Weekly Winner

Announcing:

Saint Mary's Press winner for the week of October 1, 2012

Congratulations to Simona Peterson

Simona 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

Focus on Faith

Spiritual Wellness

One of the challenges of ministry can be taking the time to nourish and replenish your own faith life. So much of ministry with young people is giving of yourself and striving to care for their faith life. It is important, however, to take the time to care for your own faith. For this week's Servant Leader, I would like to share with you an article from Pamela Johnson that looks at the insight we can gain from the Book of Genesis in terms of nourishing our personal faith life. Below is the introduction to the article. Following the introduction is a link to the full article. I pray you find the time for the continued nourishment of your faith, and as always, I pray that God will continue to bless you and your ministry.

Peace,

Steven McGlaun

Practicing Spiritual Wellness: Insights from Genesis

by Pamela Johnson

Everything depends on the person who stands in the front of the classroom. The teacher is not an automatic fountain from which intellectual beverages may be obtained. [He or she] is either a witness or a stranger. To guide a pupil into the promised land, [a teacher] must have been there. When asking : Do I stand for what I teach? Do I believe what I say? [he or she] must be able to answer in the affirmative.

What we need more than anything else is not textbooks but textpeople. It is the personality of the teacher which is the text that the pupils read; the text that they will never forget. (Abraham Joshua Heschel, I Asked for Wonder: A Spiritual Anthology, edited by Samuel H. Dresner [New York: Crossroad Publishing, 2002], pp. 62-63. Copyright ' 2002, Crossroad Publishing, New York)

Rabbi Heschel has it right, I think. Nourishing and caring for our own spirits is our first task as teachers, as witnesses, as textpeople. The lives and spirits of the young people in our classrooms are deeply affected by the health of our own spiritual practice. As a former high school teacher and a person who has continued to teach both adults and young people across the years, I've found three words that help me stay grounded in God, nourished in spirit, and responsive to life. These three words are finish, rest, and bless. They are simple to state but more difficult to live. I share them with you, not as an expert who has it all figured out, but as someone who is still very young on the path to becoming a fully alive human being, a deeply rooted Catholic Christian, and a reflective practitioner.

Finish, Rest, Bless

How do we become textpeople? How do we stay grounded in God, nourished, and responsive? How do we live our lives as reflective practitioners, as healers, as artists? How do we live creative, whole, and holy lives'

When I first started thinking about these questions, a Scripture story came to mind. It was the Creation story found in Gen. 1:31-2:3.

God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed-the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed. Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing, he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation. (NAB)

God finished, God rested, God blessed. Finish. Rest. Bless. This is God's pattern in the creative act, and the more I think about it and practice it, the more I find that this is a model for my own creative life. As a teacher, a businesswoman, a mother, and a grandmother, there is always one more thing to do. I find that I am especially vulnerable to forgetting to practice God's sacred pattern of finish, rest, bless daily.

http://www.smp.org/Connect/April-2003.PDF

Make it Happen

Horizons: A Senior High Parish Religion

Letting Go of the Chaos: Ideas for

Addressing Ministry-Related Stress

Dealing with times of spiritual dryness

From The Catholic Youth Bible' Leader Guide

Our Story

Patiently persevere and do not let yourself get upset. Trust in God, who does not abandon those who seek him with a simple and righteous heart. He will not neglect to give you what you need for your path until he delivers you into that clear, pure light of love. You are meant to receive this great gift, yet it is only through the dark night of the spirit that he will bring you it.

(Saint John of the Cross)

Reflection

Spiritual dryness, according to Saint John of the Cross, is necessary for spiritual and soul growth. In his classic work Dark Night of the Soul (Image, 1959), Saint John writes a poem that on the surface may seem like a love poem. However, his explanation of it delivers comfort and challenge to any believer who experiences the dryness or dark night common among us. By going through the dark night, we of course eventually reach the light. When those of us in ministry go through dryness and darkness, the temptation to leave ministry may take hold. When we are authentic and vulnerable, others see us as we really are and can more readily identify with what we are teaching or sharing. Think about the young person who feels confident in his or her beliefs and then experiences tragedy. Our hope is that he or she turns to, not away from, Christ and the Church community during the trying times. As we experience our own difficult and stressful times, we too must turn to Christ and to one another. If young people see us as fully human, we may not be so inclined to think we have to be fully divine; instead, we can just be fully ourselves.

