Amazing Catechists

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

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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

 

 

7 Conversion/Reversion Stories on “Among Women”, including AC’s founder, Lisa Mladinich

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One of the keys to the new evangelization is the sharing of our stories, the recalling and retelling of how we came to know Jesus in a personal way — and how our lives changed because of it. This encountering Jesus, and becoming members of His Body, the Church, is the overarching theme in the seven podcasts listed below, drawn from the Among Women archives. I’m thankful for the seven women who gave witness to their faith in Christ in these recordings, so that others might be strengthened and encouraged to do the same. Your testimony to God’s love in your life is important. Think about ways you might share your story with others, as you listen to these stories.

AW 43 A Chat with Amazing Catechist, Lisa Mladinich – Get to know the founder of Amazing Catchechists, author Lisa Mladinich, who tells the story of her reversion to the Catholic faith. Listen! 

AW 178: New Life in Christ – When an unplanned pregnancy interrupts this successful single career woman’s life plan, she returns to the faith of her youth and discovers God’s plan for her in a new way. Listen! 

AW 175 An Appointment with God – Catholic speaker, Allison Gingras, shares her reversion to Christ and what it means to be a friend of Jesus. Listen!

AW 109 Metanoia! – A story of Erin Miller’s reversion — and the role Among Women played in her life. Listen! 

AW 40 Becoming a Catholic – This episode talks with Earline Tweedie, a former Methodist, now a Catholic, by way of the RCIA. Also inspiring is her sharing her story of mothering a son with Down’s Syndrome. Listen! 

AW 1 — The Among Women Premiere – (and there’s a part two) Join me on my very first podcast from March 2009, and after I overcome the jitters, listen to Virginia Kimball, a PhD in Mariology today, discuss her life and growth as a Christian, and her eventual return to school in midlife to study theology. Listen!

AW 131 The Vocation Story of a Young Nun — More of a memoir of her faith journey, Sr Emily Beata Marsh FSP, one of the newest members of the Daughters of St Paul describes her vocation experience and her recent vows. Listen!

Post Pentecost – Recalling the Effects of Confirmation

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There’s a timely reminder in the Catechism of the Catholic Church for this “time” in the liturgical calendar – smack dab between Pentecost and Ordinary Time. And it is this: Pentecost should remind us of our Confirmation!

CCC 1302 states:

It is evident from its celebration that the effect of the sacrament of Confirmation is the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost.

I grew up in a Catholic home and went to a parochial grade school. It was taken for granted that I would be confirmed. But, despite its importance, Confirmation being a sacrament and all, I was slow to understand its significance in my life. Hindsight, so the saying goes, is 20/20.

If I am perfectly honest, as I look back on my Confirmation at the age of 12, I can say that that I was formed in one thing: being able to stand up for the faith. Not that I completely knew what my faith taught, mind you, but I knew I was responsible to stand up for it. I didn’t question it. I was immature, and I likened my ideas about Confirmation to a kind of “patriotism”… I was a Catholic and it was my honor to live by and defend the laws of the Church, just like I was an American pledging allegiance to the flag.

Actually, my feelings about the sacrament were almost irrelevant. Yet, despite how I would “feel” about my Confirmation, the “effects” of the Sacrament are still the same… the Holy Spirit was poured out upon me. The Sacrament “took” as long as I was properly prepared for it, and the Bishop acted appropriately as to the Rite.

I just did not appreciate my Confirmation until later.

Two years following my Confirmation, the Lord led me to a youth prayer group. Actually, the Lord led my mother to lead me to a prayer group. It seems they needed a musician to help lead the worship, and I had just enough guitar ego in me to oblige. But despite my less-than-noble reasons for serving, that prayer group was where I really started to “live it” – meaning that my faith became “not for Sundays only.”
As I look back, I began a wonderful journey of faith in my teen years, thanks to the grace of God. The grace of Confirmation began to kick in. Little did I know that I was beginning to cooperate with that grace.

CCC 1303 states that our Confirmation brings about five effects, the first of which is that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit increases and deepens our baptismal grace. Confirmation “roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, “Abba! Father!””
When I was a teenager, I began to understand my identity as a baptized Catholic was that of a child of God. That’s what divine filiation is—to be made part of God’s family.

St. Paul writes in Romans 8:14-17:

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Secondly, it follows that CCC 1303 states that Confirmation “unites us more firmly to Christ.” To my tender teenage heart, this was the idea of falling in love with Christ. As if I could really make a return to Christ for all he had done for me. But, truly, that unity with Christ was and is far more dependent on Christ’s gift to me, than my gift to him. And yet, he loves me all the same!

God is determined to give mere mortals the means to live for him. Therefore, we see the third effect of Confirmation being that it “increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us.” The more open we are to the Holy Spirit, the more we can respond to Christ. In other words, our moral life is sustained by the Holy Spirit’s gifts that make us docile and teachable and obedient to God’s will. (Cf. CCC 1830.)

CCC 1303 teaches that Confirmation delivers a fourth effect: it “renders our bond with the Church more perfect”. The Bishop, who administers the Rite of Confirmation, shows us that bond. Where the Bishop is, there the Church is, to paraphrase St. Ignatius of Antioch in the second century. His holy office is our apostolic witness, our tie to the foundations of our faith dating back past Ignatius to the time of Christ and his apostles. As Jesus sent his apostles, so he sends us… and we are to be sent in unity with the Body of Christ, which is the Church.

