Announcing:
Saint Mary's Press winner for the week of October 3, 2011!

Congratulations to Emily Sevier!

Emily will receive a copy of The Catholic Faith Handbook for Youth, Second Edition, a $19.95 value.

The Catholic Faith Handbook for Youth, Second Edition is an understandable and down-to-earth guide to all things Catholic. This book is an eye-opener and a page-turner, whether you are brushing up on specific Catholic terms and concepts or learning them for the first time.

The Ad Hoc Committee to Oversee the Use of the Catechism, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has found this catechetical text, copyright 2008, to be in conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Now Available! Online correlation to the U.S. Bishops' High School curriculum framework Click here!

The Catholic Faith Handbook for Youth, Second Edition
ISBN: 978-0-88489-987-7, paper, 480 pages

Care for God’s Creation

When our oldest daughter was around 16 months old, we took a family trip to stay at a cabin in Arkansas. At the time, our daughter was just getting the hang of walking. Now, it is important to note that we live in Minnesota and that this trip was in March. Our daughter had never been able to explore the outdoors since she learned to walk because the outdoors at home was covered in snow. The afternoon we got to the cabin, we went for a walk. Every few steps our daughter would stop, pick up a leaf, a stick, or a rock, and look up at us with a look of absolute amazement accompanied by a soft “Ohhhhhh.” Every new thing she encountered elicited the same response. Every leaf, stick, or rock. It was an amazing moment to see the awe God’s creation can elicit in a new set of eyes.

As I’ve grown older, I occasionally encounter these types of moments when I see something particularly beautiful in creation, but all too often I take for granted the wonder of all aspects of creation. Tuesday is the memorial for Saint Francis of Assisi and the perfect opportunity to help the young people with whom we are in ministry have a moment of “Ohhhhhh” for creation. There are numerous simple ways you can do this. Consider inviting your youth to reflect on the wonder of creation. Take them on a “nature” walk around your church or school and ask them to find one element of nature upon which they can reflect. Invite them to share stories about the most beautiful or awe-inspiring aspects of nature they have been blessed to witness. As a group, read the Creation accounts from Genesis and discuss what these accounts tell us about creation and our responsibilities to creation. If you wish to lead your students in a deeper examination of Catholic environmental justice, you can utilize the resources available from the Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Conservation Center.

In closing I would like to share one more resource you can use with your youth to help them reflect on creation. Below is the prayer “The Canticle of Brother Sun,” written by Saint Francis of Assisi. Take a moment on Tuesday and invite the youth with whom you are in ministry to simply pause and say this prayer. In the hectic pace of daily life, it is all too easy to miss the beauty and blessing that is all of creation. When we do pause—and provide our youth the opportunity to pause—to notice the wonder of creation, we can grow closer to God. As always, I pray that God will continue to bless you and your ministry.

Peace,
Steven McGlaun

“The Canticle of Brother Sun”
Most High Almighty Good Lord, Yours are praise, glory, honor and all blessings; To You alone! Most High, do they belong, and no man is worthy of speaking Your Name!

Be praised, Lord, with all Your creatures, and above all our Brother Sun, who gives us the day by which You light our way, and who is beautiful, radiant and with his great splendor is a symbol to us of You, O Most High!

And be praised, Lord, for our Sister Moon and the Stars. You created them in the heavens bright, precious and beautiful!

And be praised, Lord, for our Brother the Wind and for the air and the clouds and for fair weather and for all other through which You sustain Your creatures.

And be praised, Lord, for our Sister Water, so useful, and humble, and chaste!

And be praised, my Lord, for our Brother Fire, through whom You light up the night and who is handsome, joyful, robust, and strong!

And be praised, my Lord, for our Sister, Mother Earth, who supports and carries us and produces the diverse fruits and colorful flowers and trees!

Praise and bless the Lord and give thanks to Him and serve Him with great humility!

