Amazing Catechists

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Sharing your Catholic Faith Story: Tools, Tips and Testimonies, by Nancy H.C. Ward

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I believe we all have a story. And it’s not done until we have left this world for heaven. I love other people’s stories, reminding me of how God pursues us all differently; the still, small whisper is heard in different ways for different reasons and each of us responds differently. The power of stories is not only the differentness of them all but the sameness of them all. I think if we share our faith story it draws people to us and to God. The problem is, how do you do that? We talk about knowing Jesus personally and the new evangelization,  but how does one explain that to those who don’t have those words or ideas in their consciousness as I do?

Nancy Ward has laid it all out for us. No joking here or over exaggeration. I enjoyed reading this book because it gave me a glimpse of who Nancy is as an individual. Her faith journey as a convert is laid out as an example of how to tell your own story. But she goes further than an example. She gives us the steps, one by one, with instructions, on writing your testimony and using it.

We don’t tell our whole story each time or the same one; it varies based on who we are speaking to, where, why. We share what is necessary for the person to hear, in evangelization starting where you are is not helpful, you must begin where the other person is, otherwise it’s as if you are talking about yourself for your own edification! And I don’t think that will help evangelize anyone.

If you have ever thought you’d like to talk more about how God moves and works in your life but wondered how this is the book for you. I have, like Nancy, been a part of many groups in the Church; Cursillo, Charismatic, Magnificat; both as a participant and a leader. This is the first time I’ve read a book that lays out how to tell your story. I think it would be very helpful for all those who serve in parish ministry. Your story can be an authentic witness to your faith journey. We need authentic witnesses to speak in love to others.

But it is also for those who want an answer at family dinners and work lunches and neighborhood conversations. You know, all those times you want to say something but hold back, if you prepare yourself, you’ll have a response that you can be confident about speaking aloud, not just in your head hours later.

That’s what this book can help you with, gaining confidence in telling your story. If you want that, get yourself a copy!

PS: The second section of the book is a collection of other people’s testimonies. Read them to remind yourself that God is at work.

Are You a Yada Yada Catholic?

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The phrase Yada yada has been around for a long time, with varied origins proposed, but the phrase’s popularity was re-ignited by a 1997 episode of the Seinfeld sitcom.  The double use of yadda implies a shorthand way of fast-forwarding boring or expected parts of life or speech. It is literally the equivalent of et cetera or blah blah.

For example, a student might tell her absent classmate, “The professor did her usual lecture on the scientific method, yada yada, and then she cancelled class early.” The implication is that the yada yadapart is the usual, mundane, unimportant, and/or redundant stuff already experienced by the parties involved.  The idea is that such parts are so predictable that repeating them is a waste of time since people could figure out what was implied anyway.

Part of the irony and attempt at humor was that one party thought that Yada yada was appropriate, practical, and self-explanatory in a given context and the other party was only further confused by the phrase.  Rather than save everyone a lot of thought, the phrase only threw the confused party into a sea of unanswered questions and unsure assumptions.  A life immersed only in the secular can often be a paradox of such ironic tragedy in the midst of patronizing presumption. Such a life is pulled between satisfying flimsy and changing societal conventions and trying to grasp effective and fulfilling self-perceptions.  We are often pulled between satisfying others and ourselves by a society that idolizes popularity and self at the same time. Like the townspeople pretending that the naked Emperor is wearing clothes, we are often too obsessed with looking right to do what is truly right.

Yada Yada Catholics

I am fairly certain that this might be the first use of Yada yada to describe Catholics, so embrace my pioneering spirit. As I see it, many of us might be tempted to fast-forward, assume, practicalize, and short-hand our Faith. Why would we do this?  Perhaps, whether we admit it or not, we have allowed our Faith, or at least our perception and experience of it, to grow stale, mundane, predictable, and even boring.  We have lost the transcendent power and meaning of our beliefs and practices to the point where we now see the practice of our faith as nothing more than commercials we want to fast-forward through on the DVR of our lives. This tragedy explains parents missing mass with their kids in order to take them to swim meets and soccer games.  It explains folks treating the most Blessed Sacrament as nothing more than a weekly white cookie.  It explains hordes of Catholics too ignorant about what their Faith is about to explain much less defend it.

The Five Culprits of Catholic Yada Yada

I believe that there are many reasons for Catholic Yada yada, but the five main ones are, in no particular order:  1) Ignorance   2) Distraction  3) Arrogance  4) Defiance and 5) Distance.

Thanks to a diluted and sometimes distorted religious education system, many Catholics have been raised increasingly ignorant of core Catholic beliefs and the relative importance and centrality of those beliefs.  Many Catholics, for example, do not know, understand, or care about the Divine Presence.

Secondly, modern society embodies so many distractions, from technology to twisted values, that many Catholics are easily confused and readily blend truth with subjective whim and myth. Third and fourth, current social values promote and foment rampant personal arrogance and defiance against any absolute moral code.  Morality is what each person defines as morality.  Anyone who even attempts to guide others toward ethical behavior is labeled an intolerant and divisive threat to society.  It is troubling that increasing numbers of Catholics stubbornly and cluelessly latch unto distorted, warped, and very subjective interpretations and applications of their Faith.

