Announcing:
Saint Mary's Press winner for the week of February 7, 2011!
Congratulations to Cheryl Dawley!

Cheryl will receive a copy of The Catholic Family Connections Bible, a $26.95 value.

The Catholic Family Connections Bible helps families connect to:

- Each other- through family faith conversations
- Faith through practices of prayer and devotion
- Community-through participating in Christian service together

The Catholic Family Connections Bible uses the New American Bible text and is woven around the core content of the bestselling Catholic Youth Bible® (loved by nearly two million Catholic young people), which includes:

- Over 700 lively articles help you Pray It! Study It! Live It!®
- Catholic Connection" articles provide a presentation of key Catholic doctrine
- 28 articles address the seven principles of Catholic social teaching
- 75 inspirational illustrations
- Helpful index to life and faith issues
- Easy-to-use glossary of Scripture-related terms
- Sunday Lectionary readings for all three cycles
- "Catholic Connections" index
- "Sacraments Connections" index

The Catholic Family Connections Bible
ISBN: 978-1-59982-088-0, paper, 1968 pages

Sudan

This Tuesday is the memorial for Saint Josephine Bakhita (see Saint Spotlight). She is the patron saint of Sudan, and this year her feast day coincides with an amazing global event that is taking place in Sudan. Between January 9 and January 15, the people of Southern Sudan took part in a referendum to determine if the region would remain a part of Sudan or become an independent country. The unofficial results of this referendum have 99% of the votes being cast for independence. The official results are scheduled to be released as early as this week. The referendum was part of a peace agreement that ended a half century of civil war. Despite the bloody history of this civil war, the process of moving toward independence for Southern Sudan has been remarkably peaceful.

Throughout the civil war and the movement toward stability, countless people around the world have been working for peace in Sudan. For example, there is Sr. Cathy Arata, who helped create "101 Days of Prayer" for Sudan before the January referendum. Sister Cathy, along with her colleagues at Solidarity with Southern Sudan, helped bring together over 100 religious orders and organizations to pray for peace in Sudan each day from September 21 (International Day of Peace) to January 1 (World Day of Peace). Another example is the work of Catholic Relief Services (CRS). Since 1972 CRS has had a presence in Sudan responding to the humanitarian needs of the people there. You will find a wonderful reflection on the Saint Mary’s Press Web site written by a teacher who visited Sudan through a CRS program. In addition to its work in Sudan (and more than 80 other countries worldwide), CRS works to help Catholics in America put their faith into action through prayer, service, and education.

For many of the young people we are in ministry with, the events in Sudan are far removed from their lives. We are called, however, to invite young people into active participation in the global Church, and moments like the referendum in Sudan present a great opportunity for this invitation. Catholic Relief Services has a wonderful collection of resources relating to Sudan for teachers, ministry leaders, and students. We can provide opportunities for youth to learn about, pray with, donate to, and advocate for the people of Sudan. One resource you can utilize this week is the prayer for peace in Sudan, adapted from a prayer approved by the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference and posted on the CRS Web site.

The events in Sudan, though occurring halfway around the world from us, are something we should all witness, joining in prayer to support peace no matter the outcome. Whatever the final results of the referendum may be, the work to promote peace and support the suffering and neglected in Sudan is far from over. Each one of us can make a difference if we simply take the time to act.

As always, I pray that God will continue to bless you and your ministry.

Peace,
Steven McGlaun

Click Here for More Information

Moving from Word to Witness
From Total Youth Ministry: Ministry Resources for Justice and Service

1. Read the following quote:

"Our faith calls us to work for justice; to serve those in need; to pursue peace; and to defend the life, dignity, and rights of
all our sisters and brothers. This is the call of Jesus, the challenge of the prophets, and the living tradition of our Church." (United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops, A Century of Social Teaching, p. 1)

Then make the following comments:

- This quote comes from another U.S. Bishops’ document, A Century of Social Teaching, and it challenges us to take the strong words we have just heard about justice and service and put them into action.

-The themes of Catholic social teaching are just empty words unless we take them to heart and move them into action, as individuals and as a society.

2. Invite participants to join you in exploring what it would look like to respond to an issue of local concern in a way that is consistent with the Church teaching they have just explored. Ask them:

- What social justice issues do you feel strongly about?

List their ideas on newsprint. Ask the participants to come to consensus about one issue they are most interested in studying further.

3. Organize the participants into groups of three or four, and distribute a sheet of newsprint and a marker to each group. Ask the groups to list as many options as they can for responding positively to the problem or concern that they have identified. To help them with this brainstorming activity, offer the following thoughts:

- Think about what you can do as individuals and families—and also as members of a church, school, or community group.

- Think creatively about ways to share not just what you own (possessions) but also your talents and time.

