Amazing Catechists

Teaching and learning the faith together

Family: Its role in the New Evangelization

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I read Pope Francis’ address to the Spanish Bishops who were in Rome two weeks ago for their ad limina visits.  In his remarks he mentioned the role of the family in the context of the New Evangelization:

An evangelized family is a valuable agent of evangelization, especially radiating the wonder that God has worked in it. Moreover, being by nature the ambit of generosity, it will promote the birth of vocations to the following of the Lord in the priesthood or consecrated life.

“An evangelized family…”  I like that phrase.  I also like the vision Pope Francis has for it; specifically, that an “evangelized family” radiates God’s wonder and is the birthplace of new vocations.

So I decided to do some poking around to see what the modern popes have said about the role of the family in evangelization, in ministry, and in the Church in general.  I thought I would be able to find a decent amount of material, but man, oh man, I never expected to find so much!

Here are some selections of what I found, presented in no particular order.

Secularity is the true and distinctive mark of the lay person and of lay spirituality, which means that the laity strive to evangelize the various sectors of family, social, professional, cultural and political life. On a continent marked by competition and aggressiveness, unbridled consumerism and corruption, lay people are called to embody deeply evangelical values such as mercy, forgiveness, honesty, transparency of heart and patience in difficult situations. What is expected from the laity is a great creative effort in activities and works demonstrating a life in harmony with the Gospel” (Blessed Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia in America, #44).

“God the Creator, by forming the first man and woman and commanding them to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ (Gen 1:28), definitively established the family. In this sanctuary life is born and is welcomed as God’s gift. The word of God, faithfully read in the family, gradually builds it up as a domestic church and makes it fruitful in human and Christian virtues; it is there that the source of vocations is to be found (Blessed Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia in America, #46).

I therefore invite all the Catholics of America to take an active part in the evangelizing initiatives which the Holy Spirit is stirring in every part of this immense continent, so full of resources and hopes for the future. In a special way, I invite Catholic families to be “domestic Churches”, in which the Christian faith is lived and passed on to the young as a treasure, and where all pray together. If they live up to the ideal which God places before them, Catholic homes will be true centers of evangelization (Blessed Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia in America, #76).

The family’s catechetical activity has a special character, which is in a sense irreplaceable. This special character has been rightly stressed by the Church, particularly by the Second Vatican Council.(118) Education in the faith by parents, which should begin from the children’s tenderest age, is already being given when the members of a family help each other to grow in faith through the witness of their Christian lives, a witness that is often without words but which perseveres throughout a day-to-day life lived in accordance with the Gospel (Blessed John Paul II, Catechesi Tradendae, #68).

Our thoughts turn also to Christian families, to ask them to remain faithful to their vital mission in society. May they consecrate themselves in this jubilee year to the Immaculate Heart of Mary! For married couples this act of piety will be a valuable aid in performing their conjugal duties of chastity and faithfulness. It will keep pure the atmosphere in which their children grow up. Even more, it will make the family, inspired by its devotion to Mary, a living center of social rebirth and apostolic influence (Pope Pius XII, Le Pelerinage de Lourdes, #53).

Indeed, let this be clearly understood, especially in these our days: fathers and mothers of families, those who are godparents through Baptism, and in particular those members of the laity who collaborate with the ecclesiastical hierarchy in spreading the Kingdom of the Divine Redeemer occupy an honourable, if often a lowly, place in the Christian community, and even they under the impulse of God and with His help, can reach the heights of supreme holiness, which, Jesus Christ has promised, will never be wanting to the Church (Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, #17).

Everyone knows that the Christian family is a special sign of the presence and love of Christ and that it is called to give a specific and irreplaceable contribution to evangelization (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Homily during Mass for the National Day of Croatian Catholic Families).

The good that the Church and society as a whole expect from marriage and from the family founded upon marriage is so great as to call for full pastoral commitment to this particular area. Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, #29).

 

And on and on and on…

There is no doubt of the importance of the family unit in building up future members of the Church (and society) through evangelization and by producing vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and religious life.  I pray that during this Lenten season you take inventory of your family’s spiritual health and find ways to strengthen it.

 

Family

2013 First Communion Class at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church (Vermillion, MN)

 

A slightly different version of this post was originally published online at Christopher’s Apologies on March 6, 2014.

Let’s talk about love

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Love. Love. Love.

