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<![CDATA[Catholic News & Perspective]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective Mon, 08 Aug 2022 02:01:34 -0500 Radius Web Tools http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[Opening the Word: A response of faith]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-A-response-of-faith https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-A-response-of-faith By:

This Sunday’s readings are all rooted in the story of Abraham. In Chapters 12-22 of Genesis, Abraham is presented as a man of great faith, the golden thread of the readings this Sunday. Abraham’s faith transformed him into the patriarch of Israel, and his name, Abraham, or Avrahim, means “father of multitudes.”

When we first meet Abraham in Genesis, he is still called Abram, and God has yet to call upon him to become Avrahim. Seemingly out of the blue, God called Abraham, asking him to pick up and leave his family and his home and move to a new land. Now, this takes some guts — to get up and follow a God one hardly even knows. But this was the beginning of Abraham’s faith. It was the beginning of his relationship with God, which grew and grew. Faith was the substance of this relationship, and only in faith could it flourish.

This process of growth in relationship with God was not easy. Abraham had to learn a whole new way of life: God’s way. This way would make Abraham and his descendants distinct from all the nations surrounding them. Through Abraham’s faith, God would make his way known to all the nations. We are even hearing about it now!

As Abraham grew in relationship with God, he came to know the gratuitousness of God’s way, and how this gratuitousness is naturally marked by sacrifice.

For example, and as referenced in our readings, Abraham was asked by God to offer his son, Isaac, “whom he loved,” as a “burnt offering” to God (cf. Gn 22). This is a difficult story! We do not believe in a God who asks such things of us! Or do we?

The story of Abraham and Isaac is told only after we have been given the story of Isaac’s miraculous birth. Sarah had been barren her whole life and was now 90 years old. But God had promised Isaac a son — that he would no longer be Abram but become Abraham, or Avrahim. And Abraham had faith in this promise, in the gratuitous nature of God’s way.

Thus the difficulty of the story lies in understanding what sacrificial love is. Abraham was not asked to offer his son as a literal burnt offering but as a sacrifice, whole and entire, to God. Abraham, as the father of faith, was asked to hand this faith on to his son, Isaac.

And he was asked! Our English translation loses an important Hebrew word: “please.” When God asks Abraham to offer Isaac, his miraculous and beloved son, he says, “please.”

Faith is a free choice. God offers himself to us, and we respond. The relationship is entirely gratuitous and sacrificial. It is wholehearted, in response to the whole of God.

When Abraham offers Isaac up to God’s way, he is also offering himself. He had just become Abraham, the father of a “beloved son” in his old age, the father of a son whom he needed to himself be the “father of multitudes.” In offering Isaac, Abraham also offers himself, whole and entire, to God and his way.

In this, Abraham is our patriarch. We are the “sands on the sea shore,” the “multitude.” But our faith has something new, something Abraham only saw foreshadowed “in secret.” We have the Beloved Son. We have God offering himself to us, whole and entire. We have but to respond in faith, and so to offer ourselves, whole and entire, to be transformed by God’s cruciform yet gratuitous way.

August 7 – 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wis 18:6-9
Ps 33:1, 12, 18-19, 20-22
Heb 11:1-2, 8-19
Lk 12:32-48

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Fri, 05 Aug 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[When God opens doors]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/When-God-opens-doors https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/When-God-opens-doors By:

When a door opens before you, do you walk through?

I’m not talking about metaphorical doors, but actual physical doors. Maybe the kind that are triggered by a sensor, or perhaps are opened by a kindly or polite person. Like me, you’ve probably had the experience of not intending to walk through a door, but once it was opened before you, you did it anyway.

Late in the afternoon a few days ago, I was walking through the main shopping district of Linz, Austria. My wife and I were in the final days of a Viking river cruise up the Danube to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. We’d had a full day already in the amazingly well-preserved late medieval town of Český Krumlov in Czechia, and Amy was back on the boat resting. I was taking in the sights of a street fair in Linz when the Ursulinenkirche, the Church of the Ursulines, rose up before me.

The church appeared to be closed. Two large glass doors guarded the wooden entrance common to Catholic churches in Europe, and a crowd was gathered around a group of performers who were using the church steps as a stage. Knowing that it’s not uncommon for Catholic churches in Europe to be closed for a few hours in the afternoon and then to reopen in the evening, I decided to check the hours on the church, and perhaps return after dinner on the ship.

As I walked up the steps, searching for a sign with the hours, the glass doors swung open before me. While the performers were standing on the steps, the doors hadn’t opened for them, so I was surprised, but not as surprised as I was when I saw the wooden entrance door swing open, too. Now I couldn’t turn away and wait until after dinner; I had to enter the church.

After genuflecting, I took the obligatory pictures of the interior, then knelt to pray. I felt the sudden urge to make a spiritual communion, though I hadn’t in other churches we had visited over the previous week. “Though I cannot now receive you in the Sacrament of Communion,” I prayed, “come into my heart. Purify it, sanctify it, make it like unto your own.”

I left the church refreshed and still marveling at the automatic doors that had drawn me inside. The exit door, I noted, didn’t open automatically. Though I had pushed open at least a dozen exit doors in other churches since we began our trip, this time that, too, felt significant.

I walked to the next block — literally, right next door — to the Karmelitenkirche, the Church of the Carmelites. Again, the doors swung open for me, and I walked in to find that Mass had just begun. “Though I cannot now receive you in the Sacrament of Communion …”: And now I could. I walked up the aisle, not as a tourist but as a member of the Body of Christ, genuflected, and took my place in a pew.

We sometimes make too much of the little things that happen in our lives, but more often we don’t make enough of them. “Nothing by coincidence,” our pastor, Father Tony Steinacker, is fond of saying; “everything by divine providence.” A door opens; a prayer of longing springs to my lips; another door opens; and I receive Our Lord, body, blood, soul and divinity.

A year ago, at the first meeting of the Executive Team for the USCCB’s National Eucharistic Revival, we discussed how we would know whether the revival had succeeded. I said then, and I’m more convinced now, that perhaps the biggest measure of its success or failure will be how often anyone can try the door of any Catholic church in the country and find it unlocked. If we truly believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, why would we ever want to keep anyone from walking through a door and coming into his healing presence, even if only for a moment or two?

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Wed, 03 Aug 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Catholics rally in support of Michigan pro-life center after vandalism]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Catholics-rally-in-support-of-Michigan-prolife-center-after-vandalism https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Catholics-rally-in-support-of-Michigan-prolife-center-after-vandalism By:

When Mary Wilkerson drove past offensive signs in the front yard of a home in late June, she was angry.

Not just because her children were in the car, but because the signs felt hateful to her. Evil. The vulgar signs included profanities toward God and objectionable language about women’s bodies as a way to show dissent after the Supreme Court’s June 24 Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade.

Wilkerson remembered the words from Scripture: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).

She and her husband, Aaron, discussed what they could do with their anger: Pray outside the family’s home, organize a prayer rally in the neighborhood or something else entirely.

Wilkerson recalled a recent social media post from her friend, Erin Bauer, who works at the Lennon Pregnancy Center in Dearborn Heights.

After the center was vandalized on June 20, Bauer wrote about what happened — windows smashed, graffiti — and about the good things the center did to help 97 women and children in the month of June alone: diapers distributed, food provided, and emotional and educational support given. She vowed to continue to help women despite the setback.

Vandals broke windows at the center, as well as glass on the front door. They spray-painted a message: “If abortion isn’t safe, neither are you,” a hallmark of Jane’s Revenge, an extremist abortion group.

The Knights of Columbus and parishioners from nearby parishes helped clean up so the center could reopen after two days. The FBI is assisting Dearborn Heights Police with the investigation.

Bauer, who is a member of the center’s office staff, felt hated and alone when she first heard about the attack. She also felt convicted.

In her June 20 post, which included photos of the damaged building, she listed the services the center provides, adding: “EVERYTHING we do at the Lennon Center is free,” she wrote. “We are pro-life, yes. But we are Pro-Woman. We are Pro-Child.”

The post went on to say, “We aren’t giving up. And we will not let a few cowards coming in under the guise of being pro-woman stop our work that actually IS pro-woman. Tomorrow we will hold our classes (virtually) and we will fill boxes and bags to make sure children don’t go hungry and have clothing and diapers.”

With her friend’s post in mind, Wilkerson — who has more than 2,000 followers on Instagram — took to her keyboard and shared that she and her husband decided to donate to the Lennon Center as a way to overcome the evil. She invited others to join her. Overnight, $2,860 had been donated.

And that was just the beginning. The next morning, a friend offered to contribute $5,000 if Wilkerson reached a total of $5,000 in donations. Again, she took to Instagram. Some gave $5. Some gave $100. One by one, her followers matched the $5,000 and went further. Another friend donated $2,500. After just four days, more than $20,000 was raised for the Lennon Center.

Many of the 150-plus donors were from southeast Michigan, but some were not.

Francine Shammami knew Wilkerson as a campus minister at Mercy High School. Even though she now lives in Seattle, she was inspired to contribute.

“I donated because I believe in putting my resources behind the causes I support,” Shammami told Detroit Catholic, the online news outlet of the Archdiocese of Detroit. “Pregnancy is stressful enough when planned, and with all the resources one needs. This is one way I can accompany those who don’t have the resources they need to support their families.”

Another donor from Jacksonville, Florida, who attended college with Wilkerson, was on vacation with her family when she saw Wilkerson’s post.

“My husband, Scott, and I are very intentional with our charity,” said Barbara Fryman. “We commit to helping a pregnancy center locally, and I thought maybe we should simply keep it local. As I considered it, I asked Scott if we could be a little radical, his response was immediately affirmative.”

Mariann Bolton, executive director for the Lennon Center, learned about the unexpected $20,000 in donations while in Spain for her son’s wedding.

“When the others at the center called to tell me, I thought it was a joke at first. I couldn’t believe it,” Bolton said. “It was so exciting to see the number (of donations) going up every time (Wilkerson) posted a new total. I think what I’ve learned from all of this is that there are so many good people out there. We can’t thank them enough.”

Though Wilkerson raised money for the center, she insists Bauer was the catalyst for her fundraising and encourages others to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to ask where God is calling them within their own circumstance and gifts.

“Look for opportunities right in front of you,” she said. “We’re all called in different ways. For the mom who is exhausted but loving her babies as she goes to the grocery store, that alone is a profound witness of life.”

As for the lessons learned through the whirlwind fundraising campaign, Wilkerson has gleaned a few. She goes back to St. Paul’s words in Romans 12:21.

“It was amazing to see that Scripture verse so plainly laid out — not to be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good,” she said. “We are a people of action. We don’t need to get stuck in the weeds of ugliness in the world. We don’t need to do the back and forth.”

“Instead, we can move forward in our call as joyful, missionary disciples to do good,” she continued. “It doesn’t take away the ugly, but it certainly gives a profound witness of something different to the world. It’s a witness that the world desperately needs. If we’re focused on overcoming evil with good, people will come along with us.”

Bauer has held the Scripture verse close to her heart as she carries on her work at the center.

“If we’re willing to open ourselves up and not be afraid, we have no idea what the Lord will do with that,” Bauer said. “He might say, ‘I’m not giving you a thousand dollars, I’m giving you twenty thousand.'”

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Opening the Word: Are we the rich fool?]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-Are-we-the-rich-fool https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-Are-we-the-rich-fool By:

Someone — we don’t know who — shouts to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me” (Lk 12:13). The Lord is surrounded by a dangerously enormous crowd. Jesus is doing his best to get along — to teach, to answer, to help, to heal. The scene is chaotic, really. People see something in Jesus. To some, he is a prophet; to others, just another great rabbi. Some think he is the Christ. All of them, though, seem to want a piece of Jesus.

That’s what this question feels like; the whole scene is busy and suffocating and random. That’s why I think the first thing Jesus asks is why this brother thinks he’s anyone to judge (cf. Lk 12:14). It’s a frenetic scene; yet still, Jesus makes it a memorable teachable moment. He takes time with this brother even though it’s such a random, worldly question — a ridiculous question, when you think that here is the Christ right in front of them, and all this brother can think about is some silly inheritance! Yet Jesus still takes time with him. He tries to teach him. And that’s because that’s who Jesus is. He is a teacher — the Teacher of teachers, in fact.

Such is the context of the parable of the rich fool. It’s the story of a wealthy man — not a bad man at all — who looked at his wealth and, apparently ready to retire, was filled with joy. He’s got so much stuff; he’s set “for many years” (Lk 12:19). He’s a happy man. He’s grateful. As I said, there’s no indication he’s a bad man at all. It’s just that he is a fool, Jesus said. Not a bad person, just a fool. But why?

Because his perspective was entirely worldly. The extent of his love, his hope, his imagination was merely those miserable “many years” in which he had enough stuff (so he thought) to keep him comfortable in this world. He was a fool because he failed to consider the eternal. Whatever he believed, whatever his religion, practically speaking, he was an atheist. For he failed to treat God and heaven as anything real. He failed to live his life as if death was merely a change and not an end. He failed to live life as life really is — as on a continuum with heaven. He didn’t order his life or his worldly goods toward the reality of heaven. His values were immanent, utterly earthly. That’s why he was greedy and a fool.

