catholic family faith

Lord's Day Faith Chat - Most Holy Trinity - May 30, 2010

The Holy Trinity is probably one of the most difficult to grasp mysteries of our faith.  Three Persons in One God.  Our language makes it confusing to consider this.  When we think of "person," we think of individual bodies.  So how can three bodies be contained in one Being? 

Then we talk to one another and our children using the terms "God," "Jesus," "Holy Spirit," often using them all in one sentence.  I was looking at some religious education materials recently that talked about God's love for children.  The writings said, over and over, "God and Jesus love you;" "How do you show your love for God and Jesus."  In a child's literal mind, this is separating God and Jesus into two distinct entities.

While our language can tend to limit our understanding of the Holy Trinity, we have images that help us to grasp the idea of three Persons in one God, or as I prefer to say, three Experiences of one God.

Water, H2O: Most elementary children learn in their sciences classes about H2O, two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen.  They learn that H2O can be experienced in three different ways.  We encounter H2O most often as water, in lakes and rivers, in showers and baths, to drink, flowing and moving.  When H2O freezes, it turns to ice, hard, solid, cold.  When H2O heats up, it turns to steam, evaporating into the air.  H2O can be used as an image of the Trinity in that water gives life and is refreshing just as the Creator gives life and refreshes souls.  Ice is solid and can be held, having substance just as the Son took on flesh.  Steam is elusive, but we can feel it in the air, just as the Spirit cannot be seen, but we feel Spirits effects within and around us.

Fire: This other natural element can also be used as an image of the Trinity.  Fire provides energy for cooking and heating, just as God the Father energizes creation to live and move and having being.  Fire can be seen in its flame, just as people could see God the Son in the person of Jesus.  Fire gives off heat, which can't be seen but can be felt, just as the Holy Spirit can't be seen, but can be felt within and around us.

Three Leaf Clover: St. Patrick used the clover to explain the Trinity to the people of Ireland.  He showed them how there are three leaves - God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - but only one plant.

What other images can you come up with to help explain the Holy Trinity?  What is your favorite image to use to explain the Trinity?

Faith Chat Questions:  In your life, how do you recognize God as Father...as Son...as Holy Spirit?  With which Person of the Trinity do you relate the most? 

Faith Response:  Make and eat a salad that includes apples.  As you cut and eat the apples, share this image of the Holy Trinity: The core of the apple is the center and holds the seeds of life, representing God the Father, the Creator and Giver of Life.  The flesh of the apple represents God the Son, Who took on human flesh in the person of Jesus.  The skin of the apple represents God the Holy Spirit, Who surrounds Father and Son, and all of Creation.

Pray:  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

 

Lord's Day Faith Chat - Pentecost - May 23, 2010

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give it to you.  Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.  (John 14:27)

Do we not long for peace?  We want peace in our families, in our schools and places of work, in our neighborhoods and communities, and in our world.  It sometimes seems, though, that in our world true peace is elusive.  How can we experience true peace when war rages on and people hurt other people with words and actions?

What do you think of when you hear the word "peace"?  My initial thought is "aah, quiet."  You might think that peace means not having to deal with any problems or challenges or that peace means the absence of war and violence.  It is true that peace is all of this.  But this passage from the Gospel of John reminds us that Jesus promises us a peace that is different from the world's peace.  In fact, Jesus not only promises us peace, but He gives us His peace now; we just need to be open to welcoming it.  Jesus even gives us the key to true peace:  Forgiveness.

Why do we have war?  We have war because people want something that someone else has or because another group of people did something against them and they feel the need to retaliate.  We have war because people are greedy and want power over others.

Why do we have unrest in our communities and in our families?  We have unrest in our communities and our families because people have been hurt by the words and actions of others, they are discontent, and they are carrying grudges against others.

Jesus' key to true peace is embedded in the act of forgiveness.  Forgiveness seems unattainable in the global sphere because of the sins of greed and pride.  The unrest of our world seems to big to even comprehend possible peace.  If we begin practicing forgiveness in our own lives, in our families and communities, we can begin to shift energy from negativity and grudges to forgiveness and peace. 

Jesus shares His peace with us through the Holy Spirit and forgiveness.  In turn, He sends us forth to share that same peace through forgiveness.  We can make a difference, we can bring about peace if we begin to forgive ourselves and those around us.  As we forgive others, the Holy Spirit will fill those whom we forgive and empower them to forgive.  If more of us begin the practice of forgiveness, our children, our future world leaders, will grow up with the Spirit of forgiveness.  We can shift our world from unrest to peace one act of forgiveness at a time.