It is word used quite often in church circles.  And rightly so.  I mean, the bible might mention something about love once or twice.  Okay, actually it’s closer to 772 times in 649 different verses of scripture, but who’s counting? (RSVCE edition).

The trouble with so many references to love in the bible, and in Christianity, is it can be such a nebulous word.  In fact, it can mean almost as many things inside the church as it does outside the church.  That can lead to some real confusion.

With this post I hope to clear up some of that confusion. If I succeed – great!  If I don’t then the worse thing that could be said about me is that I only contributed to the already blaring cacophony of people offering their ideas on the subject.

First, since I am talking about love in the Christian context, it seems only appropriate to use Jesus’ words, life, and actions as the benchmark to measure our own words, lives, and actions. The gospel accounts show Jesus as fundamentally oriented towards his father’s will.  So to begin with we too must orient our lives towards God’s will.  There can be no divided heart in us, serving two masters.  We must not be consumed with the pursuit of wealth and/or honors, even our family is to be considered second when it comes to showing where our allegiance belongs (cf. Mt 6:19-21, Mk 10:42-44, Lk 14:26).

Second, what we know about God’s will is that it does not waver (ST I, Q.19, A7).  What we can also know about God, and his will, is that he wills nothing for himself.  He is not in search of more power, greater glory, or mankind’s servitude.  Humanity can do nothing to enhance or make greater the glory which God already possesses.  God’s will then, since it is not self-serving, is to provide for mankind’s well-being.  From the first verse of the bible to the last, God wills for a definitive and comprehensive good for mankind (i.e. salvation).  God wills life, joy, peace, freedom, and happiness for each individual and the whole of humanity (ST I, Q.19 A2).

Third, since God’s will is directed towards the well-being of mankind, and we are to follow Jesus’ example of orienting our lives to the will of the father, then it should become clear now that our will should be directed at service towards men and women.

It is really quite simple, in theory.  Since we can not do anything which can greater God’s glory nor can we adequately praise him for the abundance of his mercy, and since God is not interested in receiving that type of worship anyway but in the bettering mankind, then our focus should be on loving our neighbor.  Too often, we become so busy “serving God” that we forget to serve others around us.  However, “serving God” never excuses us from our duty to serve our neighbor.  In fact, it is in serving (i.e loving) our neighbor that our service to God is proved.

I must say at this point, while not wanting to get too far off course, I am not advocating for us to stop worshipping God because it “doesn’t do any good anyway.”  There is “good” accomplished by praising God;  St Thomas Aquinas notes at least three (ST II, II Q.91, A1).  He writes:

  1. “Consequently we need to praise God with our lips, not indeed for His sake, but for our own sake; since by praising Him our devotion is aroused towards Him…”
  2. “And forasmuch as man, by praising God, ascends in his affections to God, by so much is he withdrawn from things opposed to God…”
  3. “The praise of the lips is also profitable to others by inciting their affections towards God…”

Additionally, we need to continue to receive the sacraments for they are the means by which God gives us the graces to live like his son (cf. CCC 1070, CCC 1131).

Returning now to Jesus, our benchmark, we must ask ourselves, “What is love to Jesus?”

To used a well worn phrase: “actions speak louder than words.”  Jesus’ idea of love is not talk, but action.

Jesus summed up the entirety of this life and works by identifying the two “greatest” commandments:

He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment (Mt 22:37-38).

Followed by:

And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Mt 22:39).

When we consider what “loving God” means, I think we can see it as some kind of mystical union with the Lord, where we retreat to a private place in order to fully take in the experience.  Even if a person is graced with having those types of experiences, as we read about in the lives of many of the saints, there is still a need to fulfill the second commandment and that cannot be done in isolation.  Even the most mystically inclined saints came out of their cells to minister to others.

The fourth point I’d like to make is that our actions, if they are truly to resemble Jesus’ and manifest the will of the father, can not be selfishly motivated.  We should not attempt to call the Lord’s attention (or other people’s) to our actions.  Reaching out to our fellow man can not be our attempt at scoring “brownie points” with God.

In the story of the final judgment, Jesus says neither the sheep nor the goats recognized him in the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, or the prisoner.  The difference was the sheep, those at Jesus’ right, didn’t care.  They helped those in need anyway.  Those are the ones who inherit the kingdom. Had the goats, those at Jesus’ left,  known Jesus was present in the needy, they would have helped, but their motivation for helping would have been all wrong (Mt 25:31-46).