Not only that, CCC 1303 continues, Confirmation gives us “a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross. This is the Truth that we are called to stand up for and defend, and we already have been given the grace to do it. This is the special charism of Confirmation.

And what is it that we have truly received? In CCC 1303, St. Ambrose, a Doctor of the Church from the fourth century, spells out the fifth and most challenging effect of our Confirmation:

Recall then that you have received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear in God’s presence.

Guard what you have received. God the Father has marked you with his sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed his pledge, the Spirit, in your hearts.

As confirmed Catholics, there is no shirking of the duties and responsibilities inherent in this calling. There may be ignoring of it, and, even a rejecting of it. But we cannot remove this Confirmation that is upon us, once it is imposed.

So much so, that that CCC 1304 reminds us:

Like Baptism which it completes, Confirmation is given only once, for it too imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual mark, the “character,” which is the sign that Jesus Christ has marked a Christian with the seal of his Spirit by clothing him with power from on high so that he may be his witness.

Did that last line sound familiar? These were some of the parting words of Jesus to his disciples, just prior to his Ascension into heaven.

Luke 24:48-49:

You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high.

And you remember what that Power was now, don’t you? The Holy Spirit at Pentecost!

©2009 Patricia W. Gohn

Amazing Catechists welcomes the Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious Blog Tour

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photo-662x1024Hi! Pat Gohn here, and I’m thankful to Amazing Catechists for giving me a little space to share my new book’s blog tour: Ten Bodacious Basics… Ten Minutes at Time:

Here is today’s installment with a short audio clip from the book, read by me on the theme “This is My Body:”Jesus’ Prayer and Ours:

listen to ‘Amazing Catechists Hosts the Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious Blog Tour’ on Audioboo

Leave a comment below to be entered in the free drawing for the book. Or, double and triple your chances to win by leaving comments at previous blog tour stops here, or here, too.

Tomorrow’s stop on the blog tour: In The Heart of My Home

A schedule for the full blog tour is here.

Mary in the Catechism: The Four Marian Dogmas

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The more I get to know her Mary as my Mother, the more I love her.  True love of someone is based on knowledge of him or her. With that in mind, this might be a good opportunity to refresh our knowledge of the person of Mary, as recorded doctrinally in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. 
(Note: This article might be longer than you’d normally read on Amazing Catechists, it’s more like 4 articles in one given its subject. But it’s purpose is to collect all this information in one place.)
All four of the Marian dogmas divinely reveal something of Mary’s personhood. Each truth helps us understand her role in salvation history.
The dogmas, in the order that they were declared as truth by the Church, are: Mary as the Mother of God, Mary as a Perpetual Virgin (“ever-virgin”), Mary’s Immaculate Conception, and the Assumption of Mary, body and soul, into heaven.
Growing up Catholic, I never doubted the validity of these dogmas. That is to say, until I met well-meaning Christians who just couldn’t buy what the Church was selling about Mary.  In other words, I began to have my doubts about her too.
Sometimes those kinds of challenges are what we need to set us in the right direction. For me, I thought since the Church held most of these ideas for thousands of years, it might be worthy of some investigation. (And this was years before we had the Catechism in the form we have it today.)  I needed to get to the truth of what was taught about Mary, the real person behind the serene-looking statue.

Mary as Mother of God

One of the first attacks made on Mary by the naysayers I encountered was that, indeed, Mary was the mother of Jesus… but certainly not the Mother of God.  Little did I know that this was exactly the heresy the Church was trying to combat way back in the fifth century (431 AD) at the Council of Ephesus, when it declared Mary, the “Theotokos”, or “God-bearer”, hence, “Mother of God.”
The Council of Ephesus, while correcting this heresy, was confirming what was already revealed in the New Testament writings, which reveal Mary as the Mother of God. Luke 1: 31, 35 give us Gabriel’s words to Mary at the Annunciation:
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus… therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. [Emphasis mine.]
Other scripture passages reveal Mary as the mother of Jesus, who, we know to be the God-Man. (See Mt. 2:13, Jn. 2:1, Acts 1:14.) And St. Paul vividly describes Mary’s role in the Incarnation inGalatians 4:4:
“But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman…” [Emphasis mine.]
Even before Ephesus, Tradition formulated the words of the creed that declared: “[Jesus] was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary.”
When the Council of Ephesus decreed Mary as the Mother of God, it reaffirmed the two natures of Christ found in one Person: that Jesus is both human and divine. (Later known as the “hypostatic union.”) Anything outside of that unity makes Jesus into two persons, one human and one divine, which is heresy.  So we see in this instance, how a Marian doctrine actually flows from and protects the truth about her Son!
You can read more about this in CCC 466 and 495, but it all summed up rather nicely in CCC 509:
Mary is truly “Mother of God” since she is the mother of the eternal Son of God made man, who is God himself.
You may recall this overarching guideline regarding “all things Mary” from CCC 487 and Part 1 of Mary in the Catechism:
What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ, and what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ.

