Amazing Catechists

Teaching and learning the faith together

Archives for September 2016

Catholic Words and Games, an App Review

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Let’s face it, technology is not going away and kids love to play games using technology. But every now and then it’s be nice instead of playing Angry Birds they maybe played a game that they could learn from. Enter: Catholic Words and Games.
I downloaded it onto my iPhone and played, many times. There are five different games on the app: flash cards, memory match, tap it, spell it and name match. In theory, you could learn all the words using the Flash Card section and then move onto the other games. But that’s not how I roll. I just started playing. I made mistakes (flashcardheaderon purpose people, c’mon now) and nothing bad happened. Sadly, I didn’t have anyone to play with but I think it’s great you can play the games with others.

Memory Match is my favorite and you can choose from six different sized boards, the more squares you choose the more challenging. The Name Match is fun as well. My least favorite is Spell it, mostly because I stink at spelling!
I would definitely have used this game with my children, instead, I’ll start having my faith formation students play with it while we wait for parents.
The app is available for both mobile and desktop devices, for windows and mac users, on iTunes or Google Play. For more information and a peek at graphics, go to the website, Catholic Words and Games.

© Deanna Bartalini, 2016

Marriage Memes: Loving Your In-Laws

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This week’s marriage memes focus on loving your in-laws a little bit better. This can be still be an issue for couples 20 years after their wedding day! Quotes are drawn from Scripture, the Catechism, and John Paul II.

We talk about them all in depth in Chapter 3 of my Catholic marriage book The Four Keys to Everlasting Love, plus some fun stories you may not know about in-laws from the Old Testament. Please join tomorrow’s discussion on Facebook!

Meme #1: Catechism

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Meme#2: Scripture

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Meme #3: Quote from Four Keys

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Meme #4: Pope Quote

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Meme #5: Action Plan

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Printable Worksheets on Loving Your In-Laws #freebie #4KEYS

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turning-union-into-communion-in-laws

It’s time to talk about in-laws! This is number three in the worksheet series for our Catholic marriage book, The Four Keys to Everlasting Love. Since chapters are organized by topic, you can join the discussion at any time, even if you’re late to the party. So please feel free to participate in the 4 Keys Online Book Club on Facebook, where we discuss the book every Saturday. TO DOWNLOAD AND PRINT THIS WORKSHEET, CLICK HERE.

Chapter 3 Worksheet

Turning Union into Communion:

Extending Your Love to Your In-Laws and Beyond

Marriage is more than the union of just two people. It’s also a union of two families. A married couple needs to craft a delicate balance between two Biblical priorities. First, they are called to leave their father and mother and cleave to their spouse, as it says in the Book of Genesis. Second, they still have the duty to honor and respect their parents, according to the Ten Commandments.

Many couples struggle with learning to love their in-laws. It helps to remember that in most cases what the in-laws really want is for your marriage to be successful, long-lasting, and happy. By loving our in-laws and extended family members, we follow Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as ourselves.

The more differences there are between the two families of origin, the more difficult it can be. As Manny and Karee say in Chapter Three of The Four Keys, “The two of us have extended families that include Sevillanos, Madrilenos, Colombians, French-Moroccans, Poles, Argentineans, Egyptians, and Virginians. Our family members’ religious affiliations range the gamut from Catholicism to Episcopalianism, Judaism, Coptic Orthodox, and former Muslim.”  When we join our families in a new community of life and love, we fulfill Jesus’ desire that all the peoples of the earth may be one.

In Chapter Three, Manny and Karee show how marriages have a powerful ability to draw relatives closer together and how respectful communication techniques that work for the two of you also work with in-laws. They recount fascinating and amusing stories about relationships with in-laws from the Bible’s Old Testament. Chapter Three also teaches you how to:

  • Draw appropriate boundaries between yourselves and your in-laws
  • Respectfully listen to your in-laws ‘advice, even if you don’t ultimately follow it
  • Negotiate trouble spots like wedding planning, gift exchanges, and hosting the holidays

Conversation Starters

You can use the following conversation starters to get a discussion going among yourselves or in a small group. If it helps, think it over on your own time, take it to prayer, and jot down your answers before talking about them.

