Announcing:
Saint Mary's Press winner for the week of August 15, 2011!

Congratulations to Diane Bates!

Diane 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

The Servant Leader: Year Two

One year ago Saint Mary’s Press began The Servant Leader newsletter with the purpose of supporting you in your ministry on a weekly basis with reflections on Catholic ministry with young people, inspiration, and resources. In our first issue last year, I shared the following quote:

Since you are ambassadors and ministers of Jesus Christ in the work that you do, you must act as representing Jesus Christ himself. He wants your disciples to see him in you and receive your instruction as if he were giving them to you. (Meditation 195.2)

I feel it is again appropriate to share these words with you. In this statement, Saint John Baptist de La Salle beautifully expresses the role we share in our ministries with young people. We are, each one of us, ambassadors of Christ.

Two weeks ago Saint Mary’s Press was lucky enough to host 41 ambassadors of Christ at our 3rd Annual Educator’s Summit. Catholic high school teachers from around the country came together in Winona, Minnesota, for prayer, professional development, and fellowship. We began offering the Educator’s Summit three years ago as a way to support teachers in their ministry and to affirm them as ambassadors of Christ. What we discovered was that although we were able to achieve these goals, we were also encouraged and energized in our mission. Each Saint Mary’s Press employee contributed to this year’s Summit in some meaningful way, and each of us came away with a greater commitment to our mission. I cannot share with you enough how blessed we at Saint Mary’s Press feel to be in ministry with you. Although the Summit participants have returned to their homes, The Servant Leader allows us the opportunity to be in a weekly conversation with not only the Summit participants but all of our partners in ministry.

Over the course of this year, we will continue to support you in your role as an ambassador of Christ. Each week you will find a reflection relevant to your ministry, an activity or prayer you can utilize with your youth or peers, a reflection on the upcoming Sunday Gospel reading, and information about a saint whose memorial falls during the week of The Servant Leader issue. If there are topics you would like to see addressed in this newsletter, please let us know. Also if there is a unique resource or event you feel could benefit other teachers, youth ministers, DREs, or catechists, please pass those along as well. I am looking forward to journeying with you in the coming year through this newsletter and, as always, I pray that God will continue to bless you and your ministry.

Peace,
Steven McGlaun

Hope
From Faith Sharing for Teens: Experiences that Connect Faith and Life

Scripture: Romans 8:18–25

Overview
This faith-sharing experience uses a passage from Romans to address the theme of hope—what it is and what it is not. During the process, the young people are invited to reflect on the hope they yearn for now and in the week to come.

Estimated Time: 15–20 minutes
Preparation Steps
• Gather the following items:
- paper and a pen or pencil for each participant
- copies of The Catholic Youth Bible or another Bible, one for each participant (optional)
• Mark the Scripture reading (Romans 8:18–25) in a Bible.
• Select one or more readers to proclaim the three readings.

Procedure
Step 1: Overview of Process and Creation of Faith-Sharing Groups
Introduce the faith sharing with Scripture process using these or similar words:
 
- This faith-sharing experience is adapted from an ancient Catholic prayer style called lectio divina, or “divine reading.” This prayerful reading invites us to open ourselves up to Scripture so that God may speak to us as well as through us to others around us.

- The process follows a simple formula. We will listen to the proclamation of a short Scripture passage three times. I will suggest a focus for your reflection during each reading. After each you will be invited to share some thoughts that came to mind during the reading. When it is your turn, please say “pass” if you do not wish to share.

If the group size is larger than ten, divide into small faith-sharing groups of five to seven. Select one person in each faith-sharing group to serve as a prayer leader.
Distribute paper and pens or pencils to each participant. If you are providing participants with bibles, distribute those also.

Step 2: Introduction and Reading One
Introduce this faith-sharing experience by inviting the participants to quiet themselves and focus on their breathing. Ask them to spend a full 30 seconds simply listening to their breathing, and then offer the following introductory prayer:

- Word of God, gift us with ears to hear your words and hearts that will seek your wisdom.

Proceed with the comments below:
- Listen closely to this reading from Paul’s Letter to the Romans. He writes about the power and promise of hope. As you listen, think about what has given you hope or taken it away this past week, and open yourself to the one word that God is trying to speak to you today. Please select only one word. When the reading is finished, each of you will be invited to share your word with your small group.

Invite the designated reader to proclaim Romans 8:18–25 slowly and prayerfully to the group.

Step 3: Sharing One Word
Invite the participants to share the one word they selected during the reading with the members of their small group. Ask the prayer leader in each group to begin. Remind everyone to share just the one word.