But what would it look like not to be a fool? What would it look like to be “rich in what matters to God” (Lk 12:21)? Jesus will answer this question several ways. For me, I’ve always been struck by how Jesus puts it in a later parable: “I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed in eternal dwellings,” he said (Lk 16:9). But what does that mean? It means that what you and I ought to do with our wealth (great or small) is to “make friends.” That is, we’re to make friends with the poor, with those Jesus tells us to love. We’re to make friends with one another. Through the practice of charity, we’re to “make friends” and, by that, begin heaven now. That’s what we’re to do with our wealth, great and small. We’re not foolishly to hoard what we have; rather, we’re to be like Zacchaeus, the converted tax collector (cf. Lk 19:1-10). If we’re Christians, we’re to have changed into generous givers — charitable people and not greedy hoarders. That’s how we avoid being fools. By living charitably.

Which is, of course, the urgent question. Do you live like this? Are you generous? Or would Jesus call you a fool? Be honest, no matter how painful the question is for you. Because, really, it’s a question of salvation (cf. 19:9). It’s serious. And also because Jesus loves you and wants to do so much good through you. If we’ll just give up our foolishness and love.

July 31 – 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ecc 1:2; 2:21-23
Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17 Col 3:1-5, 9-11
Lk 12:13-21

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Longtime youth minister offers suggestions to get teens excited about Mass]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Longtime-youth-minister-offers-suggestions-to-get-teens-excited-about-Mass https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Longtime-youth-minister-offers-suggestions-to-get-teens-excited-about-Mass By:

My cradle Catholic parents instilled in me the importance of going to Mass religiously (no pun intended) but were never able to articulate why we went, answering only “because we are Catholic and that is what good Catholics do.”

It wasn’t until a youth minister explained the significance, depth and beauty of the Mass that my eyes (and heart) were truly opened.

Slowly, over time, I began to see the liturgy differently. It was as though, with every fact and insight I learned, the dots began to connect between the history and the mystery — between God’s divinity and our humanity, all colliding within the parish walls.

I was given a great gift, a proverbial “pearl of great price” by a soul who not only knew about the Mass but who was patient enough to walk with me as my heart and soul opened up to this timeless, inestimable treasure from heaven.

We all desire for the next generation to develop a deep and abiding love for Scripture and the sacraments, in particular the Eucharist, but how do we develop and “unleash” that love in an increasingly overstimulated, disengaged, and screen-obsessed culture?

After more than 25 years in youth ministry, I have found out the hard way what does and doesn’t work to engage hormone-packed tech-savvy adolescents with the Catholic faith.

Here are some of my suggestions to help teens get excited about Mass:

— Our teenagers need our time more than our teaching points.

It’s important to meet our teenagers where they’re at, without any expectation of them changing their disinterest (or even repulsion) of Mass overnight. With this patience (that only comes from God), they have the space to grow and encounter God for themselves.

The key to evangelization that many well-intentioned ministry leaders sorely miss is this: If you want someone to care about the “what” (Church teaching), they must first encounter the “who” (Lord).” Everything we do in the Mass points to worship and to who God is.

You show teenagers who God is through how you live your faith: The reverence with which you receive the body and blood of Jesus, the time you spend in adoration and Scripture and the way you interact with Jesus in the Mass like he’s sitting next to you, arms wrapped around you.

They will see that, undeniably, something beyond this world is transpiring before their eyes and begin to encounter the “who” that is the source of the “what.”

— Go the extra mile.

If you want your teenagers or the teens in your parish to really engage in the Mass, it begins with asking yourself this question, “How far am I willing to go for that to happen?”

Are you willing to be a consistent example to your own kids of what it means to enter into worship? Are you willing to fulfill your baptismal call and sacramental pledge to raise them “according to the law of Christ and his Church” (i.e. take them to Mass whether they want to go or not)? Are you willing to help equip the youth minister with the right resources to aid their catechetical efforts?

— Connect it all to Scripture.

An understanding and love for Scripture comprise the groundwork for a deeper experience of Mass and the sacraments. After all, the entire Mass is based in Scripture!

I know firsthand how difficult it is to engage overstimulated modern teens with the word of God. And I’ve found that the best way to do this is for them to see themselves reflected in the story of salvation (so it becomes relatable), not shying away from their toughest questions (to give you credibility), and showing them the big picture of scripture (to show them how all the aspects of their faith connect).

I created “Venture: The Bible Timeline for High School” to help teenagers all over the world learn about the Bible. With resources like this, teenagers encounter a love for Scripture that they will carry with them into their college years and beyond.

— Be consistent.

Consistency speaks to the fundamental importance of something. Give your teens the gift of consistency. Parents, take your teens to Mass no matter what, regardless of if they “feel like it.” No breaks. No excuses (not even on vacation). Actions follow beliefs.

— Sit in the front.

Teens are easily distracted. Instead of taking the typical “Catholic” route of sitting in the back of the church at Mass, bring your family front and center. Because we are integrated beings, our minds and souls follow the actions of our bodies. Nearer to the altar, teens will have a deeper sensory experience of the Mass, feeling like they are part of the experience and not just witnessing it. Encourage them to participate in the hymns and responses.

— Come with intentionality and intentions.

For each Mass you attend, bring a specific person or intention to offer up to the Lord and encourage your teens to do the same. Do a “sound-off” of intentions before you get out of the car to go to Mass.

— Keep learning.

A true disciple is an eternal student. Continue to learn more about the Mass, Scripture, and the Bible for yourself. And finally, ask the Lord to give you a spirit of wisdom, patience and joy, because we can do nothing without him.

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 02:01:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Finding the sacred in the secular as a Catholic]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Finding-the-sacred-in-the-secular-as-a-Catholic https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Finding-the-sacred-in-the-secular-as-a-Catholic By:

Before we were even engaged, my fiancé and I already had a few details planned for our wedding Mass, including most of our Mass readings. Yeah, we were that couple.

But the one detail that meant the most to us was the closing hymn, which we decided very early on would be “O God Beyond All Praising.” I don’t even remember where I was first introduced to the hymn — probably sometime during college, if not when I moved to my current parish — but it might be my favorite piece of music. Ever. Whenever I hear it at Mass (especially if it’s played on the organ), I get goosebumps and can’t help smiling while singing. More recently, that smile has gotten bigger as I anticipate a certain day and Mass in October.

So, you can imagine my surprise when the music showed up in a kids show. Let me explain.

If you’re a parent of littles, you might be aware of the Australian TV show “Bluey,” which focuses on a family of animated Blue Heeler dogs: Mum, Dad and two daughters named Bingo (the youngest) and Bluey. Created for preschool-aged kids, I have to give this show major credit, first, for not being obnoxious to adults and, second, for being one of the few shows I’ve encountered with a healthy family dynamic. The parents are always willing to let their kids take them on adventures led by their wild imaginations. Whether it’s dancing in public in order to make their girls happy or pretending that a feather “wand” actually has magical powers, Mum and Dad — even when exhausted, an element the show does not skip over — are always willing to join in the fun, teaching some important lessons along the way.

A few weeks ago, my roommate — who kept hearing about “Bluey” from friends who work with kids — showed me a specific episode of the show, enticing me with the fact that “O God Beyond All Praising” made its way into the background music. The episode — which is called “Sleepytime” and can be found on Disney+ — focuses on Bingo, who is having a hard time sleeping in her own bed. Determined to be a big girl, she goes to sleep and dreams about being in space, hopping from planet to planet. At one point, feeling lonely and cold, a glow begins to radiate from a distance, and she is drawn to the source of the light — which turns out to be the sun. At that moment, the music from “O God Beyond All Praising” began playing … and I may or may not have nearly started to cry; it was that beautiful! My summary doesn’t do the scene justice, so if you are able, I suggest you watch it for yourself.

Later, I learned that the music from this favorite hymn originally comes from Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite about the planets, specifically his piece for Jupiter. While the Catholic Church has a long history of using famous composers to craft Mass settings — Google “Mozart Mass setting” and you’ll see what I mean — Holst’s symphony was composed relatively recently in the early 1900s, and words were only added in 1982 by Michael Perry.

It’s inspiring how the Church can see something beautiful and give it a new home — when appropriate, of course. Not all music considered beautiful is fit for the liturgy, but music such as this section of Holst’s suite that truly lifts the soul, well, even kids’ shows can’t avoid its impact. In fact, I found it striking that the section for Holst’s “Jupiter” that corresponds to “O God Beyond All Praising” began playing at the exact moment when Bingo, in need of warmth and comfort and love, encounters the sun — which always points to the Son.

One of my favorite parts about being Catholic is seeing Catholicism in so much of our culture. The sacred in the secular. It’s impossible to watch TV shows and movies, read books or listen to music without seeing Christian themes. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Now I just need to make sure I’m not distracted during my wedding Mass by a certain hymn.

Have you ever had an experience like this? Share your stories by emailing them to osvletters@osv.com.

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Opening the Word: Our daily bread]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-Our-daily-bread https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-Our-daily-bread By:

“Lord, teach us to pray…”

This week the Gospel of Luke teaches us about prayer, echoing the Our Father as we learn it in Matthew’s Gospel. Here I offer a mediation on the third petition of Luke’s prayer, “Give us each day our daily bread,” with help from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The Catechism tells us that prayer is our relationship with God (No. 2558). Prayer is the recognition of God’s presence and our response, a living conversation that gives shape to our daily life. Thus, the Our Father is not meant simply for recitation, but for living. Our praying of the Our Father is not merely a matter of rote recitation, but to also bring it life — to live it. How do we live the petition in which we seek “our daily bread”?

When meditating on this fourth petition of the Our Father, the Catechism begins with a broad understanding of “our bread”: “The Father who gives us life cannot not but give us the nourishment life requires — all appropriate goods and blessings, both material and spiritual” (No. 2830). Here, “our bread” refers to all forms of sustenance necessary to a good and holy life — a life lived in conversation with God.

But the Catechism then ends with a focused meditation on the Eucharistic Liturgy as “our bread.” In the Mass, we received Bread from the table of God’s word, both in Scripture and the Eucharist (cf. Dei Verbum, No. 21). Accordingly, the Catechism can tell us: “This petition … applies to another hunger from which [we] are perishing: ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but … by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,’ that is, by the Word he speaks and the Spirit he breathes forth. … There is a famine on earth, ‘not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.’ For this reason the specifically Christian sense of this fourth petition concerns the Bread of Life: the Word of God accepted in faith, the Body of Christ received in the Eucharist” (No. 2835).

Thus, and even more particularly, the Catechism tells us that “our bread” “refers directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, the ‘medicine of immortality,’ without which we have no life within us” (No. 2837). Echoing St. Augustine, we hear the Church telling us: “The Eucharist is our daily bread. The power belonging to this divine food makes it a bond of union. Its effect is then understood as unity, so that, gathered into his Body and made members of him, we may become what we receive” (No. 2837).

Friends, notice two things: as “our bread” the Eucharist is a bond of union, and, as “our bread” the Eucharist helps us “become what we receive.” Wow! Does this not mean that if we are “in union” with the Father, with our Father — this our meaning that “we are his and he is ours” (cf. No. 2829) — that we can “become what we receive”? In other words, doesn’t this mean that, when we become united to God in love through his sacrifice of love in the Eucharist, that we can become the bread of love for others?

And Christ himself gives us the example. The Catechism also describes the Our Father as “the summary of the whole Gospel” (No. 2761). Before becoming the “bread” of the written Word in Scripture, the Gospel was and is simply Christ himself, the revelation of God’s love lived out for us in a human life. Christ, thus, lived the Our Father, conversing with the Father and carrying his will of love out even unto death. Living the Our Father, Christ became our Eucharistic bread of love. Let’s pray that we truly might become “what we receive!”

July 24 – 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gn 18:20-32
Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 6-7, 7-8
Col 2:12-14
Lk 11:1-13

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Fri, 22 Jul 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[We need to love the walking wounded]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/We-need-to-love-the-walking-wounded https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/We-need-to-love-the-walking-wounded By:

The fall of Roe v. Wade has brought with it an unleashing of demons. Arson attacks on churches — and going straight for the tabernacle. I’ve personally witnessed cries from the depths of hell with a litany of expletives and blasphemy. There are groups like the so-called Jane’s Revenge and Ruth Sent Us that seem to be fueled by a particular desire for violence, but in so many of the other reactions to the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Mississippi abortion case, there is such an outpouring of pain. Having the topic of abortion in the news every day can be salt poured into post-abortive wounds.

