Announcing:
Saint Mary's Press winner for the week of September 7th, 2010!
Congratulations to Mary Dombrowski!

Ann will receive a copy of The Catholic Youth Bible®, a $26.95 value.

The Catholic Youth Bible®
General Editor: Virginia Halbur, MA

The Catholic Youth Bible® will be a true companion, helping you find the answers you seek and helping you make connections to Catholic beliefs and traditions.

Over 700 lively articles help you….

The Catholic Youth Bible®
ISBN: 978-0-88489-777-4, paper, 1802 pages

Labor Day
By Steven McGlaun

Yesterday we celebrated Labor Day. Labor Day, though traditionally viewed as the symbolic end to summer, is explained by the United States Department of Labor in the following way:

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

This week is an ideal opportunity to invite the young people you are in ministry with to reflect on the Catholic Social Teaching that addresses the dignity of work and the rights of the worker.

The Church has long recognized that work is more than just earning a living. Through work we care for those we love and contribute to the larger good of society. In our work we express our creativity and participate in God’s creation. The youth we are in ministry with come from diverse backgrounds and understandings of work and the dignity of the worker. I am reminded of students with whom I’ve worked who were experiencing living situations firsthand in which parents were unemployed or underemployed and struggling to make it through each week. I also recall a young person who matter of factly stated, "When I graduate college, I won’t take a job paying less than $70,000 a year, because that is what I will need to live." No matter the situation our youth come from, we can challenge them to a view of work that respects the dignity of work and invite them to be advocates for the rights of all workers.

Catholic Social Teaching
One of the principles of Catholic Social Teaching addresses specifically the dignity of work and the rights of workers. As explained by the USCCB :

The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected--the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions, to private property, and to economic initiative.

When we explore the topic of the dignity of work and the rights of workers, we face several tasks. First, we must help young people understand the importance of work. Not just the importance of earning a living, but the significance and value of work that contributes to the betterment of society, that helps us take care of those we love, and allows us to use the gifts with which God has blessed us. Challenge your youth to identify the benefits of work beyond the paycheck.

Second, we must strive to help young people understand the dignity of workers. We cannot help them understand the larger "abstract" dignity of workers if we do not challenge them to recognize the dignity of the workers they encounter on a daily basis. Invite your students to reflect on the numerous people whose work makes their lives easier, and challenge them to make a point of simply saying thank you.

Third, we can challenge our youth to be advocates for fair pay for all workers. One way we can do this is by inviting youth to examine their buying habits. At this link is a handout you can share with your youth that explores the factors that contribute to sweatshop abuse.

Last, we must invite our youth to truly discern their vocation rather than simply select a career. I go back to the youth who said she could not take a job that paid less than $70,000 a year out of college. In further discussion this student shared that her career choice was being made almost solely based on salary. For her, the work was only a means to an end, not a thing of value on its own. In the "Make It Happen" for this week, we have included a reflection activity you can do with your youth that focuses on discerning one’s vocation.

A New Social Contract
In concluding, I would like to point you to a resource that you might find useful when reflecting with young people on the dignity of work and the rights of workers. Each year the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops releases a Labor Day Statement. This year’s statement has been issued by Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, the chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. The title of the statement is "A New ‘Social Contract’ for Today’s ‘New Things." This statement honestly assesses the current realities of the American worker and the unemployed, relates the current situation to Catholic Social Teaching, explores the increasing complexity of the global economy, and calls us to action on behalf of all workers. Bishop Murphy concludes the statement with the following thoughts:
This Labor Day we must seek to protect the life and dignity of each worker in a renewed and robust economy. Workers need to have a real voice and effective protections in economic life. The market, the state, and civil society, unions and employers all have roles to play and they must be exercised in creative and fruitful interrelationships. Private action and public policies that strengthen families and reduce poverty are needed. New jobs with just wages and benefits must be created so that all workers can express their dignity through the dignity of work and are able to fulfill God’s call to us all to be co-creators. A new social contract, which begins by honoring work and workers, must be forged that ultimately focuses on the common good of the entire human family.

