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Our Cornerstones

By Maureen Smith

640px-Masaccio,_trinità,_dettaglioIf we remember anything from Mass today, it is probably the Gospel, as today is commonly known as “Good Shepherd Sunday.” We probably heard homilies on this passage from John where Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd who “lays down his life for his sheep.”

As I sat at Mass this morning, it would have been easy for me to pass over the other readings and focus on the Gospel, but the homily I heard tied in the concept of rejection from the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, which references the Psalm for the day. Jesus is the “stone rejected by the builders” that has become the “cornerstone.” The Passion of our Lord which we recently celebrated was His greatest rejection, and His becoming the “cornerstone” is what we celebrate this whole season of Easter.

How often are we rejected? In each chapter of our lives we face some sort of rejection. We experience rejections among our friends and family, school, work, and in so many places. Many of our fears come from these experiences, whether we are mindful of them or not.

The very fact that Jesus was rejected – and that His exultation came, not just despite but, because of His acceptance and endurance of His rejection – gives us great hope. We come to believe that it is through our experiences of rejection that we learn to belong to God rather than anything else where we might experience rejection.

But often it is not other people that reject us, it is ourselves that do the rejecting. We can find it hard to accept ourselves the way we are, with our wounds, our imperfections, our current circumstances. We fail to let this Good Shepherd lay down His life for us because we are so afraid of rejection. We deny ourselves the possibility of being raised up with Jesus as the cornerstone with those shameful parts of us we are rejecting in ourselves.

The Lord put on my heart today that it is these very places that we reject that He comes to redeem, glorify, and make the cornerstones in our lives. If we have the courage not to reject ourselves, we can then embrace the Love of the Good Shepherd without reservation. He does not say that He has come to lay down His life for His sheep, except those with this problem or that problem. No! He travels every corner of the world to bring each soul to His Heart that loves us too much to reject us as we often reject ourselves.

What are those “stones” that we reject in ourselves? How does God want to redeem them and exalt them as cornerstones?

I pray that all of us reflect on this profound truth, that Christ who has come to save us and bring us into His Flock has a Heart so tender and loving that will never reject those who come to Him.

Read all posts by Maureen Smith Filed Under: Catechetics, Catechist Training, Culture, Evangelization, General, Prayer, RCIA & Adult Education, Scripture, Theology Tagged With: addiction, Catholic, Catholicism, Cornerstone, evangelization, faith, fear, Forgiveness, Good Shepherd, Healing, Jesus, life, mercy, Redemption, Rejection, Shame, Wounds

Finding Ways to be Thankful!

By Mary Lou Rosien

sunriseFamilies, church members and students are under a lot of stress this Thanksgiving season. It may be difficult to find reasons to be thankful when our churches are closing or being clustered, we are unemployed or struggling with family stress during the holidays. For some families, even coming up with the money for Thanksgiving dinner may be difficult this year.
What can we do, as Catechists, to help, especially if we too are struggling with these issues?

1/ Discuss the stressors. Sometimes just sharing the fears and difficulties may help our students to get through the rough times. Open discussions can also present ideas or solutions that haven’t been considered before. It decreases stress to know that we are not alone. Creating a safe place to talk can provide a valuable resource for our students.

2/ Offer real help. Organizing a food or coat drive can give real assistance to those who need it while teaching a lesson in living out the Catholic virtue of charity to our students. Taking students to volunteer at a soup kitchen or halfway house may also make them aware of the blessings that they have in their own lives.

3/ Make a Thanksgiving Turkey or Cornucopia of thanks. Have students list things they are thankful for and place them around a circle as feathers on the turkey or on pieces of paper fruit pieces to fill the cornucopia.

4/ Play an opposite game of thanks. The idea is to take a negative and turn it into a positive. For example: We don’t have money to buy everyone a Christmas present this year so we are going to make gifts or write letters to each other. Dad lost his job so he will be home to make cookies for the first time during the holidays.

5/ Use church closings and clusterings to create new traditions. This has been a really hard year for so many parishes. At a church near us the school has been shut down. Nearby, friends are struggling with the closing of their parish. It is hard to feel grateful under these circumstances. There can be blessings found even in these difficult times. Consider merging the church celebrations this year (possibly even before they have been clustered) so that parishioners can get to know each other and share their talents. Acknowledge the sadness of the moment while trying to look forward to the new experiences to come. Encourage positive attitudes rather than falling into the negativity of the situation. It can be a time of new friendships and a better stewardship of resources for all. Be assured of my prayers, dear reader and may God bless you and Happy Thanksgiving!

(Originally published, in part, in HFC column for OSV, 2009)

Read all posts by Mary Lou Rosien Filed Under: Catechetics, Catechist Training, Elementary School, General, High School, Middle School Tagged With: faith, families, fear, gratitude., Stress, Thanksgiving

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