to this daunting task. He only asked God’s name, so he could tell the people who it was who loved them so much he had sent them a liberator. Perhaps Moses had repented himself to the point that he was eager to use the circumstances of his past not for the sake of princely privilege, but to help deliver the people of God from Pharoah’s oppression. We can’t afford to wait around for a Moses to help us today. We need to try to band together to be liberators from those who are motivated by greed and power. We need to try to shield those who are immigrants, strangers in a strange land, as our Israelite ancestors once were. We need to try to help those who have lost their jobs arbitrarily. We need to try to defend Medicaid and the aid programs that USAID conducted, that help farmers here in Indiana in the process. Somehow we need to cultivate strength, peace, and justice for one another, to love like the patient gardener our God is. Bending our minds toward love, repenting in the holy U-turn, can take us there, if we take it seriously enough. The God of our ancestors, I AM, is sending us. 
Sacraments
We celebrate the Sacraments of Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Anointing, and Matrimony - which includes Holy Union for heterosexual or same sex couples. Services also include funerals, committal services, and celebrations of life. Also other traditional services such as house blessings. Call Helen Weber-McReynolds, RCWP, to request a home or hospital visit. 317-691-1016. To Volunteer
New volunteers are always welcome to join our liturgical ministries. Participate as a musician, lector, greeter, usher, communion minister, or share another talent with us. Our website was done by a volunteer! If you have an idea and would like to share your time & talent, please tell us! Contact Helen at 317-691-1016 for more information or fill out the form below! 
St. Mary of Magdala Catholic Community gives 10% of its income to charity.
Our fourth quarter contribution went to HVAF (Helping Veterans and Families, https://www.hvafofindiana.org). HVAF provides assistance with housing (including 48 units lost in a catastrophic fire this past October), job placement, and more. Other recipients include:
Tax Deductible Donations If you would like to make a tax deductible contribution to St. Mary of Magdala, please send a check to: St. Mary of Magdala Catholic Community P.O. Box 20042 Indianapolis, IN 46220
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Upcoming Liturgies
with St. Mary of Magdala and our sister communities Sun. Mar. 30, 11 a.m., BICC, in person & Zoom Sun. Apr. 6, 11 a.m., BICC, in person & Zoom Palm Sunday, Apr. 13, 11 a.m., StMMCC, in person and Zoom. Holy Thursday, Apr. 17, StMMCC: Dinner 6:30 p.m., IIC Dining Room; Liturgy in person & Zoom, 7:45 p.m. Good Friday, Apr. 18, 4 p.m., BICC, prayer service, Zoom only. Easter Vigil, Sat. Apr. 19, 8 p.m., StMMCC, in person & Zoom Easter morning, Sun. Apr. 20, 11 a.m., BICC, in person & Zoom Sat. Apr. 26, 5 p.m., HCICC, Hermitage & Zoom The sister communities
StMMCC: St. Mary of Magdala Catholic Community Rev. Helen WeberMcReynolds , pastor Gathering in person at: Indiana Interchurch Center 1100 W. 42nd St., Indianapolis IN 46208 Zoom link requests: hweber@iuhealth.org BICC: Brownsburg Inclusive Catholic Community Bp. Nancy Meyer & Rev. Angela Nevitt Meyer, copastors Gathering in person at: 516 E Main St, Brownsburg, IN 46112 (Ash Interactive entrance behind Enterprise) Zoom link requests: biccinquiry@gmail.com HCICC: Home Church Inclusive Catholic Community Contact Rev. Peggy Alderman for information. Zoom link requests: peggymomm@gmail.com 
Upcoming EventsLenten Program:
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Many thanks to Catherine Johnson for leading this year's outstanding Advent program, Awaiting the Light, sponsored by BICC. |
Thanks to Patti and all of those who helped Santa & Mrs. Claus give everyone at the Inclusive Catholic Communities Holiday Singalong & Pitch-In a rousingly good time, with singing, dancing, food, crafts, and more. Next year's event has already been scheduled, for Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025!
Our Ecotheology Retreat centered around Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants was such a success that we are already looking into reservations for next year! For more photos, see our Community page.
Angela provided us with updates from the synod in Rome , via www.facebook.com/RCwomenpriests . Peggy was a presence at Womenpriest events nearby.
Our annual celebration of the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene included a special Mass and an indoor picnic. |
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The Eucharist of Equals: Liturgy of Love was both lovely and heart-felt, and was preceded by social action outside the Indianapolis Convention Center, in counter witness to the USCCB’s Eucharistic Congress. For more information on the July 20-21 events, see our Community page.
Our annual Lenten reflection program featured discussion of Midrash: Reading the Bible with Question Marks, by Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso , Senior Rabbi Emerita of Congregation Beth-El Zedeck, Indianapolis, with an afterward by Joan Chittister, an author featured in prior reflection programs.
We thank Rabbi Sasso
for making a personal appearance!
We thank Rabbi Sasso
for making a personal appearance!
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Intercessions
Response: Loving God, hear our prayer
● For the church, that we may bear the abundant fruits of virtue and vibrant love. We pray. - R
● For deeper awareness, that we may hear God’s voice in the silence of our hearts, that we may recognize how God is at work, bringing us to a fuller life. We pray. - R
● For the gift of awe, that we may experience everything as a gift and be open to God’s presence and the surprising ways God is with us. We pray. - R.
● For all who are experiencing pain, for refugees and displaced persons, particularly in Ukraine and the Mideast that all will be guided to safety and receive the resources they need. . We pray. - R
● For people experiencing climate disasters, that they may experience hope as they rebuild their lives. We pray.-R
● For government leaders and the people they lead, that God will inspire all to new insights and that together we will raise our voices for justice. We pray. -R
● For our country, that God will help us all to work together for the greater good. We pray. -R
For what else shall we pray?
Response: Loving God, hear our prayer
● For the church, that we may bear the abundant fruits of virtue and vibrant love. We pray. - R
● For deeper awareness, that we may hear God’s voice in the silence of our hearts, that we may recognize how God is at work, bringing us to a fuller life. We pray. - R
● For the gift of awe, that we may experience everything as a gift and be open to God’s presence and the surprising ways God is with us. We pray. - R.
● For all who are experiencing pain, for refugees and displaced persons, particularly in Ukraine and the Mideast that all will be guided to safety and receive the resources they need. . We pray. - R
● For people experiencing climate disasters, that they may experience hope as they rebuild their lives. We pray.-R
● For government leaders and the people they lead, that God will inspire all to new insights and that together we will raise our voices for justice. We pray. -R
● For our country, that God will help us all to work together for the greater good. We pray. -R
For what else shall we pray?
External Links
- Brownsburg Inclusive Catholic Community
- For Another Voice, Dr. John Dick
- Future Church
- National Catholic Reporter Online
- Roman Catholic Womenpriests
- Women's Ordination Conference
- Fran Quigley on the Womenpriest movement
- The Working Hungry may still be streamed at
https://www.indyhunger.org/workinghungry/
To learn more about Roman Catholic Womenpriests, click the image below!