Step 4: Reading Two
Prepare everyone for the second reading using these or similar words:
- During the second proclamation of the passage, listen for the phrase or sentence that God is trying to speak to you today. It does not have to contain the word that you just shared. When the reading is finished, each of you will have an opportunity to share that phrase with your small group.

Invite the designated reader to proclaim Romans 8:18–25 slowly and prayerfully to the group.

Step 5: Sharing the Phrase
Invite each small-group prayer leader to share her or his phrase and then give everyone else in the small group an opportunity to share their phrases. Remind everyone to share just the phrase, without further explanation.

Step 6: Reading Three
Prepare everyone for the third reading using these or similar words:
- Listen to the reading one last time. Open yourself up to how God is asking you to apply this reading to your life today. When the reading is finished, you will have some time to reflect on what God is saying to you and to share your reflection with your group if you wish.

Invite the designated reader to proclaim Romans 8:18–25 slowly and prayerfully to the group.

Step 7: Sharing the Reflection
Explain to the participants that they will now have a short period of silence to reflect on what God is saying to them. Invite them to use the paper to write thoughts or draw images that come to mind during the reflection period. After a minute or two of quiet reflection, invite the participants to begin sharing their reflections in their small groups using the mutual invitation process.

Note: If the participants are unfamiliar with this process, take a minute to summarize the description on page 10 (see “Using the Mutual Invitation Process to Share Faith” in the introduction). Be sure to remind them of the option to pass.

Allow several minutes for this sharing.

Step 8: Conclusion and Closing Prayer
Conclude with these or similar words:
- Through our sharing, God has been speaking to and through us about the theme of hope. As you reflect on what has been shared, focus on the hope in your life right now or your desire for greater hope, especially this coming week, and consider offering this to God in prayer now.

Lead a brief final prayer by inviting the participants to share one hope they have for the coming week. Ask the group to respond to each hope with “Lord of hope, hear our prayer.” Begin the prayer with these or similar words:

- Lord of all hopefulness, you have been present to us in our sharing. Now we ask you to be present to us as we bring to you our hopefilled petitions.

Close by inviting the participants to pray the Lord’s Prayer together.

 

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 21, 2011
Matthew 16:13-20

Opening Prayer
Jesus, we believe that you are the Messiah, the anointed one, sent by God the Father to restore humankind's relationship with God. May our actions and deeds give witness to this belief. Amen.

Context Connection
The setting for this Sunday's Gospel is in "the district of Caesarea Philippi" (16:13). The city of Caesarea Philippi was located in the most northern region of Israel on the southern slopes of Mount Hermon, an area that is a major source of water for the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. It is in this area that the tribe of Dan settled after their return from slavery in Egypt. It was also the ancient site of the city of Panias, which was built to honor the god Pan. King Herod's son Philip rebuilt the city and dedicated it to the Roman Emperor and himself, thus the name Caesarea Philippi. (See The Catholic Youth Bible, map 6, section C1.)

It is in his city that Jesus asks his disciples a very important question about his identity: "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" (16:13). The disciples initially respond with speculations that they have heard others voice: Jesus is John the Baptist come back to life (Matthew 14:1); Jesus is Elijah who had been taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot and has now returned to accompany the coming of God's Kingdom (Malachi 4:5-6); Jesus is one of the prophets, in particular the prophet Jeremiah (Matthew 2:17; 16:14; 27:9). This last claim is unique to Matthew's Gospel, which often points out the similarities between Jesus and the prophet Jeremiah.

Jesus then questions his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" (16:15). Jesus is not concerned with what others have to say about his identity, but what his disciples believe and say about his identity is very important. You may recall from chapter 14 in Matthew that in the story of Jesus walking on water the disciples proclaimed that Jesus was the Son of God (33). Jesus wants his disciples to understand what the title "Son of God" means. Peter gives a clear and succinct response to Jesus's question: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (16:16). Jesus blesses Peter for his response because Peter's understanding is due directly to a revelation from God the Father and not to human speculation.

Because Peter professes belief in Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, Jesus places his trust in Peter and builds the Christian Church on the rock-hard foundation of Peter's faith. The Church is rock solid when it professes that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one of God who brings about the salvation of all. Jesus promises that as long as faith is strong not even "the gates of Hades" will prevail against it (16:18). Hades is a Greek term to describe the underworld, or the world of death. In Greek mythology the three sons of the Titans Cronus and Rhea--Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades--divided the world among themselves. Zeus received the sky. Poseidon was given the seas. Hades's portion was the underworld. In Hebrew Hades is translated as "Sheol," which is the place of the dead.