We see scores of Catholics encouraged and convinced that attending a wedding between two divorced Catholics without annulments is acceptable to “maintain the peace” and exhibit “love and acceptance”.  Finally, all of these things and more cause many Catholics to grow distant from their faith.  Their beliefs become nothing more than distant relatives they admit to being related to but barely know.  All too often, many Catholics become Peter at the fire warming himself while Christ, their Faith, is interrogated.  We too may deny Christ many times through our words, actions, and omissions merely to avoid trouble and criticism.

The Surprising Meaning of Yada and Its Implications

The most surprising part of my preparation for this piece was the discovery that a single Yada is a Hebraic word meaning a knowing dedication and sharing often based on love, mercy, and justice which is often referenced in the Old Testament. The obvious question is how can such a beautiful and positive word suddenly become so negative and dismissive when doubled?  I think that the answer may lie in the idea that we often take what is most important for granted out of convenience, impatience, and a warped search for what I will call external novelty.

The process by which this terrible thing happens might begin with expecting core, profound, and central ideas to continually inspire and radiate their own wonder. Rather than embracing our responsibility to cultivate and refresh the wonder of the most transcendent, we tend to sit back and expect the transcendent to entertain and inspire us.  It is almost as if we have come to equate greatness with the innate ability to generate greatness without any effort or participation on our part.  A fantastic health speaker may provide us with a wonderful diet and exercise strategies, but our health will not improve unless we take, apply, and make those ideas work in our lives. Similarly, we are the hands of Christ in this world, not merely his audience eating popcorn and waiting for the next miracle or magic trick.

We tend to exhibit the obnoxious trio of lazy impatience leading to an obsession with finding the most convenient path to anything.  In our rush to get to the next great thing which is often not that great at all, we tend to overlook the very greatness right under our noses.  Ultimately, we seek external novelty, automatically assuming that new is better and new must come from outside of what is presently before us.  In this context,  the Hebraic Yada’s power and beauty are dismissed when we lump all of the Yadas in our lives into a convenient pile while impatiently looking elsewhere for the freshness and wonder we already have before us if we only care to look.  Many Catholics, for example, are too distracted with the cares of the day to truly consider the majesty of the Divine Presence. Similarly, many folks go the bathroom exactly during the elevation of the Eucharist at the Offertory. Lastly, how many Catholics truly consider that we are just as present at the Last Supper, Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord as the Apostles were when we attend mass?  For far too many Catholics, the Holy Mass has conveniently become a weekly social ritual.

One Yada is Enough

Given what we know about the meanings of Yada as opposed to Yada yada, we can perhaps conclude that one Yada is more than enough when it comes to our Faith.  We must see our Faith as a knowing dedication to Christ and sharing of that dedication with others in love, mercy, and justice.  That view, however, invites us to continually seek the internal novelty of ways by which we may practice and apply such dedication, sharing, love, mercy, and justice. The answer does not lie in the society and world around us, for to believe so would imply that the value of our Faith is dependent upon this world and its values.  Rather, the beauty and power of our faith are to be found within the Faith itself and our ability to discover, extract, and apply what we find to a needy world.  We cannot be lazy observers of our own Faith merely waiting to be entertained while continually handcuffing our beliefs to the whimsical chains of this world. Rather, it is our duty, mission, and purpose to draw out from our Faith the necessary tools to both glorify God and bring Christ to everyone we meet.

One Yada is enough because one Yada tells us all we need to know and use to follow Christ.  Once we let this world convince us that it has the prescription to improve our Faith, we will become Yada yadaCatholics who think that convenience, entertainment, external novelty, and compromise will ever bring us closer to our Faith much less to Christ.  The internal novelty of our Faith is simply its transcendent ability to provide us with new insights and applications through Christ and his example. By necessity, any external novelty will be subject to the superficial and distorted values of this world.  Ultimately, when it comes to the Yada in our Faith, less is more!

2019   Gabriel Garnica

Christ’s Seven Last Words: Another Side

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As we make that powerful turn into Holy Week and Beyond, we reflect on Our Lord’s Seven Last Words as Seven Balances we each must make on our own journey toward our crosses.

First Word

“Father, forgive them , for they know not what they do.” Luke 23: 34

We understandably take Our Lord’s first word as reflecting his Divine Mercy and compassion. Who among us could ever pray for, much less forgive, those who hate and hurt us?   Yet this is yet another clear indication that Christ is the ultimate paradox to this temporary, superficial, secular world.  He asks us to love so much that we can forgive so much and forgive so much that we reflect only love for the other regardless of how the other has treated us. However, there is another side, a balancing aspect, to this First Word.

Christ asks that his Father forgive his murderers due to their ignorance. They are teeming with hatred for him precisely because they are confused and misguided. In a word, they are lost. The balancing side to Christ’s compassion and Divine Mercy then, is our duty to seek, to search out truth, clarification, reality, and a better understanding of ourselves, others, and the situations we face.  Ignorance may be bliss to some, but it is not so for the true follower of Christ.  As such followers, we are called to relentless responsibility grounded in love and service. Cowards and fools find comfort in ignorance, but courageous followers of Christ have an unflinching passion for truth because they have a relentless thirst for Christ, who alone is truth.

Let us seek, then, to embrace Our Lord’s Divine Mercy with a wrap of personal responsibility and relentless pursuit of truth.  Let us welcome the mission of destroying ignorance and bringing light to others so that they may seek Christ as well.  Let us reject the excuse of ignorance for such tactics do not work with God. The ultimate responsibility of being a christian is that we look to Christ and not to excuses.

