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The Servant Leader

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Feb. 23, 2009

Weekly Winner

Announcing:
Saint Mary's Press winner for the week of February 20, 2009!
Congratulations to Ann Marie Avansino!

Ann Marie Avansino will receive a copy of Saint Mary's Press® Essential Quick Chart: Interpreting the Bible, a $5.95 value.

Saint Mary's Press® Essential Quick Chart: Interpreting the Bible is the perfect summary for teens (or adults) on Catholic principles for properly interpreting the Bible, including such topics as

  • Understanding God's Revelation
  • Biblical Literary Forms
  • Inspiration and inerrancy
  • Historical, Literary, and Cultural Contexts
  • Church Documents on Scripture
  • Stages of the Formation of the Gospels
    Look Inside: You can view an online sampler of the Saint Mary's Press® Essential Quick Chart: Interpreting the Bible on the SMP Web catalog. Search for "Quick Charts," or use this link to go to the product description, http://www.smp.org/ItemDetail.cfm?ItemNum=4344.

    Saint Mary's Press® Essential Quick Chart: Interpreting the Bible
    by Brian Singer-Towns, ISBN 978-0-88489-856-6,
    4 insertable laminated pages, $5.95,
    http://www.smp.org/ItemDetail.cfm?ItemNum=4344

Bible Interpretation

More Study Aids from Saint Mary's Press

Saint Mary's Press® Essential Quick Chart: Interpreting the Bible is just one of four Essential Quick Charts. Other quick charts include

Saint Mary's Press also offers other study aids, perfect for home or school:

You can find these and more study aids at http://www.smp.org/CategoryDetail.cfm?CatId=118.

Lent

Six Ideas for Lent
by Maura Thompson Hagarty

1. Prayer Calendar. If the youth that you live or work with have The Catholic Youth Prayer Book, provide them with a copy of our Lenten Prayer Calendar and encourage them to follow the daily suggestions. This calendar, written by Brad Farmer, is available at http://www.smp.org/resourcepage.cfm?article=532.

2. Good Friday. Consider offering an overnight retreat (or a twilight retreat if you work with young teens) that invites participates into the mystery of Christ's passing through death to new life and guides them in an exploration of what this mystery means for their own lives. Movies that tell a story about a passage through a death-like experience to new life, such as The Lion King (1994, 89 minutes, rated G and A-I), can serve as an effective jumping off point for exploring the Paschal Mystery.

3. Scripture Reflection. Each week, use regular gatherings or electronic means of communicating with young people to encourage reading of the upcoming Sunday's Gospel.

4. Reconciliation. Encourage participation in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and help young people and their families prepare for the sacrament. One way to do this and to foster a spirit of reconciliation is to plan a penitential celebration. The Rite of Penance is a helpful resource for planning. It includes an appendix with sample penitential services, including two examples for Lent. Be sure to remind participants of the difference between such a service and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

5. Triduum. Introduce the Triduum to teens that haven't participated before. Consider planning a gathered session that prepares them for participation. Facilitate a way for teens to attend with one another if they are participating without their families. Talk about the experience with them afterward.

6. Family Practices. Lent can be a good time for families to try break their regular routines and try a new family faith practice. Make it easy by providing suggestions such as: (1) educate them about the spiritual value of fasting, (2) send family prayer ideas home, and (3) provide information about local charity or justice-related efforts that would benefit from their almsgiving.

Prayers

Many Ways to Pray During Lent
by Jerry Ruff, editor for the College Division

I suspect that like many, I find it easiest to observe Lent privately, taking in a few extra Masses, abstaining privately from some routine eating pleasure, performing a few charitable acts on my own. I could easily argue that I'm simply following Christ's admonition to keep a low profile in Matthew 6: "[But] take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father." Jesus goes on to apply this do-it-in-private counsel to prayer: "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. . . . But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret."

But I also suspect Christ wasn't arguing for privatizing faith at all. He says in Matthew 18: "where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Taking our Lenten cue from Christ's more communal leanings, our parish men's group often selects a book to read and discuss during Lent. The exercise has been a good one for us, I think, providing a disciplined and shared reflection that we might not otherwise afford ourselves.

Our group also has enjoyed the shared reading experience, tackling a book we likely wouldn't have selected on our own and then making our way through it together. We either take turns leading the discussion, or if one among us has already read the book or is otherwise particularly apt to walk us through it, that's fine too. Either way, it's a rich experience, as we tap the wisdom of an author, each other, and the Spirit, all in the uniquely fertile atmosphere of Lent.

Finally, in the spirit of sharing literature for Lenten reflection, I offer a few lines plucked from a poem by Wendell Berry that might prime the Lenten literary pump. The poem is the wonderfully titled, "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" (from The Country of Marriage, by Wendell Berry, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975).

    So, friends, every day do something
    that won't compute. Love the Lord.
    Love the world. Work for nothing.
    Take all that you have and be poor.
    Love someone who does not deserve it. . . .

    Be like the fox
    who makes more tracks than necessary,
    some in the wrong direction.
    Practice resurrection.