Faith Chat Questions:  Is there a grudge you've been holding on to for a while?  What might you need to do to forgive and let go of that grudge in order to experience the peace of Christ?

for Children:  Name one way you can forgive a family member, friend, or anyone else you know.

Faith Response:  Write each of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit (from Galatians 5:22-23) on a slip of paper:  Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control.  Put the slips of paper in a jar or bowl on your kitchen/prayer table.  Each morning, draw a slip from the jar and tell all household members to practice that Fruit of the Spirit throughout the day.  At dinner or bedtime, have each family member tell how they shared or experienced that Fruit of the Spirit throughout the day.

Pray:  Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love.  Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth.  O God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy the Spirit's consolations, through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 

Novena to the Holy Spirit

What is a Novena?

A novena is a public or private prayer that is prayed nine times – nine days, one day per week for nine weeks, at the beginning of the hour for nine hours, or so.  The word novena comes from the Latin word meaning “nine.”

Typically, there are four types of novena: 

• Mourning, as during the nine days following a death
• Preparation, as nine days of prayer before a major feast such as Christmas, Easter, or Pentecost
• Prayer, as for a particular intention
• Penance, as for forgiveness either before or after the Sacrament of Reconciliation

How to pray a Novena?

There is no particular formula for a novena; there are a variety of different formats for novena prayers.  Sometimes a novena is simply the praying of a particular prayer nine times.  Some novenas, particularly public prayers, include Scripture readings, reflections, litanies, or hymns.  There is no wrong way to pray a novena.

There is much information on the Internet regarding novenas, and there are a number of available novena prayer books.

 

Download this file for an outline of a Novena to the Holy Spirit: 

Download NovenaHolySpirit.pdf (70.6K)

Lord's Day Faith Chat - Ascension of the Lord - May 16, 2010

Note:  May 16th is actually the seventh Sunday of Easter, but in most dioceses of the United States the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord is moved from the sixth Thursday of Easter (40 days after Easter Sunday) to the seventh Sunday.

"Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?  This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven."  (Acts 1:11)

Good-byes are never easy.  Family and friends move away.  Loved ones die.  While departures are difficult, they are necessary. 

Jesus' disciples experienced two significant good-byes.  The first was when Jesus was crucified.  After his death, the disciples were distraught.  They didn't know what to do.  Despite Jesus' foretelling them that he would die, but that he would return, they still mourned their loss.  But their sorrow was turned to joy with the resurrection.  They saw Jesus again.  They touched him and shared meals with him.  Their faith was restored.

Jesus left them again when he ascended into heaven.  In the ascension account in Acts of the Apostles, the discples stand looking up at the sky until "two men dressed in white garments" told them that Jesus would return.  The ascension account in the Gospel of Luke proclaims that "they did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy."  (Luke 24:52)  This time, even though Jesus is gone, they know that he will return.  They joyously look forward to his coming back.

Even though we mourn the departures of loved ones, our faith in the Living God reminds us that good-byes are not the end.  There is more to come.  Despite our immediate sorrow, we rejoice in the knowledge of our inevitable reunion with those we love.

Faith Chat Question:  How do you witness to others of your experience of Jesus?

Faith Response:  Look up this week.  Take a walk as a family.  As you walk, don't look at your feet; look up.  (If it's difficult to look up as you walk, take a mirror and hold it so that you can see the sky in it.)  Notice God's creation all around you.  Discuss how God speaks to you through creation.  What do you know about God through God's creation?

Pray:  Risen Jesus, give us a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of you.  Enlighten us with hope and the surpassing greatness of your power.  Amen.  (from Ephesians 1:18-19)

 

Lord's Day Faith Chat - Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time - May 9, 2010

Jesus answered and said to him, "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him...Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give it to you.  Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid."  (John 14:23,27)

Peace and love.  Two things for which we long.  And Jesus promises us both if we simply keep his word.  Or is it that simple?

In our world, we are bombarded by troubles.  War and violence are continuous in many lands on our Earth.  Families are suffering from alcoholism, abuse, financial difficulties.  Our friends have lost jobs and are still looking for work.  Many of us work too many hours each week, causing stress on ourselves and our families.  Our children are often overwhelmed with school work and multiple extracurricular activities.  Looking at all the strife in our world and in our lives, it is no wonder that our hearts are troubled and afraid.

And yet we have a choice.  We can choose to continue to live by the world's rules of success and achievement, working ourselves into our graves, causing division in our homes, allowing the excesses that our world promotes to take over our lives.  Or we can choose to live by Jesus' word. 

