Announcing:
Saint Mary's Press winner for the week of May 2, 2011!

Congratulations to Gabriela Gordillo!

Gabriella will receive a copy of Catholic Connections Handbook for Middle Schoolers, a $18.95 value.

The Catholic Connections Handbook for Middle Schoolers
by Janet Claussen, Pat Finan, Diana Macalintal, Jerry Shepherd, Susan Stark, Chris Wardwell

Whether middle schoolers encounter this book as part of the Catholic Connections program in faith formation or pick it up out of curiosity, The Catholic Connections Handbook for Middle Schoolers offers great guidance and aims to help young teens learn about all the central aspects of the Catholic faith, including God, revelation, faith, Jesus the Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Church, liturgy and sacraments, Christian morality and justice, and prayer.

Catholic Connections Handbook for Middle Schoolers
ISBN: 978-0-88489-994-5, paper, 552 pages

Celebrating Graduates

How do you celebrate graduation in your community? Within all of the pomp and circumstance of the event, do you take time to use it as a teaching moment in the lives of the students who will walk across the stage and receive their diplomas? Below are a few ideas you might want to use to make graduation not only about completing a phase of school but also about embracing the journey with God.

1. Include a blessing for the students. With all of the gifts they receive, it is important to remind them of the power and meaning of the gift of prayer. There are numerous blessings for transitions in life. Below is a blessing you can use and adapt for your community.

2. If you do wish to give a material gift, consider giving the students a gift that carries religious significance. A crucifix for the dorm room, a cross key chain, a Bible, or a rosary are just a few possibilities. Remind them with the gift that they are entering a new stage of being more responsible for their own faith life and for the decisions they will make. To the student it might not be as exciting as the $20.00 from a long-lost aunt, but it will carry more significance as time goes on.

3. Help the students make connections with the faith community where they are going. It is easy to connect with the Newman Center at various colleges that seniors will be attending, or to "touch base" with the campus minister at the high school where your middle school student will be going. You could remove an obstacle in your student’s faith life by simply letting them know the name and phone number of the person heading up the ministry where they will be going. There is an extensive list of Newman Centers/Catholic Student Associations for those moving on to college life, at http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~nmcenter/OtherNC.html.

4. Spend time recognizing the unique gifts in each student. During this time it is easy to focus on the valedictorian, the solo vocalist at graduation, or the student body president, but every student deserves to have "a moment in the sun." Invite students who have been a challenge or have gone largely unnoticed to have a part in the graduation ceremony or the Baccalaureate mass. Let them know you value them. Even if it is not fully appreciated by the student immediately, the long-term effect can be amazing. As part of this, take time to share with students what you have valued about them in the time you have shared. It doesn’t have to be much, just enough for them to know that you did notice and appreciate them.

These are just a few possibilities of things that can be done to make graduation a meaningful and spiritual event for students, families, and teachers. The important thing is to make an effort to have this transition be more than just a final hoop to jump through on the way out the door. I pray that you have a blessed Easter season, and as always, I pray that God will continue to bless you and your ministry.

Peace,
Steven McGlaun

Graduation Blessing

God of Beginnings,

We ask your blessing on all those graduating this year as they prepare to move on to a new beginning in their lives.

Help them to rejoice in the hard work that has brought them to this point, and keep them safe as they celebrate their accomplishments.

Loving God, guide these graduates on the journey that lay ahead of them as they prepare to encounter new and exciting opportunities.

Bless these graduates with humility in times of success, and strength in times of challenge.

Help them to remember all those in their lives that have supported and cared for them. May these graduates always know that they are truly loved and cherished.

Empower them to go forth and continue the work of your Son, Jesus Christ. We pray that they will truly be a light of justice and compassion to the world.

We give thanks for the gift that each one of these graduates is to our community, and we rejoice in knowing that they will be a blessing to all those they encounter on their life’s journey.

It is in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, that we pray.

Amen.

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Opening Teacher Prayer
Preparation. Light a candle. While doing so proclaim the following verse: "It is you who light my lamp; / the LORD, my God, lights up my darkness" (Ps. 18:28).

Reading
Love makes people better parents, and love makes people better listeners. People are more patient and more optimistic when they are in love. Love energizes. Unconditional love is contagious. When people realize that they are loved unconditionally, they are energized to reach out to others.
(Summarized from Kimball, How Will You Know I Love You? pp. 146–147)

Prayer
O God, as I prepare to meet these parents, help me to remember that you have graced them with a most special treasure—their children. Help me to support and encourage these adults so that they recognize that unconditional love is a gift that can prepare their children to face the world with confidence and strength. Help them to recognize that you are their support as well as a support for their children. Continue to guide them and their children during this special time in their life. Amen.

Procedure
Introductions and Opening Prayer (15 min)
1. As the parents arrive, you may want to make name tags and markers available in order to facilitate introductions. If you have a small group or people know one another well, name tags may not be necessary.