1. How would you describe your process for deciding how much involvement your in-laws have in your married life?

 

 

2. Can you remember a time when the two of you reached an impasse on this issue? How did you resolve it?

 

 

3. How do you handle holidays? Do you see room for improvement?

 

 

4. What do you believe is your responsibility toward both sets of your parents as they become elderly?

 

 

Marriage Memes: Sacraments and Saints

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Following up on the free Marriage Memes from last week, here’s another scintillating series to download and share! This week’s memes focus on how married couples can seek help from the sacraments and the saints. They’re drawn from Chapter 2 of my Catholic marriage advice book The Four Keys to Everlasting Love.

Meme #1: Catechism

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Meme #2: Scripture

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Meme #3: Quote from Four Keys

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Meme #4: Pope Quote

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Meme #5: Action Plan

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The Dark Night of this Catechist

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Freeimages.com/ PawelTomkiewicz. Used with Permission

Freeimages.com/
PawelTomkiewicz. Used with Permission


It should have been predictable, but it had never happened to me before. I had just finished catechizing a summer RCIA group and was about to start a new one for fall. I was two weeks away from beginning a new confirmation class, just finished teaching at a PreCana weekend, and Oh yeah, was leading a group in the Thirty-Three Days to Morning Glory Consecration to Our Lady after a re-consecration of my own. I had put a spiritual bullseye on my back and took a direct hit.

I fell into a dark night of spirituality. I have always been blessed to ‘feel’ God’s presence, especially after receiving the Eucharist. Suddenly, I didn’t and worse than that, my heart was filled with doubts. They weren’t so much about believing in God, that is who I am and it cannot be separated out from me, but about the future of the Faith and the Church. I know, I know, “the gates of hell will not prevail,” however, in my head it sounded like the teacher from Charlie Brown’s Peanuts, “blah, blah, blah, blah.”

I feared how my children and those I taught would stay strong in the truths of Faith when the world appeared to be winning the battle for souls.

So how do you impart wisdom and the joy of the truths of the Catholic Faith on others when you cannot feel it in your own heart? This was my constant question. To find the answers I went to Mass.

I watched and participated; I felt empty and alone. I listened and prayed; I didn’t hear God’s voice. Still, I trusted. Eventually, I discovered an analogy that seemed to fit. I felt as if I wanted a face-to-face confession, but had been placed behind the screen instead. I wanted, no… needed, to see the priest’s body language and even his affection for me as a person and yet, I wasn’t able to. I couldn’t seem to peek around the screen to get a glimpse. In this thought, I realized that the priest was still there. My confession would still be valid. I would still be forgiven. Spiritual darkness does not take away the validity of my faith. It may make it harder to pick up on the little clues I have become accustomed to receiving from God, nonetheless the grace is still there. Luckily for me, for all of us, my joy in the Lord is not rooted in emotion, but in the hope of eternal life with Him. I can catechize with love, understanding and wisdom even if I am not receiving the gift of feeling God’s presence.

I turned to the examples of the Saints, especially calling on Saint Mother Teresa, who suffered through years of her own darkness, to fulfill her promise “If I ever become a saint—I will surely be one of ‘darkness,’” Mother Teresa wrote in September of 1959. “I will continually be absent from heaven—to light the light of those in darkness on earth.” I pray that she will help me now and that the darkness will not inhibit my ability to propagate the Faith.

(C) 2016

Why Magnifying the Lord is Our Mission as Christians

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One of my favorite prayers in Scripture is Mary’s beautiful Magnificat, which begins with the phrase, “ My soul magnifies the Lord”(Luke 1:46)  Curious about the use of “magnify” in Scripture, I discovered that it is used well over 100 times.   If you think about it, is there a better way to describe our purpose as followers of Christ?

See the Lord in Proper Place and Perspective

To begin, we must realize that magnifying The Lord does not mean that we are making Him more since that would be absurd.  How can we, imperfect creatures of God, make our perfect Creator more?  A magnifying glass does not make its target image bigger. Rather, it makes that target bigger for us to see better.  There is no imperfection or limitation in the object but, rather, in ourselves that we need help in seeing that object more clearly.

Although God is perfection and all good, we often need reminders that He can seem small to us if we forget His Presence in our lives.  First, we need to magnify that Presence in ourselves through our worship, praise, humility, and good works.  Second, we need to magnify that Presence in others through those same good works, our example, and our proclamation of God’s Word.

Remove Our Splinters and Thread Our Needles

We have all had the unpleasant experience of having a splinter in our hand.  Everyone knows that such a task often requires the use of a magnifying glass to help us remove this obstruction. This brings the mind Christ’s powerful reminder that we first remove our defects before presuming to point out those of other people ( Matthew 7:5).  It is easy to judge others in our drive to drive to be holier-than-thou, but Christ tells us to be humble.  Regardless of the size of our defects, we often see them, if we do at all, as mere splinters.  How often do we downplay our faults while magnifying the faults of others?  We need to see our sins more clearly if we are to truly avoid continuing them.