What does it mean to live by Jesus' word?  Here are some of my thoughts in reflecting on this question:

To live by Jesus' word means to make time for Sabbath rest in our schedules.  Jesus often went off by himself to pray, to spend time with the Father, to be quiet.  He called his apostles to take time away, especially after a focused mission, to reflect on their experiences and to teach them.  We, too, need to take time away.  The saints and mystics through the centuries have recognized our need for daily quiet and prayer.  This regularly scheduled Sabbath time allowed them to do great things, or should I say, using the words of Mother Teresa, that they did ordinary things with extraordinary love, which made them seem like great things.  Many of the men and women I admire today spend time each day in quiet and prayer.  This time of quiet and prayer allows us to focus and to be infused with God's wonderful love and peace.

To live by Jesus' word means to forgive.  One of Jesus' most often preached, yet possibly the most difficult, message is to forgive.  He tells us not only to forgive our friends and family members when they hurt us, but he also tells us to forgive our enemies and those we don't even like.  Are you carrying any grudges?  Do you wish harm on someone because of what they did to you?  Do you feel that people who are fighting against the U.S. and their allies are horrible, evil-filled people who don't deserve prayer and at least some attempt at understanding?  In the Lord's Prayer, we say, "and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."  Do you want God to forgive you - or not - in the same way you forgive others - or not?  Forgiveness can be difficult.  When we are hurt, our egos naturally want to be placated.  But if we put our ego aside and forgive those who hurt us and those we don't like, Jesus will fill us with his peace.  There's a lot more I can say on forgiveness, but perhaps that's best saved for another article.

To live by Jesus' word means to live in joy despite the difficulties in our lives.  Everyone experiences difficulties; no one is exempt from suffering.  Some of us deal with physical pain and illness.  We have financial difficulties, trying to provide for our families - food, clothing, shelter, warmth, light - on limited or no income.  Many of us are dealing with emotional pain and mental illness.  Sometimes we just don't feel good about our lives, we don't enjoy our work, we don't feel comfortable in our own skins.  We all experience suffering, but how we deal with our suffering is up to us.  Do we wallow in self-pity?  Do we become angry and bitter?  Do we blame others for the situations in our lives?  Or do we pray, turn to Jesus for comfort, keep smiling despite what we may be feeling on the inside, give thanks to God for all the good in our lives - because despite our sufferings, there is still A LOT OF GOOD.  I have found that if I count my blessings every day, and I literally write them down in my journal, I feel more at peace, despite whatever chaos is trying to pull me down.  Living an Attitude of Gratitude naturally brings about joy.

I could go on and on, but I think this article is already long.  I encourage you to reflect more on what it means to live by Jesus' word.  The Word is transforming.  Allow the Word to fill you with peace and love.

Faith Chat Questions:  How do you keep Jesus' word?  What are some specific things you do to deliberately live Jesus' teaching in your everyday life?

Household Activity:  Practice living Jesus' love and peace this week.  At the end of each day, at your evening meal or bedtime, have each family member say one thing they did that day that expressed Jesus' love and peace to others.  Family members may help one another recognize how they lived love and peace.

Pray:  Risen Jesus, shine your Light of Love in our hearts this week.  Help us to share your love and peace with all whom we meet.  Amen.

 

Praying Our Clothing Labels

This morning, as I was ironing one of my shirts, I glanced at the label just inside the collar.  I noticed that the shirt was made in Thailand.  At that moment, I felt that I needed to pray for the people who created my shirt and got it to me so that I can wear it.

One of the seven themes of Catholic Social Teaching is Solidarity.  As Catholics, we believe that all persons are part of "one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences.  We are our brothers' and sisters' keepers, wherever they may be.  Loving our neighbor has global dimensions in our shrinking world."  (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, http://usccb.org/sdwp/projects/socialteaching/excerpt.shtml)

One way we can promote solidarity is by praying our clothing labels.  Clothing is made all over the world.  Some clothing is made legitimately, utilizing a system that recognizes human dignity and pays a fair wage to all workers involved in the clothing creation and distribution process.  Some clothing, however, is still created in sweatshops where human, many who are young females, are exploited by being made to work very long hours with poor compensation.

Praying our clothing labels involves looking at clothing labels when we buy items - whether we buy them new at department stores or used as thrift or consignment shops - and then praying for the persons who had a role in creating the item or getting it to the store at which we are buying it.  We can also pray our clothing labels every time we get dressed by looking at the label and praying for the persons involved in its creation.  We pray for the people who create and distribute the clothing we wear that they may be safe, that they may be recognized as humans who have an inherent dignity because of their creation in the image and likeness of The Creator, that they may be paid a just wage so that they can provide for their families, and that they may feel God's comfort and love in all areas of their lives.

So the next time you get dressed or get your children dressed, look at the label and pray for the persons who had a role in creating your clothing and getting it to you to wear.  Give thanks to God for them, and pray for their well-being.