In a culture where the suggestion of abstinence is verboten, and girls are encouraged by all of the background music of their lives to use boys sexually in every way possible — or be used, of course — it sounds terrifying that abortion might not be readily available as birth control. Think of a girl who has seen her mother be used by men. She doesn’t want that to happen to her, but without education in virtue, she takes the advice of Rihanna — “So giddy up, time to giddy-up.” This publication doesn’t want me to repeat more of that song. But it’s important as we adjust to a life where the states are battling out how to deal with abortion, to recognize the real fears of women.

And recognize that politics is often not going to be our friend. A recent Washington Post piece talked about the Michigan governor fighting for abortion rights and talking with her daughters about it. One of her college-aged daughters says she is gay and yet is terrified that someone will force her to conceive. Others worry about forced birth in all seriousness.

The reality of life after Roe is that there is still abortion in America. In the same paper, though, there was also a story about a teenager in Texas who was too far along to have an abortion after the protections for the unborn were in place in September 2021. She and her boyfriend have beautiful twins now, and they are making it work, despite all the challenges that come with being young and without a ton of resources. But they found a pro-life center that would help them, thanks be to God. Some blessings come with having to grow up together with the responsibility of life, even if it is not the ideal order. Sometimes the media wants to convey one message and stumbles on a beautiful story that speaks to the unexpected wonder of a culture of life instead of death.

A profile of the Michigan governor and her girls featured the governor telling her daughters to delete the apps they had on their phones to track their cycles, offering help to get long-term contraception (I assume IUD), and the governor’s desire to get Canada to set up abortion clinics just over the border if abortion were banned in Michigan. The reporter happened to add that in the room where the governor’s security detail was, there was an Ouija board next to Tupperware. We need to stop messing with the dark side.

That particular governor was raped in college. When we encounter people in these post-Roe times, remember that their vehemence against protections for the unborn is probably tied to intimate pain. We’ll never be able to love without recognizing this. The post-abortive are all around us. Maybe it is your aching heart still. Dorothy Day, in the later years of her life, was still thinking of her abortion, even though she had received God’s mercy in confession for it. It’s not enough to be grateful that an unjust regime is no more. We have to love with a love that is in union with Jesus on the cross. It is the only way to move forward. It is how God wants us to be instruments of his healing in this world of the walking wounded.

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[The story of Helen Keller and the sanctity of life]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/The-story-of-Helen-Keller-and-the-sanctity-of-life https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/The-story-of-Helen-Keller-and-the-sanctity-of-life By:

Many decades ago, a great American heroine was Helen Keller, an author and thinker. She was born in 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. She was a perfectly healthy baby, but, when she was 19 months old, disaster struck.

Medicine was not yet at a stage enabling doctors to diagnose what happened to her, but she had a severe fever, thought now to have been a brain infection, and she was left totally blind, stone deaf and unable to speak a word.

For all practical purposes, she was doomed to live the life of an animal, and probably she would live a long time. She recovered from the fever and returned to perfect health, aside from her impairments.

Her desperate parents consulted the best doctors in the country. None had an answer. She lived until 1968, and she never spoke a word, heard a word or saw light. Blessedly, her life was productive. Her father hired a teacher of the blind from Boston, Annie Sullivan, daughter of Irish Catholic immigrants, who perfected a method of communication whereby she taught Helen Keller by making signs in the palm of Helen’s hand.

Helen Keller, with Annie Sullivan translating every lecture, using signs in Helen’s hand, went on to attend, and to receive a degree from, Radcliffe College. She was a superb writer. Her opinions at times were controversial, but all were astounded by, and admired, her triumph over her disability.

What if? What if her parents, seeing the terrifying result of her illness, had decided that she had no hope for a life of quality? What if her father, 45 when she was born, thought that he might die while she was still young and his ability to provide for her would end?

What if her father and mother decided that they simply were unable emotionally or otherwise to cope with a situation as overwhelming as that of their daughter? Were they not entitled to unburdened lives themselves?

What, therefore, if they had decided just to kill her, to end her misery, and to remove the problem from their lives? Of course, they never dreamed of such a thing, but if they had ended Helen’s life, the law would have handled them for murder, Helen’s hopeless infirmity notwithstanding.

American law always has revered human life. Helen Keller was a human being who deserved the right to live.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 24 that abortion is not a constitutional right. It has given the people of the individual states the opportunity of deciding how best to respect the human right to life. Many states are moving toward eliminating, or severely restricting, abortion.

Others are going the other way. People loudly are protesting the court’s action in removing from the law the notion that abortion is anyone’s right, and their arguments rest on the supposition that it denies the mother of the unborn her own rights.

The unborn loses its life. The unborn is guilty of no crime. The unborn, as a human being, has human rights, and no science says that the unborn is not a being unto itself, not a part of the mother or of the father.

While the ruling of the Court is decisive, under our constitutional form of government, the debate, and dissension, here will not end. Arguments will continue, likely in many places for a long time.

How should Catholics view this debate, and how should they respond to questions about the Church’s quite clear position that abortion is gravely wrong? What about rights? Whose rights?

Catholics simply should note that the ultimate and inevitable consequence of abortion is the destruction of a human life, the subject of which is innocent and unable to speak for, or to defend, itself — namely, the unborn.

Remember the story of Helen Keller, and of her parents, and the option that her parents never even considered for a second.

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Opening the Word: Martha, Mary and ‘the better part’]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-Martha-Mary-and-the-better-part- https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-Martha-Mary-and-the-better-part- By:

Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem. As he makes his way, he’s being tested; he’s also teaching. How does one inherit eternal life? Who is my neighbor? These are some of the questions people keep throwing at Jesus — not out of genuine interest but, as Luke says, “to test him” (Lk 10:25). What these questions are really getting at, therefore, is Jesus himself. Do I believe him? Is he truly the Christ? Should I accept him? If he is the Christ, then how should I accept him?

That is the question underneath this famous passage about Martha and Mary: How does one accept Jesus? Jesus enters Martha’s home, and so naturally she busies herself to welcome the prophet. Suddenly, as one would expect, Martha is “burdened with much serving.” But there, too, is Mary, Martha’s sister. She’s not busy or burdened with much of anything. She just sits at the Lord’s feet and listens to him speak (cf. Lk 10:38-40).

What happens next we all know: Martha gets bent out of shape and complains to Jesus about her sister. She’s doing all the work! Mary’s doing nothing! On the surface, Martha’s got a point. We’ve all been there. We know how she feels. That’s why it’s so jarring to hear Jesus basically get on her. “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. … Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her” (Lk 10:42). Why does he say this? Why doesn’t Jesus show a bit more empathy? Why does he take Mary’s side?

Because she welcomes Jesus with nothing other than openness and faith. Mary does only that thing Jesus has asked his followers to do all along: She listens to him. Mary receives Jesus with simple adoring regard, with the powerless faith God asks of all who receive him. We needn’t work to receive Christ; we must simply be still, listen and adore. “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps 46:11). This is precisely what Mary does. That’s why Jesus calls it the “better part.” Because that’s the best way to receive Jesus — as gentle, contemplative, forgiven adorers.

But, of course, there’s another way to look at it, perhaps more common. I’ve always associated this other way of reading the Martha and Mary story with the Cistercians, but one comes across it everywhere. St. Aelred of Rievaulx, for example, once said to his monks, “never separate these two women. … Do not neglect Martha for Mary, nor Mary for Martha.” St. Aelred interpreted it significant that Christ came to both women, that he entered the one house of Mary and Martha. For him, and other Cistercians, it pointed to a truth about the spiritual life: Sometimes we’ll be contemplatives like Mary and other times workers like Martha. And that’s OK, for Christ came to both women. Undoubtedly, contemplation is the “better part.” To give one’s attention only to God is better. But sometimes the world of Martha beckons us; and when it does, we must commit to good works. Sometimes we simply must be like Martha.

The spiritual balance between Mary and Martha, St. Bernard of Clairvaux called alternatio. “Set apart some portion of your heart and your time for consideration,” St. Bernard taught. Really, that is the best we can do this side of heaven: We must be people who do not forget to pray, to meditate, to adore, to receive. We must not forget to be like Mary. We can’t always be Martha. In this life, necessarily, we’ll have to alternate betwixt the two. So, ask yourself: Where do I fit into all this? Christ has indeed come to us. Christ indeed desires to enter your house. So, how will you receive him? What part of you is Mary? What part is Martha? Reflect on that, but also don’t worry too much about it. Because Jesus loves you always. He still comes.

July 17 – 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gn 18:1-10
Ps 15:2-3, 3-4, 5
Col 1:24-28
Lk 10:38-42

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Fri, 15 Jul 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[6 ways to connect the old and the young — and why it’s so important]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/6-ways-to-connect-the-old-and-the-young--and-why-its-so-important https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/6-ways-to-connect-the-old-and-the-young--and-why-its-so-important By:

Some stark facts to begin: In the United States, every single day, 10,000 people reach the age of 65. In 2008, 7% of the world’s population was over 65. In 2040, 20% of the world’s population will be over 65 — that’s 1 in 5 people on the planet. Moreover, in 2040, there will be more human beings over the age of 65 than under the age of 5 — a statistic that has never before happened in human history. What are the implications for health care, housing, food, mental health services, government aid and pastoral care?

In 1980, Pope St. John Paul II told the International Forum on Active Aging that older men and women play a role in “the continuity of the generations” by their “charism of bridging the gap.” Pope Benedict XVI, visiting a London nursing home in 2010, said: “As advances in medicine and other factors lead to increased longevity, it is important to recognize the presence of growing numbers of older people as a blessing for society. Every generation can learn from the experience and wisdom of the generation that preceded it. Indeed, the provision of care for the elderly should be considered not so much an act of generosity as the repayment of a debt of gratitude.” Pope Francis has been especially strong in promoting care for the elderly. He talks about caring for our elders and linking them with our young people all the time. In Amoris Laetitia (Nos. 191-93), he describes elders as “a living part of our community.”

Models in Scripture

The Bible provides good examples of how we treat our elders — both well and poorly. These are stories young and old can read together; each would be surprised at how differently the story looks from the other. See how the young Elihu waits for Job and his elders to speak before he makes his points. Observe not only how young Ruth refuses to leave her mother-in-law, Naomi, but also how Naomi helps Ruth make good decisions with the wisdom of her long years. Do the matriarchs, patriarchs and prophets continually tell us to honor our mothers and fathers because we’re not and need to be reminded to do so? Can we learn patience, especially about waiting for children and then grandchildren, from Sarah and Abraham, Elizabeth and Zechariah? Can our young people understand the stamina of faith presented by the many mothers and grandmothers who stood by Jesus when the men ran away?

Look at Anna and Simeon as models of praise and patience for young people. They are prophets, even though we’re used to prophets being young like Jeremiah. You know the story from Luke 2, which we mark as the feast of the Presentation each year on Feb. 2. Simeon is not given an age, but we learn he is a righteous man waiting for his death, which Yahweh said wouldn’t come until he laid eyes on the Messiah. Nearby is Anna, given the precise age of 84, a holy woman who came to the Temple each day, like our own elders who attend daily Mass. Preaching on the feast of the Presentation in 2014, Pope Francis said, “It is a meeting between young people who are full of joy in observing the Law of the Lord and the elderly who are filled with joy for the action of the Holy Spirit.” Speaking not long after his election at World Youth Day in 2013 in Brazil, he said, “The elderly are also the future of a people.” Even at the end of their lives, these two prophetic senior citizens, Anna and Simeon, were still paying it forward. They biblically bridged the generation gap.

We can make that happen in our own communities on special days and every day — any day at all. Pope Francis has introduced an annual celebration of the fourth Sunday in July: the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which coincides with the feast of Jesus’ grandparents, Joachim and Anna. Pope Francis gives us papal homework. Speaking a few days after his own 80th birthday in 2016, he said to a group of youngsters: “Speak to your grandparents. Ask them questions. They have the memory of history, the experience of living, and this is a great gift for you that will help you in your life journey.” Where can this happen? Many places.

Ways to connect

The first commitment is to make this a priority whether you are a grandparent, parent or younger person. Once you’ve done that, here are a few ideas of cultivating interactions between seniors and youngsters.

1. Families are separated, so pair up a grandparent without grandkids nearby in your parish with grandkids without local grandparents. Set up a movie night: one time the elder chooses, the next the youngster. Talk all the way through it; explain things to each other.

2. Oral interviews: Our seniors will not always be with us. We’ve heard their stories, but have we preserved them? Have young people documented their elders’ experiences by taping them so video and audio can last beyond their lifetimes? Start with the funny stories we’ve all heard. Prompt them to tell the stories they’ve never told but time is running out to do so. “What was it like when you came to this country? When you first dated? When you started school? When you had something rough happen to you? What is your greatest regret?”

3. Maybe tie these interviews to children’s sacramental preparation and life lessons: “Abuela, what was your first Communion like?” “PopPop, did you get confirmed?” “Tell me about Mommy’s baptism. Tell me about mine.”