Click Here for More Information

Nature Scavenger Hunt
From Resources for Outdoor Retreats: Journey into Nature, Journey into the Heart

Use “Nature Scavenger Hunt” whenever the group is moving from one location to the next or when the group is taking a hike.

This activity was included in the retreat experiences after I took a group on a retreat and the participants missed much of nature. They didn’t see many of the birds, flowers, or animals. Of course they didn’t see much; I didn’t give them any clues as to what to look for.

This activity helps the participants to look for various objects, creatures, and plants. By giving the participants a list of things to look for, it helps them find those items and much more.

The only negative aspect to this activity is that the journey guides end up signing their initials many times. The participants will be constantly finding items on the list. The little bit of inconvenience for the journey guides is rewarded by the enthusiasm of the participants.

This will last the duration of any hike, or it may be used in a way to make it last all day.

Materials Needed
- a copy of the journal handout “Nature Scavenger Hunt,” located at the end of the chapter, for each participant (You may wish to adapt the list of items to fit your part of the country.)
- pencils or pens
- a bag to collect litter
- inexpensive prizes

Read aloud the directions on the journal handout “Nature Scavenger Hunt” with the participants, and then keep a pencil handy—you’ll be initialing items throughout the activity. Give small prizes to the participants with the most items initialed at the end of the exercise. Then discuss with the participants what Col. 1:16, the scriptural quote on their journal handout, means to them.

Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 9, 2011
Matthew 22:1-14

Opening Prayer
Jesus, thank you for extending to us an invitation to the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven. Sharing the Eucharist with our community is a glimpse of that heavenly banquet you have prepared for us. May our lives bear witness to the fact that we are your disciples, ready and eager for the feast. Amen.

Context Connection
This Sunday's Gospel is the third parable Jesus uses to answer the chief priests and elders who question his authority. Through this parable Jesus reveals something about the Kingdom of heaven: "The Kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son" (22:2). The king, as was the custom of the day, sent out his servants to invite select persons to his son's wedding. These individuals would have been of the same social status as the king. When it was time for the wedding banquet, the king once again dispatched his servants, instructing them to tell the would-be guests to come. By then they would have had ample opportunity to find out who was going and who was not. If they saw that influential people were planning to attend, so would they, and if these movers and shakers were not planning to attend, they would not either, finding some polite excuse. We do not know why everyone refused to attend, but we learn some of the excuses given. It seems they had important commercial interests to look after, "They made light of it [the invitation] and went away, one to his farm, another to his business" (22:5). Others were not so polite. They seized the king's servants and killed them. The king's response to this barbarity was swift and shocking, "He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city" (22:7). Then the king surprised us again by commanding his servants to go out and invite everyone who had gathered in the town plaza, "Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet" (22:9). As a result, the wedding feast attracted "both good and bad" (22:10), that is, both the righteous and the sinful. Wow! Common, everyday people without social status responded to the king's invitation, more than likely with great enthusiasm. The king's decision to open up the banquet to the so-called lower classes amounted to social suicide; after this, the elite of society would surely have nothing to do with the king or attend his son's wedding. Class distinction was strictly enforced in the culture of Jesus's day.

Guests had to be properly attired. What people wore to such a banquet was so important that special robes would have been provided. For some reason, one of the guests chose not to wear the designated robe, and the king more or less showed him to the door. The parable ends with the statement, "For many are called, but few are chosen" (22:14). Those of us who enter the Kingdom of heaven must also be properly attired; we must put on a very special robe known as the baptismal garment.

Tradition Connection
The Gospel message is again clear: everyone is to be invited to the heavenly banquet; no one is to be excluded. The Eucharist foreshadows this heavenly banquet because Christ invites everyone to the table. Christian communities throughout the centuries have wrestled with this simple but profound truth. Everyone is welcome--everyone--and wearing one's baptismal garment, a symbol of ongoing conversion, is the only requirement.