Mary, Ever-Virgin

The dogma about Mary’s perpetual virginity maintains that Mary was ever a virgin, before, during, and after the birth of Christ.  It is often here that Mary’s critics take exception, given our modern understanding of biology and human reproduction.
A virgin before birth.  The prophet Isaiah 7:14 foretold it:
“Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be Emmanuel.”
And the New Testament (Luke 1: 26-27) confirms it:
“The angel Gabriel was sent from God… to a virgin betrothed… and the virgin’s name was Mary.”
And then there is the dialogue between Mary and the angel at the annunciation that leads to the miraculous “overshadowing” of Mary by the power of God. (Luke1:35.)
Tradition also reaffirms this in the Apostles’ Creed: “Born of the Virgin Mary.”
A virgin during the birth. CCC 499 reiterates, what the Second Vatican Council had previous taught:
The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary’s real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man. In fact, Christ’s birth “did not diminish his mother’s virginal integrity but sanctified it.
Put another way, the birth of Jesus was a miraculous birth, just as his conception miraculous.  The “integrity” of Mary’s sinless body was never violated by this birth. This idea was held from the time of the early Church Fathers. Later, the Council of Trent (16thcentury) used this analogy to describe Christ’s birth: The newborn Christ came forth from the womb of Mary “as rays of the sun penetrate the substance of glass without breaking or injuring it in the least.”
It also follows that Mary’s childbirth would be exempt from pain, since she was a sinless creature (see “Immaculate Conception” below), and laboring in childbirth is a result of Original Sin (Gen. 3:16).
A virgin after the birth.  Many people take issue with the idea of Mary’s perpetual virginity, given New Testament accounts that mention the supposed “siblings” of Jesus (Cf. Mk 3:31-35; 6:3; 1 Cor 9:5; Gal 1:19). The Catechism replies in paragraph 500:
Against this doctrine the objection is sometimes raised that the Bible mentions brothers and sisters of Jesus. The Church has always understood these passages as not referring to other children of the Virgin Mary. In fact James and Joseph, “brothers of Jesus”, are the sons of another Mary, a disciple of Christ, whom St. Matthew significantly calls “the other Mary” They are close relations of Jesus, according to an Old Testament expression.
Then, there are the words of Jesus from the cross giving Mary into the care of John (John 19:26-27). If Jesus had siblings, especially brothers, would not Mary’s care be entrusted to them?  Instead, John takes Mary in.
I admit this one was a tough one for me to fully believe, at first. I could understand that Jesus was Mary’s only son, but I was not so sure about the lack of marital relations between Joseph and Mary. Wouldn’t a holy marriage be consummated? Not necessarily, so I learned.
I admit my sensibilities, formed in part by modern culture, had trouble understanding this idea of a holy marriage without the marital act. I needed more information. And I found it, in learning the importance of mutual understanding and consent in a marriage.  Our modern catechism teaches that marriage is first based on an exchange of consent, and then, only then, it may be consummated physically. (See CCC 1639-1640.) But the consent is the heart of the marriage bond, not the consummation.
While the Catechism does not go into detail on this exact point of Mary and Joseph’s marriage, I offer this helpful explanation from Dr. Mark Miravalle’s Introduction to Mary, reflecting on their marital union:
Finally, some would argue that if the marriage between Mary and Joseph was never consummated, then it would not have been a true marriage or would have been unnatural.  However, the essence of the marriage bond between husband and wife is their complete and unconditional gift of self and union of the heart, of which the physical union is a concrete sign.  If for a good and holy reason husband and wife should choose to refrain from relations, either for a time or permanently (under exceptional circumstances), this would not invalidate a marriage or affect its true bond, which is rooted not in the physical but in the spiritual union of the spouses.
There are numerous examples in Scripture where God asks married couples to renounce [or abstain from] relations.
[See Ex 19:15; 1 Sam 21:15; 1 Cor 7:5.]
These scriptural examples show that when men and women are near what God has sanctified, it can be also appropriate for them to respond by giving themselves directly and undividedly to God. If in these cases it was fitting that men and women should remain abstinent, it can hardly be surprising that present before the great miracle of the Incarnation, Mary and Joseph chose to remain permanently virginal as well.
CCC 506 alludes to Mary’s faith and undivided heart here:
Mary is a virgin because her virginity is the sign of her faith unadulterated by any doubt, and of her undivided gift of herself to God’s will. It is her faith that enables her to become the mother of the Savior: [St. Augustine taught:] “Mary is more blessed because she embraces faith in Christ than because she conceives the flesh of Christ.”