A fifth observation I would like to point out is that “love of mankind” is too general and does not meet the criteria of following Jesus’ example of dedication to his father’s will.  Jesus never spoke in terms of loving humanity universally, but in much more concrete terms.  As Hans Kung noted in his book, On Being a Christian, “A kiss of that kind costs nothing: it is not like kissing this one sick, imprisoned, underprivileged, starving man.”  Pope Francis recently gave the world an example of what a real concrete love looks like when he embraced and kissed a man covered in boils.

Pope Francis kisses disfigured man

 

We can not, using Jesus’ example in scripture, think some abstract universal love of mankind is what Jesus was commanding his disciples to do when he told them to love their neighbor.  The measuring stick Jesus gives his disciples for how to love one’s neighbor is one they should have been familiar with as he reminded them of a teaching from the Old Testament’s Holiness Code:

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord (Lv 19:18)

Loving oneself not only implies how much we should love our neighbor, since our nature is to protect and take care of ourselves, but it also implies proximity.  Our neighbor must be close to us!

We can see clearly now that love of God and love of neighbor has the same foundation; specifically, they are built on the concepts of abandonment of selfishness and the will to self-sacrifice.  Only when we no longer live for ourselves can we be unreservedly open to God and to others (Lk 17:33).

We are still not done yet.  The sixth part of this post on love is, Jesus revealing the perfect will of his father in the command to “love your enemies” (Mt 5:43-48).  This goes far beyond the “golden rule” which can be found in various expressions in the other religions of the world.  Many of the world’s religions, to include Jesus’ own Judaism, while espousing the golden rule still favored hating one’s enemy.

By saying we must love our enemies, did Jesus take things too far?  By asking for some kind of moral perfectionism, as he does after issuing this command (i.e. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48)), isn’t Jesus setting us up for failure?

To be sure, we will all fail during our attempts to love God, ourselves, our neighbor, and our enemy. However, what did you expect from God?  What did you expect of Jesus?  To give less than all?  To draw a line in the sand and say, “You only have to love to this point, no further?”

In the commandment to love one’s neighbor there is still room for selfishness to creep in which is why Jesus expands the teaching to include one’s enemy.  A neighbor, which could include family, friends, fellow countrymen, members of the same clan, etc., would likely be inclined to reciprocate your loving action.  Therefore, desire for reciprocation could be our motivating factor, thus preventing us from loving as Jesus did.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked” (Lk 6:32-35).

Human love, if it is truly to reflect God’s love, as shown in Jesus’ living example, must incorporate all that is good about our humanity.  While many times our decision to love is just that, a decision of the will, a love like God’s will also include emotion, vitality, creativity, and affection, the things we typically reserve for those closest to us, and offer it to our enemies. To love like Jesus, we must hold nothing back.

 

Five things to know when evangelizing in modern society

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There are two things which prompted me to write this article: the New Evangelization and Pope Francis’ insistence that believers must get out of their comfort zones and reach out to others.

German theologian, Heinz Zahrnt (1915-2003), wrote on numerous topics, but he is arguably most known for his writings on secularization and how Christians can still provide an effective witness in the midst of it.  In order to lay the groundwork and provide context for my own comments on Zahrnt’s work, I think it is important to show why I think it is important to study the work of theologians like Zahrnt.  First off, I think he rightly defines secularization and it’s spread throughout our culture:

In the modern age, secularization, the ordering of the world on it’s own terms, has overwhelmed every province of life like an avalanche…. The process of secularization has largely been complete and is the accepted characteristic of our whole life and existence (The Question of God).

Therefore, given this “accepted characteristic of our whole life,” Christians must be able to articulate the Good News in a world seeking to order itself on “it’s own terms,” a concept contrary to the Gospel (cf. Prov 16:3, MT 6:33, 2 Tim 4:2). Zahrnt believes Christianity has been presented a challenge:

Christian faith must be confronted in ruthless honesty with the changed reality of the world…and also the changed relationship of man to the reality of the world…” (The Question of God).

In his book, Gott Kann Nich Sterben (God Cannot Die), which was released in 1972 under the English title, What Kind of God? A Question of Faith, Zahrnt offers five presuppositions which he feels need to be accepted as givens when preaching the gospel in the modern world. While he outlines particular challenges associated with each presupposition, I can see there are also unique opportunities which Christians can benefit from individually and collectively.  Additionally, I believe both Zahrnt’s challenges and the opportunities I outline help to create inroads for believers to share their faith.