4. Volunteer together: “You were a refugee. How can we help refugees today?”

5. Ask the tough questions: “Did you ever doubt God? Were you afraid you wouldn’t get a job? What did you think when your sister got cancer? How did you get through it? Did you ever march for a political or social cause? What happened? Were you scared? What was the cost? What helped you do hard things? Would you do it again?”

6. Make the ordinary extraordinary: Elders aren’t quick with tech; teenagers are. Have young people help grandma with her laptop or Zoom call. Connect an experienced retired person with a certain skill with a young person thinking of picking it up. It can be anything: plumbing, nursing, social work, electrician, teacher, bus driver, a person starting their own business.

7. Cook together: Share the family recipes, write them down, even if you’ve never done that before (especially if you’ve never measured it beyond “a handful of this, a pinch of that”). Tell the story that goes with the recipe — a feast, a wedding, a birthday, or no special event at all but something you just love to make. It might go like this: “When we came to this country, we couldn’t find this ingredient, so we substituted it with that. When we didn’t have enough food, we stretched it this way.” And then: Eat together, as often as possible. Reclaim the dinner table — with no smartphones.

In May 2022, Pope Francis directed our attention to the biblical figure of Judith, who lived to be 105 years old. She spent her older years giving out wisdom, telling stories, passing on her lessons. As Pope Francis said, “The life of our communities must know how to benefit from the talents and charisms of so many elderly people who are already retired, but who are a wealth to be treasured.” We have an extraordinary opportunity to recreate what Judith was to those around her. Seniors can pay it forward as long as they can. Youngsters can listen, learn and act in ways that appreciate and honor their elders. What looks like a crisis can become instead a chance to change the normal habits to build a new way of being Church.

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[OSV News and the future of Catholic media]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/OSV-News-and-the-future-of-Catholic-media https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/OSV-News-and-the-future-of-Catholic-media By:

From the moment the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced on May 4 that the domestic operations of Catholic News Service would cease at the end of the year, we have been asking ourselves one question. That question wasn’t “Should OSV do something?” but “What should OSV do?”

The answer is OSV News, a brand-new Catholic news service, launching Jan. 1, 2023, on CatholicNews.com, the very platform currently used by CNS. Announced in Portland, Oregon, on July 6 at the annual Catholic Media Conference, OSV News, we believe, is both the obvious and the necessary response to the question.

Obvious, because the 110-year history of OSV began with a similarly innovative approach to the Catholic press. Father John Francis Noll recognized that Catholic readers needed not only the news that other Catholic publications at that time were providing, but also analysis, commentary and resources to feed their faith. From the beginning, Our Sunday Visitor has always been more than a newspaper: It’s a trusted companion for the entire family that literally meets people of every age where they are, at their homes and in their parishes. Indeed, generation after generation of writers, editors and publishers for Our Sunday Visitor were formed and informed by the previous generation of writers, editors and publishers.

The man who would be named an honorary archbishop for his efforts on behalf of Catholic media didn’t rest on his laurels once he created a new type of Catholic publication. Under his leadership, the circulation of Our Sunday Visitor grew to 1 million copies every week. But Archbishop Noll also understood that innovation and collaboration in the Catholic media benefited everyone. He was an early and vocal supporter of CNS, founded eight years after OSV, and of the Catholic Press Association (now known as the Catholic Media Association), founded one year before. Rather than viewing the Catholic press as a zero-sum game, OSV helped dioceses across the country to start up their own diocesan newspapers — and, for years, many of them were printed on the very same press as Our Sunday Visitor, here in our current Huntington, Indiana, headquarters.

Archbishop Noll understood that once readers get a taste for the truth, they grow hungry for more — and the entire Catholic press benefits.

OSV News is also the necessary answer to “What should OSV do?” not only because innovation and collaboration run deep in OSV’s veins, but because we are blessed with both resources and reputation, gained through decades of hard work and dedication to our mission of championing the Church. That trust, that reputation and those resources come with the responsibility to use them all in service to Christ and his Church.

The Church in the United States needs a Catholic news agency that is trusted by the faithful. The Church in the rest of the world needs national Catholic news from the United States. And all of us in the Catholic media need the spirit of innovation and collaboration that is Archbishop Noll’s legacy.

Recent decades have been hard on the Catholic press. Declining circulation, rising costs, Catholics leaving the Church because of scandals and the unrelenting attacks of secular forces against all things Christian but especially against the Church established by Christ himself: All of this, and much more, has sapped the energy and morale of many Catholic journalists who have devoted themselves to the cause of the truth — and have been rewarded with long hours and low salaries. For many of us, the announcement of the end of CNS’s domestic operations felt like the final nail in the coffin of dozens of diocesan publications, and perhaps some national ones as well.

We could not let that happen. For our own publication, with a few strategic hires and a slight change in content, Our Sunday Visitor likely could have survived in a post-CNS world. But there is more to the Catholic press than one publication. To be true to the legacy of Archbishop Noll, we had to dream bigger.

OSV News is not just the latest “product offering” from OSV. It is a concrete symbol of our commitment to collaborate with our fellow members of the Catholic press to bring about a new renaissance in Catholic media — and a brighter future for the Catholic Church in the United States and beyond.

When OSV News succeeds, it will succeed because of the hard work of many people outside of OSV — of the unsung heroes of the Catholic press in every diocese in the United States. It will succeed because of the collaboration of professional organizations like the Catholic Media Association — and their willingness to hold us accountable to the legacy left to us by both Archbishop Noll and by CNS. It will succeed because of content partners who understand that we need more people reading (and viewing, and listening to) more Catholic media, and that all those who produce faithful Catholic content are engaged in the same work of evangelization.

And it will succeed because readers like you will find what you are looking for: the truth for which we all hunger; the truth that sets us free.

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Opening the Word: Christ, our neighbor]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-Christ-our-neighbor https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-Christ-our-neighbor By:

“It is something very near to you.”

This is what Moses told Israel about the voice of God. In this week’s first reading, Moses further told them how near it is: “it is in your mouths and in your hearts.” With this, he exhorted them to listen; to “carry out” God’s command.

In this week’s Gospel, Christ clarifies this command and gives us an example of one who carries it out in the Good Samaritan. The command is to: “love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Lk 10:27).

The good Samaritan, we see, loved his neighbor as himself. In him, God’s voice was near. When he saw his neighbor’s affliction, he was “moved with compassion” and treated him with mercy, going to great lengths to help his neighbor. He picked the man up off the ground, washed his wounds and found a place for him to stay, even paying for everything he might need with his own money.

But Christ’s example of the good Samaritan does more than offer an example of how we might respond to God’s voice and carry out his command. This example is also a parable, revealing how God thinks of us as his neighbors. Indeed, God became our neighbor in Christ, bringing God’s Word close in a human voice, and living according to his own commandment to us. This should help us carry out this same commandment ourselves.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153) spoke beautifully about this: “You will never have real mercy for the failings of another until you know and realize that you have the same failings in your soul. Our Savior has given us the example. He willed to suffer so that he might know compassion, to learn mercy he shared our misery.”

Now, this is a striking thing to say, isn’t it? We might wonder what St. Bernard meant when he said Christ suffered so he might come to know compassion and to learn mercy. Isn’t Christ the one who came to show us mercy — to “pick us up” and “wash our wounds” and give us a “place to stay”?

St. Bernard has an answer for us. God became man so as to draw near to us, as near as he could possibly be, and so to reveal his love. “[B]y such experience,” St. Bernard says, “[God] was seen as closer to men.” And not only that, but “lower still he came to take our form in which he could do what he could not do before, suffer and … learn by experience the mercy of a fellow-sufferer.” So, God became our neighbor, and one who needed our mercy! He was anxious and sorrowful, needful of the disciples’ company; he needed Simon of Cyrene to pick him up and help carry his cross; he needed Veronica to wipe his wounded face.

In learning mercy by human experience, Christ drew us into the mercy of God. This, friends, is compassion: to give your entire being to your neighbor by entering into their suffering. Thus, we can conclude with Bernard of Clairvaux: “The work of God’s tender love had its beginning in his eternal mercy, its completion in the mercy shown in his humanity.” He is our good Samaritan. And we are called by God’s voice, spoken in Christ’s humanity, to do likewise: love your neighbor as yourself, for in doing so we are that good Samaritan who also offers his love to God in his merciful works.

July 10 – 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dt 30:10-14
Ps 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36, 37
Col 1:15-20
Lk 10:25-37

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Fri, 08 Jul 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Archbishop Lori: In a post-Roe world, ‘the goal is to change the culture’]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Archbishop-Lori-In-a-postRoe-world-the-goal-is-to-change-the-culture https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Archbishop-Lori-In-a-postRoe-world-the-goal-is-to-change-the-culture By:

The Supreme Court decision June 24 in the Mississippi abortion case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade set off a political and cultural earthquake in America that changes the landscape for how the Catholic Church and the pro-life movement advocates for pregnant mothers and their unborn children.

For nearly 50 years, pro-life supporters have been fighting to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion created by the court in 1973. The recent decision is being hailed as a landmark victory for the cause of life.

“The first thing for us is to redouble the effort to change minds and hearts,” said Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities. Archbishop Lori participated in a joint interview with a team from the committee just hours after the Supreme Court’s decision was announced.

The decision in the Dobbs case ends the national right to abortion, and now it will be left up to state legislatures to determine whether abortion will be allowed and, if so, what types of regulations will be in place. The ruling was anticipated after a draft of the Dobbs opinion was leaked in early May, roiling the court itself and spawning its own investigation of the leak.

“We have to work on this from state to state,” Archbishop Lori said. “Some states are favorable to the ruling, and in some states that are not, a doubling-up of efforts is required. This will call for state marches, state legislative initiatives and fending off bills that are harmful to the sanctity of life.”

‘An opportunity to empower women’

Gloria Purvis, a Catholic speaker, podcast host and “whole-life” activist in Washington, D.C., participated in the interview. Purvis contended that the pro-choice complaint that banning abortion “is an injustice is the inverse” of the actual injustice in the matter, adding, “abortion is the injustice, just as the argument that abortion availability empowers women is actually the inverse of what it actually does.”

“The ruling is an opportunity to empower women,” Purvis said. She said that pro-abortion supporters who contend that the Dobbs decision “will harm poor Black women because they can’t afford to travel out of state to get an abortion as wealthy white women can” are missing the mark. “The measure of what white women can get and poor Black women can’t get is good food, education, health care and good policing. The separate measure for the rank and file average Black person is being able to get a job, to live in a safe community for them and their children and quality health care.”

Purvis is angered by the pro-choice arguments that the availability of abortion is a major need of poor Black women.

“They do not address the root causes of poverty when they say that, and I resent it that they put that on poor Black women,” she said. “Most Blacks do not support abortion, they don’t see that as a solution; they are not solving the problem by killing the poor.”

‘We need to do better’

Julie Dumalet, director of the Office of Pro-Life Activities for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, said pro-abortion supporters peddle “the false idea that what is bad for the baby (abortion) is good for the woman.” Instead, through experiences in Project Rachel, she has heard women who have had abortions and men who supported abortion say they have been pained for years afterward with guilt.

“One man participating in Project Rachel after he supported the abortion of his child asked, ‘Is it normal to commit suicide after doing that?’ If [only] someone had been there to hold their hand when they were considering an abortion and help. … Abortion is deeply damaging to women and men, and, as the Catholic Church, we need to do better,” Dumalet said.

Archbishop Lori is hopeful that the bishops in the states where abortion will remain easily accessible can rally efforts like the current Walking with Moms in Need initiative that are serving as repositories of information for mothers who need help both during and after their pregnancies.

“As the chairman of the Pro-Life Committee, Walking with Moms in Need is one of our very highest priorities,” Archbishop Lori said. “We have gotten a great response from the bishops and, really, from the parishes.”

Archbishop Lori also pointed out that whether a state legalizes abortion services or does not, steps must be taken to support the mothers and children. He urges that the Child Tax Credit be strengthened in all states.

‘A countercultural moment’

With the long-sought victory in hand, Catholics and pro-life supporters have an “opportunity to re-envision” a more family oriented social compact, Dumalet said.

“For corporations, this is a chance to better structure the workplace: parental leave, at-work day care and the Child Tax Credit,” Dumalet said. “This is a chance to restructure our society to make it more family friendly.”

Elizabeth Kirk, director of the Center for Law & the Human Person, research associate and lecturer at Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America, said that “the ruling gives states greater latitude” to address abortion as “the majority of Americans don’t agree with it. … This is a time for a renewed conversation.”

Our Sunday Visitor asked Archbishop Lori if the ruling also presents an opportunity for the Catholic Church to be a countercultural institution.

“This is a countercultural moment to be sure. The Church has taken a prophetic stance on the sanctity of life. Prophetic stances ignite opposition, virulent opposition,” Archbishop Lori said. “Polling shows when people understand now that under Roe v. Wade there are few restrictions — right up to the birth of the child. A great many want some restrictions in place, especially in the later stages. It is not enough to be countercultural; the goal is to change the culture.”

