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MAC Notes For Praying With Children

It was a great joy to present some ideas about praying with children, this past Friday (February 16), at the Mid-Atlantic Congress, in Baltimore. It touched my heart very much to be in Maryland (Mary-land!) surrounded by dedicated people of faith.

I want to thank all of you who attended for your warmth, your attention, and most of all for your commitment to bring the Faith to others, no matter how difficult that task may seem. But we know that God is faithful, and what we plant He waters.

Please feel free to ask questions in the com boxes and I’ll add more material, as needed. Here are the bullet points, reading resources, Catechism quotes, Scriptures, and other elements of the talk:

The Annunciation, by Henry Tanner

I began by talking about the fact that we are all made for supernatural experiences and interactions. It is natural for us to experience the supernatural! From the beginning of our lives to the moment we enter heaven, we are accompanied by a guardian angel, a pure spirit so unique that it is a separate species from all other spirits (according to Catholic angelologists). This mighty being beholds the face of God in heaven and attends to our souls with perfect dedication and love.

I shared two prayers from my new book, Heads Bowed: Prayers for Catholic School Days. The first is from Week One and was written for the adult preparing for the school year (there are two weeks of preparation prayers), and the other is from Week Nine of the children’s prayers and provides a prayer lesson on the same topic: Angels!

Here they are:

Holy Angels, you surround us with your prayerful and protective presence at all times, and I thank you. I ask that you watch over our classroom throughout the coming year, filling it with your praises to God and guarding it diligently with your holy presence and your powerful prayers. Draw down from heaven every grace and blessing we need to heal our wounds, repent of our sins, and offer our sufferings in union with the cross of Jesus Christ for the good of souls. Amen. (Week 1: Theme: Strength in Weakness)

Dear Jesus, St. Anselm taught that from the moment we are created in our mother’s womb, God gives us a guardian angel to watch over us. We are precious to God no matter how small we are. Even though we are hidden away for a little while before we were born, God always sees us and loves us! After we are born, God’s angel stays with us throughout our lives and guides us safely to God, when we die. Our angel will not leave us or stop praying for us until we are ready to enter into the joy of heaven! Amen. (Week 9: Theme: The Unborn)

Nothing is more natural than teaching the Faith through prayer. We do this naturally when we are raising our own children. We call out the attributes of God, express our trust in His mercy, and use a language of love that helps each child feel they are a part of something beautiful and true.

Every one of the almost 300 prayers in my book is a short catechetical lesson, as well as a prayer. The collection spans about 10 months of school days, plus special occasion prayers, a glossary of challenge words, and a scriptural reference for each week. The traditional dedications of the days and months, the liturgical seasons, virtues, and mysteries of the Rosary, are also woven into the prayers, so that young children experience them simply and older children and adults have more to interest them.

More notes:

We ourselves express an amazing nature that will be perfected, in heaven. On earth, we possess five senses that help us to access the intangibles of heaven, and after the Resurrection of the Dead, our glorified senses will be even more amazing! That’s why the Church is so wise about beauty, which is a gateway to truth and goodness–to God Himself.

Body and Soul: One Human Nature: CCC 365

The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the “form” of the body: i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.

When Jesus entered into time, He sanctified it. And when He took on human flesh, he sanctified that, too. That means that every moment of our lives is holy and our lives have meaning and purpose from our earliest biological beginnings to the very end of our natural lives. It is all His! Every moment is precious. The world tells us otherwise, discarding the helpless unborn and the elderly, which is the darkest kind of ignorance, masquerading as sophistication.

Note: Those who have been lied to, indoctrinated, pressured, and wounded by these evils (i.e., post-abortive women and families) are tenderly loved by God and need only seek His healing love to be restored and strengthened, to be given new life, and to carry out their true purpose in Him. Check out Rachel’s Vineyard for loving support in finding healing.

Never doubt the dignity of your own soul. God, who contains the entire universe and all of heaven–the angels, saints, holy souls, our beloved who are living and those who have died, the stars and planets, every layer of creation–this God abides tenderly and devotedly in our souls. Within our souls dwells the Holy Spirit, by virtue of our baptism, and each time we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we become tabernacles of His holy presence. That Presence has an impact on the world around us, as it radiates through us.

St. Therese of Lisieux said, “How great must a soul be to contain a God.”
Jesus said, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (Jn 14:23)
When the Lord is with us, we are empowered to live the adventure of our own lives, to fulfill the unique calling of God to our individual souls!
God wants to make a masterpiece in our souls.
Learning and teaching the Faith is a key to that wondrous transformation in Christ.

“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

Learning our faith a little at a time draws us closer to God and empowers our mission.

As we move through our lives, studying our faith, we “scratch” at ideas that may be familiar, but perhaps we don’t fully understand, yet. The Liturgical year takes us round and round the treasure map of our faith, and we scratch a little every year, going deeper into the treasury of grace and knowledge that feeds our walk with Christ. If we keep scratching a little at a time, we uncover treasures that change our lives, light our souls on fire, and make it impossible for us to keep our excitement to ourselves.