- Think about what needs to be done right now to assist with immediate needs (service) and what you can start doing to erase the problem in the future (advocacy).

Write the italicized words on a sheet of newsprint as you share them. Then post the newsprint where everyone can see it. Allow ample time for group discussion.

4. Invite group representatives to come forward to share their response lists. As they post their newsprint pages, comment briefly on the many different and creative approaches the groups have brainstormed.

5. Offer a brief summar y of the session’s learnings about Catholic social teaching and the direction it provides for moving from awareness of a need to an active response. Invite participants to comment about what they have learned and anything else that particularly struck them during the session.

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 13, 2011
Matthew 5:17-37

Opening Prayer

Jesus through the example of your life you have taught us to embrace the commandments of righteousness for it brings about your kingdom here and now. Continue to send your spirit among us to inspire so we can remain faithful to all the commandments. Amen.

Context Connection
This Sunday’s Gospel is taken from the fifth chapter of Matthew, which opens with the Beatitudes. According to Jesus, those who will be called blessed are those who follow his teachings. The additional information we are given this Sunday is that Jesus did not come to abolish the Torah: "Do not think that I have come to abol­ish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill" (5:17). Jesus stresses that there is continuity between the Torah and what he is teaching, there­fore the commandments of the Torah are still in force. The reason for Jesus’s com­ing into the world was to reveal the true meaning of the Old Testament, expanding on what Moses and the prophets had wished to say. Jesus is an observant Jew who is devoted to keeping the Law. As the Gospel unfolds, we learn that Jesus does not replace the Law, nor does he break the Law, but rather he brings it to its fulfillment, to its maturity, to its intended purpose. This is further emphasized by these words of Jesus: "Until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished" (5:18). There is no need to change even one iota of the Law, but Jesus does challenge the practice of the Law.
"Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (5:20). Jesus’s followers would have to set their standards of righteousness or holiness higher than that of the scribes and Phari­sees. Righteousness in the context of Matthew’s Gospel speaks about proper and honorable relationships with other people and God. Jesus calls his followers to a more stringent observance of the law. He requires the rooting out of anger and lust in our lives, to actively make peace with those who have harmed us. These are Jesus’s standards for holiness. In each instance, Jesus declares that the former understanding of the Law is inadequate, and he gives his followers a more stringent command.

Tradition Connection
The Catholic Church holds the Ten Commandments as foundations of a moral life in Jesus Christ. The Commandments assist Christians in their relationships with God and others. However, every believer is challenged to build upon this founda­tion a Christian life that implements Jesus’s more stringent demands of a disciple. The Ten Commandments express humankind’s fundamental duties toward God and toward our neighbor. The Ten Commandments are engraved by God in the human heart (see CCC, number 2072).
Jesus came to fulfill the Torah and, through his teachings, create within hu­man beings hearts of flesh that would embrace the ongoing conversion that makes steadfast the virtues of faith, hope, and love in all believers. The Gospel of Jesus Christ brings the Law to fulfillment, because it places before the Christian the goal to imitate God in God’s wholeness of love.
In chapter 5 of Matthew’s Gospel, we learn that the Law finds fulfillment in Jesus’s Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are the way of the Kingdom of heaven. In em­bracing the faith of Jesus Christ, the believer is open to deepen and broaden his or her understanding of the Commandments of God that are found in the Torah.

Wisdom Connection
Matthew is making it clear that the Torah remains in force in Matthew’s communi­ty. Jesus does not replace it or destroy it, but rather he comes to fulfill it by taking it to the next step of observance in the religious practice of his followers. If one does not follow the commands of the Torah, there is a harsh consequence. "Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (5:19). Jesus calls his followers to a higher standard of holiness. The Ten Commandments are the foun­dation of this righteousness, but Jesus gives it a new twist. The Christian is not to commit adultery but also should not hold lust in his or her heart. The Christian should not kill but also should not harbor hatred or anger in his or her heart.

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 from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers. Copyright © 1988 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved.

Endnotes cited in quotations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
1. Ephesians 4:24.
2. Ephesians 4:25; 1 Peter 2:1
3. John 3:3-5.
4. Cf. Matthew 5:13-16.
5. Cf. Isaiah 58:6-7; Hebrews 13:3.
6. Cf. Matthew 25:31-46.

Saint Josephine Bakhita

February 8 is the memorial for Saint Josephine Bakhita.

The patron saint of Sudan, Josephine Bakhita was kidnapped at the age of 9 and sold into slavery, eventually ending up in Italy. In Italy she converted to Christianity and later became a Canossian Sister. She worked to serve the poor and the suffering and became a noted speaker, raising funds for missions.

For more information about Saint Josephine Bakhita, go to http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-josephine-bakhita/.