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Letters to a Young Catholic: How to grieve]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Letters-to-a-Young-Catholic-How-to-grieve https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Letters-to-a-Young-Catholic-How-to-grieve By:

The good thing about not caring about something is you don’t care when it’s gone. Actually, that’s not a good thing at all. Maybe it’s convenient and easier not to care, but we are created to care about things and especially about people. The risk of pain in losing who and what we care about is the cost of being the kind of people we are supposed to be: people who care.

We all want to be happy; in fact, we are created for and called to unending happiness, but not at the expense of avoiding suffering. Part of our growth and development toward becoming fully human is found in learning how to suffer well, which includes learning how to grieve. Grief is the natural, human response to losing something or someone we love. Without love, there is no grief.

You may already know exactly what I’m talking about because you have experienced the kind of suffering for which there is no “afterwards” when things go back to “normal.” Whether you have or have not suffered in this deep and life-altering way, I think we share a common duty: to prepare to become the kind of people who learn how to bear with loss rather than avoid loss. That sounds unappealing, like a total downer of an idea, yet the truth is that we are created for more than we often expect or desire for ourselves. We are created for the great joy and privilege of loving, and for being the kind of people who can and will bear the cost of love.

As I have tried to do with each of my letters to you, I want to both draw from my experience and, even more, from what I have learned to try to tell you the truth about grief. I have four things to share with you about how to grieve.

Grieve slowly

So much of our modern lifestyle is about staying on schedule. We hate getting behind — we fear being behind — and yet we are constantly behind. We live in environments where progress is everything, where speed and efficiency are revered. We are even encouraged to treat losses in this manner: deal with them quickly and move on. Don’t get bogged down, don’t dwell on things, don’t stop moving.

Grief protests against the tyranny of progress. Rushing means not taking things or people seriously, and grief emerges from the recognition that what or who you have lost does indeed matter. If they didn’t matter, you wouldn’t feel sorrow. Letting the pain of grief rest with you is how you honor what or who you have lost.

Practically speaking, grieving slowly requires changes to what and how you live on a day-to-day basis. During a period of grieving, you should intentionally declutter your schedule, you should not submerged yourself under one distraction after another, and you might develop some new practices for how to give yourself the time and space to honor your grief: journaling, periods of silence throughout the day, a retreat, creating art, talking with a confidant or mentor.

Nothing is sadder than a life where nothing matters. Give yourself time to grieve, because the people and experiences in your life do, in fact, matter.

Grieve deeply

Clichés are for the shallows. “Everything happens for a reason” distorts the truth and promises an easy-out for the hard things. For those of us who believe in God and entrust him with our lives, it is true that God abides with us in all things and that he will carry all things to a good end in him if we will but let him. But that doesn’t mean there is a reason for violence, or betrayal, or cancer, or death. God does not respond to such things with an explanation — “here’s why this happened, here’s the reason” — instead, God answers with action: God moves near to us in our sorrow and shares in it. The Incarnation is nothing if not that. “Everything happens for a reason” is a distortion of that exceedingly more profound and marvelous truth.

One non-clichéd saying that has stuck with me over the years is from Léon Bloy, who said that “there are places in the heart that do not yet exist, and into them enters suffering, that they might exist.” That’s a hard thing to grasp. I think you only grasp it by allowing suffering to enter your heart. Only then do we discover how the suffering and grief that we take to heart strangely, almost miraculously, makes our hearts grow larger. We become more rather than less capable of compassion, and therefore of love.

Grieve openly

I mean this in two senses. The first sense is this: Do not grieve in shame or in secret. It is a distinctly (and unhealthy) modern thing that those who grieve are more or less expected to grieve in private. This is nonsense, and it is completely inhumane. Share your grief with friends, co-workers, neighbors, each in a way appropriate to your relationship with them.

The second sense of grieving openly is about doing something with your grief. Open your grief up. I learned about this from St. Augustine. Earlier in his life, he had a friend that was very dear to him. Then this friend died unexpectedly. Augustine says that then “black grief closed over my heart.” What he means is that his whole world locked up around him. All he did was spend his time seeing and thinking about how his friend was not there and how his own life was now only marked by this loss. He didn’t do anything with his grief; he just sat in it and let it consume him.

Now, that sounds strange coming after what I was just writing about in terms of grieving deeply. It seems like Augustine grieved very deeply, and indeed he did. But grieving deeply does not mean you cannot or should not grieve openly. Augustine shows us this later in his life, when his mother, Monica, died. The difference by this point in his life — after he had become a Christian, by the way — is that he risked doing something with his grief. First, he prayed about it, offering his pain to God, asking for God’s healing. Second, he prayed for his mother, begging God to forgive her whatever sins she had and to take her into his love. Third and finally, he did what his mother asked him to do before she died: He remembered her at the altar — that is, he offered his pain and prayers for her with Jesus’ offer in the Eucharist. He did not suddenly feel all better. He continued grieving, but he did something with his grief. He opened it to God and, as a matter of fact, opened it to others in writing about it. His grief was both deep and open.

Grieve communally

Just like there are two sides to grieving openly, there are two sides of grieving communally. First, be open to sharing your grief with others. In doing so, you are doing them a favor: You are giving them the opportunity to become more fully human, to be compassionate, to be who and how they are created to be.

The other side of grieving communally is about when other people grieve, rather than you. When it comes to other people, you cannot determine whether or not someone else will be afflicted by grief. What you can always decide, though, is whether or not another person grieves alone. Do not let others grieve alone. You can choose to pay the cost of loving them. You can bear what is not yours as if it were yours. You can spend time with them, weep with them, listen to them, console them, pray with and for them, offer small sacrifices for them, and offer big sacrifices for them. You can let their pain affect you. This is not the easy path: It hurts. But it is a pain you choose out of love. It is part of the cost of being fully human. It is a serious but glorious price to pay.

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Mon, 04 Jul 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Opening the Word: Are we disciples on mission?]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-Are-we-disciples-on-mission https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-Are-we-disciples-on-mission By:

Earlier, Jesus sent the Twelve on mission (cf. Lk 9:1-6). Now he sends 70 more. Or, 72. The textual evidence is insolubly divided about the exact number; but don’t worry, it’s really not important. Don’t worry if your friend’s Bible has a different number!

The point seems to be symbolic. Jesus here is among Samaritans. Possibly, the number alludes to all the nations beyond Israel; since the so-called “Table of Nations” in Genesis 10, the number 70 has evoked all the peoples of the world. Perhaps it signals the later Christian mission to bring the Gospel to all the world. The number 70 may also allude to Moses; he appointed 70 elders, you’ll remember, to help him bear the burden of leadership (cf. Nm 11:16-30). Jesus is likened repeatedly to Moses’ successor (Acts 3:22-23); and so, possibly, here we see Jesus doing another Moses-like thing. Whatever the allusion, the point is mission. Assuming these believers left everything to follow Jesus, leaving the dead to bury the dead, they’ve become missionaries (Lk 9:57-62). That is, they’ve become what we’re all meant to be — missionary disciples who go before the Lord to prepare his way.

Thus, this passage teaches us a few things about what it’s like to be missionary disciples.

First is that we’re disciples together. Reading this passage, Origen was struck by the little detail that these disciples were sent out on mission not as individuals but in pairs. This seems “an ancient practice,” Origen noticed, at least since Moses and Aaron, Joshua and Caleb, Paul and Barnabas and others. And the lesson here is simple: There are no “Lone Ranger” missionary disciples. To be on mission, one must also be in relationship, in communion with others. Clearly, there is a lot of work to do — the “harvest is abundant” — so missionary disciples must be willing to support one another.

The mission also demands purity and holiness; we must be like lambs to the world’s wolves. Missionary disciples will face hostility, Jesus said repeatedly. Nonetheless, the mission is urgent, and we’re to depend on God rather than our own resources. We mustn’t fool ourselves into thinking that our power or wealth will bring about the Kingdom, but only God’s power. That’s why missionary disciples shouldn’t accumulate too much wealth, because it can fool us into thinking it’s our mission and our success. No! We must rely on God alone, working diligently for his kingdom and not ours.

And, of course, what we bring to the people of the world is Christ’s peace, the same peace he gave the disciples after his resurrection (cf. Jn 20:19-29). It’s the peace born of forgiveness. This is the peace missionary disciples offer, the peace of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:19). It’s a gentle peace, not coercive at all, beyond all understanding (Phil 4:7). And people either can accept the peace of Christ or reject it; it’s glorious when they do, mysteriously sad when they don’t.

But all of that is really God’s business, not ours. As missionary disciples, our job is simply to continue to preach and proclaim the Kingdom of God. We are not Christ. We are merely his heralds. We’re witnesses and servants of the Gospel, not its creators. What God’s ultimate victory looks like is up to him. We simply trust in that victory, trusting in Jesus because he saw Satan fall like lighting (cf. Lk 10:18). Our task — as faithful missionary disciples — is simply to rejoice that our names are written in heaven, that we’ve been found good servants. But that is, of course, the pressing question: Are we faithful missionary disciples?

July 3 – 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is 66:10-14
Ps 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20
Gal 6:14-18
Lk 10:1-12, 17-20

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Why I’m worried robots are replacing real relationships]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Why-Im-worried-robots-are-replacing-real-relationships https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Why-Im-worried-robots-are-replacing-real-relationships By:

A few weeks ago, I came across an ad while watching a video on YouTube. While I usually skip ads, something about this one caught my attention, and I quickly shared it with a few friends to see if my reaction to the product was the same as theirs. It was, and we were all a bit worried.

Let me set the stage for the ad. Two parents standing in the door of their son’s room call to him, saying that they have “someone here who wants to meet you,” giving the sense that they are about to show him a puppy or a baby sibling. Instead, the parents “introduce” their son, Riley, to Moxie, a robot “friend.” Throughout the ad, we see Moxie asking Riley questions — about nighttime routines, conversations he had with friends — as well as offering challenges, such as making kind notes for his parents and inviting friends over.

At first glance, you might be surprised at my wariness of a friendly robot. What’s the big deal? From what the video shows, as well as other consumer videos shared on the website — embodied.com — Moxie is all about supporting the social and emotional growth of kids through fun activities and playfulness. That, in and of itself, is not a problem.

In fact, I think the reasons behind Moxie are good. As the website shares, kids are struggling with depression, anxiety, social interaction, etc. It even references different studies and research institutions: from a 2020 Children’s Mental Health Report, 30% of of youth will experience anxiety, yet 80% of that group will go untreated; from the Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, 71% of parents said the pandemic had taken a toll on their child’s mental health; and from the American Academy of Pediatrics, “We are caring for young people with soaring rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness.” All of this is disturbing and needs to be addressed. But I’m not sure a robot is the answer to our problems.

So, let me share my reservations, which were the same reservations my friends shared with me after they watched the video.

First, while Moxie encourages social interactions, Riley is never shown interacting with any other children. Moreover, it appears that Riley is an only child. Even the consumer photos and videos confirmed this worry: only a few showed more than one child interacting with the robot. Kids are already isolated enough, and while I can see that the creators of Moxie believe this robot will encourage children to form further friendships — and maybe it could — I worry instead that it could become a crutch for isolated kids. Even more, I worry that parents may see it as a replacement for siblings.

Second, while the lessons from Moxie are good ones — how to communicate well, how to handle emotions, etc. — these are lessons that parents should be teaching their kids. As someone who has many friends who are teachers, we are already seeing a trend where too many parents rely on other people and institutions to raise their children. With that trend in mind, I worry that too many parents would rely on Moxie to do their God-given vocation to provide a healthy environment where their kids can learn these important life skills. The website itself even admits that “One of a parent’s most important jobs is to nurture a sense of belonging and resilience in their young kids.” Exactly: It’s a parent’s job, not a robot’s.

Now, I must make a clarification. From the reviews and consumer videos shared on the website, I can see that many children who appear to be of benefit to this product are on the autism spectrum — children who need a little extra love and support to cultivate the skills that come more naturally to most children. If this is an additional resource, I can see it being of help. However, to rely on this as a replacement for friends, siblings and even parents in the lives of any of our children is a mistake. And that’s what worries me about Moxie.

From a Catholic perspective, I find the name behind Embodied Inc., to be an interesting choice. We are embodied souls, and nothing can replace the human-to-human interaction for which we were created. Not even a social robot.

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Wed, 29 Jun 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[The Church has good news to tell]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/The-Church-has-good-news-to-tell https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/The-Church-has-good-news-to-tell By:

Hard to believe. It has been 20 years, an entire generation, since the American Catholic bishops met in Dallas, trying to cope with the explosive, then recent, revelation, previously discounted, concealed and denied, of sexual abuse of youth by priests, bishops and other Church personnel.

The meeting captured national attention. Reporters from every community in this country, and dozens from foreign countries, were present. So many reporters were there that the hotel designated a huge ballroom and equipped it with a large screen, the size of those in movie theaters, enabling accredited reporters to watch and hear proceedings.

Several, including Our Sunday Visitor’s representatives, I among them, were invited to sit at a table in the room in which the bishops met.