Questions to Ponder

- What spiritual dryness have I experienced myself, and how have I handled such times in the past?

- How do I embrace spiritual struggles and stresses in myself and in those I minister with and to?

- Whom are the spiritual masters I turn to in times of dryness?

For Consideration

- Read Saint John of the Cross's poem and its explanation in Dark Night of the Soul.

- Be authentic and honest about your own questions and dryness.

- Be persistent in participating in the sacraments; in times of spiritual questioning and dryness, the ritual of the liturgy and the grace of the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation can be especially comforting.

Prayer

Provider God who gives all I need and cares for me more than I will ever know, walk even more closely with me through times of spiritual dryness. Rain down on me your life-giving drops of love, and let me be nourished like a desert after a storm. May times of dryness lead me even closer to you. Amen.

Break Open the Word

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

7-Oct-12

Mark 10:2-16

Opening Prayer

Jesus, we know you are with us as we gather, because you told us that where two or more gather in your name, you are there (Matthew 18:20). We call on your presence in a special way today as we share our reflections on this Sunday's Gospel reading. Guide our time of sharing so that we come to a renewed understanding of the sacredness of marriage. Amen.

Context Connection

The topic of Sunday's Gospel--divorce--touches each of our lives either directly or indirectly. Divorce was an issue in Jesus's day, and it is an issue in contemporary society.

In Jesus's day, the father of the bride, the groom, and the groom's father usually arranged the marriage, which was finalized by writing and signing a marriage contract. Once the marriage contract was established, the couple was betrothed and then had about a year to get to know each other before the actual marriage ceremony took place. Unlike our custom today, the betrothal was not a dating or engagement period. Once the contract was signed, the couple were considered married.

Divorce was a concession for those situations in which the arrangement did not work out. The certificate of divorce, given to the woman by the man, allowed the woman to remarry (see Deuteronomy 24:2).

What did Jesus have to say about the divorce concession? This Sunday's Gospel opens with the Pharisees testing Jesus with the question, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? (10:2). Does that question sound strange? The law the Pharisees referred to was the Mosaic Law, which was founded on the Ten Commandments. In good rabbinic style, that is, answering a question with a question, Jesus responds, What did Moses command you? (10:3). When the Pharisees say, Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her (10:4), Jesus has a few things to say in response.

First, though, it is important to know that in Jesus's day, serious abuses of the divorce concession were occurring. Divorce was being granted for all kinds of reasons, from the very trivial charge that a wife had cooked a dish badly to the more serious accusation of adultery. So in response to the Pharisees and in light of the ongoing abuses of the divorce concession, Jesus challenged them to re-examine the original intent of marriage. He said to them, From the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh' (10:6-8).

I encourage you to read the Book of Ruth and the Book of Tobit in the Old Testament for wonderful stories about marriage.

Tradition Connection

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that marriage for Catholics is a sacrament by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life (paragraph 1601). The Catholic Church teaches that the sacrament of Matrimony gives the couple the graces needed to live a life of fidelity to and in covenant with each other and God. For Catholics, marriage by its nature is lifelong and exclusively involves the husband and wife: from a valid marriage arises a bond between the spouses which by its very nature is perpetual and exclusive (Catechism, paragraph 1638). In Mark 10:9 Jesus speaks of the indissoluble nature of marriage, Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate. The Catechism reinforces Jesus's teaching:

In his preaching Jesus unequivocally taught the original meaning of the union of man and woman as the Creator willed it from the beginning: permission given by Moses to divorce one's wife was a concession to the hardness of hearts.1 The matrimonial union of man and woman is indissoluble: God himself has determined it: what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.2 (Paragraph 1614)

The indissolubility of marriage is because it is a covenant which is entered into freely based on the faithful love shared by the couple.

