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. . . and he remained in the desert for forty days,
tempted by Satan. - Mark 1:12
|
Emily Alcaraz |
Lani Hall Lam Ho Angelo Huertas* Ann Marie Hussar George Kyle Gabriel LaBoy-Rosales Andrea Martinez Tara McCarthy* Yoselin Monzalvo* Brianna Ortega Bryan Padilla Encar Pinos Jessica Reckamp Diana Sanchez Nicole Sharp Alex Sheedy* |
* Indicates those students who are also making their First Communion.
Practice forty days of gratitude
“Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel free to delight in whatever remains to them?”
Dear Friends,
SOME THINGS seem never to change—nor should they. For instance, when I was a kid the four weeks leading up to Christmas were relatively laid back, especially when compared to the 40 days of Lent leading up to Easter. Advent calendar versus giving up candy, ice cream, or comic books. Pine wreaths and carols versus Stations of the Cross. Excitement and anticipation versus penance and sacrifices.
At St. Felicitas where I went to grade school the sisters made very sure that we all remembered that Lent was special by adding extra prayers to our daily classroom devotions. And, of course, there was always a day sometime in Lent when class by class we would march over to church for our Lenten Confession to Msgr. Walsh. Immediately before the march to church, our teacher would strongly suggest specific sins that she knew certain of us students needed to confess; often these sins involved arithmetic homework and/or squirt guns.
Eighteen years later I was a newly ordained priest at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Parish, where, wonder of wonders, class after class of school kids were marched over to the church by their teachers for Lenten Confessions. Now, I was the one who got to hear all about arithmetic homework and indiscretions involving squirt guns except this time it was me and not Msgr. Walsh who got to impose the penance. I found myself scrambling for something more creative than the old standard “Say three Our Fathers and three Hail Marys.” Suddenly: a revelation. Pilgrimage. Send each third grader on a penitential pilgrimage around the church in search of a particular stained glass window that best suited their sin—John the Baptist at the Jordan River, Moses parting the Red Sea, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the stoning of St. Stephen . . .
Inside the confessional all was tranquil and serene as kid after kid confessed, but outside the expected regimentation of students filing quickly and methodically back into their assigned pews broke into chaos. Kids were wandering free all over the church in search of their “penance window.” It didn’t take long for the teachers to figure out who was to blame for this unorthodox activity, but no one complained inasmuch as the pilgrimages were official penance and I was the confessor.
I’ve been trying to think of something similar to suggest for our Lenten practices this year in addition to the usual, if updated, sacrifice of video games or hours on facebook. Here’s my favorite so far: Everyday take time to survey your life and identify one blessing, big or small—whether that’s a person, a thing, an event—that makes your life a bit happier or fuller or just makes you smile. Next, savor the thought of that day’s blessing a while. Finally, be truly grateful. Thank God. Everyday for 40 days of Lent identify a new blessing and be grateful and say so. On Easter, test yourself, and see how many of the 40 blessings you remember.
I have a hunch that if the only prayer we ever said was an honest, daily, “thank you” that would be enough.
Now, back to the opening quote: “Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel free to delight in whatever remains?” Rose Kennedy said that in her very old age even after having buried three sons who died young and violently. Her words are a prayer that betrays a rare depth of gratitude. If we each utter but one prayer this Lent let it be thank you.
God Bless.
Fr. John
P.S. Reminder—Abstinence means no meat on the Fridays of Lent. Fast means, just, one large and at most, two smaller meatless meals on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. These Lenten practices, of course, do not apply to children, frail people, or pregnant women.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 6:30 PM
FRIDAYS, 7 PM:
Please join us on Friday evenings from Feb. 24-March 30 for Stations of the Cross in the church.
MARCH 25, 2-6 PM
Pot Luck Dinner in the Gym. Parish families welcome to help serve our neighbors in need.
Grand Slam tickets for the St. Matthias School are now on sale. Team captains will be recruiting members from both the school and the parish for this very successful school fundraiser. Last year the school grossed $26,000 and netted $16,000. This year the goal is to gross over $40,000. All parish members are invited to join a team.
APRIL 28
The El of a Hunt is just around the bend. Information on its way. You won’t want to miss this fun-filled event.
THE NEXT STEP for the church restoration is to get an estimate on some tile/marble that can be used in areas that have no existing flooring. Once that is purchased and installed, we will pull up the carpeting on the side aisles.
We welcome ideas on saints and devotions that the members of the parish might like to see in the newly restored shrine spaces. We are also looking to refurbish some of the existing shrines. The shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe, for example, is faded and in need of repair. Can and should this shrine be refurbished? Are there other saints that hold particular meaning for our parish today? Please let me know your thoughts by dropping me an email at tuohyterry@gmail.com.
The parish online giving has hit and surpassed the goal of 100 parishioners giving electronically. So naturally in our 125th year, the parish would love to have 125 families/members giving through Give Central. If you have not signed up for automatic electronic giving, please sign up at givecentral.com.
Invest just five minutes a day, and your faith will deepen and grow - a day at a time.