I absolutely love Dr. Edward Sri’s book, A Biblical Walk Through the Mass: Understanding What We Say and Do in the Liturgy. He takes each piece of the Mass, scratches and digs deeply into the origins and biblical connections, and unearths the treasures within. He begins with the very start of the Mass:

“On the one hand, from a Scriptural perspective, the words ‘The Lord be with you’ remind us of the high calling we each have. As God’s children, we each have a particular mission to fulfill in the Father’s plan…each of us has a role that no one else can play…these words also assure us that we have access to a higher power that can support us through the trials and challenges of life and help us be faithful in whatever task God has entrusted to us.” (p. 26)

Dr. Sri goes on to explain that when God says, “I will be with you,” or an angel says, “The Lord is with you,” he is saying that we need not fear anything. He describes some examples: Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Mary. Each is empowered to accomplish the impossible, in friendship with God.

When we hear the priest say, at Mass, “The Lord be with you,” we should hear the voice of the Lord saying to us:

I will equip you, I will provide for you, I will defend you, and I will give you victory.
Through the gift of Himself in the Eucharist, Christ strengthens us.
Our heroes are heroes because they trusted in the power of God.
Prayer and study change us, opening us up to God’s grace (LIFE).
When we persevere in prayer and sacramental life, we become radiant witnesses.

Pope Paul VI famously wrote: “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.”

We all want to be radiant witnesses, but I sometimes feel, working with children, that I’m ill-prepared or uninspired, so I pray, “Lord, light me up! You are my wattage!” And He never lets me down. If I walk out of class feeling like a failure, I say, “Lord, I don’t know what I did in there, but I know You did something!”

The amazing Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen always prayed before he taught: “Lord, send me Pentecostal fire!”

But to become Radiant Witnesses, we need sacramental healing and cleansing: confession. Here’s the fun commercial I do at all my talks. When you do this for your own presentations, have fun! Sell it! Make them laugh. It will help them remember.

Feeling tired? Rundown? Discouraged? Feel like Jesus hasn’t been answering your prayers, lately? Well, how would you like to get back in the game so fast it’ll make the enemy’s head spin? Get some religion, get your groove back? Let the light of the Lord shine right through you and out to the world? Well, you’re in luck! Because right now you, my friend, can get back in the race with some sanctifying grace. Discovering the elation of reconciliation. Free at last! Free of charge, at a Catholic parish near you, where a priest is waiting to take your call. Get back in the game. Get back to confession!

Why It is Important to Pray With Children

Adults humbly approaching the throne of God is a powerful witness.
Recognizing something greater than ourselves is an important reality check.
Respecting authority in childhood—leads to exercising healthy authority as adults.
Praying together gives children a blueprint for prayer—they mimic to learn the language of love.
They realize they can have a relationship with God, Our Lady, the saints, angels, and the Holy Souls.
They are reminded that they are made for supernatural encounters.
Prayer empowers them to enter into the mystery—and the paradoxes of a life lived for God.
Memories and habits of prayer, soaked in love, become rich in meaning and take root for a lifetime.
An intimate relationship with God is an indispensable means to achieving their life’s purpose with clarity.
The habit of prayer strengthens them to stand against dark influences and live for God.

Pixabay

Working prayer into our lessons and lessons into our prayers

Here, I shared some ideas about the naturalness of prayer as a way to teach, and lessons as a way to incorporate prayer, beginning with the Sign of the Cross–again, based on a lesson from Dr. Sri’s book. I began with this excerpt, however, from an EWTN interview with author and editor, Bert Ghezzi:

Bert Ghezzi (from EWTN interview):

The sign of the cross is: a confession of faith; a renewal of baptism; a mark of discipleship; an acceptance of suffering; a defense against the devil; and a victory over self-indulgence.
When you make the sign, you are professing a mini version of the creed — you are professing your belief in the Father, and in the Son and in the Holy Spirit.
When you say the words and pray in someone’s name you are declaring their presence and coming into their presence— that’s how a name is used in Scripture.

The ancient version of the Hebrew letter “Tav” looks like a cross (or an X)

Dr. Sri talked about “signs” in the Bible:

Exodus 12: Passover: the Israelites were spared because of the lamb’s blood on their doorposts
Revelations 7:3: the saints in heaven have a seal on their forehead
Ezekial 9:4: those marked with the TAV were spared the wrath of God.

St. John Chrysostom said this about the Sign of the Cross:

When, then, you make the sign of the cross on the forehead, arm yourself with a saintly boldness, and reinstall your soul in its old liberty; for you are not ignorant that the cross is a prize beyond all price.

Consider what is the price given for your ransom, and you will never more be slave to any man on earth. This reward and ransom is the cross. You should not then, carelessly make the sign on the forehead, but you should impress it on your heart with the love of a fervent faith. Nothing impure will dare to molest you on seeing the weapon, which overcometh all things.

All of this to say that when we “scratch” below the surface and find treasures, we cannot help but share them and that passion ignites a fire in children.

Pixabay

Creating a Prayerful Environment for Children:

No phones, please. The addictive quality of cell phones and other electronic devices is very real and should be prohibited in class.
Basic discipline should create a safe environment for the shyest children. Don’t let alpha kids take over. Be forgiving but firm.
Your own example of faith and reverence is contagious.
Beauty! As we know, our souls are touched by beauty. Use it as much as you can: sacred art, candles, music, Easter and Christmas cards! God speaks through beauty and touches our hearts when nothing else can.