The first presupposition is: there is a scientific explanation for most of our experiences in the world. Whether it is the weather, medical cures, fortunes/misfortunes of individuals, or victories in war, there are explanations for these things, and almost all other phenomena, which do not require any reference to God (I say “almost” because miracles still happen). Many people left the Church over the centuries because their faith had been damaged by the discovery that a reference to the divine is not required in order to know or understand how things work in the world.

There are some who like to create a “tension” between religion and science which, in reality, does not exist. A scientific explanation for many of the phenomena in the world, formerly attributed to God, provides the opportunity to invite people to a more personal, inward encounter with God. People who seek God in secondary effects (e.g. thunder, financial reward) are missing the point of the Incarnation: God has invited us into a personal relationship with him (that is a phenomenon (an experience) science can’t explain).

People don’t (or at least they shouldn’t) maintain close, earthly relationships because of what the other person can do for them; they maintain them because they want to be in relationship with the other person. So too with God. People should want to be in a relationship with him and not just see him as their “genie in the bottle,” granting wishes or showing off his limitless power.

The second presupposition Zahrnt offers is: people’s concept of authority has changed. Nothing is accepted as “true” any more without being subjected to the judgement of reason. No longer will people accept, “because it’s in the Bible” or “because the Church says so” as sufficient justification for anything.  

The opportunity now available is Christians can deepen their faith, truly trusting in God with their whole heart, and not only when good fortunes are plentiful (cf. Job 2:10, Mt 5:45). People are not slaves, in the sense that they have no will of their own.  Believers can take their faith to greater depths because of what they learn. Consider what Thomas Aquinas writes on this subject:

Reason and intellect in man cannot be distinct powers. We shall understand this clearly if we consider their respective actions. For to understand is simply to apprehend intelligible truth: and to reason is to advance from one thing understood to another, so as to know an intelligible truth. And therefore angels, who according to their nature, possess perfect knowledge of intelligible truth, have no need to advance from one thing to another; but apprehend the truth simply and without mental discussion, as Dionysius says (Div. Nom. vii). But man arrives at the knowledge of intelligible truth by advancing from one thing to another; and therefore he is called rational (ST I, Q.79, A. 8)

Christians should not persist in having a “blind faith.” There may be a time when a person first accepts the gift of faith (CCC 162) that their faith is “blind,” in the sense that it has not matured through the use reason. However, Christians are to progress in their faith, deepen it, through the use of their reason and intellect (cf. Rom 12:2, 1 Cor 13:11, 1 Cor 14:20, 2 Pt 3:17-18).

The third presupposition pointed out by Zahrnt is people today are more critical of ideology. The modern world, with all its technological advancements (especially in communications), is able to see the social misuse of religion by individuals or by groups, both inside and outside the Church. The most obvious example is the scandalous actions of some priests brought to light in the last 15 years even though most of the incidents occurred 30-50 years ago. The complicity of their bishops, an arguably even worse crime, who used their power to protect an unjust status quo is what creates and nurtures the distrust of the Church’s leadership. People will not accept a lack of transparency justified by a claim to divine right to protect those who have broken the law.

However in the midst of this there is an opportunity for both individuals and the Church. People should walk before God, and before temporal rulers, with their dignity intact. There is a possibility to (re)discover what it means to be “fearfully and wonderfully made” in the “image of God” with an intrinsic and undeniable dignity (cf. Gen 1:27, Ps 139:14, CCC 1700). Additionally, the Church should focus on it’s primary mission of saving souls by introducing them to love, which is most perfectly expressed in the relationship of the Trinity (CCC 850). I definitely see this message coming through loud and clear in Pope Francis’ pontificate.

Zahrnt writes, as his fourth presupposition, that men and women in modern society are more focused on the here and now and not the hereafter. Modern society recognizes, even promotes, the autonomy of earthly structures (e.g. science, academia, politics, etc.) from religion. The Church will continue to makes its voice heard on issues within these structures, but the days of the Church having any real control, or influence, in those realms is gone, or at least is quickly fading.