It can be difficult to invite young people into honest reflection on the dignity of work and the rights of workers. When we do, however, we help our youth grow in their appreciation of the work that makes their lives easier, challenge them to promote the rights of workers, and invite them into discernment about their vocation. I pray that God will continue to bless your ministry.

Peace,
Steven McGlaun

Click Here for More Information

Awareness: Discerning Our Vocations
From Living Justice and Peace Teaching Manual

In this activity, the students spend some time reflecting on their own vocations by identifying desires and gifts.

1. Distribute handout 6-A , "Where Am I Called?" to the students. Provide each student with a large piece of paper and some fine-tipped markers. Have them tape the handout to the center of the large piece of paper.

2. Provide a reflective atmosphere for the students by playing quiet music. Direct them to answer the questions and complete the sentences from the handout anywhere on the large piece of paper. (They will be able to look at all their answers at one glance.)

3. When the students have completed this initial brainstorming, ask them to pair up with other students to share their answers. Have them work together to answer these questions for each student in the pair:

4. Help the students distinguish between "career" and "vocation," making some of the following points:

5. Read aloud the following excerpt from Frederick Buechner to the students and write the last sentence on the board.

There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Superego, or Self-Interest.

By and large a good rule for finding out is this. The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you’ve presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the chances are you’ve missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you’re bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a) but probably aren’t helping your patients much either.

Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. (Wishful Thinking, page 95)

6. Explore the meaning of the excerpt with the students, and invite them to share their reactions to it. Ask them to consider whether or not this quote sheds light on the personal reflection they did in this activity.

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sepember 12, 2010
Luke 15:1-10

Opening Prayer
Jesus, thank you for revealing the limitless mercy of God the Father. May the image of the shepherd tenderly carrying the lost sheep on his shoulder always remind us of God's steadfast love for every human being. Amen.

Context Connection
The Gospel passage for this Sunday is long. Our reflection this week will focus on the first ten verses. Luke 15:11-32 was the focus of the March 18, 2007 "YES!" e-newsletter.

Note that both parables in Sunday's Gospel have the same structure: something is lost, a search follows, what is lost is found, friends and neighbors are called together, and, finally, an invitation to rejoice is extended. The opening verse, "Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him [Jesus]" (15:1), is Luke's way of saying that these individuals were willing to listen to the prophet Jesus. In the Scriptures, willingness to hear the words of the prophet is comparable to being open to conversion. The contrast is between the tax collectors and the sinners, who were willing to listen to Jesus, and the Pharisees and scribes, whose grumbling and complaining clearly showed they were not open to conversion.

Jesus responds to the grumbling by telling a few parables. The first parable is about a lost sheep. In Luke's version of this parable, the shepherd is responsible for losing his sheep. In Matthew's version, the sheep appears to wander away of its own accord (see Matthew 18:10-14). Once the shepherd notices that the sheep is missing, he does the unthinkable. He leaves the ninety-nine healthy sheep alone in the wilderness and goes in search of the single lost sheep, which has perhaps already been killed by wild animals or injured after falling down a ravine. The shepherd, with relentless determination, pursues the lost sheep until he finds it. Then the shepherd "lays it on his shoulders and rejoices" (15:5) in a moment of embrace, tenderness, and heartfelt joy. This image of the shepherd carrying the lost sheep on his shoulders is depicted in many pieces of art. This wonderful, pastoral image reminds us of God's unwavering pursuit of those who may have lost their way, and the guarantee of God's tender embrace when they are reunited with God. The shepherd does not confine his rejoicing to his own heart, but instead invites his friends and neighbors together to rejoice with him and join in his happiness. Jesus tells us that although this reunion of the shepherd and sheep is wonderful, "there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance" (15:7). Jesus invites us to stop running away from God and recognize our need for forgiveness, for God's loving embrace is already present.

