Weekly Winner

Announcing:

Saint Mary's Press winner for the week of September 4, 2012

Congratulations to Deborah Scalf

Deborah will receive a copy of The Catholic Youth Bible, a $26.95 value.

The Catholic Youth Bible

General Editor: Virginia Halbur, MA

The Catholic Youth Bible will be a true companion, helping you find the answers you seek and helping you make connections to Catholic beliefs and traditions.

Over 700 lively articles help you:

- Pray It! Use the Bible for personal prayer.

- Study It! Understand and make sense of what the Bible says.

- Live It! Apply the Bible to real-life situations you're facing now.

This New Edition Features:

-New 40 expanded Catholic Connection articles that provide a more complete presentation of those Catholic teachings that are scripturally based

- New 28 articles that address the seven principles of Catholic social teaching

- New 40 pages of 4-color inserts that help you pray, study, and live the Bible and Catholic teachings

- New Illustrations throughout to provide a visual context for the biblical stories

- New Over 275 articles updated to reflect contemporary issues and biblical scholarship

Plus:

- Introductions to the major sections of the Bible and all the books of the Bible

- Biblical connections to many different cultures, illustrating the universality of the Catholic Church

- Insights into how the Church has interpreted key Scripture passages throughout history

- A glossary of Scripture-related terms

- Five special indexes; Sunday readings for cycles A, B, and C; 10 color maps; a four-page color timeline; and three pages of full-color biblical art

The Catholic Youth Bible

ISBN: 978-1-59982-141-2, paper, 1802 pages

Focus on Faith

Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship

On November 6th we will be going to the polls to elect government officials and vote on a wide range of issues. As Catholics living in a democratic society, we all have a responsibility to inform our conscience and our vote. During an election year, we are inundated with messages from candidates and interest groups urging us to vote for or against someone or some issue. At times it can become overwhelming and disheartening. We, however, are blessed with gifts to help us discern. Our conscience, our experiences, and the teaching of the Church can help us make decisions that will respect the dignity of human life and support the development of the common good.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops provides a resource, 'Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States,' to assist us in having our faith inform our political activity. In addition to the document, they have provided resources that can be used in parishes and schools. Additionally, Saint Mary's Press has a book, Faithful Citizen, Faithful Catholic: Informing Your Conscience and Your Vote, that was developed to be used with high school students.

As we engage in the political process, we are called to have our Catholic faith inform our vote and our actions. As ministers working with young people, we can assist them in understanding the teachings of the Church and how they relate to the candidates and issues in an election year. Many of the issues we face as a country are complex and do not have simple solutions. It is vital that we act with an informed conscience and vote so that we can promote candidates and policies that uphold a respect for the dignity of human life and support the development of the common good. I encourage you to guide your youth in understanding the issues on which we are voting on November 6. As always, I pray that God will continue to bless you and your ministry.

Peace,

Steven McGlau

Make it Happen

Horizons: A Senior High Parish Religion

Click Here for More Information

Making Decisions

From Faithful Citizen, Faithful Catholic: Informing Your Conscience and Your Vote

Making Decisions

Every four years since 1976, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a statement on the responsibilities of Catholics to society. The 2008 edition of this statement, entitled Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States, summarizes, in a clear fashion, the consistent and challenging message found in Church teaching. The United States bishops remind all members of the Church of their responsibility to promote the dignity and sacredness of the human person and the common good. It is important to take the time to familiarize yourself with this document as part of the process of forming your conscience.

Social Teachings of the Catholic Church

The Church's social teachings arise out of the Scriptures and out of the Tradition of the Catholic Church. The vast, diverse, and daily lived experience of the Church helps focus and make concrete the social teachings of the Catholic faith. The major themes of the Church's social teaching can be summed up as follows:

Promoting the life and dignity of the human person. All human beings are sacred, from the time of conception until natural death, because they are created by God.

Supporting the common good at all levels: family, community, world. Human beings are social. They are called to live in community and to use their gifts for their own enrichment and for the common good.

Advocating for the rights and responsibilities of people. Human beings have rights in accordance with their dignity as children of God. Each right carries a corresponding responsibility.

Promoting the dignity of work and the rights of workers. Work is not simply a commodity to be exchanged for a wage. Workers share in God's creative action and have a right to a living wage.

Choosing to provide for the poor and vulnerable. As long as serious inequalities exist in allocation of power and resources, Christians are called to give particular care to those who have less.

Developing solidarity with people throughout the world. God's love is not limited by barriers of race, nation, or geographical distance. People are all responsible for one another.

Caring for God's creation. The universe is created by God and loaned to people for their prudent use. They are to be good stewards of creation, mindful of generations to follow.

(Constance Four, Journey to Justice, pp. 6-7)

In a clear, consistent, and challenging manner, the teaching authority of the Church presents the message to its people and politicians that we are to work to protect the dignity of life, to promote peace in the world, and to be advocates for justice in all that we do. As Catholics, we have a responsibility to work to address all these social justice themes in how we live our lives, how we interact with others, and how we express ourselves in the political process. Among these issues though, the right to life is preeminent because without life there can be no human development.

Whom to Vote For? What Ballot Issues to Vote For?

Guided by the teachings of the Church and our conscience, we are presented with these questions: Whom do I vote for, and what ballot issues do I choose to support or oppose? Because it is rare to find a candidate whose positions are 100 percent in agreement with the Church's moral vision, or ballot issues that adequately cover a particular Church teaching, voting becomes complex. Some issues are easier to discern, like voting to repair roads or to fund schools. Other issues involve more serious moral matters, such as whether to approve assisted suicide.