 

Second Word

“Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.”  Luke 23: 43

Again, we see Our Lord’s transcendent Divine Mercy which has no clock and only shows relentless love and compassion.  Here, he forgives a sinner with two strikes, two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning using baseball terms. How often do we measure contrition, compassion, and forgiveness as if doing our taxes?  Our Lord’s mercy once again points to the paradox of his love for us. He is truth and justice personified and embodied, yet he is also mercy and compassion epitomized as well.  However, yet again, there is another, balancing side to this Second Word as well.

Our Lord practices what he so often preached regarding the importance and joy of finding the lost sheep. Yet, this second word challenges us to pursue Christ consistently and not be content for last minute reprieves. If we do our best to be Christ to others, we will be able to love and serve those others throughout our lives and not be mired in simply saving ourselves.  Yes, Christ’s promises are as good as gold. However, this second word invites and challenges us to be humble and shun overconfidence that Our Lord will save us. Confession and Our Lord’s Divine Mercy are not some mere get-out-of-jail cards on Monopoly or a Free Spin on Wheel of Fortune.  The challenge of this second word is to follow Christ because we love him and not merely because it is nearly twelve midnight and our carriage is about to become a pumpkin.

 

Third Word

                                                     “When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved,                                                           he said to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, he said to the disciple: Behold thy mother.” John 19: 26-27

Many see this Third Word as a call to take The Blessed Mother as our own, loving and following her example of humility, faith, and obedience. However, once again we need to see the balancing aspect of this Third Word as well.

Every Christian should see Christ as the ultimate GPS to the ultimate destination of salvation in heaven. Beyond this, however, we are challenged here to see Mary as the GPS to Christ himself.  In order to do this, we need to embrace and embody her example of loving and serving God even when we do not fully understand what God wants us to do. Mary combines faith and trust in God’s Will in a beautiful and humble way that we all should follow.

It is clear and true that This Third Word invites us to love and honor Mary as our mother and see ourselves as her children. However, the second, balancing side of this Third Word is that, like Mary, we are called to bring Christ to a world which desperately needs him. Following Mary’s example is not a spectator sport lined with rosaries. Rather, it is an active, participant mission calling us to be ministers delivering Christ to everyone we meet.

Fourth Word

                                                              “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice,                                                                                                                                                  saying: Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani? that is, My God, my God,                                                              why hast thou forsaken me?” Matt 27:46

Jesus is both fully human and fully divine, and his divinity allowed him to know that his suffering would achieve its purpose. However, his humanity allowed him to feel the despair that we can all feel when things seem hopeless.  Many take this Fourth Word as a representation of that difficult situation, and of the idea that following God’s Will can often not be an easy thing to do. We all can certainly relate to feeling abandoned, betrayed, or forgotten by those around us, especially by those we assume love and care for us. Beyond these ideas, however, we can find two other, balancing sides to this Fourth Word as well.

First, despair and  hopelessness is a normal part of being human we can all and will feel from time to time.  Following Christ means falling on the way to our mission as he physically did three times. The key, however, is that following Christ does not truly begin when we merely fall, despair, or feel hopeless on our journey toward salvation. Rather, following Christ most truly begins when we get up from those falls that come our way as Christ got up.

Second, when God is our goal, all despair and hopelessness will yield to hope, faith, and anticipation. We all experience fear, regret, sorrow, despair, hopelessness, and even a temptation to give up, to surrender and throw our hands up. However, if we keep Christ in our sights and hearts, all such feelings will fade before the majesty of Christ’s relentless and transcendent love for us.  Despair is followed by hope and faith when Christ is involved.

Fifth Word

                                                                    “Afterwards, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished,                                                                                                              that the scripture might be fulfilled, said: I thirst.” John 19:28

A few years ago, I read for the first time how this Fifth Word represents not only Our Lord’s physical thirst but also his third for souls to save.   I thought that this idea was such a beautiful and touching representation of t his Fifth Word.  However, here too one can see a second, balancing aspect to this Fifth Word.

God has prepared a cup for each of us. Our mission and purpose in life is to drink fully and lovingly from that cup. The cup will contain happiness and joy as well as sorrow, pain, and disappointment. Many of us either refuse to drink the cup altogether or merely try to drink the cup partially, sipping from what seems like good things and avoiding the tough stuff. If we truly love God and seek to serve Him and follow His Divine Will for our lives, we need to fully and lovingly drink all the His cup for us means.  It is not enough for us to be willing to drink of that cup as if it were some  homework assignment or chore. In fact, it is not even enough for each of us to welcome that cup and all it brings. Rather, we must actively thirst to drink that cup, to serve and love Our Lord, and to please God Almighty despite our many faults.

Ultimately, our lives must reflect that thirst. We must see our journey as a continuous struggle to satisfy the thirst of loving God and following Our Lord and helping others do so as well.  Christ expressed this thirst for souls when he had accomplished his mission. We are called to embody this thirst for serving and loving God and others in order to accomplish our mission.