Meeting Them Where They Are

Learning styles and developmental issues can be understood easily. Lots of information is available online.
They remember how you made them feel, so ask Jesus to act through you and speak through you with the love only He can give.
The grace of forgiveness and second chances: show mercy, while maintaining order.
Children’s memories and associations: sometimes they surprise us with weird connections. They are making memories, as they connect their own ideas with the new ones. Don’t despair that they don’t seem to understand. They’re working on it.
Communication and cleaning up messes: be sensitive to the children’s feelings. You don’t know how much you may matter to them or how God may be touching that child by your witness, without your knowledge. If you think you may have done something insensitive, circle back and make amends.
Prayer Basket keeps the community strong: get the names of all their loved ones on cards that go in a basket for weekly prayer. They stay connected with the community of the classroom that way, even when they are not able to be present.

First Through Third Grade

A decade of the Rosary takes five minutes! Inviting Our Lady into the classroom makes everything better. And Sister Lucia, one of the seers of Fatima (and many saints) have said, “…there is no problem that cannot be resolved by the recitation of the Holy Rosary.” It is a spiritual weapon par excellence!
Intentions clarified: make sure the children understand what they are praying for. Invite feedback.
Marching to hymns of praise gets their wiggles out and provides a liturgical feel as you transition to the next activity.
Spontaneous prayer is important. If a child brings up a worry or concern, pray on the spot.
Throwing their prayers up to God. I have them close their eyes and hold out their hands, palms up, giving God everything on their hearts and then making a tossing motion, giving it to him to take care of.
God can make good come out of any bad thing, can bring beauty from ugliness, and hope from despair. Keep weaving this into prayer with them.
Name saints! I research the children’s names at the start of the year and weave those saints into lesson time.
Trips to the Church are essential: entering reverently, blessing themselves with holy water, and genuflecting with their eyes on the tabernacle (greeting Jesus silently in their hearts) can be practiced ahead of time, in class. I love to walk through the Stations of the Cross with them, having the boys say one half and the girls the other, and then switching halfway through (We bless thee oh Lord and we praise you; for by your holy cross you have redeemed the world). Talking about the altar as a table for a holy meal, a place of sacrifice (the Lamb of God), and connecting it all to the sacraments gives them more connection to the Mass.
Sacramentals: have them reverently practice venerating blessed sacramentals: i.e., a crucifix, a sacred image, a relic, a medal.
Living a moment in Scripture: I act out Bible stories with my kids after I read them aloud, so they get to experience in different ways: they hear the story, see the pictures, and then “live” it for a few short minutes. Every learning style is covered, this way, and it helps them remember. It’s all very easy and loose. For more information, see my booklet, Be An Amazing Catechist: Inspire the Faith of Children.

Fourth Through Eighth Grade and Beyond

See above, plus…
Cultivating silence: their lives are noisy. Give them opportunities to experience silent prayer.
Spiritual bouquets for the Holy Souls: these powerful allies in purgatory need our prayers and pray for us with great impact when we pray for them. Establish this relationship early. It benefits the Church and many souls.
Adopting a mission or ministry: choose something where they can receive progress reports and other kinds of feedback, so they see the impact of their prayers and a way to help out when they are old enough.
Relationships with saints: through their name saints, the liturgical year, and martyr stories, children can be intrigued about the saints and want to know them better and learn from them. Also, namesaintgenerator.com is a great online resource. Have them pray to the Holy Spirit, then click the interface to choose a saint. They should study the saint’s life and pray, “Teach me what you know,” for a set period of time.
Eucharistic miracles: true accounts abound and are fascinating to tweens and teens: see this website: http://therealpresence.org/

Scroll down to these images for more information.

Incorruptibles: these somewhat strange miraculous occurrences fascinate teens and tweens.
Adoration: teens often find a personal relationship with Christ in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I even take very young children and tell them that Jesus is waiting for them, His arms loaded with gifts of grace. They should silently tell Him about their day, share their hopes and worries, and pray simply, “Jesus, I adore You!” With older students, we memorize the Anima Christi for after Communion and for Adoration:

Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from the side of Christ, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee
From the malignant enemy defend me
At the hour of my death call me
And bid me come to Thee
That with thy saints I may praise thee
Forever and ever
Amen

Special liturgies that involve them in the planning, reading, and music, help them to understand the Mass and their role as contributing members of the community.
Conferences can do what we can’t. Chastity, TOB, the Real Presence, Vocations–youth speakers have a powerful calling to reach the hearts and minds of teens and tweens. Do whatever you can to get your middle and high school students to appropriate events.

Remember, what we plant, He waters!

Here’s my resource list! Let me know if you need anything else. I’m happy to help!

Published Resources:

Heads Bowed: Prayers for Catholic School Days, by Lisa Mladinich (Liguori Publications)

Be An Amazing Catechist: Inspire the Faith of Children, by Lisa Mladinich (in English and Spanish, from Our Sunday Visitor)

Be An Amazing Catechist: Sacramental Preparation, by Lisa Mladinich (in English and Spanish, from Our Sunday Visitor)

A Biblical Walk Through the Mass: Understanding What We Say and Do in the Liturgy, by Edward Sri (Ascension Press)

The Happiness of Heaven: The Joys and Rewards of Eternal Glory, by Fr. J. Boudreau, S.J. (1870) (TAN reprint)

Champions of the Rosary: The History and Heroes of a Spiritual Weapon, by Father Donald Calloway (Marian Press)

What Matters Most: Empowering Young Catholics for Life’s Big Decisions, by Leonard J. DeLorenzo (Ave Maria Press)

Prayer for Beginners, by Peter Kreeft (Ignatius Press)

Free Online Resources:

AmazingCatechists.com

Article on praying with children: http://amazingcatechists.com/2018/02/teach-kids-pray-5-simple-steps/

CatholicMom.com (my puppet scripts)

https://catholicmom.com/kids/puppet-ministry/

MyFirstHolyCommunion.com (Tarcisius)

http://www.myfirstholycommunion.com/portfolio-view/st-tarcisius-boy-martyr-of-the-eucharist/

TheRealPresence.org

http://therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/a3.html

SaintsNameGenerator.com

http://saintsnamegenerator.com/

Fisheaters.com (tour of the church)

https://www.fisheaters.com/churchbuilding.html

Is Finger Yoga Safe?