Jesus further emphasizes the power that he is bestowing on Peter and the church: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (16:19). The word key has multiple meanings: a key can be used to unlock a door; a key can be used to find the correct answer to an exam; or a key can be the correct way of making the Kingdom of heaven on earth a reality. The keys to making God's Kingdom a reality on earth are for Jesus's followers to love God completely and to love their neighbor as themselves. If Jesus's disciples work to establish this Kingdom on earth, then, "whatever [the disciples] bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever [the disciples] loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (16:19). The passage closes with Jesus’s ordering the disciples not to tell others of his true identity as the Messiah, not yet: "Then [Jesus] sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah" (16:20).

Tradition Connection
"You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (16:16). Peter's proclamation points to Jesus as the one that all of Israel has been waiting for, the one promised by the living God who will restore humanity's relationship with God. We use the title Christ to designate that Jesus is the Messiah. The word Christ comes from the Greek word Christos--the anointed one--which is the Greek translation of Messiah. We believe Jesus the Christ is the anointed one sent by God to accomplish God's will on earth--bringing all people to salvation. Jesus did this in a threefold way as priest, prophet, and king:

The word "Christ" comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah, which means "anointed." It became the name proper to Jesus only because he accomplished perfectly the divine mission that "Christ" signifies. In effect, in Israel those consecrated to God for a mission that he gave were anointed in his name. This was the case for kings, for priests and, in rare instances, for prophets.1 This had to be the case all the more so for the Messiah whom God would send to inaugurate his kingdom definitively.2 It was necessary that the Messiah be anointed by the Spirit of the Lord at once as king and priest, and also as prophet.3 Jesus fulfilled the messianic hope of Israel in his threefold office of priest, prophet, and king. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 436)

At Baptism an individual is anointed with the holy oil of chrism by the celebrant to unite the person to Christ, who is priest, prophet, and king. Thus those baptized share in these three roles:

The baptized have become "living stones" to be "built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood."4 By Baptism they share in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission. They are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that [they] may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called [them] out of darkness into his marvelous light."5 Baptism gives a share in the common priesthood of all believers. (Catechism, paragraph 1268)

The baptized become "living stones." Jesus continues to build his Church today upon the living stones of all the baptized.

Wisdom Connection
Jesus's question to the disciples is a question that all Christians need to answer many times in their faith journey. Just as Peter's relationship grew during the three years he traveled with Jesus, our relationship with Jesus grows continuously. Each opportunity that deepens our relationship with Jesus brings new insights into Jesus's true identity. In chapter 14 of Matthew's Gospel, Peter and the other disciples proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God after they encounter him walking on water. In chapter 16 of Matthew, Peter's understanding of Jesus's identity is deeper and more profound. Peter's response comes from the depth of his being, where he knows in his heart of hearts the truth--that Jesus is the Messiah. This revelation could only have come from God. At that moment of truth there is a degree of risk that Peter must take. Peter is rewarded for his willingness to be vulnerable. Jesus blesses him and makes Peter a model for all Christians of what it means to trust in God completely. Jesus was so convinced of Peter's authentic faith that he said, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church" (16:18). For one critical moment, Peter opened himself to the truth and was forever changed.

Jesus asks us the same question: "Who do you say that I am?" (16:15). How will you respond? Do you recognize Jesus as the Son of the living God, or do you share the speculations of others? Are you willing to take the risk of professing your belief in Jesus? Do you dare to speak the truth? In truth we are changed. Jesus seeks those who are willing to take risks and who honestly profess their belief in him. They are the rock on which Jesus continues to build his church.

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. Exodus 29:7; Leviticus 8:12; 1 Samuel 9:16; 10:1; 16:1,12-13; 1 Kings 1:39; 19:16.
2. Cf. Psalms 2:2; Acts of the Apostles 4:26-27.
3. Cf. Isaiah 11:2; 61:1; Zechariah 4:14; 6:13; Luke 4:16-21.
4. 1 Peter 2:5.
5. 1 Peter 2:9.

 

Saint Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga

August 18 is the memorial for Saint Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga.

Saint Alberto was dedicated to the education and care of the youth of Chile. He also worked to confront the social problems of his country. In his commitment to the young and marginalized, Saint Alberto is a wonderful model of servant leadership.

For more information on Saint Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, go to: http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-alberto-hurtado-cruchaga/.