The Immaculate Conception

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was finally promulgated in 1854… but the seeds of it are found much earlier in a careful reading of scripture. When the Angel addresses Mary at the Annunciation, he does not address her by her name. Instead, he uses the title “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” This title might as well be her name, for it describes Mary’s true nature; her person is full of grace. Notice that she is addressed as “full of grace”, even before the Angel announces that she will be asked to be the Mother of God.
Know anyone that fits that description? Nope. She’s the only one. The rest of humanity is fallen.
Mary’s detractors what to know what makes her so special?  If she is human, she should be subject to all the pitfalls of humanity, and just as sinful are the rest of us, right?  Not quite. There’s more to Mary’s story, and it takes a very careful reading for Scripture to parse it out. Not to mention 2000 years of biblical interpretation and theological reflection.
What’s sooooo special about Mary is her Immaculate Conception. And it means this: Mary was redeemed by the merits of her Son Jesus at Calvary – who is God – at her conception, so she never received a fallen nature. The nature she received was like that of Eve’s before the Fall. And recall, that after the fall, the Immaculate Conception is implied, theologians say, in this verse from Genesis 3:15, that speaks of a woman to come:
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
This is why we have references to Mary as the “new Eve.” And why St. Jerome (4th century) taught this about Mary: “Death through Eve, life through Mary.” CCC 508 states:
From among the descendants of Eve, God chose the Virgin Mary to be the mother of his Son. “Full of grace”, Mary is the most excellent fruit of redemption: from the first instant of her conception, she was totally preserved from the stain of original sin and she remained pure from all personal sin throughout her life.
Mary, we might say, is the first person redeemed, by an application of the grace of Christ’s victory over sin and death on the Cross. And her sinless, loving heart, allowed her the perfect response to God’s call on her life: “Yes!”
Blessed Duns Scotus (d. 1308) called it “preservative redemption.” Preservative redemption addressed this question of Mary’s redemption taking place before her Son was even born.  Huh? The short of it is this:  God, the Creator of time, is also Lord over time, and can work outside of time.  And God can apply his graces throughout history (time) as He deems fit.  Therefore, God, in his divine plan of salvation, willed that Mary would be saved first, in her humanity, by the application of the graces won on the Cross for humanity by her Son, Jesus… providing a perfectly pure temple for the Holy Spirit to later “overshadow” and allow the Son of God to take on flesh in a sinless womb.
Whew! Got all that?
This is what the Catechism says in CCC 491 and 492:
Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, “full of grace” through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:
The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.
The splendor of an entirely unique holiness by which Mary is enriched from the first instant of her conception comes wholly from Christ: she is redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son. The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places and chose her in Christ before the foundation of theworld, to be holy and blameless before him in love.

Mary’s Assumption

(If you are still reading this far, especially after trying to understand the depth of the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption is almost easy to understand!)
We start back to Genesis 3:15 (above) where the enmity between the woman and the serpent represents the past (Eve) and the future (Mary) who will share in the victory of her Son over the Devil.
As we know, the effects of Original Sin were sin and death. Jesus, by his Cross and Resurrection has set us free from both. And by his merits, we see this perfected in the person of Mary.  First, her Immaculate Conception shows how Jesus conquered sin, and by his grace, preserved her from Original Sin. Second, we see how Mary’s Assumption, is a particular grace awarded to Mary, so she, who is sinless, does not undergo bodily corruption at the end of her earthly life.
The Assumption of Mary is a natural consequence of the Immaculate Conception. And, it is a unique privilege that the Son affords his Mother.
CCC 966 teaches:
Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians.
Finally, Mary’s assumption serves as an eschatological sign (pointing to things to come in the afterlife)… she reminds us of the perfected Church we will become in heaven, as she is an icon of the Church both now and in the future.
CCC 972 states:
The Mother of Jesus, in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven, is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise she shines forth on earth until the day of the Lord shall come, a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God.
Mariology (the study of Mary) is a discreet field of study within theology. There is so much more that could be said on all these dogma. Today’s lesson is but a taste.
But I pray that you will come to love Mary in a deeper way, as you see just how intimately her life is bound to the life and grace of her Son, Jesus. Mary has no power in and of herself, save what comes to through Jesus.  By way of a final analogy… if Jesus is the sun, Mary is the moon… always reflecting Him!
©2009 Patricia W. Gohn

Why the Canticle of Zechariah is my New Go-To Prayer for Pro-Life Ministry

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“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

for he has visited and redeemed his people,

and has raised up a horn of salvation for us

in the house of his servant David,

as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

that we should be saved from our enemies,

and from the hand of all who hate us;

to perform the mercy promised to our fathers,

and to remember his holy covenant,

the oath which he swore to our father Abraham,

to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

might serve him without fear

 in holiness and righteousness before him

all the days of our life.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

to give knowledge of salvation to his people

in the forgiveness of their sins,

through the tender mercy of our God,

when the day shall dawn upon us from on high

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

(The Canticle of Zechariah, Luke 1: 68-79 rsv)

In Morning Prayer from the Divine Office (aka the Liturgy of the Hours), the Canticle of Zechariah is prayed aloud every day. The Canticle, or song, is Zechariah’s prophetic exhortation about the greatness of God in sending his son, John the Baptist, as the Forerunner to announce the coming of Christ.There are many words and themes in this canticle prayer that can prepare our hearts and minds for the work of evangelization, and the bringing of the Gospel of Life to our society in a positive, loving, and peace-filled way.