 

Sixth Word

“Jesus therefore, when he had taken the vinegar, said: It is consummated.” John 19:30

We all understand this Sixth Word to show that Christ was nearing the end of his earthly mission to enable our salvation. However, perhaps we can also see the other, balancing side of this Sixth Word to mean that following Christ and fulfilling God’s purpose and mission for our lives is something we must fully accomplish to the best of our ability. We are each an investment of God’s wonderful gifts, blessings, and graces. The true question is whether or not we will each yield the interest and gain of that investment as God intended us to be. Regardless of how large our pool of resources is to fulfill our life mission and purpose, we are each called upon to fully actualize whatever potential for love and service God has given each of us.

In a way, fully following Christ means we are never finished by the standards of this world. This is so because our measure and standard is found in heaven and follows different quotas that this world’s merely superficial and temporal standards represent.

 

Seventh Word

                                                              “And Jesus crying with a loud voice, said: Father,                                                                                                                         into thy hands I commend my spirit. And saying this, he gave up the ghost.” Luke 23:46

Certainly, we will see this Seventh Word as Christ willingly and obediently giving up his spirit to his Father. It is a reminder that we begin service of God with obedience, faith, trust, and a willingness to wrap our will with the Holy Will of God. However, yet again and in a final balancing perspective, we may see this Seventh Word as confirmation of the idea that all we are, do, say, think, and achieve in this world is of no consequence if it is not done for the glory of God and serves God’s Will and purpose for our lives.

Regardless of how this world sees us, what ultimately matters is how God sees us.  We can find no better satisfaction that satisfying our Heavenly Father with what we have done in this world.   Let us see each season of Lent as a reminder that our lives are lent to us by God and we will each be called to give an account of what we have done with this gift of life we have been given.  In the end, we must each return this gift back to the Creator Who alone gives life and Who alone should take it.

Conclusion

Each Lent we each struggle to stumble behind Our Lord’s example of loving service and obedience to God and loving service to others. With varying success, we each try to carry some sort of cross or consider that crosses we may carry in this effort to justify our designation as so-called followers of Christ.

Ultimately, however, it will be how sincerely, humbly, lovingly, and purely we carried out that struggle that will determine if that label of follower of Christ is justified.  Let us see these powerful Seven Words as further guides in that effort.

2019  Gabriel Garnica

How Lenten is Your Parish Lenten Mission?

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As we make that final turn toward the culmination of our Lenten journey, many of us have attended or heard about parish Lenten missions.  Such events are often either a series of talks by different speakers or the same speaker(s) on different topics.  Supposedly, the main purpose of such missions or talks are to invite the members of the parish to a deeper meditation or reflection on their Lenten journey.  If we are honest, these various missions achieve that goal with varying degrees of success.  Some instances will leave members of the audience deeply moved to a much greater and personal reflection on their Lent.  Other instances, however, will often leave audience members scratching their heads wondering what the topics particularly had to do with Lent or how what was presented would help their Lenten journey.

Examples of Excellent and Not So Excellent Missions

A series of talks regarding Christ’s Seven Last Words, the Stations of the Cross, Our Lord’s Passion, or particularly characters in the Passion narrative can often be powerful and fulfilling invitations and reminders of what Lent is all about.  Even discussions on the above in the context of our present society can be wonderful experiences for the audience.

In contrast, presentations by therapists, social workers, lawyers, and other professionals regarding topics only marginally, or even totally independent, of Lent are very questionable topics for Parish Lenten Missions.  A recent example I know of involved two wonderfully talented and faithful psychologists who discussed how to raise good Catholic children in today’s society presented to an audience of mostly older, 40 years of age and above, parishioners.  Anyone who can explain to me how these presentations provide us with a deeper Lenten journey will be much appreciated.  The fact that most audience members had already raised kids weakened the presentation a bit, bit what some did not get is what the topic really had to do with Lent.

Difference Between a Good Parish Mission and a Good Lenten Parish Mission 

At this point it is important to clarify the difference between a good parish mission and a good Lenten parish mission.  Most efforts I have ever seen are competently presented and provide useful and valuable information for the faithful to use in their lives. The question is to what degree that given presentation or series of presentations brings the audience to a deeper meditation on Lent itself.  A presentation by a medical doctor on the physical suffering the Christ endured in his Passion can be a powerful and poignant Lenten presentation. On the other hand, a presentation by that same doctor on allergies can negatively impact our Easter celebration is not exactly deep thought personified.

Ultimately, the difference between a merely good presentation and a good Lenten effort is how that presentation impacts the listeners’ appreciation and reflection on their Lent at this time in their lives living in this particular world and society. To this degree, a wonderful presentation on how Lent practices have changed over the last century may or may  not hit the mark depending on how the topic is handled and approached.  If the tone is to show how things were so much better in the old days and no everything is pathetic or, conversely, now things are so much more enlightened now and how foolish people were way back when one can argue that this historical Lent presentation will do more harm than good.  If, however, the presenter compares and explains previous practices, how they have changed, what their meaning was, and how present practices may represent the same or similar themes, that could be an enlightening experience indeed.

A pastor at a nearby parish recently explained in the bulletin why statues are covered during Lent. Not only does this topic bring back memories from my childhood, but it was really educational and made me feel closer to my Lenten journey.

Choice of Speakers/Presenters

Often the speakers or presenters will be priests, deacons, other religious, theologians, or experts in some field  chosen because of their ability to make their presentation meaningful to an audience.  Presenters should be chosen because of their ability to convey relevant Lenten messages and not because of their friendship or familiarity to the Pastor.  The best speakers will leave the audience thinking more about their Lenten journey and remembering key themes or messages from the presentation.  If I leave a Lenten presentation knowing five ways to make my teenager go to Mass I am not completely sure that presentation was a Lenten presentation.