The covenant which spouses have freely entered into entails faithful love. It imposes on them the obligation to keep their marriage indissoluble (Catechism, paragraph 2397).

Wisdom Connection

Jesus protested against the attitude about divorce within his society. He raised his objection by focusing his listeners on the original purpose of marriage. He emphasized the sanctity of marriage and the commitment of a man and a woman to grow together through a perpetual and exclusive relationship.

The challenge for each couple is to go beyond the concessions in the law and to nurture a covenantal relationship with each other. Because marriage is a sacrament, which makes it a commitment between a man and a woman before God, Jesus asks us to consider marriage a contract for life.

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, second edition. Copyright ' 1994 by the United States Catholic Conference, Inc.--Libreria Editrice Vaticana. English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica copyright ' 1997 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. Matthew 19:8.

2. Matthew 19:6.

Copyright ' 2009 by Saint Mary's Press, 702 Terrace Heights, Winona, MN 55987-1318, www.smp.org. All rights reserved. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Thank you.

Break Open the Word

Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

14-Oct-12

Mark 10:17-30

Opening Prayer

Jesus, in the Gospel story for this Sunday, you ask the rich man to sell all his possessions, to give his money to the poor, and to put God at the center of his life. Assist us in our sharing of your word to better know how we too can become more deliberate about setting priorities that place you at the top and care for poor people next. We are grateful for all the blessings you have given us. We ask for your continued guidance on how we may continue to share our gifts with others. Amen.

Context Connection

Several important teachings are included in this week's Gospel. First, we read about the rich man who knelt before Jesus and addressed him as Good Teacher (10:17). Jesus responded, Why do you call me good? (10:18). Had Jesus perhaps thought that the rich man had given him a shallow or insincere compliment, or had Jesus simply and humbly not allowed himself to be compared to the goodness of God? In either case, Jesus went on to remind the man, No one is good but God alone (10:18).

Second, when the rich man asked, What must I do to inherit eternal life? (10:17), Jesus in turn asked the man whether he knew and kept the Commandments. The rich man answered, I have kept all these since my youth (10:20). At this point in their conversation, the rich man perhaps felt confident he had met all the requirements for eternal life. Jesus's look (see 10:21) seemed to affirm the man in his fidelity to the Commandments, but then Jesus added, You lack one thing (10:21).

The rich man must have been thinking, What more could possibly be expected than to faithfully live the Commandments? Then Jesus said, go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor . . . ; then come, follow me (10:21).

This was not the answer the rich man had anticipated. In Jesus's day wealth was considered a blessing from God--a result of one's faithful life. So the man, in shock, went away grieving, for he had many possessions (10:22). Why exactly was he grieving? Could it be that Jesus helped the man recognize his greed in holding onto his possessions?

Third, after the rich man departed, Jesus posed a similar question to the disciples, How hard will it be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God? (10:23). The disciples did not know how to answer the question. They were perplexed. Jesus then added, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God (10:25). To gain insight into this statement, we must first understand that it is a hyperbole--an obvious exaggeration--meant to draw attention to a serious matter. Some people have tried to explain away the statement by theorizing that a Camel's Gate or an Eye of the Needle Gate existed in Jerusalem, but there is little or no historical evidence to support the theory. Nevertheless, Jesus's statement confused the disciples, who then asked him, Then who can be saved' (10:26).

Who can be saved? was a basic theological question in Jesus's day, and it continues to be an important question today. Jesus's answer to the disciples' questions was, For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible (10:27). The disciples had to learn to recognize God as the one who initiates the process of salvation and who invites people to enter the Kingdom.

In the final part of this week's Gospel, we find Jesus's assurance that those who do not allow their wealth to possess them and who keep their priorities in line--that is, for [Jesus's] sake and for the sake of the good news (10:29)--will achieve eternal life.