Here’s my take on it, line by line, for it stirs my heart.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

for he has visited and redeemed his people,

The first line blesses God. We must keep God first in all things, in all that we do, including pro-life activities. Everything must start with prayer, continue with prayer, and end with prayer. We work for the God who came to His People, as one like them — first, as an unborn baby in the womb, then as man who walked among us. This is a God that is personally involved with us – as persons. And he increases our dignity as persons through redemption. Jesus’ birth is still one of the biggest celebrations our world has ever known – Christmas is the joy of the Incarnation – that God is with us.

and has raised up a horn of salvation for us

in the house of his servant David,

Horns, or trumpets, in the bible, announce things, like victory. They sing of victory marches, royal strength and power. David was renown as the king who brought all the tribes of Israel together under his leadership. Jesus, from the Davidic line, is King of the Universe. He is ever the Victor over sin and death, the source of our salvation. The New Testament (1 Thes 4:16) says that Christ’s second coming will be accompanied by the blast of the trumpet.

as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

For centuries, Jesus’ coming was announced by the Prophets. Christians come from a long line of God-worshippers, freedom fighters, and justice seekers. The holy prophets of old knew what it was like to face down a society that was hostile to their message, even among their own people. Yet the stood bravely and delivered the truth all the same.

Our baptism, in the Name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, links us to every single person who has ever borne the name of God on their lips and lived and announced this faith in their respective cultures. The Prophets of old are standing with the prophetic voice of new generations… in and through Christ.

that we should be saved from our enemies,

and from the hand of all who hate us;

The enemies of life and truth are the denial of human personhood as sacred from conception to natural death, and the institutions in our society that destroy or degrade life. The people who hold those views should be treated with respect, as they, as persons, are not our true enemies but, ultimately, our brothers and sisters in need of the Gospel. Their ideology – what Blessed John Paul II labeled as the culture of death –is what leads people to ruin. The tricky part for us in the pro-life cause is to delivers a message of love and life even in the face of powerful opposition without degrading the personhood of those opposing us. See the earlier paragraph about praying all the time. We cannot do this without the import of grace.

Our model for this is always Jesus, who asks that we pick up our own cross to follow him. This is not easy to do. Remember what Jesus did; on the way to Calvary, many people lined the streets and hated him, mocking his message. Still, he carried on, with love and fortitude. He was pained and burdened but did not lift a hand in violence to them nor did he shout anyone down. He loved people, even his detractors and persecutors. Jesus, with the prophets and martyrs, teaches us that even being put to death for one’s beliefs is still a “win”, for it leads to eternal life.

to perform the mercy promised to our fathers,

and to remember his holy covenant,

the oath which he swore to our father Abraham,

Jesus = mercy. That’s the equation we must bring to all pro-life work. The love of God for us in Jesus is fantastic, forgiving, mind-blowing, redeeming, deep mercy.

Notice the twice-mentioned fatherhood language in these verses. The life of the family, of nations, is ever under the mercy of God. We are God’s children by virtue of our baptism, born into the family of God, besides our families of origin. It also means, though it seems very distant, we are the children of Abraham, too.

to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

might serve him without fear,

Again, the canticle lifts the concern of being delivered from enemies. Just in case we didn’t get it the first time, the prayer repeats this strength of conviction. We must need this reminding and assurance.

Let’s face it; we live in a feel-good society. We prefer pleasure to pain, and prize being liked, loved, and well thought of by others. But as Christians, our life of redemption begins by standing in the shadow of the cross, like Mary did. Even the most sinless, perfect human person on earth, Mary, still had heartaches and difficulties to endure.

Jesus’ mission to save, as Zechariah points out, includes deliverance from our enemies. If that is the case, we should not fear our own mission, as Christians in imitation of Jesus, to offer to the world a path to peace, healing, freedom, and justice in His Name. Mary had perfect grace to assist her to endure the imperfections of life. We, too, through the graces of Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation, have the graces to serve Christ without fear, or, if we are fearful, to do the right thing in spite of it.

in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.

This is the call to holiness for all of us. God longs for us to be holy, to be saints, all the days of our life. That’s a tall order isn’t it? In pro-life work, we must be strong, loving, and secure. We must radiate all manner of decency to those we meet – people within our cause, and the people we hope to win over.

That word “life” stands out now, doesn’t it? How grateful we must be for our own lives. Our righteousness must spring from that deep awareness and gratitude of being alive, that each human life is a gift to be received and celebrated.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

to give knowledge of salvation to his people

in the forgiveness of their sins,

A father’s love is exemplified in Zechariah’s words to John. He already knows, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that his son is destined to announce God’s message.

If we read these verses as God’s Word to us, we see God the Father handing on a mission to us, in imitation of his Son, Jesus. Again, our own baptismal call includes the Church’s mission to evangelize, to help make disciples. Praying this prayer every morning in Morning Prayer is a reminder for all the People of God — priests, religious, and laity — to live their Christian vocation to spread the Gospel with love.

through the tender mercy of our God,

when the day shall dawn upon us from on high

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the way of peace.

God tenderly loves us. With deep compassion for our weaknesses and sin, He illuminates our ways and lifts us out of the shadows. That tender mercy that He extends to us is what we must extend in our pro-life work. We must be characterized by tender compassion as we attempt to shine as lights in the darkness with the light of the Gospel of Life.

Those final words about guiding “our feet into the way of peace” merit our reflection.

When we follow the ways of the Lord, there is great peace, despite the challenges and demands of standing against a culture of death. St Paul said it best, I think, in the Letter to the Philippians, that God’s peace is the hallmark of the presence of the Spirit that “keeps” us, that affirms and protects us, that unites us with Jesus.

Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil. 4: 6-7.

Let our feet, our ways, be guided mercy, that we may know such peace.

 

 

Does the Catechism Have Any Wisdom for My Summer Vacation?

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Here we are, well into July, and some of us are deep into vacation mode. Meanwhile, some of us are, at this moment, still pining for it. Given my own summer-like mood, I thought, why not write about the joy of summer? Surely, said I, the-catechist-who-loves-finding- cool-stuff-in-the-catechism, surely the Catechism must have some words of wisdom on the subject?!  (But I couldn’t recall any, other than “keeping holy” the Sabbath.)

I decided to have a little fun with the search engine I use for the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

First search: “Vacation.”  Result: No documents match the query.

Next search: “Summer.”  Result: Nothing.

“Fun”? Nada.

“Recreation”? Zip.

“Relaxation”? Jackpot!

CCC 901 gives us this gem that I will paraphrase: Relaxation of the mind and body, if accomplished in the Spirit, can be offered up to God!

Got that?  We can have some great “time off” and “down time” and still love God and serve Him! This is because all our works and activities can be done for the glory of God.

Let’s read CCC 901 in its entirety:

…the laity, dedicated as they are to Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit, are marvelously called and prepared so that even richer fruits of the Spirit maybe produced in them. For all their works, prayers, and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body, if they are accomplished in the Spirit – indeed even the hardships of life if patiently born – all these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In the celebration of the Eucharist these may most fittingly be offered to the Father along with the body of the Lord. And so, worshipping everywhere by their holy actions, the laity consecrate the world itself to God, everywhere offering worship by the holiness of their lives. [Emphasis mine.]

This understanding comes to us by way of our baptism. At baptism, Christians are incorporated into Christ and anointed as “priest, prophet, and king.” (See CCC 1241 and 1546.)  And this priestly role of the laity sets us apart for worship. In other words, when we attend Mass, we join with the ordained priest to lift up our very lives as an offering to God in holy worship. We lift up everything in our lives… including our relaxation and rest!

But it doesn’t stop there…

Outside of Mass, when we live lives of holiness in our daily duties, in our comings and goings, indeed, we consecrate the world to God by our holy actions. Our daily life, in whatever we do, can be a form of worship to God.

This teaching is taken directly from the Documents of Vatican II, specifically, Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, paragraph 31:

What specifically characterizes the laity is their secular nature [meaning, they live and work in the world beyond the Church’s door]…

The laity, by their very vocation, seeks the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven. They are called there by God that by exercising their proper function and led by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven. In this way they may make Christ known to others, especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope and charity. Therefore, since they are tightly bound up in all types of temporal affairs it is their special task to order and to throw light upon these affairs in such a way that they may come into being and then continually increase according to Christ to the praise of the Creator and the Redeemer. [Emphasis mine.]

This means, that you and I are called – and led by the Spirit – to make God’s light and love shine in all the places and situations that life takes us… and that even includes your rest, your vacation, your time off. In fact, if you read the above closely, it is our “special task” to throw light on such affairs.

In this column, I’m suggesting that even our vacation time should bring light to the world. I’ll offer a few suggestions, but I’m sure you could name dozens of ways you and your families might shine your light of faith in less formal ways this summer, once you give it a little thought.

Here are a few easy suggestions…

  • Recreation in Creation: Delight in God’s creation! Get out into one our National Parks, or the myriad of state parks that are open to the public. Be a good steward and be sure to respect the environment whenever you go. Camp, picnic, ride bikes, or hike.  Creation is God’s first gift to us… take time to marvel at its beauty and to share with someone how you “find God” in nature.
  • Get friendly. Show the world that Christians know how to have good, clean, fun – and lots of it! Christians should be experts at exemplifying a joie de vivre that is contagious! When my children were small, nothing said good clean fun outdoors like a laundry basket full of water balloons. Today, it’s a volleyball net in the side yard. With adults, try a progressive dinner, barbeque-style: Dips and chips at one house, hotdogs with crazy toppings at another, and good ole s’mores at a third. Lead everyone in a group grace and bless each home.
  • Laugh with the fam: Let your family time be a witness to the great joy of being alive! Play games, have a bonfire in the backyard and sing songs, tell stories, and put on silly skits. Mom and Dad, you go first! But remember to keep it light!
  • Pick and share something good: Even family outings can have a sense of generosity and service to others. For me, that means berry picking or apple picking at a local orchard and coming home to bake pies or muffins. Then we give away our pickings or baked goods to neighbors who would appreciate or benefit from them, especially our single and elderly friends. Better yet, invite them to come along if they are able!
  • Keep the Sunday Sabbath: Even when we are “off” on vacation and traveling far from home. Find a Catholic Church, chapel, or campus ministry wherever you are and attend Sunday Mass. See if there is a local shrine nearby, then consider your Sunday an opportunity to make a short pilgrimage there.

Let us praise and give glory to God for the goodness of summertime, and the chance to take a little time off. And let us be led by the Spirit – not by taking a vacation from God, but precisely by taking a vacation with God! May we relax and recreate through Him, with Him, and in Him!  And offer our thanks and praise for such a gift.

