Announcing:
Saint Mary's Press winner for the week of June 13, 2011!

Congratulations to Anne Seeley!

Anne will receive a copy of Everyday Justice: 365 Reflections, a $14.75 value.

Everyday Justice
Author: Alan J. Talley, Scott Holsknecht

Everyday Justice brings the principles of Catholic social teaching to teens, whether they are using it as a companion for a social justice course, to broaden their personal understanding for justice issues, or as a reflection guide while they are on a service project. But more than that, it inspires them to respond to our Gospel call. Each day begins with a quote from the Scriptures, a Church document, or an advocate of justice and is followed by a reflection, a prayer, and a call to action.

Everyday Justice
ISBN: 978-0-88489-858-0, paper, 384 pages

Monday, June 20, is World Refugee Day. As explained on the World Refugee DayWeb site, "This day honors the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence, as well as the people who have dedicated their lives to helping them." The Catholic Church has long advocated for and supported migrants and refugees who have been forced to leave their homelands. Addressing the 96th World Day of Migrants and Refugees in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI shared the following insight and call to action on behalf of the migrants and refugees around the world:

"Jesus’ words resound in our hearts: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" (Mt 25:36), as, likewise, the central commandment he left us: to love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind, but together with love of neighbour (cf. Mt 22:37–39).

This leads us to consider that any of our concrete interventions must first be nurtured by faith in the action of grace and divine Providence. In this way also hospitality and solidarity to strangers, especially if they are children, become a proclamation of the Gospel of solidarity. The Church proclaims this when she opens her arms and strives to have the rights of migrants and refugees respected, moving the leaders of Nations, and those in charge of international organizations and institutions to promote opportune initiatives for their support."

The World Refugee Day Web site offers suggestions for ways to take action in support of the world’s refugees. In addition, the site provides stories from refugees and links to movies to help educate about current and past refugee crises. I encourage you to take some time reviewing these resources. As ministers to young people, we can help make a difference through educating youth about the numerous global situations that force people to become refugees and by supporting groups that work to address the needs of refugees. When we take action on behalf of the world’s refugees, we proclaim what Pope Benedict XVI called the "Gospel of solidarity." I pray that you are having a peaceful summer and, as always, I pray that God will continue to bless you and your ministry.

Peace,
Steven McGlaun

CORPORALWORK OF MERCY

Objectives

• to foster in youth a growing awareness of the Catholic Christian call to community
• to have the participants reflect on the scriptural and traditional understanding of our call to welcome the stranger
• to inform participants of opportunities to welcome the stranger in their own community, in homeless shelters in our country, and in refugee camps internationally
• to enable young disciples to see Christ in the stranger

Suggested Time
Allow 75 minutes for this session, plus time to do a service activity if you choose.

Materials and Preparation
1. a recording of one of the following songs or one on similar themes:
- "God Is in This Place," by Plus One, WOW 2002
- "Send Out Your Spirit," by Jesse Manibusan, Power of Peace
- "Malo! Malo! Thanks Be to God," by Jesse Manibusan, Misa del Mundo
- "Júntese Todo el Pueblo," by Jesse Manibusan, Misa del Mundo
- "Who’s Giving Their Heart," by Jesse Manibusan, In the Heart
- "Home," by Jamie Dillon, Gethsemane

2. a poster with the acronym ANGEL displayed in the room
- Awareness
- Notice
- Greet
- Educate
- Listen

3. two copies of resource 8, "Strange Situations," and two volunteers to perform each scenario

4. Recruit volunteers to read the following scriptural passages:
- Matt. 25:35
- Gen. 18:9–13
- Tob. 12:11–15
- Luke 24:28–32

5. copies of handout 6, "A Disciple’s Guide to Welcoming the Stranger"

6. copies of resource 9, "Welcoming the Stranger," and five volunteer readers

7. if possible obtain the names of the candidates and catechumens preparing for initiation in your parish RCIA program

8. a Bible

Searching the Web
- The complete text to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement "Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity" is found atwww.usccb.org/mrs/unity.htm.

- The complete text to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement "Renewing U.S. Leadership in Refugee Protection" can be found atwww.usccb.org/mrs/resolution01.htm.

- The complete text of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement "Welcome and Justice for Persons with Disabilities" is found at
www.usccb.org/doctrine/disabilities.htm.