However, there is great opportunity in the midst of this reality. Believers can now look at how very intimate God wants to be with his people. God does not want to be the metaphysical “big brother,” enforcing his will through temporal means (e.g. government); that is not what it means to be in a relationship. Additionally, God offers his children opportunities to deepen their relationship with him and to experience the depths of his unconditional love in the midst of secular society, not through its structures. Consider what the Council Fathers taught during the Second Vatican Council:

This life of intimate union with Christ in the Church is nourished by spiritual aids which are common to all the faithful, especially active participation in the sacred liturgy. These are to be used by the laity in such a way that while correctly fulfilling their secular duties in the ordinary conditions of life, they do not separate union with Christ from their life but rather performing their work according to God’s will they grow in that union (AA #4).

The fifth and final presupposition Zahrnt mentions is modern man’s orientation to the future. People today don’t spend a lot of time reflecting on the past. In fact, today it could be argued progressivism is regarded as some kind of universal virtue. One of modernity’s critiques of religion is that it is too rooted in the past: rituals used to worship deities are antiquated, steeped in tradition. In today’s culture, even the very idea of God’s existence is considered by many as out-dated. Modern man claims people must move beyond the childish idea of religious superstition (i.e. first presupposition) and recognize the brightness of man’s future can only be dimmed by mankind’s refusal to let go of religious belief.

Within modern man’s obsession with progressivism there is an opportunity for Christians to create new expressions for belief in the eternal dimensions of their faith. Do Christians take seriously Jesus’ eschatological promises: that he will come again to judge all of mankind and that he is preparing a place for his friends in heaven (cf. Mt 16:27-28, Mt 25:31-46, Jn 14:3)?

This idea of a “final judgement,” which often carries a negative connotation, can be showcased positively in light of the previous points made here; specifically, the eternal dimension of faith can begin right now by accepting the invitation to an intimate, loving relationship with God.

Don’t be a Whiner!

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The title of this post must seem a bit strange.  It becomes a bit stranger still when you consider the one telling you not to be a whiner is not me, but Pope Francis!

He said it (basically) during his homily on Tuesday, May 7th, while reflecting on today’s first reading from the Book of Acts, Chapter 16, where Paul and Silas are in prison yet they are joyful, even “singing hymns to God!”  Imagine that!  Being in prison and yet finding a voice to sing joyfully unto the Lord (cf. Ps 95:1).  I know there are plenty of times when I find myself in far less precarious situations than being in prison and I struggle to even pray, much less sing a hymn of praise.

The Holy Father said in his homily (my emphasis added):

“When the difficulties arrive, so do temptations. For example, the complaint: ‘Look what I have to deal with … a complaint. And a Christian who constantly complains, fails to be a good Christian: they become Mr. or Mrs. Whiner, no? Because they always complain about everything, right? Silence in endurance, silence in patience. That silence of Jesus: Jesus in His Passion did not speak much, only two or three necessary words … But it is not a sad silence: the silence of bearing the Cross is not a sad silence. It is painful, often very painful, but it is not sad. The heart is at peace. Paul and Silas were praying in peace. They were in pain, because then it is said that the jailer washed their wounds while they were in prison – they had wounds – but endured in peace. This journey of endurance helps us deepen Christian peace, it makes us stronger in Jesus.”

Not only does Pope Francis say that people who constantly complain can become “Mr. or Mrs. Whiner,” but they “fail to be a good Christian.”  Wow!  Talk about cutting through all the excess and getting down to the heart of the matter.

But suffering is not something new to God’s people, nor is it news to God that his people suffer.  He knows, understands, and acts decisively in the midst of his people’s suffering in order to bring about their good (cf. Rom 8:28).  For example, consider God’s intervention on behalf of the people of Israel:

Then the LORD said, “I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites (Ex 3:7-8).

The Holy Father reminded those at Mass this morning (and by extension all of us) that Christians are to be imitators of him who moves to relieve his people’s suffering and therefore Christians are to act decisively to relieve the suffering of others (cf. Mt 5:48 and Mt 10:8). Consider the following quotation from The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (my emphasis added):

The Church, “since her origin and in spite of the failing of many of her members, has not ceased to work for their relief, defence and liberation through numerous works of charity which remain indispensable always and everywhere.” Prompted by the Gospel injunction, “You have received without paying, give without pay” (Mt 10:8), the Church teaches that one should assist one’s fellow man in his various needs and fills the human community with countless works of corporal and spiritual mercy. “Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God,” even if the practice of charity is not limited to alms-giving but implies addressing the social and political dimensions of the problem of poverty. In her teaching the Church constantly returns to this relationship between charity and justice: “When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours.  More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.”(#184).