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” 1 John 4:9.

©2012 Patricia W. Gohn

Christ’s Resurrection and Ours

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The closest we’ll ever come to experiencing creation, as the Creator did, is to experience the re-creation of what’s already been created in new ways… like when the writer puts words on a blank page, or the pianist improvises arpeggios at the keys, or the artist finds new interpretation for the hues on the palette.

We, in some way, participate in creative endeavor, but we don’t create as God did: creating something from nothing. Even the amazing conception of a human person, whose genesis necessitates the genetic donation of his or her biological parents, is not a creation ushered forth from nothingness… but, rather, a loving gift of Creation already set in motion by the hand of God ages ago.

On the other hand, the closest we’ll ever come to experiencing resurrection, as Jesus did, will be our very own resurrections.

I find this to be the most astounding, stunning, and extraordinary reality of the Christian faith. That the person who dies will mysteriously live again… not just resuscitated, like a person who comes back from death thanks to CPR, or like Lazarus who was called out of the tomb by Jesus. (Cf. John 11:1-44.) Even though Lazarus lived again, his old body eventually died again.  No, one day, after we die, we will be truly alive in an eternal, non-stop, supernatural, transcendent, and glorified way. Thanks to the redemption won for us by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Resurrection from the dead is a foundational truth of Christian faith—right after the idea that God could become incarnate. What a mighty God we have!

What Jesus did first, in rising from the dead with a glorified body, we, too, will do in the joy of heaven.

We find these ideas encapsulated in the Compendium, a question and answer type of catechism, which is a concise and faithful synthesis of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Question 126: What place does the Resurrection of Christ occupy in our faith?  [See CCC 631, 638.]

The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ and represents along with his cross an essential part of the Paschal Mystery.

Question 131: What is the saving meaning of the Resurrection? [See CCC 651-655, 658.]

The Resurrection is the climax of the Incarnation. It confirms the divinity of Christ and all the things which he did and taught. It fulfills all the divine promises made for us. Furthermore the risen Christ, the conqueror of sin and death, is the principle of our justification and our Resurrection. It procures for us now the grace of filial adoption which is a real share in the life of the only begotten Son. At the end of time he will raise up our bodies.

Question 204: What is the relationship between the Resurrection of Christ and our resurrection?  [See CCC 998, 1002-1003.]

Just as Christ is truly risen from the dead and now lives forever, so he himself will raise everyone on the last day with an incorruptible body: “Those who have done good will rise to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:29).

The Church gives us fifty days of Eastertide to ponder these mysteries! You might also want to consider picking up a copy of the Compendium for your shelves, as it presents a wonderful overview of the Catechism!

 

 

Amazing Catechists Among Women

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Making a connection. Telling a story. Being a witness. That’s what amazing catechists do. As translators of the truth they seek to give away what they possess because it was so freely passed onto them. Doing that through a podcast is a very low-cost, effective way of evangelizing and catechizing in the digital age.

Over the last two years, several members of the Amazing Catechists’ team have been guests on my weekly podcast, Among Women. Created in Lent 2009, Among Women grew out of my years of ministry in local churches, and my special regard for women’s ministries.

The Among Women podcast and blog celebrates the beauty and grace of a Catholic woman’s faith and life. It’s faith sharing, teaching, and some good old-fashioned girl talk rolled into one. Each podcast has two segments: “Blessed are They” looks back on inspirational women who are either saints, mystics, blesseds, or women from the Bible. The “Among Women” segment focuses on conversations with contemporary women on themes that are important to women.

Get to know the women behind the bylines here at Amazing Catechists by listening to these Among Women podcasts, including the most recent episode, featuring Mary Lou Rosien discussing her new book, Catholic Family Boot Camp:

AW 125: “Spiritual Boot Camp” with Mary Lou Rosien

AW 122: “Star of the New Evangelization” with Robyn Lee

AW 121 : “Each Life is a Masterpiece” with Leticia Velazquez

AW 116: “The Advent of Advent” with Sarah Reinhard

AW 89:  “The Sacred Heart” with Ellen Gable Hrkach

AW 81: “Choosing Faith Amid Suffering, Part 2” with Peggy Clores

AW 80: “Choosing Faith Amid Suffering, Part 1” with Peggy Clores

AW 78: “Be An Amazing Catechist” with Lisa Mladinich

AW 43: “Lisa’s Reversion Story” with Lisa Mladinich

AW 30: “Cause of Our Joy” with Leticia Velasquez

AW 11: “The Snoring Scholar and Great Books” with Sarah Reinhard

Among Women has over 125 episodes on a variety of topics.  Its growth and success comes from social media contacts, and, of course, word of mouth. Why not share Among Women as a resource for the women in your life and parish?

 

Rediscovering Sunday as the Day of Joy

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Sometimes, the joy busters of life get the better of me. But not lately.When I delve into the Catechism of the Catholic Church, I really get a sense of the joie de vivre of Catholic life. Something that has had a real and  practical application for my life is finding the joy of Sundays. After all, Sunday was the day that Jesus was raised from the death… and in so many ways, a thoughtful observance of Sunday can breathe life back into the other days of the week for me.