Another famous passage reminds us that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to find eternal salvation ( Luke 18:25). We understand this to mean that we cannot save ourselves unless we release our obsession with the temporary, temporal, and superficial things of this world.  Self-reflection will enlarge the eye of our moral needle allowing us to navigate this delicate balance between our present and eternal needs.

 Start a Fire

A final use of a magnifying glass is to start a fire by focusing  heat and energy on a given point.  We do this by concentrating diffuse light into a powerful beam.  While our lives bear their share of darkness and light, even our light can often be diffused.  We need passion, dedication, commitment, and constancy to focus that light into one important purpose.

Christ’s mission and His apostles sought to  light a fire under others and motivate them to spread the flame of Our Lord’s love message.  We need to inspire others and we do that by magnifying the power of God’s love and the example of Christ’s teaching unto hearts and minds that still lack  such a blessing.

Conclusion

Magnifying glasses do many great things that make our lives better.  However, we have the same capacity to prioritize, self-reflect, and ignite and spread dedication to Our  Lord.  Biblical magnification is not about ourselves but about magnifying God (Psalm 35:26-27).

Let us each be a magnifying glass for The Lord, for that in essence is what being His follower is really about.

2016 Gabriel Garnica

Printable Worksheets on the Sacrament of Matrimony #freebie #4KEYS

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This is number two in a series of downloadable worksheets to use at home, in small groups, or during break-out sessions with our Catholic marriage advice book, The Four Keys to Everlasting Love. This week, we’re focusing on the sacraments and the saints.  You can follow along with us in the 4 Keys Online Book Club on Facebook. TO DOWNLOAD AND PRINT, CLICK HERE.

Chapter 2 Worksheet

Turning Good Marriages into Pathways to Glory:
It’s a Sacrament; It’s a Vocation; It’s a Road Map to Heaven!

Marriage can be good. With effort, it can be very good. But it takes God to make the union glorious. The graces of the Sacrament of Matrimony are a powerful aid to couples in their everyday struggles and in times of great crisis.

Nowadays, fewer Catholics are choosing to get married in the Church than at any other time in recent history. Many people don’t realize what a wonderful treasure Catholic marriage is! As Manny and Karee explain in Chapter Two of The Four Keys, “couples united in the Sacrament of Matrimony have been blessed with the grace to take natural love to a supernatural level.  … [T]hey are called and empowered to love to the highest degree, the degree that Christ loved us – to forgive seventy times seven times, to do the humblest chore out of love, and to die to self in order to live and love for others.”

In Chapter Two, Manny and Karee describe marriage’s role as one of the seven sacraments, the difference between a valid and invalid marriage, and the importance of the vocation of marriage. They also reveal how the saints, our cheering section in the next life, are willing and eager to help husbands and wives get each other to heaven. From this chapter, you will learn how to:

  • Seek help from the sacraments
  • Seek help from the saints
  • Discern God’s voice
  • Be faithful in little things and let God turn them into glory

Conversation Starters

You can use the following conversation starters to get a discussion going among yourselves or in a small group. If it helps, think it over on your own time, take it to prayer, and jot down your answers before talking about them.

1. Why did you choose each other? How did you know you had found the “one”?

 

2. Why did you decide in favor of (or against) getting married in the Catholic Church?

 

3. How have you seen the graces of the sacrament at work in your lives and in your relationship?

 

4. Who do you think has an exceptionally good marriage and why? Do you have a favorite married saint who would be a good role model?

 

Free Marriage Memes for Social Media Sharing

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A picture is worth a thousand words, they say, and that’s especially true on Facebook. Social media is extremely image-driven. To evangelize through that medium, you need a short pithy statement and a dynamite image. So, to spread the message of the good news about Catholic marriage, I’ve prepared a series of memes to go with each chapter of my book The Four Keys to Everlasting Love.

Chapter One focuses on overcoming the differences that divide spouses so that two may become one. Each of these memes is based on content from Chapter One. Feel free to download them and share them widely.