The second parable is about a woman who loses one of her ten silver coins. This story is unique to Luke's Gospel. Some Scripture scholars speculate that the coins were the woman's dowry, making them of extreme sentimental value. The woman's response was to light a lamp and immediately start looking for the lost coin. She sweeps and cleans the house until she finds the lost coin. When she finds the coin, the woman gathers her friends and neighbors and says, "Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost" (15:9). Jesus again compares the rejoicing of the woman and her friends and neighbors to the joy that God and the angels experience when one sinner repents. Repentance and conversion of heart bring rejoicing not only for those directly affected by this awakening but also for God and the angels in heaven, making it a cosmic event. The joy explodes into a party. Through these parables Luke presents one of the essential aspects of the mission of Jesus--to seek and to find the lost.

Tradition Connection
Sunday's Gospel unveils the central reason that Jesus became human: to reveal God's unending mercy. "The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to sinners.1 The angel announced to Joseph: 'You shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins'"2 (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1846).

The invitation to conversion is extended to everyone through the grace of God, allowing our hard human hearts to be softened by the life-giving love of God. Conversion allows us to draw from the living waters found only in God. "[God] is the living God who wants men to live" (Catechism, paragraph 2575). This reservoir of living water is God's never-ending love: "God is love; he is therefore righteous and faithful; he cannot contradict himself; he must remember his marvelous deeds, since his glory is at stake, and he cannot forsake this people that bears his name" (Catechism, paragraph 2577). God's mercy is an endless abyss revealed to us by Jesus: "Only the heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father's love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy" (Catechism, paragraph 1439). God's mercy is the light that shines on and within the sinner, bringing about conversion. This Spirit of God goes wherever it wills and leaves behind profound experiences of God's mercy: "This same Spirit who brings sin to light is also the Consoler who gives the human heart grace for repentance and conversion"3 (Catechism, paragraph 1433).

Through this Scripture passage, Jesus reveals the true nature of God--a God who is loving, merciful, unchanging, and faithful: When we say 'God' we confess a constant, unchangeable being, always the same, faithful and just, without any evil. It follows that we must necessarily accept his words and have complete faith in him and acknowledge his authority. He is almighty, merciful, and infinitely beneficent. . . . Who could not place all hope in him? Who could not love him when contemplating the treasures of goodness and love he has poured out on us?" (Catechism, paragraph 2086)

The God that Jesus desires us to know is magnificent beyond belief.

Wisdom Connection
Luke wants his readers to know the God that Jesus came to reveal, a God who is love. Because God's perfection is founded in love, God graces humans with endless mercy. This God is always in pursuit of those who have lost their way and will do whatever it takes to get the attention of those who are lost. God's response to those who repent is an immediate and overwhelming embrace of his unending love.

Luke calls all of us to listen to the words of Jesus the prophet and to open ourselves to conversion. Repentance for our sins is the first step in the process of ongoing conversion. As in the first step in the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), we have to admit we have a problem. Then with God's grace, limitless mercy, and love, we can embrace the ongoing process of conversion throughout our lifetime. Jesus's mission on earth is to seek the lost.

Acknowledgments
The scriptural quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic Edition. Copyright © 1993 and 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

The quotations labeled Catechism are from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America. Copyright © 1994 by the United States Catholic Conference, Inc.--Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

The Lord's Prayer is taken from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers. Copyright © 1988 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved.

Endnotes cited in quotations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
1. Cf. Luke 15.
2. Matthew 1:21.
3. Cf. John 15:26; Acts 2: 36-38; John Paul II, Dominum et Vivificanum, 27-48.

Saint Peter Claver

September 9 is the feast day for Saint Peter Claver.

Saint Peter Claver was a Jesuit priest from Spain who ministered to both the spiritual and physical needs of slaves in Cartagena, Colombia. He actively worked to promote humane treatment of slaves.

For more information on Saint Peter Claver, go to http://saints.sqpn.com/saintp10.htm