By Lisa Mladinich

Israeli Stop Sign (Wikipedia Commons)

Today, a reader asks whether it is safe to use something called “Finger Yoga,” so I did a quick search and found an informative article by Susan Brinkmann, at one of my go-to resources, Women of Grace. You can read it here.

In its essence, Finger Yoga is the practice of using specific chants and finger positions, ostensibly to generate energy and spiritual awareness. In what seems like trendy PR, some also claim it helps with healing and weight loss. Unfortunately, like all yoga, the aim is to enter an altered mental state that leaves its users vulnerable to dangerous spiritual entities.

While its practitioners are very likely good folks with only the best intentions, the spiritual dangers cannot be overstated. With exorcisms on the rise all over the world, we need to be savvy about avoiding any practice that places our souls in jeopardy. I know from experience that this statement alone will elicit a firestorm of condemnation from certain quarters, but the facts remain: yoga is not just exercise or a practice of self-awareness, no matter how Christianised or modern it may seem; it is a pagan spiritual practice with the potential to invite unknown entities to enter our souls.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus, by Pompeo Batoni Photo Credit: Lisa Mladinich

This EWTN video features brain researcher, Adam Blai, on the topic of Exorcism: How to Keep the Doors to the Demon Closed.

For Catholics interested in reading further, the Pontifical Councils for Culture and Interreligious Dialogue produced JESUS CHRIST, THE BEARER OF THE WATER OF LIFE: A Christian reflection on the “New Age”, which can be read free at this link, online.

On this lovely autumn Friday, my prayer is that all people will turn away from pagan and New Age practices to embrace with great faithfulness the Heart of the One through Whom we are made, in Whom we have life, and Who loves us more than we can fully comprehend: Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

(See also: Yoga: It Stretches the Bounds of Belief, by columnist, Mary Ellen Barrett)

Catholic Halloween! It’s our feast, and we’re going to enjoy it!

By Lisa Mladinich

Catechists and parents, Halloween is a Catholic feast that not many of us know the history of–or how to truly enjoy it–so I’d like to recommend a resource for celebrating with our children, whether in our Catholic schools, homes, parishes, or homeschool networks. I talked about it on Relevant Radio, this morning, with Glen Leverenz. (Listen here.)

This self-published resource (sorry about my poor photography) was created by two brilliant women in the Immaculate Heart of Mary homeschool network, here on Long Island, and it’s called, Celebrating Catholic Halloween. It was written by Patricia Bissex; graphics were provided by Lynn Mary Wilson. I’ll give ordering information at the end of this post.*

This magazine-sized, roughly 40-page booklet includes not only the history and delightful traditions of All Hallows E’en (including begging for soul cakes on the vigil of All Saints Day) but helps us and our children to embrace the majesty and beauty of our traditions as a Catholic family: a family that never stops loving each other, even after death.

Celebrating Catholic Halloween provides:

A deeper appreciation for the Feasts of All Saints (November 1) and All Souls (November 2)
Historical context for understanding the development of trick-or-treating, based on the Catholic tradition of begging for soul cakes on the vigil of All Saints (October 31)
Religious customs and the importance of praying for the Holy Souls
Fascinating symbols from nature (and food!) that reconnect us to the beauty of our faith
Lessons in various academic disciplines, including lovely catechetical games, activities, word games, traditional liturgies, coloring pages, crafts, recipes, litanies, processions, vocabulary lists for various levels, recommended resources, prayers, insights into related sacramentals, and simple but beautiful songs for increasing the joy and reverence of your celebration.

With this simple but value-packed resource, you will be empowered to help children and adults experience the thrill of learning about the lives of the saints and the Holy Souls in purgatory–their family and friends in the Communion of Saints.

A final note and prayer request:

In the traditional calendar of the Church, Mondays are devoted to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Souls, so I’d like to close on this Monday morning by asking for prayers for the soul of Carmella R. Kosinski, a wife, mom, and teacher, who died last week. She is the very beloved mom of John Harper, the host of Morning Air, on Relevant Radio. He treasured and cared for her in his home, for years. Please say a Hail Mary or an Our Father for her soul and ask the Holy Spirit to comfort John and his family.

I’ll close with two beautiful and powerful prayers for the Holy Souls in Purgatory:

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

This one is from St. Gertrude the Great and is believed to release 1,000 souls from purgatory at each recitation:

Eternal Father, I offer You the most precious blood of thy Divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said throughout the world today,
for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the universal Church, for those in my own home,
and in my family. Amen.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that our prayers for the Holy Souls not only helps them to get to heaven faster but enables them to pray for us–and their prayers are powerful. These are friends we want to have and want our children to know and love.