The Ultimate Test 

At the end of the day, I believe that whether or not a particular Lenten presentation, retreat, or mission should have been a Lenten presentation, retreat, or mission is Could this event have been conducted at any other time of the year with as effective or even a more effective result?  In other words, how dependent or connected was this presentation or retreat to Lent?

Can parents in June or September benefit from a presentation on how to raise good Catholic kids?  Of course !   Can grandparents in October or February benefit from ways to connect with their grandchildren about being Catholic?  Certainly!  How about a discussion of Christ’s Last Seven Words, The Stations of the Cross, the role of Veronica in the Passion, or the Good vs. Bad Thief go in August or May?  Not such a good fit it seems to me.  That last group represents what a good Lenten mission or retreat should be about because their themes and topics most effectively fit in Lent itself.

Conclusion 

Parish Lenten retreats, missions, presentations, and talks should be about Lent or how Lent integrates with some aspect of our lives. They should not be about how to raise kids as good Catholics or bake Easter cookies.  At the next level, I am not sure that presentations on how to pray the Rosary or prepare for Confirmation are good Lenten topics either. While this next level does touch on our faith and would make wonderful topics in general throughout the year, the question is why have them in Lent?

Would you put up a Christmas tree in April to celebrate Easter?  Would you ask an eye doctor to give a talk on how caring for your kids’ eyes makes for a better observance of Holy Week?  There is a time and place for every parish presentation as long as one an relate the topic to our faith.    For Lenten presentations, however, the central question is what does this particular topic have to do with Lent or Christ’s ultimate example of loving sacrifice.  Many Christmas and religious hymns are very beautiful. That does not make them Lenten hymns.

2019 Gabriel Garnica

This Lent Crucify Your Despair to Christ’s Cross of Hope

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Scripture teaches us the difference between despair and hope in the persons and reactions of Judas and Peter. Peter denied even knowing Our Lord three times, felt great sorrow over his actions, and sought Christ’s mercy in loving, selfless, surrender to the Hope synonymous with Divine Mercy ( Mk 14:66-72). Judas, however, wallowed in self-pity and despair, too obsessed with self to fathom that Christ would or could forgive his sin and perhaps so proud that he preferred guilt over redemption and death over humility and contrition for his sin ( Mt 27:4-5).

Join the Club

I have often heard comparisons between Peter and Judas in terms of how they each betrayed Jesus, but only recently did I really consider just how large this betrayal club really is.  After all, did not all of the apostles, except for John, betray Jesus.  Running for the hills and scurrying under the bed when your friend and loved one is in trouble is not exactly loyalty and dedication. Did not half or more of the people in Jerusalem betray Jesus as well?  After all, they welcomed him with open arms less than a week earlier and gladly accepted his miracles curing their various ills only to either turn on him at the slightest suggestion or cower in corners as he was led to his most unjust death.  Don’t we all, in fact, betray Our Lord every time we pompously pump our chests declaring total allegiance to him only to pathetically fall for the same tired sinful script which has brought us down in the past?  Common sense, and human nature, would indicate and dictate that the club of Jesus betrayers reads more like the universal phone book than anything else. Sure, Judas messed up big time. However, he was clearly too self-obsessed to look at Our Lord in humble contrition and simply allow Christ’s Divine Mercy to defeat even the greatest of sin.  Simply put, Judas preferred to die with self than to die to self and actualize everything Jesus had taught him over the previous three years.

The Comfort of Despair

You may wonder how despair can ever be comfortable.  Do we not associate despair with extreme stress and crushing  hopelessness?  Yes, we do, yet I suggest to you that we often prefer such stress and hopelessness because it both fits our secular model of self and selfish model of resolution on our terms.  We only feel hopelessness and despair when we wallow in our own situation as compared to the situation we envision for ourselves instead.   Who feels greater hopelessness, the student who sees everyone else getting As in math while he fails or the one surrounded by failures just like himself? Satan wants us to focus on how we fall below the standards that Christ calls for us. He wants us to become immersed in just how we fall below everyone else and simply give up.  Christ, however, wants us to focus on how merciful and loving he can be and how we can believe in that mercy and love and get up when there are hundreds of reasons not to.

However, despair is comfortable despite its pain. It fits our secular and self model of martyrdom in self.  Look at my pain and sorrow, feel my stress and emptiness, and taste my hopeless situation. It is all about me and my pain and suffering.  Despair is convenient. Once we despair, we have a ready and willing excuse for drowning in self-pity and doubt. Loving God and following Christ, however, is not about feeling this world’s comforts.  If anything, this world makes such love and service very hard. Therein, however, lies the value of rejecting the comfort of despair.      We see and feel the ready-made excuse of hopelessness that the devil gleefully offers to us and push away from it in favor of reaching out to a God this world ignores, mocks, patronizes, and disrespects regularly.

The Discomfort of Hope

Again, here we see an ironic reversal of the expected.  How can hope be uncomfortable?  Is not hope synonymous with comfort, convenience, satisfaction, and relief?  Would we not rather have hope than be without it?  The true answer is yes and no.  If we buy into Christ’s message of trust, love, service, and mercy, then hope is everything. However, if we subconsciously or consciously buy into this world’s message of self, excuses, and taking the easy way out,  hope is a heavy burden to bear.  With hope comes accountability, responsibility, expectation, and even demands.  How?  Which team is expected to fight hardest to win a game, the one down by one point or the one down by twenty points? Nobody expects anything from a team down by too many points to have a chance and many, if not most, would not be too critical of that team mailing it in the rest of the game and giving up.