Opening Activity (20 minutes)
1. Begin with the prayer below or one with a similar theme:

Lord, guide us today as we reflect on your call to welcome the stranger. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Read Heb. 13:2, the passage that compares welcoming strangers with entertaining angels.

2. Tell the group that welcoming strangers involves a process that can be explained using the acronym ANGEL:

- A stands for awareness of who strangers are, that is, the people who do not feel like they are a part of the communities that we belong to. It is also an awareness that we are the welcomers in the communities we belong to.

- N means that we must notice the stranger, for they are easy to walk past without even seeing them. And we must notice our prejudgments about not wanting them in our communities.

- G stands for greeting the stranger, that is, knowing how to make eye contact, shake their hand or touch their shoulder, and, most important, how to smile.

- E stands for educating the stranger. To make them part of the group, we teach them our stories, our rules, and our language.

- L tells us to listen to them, and when we truly listen to their story, we let it transform us and our group.

3. Ask volunteers to read or act out the situations on resource 8, "Strange Situations."Reinforce the acronym within each situation. You may do this by pointing to the appropriate word on the poster board at the appropriate time in the narrative.

Presentation:
The Disciple’s Call to Welcome the Stranger (20 minutes)
1. Lead the group in a discussion of the following questions:

- Who are the strangers in your life?
- How can you become more aware of them?

2. Invite volunteers to read the scriptural passages listed below. Precede or follow each passage with a summary of the corresponding comments.

- Matt. 25:35. Long before Christ, even before Moses, way back into the Book of Genesis, Abraham packed up his family and moved to the land of Canaan in obedience to God. God promised to make him a great nation, but he and his wife were well on in years and they had no children. Abraham, aware of the customs of hospitality, noticed three strangers who appeared one day. He greeted them. He brought them water and food and listened as the messengers of God changed his life, and ours.

- Gen. 18:9–13. Sarah gave birth to Isaac.

- Tob. 12:11–15. In Old Testament history, we have another stranger in the Book of Tobit, where we hear how the angel Raphael changes the life of three main characters:
- Tobit, a compassionate man who buries the dead, is blinded by bird droppings. - Tobias, his son, nearly dies at a stream’s edge and later marries a woman whose first seven husbands died on their wedding night.
- Sarah, the poor widow, wakes up to face her new husband, Tobias, after their wedding night, glad he is still alive.
At the end of this soap opera, the stranger reveals his identity.

- Luke 24:28–32. After the death of Jesus, two disciples are making their way to a nearby town. They notice a stranger on the road and greet him. They try to educate him about what has happened in Jerusalem and listen as he explains what it means in the Scriptures. In a moment of prayer, they recognize the stranger as Christ himself.

Handout Review (15 minutes)
Distribute copies of handout 6, "A Disciple’s Guide to Welcoming the Stranger."
Divide the young people into small groups and ask them to read through the handout together. When they are finished, lead a discussion of the question,
"What is the most difficult part of welcoming the stranger?"

Taking Action: Welcoming the Stranger
If possible engage the young people in an activity that enables them to put this work of mercy into practice. Several ideas are listed below.

Closing Prayer (20 minutes)
Lead the participants in the prayer service as it is outlined in resource 9, "Welcoming the Stranger."

June 19, 2011
John 3:16-18

Opening Prayer
Jesus, you revealed to us the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. As we journey deeper into the heart of the Triune God, help us to grow in our understanding of this sacred mystery. Encourage us to never lose sight of and to always trust in the experience of our loving God that surrounds us each day. Amen.

Context Connection
You may recognize the Scripture citation for this Sunday's Gospel, John 3:16, from watching various sporting events: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." You may know this passage by heart, but if you had to look it up you would discover that this passage is set in the larger context of a dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus (3:1-21). Jesus is talking to Nicodemus about the importance of being recreated through water and the Spirit, the Baptism that those who believed in Jesus would receive. Nicodemus only knew the baptism of water that John the Baptist gave to repentant sinners. The phrase Jesus uses is, "being born from above" (3:3). The language that Jesus uses could be interpreted two ways: it could mean "from above" or "again." By Nicodemus's response we know that he interprets it as being born again--a second time--because he asks how it is possible for a grown person to re-enter his mother's womb.