958 Communion with the dead.

“In full consciousness of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church in its pilgrim members, from the very earliest days of the Christian religion, has honored with great respect the memory of the dead; and ‘because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins’ she offers her suffrages for them.” Our prayer for them is capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.

Please share your favorite All Saints and All Souls resources, including prayers, lessons, and activities, in the com boxes!

* Order Celebrating Catholic Halloween, $25 postage paid: make check payable to Lynn M. Wilson, P.O. Box 432, Huntington Station, NY 11746

RESOURCE: The Three Things Divorced Catholics Need to Know, by Mary Lou Rosien

By Lisa Mladinich

With The Three Things Divorced Catholics Need To Know, author and catechist, Mary Lou Rosien, has created a superb and simple guide for Catholics going through the pain and confusion of divorce. I’ve never been through a divorce, but it’s important to understand what so many of our loved ones are going through, so we can be both guides and safe harbors during a most trying experience.

This booklet is a treasure because it not only spells out Catholic teaching, but this faithfully-Catholic author has been through it all herself–divorce, annulment, and remarriage–and writes with understanding, personal stories, and a passion for lifting others up out of the muck of conflicting and often false information.

In the Introduction, Rosien shares the following about a desperate period after her husband demanded a divorce, when she backed away from thoughts of suicide:

“I also knew, deep down, that the pain is an emotion. Emotions are not accurate in predicting the outcome of situations. Emotions change, and that is the thought I clung to in my darkest moments. I held fast to the family members I loved and committed myself to living so I would not be the cause of any more pain.”

“When the depression lifted, I was able to see my life as it was, and I made the decision to live my life in joy.” (p. 6)

Rosien brings wisdom and encouragement to this important topic, unpacking–in plain language–what the Church teaches about divorce, pitfalls to avoid, making decisions, the annulment process, rediscovering joy in Christ, how the Church can help, and much more.

The Three Things Divorced Catholics Need to Know is highly recommended for all Catholics who are facing this issue in their own lives or in the life of someone they love. Each chapter includes well-documented teachings, an inspiring quotation, questions to ponder, and a prayer to use privately or in group settings.

This outstanding and affordable resource is available through Our Sunday Visitor.

INTERVIEW: All In: Why Belonging to the Catholic Church Matters

By Lisa Mladinich

I’m all in.

As a revert to the Faith whose utterly broken heart and crumbling life were restored, renewed, and completely transformed–through the healing love of Jesus Christ, the mysterious and life-bestowing sacramental life of the Catholic Church, the tender maternal intercession of Our Lady, and newfound friendships with inspiring saints–the Faith means everything to me.

That’s why I was thrilled to get my copy of catechist and retreat leader Pat Gohn’s new book, “All In: Why Belonging to the Catholic Church Matters,” and what sparkles in its pages does not disappoint.

I asked Pat a few questions, so you could meet the author yourself, before you rush out to buy copies for your own nourishment and for everyone in your life–especially those you love who are separated from the Church. –Lisa Mladinich

Pat Gohn

Interview with Pat Gohn about her new book, All In: Why Belonging to the Catholic Church Matters which becomes available today, March 3!

Why did you write this book and whom did you write it for?

It’s a book I wrote for all Catholics. But I especially had those in mind who have felt discouragement or disappointment in the Church. I live in the Archdiocese of Boston, where many have left the Church, or have a kind of weakened or wobbly association with it, in the years after the church sex abuse scandals. I don’t deny such pains and heartaches exist. I have felt them deeply. In this book I offer where I can put my trust, and how I can be a confident Catholic, despite the negativity and the grievous sins, if you will, of the Church. And how going deeper with Christ and the Church keeps me there.

What are some typical barriers to understanding the beauty and power of Catholicism?

We do not have a proper understanding that we are the beloved of God. I spend much of the opening portion of the book trying to connect readers with what it means to know The Beloved (who is Jesus) and what it means to be beloved.

The rest of the book contains chapters that show where I place my trust, thanks to the Beloved… because each of these things we discover in the Church flow from his love.

The book discusses the miracle of the Incarnation and how it relates to Church. It also touches on the Fatherhood of God and the beauty of our baptism. It also discusses the motherhood of the Church and the meaning behind St Cyprian’s famous quote: “No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother” (CCC, 181).

There’s also a lot of food for thought on some of the teachings of the Church, such as loving our enemies, which seems impossible, and the implications of our social teaching on the dignity of the human person. Yet, these are confidence boosters that shine light on just why belonging to the Church matters.

While I’d rather talk about confidence builders than barriers… there are three things that come to mind, which we need to work on… and I think this book helps people think about some of these things.

Icon, Public Domain

The first is our own lack of faith, the second is sin, and the third is learning to understand Jesus’ opinion of the Church, in the face of all the naysayers. But as I mentioned, coming to a place of belovedness goes a long way to help open the door of one’s heart to the Church. Through this understanding, our faith comes alive!

Why is that true? When we have faith, it becomes a light for us to see things in a new way – with the mind and heart of the Holy Spirit. Faith is new eyes to see. So that’s why the new evangelization is so key to our work as catechists… we need to reintroduce the faith and re-ignite the passion we have for Christ and the Church before we can share it with others.

Where faith is lacking, so is trust in Christ, and also trust in the Church. I try to share my own stories of faith and struggle in this book and try to lead the reader to understand that Jesus Christ is faithful, reliable, and lovable. We can take him at his word. What he says and does has credibility. For when we come to love what Jesus loves, we will come to love the Church and her teachings.