Compare this, however, with a team down by one single point giving up a game and one can see how the reaction would be so much harsher.  Giving up when there is still hope is considered cowardice. Giving up when there is no hope is considered surrender.  Refusing to give up even when there is little or not hope is considered noble and even heroic. Hope is indeed a cross to bear for anyone embracing it. The difference is that those whose hope lies in trusting Christ believe that their hope is both justified and practically assured of fulfillment.  By contrast, those whose hope lies in trusting self are prone to the doubts and weakness of the human condition.  In both cases, there are potentially crushing expectations.  For those hopeful in Christ, however, that heavy cross is borne with the support and inspiration of Our Lord’s example.  Those hopeful only in themselves, others, or this world will bear the heavy burden of expectations alone.

True Hope in Christ is Surrender to Love and Mercy

The Via may be Dolorosa, but the ultimate reward is so great that any pain on the way is more than justified.  Lent and Calvary call on each of us to push away the easy excuses, the ready-made rationales, and the convenient surrenders to human nature and the values of this world. We each have the opportunity to pick up the cross of  hope in Christ and turn it into the final resting place of our despair.  We can nail that despair and hopelessness to the hope that Our Lord offers to each of us.  Divine Mercy is the transcendent assurance that no sin or sinner is beyond the hope of Christ.  The devil is the pathetic purveyor of the lie that reaching for Christ is an exercise in hopeless futility.

It is truly ironic that the devil, the prince of self, happily offers each of us the easy excuse that we have no hope in saving ourselves. Lifting ourselves in the hope of Christ’s Divine Mercy should be an easy fulfillment of our loving trust in Our Lord.  This world, however, paints that hope as a burden too heavy for our defective and weak shoulders to bear. Once we surrender to this world’s distorted sense of hope, despair is the ready substitute. The second irony lies in the fact that despair only brings more despair as it pushes us further into the slippery slope of sin.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked those arresting him “Whom are you seeking?” ( Jn 18:7).  That is a question which each of us must answer for ourselves. If we surrender to and embrace Christ’s example of love and mercy, we will find a true hope in Christ on which we may nail our despair forever.  However, if we are merely seeking ourselves, we will be enslaved by that despair forever as well.

2019  Gabriel Garnica

Lent is not a self-improvement project

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This video about Lenten fasting from Redeemed Online would be a great introduction to talking about the disciplines of Lent as a communal experience, rather than 40 Days of Self-Improvement:

“One billion people in the world, fasting from the same thing, lifting up our prayers to God…”

Challenging young people to take Lent seriously can too easily come across as just another self-help program; sure, you slacked on your New Year’s resolution, but now you get a reboot with awesome ashes on your forehead!

It strikes me that Lent is perhaps our strongest remaining experience of a Catholic culture. Christmas is celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike, and Advent reads to the larger culture as generic “getting ready for Christmas” along the lines of setting up the tree and planning for the big meal. But Lent is a communal occasion of penance and sacrifice, culminating in the highest of our holy days.

Yes, it is a chance to supercharge one’s faith, I suppose, but that’s not really how we are supposed to see this season. We are sinners, we need Christ’s saving presence, and we take on these disciplines to remind ourselves of the need for His mercy. The fish fry dinners and the community Stations of the Cross help create this culture apart from the world. If we can’t go on pilgrimage, we can embark upon this smaller journey together. Invite your students to focus on Lent as members of the Body of Christ, explaining how our individual acts of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are not about attaining our own perfection but rather offerings in union with Christ’s sacrifice.

Making Recitation a Tool for Success, Part II

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Introduction

Recitation, referred to in the catechetical tradition as “catechism,” is a powerful tool, albeit not the only tool, for passing on the faith to young children. Discover my first article arguing for the necessity of its restoration. In my last article on recitation, I examined the first installment of the series Making Recitation a Tool for Success, Part I. That article reviewed the practical steps to initiating recitation within the catechetical classroom. This article will round out the practical tips to making recitation a success in its execution.

 

Recitation as an Immediate Assessment

The cumulative recitation experience at the beginning of class provides the Catechist with an immediate assessment of their child’s attitude for that day, their overall abilities, and current level of comprehension. The overall recitation should

be the class standing up and reciting a rhythmic harmony. Yet, in each class there should be a few questions that focus on a particular grouping of students in the classroom. For example, the Catechist might have a question that is just for each row, another question that is for boys, and another for girls.

Catechists may notice issues with a student during the group recitation, but the above examples of smaller groups will make it more challenging for a struggling student to hide it from the Catechist. Take note of any students not participating, not saying it proficiently, or overly distracted. Their struggles may be due to stressors at home or in school, but they might also inform the Catechist that the child has learning challenges or is falling behind in class.

You will not know all that is going on with a student from recitation, but it will provide you an idea of who you need to keep an eye on or follow-up with.