Next to me was a reporter from one of the largest and best-known newspapers in this country, from one of America’s largest cities, home to well over a million Catholics. Her reports of the Dallas gathering ran every morning on the front page of her paper. Many people formed their opinions about the meeting, the issue of sex abuse of the young by priests, bishops and Church figures, and indeed of the Catholic Church, based upon what she wrote.

For me, it was hard to follow the discussions because of her frequent questions, almost all of them almost childish, and certainly grossly uninformed, regarding the Church itself.

This continued throughout the meeting.

Often, I thought to myself, how sad it was that in this critical matter, many Catholics in her hometown, stunned, feeling betrayed and angry as they were, received their news on the issue from a source so badly unaware of so many compelling details.

This story is one example and is one explanation of why the Church in this country long ago established a network of media, headed by Catholics, employing Catholics, using their staff’s knowledge of things Catholic, and respect for Catholicism, to transmit to Catholics the genuine news of developments in their Church, and of world events and trends that affect Catholic discipleship.

Reliable reporting, and good Catholic commentary, still are needed by Catholics, but this country, and Western Europe, are facing a dilemma in all mass communications. Long distinguished media, Catholic or otherwise, are losing audiences. As expenses mount, many are ceasing operations.

Catholic media, Our Sunday Visitor, EWTN, local diocesan newspapers, radio and TV, and even parish bulletins are trying to cope with this reality. So are the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Fox, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, the History Channel, sports magazines, commercial radio stations and so on.

Not even the best and brightest professional has found the silver bullet.

Some years ago, supplying great sums of money, the American bishops inaugurated “CTNA”, the Catholic Television Network of America, hoping that it was the answer. Never capturing the mass of American Catholics, it was dissolved.

Add to the mix the impact of social media. Post the absurd charge that St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta plotted to kill all wildlife, to provide more food for humans and that she personally took a pick in hand, dug into the ice, and planted a nuclear bomb, which she secretly built in her convent, under the North Pole to contaminate outer space, thereby halting government appropriations for space endeavors, and someone will believe it and repeat it.

The Church has good news to tell.

During the Dallas meeting, three bishops left the hotel and walked through angry demonstrators to a nearby restaurant for dinner. They decided to return to the hotel by taxi. The taxi brought them safely to the hotel’s door, but the driver refused to charge them.

An immigrant from Honduras, he said, “After what ‘our’ Catholic Church does for people, in Honduras, here in Dallas, everywhere, how can I charge you?” The bishops tipped him. “Buy something for your children.”

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Opening the Word: A loving sacrifice inspired by the Gospel]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-A-loving-sacrifice-inspired-by-the-Gospel https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-A-loving-sacrifice-inspired-by-the-Gospel By:

The lives of the saints and Scripture go together. Ever since Scripture was written, the lives of the people who lived according to the Scriptures have also been written down, and they have then been read as a way of understanding Scripture more deeply.

The readings for this Sunday remind me of an episode from the life of St. Maximilian Kolbe. I will recount this episode for you here, as I read it in Patricia Treece’s 1993 book, “A Man for Others.” She compiled this account from that of several eye-witnesses who survived Auschwitz and who were present during the selection of the victims the day Kolbe offered himself in place of Francis Grajowniczek. See if you recognize the readings for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time come to life in Kolbe. Treece writes:

“Suddenly, there is movement in the still ranks. A prisoner several rows back has broken out and is pushing his way toward the front. The SS guards watching this Block raise their automatic rifles, while dogs at their heels tense for the order to spring. Fritsch and Palitsch, too, reach toward their holsters. The prisoner steps past the first row.

“It is Kolbe. His step is firm, his face peaceful. Angrily, the Block capo shouts at him to stop or be shot. Kolbe answers calmly, ‘I want to talk to the commander,’ and keeps on walking while the capo, oddly enough, neither shoots nor clubs him. Then, still at a respectful distance, Kolbe stops, his cap in his hands. Standing at attention like an officer of some sort himself, he looks Fritsch straight in the eye.

“‘Herr Kommandant, I wish to make a request, please,’ he says politely in flawless German.

“Survivors will later say it is a miracle that no one shoots him. Instead, Fritsch asks, ‘What do you want?’

“‘I want to die in place of this prisoner,’ and Kolbe points toward the sobbing Grajowniczek. He presents this audacious request without a stammer. Fritsch looks stupefied, irritated. Everyone notes how the German lord of life and death, suddenly nervous, actually steps back a pace.

“The prisoner explains coolly, as if they were discussing some everyday matter, that the man over there has a family.

“‘I have no wife or children. Besides, I’m old and not good for anything. He’s in better condition,’ he adds, adroitly playing on the Nazi line that only the fit should live.

“‘Who are you?’ Fritsch croaks.

“‘A Catholic priest.’

“Fritsch is silent. The stunned Block, audience to this drama, expect him in usual Auschwitz fashion to show no mercy but sneer, ‘Well, since you’re so eager, we’ll just let you come along, too,’ and take both men. Instead, after a moment, the deputy commander snaps, ‘Request granted.'”

I wonder what you saw as you read this episode?

Here are a few passages I see in Kolbe’s actions. I see Kolbe enfleshing the words of the psalm and the Letter of St. Paul to the Galatians: “I set the Lord ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed” (Ps 16:8). “For freedom Christ set us free. … Serve one another through love” (Gal 5:1, 13). A sacrifice like St. Maximilian Kolbe’s is only possible when one’s interior life is lived in communion with God! It is the love of God that Kolbe freely bears toward his neighbor that allows him to be so calm, and to peacefully offer himself up to death for a stranger.

And I see St. Maximilian showing us what Christ meant when he says in Luke: “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God (Lk 9:62, echoing 1 Kings 19). “Suddenly there is movement”; the movement of love. And Kolbe doesn’t look back.

June 26 – 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Kgs 19:16, 19-21
Ps 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
Gal 5:1, 13-18
Lk 9:51-62

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[The success of the National Eucharistic Revival depends on each one of us]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/The-success-of-the-National-Eucharistic-Revival-depends-on-each-one-of-us https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/The-success-of-the-National-Eucharistic-Revival-depends-on-each-one-of-us By:

A year and a half after the USCCB voted to proceed with a National Eucharistic Revival, this weekend — the feast of Corpus Christi, observed — marks the official launch. Proposed to address the dispiriting results of a Pew Research Study that found that even a significant number of Catholics in the United States who attend Mass once a week or more do not believe that Christ is truly present — body, blood, soul and divinity — in the Blessed Sacrament, the National Eucharistic Revival is a three-year journey culminating in a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis in July 2024. That congress, the bishops hope, will become a regular event in the life of the Church in the United States, fueling the fire of faith in the Eucharist into the future.

Yet, while it’s human nature to focus on the Big Event, there’s much more to this revival than the gathering of 80,000 or so Catholics in Indianapolis two years from now. The first year of the revival is focused on diocesan efforts to help Catholics encounter the reality of Christ truly present in the Eucharist they receive at every Mass — and which is reserved in the tabernacle of every Catholic Church 364 days a year. Across the country this weekend, many dioceses have organized Eucharistic processions in which scores of thousands of Catholics are projected to take part. In Our Sunday Visitor’s home diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, for example, 5,000 Catholics are expected to gather in Warsaw, Indiana, to follow Our Lord on a 2.8-mile pilgrimage from Sacred Heart Church to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and to take part in a Corpus Christi festival afterward.

Perhaps more than the National Eucharistic Congress, these Eucharistic processions are a good metaphor for the revival itself. While the planning of such diocesan-wide processions always begins with the invitation of the local bishop, their execution depends on the desire of lay Catholics to take part in a unique encounter with Our Lord. Not everyone will be able to walk the entire 2.8-mile route here in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, but the desire to give up a good portion of a Sunday in mid-June (Father’s Day, no less) to follow Our Lord even a short distance says more than the number of Catholics who ultimately arrive at the festival. People don’t make such sacrifices for a mere symbol; they may, however, make them for a Person.

The bishops have named Blessed Carlo Acutis as the patron of this first year of the National Eucharistic Revival, and in his life, we see the joy that an encounter with Christ in the Eucharist can bring. Given the number of Catholics who told Pew Research that they regard the Eucharist as a mere symbol, however, perhaps the Catholic novelist and short-story writer Flannery O’Connor might be a worthy secondary patron. When the novelist Mary McCarthy, herself raised Catholic, said that, as she had matured, she had come to regard the Eucharist as a symbol and “a pretty good one” at that, O’Connor replied, “in a very shaky voice, ‘Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it.'”

Most who recount this story end it there, but O’Connor went on to describe how she initially felt that her response to McCarthy was inadequate but had come to understand otherwise: “That was all the defense I was capable of but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about [the Eucharist], outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable.”

How many of us — even if we believe with our whole heart and mind that Christ is truly present, body, blood, soul and divinity, in the Blessed Sacrament — can say with O’Connor that the Eucharist “is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable”? Would our children, our fellow parishioners, our co-workers, our friends say that this is true of us? How many of us, even as we’ve understood how essential the National Eucharistic Revival will be to the future of the Catholic Church in the United States, have regarded it as something that others need more than we do?

The reality of our encounter with the Person of Christ in the Eucharist is that we can, and should, and must always go deeper — for our own sake, and for the sake of our families, our fellow parishioners, our co-workers, our friends. Because, in the end, the success of the National Eucharistic Revival depends not on the bishops but on each one of us. The more deeply we encounter Christ in the Eucharist, the more our lives will reflect that encounter. When Christ in the Eucharist is the center of our existence, those around us will know — and they will come to understand that the Eucharist is no mere symbol but a Person whom they, too, will desire to encounter more deeply.

Our Sunday Visitor Editorial Board: Gretchen R. Crowe, Scott P. Richert, Scott Warden, York Young

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Southern Baptists, sexual abuse and a culture in crisis]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Southern-Baptists-sexual-abuse-and-a-culture-in-crisis https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Southern-Baptists-sexual-abuse-and-a-culture-in-crisis By:

The country’s largest Protestant denomination has been embroiled in a battle royal for several years. At last, it has decided to make public the names of clergy and personnel who have been accused of sexually abusing youth. Ministers at the highest level of the denomination, equivalent to Catholic cardinals and bishops, are expected to be on the list.

Southern Baptists comprise the second largest Christian communion in the United States, only behind Catholics in the number of people attending their churches. They are significantly influential in all sectors. Many Baptists serve in Congress, among them prominent U.S. senators, including Lindsey Graham, (R.-South Carolina) and Ted Cruz, (R.-Texas). Two living former presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, are from the Baptist tradition.

Southern Baptists operate 57 colleges and universities, many secondary and elementary schools, and a network of major hospitals, coast to coast, serving, and hiring, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of Americans.

Important for Baptists are foreign missions. A major focus is historically Catholic South America. A Brazilian bishop, whose diocese is in the orbit of the great city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, told this columnist that half of the people listed in his parishes only a decade ago are Southern Baptists today. Many Hispanic Americans are joining Baptist congregations.

So, news of Southern Baptists is news.

Some observers of American religion think that the Baptist list will match, or exceed, in breadth and cover-up what has angered and humiliated Catholics for a generation.

(As an aside, not infrequently heard, in and out of Catholic circles, is that aggravating the problem in the Catholic Church has been priestly celibacy and too much same-gender sexual attraction among priests. Well, 99% of the accused Southern Baptist perpetrators are men married to women, and almost all are fathers.)

Because of long, determined and still evident resistance within the denomination to addressing cases of abuse publicly, and assertively, much work will be needed to repair what has occurred and to develop policies to prevent future cases. Since the Baptist disgraces, in too many American minds, religion itself, and religious values, Catholics should wish well Baptist efforts to find remedies.

Overall, the bright light piercing the dark clouds is that, everywhere, authorities, and rank and file, want action. Finally, finally, physicians define pedophilia as gravely injuring victims. Legislators are enacting laws. Police are responding. If Catholics take satisfaction in anything, it should be in the fact that Catholic leaders, popes on down, have moved to right the wrongs.

The problem is not Catholic, Baptist or even religious. For example, the story and scope of abuse in the Boy Scouts of America is heartbreaking. So are the figures for public schools, to say nothing of incest and unreported cases.

Something is wrong, badly wrong, across Western civilization, not just in these named groups, but in attitudes.

Overwhelming traditional Christian culture, whether it be the United States, Ireland, Australia, Spain, Canada, France or Chile, is the trend to yield to anything desired, repudiate all hesitation, regard personal gratification as everything, and judge sexuality simply as individual entertainment.

Sex exploitation of the vulnerable is one manifestation of a larger problem. People engage in physical intimacy, routinely, often rejecting commitment in marriage outright. Divorce is epidemic. So many cases involve infidelity. Lewdness fills everyday discourse and certainly the performing arts.