Look up the daily passages from the New American Bible online at www.usccb.org/nab/bible.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012
FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
Follow the rainbow
The rare and beautiful event of a rainbow usually lasts only a short while, but its colors and soaring form make a lasting impression. It follows storms as if to show the incredible beauty and peace of creation after a demonstration of its awesome power. In Hebrew scripture the rainbow symbolizes God’s promise to Noah never to destroy the earth and all its creatures again with water, but just as important it was a sign of the wonderful re-creation of the world after the destruction of the biblical Flood. The season of Lent offers a unique opportunity to make a course correction on the path toward God. The goal is clear: the new life of Easter, fixed before your eyes like a glorious rainbow.
TODAY'S READINGS: Genesis 9:8-15; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15 (23)
“I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27
LENTEN WEEKDAY
The least we can do
The vivid biblical descriptions of the Last or Final Judgment are designed to impress upon us the importance of taking our obligations to the less fortunate very seriously indeed. “But where to begin?” you might ask. The Corporal Works of Mercy are a pretty good place. If we each do our part, we can hope for the day when there will be no more hungry to feed, homeless to shelter, prisoners to visit, and the like. Then we can welcome that Final Judgment with confidence. But let’s get started today—after all, none of us knows the day or the hour.
Today's Readings: Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18; Matthew 25:31-46 (224)
“Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28
LENTEN WEEKDAY
Listen with your heart
One of the cornerstones of Lent is prayer, something we often consider our job: talking to God, pouring out our hearts, asking for what we need. It is all that, but more. If we compare prayer to the living intimacy between people who love each other, we will see clearly that if their conversation is one-sided, if they do not let the other speak, if they do not listen with the same intensity with which the other pours out their needs, then something is wrong. Someone put it this way: Show up. Shut up. Pay attention. Crude, but true. To spruce up one’s spiritual life is to consider how one prays. Is there room in my time with God just to be? Must I always be talking or reading or planning? Can I simply wait? Listen?
TODAY'S READINGS: Isaiah 55:10-11; Matthew 6:7-15 (225)
“My word . . . shall not return to me void.”
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29
LENTEN WEEKDAY
Take a leap this year
Pope Gregory XIII established the calendar we use to count our days, weeks, and years in 1582—and there have been calls for its reform more or less continuously ever since. There are differences in the details, but in general the reform advocates say every month should have the same number of days and every date should fall on the same day of the week. These appeals for a new ordering of days always fail, partly because humans resist change and partly because an unchanging calendar seems a little too rigid, a little too perfect. Logic and perfection have their place, to be sure. But so do flexibility and imperfection. February 29 is a good date to celebrate the latter.
TODAY'S READINGS: Jonah 3:1-10; Luke 11:29-32
“There is something greater than Solomon here.”
THURSDAY, MARCH 1
LENTEN WEEKDAY
Persistence pays off
The story of Queen Esther told in the Bible book that bears her name is a fascinating novella filled with subterfuge and intrigue. Esther uses her wit and wiles to get what she wants from the king, but her masterstroke is to use prayer and petition to get what she needs from God: namely a plan for deliverance for herself and her people. As we begin our Lenten journey, our first step should be to ask God to help us chart our course. Then, like Esther, we must fast, pray, and wait, and soon God’s plan for us will be revealed.
TODAY'S READINGS: Esther C 12, 14-16, 23-25; Matthew 7: 7-12 (227)
“Turn our mourning into gladness and our sorrows into wholeness.”
FRIDAY, MARCH 2
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER; DAY OF ABSTINENCE
Out of the depths I cry to you
For some, prayer seems like a natural talent. For others, pulling teeth is easier! But for all, prayer is a necessary component of the life of faith. We seek a vital relationship with our Maker, and no relationship is complete without deep and meaningful communication. God begins the conversation with the words of scripture. You add your part in interceding for needs, offering thanks for gifts received, and singing praise for a world of wonders. As you abstain from meat on this global day of prayer, recommit yourself to the ways of fairness in family, work, civic, and international relationships.
TODAY'S READINGS: Ezekiel 18:21-28; Matthew 5:20-26 (228)
“Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?”
SATURDAY, MARCH 3
FEAST OF KATHARINE DREXEL, VIRGIN
Share your gifts
When you think about Catholic stewardship, does your mind go to collection envelopes and fundraising appeals? While certainly that is part of what it means, stewardship goes far beyond financial contributions. The U.S. Catholic Bishops wrote that stewardship is a call to receive God’s gifts gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them lovingly with others, and return them with increase to God (Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response). We see examples of such stewardship in the church through people like Saint Katharine Drexel. She made good use of her education and financial resources, and she also made it her life’s work to help people in need, an effort that continues through the religious community she founded, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. How can you create a legacy of stewardship?
TODAY'S READINGS: Deuteronomy 26:16-19; Matthew 5:43-48 (229)
“The Lord . . . is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and . . . hearken to his voice.”
©2012 by TrueQuest Communications, L.L.C. PHONE: 800-942-2811; E-MAIL: mail@takefiveforfaith.com; WEBSITE: www.takefiveforfaith.com. Licensed for noncommercial use. All rights reserved. Scripture quotes come from the New American Bible.
Contributors: Alice Camille, Daniel Grippo, Caroline Hopkinson, Father Larry Janowski, O.F.M., Ann O'Connor, Joel Schorn, Patrice J. Tuohy, and Sister Julie Vieira, I.H.M.