Tradition Connection

Mark's Gospel this week includes several important premises for Christian living. Followers of Christ are called to a poverty of heart, a life of virtue, and a life free from greed. In the Catholic Tradition, we list four cardinal (from the Latin cardo, meaning pivotal) virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1805). Upon these all other virtues depend.

For example, Jesus called the rich man to a deeper awareness of the virtue of justice. The Catechism defines justice as the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. . . . Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good (paragraph 1807). The virtue of justice should naturally lead us to poverty of heart because Jesus directs his followers to love him over everything and to renounce everything for the sake of the Gospel. In other words, the Christian must have a heart detached from worldly things, especially wealth, and attached to Jesus instead.

Therefore, we can be in pursuit of perfect charity (Catechism, paragraph 2545), which challenges us to correctly use worldly things. When a person aspires to perfect charity, then love for the poor is the result. God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them (Catechism, paragraph 2443). In Matthew 25:31-36, we discover that Jesus recognizes a disciple by how she or he acts toward the poor and needy. Love for the poor is incompatible with immoderate love of riches and their selfish use (Catechism, paragraph 2445).

This brings us to the core message of the Gospel for this Sunday--the rich man could not use his wealth to benefit poor people as Jesus requested because he was controlled by his wealth. The Catholic Tradition lists seven capital, or deadly, sins, and we call them capital, or deadly, because they lead one to additional sins and vices. The seven capital sins are pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth (Catechism, paragraph 1866). Avarice, meaning an insatiable yearning for greater wealth, power, or gain, is a synonym for the more common term greed. The Gospel makes it clear that disciples of Jesus must not operate with avarice but with God at the center of their lives. Disciples of Jesus allow God to influence and guide their lives. With God's help, Christians can be wealthy while understanding that their wealth and other worldly possessions must be used to promote a just life for all people.

Wisdom Connection

Who can be saved? For Jesus the answer is everyone--rich people and poor people alike--as long as God is at the center of their lives. Rich people with many earthly possessions might find it hard to place God at the center of their lives because to whom much is given, much is expected. The challenge for wealthy people is to overcome attachment to worldly possessions.

The rich man was seeking what we all seek--everlasting life with our God. Just as the rich man was told by Jesus to put his trust in God, so too are we. Trust in God is the way to everlasting life. Christians are called to a radical discipleship--this was true in the first century and it is true today--because possessions and money pull individuals away from depending on God as the true source of their lives.

The following comes from this Sunday's first reading and is an excellent example of putting God at the center of life:

I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.

I preferred her to scepters and thrones,

and I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her. . . .

I loved her more than health and beauty,

and I chose to have her rather than light,

because her radiance never ceases.

All good things come to me along with her,

and in her hands uncounted wealth.

(Wisdom of Solomon 7:7-11)

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, second edition. Copyright ' 1994 by the United States Catholic Conference, Inc.--Libreria Editrice Vaticana. English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica copyright ' 1997 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.

Copyright ' 2009 by Saint Mary's Press, 702 Terrace Heights, Winona, MN 55987-1318, www.smp.org. All rights reserved. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Thank you.

Saint Spotlight

Pope Blessed John XXIII

October 11 is the memorial for Pope Blessed John XXIII.

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born in 1881 in Sotto il Monte, Italy. Before being elected the 261st Pope, he served as a chaplain in World War I, a priest, an archbishop, Vatican diplomatic representative, and papal nuncio. On October 28, 1958, he was elected Pope and chose the name John XXIII. During his papacy he worked for the advancement of ecumenical and interreligious cooperation and reforms to benefit the poor, workers, and orphans. In January 1959, he announced his plans to call an ecumenical council to address, among other things, the renewal of the Church in the modern world. The Second Vatican Council was convened on October 11, 1962. Pope Blessed John XXIII died on June 3, 1963.

For more information about Pope Blessed John XXIII, go to http://saints.sqpn.com/11-october/.