Tucked in the middle of a longer summary about Sundays, I came across this tiny, yet powerful phrase: the day of joy. I was immediately struck by how often I have revered Sunday as an obligation and a day of rest, but have not always consciously entered into it as a day of joy, save for major feast days.  As it turns out, that is just one aspect of a bigger idea that describes Christian joy as proper to Sundays.

Let’s look at the full text of CCC 1193:

Sunday, the “Lord’s Day,” is the principal day for the celebration of the Eucharist because it is the day of the Resurrection. It is the pre-eminent day of the liturgical assembly, the day of the Christian family, and the day of joy and rest from work. [Emphasis mine.]

Let’s break that down by looking at how joy might be better nurtured in our Sundays.

There are four elements that characterize the celebration of the Lord’s day: the celebration of Mass, the day of Christian family, the day of joy, and rest from work.

For Catholics, the first element of attending Mass on Sundays is obvious.  It’s not only a Precept of the Church (see CCC 2041) but it also follows the Third Commandment to “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” (Ex. 20:8.)

Sunday Eucharist is the great tradition handed down to us from the Apostles. There we gather for the handing on of the Word of God and for the sharing in Holy Communion.  It is there that “the whole community of the faithful encounters the risen Lord who invites them to his banquet.” (CCC 1166).

We go to meet the Lord!  To prepare to attend Mass on Sunday with the appropriate joy, it helps me to visualize my personal meeting with Jesus. Recall the resurrection accounts of Mary Magdalene and the Apostles upon meeting the Risen Jesus for the first time since Good Friday.  What joy must have flooded their souls!  The One Whom they longed for is now right in their midst!

How might I prepare to meet Christ in the Eucharist?  Like I would meet my beloved one, by preparing with loving anticipation. When my thoughts long for this meeting, when I finally encounter “Him” – who invites me to “his banquet” – well, that’s deep, sweet, joy!

The second element of Sunday is the experience of Christian family. St. John Chrysostom (4th century bishop and Doctor of Church) had this to say about Mass attendance:

You cannot pray at home as at church, where there is a great multitude, where exclamations are cried out to God as from one great heart, and where there is something more: the union of minds, the accord of souls, the bond of charity, the prayers of the priests.

Not only is Sunday Mass a precious meeting with the Lord, it is “something more”: a coming together in unity with the other members of our local church.  This aids our understanding of “the day of the Christian family”. It not only refers to our nuclear families, but it also extends to the family of God into which we are baptized.  We have a responsibility to them as well.  Our participation in Sunday worship is “a testimony of belonging and of being faithful to Christ and to his Church.”  (CCC 2182).

In an age when the idea of “Christian family” is under attack, Sundays are an opportunity to renew our commitment to that ideal. In our own homes, we can work toward not only worshipping together, but also praying together at times outside of Mass, and learning and sharing the faith together.  The old adage that “the family that prays together stays together” is of great value.

Yet, as mentioned, we are also to embrace the family of God at large beyond our household.  We cannot live the Christian life in a vacuum, cocooning away from the larger Body of Christ. We must maintain contact and connection… “a testimony of belonging.”  Making friendly connections and getting involved in parish life makes what we do on Sundays more fruitful.

This brings us to the third element of Sunday as a day of joy. To further explore this idea, a search of the Catechism brings us to CCC 2185:

On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are to refrain from engaging in work or activities that hinder the worship owed to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s Day, the performance of the works of mercy, and the appropriate relaxation of mind and body. Family needs or important social service can legitimately excuse from the obligation of Sunday rest. The faithful should see to it that legitimate excuses do not lead to habits prejudicial to religion, family life, and health. [Emphasis mine.]

Our joy is tied up in worship and in merciful service and in relaxation! We’ve already covered the idea of worship at Mass, and we’ll take up the question of relaxation next. But take note: here we see Sunday recommended for works of mercy.  Now, when was the last time you heard that? (Need a refresher on the spiritual and corporal works of mercy? See CCC 2447.)

For many Christians, works of mercy may already be incorporated into weekly activities. But, for those with demanding familial and professional schedules, Sundays seems to be held out as a day to find time for such joy. I wonder what our world would be like if more of us, myself included, intentionally performed a work of mercy each Sunday, or a few Sundays a month?

The fourth element is the day of rest…  harkening from the model of God who entered into rest after six days of Creation. (Gen. 2:2.)

In CCC 2184 and 2194, we read that the institution of Sunday rest helps all “to be allowed sufficient rest and leisure to cultivate their familial, cultural, social, and religious lives.”

What a gift rest is!  What joy we have when we truly enter it in meaningful ways!

Unfortunately, despite all the so-called conveniences and advances of modern society, there exists acute pressure to make Sunday just another day of the week to work, shop, exercise, pay bills, etc., and, in general, to catch up!

But when we follow the Lord’s ways, we find joy.  It takes deliberate action to try to live this way.  Sunday observances become a necessary discipline of disciples of Jesus. Such discipline brings joy.

As we approach this Sunday, may we enjoy a day of grace and rest, and may we joyfully sing with the psalmist:

“This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Ps. 118: 24.)

 

The article was adapted for Amazing Catechists from a previous series that the author created and featured on CatholicExchange.com.