When did this process begin? Maybe it began 90 years ago with easy divorce, which Our Sunday Visitor’s founder, Archbishop John F. Noll, fought valiantly. Others say it started when, in the mid-1930s, major Protestant denominations accepted artificial contraception. Perhaps the Second World War, and adjustments in its aftermath, played a role, as have modern communications.

Whatever, Western culture is morally adrift. Witness the fury lately displayed when restrictions on abortion in this country were suggested. Moral standards mean little.

It is to be expected, the invariable result of forgetting Almighty God.

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Opening the Word:Corpus Christi Sunday and a God who feeds us]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-WordCorpus-Christi-Sunday-and-a-God-who-feeds-us https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-WordCorpus-Christi-Sunday-and-a-God-who-feeds-us By:

St. John Paul II said it plainly enough: “The Church draws her life from the Eucharist” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, No. 1). This is true. The Eucharist is what makes the Church the Church. And such is what we celebrate on the solemnity of Corpus Christi — namely, that it’s not we who make the Church but Christ in mystery, in sacrament — in his body and blood present upon every Catholic altar.

It’s the Catholic difference. If somehow a first-century Christian traveled through time to the 21st century and went looking for other Christians, it wouldn’t be until that time-traveling Christian found people gathered around a table with bread and wine on it that he or she would know they had found fellow believers in Christ. The music wouldn’t give it away, nor hands in the air, not even speaking in tongues (pagans did that, too); no, what would give it away that we were Christians would be that we celebrated the Eucharist, that the bread and wine on our altars we believed becomes body and blood. That’s what we mean by saying the Church draws life from the Eucharist, that it’s the “source and summit” of our faith. Because the Eucharist makes us what we are, the Church of Jesus Christ.

But why? The answer is simple: Because God feeds his people, always has. On Mount Sinai, God fed the elders of Israel. Mysteriously, it says, they ate and drank and saw God (cf. Ex 24:11). This was the same God that had fed them all along with manna and quail and water from the rock (cf. Ex 16-17). This was also the God whom David praised in song for setting a table in the wilderness, feeding his chosen people even in danger, in the midst of enemies (cf. Ps 23:5). It’s a primeval experience of faith, that our God feeds us. And it’s also why, when Jesus started miraculously feeding his disciples, they recognized these miracles for the Godlike signs they were. They knew God is a God who feeds, and so when the Son who said he was one with the Father also fed them, they knew they were in God’s presence. They knew what this Eucharist meant.

Which is the tradition Paul handed on to the Corinthians. And it’s exactly the same tradition that bears for us faith in the grace God still offers us in the Eucharist. God fed his people in the desert. God feeds us still today. One simply needs to know where God is offering this food — in the nearest parish, wherever there are Christians gathered around an altar, where bread and wine become body and blood.

And think of this feast in relation to the others, what the liturgical cycle is teaching us. This Christ we’ve followed since Christmas, now risen and ascended: We know that by the Spirit given at Pentecost he remains present to the Church. And we know by light of the dogma of the Trinity that since the Son is God and the Spirit is God, each mysteriously one God with God the Father, that our encounter with Christ in the Spirit is truly an encounter with God himself, that God is truly with us. And what’s even more amazing (and this is what Corpus Christi teaches us, following, as it does, Trinity Sunday) is that this God we encounter humbles himself enough that he places himself in our hands and on our tongues. Simply because he’s a God that wants to be with us, to feed us.

See the closeness of God in Catholicism! This is what we celebrate at Corpus Christi. This is how all we’ve heard and believed about the Scripture and about Christ actually touches us — in the bread and wine that become true body and true blood. It is the most amazing thing! May you recognize that it is so. And may it change you — this divine food.

June 19 – The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Gn 14:18-20
Ps 110:1, 2, 3, 4
1 Cor 11:23-26
Lk 9:11-17

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Fri, 17 Jun 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[An Unfailing Treasure: ‘Lumen Gentium’ and the universal call to holiness]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/An-Unfailing-Treasure-Lumen-Gentium-and-the-universal-call-to-holiness https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/An-Unfailing-Treasure-Lumen-Gentium-and-the-universal-call-to-holiness By:

The dogmatic constitution from the Second Vatican Council, entitled Lumen Gentium, promulgated on Nov. 21, 1964, sets forth the nature and mission of the Church. It begins by naming Jesus as the “light of the nations” (lumen gentium) and head of the Church, which is his body and includes all the faithful, both the visible society on Earth and the spiritual community in heaven. Jesus established the Church and ever sustains it as a sign and instrument of his grace, which is offered to all people (Nos. 1, 8).

The bulk of Lumen Gentium focuses on the different roles and charisms in the Church — laity, clergy and religious — and how the members travel together on their pilgrim way, witnessing to Christ on earth by lives of holiness, inviting others to join their ranks and moving toward full unity with him, his mother, and all the saints in heaven (No. 50).

Lumen Gentium ends by pointing the faithful to Mary as “a wholly unique member of the Church” (No. 53) and “the model of virtues” (No. 65). Redeemed “in a more exalted fashion” through the merits of Jesus (even before his time on earth) and “taken up to heaven,” Mary is the first creature to enjoy the fruits of Christ’s salvation. She freely consented to God’s call to become the mother of Christ and cooperates with him. Therefore, she is rightly called “the mother of the members of Christ,” for she intercedes for all and directs them to her son (Nos. 53, 60-65).

The sweeping panorama of the Church in Lumen Gentium embraces previous papal documents that centered on specific characteristics. For example, Satis Sognitum (Pope Leo XIII, Jun. 29, 1896) concentrates on the unity of the Church, and Mystici Corporis (Pope Pius XII, Jun. 29, 1943) identifies the Church with the Pauline teaching of the Body of Christ. The central ideas of both documents can be found in Lumen Gentium.

While the influences on Lumen Gentium are numerous — including the perspectives of all the prelates who commented on the drafts between 1962 and 1964 — two stand out. Vatican I’s constitution on the Church, Pastor Aeternus (1870), was very much on the mind of those at Vatican II. Pastor Aeternus focuses on the office of the papacy and its power, which obviously is one aspect of the Church. A fuller treatment was planned, but war and politics cut Vatican I short. The fathers at Vatican II, therefore, wanted to fill in the blanks with Lumen Gentium, particularly the relationship of the pope vis-à-vis the bishops (see especially Chapter 3).

The second major influence to mention here is Pope St. John XXIII, who convened Vatican II on October 11, 1962. Although Pope John died (Jun. 3, 1963) before Lumen Gentium was issued, his successor, Pope St. Paul VI, adopted his predecessor’s directive that the teachings of Vatican II should favor a pastoral approach, being open to the goodness of the world (including other religions) and sharing the good news of Jesus with all. Therefore, instead of concentrating only on intra-ecclesial matters or taking a defensive stance toward those outside Catholicism, the fathers of Vatican II sought to present the full hope and vision of the Church and what it meant for members and nonmembers, too.

The final version of Lumen Gentium succeeds at presenting a comprehensive and dynamic portrait of the Church. The reader learns about many of the Church’s elements: features such as the Church’s four marks (one, holy, catholic and apostolic), the seven sacraments and the different roles of the members. But all of the elements serve to illuminate the essence of the Church as a pilgrim people journeying through history under the headship of Christ toward full communion with him in heaven.

The salvation of the world is central to the meaning of Lumen Gentium, as Christ established the Church to continue his saving work. Through the holiness and witness of its members, the Church not only receives Christ’s grace but dispenses it, all the while pointing to him as the one Savior. Lumen Gentium says that each “disciple of Christ has the obligation of spreading the Faith” so that others might be saved, too (No. 17). It’s worth noting that membership by itself does not guarantee salvation, for a person who is fully incorporated in the Church but does not persist in charity “is not saved” (No. 14). And members and non-members alike can fall prey to the deceptions of the devil (No. 16). Hence, the obligation to evangelize.

Regarding the visible society on earth, the Church consists of the laity, clergy and religious. Since they are all one in Christ, they share “a true equality” (No. 32) and participate in Christ’s mission according to their role. Each baptized person is a priest, prophet and king, called by Christ to offer sacrifice, preach the Good News and serve one’s neighbor. But there are different roles.

Members of the clergy are called to the ministerial priesthood. They have the responsibility of presiding at the liturgy, preaching the Gospel and governing the Church. Members of the laity enjoy what is called the common or baptismal priesthood, which shares in the salvific mission of the Church as well. However, the laity have the special vocation of being a leaven within society, seeking God’s will in temporal affairs and being a witness to Jesus. Religious may be members of the clergy or the laity who have received the special gift of conforming themselves to the evangelical counsels of Christ: chastity, poverty and obedience.

When each member seeks to fulfill his or her role, relying on God’s grace, the goal of heaven becomes that more clear for them and for those to whom they witness.

Granted that the Church consists of different members fulfilling diverse roles, Lumen Gentium is quite clear “that all Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love” or, in other words, all are called to universal holiness (No. 40).

Holiness is not a passive reception of God’s grace. Rather, it is an active response to “hold on to and perfect in their lives that sanctification which they have received from God” (No. 40). Holiness is not exclusive to the “professional religious” (nuns and priests, etc.). It is the normal way of life for anyone who seeks to follow Christ, and it entails cultivating the relationship with God through daily prayer, acts of charity and participating in the life of the Church (such holiness, of course, results in being a witness of Jesus).

Mary is the model. One might think that because of the singular graces she was given, holiness came easier to her. The Scriptures suggest otherwise. Mary’s free consent to God to become the mother of Jesus placed her in difficult situations. Joseph considered divorcing her, she had to flee her homeland to protect her newborn, and she witnessed the brutal execution of her son. Who knows what else she endured? But we also know through Scripture that, by her faith and obedience, she endured until God took her up into heaven.

The call to holiness is shared by every disciple: to place one’s faith and trust in God, to receive Christ’s gifts that he offers through the Church by the power of the Holy Spirit, to persevere in love and to fulfill God’s will.

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[How each of us can use our gifts for the common good]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/How-each-of-us-can-use-our-gifts-for-the-common-good https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/How-each-of-us-can-use-our-gifts-for-the-common-good By:

This is a season for graduations, new adventures and promising futures. Commencement speeches are meant to inspire the next generation with examples of hope amid failure, trust when all seems dark and faith that there is something beyond us guiding our lives. The best speeches convey that success in life is not measured by dollars but by strength of character and commitment to the common good. Booker T. Washington once said, “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”

As Christians, Jesus challenges us to go one step further when he tells us to love one another “as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34). It is about seeing Christ present in the other and serving Christ in them. For graduates in a free-market society, using one’s gifts is not only to make money or to be the best version of oneself, but also to bring Christ’s light, hope and joy to others.

As a film reviewer, I often screen movies before their public debut. One delightful film has caught my imagination. The comedy “Jerry and Marge Go Large,” which will stream on Paramount+ starting June 17, tells the true story of a retired couple’s capitalistic adventures. The film centers on a factory retiree from a sleepy Michigan town who discovers a mathematical loophole in the lottery game Windfall. Along with his wife, Marge (Annette Bening), Jerry Selbee (Bryan Cranston) discovers that the more they invest in the game the greater their earnings, turning the odds in their favor.

As they test their theory, they develop their own investment group by involving the small business owners and people of the town. Their winnings are challenged by a group of students from Harvard who also discover the loophole and look to take down the competition that the Selbees present in order to increase the value of their jackpot prizes. However, for Jerry and Marge, playing the lottery becomes a fun retirement hobby they do together for other people. What could have been their personal wealth venture instead becomes an economic revival for the town. Jerry uses his incredible gift for the good of the entire community.

How do we as Christians use our gifts for the common good? It is about living each day with an other-centered focus, seeing each person as the image of Christ. Our very presence can uplift others when we give them our attention. A mom with young children who goes grocery shopping sees an elderly woman needing assistance, and along with her children helps the woman carry her groceries. A dad offers to coach his son’s soccer team. A group of young adult professionals on their day off contribute to a food shelter by serving meals, stocking shelves and distributing food. A nutritionist teaches people to care for their bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit through healthy eating habits. A mechanic pulls over on the road to assist someone with a flat tire. A person praying in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament intercedes for the needs of the world. These are all ways we can contribute to the common good of society. They may seem simple and hidden talents, but we change the world through our character and attentiveness to the needs of others.

As graduates venture into the next part of their journey, these examples give perspective on how the Christian life of service is lived at each stage of life. The more we see Christ personified in one another, the more we realize how our gifts can be used to bring light and hope into the world. We may not win the lottery to boost up our neighbors economically, but we can offer a smile, a word of hope, a prayer and an act of love. These build character. And our gifts are given by a loving God for the common good.

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Mon, 13 Jun 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Opening the Word: Understanding the love of the Triune God]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-Understanding-the-love-of-the-Triune-God https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Opening-the-Word-Understanding-the-love-of-the-Triune-God By:

“God’s very being is love” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 221; cf. 1 Jn 4:8). This is what the doctrine of the Trinity teaches us, and so our readings this week invite us to contemplate the connection between God’s love for us and the doctrine of the Trinity.