Welcome the parents to the session and thank them for attending. Introduce yourself. Include some brief information about your family, your work, and how you got involved in teaching Senior Year. Ask the parents to introduce themselves and to share three positive characteristics of their senior child. If both of a participant’s parents are present, request that each share three positive characteristics.

2. Present a brief outline of this parent session by explaining three of its objectives:
- to help parents understand some of the dynamics of the transition from high school
- to explore the effects the transition may have on family life
- to present an outline of the course, along with its goals and objectives

3. In your own words, tell the story of Jesus at the age of twelve in the Temple, when he was found by Mary and Joseph with the elders. It can be found in Luke 2:41–52. Follow the story with a spontaneous prayer, or simply read the following reflection:

- God loves us unconditionally, and we are all called to love our children with the same kind of unconditional love. Our children are preparing for a wonderful life transition. Now is an exciting time in their life; a time for them to stretch their wings. As they search out their own "Temple elders," may we have the wisdom to allow them to be about God’s business and not our own. We ask this in the name of Mary and Joseph, who watched Jesus stand at the threshold between childhood and adulthood—and let him go. Amen.

Reflection and Forced-Choice Exercise: A Trip Down Memory Lane (25 min)
Before the session. List on newsprint the following questions:

- Who was your best friend?
- What did you enjoy doing with friends?
- What were you involved in at school?
- How did you feel when you left high school?
- What were the family issues you dealt with?
- What were the fads of the time—the hairstyles, dress styles, favorite songs, and so forth?
- What was the biggest decision you made at that time of your life?

1. Divide the parents into teams of three or four people. If possible, assign spouses to different groups. Ask the parents to recall being seventeen or eighteen years old and a senior in high school. Suggest that they close their eyes for a minute or so and imagine what they looked like at that time, where they lived, where they worked if they had a job, and so forth. The point of the reflection is simply to get parents in touch with their life when they were the age of their child.

After a brief reflection time, display the newsprint list of questions that you created before the session. Invite the parents to share their answers to the questions with other people in their team. Encourage them not to limit themselves to the questions on the newsprint, but to share other significant experiences of that time of life if they have extra time. Allow about 10 minutes for team discussion. Call the group back together after that time.

2. Thank the parents for reaching back into their memory to share with others their experience of being in transition. Emphasize the importance of remembering what it was like to be young and at the threshold of something new. Their task now is to think about some common presumptions concerning this period of transition and to decide where they stand on them. Read each of the following statements and ask the parents whether they agree or disagree. Invite them to share the reasons for their answers.

- All teenagers are basically the same.
- I was their age once, so I know how they feel.
- The senior year is a fun year for families.
- They will never again have life be so good.
- Most eighteen-year-olds want to leave home and be on their own.
- The last year of high school is mostly a fun year for young people.
- Young people must stretch the limits to learn boundaries.

3. Close the exercise by making the following points in your own words:
- Mention that the young people are experiencing some of the same feelings their parents did when they were seniors in high school. These feelings are a normal part of human development. However, society has changed since the parents were in high school. Because of that the parents may not fully understand what their children are experiencing.

- Affirm that the senior year is a time of mixed emotions for everyone. Both young people and their parents experience joy, excitement, anticipation, apprehension, fear, and a sense of accomplishment as the young people stand at the edge of the nest, ready to move on to something new. Young people want freedom, but also want the security of the family nest. Parents want to see their children find their way in the world, but are reluctant to let go.

- Assure the parents that they are not alone in their concerns about the issues facing their children or the challenges facing their family. The thought of a child’s leaving home, being independent, making mistakes, and finding her or his way in the world is scary. The comfort in being with other parents is knowing that others share the same concerns. They can learn from one another as they share experiences, insights, and resources.

- Finally, note that when young people leave the various nests that have nurtured them for their whole life, the job of their parents—as keepers of the family nest—is to support them. The parents must do this while confidently assuring the young people that God always watches over them. God’s presence is the only nest a person never leaves.

Break (10 min)

Brainstorming Exercise and Discussion: Tasks of Transition (20 min)
Before the session. Write on newsprint the following list of tasks:

1. Deal with the loss of space or possessions and the prospect of sharing space with new people.

2. Forgive yourself and other family members.

3. Say good-bye, but not forever.

4. Maintain peace with your parents while becoming more autonomous.

5. Say thank-you to your parents.

6. Recognize that your parents are also changing. Pray for them.

7. Tend to your siblings, grandparents, and extended family.

8. Name and own your positive and negative feelings.

9. Accept the burden of freedom.

10. Recognize the gift of good memories.

11. Recognize that you are not alone.

12. Recognize that change can be fun.

Third Sunday of Easter
May 8, 2011
Luke 24:13-35

Opening Prayer
Jesus, our hearts burn within us when we celebrate the Eucharist because we recognize you in the breaking of the bread. Renew our commitment to regularly celebrate the Eucharist, for it is in the word and the meal that we encounter you. Amen.