 

Recitation as a Foundation

Conducting recitation is not the same as a lesson. This tool will help your lesson and future lessons. It will provide the class with common vocabulary; everyone will be able to speak the same language and hopefully it will be a language that matches the Church. This is necessary in our age when many kids grow-up without many of the same cultural staples of Catholicism and mechanisms that helps one become accustomed to words like: Mass, Eucharist, Consecration, Confessional, Genuflect, Sacrifice, etc. Many of us have experienced the challenge of students that refer to the Eucharist as the “bread and wine” or confuse “Confirmation” with “Confession.”

Some Catechists struggle with needing to cover too much in the limited amount of time for sacramental preparation. Some communities have students entering into sacramental prep needing the basics as well. Where do you start? What do you do if there is not enough time? Rely on recitation to cover some of the foundational elements in order to ensure the core elements for sacramental preparation are covered.

 

The Struggle to Make Recitation a Habit

Whether its recitation or any other catechetical component, a once a week catechetical gathering is not sufficient to offer the ideal formation experience. Recitation requires habitual use to actualize its potential. It is a struggle to only have recitation drills once a week. The challenge is to attempt ways to get some or all of the students to review their recitation at home.

Let parents know about the importance of recitation. Provide them a copy of your recitation questions and invite them to review them 1-3 times a week outside of class. You can also provide children a notebook and ask them to copy the new recitation phrase for the week a handful of times in their notebook outside of class. Students can also review their recitation with not just parents but also godparents or siblings; relatives can sign a paper to witness to the practice at home.

Communicate well and communicate often with parents. Let them know what you expect and how it will impact the end of the year event (see below).

 

A Closing Recitation Event

Invite parents, godparents, and clergy to enjoy a formal last recitation to end the year. Think of it like a RECital or performance of the year’s cumulative recitation. Try to create a true celebration spirit for those attending to see their child showcase their mastery of catechetical formulas and increased memory capacity. The benefits of such an event include:

  • Students will have a chance to discover a sense of accomplishment towards their hard work.
  • Parents and members of the community get to see an example of something that the kids worked on during the year.
  • The buildup towards this annual event may inspire some of the parents and students to review it outside of class and help cultivate the habit.

 

While I am passionate about the importance of recitation in catechesis, I am under no impression that recitation alone is what these kids need. It is simply a component that assists their overall catechetical formation and child developmental skills.

My Way is Not Always The Answer

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I Did It My Way…..

We all know the story of how Abraham and his wife Sarah tried to sidestep God’s promise that they would have a child despite their old age ( Gen 16:1-16). Rather than trusting and waiting on God to fulfill His promise, these two used her maid Hagar to result in that long-awaited child only to end up with family jealousy and turmoil that still rages today through their descendants.

This initial story of a fall reminds us of a very familiar human tactic with God.  We ask Him for something and then set a subconscious, unstated deadline on that request.  This time limit may not be express or concrete as in a certain date, but it will at least be an openness to finding some sort of shortcut to our desired goal.  We ask God to find us a mate and then go on 45 online dating sites to sift through pathetic examples of potential mates which will either lead nowhere or, worse, somewhere worse than where we are now.

Others will ask God for a job and grab a job God clearly would not want them to have. Still other folks will pray for something and then grow impatient and even bitter when the desired result does not come. I have often been guilty of this, using my supposed petition more as a purchase order than a humble request from a Creator to Whom I owe everything I have and am already.  Therein lies the core problem:  we should spend most of  our day thanking this wonderful, generous, and loving God who invites us to trust and love Him enough to ask for more.  However, our weak and defective humanity leads us to go overboard and either ask for too much or, just as bad, please-mand, which is my new word meaning demand with a please on top.

Abraham and Sarah were so wrapped up in what they wanted, what they probably felt that they deserved, that they did not stop to consider what God wanted and deserved from them:  simple faith and patience.  All too often, we sing Frank Sinatra’s hit My Way, proud to have handled things our way on our time and on our terms.  However, is that what God deserves from us?

Close Your Human Eyes and Practice Blind Faith

As defective people moving in a defective world, we need to close our eyes from time to time and ask ourselves who or what our daily GPS is or should be.  All too often, we will find that expediency and practicality often push us to find our own way on our terms without even asking God to chime in.  We will fool ourselves into pretending that we are doing a very busy God a solid by handling things ourselves. After all, how sick of you would your plumber be if you called him every single time your sink was slow?

The truth is, God wants us to be assertive and independent in many ways, for that is how we will grow as human beings. However, God’s definition of those traits does not include brushing Him off like some meddling uncle.  Our Lord wants us to always have Him on speed dial when we need Him.  It never hurts to ask for God’s help and give God time to respond,  His way. That is not to say that we will foolishly wait four decades for something we need to decide soon. What it does say is that we should give God a reasonable time to respond. That response by the way, may be no response, which may still be a response on God’s terms.  Begin with the conviction that God knows what is best for us and run with that.  Abraham and Sarah did not do that above; they gave God the keys and then used a brick to open things their way.

The Gideon Pill

I refer to the Gideon Pill as God’s way of showing us who is boss.  He will wait beyond our patience or beneath our means to accomplish miracles, just so we know who performed those miracles. The Israelites  had to wander in the desert forty years before entering the Promised Land due to their disobedience and lack of faith. God waited until there was no doubt He was doing the work for them and until He had stamped out the last of the disobedient doubters (Num 14: 1-21).