Bedtime Faith Formation

As a Director of Parish Formation (religious education), I usually spend a lot of the month of May evaluating the last school year and planning for the next year.  Each year, I struggle with ending religious education classes because faith formation is continual, life-long, never-ending, ever-present.  As I was praying about my frustrations with our focus on faith formation as a "class" process following a school year model, the Holy Spirit blessed me with a thought that I now want to share with all parents:  Bedtime Faith Formation! 

Here's how Bedtime Faith Formation works:

At the end of each day, parents prepare their children for bed.  Most families have a bedtime process.  When my daughters were young (they are 18 and 20 now), after dinner as I cleaned up and put the dinner things away, they would play.  I let them out of dinner clean up because I felt they needed some play time, especially after they started school.  After dinner clean up and play time, they each had a bath.  When they were small and I still bathed them, we would play water games.  I loved to wrap their wiggly wet bodies into dry towels and carry them to their rooms to put on their pajamas.  Then we would have a snack, maybe watching a good TV show or video.  Then we would head to one of the bedrooms for a bedtime story.  Usually, it was Mom's and Dad's bed because it was the biggest.  After story, we said our prayers.  Then lights out and quiet.  (Well, sometimes there were some silly words and giggles shared or some "Mom, I'm thirsty" after lights out.)

For us and for most families, bedtime is a ritual.  In fact, "experts" say that having a bedtime ritual helps children wind down so that when they are finally in bed, they are ready to sleep without the "Mom, I'm thirsty" syndrome.

We could say that our bedtime rituals are traditions.  Our Catholic faith is a lifestyle of traditions.  Liturgy is a tradition.  Sacraments are traditions.  Reading the Holy Scriptures is a tradition.  Praying shared prayers, like the Our Father and Hail Mary, is tradition.  Bedtime Faith Formation incorporates our faith traditions into our bedtime rituals. 

As you give your child his bath in the evening, remind him of his baptism.  When you pour water over his head to rinse his hair, say something like, "You know, when you were baptized, the priest poured water over your head and said, 'I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.'"  Ask your child, "When do we pray these words, 'In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit'?"  Do this often enough and he will associate water and the Sign of the Cross with remembering his baptism.

As you put your child's pajamas on her, talk about all the things for which you are thankful:  Clothes, pajamas, Mom and Dad, grandparents, siblings, food, etc.  For each thing, give thanks to God.  This will help your child to recognize that God is the giver of all good gifts and that it is good for her to give thanks to God every day.

As you share a snack, talk about the things that happened to family members that day.  Give thanks to God for the good and fun.  Ask God for guidance and comfort for the difficult and sad.

Mix Bible stories into your bedtime stories repertoire.  Your child will begin to call for his favorite Bible stories along with his other favorite stories.

As you tuck your child into bed, share prayers together.  Say "Thank you" to God (you can never give God too much thanks); pray for family members, friends, and neighbors; ask God to take away fears and hold your child in His hand as she sleeps.

I believe that if Catholic parents incorporate some faith formation into their bedtime rituals - and other daily activities - children will grow up to know and believe that their Catholic faith is special, precious, life-long, never-ending, ever-present, and a wonderful gift.  Then religious education will be primarily a household/family activity, and parents will become their children's best and most favorite catechists.

Lord's Day Faith Chat - Fifth Sunday of Easter - May 2, 2010

I give you a new commandment:  Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you should also love one another.  This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35)

Family life naturally includes love, so love is easy, right?  Not really.  At least not the sort of love that Jesus is talking about here.  He commands us to love one another as he loved us.  Jesus' kind of love is challenging, other-serving, transformative.

When we love as Jesus loves, we will forgive always and completely.  We would never carry a grudge or wish revenge.

When we love as Jesus loves, our egos would not dictate our actions.  Rather than thinking of "what's best for me," we would think "what's best for others and the world."  Non-egoic actions, true love, would mean no more back-biting in the office, no more sibling rivalry at home, no more war in the world.

If we are truly disciples of Jesus, we will strive to live his command of love.  Our actions, then, will be radical and energizing.  Through the love of Jesus, our households, communities, and the world will be transformed.

Are you ready to live the unconditional love of Jesus Christ?

Faith Chat Questions:  How would the world be different if everyone followed Jesus' command to love one another as he loves us?  How do others recognize you as a disciples of Christ?

Household Activity:  Cut some heart shapes out of construction paper.  Put the heart shapes in a basket on your prayer/kitchen table.  Throughout the week, as family members see signs of love in one another, invite them to write what they see on a heart and tape it to the person's bedroom door.

Pray:  Risen Jesus, you showed us how to love unconditionally.  Help us to share your love with all whom we meet.  Amen.