Meme #1: Catechism

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Meme #2: Scripture

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Meme #3: Quote from Four Keys

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Meme #4: Action Plan

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Proclaiming the Message of Life – Book Review

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How often have you been to Mass, listened to the readings and homily and heard a clear message about the sanctity of life and why abortion is wrong? Or how the Church can help those who have suffered with the pain of abortion? Has the vast network of organizations that can support women in a crisis pregnancy been mentioned?
I can tell you that in all of my years attending Mass, I have only heard a handful of pro-life homilies at a Sunday Mass. Even on the Sunday in October dedicated as Respect Life Sunday, it is not discussed. It always seems to me that teaching about the inherent dignity of life and how abortion is in direct opposition to that is important and necessary.message-of-life-pic
I can understand that there may be concerns, hesitation and maybe just a bit of fear that people will respond in a negative way. However, if we, the people of God are not challenged how will we grow? As Fr. Pavone says, “Preaching should foster the ongoing conversion and growth in holiness of the people entrusted to our pastoral care. A pastor is a shepherd. To shepherd people, preachers must be clear and courageous in confronting evil and likewise calm and compassionate. Our desire is to instruct people, inspire them, and equip them to take action.” What a beautiful vision for preaching and one I hope all who preach aspire to.
The book for Fr. Pavone wrote is a wonderful aid in preaching the message of life. The book has two main divisions, part one of the book gives a general overview of why and how to preach this message while part two gives specific reflection for every Sunday of the Year for all three cycles of readings! It is very extensive.
The first part of the book talks about why and how to preach about abortion, including scripture and doctrinal points that can be used as a springboard for talks or homilies. My favorite chapter though is seven, “Common Obstacles to Preaching on Abortion.” The thirty-two questions raised and answered ran the gamut from “Am I afraid I won’t be loved?” to “Will I endanger our tax exemption by speaking on abortion?”.
Of course, it is easy for me to read these reflections, which I have, and say “yes, preach it!” So I checked in with my deacon husband. He preaches about one Sunday a month. He has read the reflections and found ways to include some of the thoughts presented in his homilies. And that is the point of this book, to include some thoughts about how and why we are a pro-life people.
I think this book would be a welcome addition to the libraries of those who preach and also those who are active in pro-life ministry. It is practical, useful and accessible tool. The book is full of reassurances to preach the truth, based on Fr. Pavone experiences of preaching all around the country as the national director for Priests for Life. Published by Servant, it is available in both hardcover and digital editions.

© Deanna Bartalini, 2016

Printable Personality Differences Worksheet #freebie #4KEYS

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This printable personality differences worksheet is one of the most popular in the series from my Catholic marriage advice book The Four Keys to Everlasting Love. Please feel free to download, print, and share it widely. FOR THE PRINTABLE VERSION, CLICK HERE.

The worksheets are ideal for marriage prep or marriage enrichment, either in small groups or break-out sessions. They can also be used at home, of course, or together with the 4 Keys Online Book Club, which is covering Chapter One this week.

Chapter 1 Worksheet

Turning Two into One:

How to Overcome the Differences that Divide You

Whether you’re newly engaged or long married, congratulations on embarking on the experience of a lifetime! Marriage is quite an adventure, and somehow never exactly what we expect. Our God, after all, is a God of surprises, as Pope Francis is fond of saying.

The first bump in the road that many couples encounter is overcoming personality differences. Opposites really do attract, and that adds to the excitement but can also create conflict. Manny and Karee were very different, as they explain in Chapter One of The Four Keys. When they met, Manny was a “first-generation Spanish American, longtime New Yorker, Catholic, Republican, extrovert, and optimist.” In contrast, Karee was “a Virginian born and bred Episcopalian, Southern Democrat, and introvert with a slight tendency toward gloom.” They overcame their differences through respectful debate and reliance on God who loved them both equally.

In Chapter One, Manny and Karee describe their courtship, the early years of their marriage, and their dramatic struggle through Manny’s four brain surgeries to remove recurring tumors. Along the way, they will show you how to:

  •       Appreciate your personality differences
  •       Find common cultural and religious ground
  •       View disagreements as opportunities for growth
  •       Stand by each other in troubled times
  •       Overcome fear through faith

Conversation Starters

You can use the following conversation starters to get a discussion going among yourselves or in a small group. If it helps, think it over on your own time, take it to prayer, and jot down your answers before talking about them.

  1.       What personality, cultural, or religious differences do the two of you have? How have you handled them so far?
  1.       How often do you discuss important and difficult topics? How often do you apologize if what you say hurts or angers the other person?
  1.       Think of the biggest crisis that has hit your relationship. What character strengths or weaknesses were revealed in each of you?
  1.       Which friends and family members can you rely on to support your marriage?