One of my favorite Bible stories is that of Gideon; a military leader, judge, and prophet chosen by God to defeat the Midianites and avoid slavery for his people.  God reduced Gideon’s army to 300 men against a vast enemy in order to leave no doubt who was responsible for the victory( Judg 7:2-8). We all need the Gideon Pill from time to time, being put in situations where seemingly God is the only way out just so we can grow in faith, appreciation, and obedience to such a wonderful God.

Abraham’s Recovery

An even more famous story than those noted above is Abraham’s great response of obedience to God’s request that Abraham sacrifice his only son Isaac ( Gen 22: 16-18).  God knew how much Abraham waited for and loved his son, so He put Abraham to the test of sacrificing everything for God which, of course, Abraham passed with flying colors.  Abraham had learned his lesson from the Hagar mistake. He knew that loving and trusting God is not something you dip your toe in. You are either all in or you should get out.  Nothing of this world is worth losing God.

Conclusion

This world tells us to show off and prove we can handle everything ourselves. Certainly, one of the signs of maturity is the greater ability to be independent and self-reliant. However, regardless of our age, we all need God at all times and need to remember that. Like Abraham and Sarah, we sometimes think we know all the answer but, like Gideon, we all learn soon enough that God is pulling all the strings one way or the other.

This world tempts us to run everything in our lives our way, on our time, on our terms. What we need to avoid, however, is that we are not running away from God in the process.

2019  Gabriel Garnica

3 Ways to Create A Catechetical Environment

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In many parishes the religious education/faith formation meetings/sessions are in school classrooms. While the classroom probably has a crucifix in it and possibly other religious items, it still feels like a classroom. It is important in a faith formation setting to create an environment that is not only welcoming but one that has a distinct holy/sacred feel to it if at all possible. The environment should speak of something different than “school”. How can you create an environment that better prepares and cultivates something more than “school”? Our aim in catechesis is to cultivate intimacy in Christ. Here are three possible considerations for making your environment more than just a classroom or meeting space.

 

  1. Set up a Holy/Sacred Space. Ideally have a cloth with the correct liturgical color as well as a Bible, possibly a stand up Cross and a candle in this space. Other items to consider are a picture related to the topic of the day, a receptacle for holy water and a Rosary.
  2. Move desks and chairs to create a unique feel for the children/youth. Consider putting the chairs in a circle without desks or a U shaped circle with or without desks or moving the desks and chairs aside and having them sit on the floor. The idea is to show those you catechize that you’ve been expecting them and that this is going to be different than just “learning things in this classroom”.
  3. Consider having your young people line up outside the room and enter all together singing a song and processing to the prayer space. This allows for an awareness that now we are entering into something special during this time together.
    These ideas can help foster a prayer-filled and faith-filled environment which contributes to them seeing that faith formation is much more than knowing about Jesus (as important as that is). It’s about touching the heart and increasing a desire in young people to love Jesus more fully and become more fully aware of how they can live out their love for Christ in their daily lives.

What do you do to create a faith oriented learning environment?

Book Review: 10 Promises of Jesus by Marge Steinhage Fenelon

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My video review of this book is available on youtube at the Home Catechesis YouTube Page (CLICK HERE!)

 

One of the most common objections to Christianity is not rooted in philosophy or doctrine but rather the existence of evil and suffering in a world that Christians profess to be created by a Loving God. The Church wisely states, “no quick answer will suffice. Only Christian faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this question….There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an answer to the question of evil” (CCC 309).

Within the classroom or an exchange of scholars this conversation will focus on Salvation History and the Church’s corresponding doctrines. For the average person struggling with and through a traumatic event, something else is needed to provide the answer that comes from the “Christian faith as a whole.” That approach of providing witnesses to God’s work and the power of Hope, has been crafted together in the book 10 Promises of Jesus by Marge Steinhage Fenelon.

Each chapter of this book begins with a Promise of Jesus. The explanation of the promise is often short and simple followed by a real life story of someone experiencing both suffering and Hope through the corresponding promise. Each chapter features a new story with different forms of suffering and different acts of Hope.

This book is a quick and easy read. I only wish one additional point was made in the book; it is nothing major, but rather an additional point to be made in the footnotes. On page 51 a long footnote is provided to explain “last rites” but fails to mention 1 of 3 sacraments celebrated in this liturgical celebration: Confession/Penance. Penance is only mentioned within the circumstance of someone not able to make it to Confession. It also would have been a wonderful opportunity to explain the importance of the sequence of the rites within the context of the Sacraments of Initiation.

Thus, just as the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist form a unity called “the sacraments of Christian initiation,” so too it can be said that Penance, the Anointing of the Sick and the Eucharist as viaticum constitute at the end of Christian life “the sacraments that prepare for our heavenly homeland” or the sacraments that complete the earthly pilgrimage. –CCC 1525

Penance/Confession restores us to Baptismal Grace. The “last rites” of Confession, Anointing of the Sick, and Communion mirror the Sacraments of Initiation in their proper order of Baptism, Confirmation (uses an anointing with oil too), and Communion. As you can see, it is not a major issue, but my love for sacramental theology would have loved to have seen it included!

While this book obviously is a benefit to those suffering through something, it is an excellent resource for catechists. Students often ask questions of a personal nature in response to catechetical content. They hunger to understand if the faith has any relevance for their daily life. This book will provide catechists with examples of the Christian Faith in action during times of suffering.

 

My video review of this book is available on youtube at the Home Catechesis YouTube Page (CLICK HERE!)