The second barrier is sin. Sin dulls our minds and lulls us into thinking that nothing can be done for us. When exactly the opposite is true! Sin deforms… but grace transforms!

Grace gives us confidence to change! Graces let us begin again! That’s the motto of the saints – they know they are loved sinners, and they don’t quit! They stayed opened to grace! Because grace helps them to live more in tune with Christ and the Church. What’s more, the lives of saints show us that we need to stay connected to the Church. Saints didn’t leave the Church even when there was trouble in the Church. Instead, many of them helped to bring about reform and renewal.

Finally, I’d like my default position to be the same as the one Jesus has. Jesus loves the Church. His opinion matters most to me. Other people’s negative opinions are no match for the love Jesus has for us, his Church. More about this in the book!

What are some cultural/societal messages that can derail the faith of young Catholics?

The primary negative message that derails young people is not having parents who are active, faith-filled Catholics.

Basilica of the Sacred Heart, University of Notre Dame, by Matthew Rice

The long-term study at Notre Dame on Youth and Religion says that young people need parents who are believers, as well as other faith-filled adults in their life, for their faith to stick. Read the findings here. That’s not a subject in my book, but I throw it in at no charge, as it’s something we catechists need to be aware of. More than ever, we must evangelize and catechize families.

I’m hoping some parents will be reading my book, so they better understand the Church and the beauty of her teaching–so they can pass that on to their children. I’m a firm believer that parents will naturally share the good things in life with their children. If parents discover their own belovedness as children of God, and begin to live it, their homes and families will be transformed.

What are some steps that disillusioned Catholics can take to reengage and reexamine their connection to the Church?

Nothing really helps until we begin to strengthen our connection with Jesus. I give tips on how to pray in the book. And I encourage readers to ask for the grace to make a new start.

Each chapter in my book offers three challenges for readers to better appropriate the content: Pray. Learn. Engage.

Under “Pray” you’ll find ways to pray over the subject matter, using Scripture and other suggestions. Under “Learn” you’ll find more reading material from magisterial documents and related texts to help the reader go deeper with the content. It might be reading something from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Compendium of Social Teaching, or the lives of the saints or similar. Under “Engage” you’ll find activities and exercises to help readers make an act of faith, or an exercise to experience some aspect of Church life or Christian service.

What are some insights that helped you find God in suffering?

That Jesus suffered for me, and is with me in mine. If you don’t mind, I’d like to share an excerpt from ALL IN to talk about how I had long ignored the price of Jesus’ blood that was shed for me on the Cross. It also taught me about the power of grace. But it was something that did not make much sense to me as a young person, because I did not truly experience suffering until I was older.

[Excerpt]

Sin deforms. Grace transforms.

How can we be so confident in this potent power of grace?

Where does this grace come from?

From the blood Jesus shed for us on the cross.

Jesus died for our sins.

Jesus died to release us from the chokehold of sin—the blockade to receiving all the gifts he wants to lavish on us.

On the cross, Jesus smashed to bits every sin, fault, failing, and vice that arrests us, taunts us, or defeats us. We no longer have to suffer being chained by invisible shackles. His sacrifice releases the graces we need to be freed from sin and death and shame.

There is power in his blood.

Again, the beloved disciple captures this truth: “the blood of Jesus . . . cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn 1:7). By the merits of Jesus’ cross, we are redeemed.

A large part of my early years with Jesus was spent reveling in the Divine Friend. I was remiss in not fully appreciating how important Jesus’ death was for me personally. Of course Jesus wanted to give me his love, and I wanted to give him mine in return. But I didn’t want the cross. It was too hard, too terrible.

When I went on a retreat as a teenager and got to know Jesus, I was all about his friendship and love. It filled a void in me that only Jesus could. The benefits of my healed heart, coupled with the friendship of Jesus, and the friends I had in the local church made me feel rich indeed. Yet I had not fully considered the depths to which Jesus descended to bring me that love.

I needed maturing . . . I took Jesus’ love for granted and did not realize that by ignoring the role of his suffering and death for me, I behaved like Easter Sunday happened without the pains of Good Friday. I might as well have been Peter denying Jesus to his face, not realizing the necessity of his cross for my redemption.

For years, I missed the full impact and truth of what Jesus had done for me. It also affected my reception of Holy Communion. I saw it as holy food that Jesus gave me as sustenance—and it is that and more. It is also a sacrifice provided by his suffering and dying for me.

Crucifixion by Murillo Bartolome Esteban

Suffering in my own life changed all of that. I didn’t know real suffering until I got older . . . physical suffering, emotional suffering, and spiritual suffering. The list of my own pains was long; the lists of sorrows that family and friends suffered were even longer.

For me there was a traumatic birth and a tough initiation into motherhood, a move out-of-state that affected me deeply, and several friends lost to cancer. There was the demise of a strong church community that fell apart over the sex abuse scandals. There was the break-up of good friends’ marriages. Who could have predicted the traumas of 9/11, and the wars that followed? So much pain and loss.

One little phrase from the Church’s Evening Prayer begs Jesus that we believers might “see in your passion our suffering.” By uniting my suffering to Christ’s passion I would survive. By the merits and graces of his cross I would thrive.

By grace I have been saved.

Once again, the Incarnation plays an indispensable role in our salvation.

The Incarnation unites the God of heaven to humanity, to earthly people of dust.

