Please join Saint Philip and Saint Thomas More parishioners for a Movie Night Friday, March 28 at the Regal Ballston Quarter in Arlington for a showing of the new release of The Chosen, “The Last Supper.” Show time is 6:30 pm. Season 5 focuses on Holy Week, leading to Jesus' arrest and betrayal. This first episode begins with the events on what is now Palm Sunday with Jesus's entry into Jerusalem on a donkey.

Ticket sales open on Wednesday, March 19. The theater is reserved for our parishes only, and we will celebrate the participation in the filming of the movie by our common Lector, May Respicio. Tickets are at a discount thanks to the generosity of a parishioner, and the event is only possible thanks to the support of Fathers Posey and Donahue. Open early as seats are limited.

Doors will open at 5:30 pm. There will be a short greeting before the movie and a Q&A session immediately after, hosted by Saint Philip’s Sister Marie Benedict. May Respicio and her friend who served as extras for the filming will discuss and answer your questions about their experiences.

Shortly, there will be a registration form available on the webpage of the Cathedral of Saint Thomas More where you can order tickets.

Each Friday in Lent, St. Philip will have bilingual Stations of the Cross after the 7 pm Mass, followed by Adoration

Wednesday in Lent, The Light is On. Confession will be held at 6:30 pm before the 7 pm Mass, in addition to the regular Confession schedule.

Take part in the Lenten Scripture Challenge, and use the booklets below to read the daily Gospel passages.

The Vatican, the Diocese of Arlington, and the USCCB have prepared many materials to help us celebrate this milestone in the Catholic Church.

This Lent join us for a series of talks and discussion over 5 weeks that will deepen your understanding of the Good News of Jesus Christ and his gift of the Spirit. These talks will be presented by members of the People of Praise Community. For more information and to register contact: John Mitchell @ 703-855-8976 or jhwmitchell@yahoo.com.



St. Philip has chartered a bus to take parishioners to Richmond for the March. We will have a special Mass at 7:00 am, then depart at 8:00 am from the parking lot. After participating the march, we will leave Richmond and return by around 4:30 pm.

Reserve your spot by using the button below and register on our Signup Genius site. Questions can be sent to Matthew Lang at matthew.r.lang95@gmail.com

As we prepare for the Solemnity of the Annunciation (March 25), we invite mothers,

daughters in grades 6-12, and adult women of all ages to our next Guadalupe Day on "Praying through Art: With Mary at the Annunciation."

Join us for breakfast, prayer with Marian art, lunch, and a special experience with Marian

flowers! Girls have the opportunity to create their own Marian art. Please register with the parish office (703-573-3808) or Ana Margarita Martinez (571-245-5051 or amargarita06@hotmail.com).

Dear Friends in Christ,

The Second Sunday of Lent is always fascinating to me. Each year on this Sunday, we hear the account of the Transfiguration from all the different Gospels in which it is recorded. This year, we hear from Luke’s Gospel of this great moment of Jesus’s ministry, and how it left a lasting impact on the lives of the apostles even after the Resurrection and Pentecost (see 2 Peter 1:17-18). We see in this great moment the glory that Jesus possesses because of his divinity, which he uses to prepare his disciples for his upcoming passion and death on the cross.

In this week’s letter as we make our way though the Seven Vices, I invite us to focus our attention on the vice of envy. Envy is the vice that causes us to feel sorrow at someone else’s good. This good that another person possesses can be a physical good like their home, their car, or their spouse, or it can be a spiritual good, such as their friendships, their piety and devotion, or the love they show towards others. In both instances, we can often become saddened at the good things that another person has, which causes us to compare ourselves between what the other person has and what we do not have.

St. Thomas Aquinas, the great Dominican theologian of the 13th century, gives us great insight into how envy affects our everyday lives. He points out that we often envy those who are close to us and not those who are distant from. For example, it is not very easy to be saddened at the of the goods and talents of a movie star in Hollywood since we do not normally interact with him or her on a regular basis. However, it can be very easy for us to be saddened when we see a coworker get promoted and we are overlooked, or when we see another family have time to take a family vacation, or when our friend shows us the latest gadget that they have bought. It can be very easy for us to become saddened at what others have, especially when those people are close to us.

Additionally, St. Thomas points out to us that envy can affect us by causing us to be sorrowful about a good we possessed in the past, but we have lost. For example, if we constantly look back on past relationships, and we are sorrowed at others having those relationships, this causes envy to build up inside of us because we are saddened at what these new people have. In another example, St. Thomas quotes the philosopher, Aristotle, by showing that the old often envy the young because they remember the youth they used to possess, and similarly, those who acquire goods through much effort are envious of those who have acquired goods through little effort. In all these cases, what causes envy is a sadness at a good thing that another possesses that we don’t possess.

Finally, St. Thomas points out that one of the converse virtues of envy is the virtue of pity. Pity is the virtue of charity that allows us to feel sorrow, not at the good that a person possess, but at an evil that they are experiencing. Through pity, we are able to be saddened for the right reason that seeks to place ourselves alongside the person who is sorrowing at evil. By doing this, and by growing in the grace of gratitude at the goods that we have already received from God, we can counteract the effects of envy in our lives.

May Christ’s Peace be with you,

Fr. Briggs