Jesus invites sinners to the table of the kingdom: "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."1 He invites them to that conversion without which one cannot enter the kingdom, but shows them in word and deed his Father's boundless mercy for them and the vast "joy in heaven over one sinner who repents."2 The supreme proof of his love will be the sacrifice of his own life "for the forgiveness of sins."3 (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 545)

Jesus speaks about the heavenly Kingdom many times through the use of parables. In each of the parables, Jesus invites us to the Kingdom of heaven and requires us to commit ourselves to the values of the Gospel if we truly want to enter. God is looking for a radical choice on the part of the convert to show through deeds their resolve to live as a child of God.

Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching.4 Through his parables he invites people to the feast of the kingdom, but he also asks for a radical choice: to gain the kingdom, one must give everything.5 Words are not enough; deeds are required.6 The parables are like mirrors for man: will he be hard soil or good earth for the word?7 What use has he made of the talents he has received?8 Jesus and the presence of the kingdom in this world are secretly at the heart of the parables. One must enter the kingdom, that is, become a disciple of Christ, in order to "know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven."9 For those who stay "outside," everything remains enigmatic.10 (Catechism, paragraph 546)
(The word enigmatic means hard to understand or explain.)

The wedding robe that is spoken about in the parable refers to our baptismal garment that is a symbol of our being baptized into Jesus Christ. Just as the Easter candle is a symbol of Christ's light in the world, we each received that same light of Christ in Baptism, and so our lives must reflect that Christ-light to the world. We are Christ's light to the world. How brightly is our flame burning? "The white garment symbolizes that the person baptized has 'put on Christ,'11 has risen with Christ. The candle, lit from the Easter candle, signifies that Christ has enlightened the neophyte. In him the baptized are 'the light of the world'"12 (Catechism, paragraph 1243).

Wisdom Connection
The message of the Gospel is about invitation and response. By virtue of their Baptism, the disciples of Jesus Christ are invited into the Kingdom of heaven. Some individuals respond by embracing the invitation and live in such a way that their baptismal garment is apparent to everyone. Others respond differently by choosing, for various reasons, not to wear their baptismal garment. True disciples of Jesus boldly respond to God's invitation by living their faith without hesitation. There is nothing tentative about their commitment.

In this Sunday's Gospel, Matthew levels his criticism at those who squander God's generosity. These are the people who turn their backs on God, who abuse their relationship with God while believing that God will never turn them away from the heavenly banquet. Matthew reminds us that the banquet is for those who truly desire it and who wear their baptismal garment for all to see. It really is about invitation and response. The Lord does his part; he continually invites us. The challenge before us is to do our part, which means keeping two things in mind. One, we must take our Baptism seriously by actually living the values of the Gospel, thereby becoming an example for others. Two, we must never deny someone a place at the table of the Lord at which all are welcome.

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. Mark 2:17; cf. 1 Timothy 1:15.
2. Luke 15:7; cf. 7:11-32.
3. Matthew 26:28.
4. Cf. Mark 4:33-34.
5. Cf. Matthew 13:44-45; 22:1-14.
6. Cf. Matthew 21:28-32.
7. Cf. Matthew 13:3-9.
8. Cf. Matthew 25:14-30.
9. Matthew 13:11.
10. Mark 4:11; cf. Matthew 13:10-15.
11. Galatians 3:27.
12. Matthew 5:14; cf. Philippians 2:15.

Saint Francis of Assisi
October 4 is the memorial for Saint Francis of Assisi.

Saint Francis of Assisi was born into a wealthy family in twelfth-century Italy. Early in his life, Francis was devoted to a life of pleasure with a focus on his social status. While recovering from a serious illness, Francis had a conversion and felt called to live more as Jesus had lived. He devoted his time to prayer, preaching, and giving to the poor. He eventually renounced all worldly wealth and possessions. Francis is known for his prayer life and for his love of creation.

For more information about Saint Francis of Assisi, go to http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-francis-of-assisi/.