We are made of dust, the Bible says (see Gn 3:19). Yet the Father God loves the very dust we are.

As a father has compassion for his children,

so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.

For he knows how we were made;

he remembers that we are dust. (Ps 103:13–14)

The Father sends the Son, and Jesus sanctifies our dust and makes it holy. The dust we are, thanks to God’s compassion for us, is made for more. I think of Pigpen, the character from the Peanuts comic strips. Pigpen could not avoid dust and dirt, yet he also made peace with being dusty. Sometimes we’ve grown a bit too accustomed to the mess we are. We become complacent, settled in our own dust.

Pope Benedict taught that we are made for more.

“Man was created for greatness—for God himself; he was created to be filled by God. But his heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. It must be stretched. . . . This requires hard work . . . but in this way alone do we become suited to that for which we are destined.”[i]

We are made for transformation.

Enter Jesus, the dust-loving God-man whose power redeems us, and quite literally, dusts us off and breathes new life—the destiny of eternal life—into our dust.

This is God’s plan of sheer goodness! This is not merited, nor earned by us. This truth and goodness I’ve come to know, at last, is that my glorious Lord lowered himself to enter my dusty, musty, rusty, crusty existence so that he might raise me up. What dignity I have found in this love, this mercy, this grace.

Sheer grace.

[End of excerpt]

Public Domain via Wikipedia Commons

What has been a source of wisdom for you, in times of questioning?

There’s a little phrase that Jesus uses after he teaches about marriage… that “what God has joined, we must not separate.” (See Mark 10:8-9.)

I believe in those words not only when it comes to marriage, but to the many other things that God has joined together as well. For example, God has joined himself to the Church in a supernatural marriage… he is bridegroom, and we the Church are the Bride. What God has joined, we must not separate.

God has also joined himself to the sacraments, and to the living Word of Scripture. We must not separate him from these things. Not that we truly could, but when we do so in our minds, we treat these things as empty and no longer appreciate their power. Sometimes we separate ourselves from the Church… the Church of our baptism, where God joined us to the family of God. Again, in doing so, we’re taking matters into our own hands… we’re separating what God has joined together. We’re disrupting the relationships that God has designed and ordained for us. And we miss so much when we do.

I believe that Jesus’ strong, unbreakable connection to us in the Church is something we need to vividly see. And when we do see it, I think we might think twice about separating ourselves from the Church.

NOTE: To receive a free, printable .pdf of this interview, please email me directly: lisa@mladinich.com and put “All IN” in the subject line.

[i] Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi, 33.

http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi.html

Newman: Patron of Adult Faith Formation

By Father Juan Velez

[Originally posted at CatholicLane.com]

Adult Catholics have many questions such as: What is the Church’s doctrine on communion for married Catholics who after a civil divorce have entered into a second union? Is Jesus truly present in the Holy Eucharist? What is wrong with IVF?

These and many other questions that confuse Catholics indicate the need for deeper adult faith formation in our country and throughout the world. The degree of misinformation about religion and society has only increased with its easier access via cyberspace networks. So often writers misquote Cardinal Newman’s “to grow is to change” without conveying his understanding of growth in continuity. Catholics are swayed by beliefs and practices that are contrary to the faith, which many try to pass as authentic Catholic teaching.

John Henry Newman (1801-1890), English convert from the Anglican to the Catholic Church, whose feast day falls on October 9th, could be considered the patron of adult faith formation, as I propose below.

Newman lived in a nineteenth century England which was marked by modern technological development and an industrial revolution – with a consequent rise in materialism and atheism. He understood well the materialistic and relativistic culture, which is why he is able to speak to our times. He also defended the harmony between faith and reason that is so much lacking in our society. Our time prides itself in scientific advances and looks to science almost as a god. Like St. Josemaría Escrivá and St. John Paul II, Newman taught lay people to strive for holiness in their work and daily pursuits, whether in universities, factories, or fields, finding the harmony between faith and reason.

Blessed Newman, beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on September 19, 2010, offers us a deep understanding of the Church’s tradition, teaching office, and true development of doctrine, countering the prevalent and simplistic approach to growth in doctrine.

With regard to change, or what he called development in doctrine, he wrote: “(It) is indeed sometimes said that the stream is clearest near the spring. Whatever use may fairly be made of this image, it does not apply to the history of a philosophy or belief, which on the contrary is more equable, and purer, and stronger, when its bed has become deep, and broad, and full.” He explained that, for this to happen, authentic development must be in continuity with the past.

Newman is the person to whom we can turn for developing a better program for adult faith formation (RCIA) and continuing education, especially in parishes, but also at Newman centers in our universities. When adults really study and learn about the faith they discover its beauty and inner logic; they are motivated to go deeper, and they become capable of transmitting it to their children and co-workers.

Knowledge of the faith is attractive and engaging. It leads to a growth in friendship with Christ. As a result we are able to evangelize and to teach it to family and friends. Newman had many friends and cultivated friendships with people, and he realized that through genuine friendship one can have a healthy influence on others.

The study of the Catechism and the Gospels in parish adult formation can be supplemented with some selections of Newman’s writings on the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Scriptures, the Sacraments, as well as on the moral life, taken from some of his books, such as Development of Christian Doctrine and Grammar of Assent.