A long time ago — 1,703 years to be exact! — the Church realized the need to clearly articulate the doctrine of the Trinity precisely in order to defend God’s love for us. Thus, the Church has long understood that this doctrine proclaims and protects the ways God revealed himself to Israel and then to the Church. As the Catechism still summarizes it today, “By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit” (No. 221).

In this week’s column, we approach the doctrine of the Trinity as the Church’s attempt to articulate God’s love for us by going back to the Church’s first attempts to articulate this teaching. These attempts arose, in part, from this Sunday’s reading of Proverbs 8.

There was a presbyter named Arius who served the Church 1,703 years ago near Alexandria in Egypt. In 319, Arius preached on Proverbs 8. His sermons taught the faithful that God’s Word, or God’s Son, was literally “the beginning” of God’s creative works, created “at the first, before the earth.” Friends, this means that Arius understood the Son of God to be a creature, not eternally divine like God the Father. The Son, though, is a creature above all others, for the Son worked alongside the Father as a craftsman while all the rest of creation was created. While not eternally divine like the Father, the Son is an especially exalted creature, God’s helpful craftsman.

In this understanding of Proverbs, we do not have a Trinity. And so we also do not have the love of God as revealed to us in salvation history!

This is exactly what St. Athanasius pointed out in response to Arius’s teaching. Athanasius asked: “Why did God become incarnate anyway?” Everyone agreed in their answer to his question: “For us and for our salvation.” And we give the same answer today when we confess the Creed during Mass.

Athanasius showed us that if the Son of God is a creature, then his incarnation is not an act of salvation carried out for us! No, as a creature, even a special one, the Son stands to gain something for himself by becoming incarnate. And, what’s more, God essentially sends someone else to become incarnate. In other words, Arius’ understanding of the relationship between the Father and the Son does not allow for the revelation of God’s love. Indeed, it seems to reveal something far less than the laying down of one’s life for a friend, as Christ’s death is proclaimed, by the Son himself, to be!

But if the Son truly is “true God from true God … consubstantial with the Father,” then God himself became incarnate, suffered and died for us and for our salvation. In this, God reveals his love for us, uniting himself with us and drawing us into the life of love that he is.

As you can see, Athanasius and the Arians did not argue about the Holy Spirit. Such discussion came later, but the contours of the argument were the same: The Holy Spirit must be God himself, otherwise, again, we do not have a Trinity, nor do we have the fullness of God’s love poured out into our hearts (cf. Rom 5:5).

Friends, our God is Triune, a Trinity of Persons, an exchange of love. This unimaginable love is for us, as God has shown in word and deed, and that we hope to reveal to others by confessing the doctrine of the Trinity.

June 12 – The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Prv 8:22-31
Ps 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Rom 5:1-5
Jn 16:12-15

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Fri, 10 Jun 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Why we must not do away with ‘thoughts and prayers’]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Why-we-must-not-do-away-with-thoughts-and-prayers https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Why-we-must-not-do-away-with-thoughts-and-prayers By:

In her autobiography “Story of a Soul,” St. Thérèse of Lisieux writes that “prayer is an aspiration of the heart, it is a simple glance directed to heaven, it is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as well as joy.”

But for those who don’t pray, or don’t understand it, or simply don’t acknowledge the presence of the God who created them, prayer must seem like it has all of the benefits of talking to one’s imaginary friend — a sweet but hollow sentiment.

For Christians, however, “prayer is the breath of faith,” as Pope Francis said in 2020 as he began a series of catechetical talks on prayer. His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, said during his own catechesis on prayer in 2012 that Christians “must be able to ponder the events of our daily life in prayer in order to seek their deep meaning. … [May we] learn to see that God is present in our life, present also and especially in difficult moments, and that all things — even those that are incomprehensible — are part of a superior plan of love in which the final victory over evil, over sin and over death is truly that of goodness, of grace, of life and of God.”

As we wrestle with the most recent difficult and incomprehensible moments — namely, the shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, that killed 10 people and the attack on an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two adults were shot and killed — it’s important to be reminded of just how foundational prayer is to our lives as Christians. Because while it might be a stretch to say that prayer itself is being attacked, it is certainly being discounted in our wider culture — one that grows more secular by the day.

In the not-so-distant past, stating publicly that the victims of such tragedies would be included in one’s thoughts and prayers was seen as an act of love. For anyone who was shocked, saddened or outraged by the recent shootings, it was nearly impossible not to think about those who so suddenly and violently lost their lives — in Buffalo, the majority of whom were Black, and in Texas, the young schoolchildren who were days away from summer break.

Now, though, “thoughts and prayers” is not seen as an act of charity. In fact, the opposite is true. The phrase is mocked as a symbol of incompassion and inaction. Immediately following the school shooting in Uvalde, media outlets made clear just how unwelcome “thoughts and prayers” has become, as their headlines read: “Spare us your thoughts and prayers”; “Thoughts and prayers are not enough”; “Don’t allow lawmakers to ‘thoughts-and-prayers’ away Uvalde massacre”; and “Republicans send their thoughts and prayers after Texas school shooting.”

Part of the rise in hostility, as mentioned earlier, is the growing secularization of our culture and country. But this is not the sole reason, as many who take offense at the phrase “thoughts and prayers” are surely Christians themselves. Perhaps, then, the more prevalent reason for disgust is a genuine frustration — and anger — over what many perceive to be a callous and continued inaction by lawmakers. It isn’t the thoughts or the prayers themselves that are upsetting, but that those seem to be the only response to the growing pile of bodies gunned down across our country.

We ought to remember that just as keeping the victims at the forefront of our minds and offering prayers to God on their behalf are acts of good, so, too, is the insistence that something concrete must be attempted to prevent future tragedies. As the Letter of James reminds us — and something we need to remind the world — prayer and action aren’t mutually exclusive; instead, one flows from the other. “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? … If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,’ but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (2:14-17).

In an Angelus address in 2013, Pope Francis made this Scripture passage clear, saying: “In our Christian life … may prayer and action always be deeply united. A prayer that does not lead you to practical action for your brother — the poor, the sick, those in need of help, a brother in difficulty — is a sterile and incomplete prayer.”

Only when we as a society — Christians and non-Christians alike — understand the true meaning of prayer, and the power it still holds today, will we be able to unite as brothers and sisters with a common goal: to end the plague of senseless gun violence.

Our Sunday Visitor Editorial Board: Gretchen R. Crowe, Scott P. Richert, Scott Warden, York Young

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 02:00:00 -0500
<![CDATA[Letters to a Young Catholic: How to mentor]]> https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Letters-to-a-Young-Catholic-How-to-mentor https://www.foundersaffton.org/blog/Catholic-News--Perspective/Letters-to-a-Young-Catholic-How-to-mentor By:

Dear Friend,

I had had a conversation like this a hundred times before. A student came to my office because she wanted to talk about something going on in her life. She began, “I have a hole in my heart, and I need to take care of it.”

I responded with empathy. “I’m so sorry. That sounds hard.”

From her first line, I just knew that some love interest had broken her heart, or some friendship had fallen apart, or some family relationship was on the rocks. She was heartbroken; there was a hole in her heart. I have had a conversation like this a hundred times before.

I took on a compassionate silence so she could tell me as much as she wanted to. As she told me more about this hole in her heart, I kept listening, nodding along and waiting to hear who pierced her heart and how, so I could help her figure out what to do about it.

But as she kept talking, what she was saying did not exactly follow the kind of script I expected. Instead of talking about a relationship, she was talking about doctors’ visits. Instead of talking about her sadness and sorrow, she was talking about her symptoms. Instead of talking about restoring her emotional or psychological health, she was talking more about her physical health.

And then it hit me: “Oh wait … you mean … you actually, physically have a hole in your heart?!”

“Yes,” she said. “A real hole … in my heart … and I need to take care of it.”

She got how I totally missed what this was all about. She laughed. I laughed. Then we got back to the matter at hand, but this time I was really listening, because I had never had a conversation like this before.

A true original

The originality of that one mentoring conversation is not the exception but the rule. Even if, to a mentor, a conversation seems familiar because you have had ones like it with other people in the past, that familiarity is limited, and you must let go of it. Each person a mentor happens to mentor is never in any way just a repetition of other people you have mentored. This person before you is an original. Their situations are original. Their life is original. The best mentors are those who have become experts in recognizing the originality of the person and their particular situations — even as the mentor draws on past experience to do so.

The best mentors are not those who, like me, assumed they knew what was going on too soon because they’d had a hundred conversations like this before. Because I hadn’t. Even if my mentee had come to talk about her broken heart rather than the actual hole in her heart, she and her situation would have been original. This was about her heart.

I am writing to you about mentoring because mentoring is one of the most important responsibilities of adult life. It is also one of the necessary and essential facets of mature Christian discipleship — a way in which disciples give as they, themselves, have received. You may consider yourself more someone who needs to be mentored than someone who is called to mentor others. But there is no clear commencement date separating the former from the latter. For many of us, it just sort of happens: Suddenly, other people look to us for guidance; our support matters; our advice carries weight. Far too many people turn away from this responsibility of mentoring. I am writing to you about how to mentor because (if I can “should you” for a moment) you should not be one of those people who turns away from mentoring but rather someone who turns toward it.

This letter — like all my letters — is not primarily about “why” but rather “how” to mentor. I hope you will just grant that the willingness and availability to mentor is keeping with stronger character and true maturity. With that, then, let me share with you some thoughts about the “how” of mentoring.

From listening to rejoicing

Let’s make a plain thing plain: There is no such thing as a good mentor who is not a good listener. All good mentoring depends on and builds from good listening, careful listening, even creative listening. In the story I shared above, I thought I was ready to listen, but I wasn’t. I was assuming too much, interpreting too soon and falling into a certain kind of script while expecting my mentee to do the same. That’s not listening, and I was not yet ready to mentor, guide and support her well.

The first duty of a mentor is to prepare to listen fully and without prejudice. You may remember that in one of my previous letters, I recalled what Simone Weil said about loving your neighbor, which is that love of neighbor always begins from one question: “What are you going through?” For a mentor, that question should shape your fundamental disposition, because it is a question about the other person and their situation. It is about them, and they get the first word. The mentor’s first priority is to listen and listen well.

I don’t think listening well just happens in the moment — as in, when the other person is speaking or otherwise communicating. Good and deep listening happens afterward, too. I have learned from experience that I sometimes really hear what was said (or what was trying to be said, or hoping to be said, or begging to be said) sometime afterward, after things have settled into my mind. A wise practice for a wise mentor is, therefore, to keep a mentoring journal, or something like that. On the one hand, it is a way to take notes (after the fact) of conversations or other interactions with someone you are mentoring so that you can recall those experiences well later on, when memory fades. On the other hand, it is a way to reflect on what has been shared, to make connections that were not at first readily apparent, and to engage in some creative listening where you can start to think with your mentee and maybe even open up new areas of understanding or growth that they haven’t considered.

Good mentors make their wisdom and experience available to their mentees, for their mentees’ benefit. Good Christian mentors do that, too, but they also actively seek divine wisdom and guidance for their mentees’ benefit. In other words, Christian mentors pray for those whom they mentor, and they pray for the grace to be a good mentor. If mentoring is about seeking the other person’s good and fulfillment, then praying for a mentee is offering their needs and their growth to the One who knows them best and cares for them most. The good Christian mentor also prays for wisdom and humility in themselves, so that they can mentor well and truly become a student of their mentee: learning what they are going through, studying what is good for them, becoming more attuned to the originality of their life. In prayer, a good Christian mentor might ask the Lord to help them see what exactly is the good their mentee is called toward. You might ask for help in perceiving the knots and tangles that are part of the other person’s desires and relationships. You might petition the Lord to help you see what you have not seen but need to see, or what the mentee has not seen in their own life but may grow to see.

As I have thought about mentoring, especially in terms of those who have mentored me and those whom I have mentored, I have come to think in terms of music. Mentoring is about finding the music that someone else can dance to well, rather than trying to force your own taste in music on someone else. Think about the difference there. Mentoring is not shaping someone else according to your own preferences and preferred script, and it is definitely not about micromanaging another person. What mentoring is about is helping to shape the freedom and responsibility of another person in the way appropriate to your particular relationship and what they need or seek from you. The point is that they become more and more free, more and more responsible, more and more capable according to their abilities. Mentoring is about playing an important part in helping someone else to grow and flourish — to dance, if you will, in the way that they are created and called to dance. You might even think of mentoring as helping other people to someday become good mentors themselves, who may share their own wisdom, experience and support with generosity, patience and kindness.

Finally, as a mentor, you ought to let your mentee be a joy to you. If you do not find joy in the well-being of the other person, then pray — indeed, beg! — for the grace to delight in them. If joy will not come, then help them find another mentor in your stead. Yet, if joy does come from this relationship — as it should and often does — then thank God for that gift. The person who has trusted you is an expression of God’s own generosity toward you.

This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.

Mon, 06 Jun 2022 02:00:00 -0500