Context Connection
This Sunday's Gospel continues to recount the events of the first Easter Sunday. Luke preserves the account of two disciples returning to Emmaus from Jerusalem after celebrating the Passover feast. Before they left Jerusalem, they heard that the women discovered the open tomb and that Peter reported the tomb was empty. As they talk about these things that happened over the past three days, Jesus draws near to them, but they do not recognize him. When Jesus asks, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" (24:17), they can only stand there looking sad. Finally Cleopas, one of the disciples, says to Jesus, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?" (24:18). Jesus responds as if he has no knowledge of the events: "What things?" (24:19). Then the disciples share with the stranger, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him" (24:19-20). The two disciples share their hope that this Jesus would have been a political messiah that would have freed Israel. They also mention the morning's discovery that the body of Jesus was not in the tomb where it was buried on Friday. The three of them continue walking and talking. The stranger helps the two disciples understand how the Hebrew Scriptures foretold of the suffering and death of the Messiah.

When they draw near to Emmaus, Jesus continues to walk, but the two disciples invite him to join them for the night. At the dinner table, in the blessing and breaking of the bread, they come to understand the true identity of the stranger: "Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight" (24:31). They immediately reflect on their encounter with the risen Jesus: "Were not our hearts burning within us?" (24:32). They begin to realize that it was the risen Jesus they experienced and that he caused their hearts to burn within them. Luke wants his readers to know that the experience of the risen Jesus that the two disciples had is available to everyone in the church through the Eucharist and the reading of Scripture.

The two disciples return to Jerusalem to the eleven and their companions. This group shares with the two disciples that "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!" (24:34). In turn, the two disciples share that they experienced the risen Jesus "in the breaking of the bread" (24:35).

Tradition Connection
"Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory? Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures" (24:25-27). Jesus helps us understand the importance of the Old Testament in the plan of salvation set forth by God the Father. It is the Old Testament that points to Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah that brings salvation to the world. The New Testament helps us to live in keeping with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

"The Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value,1 for the Old Covenant has never been revoked" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 121). Christians value the Old Testament just as Jesus valued it. He used it to instruct the two disciples on the way to Emmaus and give them a perspective on his Passion and death. The New Testament is a continuation of the record of God's direct intervention into salvation history. Therefore Christians revere the whole of Scripture: "Christians venerate the Old Testament as true Word of God. The Church has always vigorously opposed the idea of rejecting the Old Testament under the pretext that the New has rendered it void" (Catechism, paragraph 123). Within liturgy we give testimony to the Old Testament's importance by using readings from it: "The books of the Old Testament bear witness to the whole divine pedagogy of God's saving love: these writings 'are a storehouse of sublime teaching on God and of sound wisdom on human life, as well as a wonderful treasury of prayers [an example would be the Psalms]; in them, too, the mystery of our salvation is present in a hidden way'"2 (Catechism, paragraph 122).

Wisdom Connection
"Were not our hearts burning within us?" (24:32). For the two disciples the experience of the risen Lord could not be contained within themselves. They needed to share it and proclaim what they had come to know as the truth about Jesus of Nazareth. By the time they returned to Jerusalem to tell the eleven about their encounter, the good news was already known. The unique part of the two disciples' account is their recognition of Jesus "in the breaking of the bread" (24:35). Luke emphasizes this point because it is the way future generations will come to know Jesus. He will be known in the Church's celebration of the Eucharist. The two parts of our Eucharistic celebration are the liturgy of the word and the liturgy of the Eucharist. In the Eucharistic liturgy, Jesus makes himself known through both the Scriptures and the sacrament of Eucharist. It is in the Eucharist that we experience the real and wholesome presence of Jesus Christ.

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. Dei Verbum 14.
2. Dei Verbum 15.

Blessed Caterina Cittadini

May 5 is the memorial for Blessed Caterina Cittadini.

Born in 1801 in Bergamo, Italy, Caterina’s mother died when she was seven and her father abandoned her and her younger sister, Giuditta. The sisters grew up in an orphanage where they were instilled with a strong faith and devotion to the Blessed Mother. After leaving the orphanage, the sisters went to live with their two cousins who were both parish priests. Caterina became a teacher, but both sisters felt a strong calling to religious life. In 1826 they opened a boarding school for girls. They then opened additional schools in 1832 and 1836. After the death of her sister, Giuditta, one of her cousins, and her spiritual director, Caterina became gravely ill and was cured through the intercession of Saint Jerome Emilani. In 1845 Caterina quit her teaching position and devoted all of her time to running the schools, caring for orphans, and guiding her companions who assisted in her ministry. Caterina sought to have the women with which she worked recognized as a religious order, the Ursuline Sisters of Somasca. Six months after her death, the bishop of Bergamo gave his approval for the new order, and the order achieved papal recognition in 1927.

For more information on Blessed Caterina Cittadini, go to http://saints.sqpn.com/blessed-caterina-cittadini/.