His novel Callista, about a young third century Christian convert, serves as a moving example and guide for apologetics today. In it we can see how the heroine is attracted to Christianity by a deep desire for happiness. Soon she begins to read the New Testament, discovers the person of Jesus Christ, and starts to listen to her moral conscience speaking to her of right and wrong. The Church’s doctrine makes things clear for her, and in the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, she finds union with her new Love.

Adult faith formation and continuing education should include the study of the lives of saints, and their writings. It should also include Church history, for example, The History of the Church by Peter Armenio (from the Didache series). For more detailed studies there are the works of Philip Hughes or Christopher Dawson.

But accepting the Church’s moral teaching requires more than doctrine, or better a doctrine that becomes part of one’s life. Christian formation is a path that entails growth in virtue and the habit of daily prayer. The writings of saints like St. Theresa of Àvila, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and St. Francis de Sales are fundamental guides along this path. Here, too, Newman serves himself as a guide. In addition to his sermons, in particular the Parochial and Plain Sermons from his Anglican period, he offers beautiful meditations and prayers composed as a Roman Catholic (Meditations and Devotions).

Just as there are patrons for all types of endeavors, we need a patron for adult formation, and Blessed Newman is just that person. However, first he would need to be canonized – which we hope will take place in the near future. In the mean time, the United States bishops could obtain permission from the Holy See to celebrate throughout the country the memorial Mass each year on his saint’s day, October 9.

[Editor’s note: see Blessed John Henry Newman, Ora Pro Nobis.]

Fr. Juan R. Vélez, author of Passion for Truth, the Life of John Henry Newman (St. Benedict’s Press, 2011). He writes at www.cardinaljohnhenrynewman.com

Lesson Idea for Teaching Trust in God

By Gabe Garnica

Objective: Children will be able to recall and recite three important things that we can offer to God…1) Harms….our sins 2) Hopes…the things we would like to do/receive 3) Hurts….people/things/situations that have hurt us

Materials Needed:

3 medium-sized cardboard boxes/cartons, with labels Harms, Hopes, and Hurts on the front respectively. Box should be large enough so that it cannot be held in one hand easily
Items to place in boxes, such as books or rubber balls etc (optional)
4 volunteers

Grade Level: Grades 3 to 6, but the delivery can be simplified or amplified for lower or higher grades

Scripture: 1 Peter 5:7 “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” Matthew 6:26 “ Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they?”

In the interest of brevity, I will summarize this lesson so that any catechist will be able to modify his or her presentation as needed.

Have one child play God; that child will stand to one side for most of the lesson
Remind the children that just as Jesus offered His cross to God, we can also offer all the good and bad things that happen to us to God also.
Explain to the children that, in addition to our thanks, praise, and requests, we can offer three other things to God
Give the box labeled “Harms” to one child and explain that this box represents those times that we hurt God, others, or ourselves by not obeying what God wants us to do.
Ask the children what we call those times…invariably someone will say “sin” and so ask the children how we “let go” of our sins….confession.
Give the box labeled “Hopes” to one child and explain that this box represents those things we want to do in the future, such as passing a test, getting on the soccer team, or becoming an athlete. Explain to the children that while we can prepare for these things, we have to trust in God and leave it up to Him if we will get what we want because He knows what is best for us.
Give the box labeled “Hurts” to the last child and explain that these are the times we have been hurt by people or when things do not go our way. Explain that, just as Jesus forgave those who hurt Him, we too should forgive people for hurting us and ourselves when we cannot do the things we wanted to do.
Ask the children to try to hug or shake hands while holding their box. Now ask the children with the boxes to give their boxes to the child playing God.
Close by telling the children that they cannot love and help each other as God wants them to until they give their boxes to God as well.

2016 Gabriel Garnica

Marriage Memes: Sacraments and Saints

By Karee Santos

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

Meme #2: Scripture

Meme #3: Quote from Four Keys

Meme #4: Pope Quote

Meme #5: Action Plan

Why Magnifying the Lord is Our Mission as Christians

By Gabe Garnica

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

Gabriel Garnica

By Gabe Garnica

Gabriel Garnica is crazy enough to believe that we can all be saints, and he refuses to buy the lie that we cannot. He is a college professor with degrees in law and mental health counseling. He was born in Colombia and came to the U.S. as a young child. While Gabe continues to enjoy teaching law, his greatest fulfillment as an educator has come from his ten years as a catechist at two local parishes. Gabe is passionate about sharing his faith through writing and speaking; and he has enjoyed giving numerous talks to children on such topics as Divine Mercy, David and Goliath, The Ten Commandments, and prioritizing one’s faith. While he enjoys talking to children, it is in writing and speaking to adults that Gabe truly feels he has found his calling. His goal is to continue developing his Catholic speaking and write several books on his topics of interest, which include meditations on the Ten Commandments, Divine Mercy, the saints, parable stories, general Scripture, Pro-Life, and The Virgin Mary. He enjoys writing for his blog Deus solus https://wordpress.com/posts/deussolus9.wordpress.com and as a columnist at Catholic Stand ww.catholicstand.com/author/gabriel-garnica/

Gabe’s favorite saints are Tarcisius, Therese “The Little Flower”, and Alphonsus de Liguori, whom he describes as giving us a powerful glimpse of the loving challenge which God has given each of us. As mentioned above, Gabe believes that we are all called to be saints, but we spend more time convincing ourselves why we cannot become one than trying to fulfill our true purpose in becoming precisely that. Gabe also speaks about Catholic marriage as being the true “Love Triangle”, with each partner and God.