catholic family faith

Lord's Day Faith Chat - Fifth Sunday of Lent - March 29, 2009

To live in covenant with God means that we need to give up our own desires in order to live as God wants us to live.  Jesus exemplifies this as he tells his friends that his hour has come.  He prays:  "I am troubled now.  Yet what should I say?  'Father, save me from this hour'?  But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.  Father, glorify your name."

Through his death, Jesus was able to rise to new life, glorified as the Christ.  He is the grain of wheat that dies in order to bear much fruit.  When we die to ourselves and put other's needs before our own, God fills us with the grace to glorify God's name and bear the fruit of God's love in our homes and communities.

Faith Question:  What is something that you need to let go of or stop doing in order to allow God's love to grow more deeply within you?

Faith Response:  Plant some seeds together.  In a flower pot or other container, invite each person to push one seed into the soil.  As he/she plants the seed, have him/her say one thing that they need to let go of, to let die, in order to grow closer to God.  Nurture the seeds and watch the plants grow as you nurture God's love to grow in your lives by putting other's needs before your wants.

Prayer:  Seed of Life, help us to let go of our wants and let your love grow more fully within us.  Amen.

Challenge of Children Workshop (Holland, MI)

On Thursday, May 14, 2009, Hope College in Holland, Michigan, is hosting a Challenge of Children Conference.  This conference offers a wide variety of relevant parenting topics presented by local and national speakers.  Some of the workshops are: Positive Behavioral Support at Home, Working with Picky Eaters & Discovering Fun Snack Ideas, Everyday Ways to Support Your Child's Development, Talking to My Tween or Teen about Dating Violence, Avoiding Power Struggles, and more! 

Download this registration form for more information: http://tburnsfamilyfaith.typepad.com/2009CoCregistration.pdf

The Blessing of Illness

What do you do when you're sick?

For most of the day yesterday, I just sat.  Because of a low-grade fever, achiness, and congestion I didn't have the energy to do the things that I would normally do...exercise/walk, housework, laundry, cooking, writing...  Instead, I just laid on my couch.

A while ago, I gave up watching TV on a regular basis.  I still watch some programs and movies with my family, but I do not watch TV every day and there are many days I go without TV altogether.  In the past if I were sick, I would just sit and channel surf through the day.  This is the first time that I've been sick without channel surfing.

I was able to finish a book I was reading.  It was a light mystery by Mary Higgins Clark.  Easy reading, but a good page-turner.  But I even had moments through the day when I just didn't want to read.  As a result, I found myself just be-ing.  I closed my eyes (but couldn't sleep because I had already slept 12+ hours) and just listened to the sounds around me:  My cats purring on my lap, my dogs steady breathing as they napped, the occasional passing car, birds outside flitting in the trees, the tick of my clock, the fire in the fireplace...  As I listened to the sounds around me, I found myself going deeper within myself. 

As I have practiced centering prayer for a while, I knew before I closed my eyes what could happen if I just sat and listened.  Sometimes in my prayer I will imagine God speaking with me, a conversation between my Creator, my Life Source, and me.  But this time, I didn't "hear" any conversations.  I just was.  I knew God was with me, within me, holding me, but God didn't say anything.  We just sat together.

Because I didn't have the energy to do anything else, I was able to just be with God for a few hours.  Yes, sometimes illness can be a blessing.

Featured Website: Spirituality & Practice

This website was recommended in a professional journal that I receive.  It includes resources for your spiritual journey:  Daily spiritual practices; exploring spirituality through books, audio, film, & DVD; biographies and information on spiritual teachers; and more...

Visit this website to enhance your own spiritual journey:   http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/

Lord's Day Faith Chat - Fourth Sunday of Lent - March 22, 2009

Today's reading from the gospel of John gives us hope and challenge.  Often, we get caught up in "doing" in order to gain eternal life.  But God offers us the gift of salvation freely, nothing required, no strings attached.  "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him."  This is our hope:  Jesus welcomes us into the kingdom of God with his arms open and outstretched.

Now for the challenge.  We don't always choose to follow Jesus.  "And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil."  Sometimes we choose to live in the darkness rather than to live in God's light.  The challenge is to walk away from the darkness and into the light; to face our sins and reconcile with God, ourselves, and others.  When we turn from the darkness of sin, God's light will shine in our lives.

Faith Chat: 

Adults:  What areas of your life do you keep in darkness?  What do you need to let go of in order to more fully embrace the Light of Christ?

Youth/Children:  Why do you think it's hard to always tell the truth?  What can you do to help yourself tell the truth better?

Faith Response:  Gather together as a family or household.  Light a candle.  Invite each person to say "I'm sorry" for something that they have done or not done.  After everyone has said "I'm sorry," tell one another "I forgive you," then pray the Our Father together.

Prayer:  Light of the World, help us to allow the light of your love to shine through us.  Amen.

Ireland by Frank Delaney

It's timely that I finished reading Frank Delaney's book, Ireland, the night before St. Patrick's Day.  I could read it again!

Ireland is a novel about a young boy who spends his life searching for a storyteller that comes to his home one evening.  Woven into the plot of the boy's search and his coming-of-age are beautiful stories of Ireland's lore.  Delaney's writing sings with the myths and legends that make up Ireland's history.  I actually learned a lot about Ireland through the stories he included in the book.