Jesus clarifies for Nicodemus what he means: "I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit" (3:5). To further clarify, Jesus states, "You must be born from above" (3:7). Nicodemus struggles to understand: "How can these things be?" (3:9). In response to Nicodemus's questioning, Jesus tries to help him understand these heavenly things. Out of love for all creation, God sent his only son to be the payment for eternal life for everyone. God desires that everyone be born from above--born of the Spirit. Jesus states God's intention in sending his Son: "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him" (3:17). God saw the world as redeemable and therefore good. But because God gave human beings free will to choose, individuals are free to not believe in God's redemption. Therefore, condemnation comes from within a person. It is not superimposed from outside a person.

The Gospel passage that the Church has chosen for the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity is an interesting one. The passage does reveal the interconnectedness of God the Father, his only Son, and the Spirit. However, it is not a treatise on the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. Rather, it is an explanation of the experience of the Triune God acting on behalf of humankind to bring about the salvation of everyone. Belief in the complex mystery of the Trinity should not be exclusively based in possessing a profound insight into this abstract concept, but rather based in a life that reflects the self-sacrificing love of God--the love that God the Father has expressed for humankind through the gift of his Son and the Holy Spirit.

Tradition Connection
This Sunday we celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Trinity. It is a celebration of the mystery of our Triune God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit live in a community of love and are bound together as one; yet they remain distinct persons in their relationship to humankind. This mystery stands at the center of our faith as Catholic Christians:

The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the "hierarchy of the truths of faith."1 The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men "and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin."2 (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 234)
The theological term we use to describe the nature of the Trinity is consubstantial,which means having the exact same substance. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are wholly and completely God, the God essence is not shared:

The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the "consubstantial Trinity."3 The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire: "The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, i.e., by nature one God."4 In the words of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215): "Each of the persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature."5 (Catechism, paragraph 253)
This is most evident in the words of Baptism. The individual is baptized in the name of the one God: "Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: not in their names,6 for there is only one God, the almighty Father, his only Son, and the Holy Spirit: the Most Holy Trinity" (Catechism, paragraph 233). Baptism into the Most Holy Trinity begins our lifelong journey toward understanding this mystery. Perhaps our understanding will only become complete in the next life, as the many mysteries of God are revealed to us.

This Sunday's Gospel points out that during the in-between time, we need to place our trust in the experience of the Triune God revealed by Jesus, who is intent on bringing salvation to all humankind.

Wisdom Connection
This short passage from John contains a key theological concept. It comprises John's as well as a Christian understanding of God as revealed by Jesus. The God that Jesus revealed, the God that John came to know, and the God we believe in is a God motivated by love. The love of our God is so great that God gave his only Son as a gift to the world--to save the world, not condemn it. God's love is dynamic and ever present. All one has to do is believe in Jesus, the concrete example of God's selfless love. God sent Jesus into the world to save it. However, human actions play an important part in salvation. Belief in Jesus is manifested through the good deeds that we do in God's name. On the other hand, when we choose not to believe in what Jesus has revealed, then we bring condemnation upon ourselves.

Just as Moses invited God to dwell among the stiff-necked people of Israel, we have to invite and allow God to live among and within us. We are called to live a life that is an outgrowth of our experience of God's love, a self-sacrificing love revealed by Jesus. Jesus models for us the love of God and is the way to God the Father. Jesus's role is to point us to the Father. The Spirit's role is to transform us day by day, building us, the Church, into the mystical Body of 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. General Catechetical Directory 43.
2. General Catechetical Directory 47.
3. Council of Constantinople II (553): Denzinger-Schönmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, definitionum et declartionum de rebus fidei et morum (1965) 421.
4. Council of Toledo XI (675): Denzinger-Schönmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, definitionum et declartionum de rebus fidei et morum (1965) 530:26.
5. Lateran Council IV (1215): Denzinger-Schönmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, definitionum et declartionum de rebus fidei et morum (1965) 804.
6. Cf. Profession of faith of Pope Vigilius I (552): Denzinger-Schönmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, definitionum et declartionum de rebus fidei et morum (1965) 415.

June 21 is the memorial for Saint Aloysius Gonzaga.

Saint Aloysius Gonzaga is the patron saint of Catholic youth and teenagers. At a young age, he began to teach the Catholic faith to the poor. At the age of eighteen, he became a Jesuit novice. He later ministered to victims of the plague and contracted the disease himself. He died in 1591 at the age of twenty-three.

For more information on Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, go to http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-aloysius-gonzaga/.