One of the things I like most about Pope Francis so far is the simplicity of his language.  Don’t get me wrong, I still really enjoy the mysticism in the writings of Blessed Pope John Paul II, and the deep theological language employed by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, but with Pope Francis you don’t have to spend a lot of time wondering what he was saying; you just have to think about how to apply it.  In closing, check out this example from his homily today (my emphasis added):

And the Lord invites us to this: to be rejuvenated Easter people on a journey of love, patience, enduring our tribulations and also – I would say – putting up with one another. We must also do this with charity and love, because if I have to put up with you, I’m sure you will put up with me and in this way we will move forward on our journey on the path of Jesus.

Easy to understand…tough to put into practice!

Catechetical Moments from Pope Francis

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Pope Francis IHistoric Day

Yesterday on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Pope Francis was inaugurated as the 265th Pope to continue the same mission that Christ gave St. Peter.  Pope Francis has made a huge impression on the world in just a week.  Although, I think all of his gestures and witness are not opposite of Pope Benedict who is a wonderful humble and holy man.  The media is making it look like this Pope is so different than Pope Benedict.  Yes, all are different/unique, but each Pope brings with him rays of the spirit of Christ and seeks to shine it to the world.

Why all the buzz about Pope Francis?  It has been wonderful to see the secular media so interested in what is going on with the Church over the last month.  Pope Francis I’s humility, frequent mention of the poor, his message of carrying one’s cross as a disciple of the Lord and much more all have contributed to the great attention and affection toward the Pope from all around the world.

What is His Secret?

His secret is Christ and it has clearly “gotten out”.  What a gift the Church is experiencing at this moment.  It’s the New Evangelization before our eyes.  Thanks be to God for all the blessings that we are encountering in this Year of Faith!!!

Catechetical Moments

Pope Francis is witnessing more by his actions than even by his inspiring words regarding Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Church.  What can we take away from this and convey to others (inside and outside our classrooms)?  I want to share 3 things:

1. We should encourage a greater simplicity in our own lives.  Pope Francis I is not choosing the modern convenience that he has the privilege to experience but he is modeling simplicity.  We should reflect on this in our own lives as well as encourage our students to reflect on being more simple and less focused on material things or personal recognition.

2. I think the message Pope Francis gave to the Cardinals the day after his election speaks also to each of us who are disciples of the Lord Jesus.  He said:

“When we walk without the cross, when we build without the cross and when we proclaim Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord. We are worldly.”

He added, “We may be bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, all of this, but we are not disciples of the Lord.”

This message is worth our consideration as well.  We who are members of Christ Body through Baptism and have been made new creatures in Christ must not walk the way of the world (although we live in the world) but we must be first disciples of the Lord which implies that we all have crosses to carry and sacrifices we can make to more fully be, as St. Paul said, “conformed to his death” (Phil.3:10).  It’s important to share this message that following Jesus involves enduring challenges and making sacrifices.

3. Pope Francis said: “Oh, how I would like a poor Church, and for the poor.”  I’m not exactly sure what he was thinking when we said he “would like a poor Church”, but suspect among other thoughts it’s a Church that approaches the Lord in a spirit of poverty not with pride or arrogance of “rights” deserving this or that.  This goes for bishops, priests, Deacons, and the laity.  All are to come with a spirit of poverty.  Also, the constant mention of the poor in our world that we need to serve and to help.  This means giving greater focus in our classrooms to how we can fulfill our mission to take care of the poor, to assist them, to be a source of support for them.  Operation Rice Bowl, Serving at a homeless shelter, giving up some of our clothes (those that are not worn but in good condition) to help those less fortunate have a nice shirt, coat or pair of shoes for themselves.  These are examples of things we could promote in our classrooms.

Pope Francis has certainly made a great impression on us all and he is a living witness of Christ.  Let us continue to pray for Him and for the Church!

I want to share the following comments that Basalian Fr. Rosica made the day after Pope Francis’ election:

“And I close my eyes, and we shouldn’t make comparisons right away, but I couldn’t help but feel the presence of John XXIII, the smile of John Paul I, that courage and firmness of John Paul II and the solid-rootedness in Jesus Christ of Benedict XVI.

So what I found last night, and I thought about a long time when I finally got home at three o’clock this morning, is that the story continues: we have a pope and we have a shepherd and he’s going to build it on a solid foundation.St. Peter“