In the author's note at the beginning of the book, Delaney writes that the country's oral tradition "took great care to say that imagination and emotion insist on playing their parts in every history, and therefore, to understand the Irish, mere facts can never be enough..."  I believe that this is the truth of every nation, every tribe, every person; "we merge our myths with our facts according to our feelings, we tell ourselves our own story.  And no matter what we are told, we choose what we believe.  All 'truths' are only our truths, because we bring to the 'facts' our feelings, our experiences, our wishes.  Thus, storytelling--from wherever it comes--forms a layer in the foundation of the world..." (Frank Delaney)

This idea of the foundational layer of storytelling is certainly true in the Catholic faith.  The Bible is a collection of stories first told and heard aloud around fires of food and warmth.  The Church's Tradition is a passing on of the experiences of events through the centuries and an understanding of those experiences.  One's own individual faith is tapestry of stories and experiences shared with family, community, and within one's own heart and soul.

Storytelling, whether it's Irish history, Church history, or personal history, is a foundational component of human life.

Whether or not you are Irish, I encourage you to read Ireland by Frank Delaney (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2005) if only for the wonderful stories that it contains.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

Celebrate the feast day of everyone's favorite Saint with food, crafts, and more...

Visit these websites for Irish recipes:

http://www.ireland-information.com/irishrecipes/index.htm

http://fp.enter.net/~rburk/stpatricksday/stpatrick'sdayrecipes.htm

http://www.irelandseye.com/aarticles/culture/recipes/index.shtm#top

For kid fun, visit these sites:

http://holidays.kaboose.com/saint-patricks-day/

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/patrick/

http://www.kiddyhouse.com/Holidays/StPat/StPat.html

http://www.kidsturncentral.com/holidays/stpats.htm

http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/holiday_pat.htm

Lord's Day Faith Chat - Third Sunday of Lent - March 15, 2009

In the Old Testament reading from the book of Exodus, God provides the Commandments for God's covenant with Israel.  God has chosen the Israelites to be God's own people.  In order for the Israelites to be God's people, they need to commit themselves to the covenant and act as people of God would act.  The Commandments give them an outline of how God wants God's people to act.

For Israel, the Temple is a sign of God's presence.  The Temple is the dwelling place of God.  It is sacred space.  Through his actions, Jesus calls attention to how the moneychangers and sellers have lost their respect for that sacred space.  He challenges them to turn from their sin and to turn back to God by respecting the Temple.  This is a classic Lenten message.

By our baptism, we are God's people.  Therefore, we should act as people of God.  The Scriptures and Church Tradition are our guidelines for how we should be as people of God.  But sometimes we forget, we turn away, we put more importance on the things of the world than on the things of God.  When we turn away from God, Jesus gives us signs that we need to repent and turn back to God.  Sometimes those signs are as dramatic as chaos in a marketplace.  Sometimes those signs are as subtle as a thought.  But whether we experience Jesus' challenge as something dramatic or subtle, God calls us back.  It's up to us to accept God's invitation to repent.

Faith Chat Question:  How do you show God respect at church?  At home?  At school?  At work?

Faith Response:  Gather together as a family.  Beginning with the youngest member of the family, have everyone gently place their hands on that person's head or shoulders.  Then have each family member tell the person one way that they see Jesus in him or her.  Continue this process with each person.  End with a family group hug.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, help us to love and respect you by showing love and respect for one another.  Amen.

Keeping God's Decrees

Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.  Happy are those who keep God's decrees, who seek God with their whole heart...  O that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! (Psalm 119:1-2,5)

How do people know that I am a disciple of Christ, that I believe in God?  To follow God's ways, to live according to God's decrees is the way that I show that I am a child of God.

God's Commandments aren't a matter of ownership and legalism, although we often make them legalistic - pray and obey!  God's Commandments express who God is:  fair, merciful, just.  Jesus' summary of the Ten Commandments with the Law of Love shows us that all of God's ways are rooted in love.  God doesn't want us to obey God's laws in order to keep us under control.  God wants us to follow God's ways because God wants us to be like God, loving and holy. 

Too often, we make God's Commandments a legalistic formula to follow:  obey them and live, don't obey them and be punished.  I know that I too often get caught up in the legalism of God's and the Church's decrees.  We really don't have to follow God's Commandments; it's our choice.  Whether we choose to live according to God's ways will determine the kind of person we are, a person of God or not a person of God.  Personally, I want to be, to live as, a child of God.

O that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!

Lord's Day Faith Chat - Second Sunday of Lent - March 8, 2009

How white is the whitest thing you own?  Is it so white that it glows?  In the story of Jesus' Transfiguration, we hear that "(Jesus') clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller (nor Clorox bleach) could bleach them."  Moms and dads who do laundry know that sometimes removing stains from garments and making them white again can be a challenge.  It can be difficult for us to turn from temptation and sin so that God can purify our souls.  But we have joy in the knowledge that God can remove the sin from our souls, purifying us and drawing us closer to God.  It is only with God's grace that we can avoid temptation and sin.  The story of Jesus' Transfiguration gives us hope for the day when Christ will return and bring us into the fullness of his kingdom, glorifying our bodies and all of creation.

Faith Chat Question:  How do you listen to Jesus?  How does listening to Jesus help to put your faith into action?

Faith Response:  Together as a household, each day this week spend at least 5 minutes in silence: no TV, no stereo or radio, no IPod, no computer, no speaking.  In that 5 minutes of silence, just listen.  After spending at least 5 minutes in silence, talk about what you heard, what you thought, how it felt just to be quiet.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, help us to listen to you more intently so that, in turn, our faith may grow.  Amen.