Making Moral Decisions

The process of making a moral decision begins with an understanding of who we are and what we are called to do. We are each one of God's beloved daughters or sons. We are disciples of the Risen Christ. As such, we have been commissioned to carry on the work of Christ today. Just as Christ brought life to the little girl and the people of his day, so we are to bring life to the people and communities of our day. Knowing who we are and that we are called to share in Christ's own mission, we can make decisions about how we should act. Our decisions and actions are either moral or immoral.

The word morality comes from the Latin word moralis meaning custom. Morality has to do, then, with the way one customarily acts. How should a Christian act? One who follows Christ should act as Christ acted. How did Christ act? Christ acted as God the Father acts: bringing about goodness, order, and life.

Jesus Christ has not left us orphans but has given us his Spirit and the Christian community (the Church) to guide us in our actions; we are not called to act alone but in union with Christ and our fellow disciples. Thus we must act with an informed conscience. The word conscience refers to the ability to make a judgment that something is or is not in keeping with who we are and our mission as Christ's disciples. To be informed is not to act simply on the basis of our own opinions; rather, we are informed by our relationship with Christ and his disciples, the Church. To act with an informed conscience is a shorthand way of saying to act in union with Christ through prayer and the presence of the Spirit. We need to be in union with the Church by knowing that Church teaching promotes certain values and principles and why it promotes them.

A Basic Approach

Christians often find themselves facing a situation in which there is a conflict of values, most often a choice between one set of goods and another set of goods. How is one to make a decision when faced with such a conflict? It is helpful to first identify a basic approach and then the issue of the upcoming elections:

- Know who you are and that you have a mission.

- Hold clearly in your mind and heart the ideal that Christ and the Church are calling us to bring life to people and communities by promoting the dignity of each person's life and the common good of each community.

- Know the principles and values applicable to the current situation. These come from the Bible and the experience of the Christian community. In the early Church, the Apostles officially articulated these. Today the successors to the Apostles, the bishops, articulate them.

- Consult with experts to clearly understand the situation and the probable consequences of a specific course of action.

- Pray for guidance from the Lord and the Spirit.

- Given all the circumstances, make the best decision possible so that as many values as possible might be achieved.

- Participate in the political process so that future progress might be made.

- Vote responsibly. At appropriate times, sending letters, e-mails, or faxes to elected officials or candidates can be effective. You might decide to become involved with a particular party or candidate in preparation for future elections.

Break Open the Word

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

9-Sep-12

Mark 7:31-37

Opening Prayer

Jesus, we know justice and mercy meet in you. You are quick to extend your hand to heal and reshape our brokenness. We draw life from your loving kindness. You are even quicker to extend to us your mercy so we can come to know we are forgiven and in turn forgive others. Continue to heal us physically and spiritually, and enable us to live more fully the Good News of your Gospel in our daily life. Amen.

Context Connection

The first thing that strikes the reader in this passage from Mark is that Jesus travels north to go south. Mark says that Jesus left Tyre to travel to the district of the Decapolis by going through Sidon. Look at map 6, The Ministry of Jesus, in the back of The Catholic Youth Bible, first edition. Note that Tyre is located in section 1B. Sidon is at the top of the map in the center of the page in section B. Today the area of Tyre and Sidon is in the country of Lebanon. The district of the Decapolis is in section 3C of the map. Decapolis is a Greek word for the name of the confederation of ten (deca) cities (polis) that dominated this area east and south of the Sea of Galilee. Because this whole area was not part of Israel in Jesus's time, Mark shows that Jesus took his ministry of preaching and healing to Gentiles (non-Jews) as well as Jews.

What also strikes the reader is the similarity of Mark's description of Jesus's actions to the words in Isaiah 35:5-6 that describe the coming of God. The passage from Isaiah reads, Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Mark is saying that Jesus is divine; he is the Son of God.

This particular healing of the deaf person was unusual because Jesus took the man to a private area away from the crowd to perform the healing. A similar private healing happens in Mark 8:22-26. Why does Jesus perform these healings privately and not publicly? Perhaps Mark wrote about these occasions to bolster his understanding of the messianic secret, the revelation that Jesus is truly God, and that not until the Crucifixion would this secret be fully revealed.

The healing of the deaf person was accompanied by six actions of Jesus: taking the person aside, putting his fingers in the ears, spitting, touching the tongue with spittle as to anoint, raising his eyes to heaven while groaning deeply, and then commanding the healing. In the sequence of this healing, two parts need further explanation. First, Jesus touched the deaf person's tongue with his spittle to heal the speech impediment. That may seem shocking to us. But in both the Greco-Roman and Jewish worlds, spittle, or saliva, was considered therapeutic. Second, Jesus sighed after looking toward heaven. We should understand this action as a sign of prayer.

Jesus then commanded, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened' (Mark 7:34). Ephphatha was Jesus's word of power that freed the deaf person from previous maladies. After the healing, in true Markan style and in accord with the messianic secret, Jesus asked the crowd to tell no one about the incident until God the Father fully revealed his identity. As in earlier accounts in the Gospel of Mark, the crowd was so overwhelmed with Jesus's power to heal that they zealously proclaimed his healing actions anyway.

Tradition Connection

Jesus's concern and compassion for the deaf person was a response to his genuine love for the poor and suffering. As Church, we are asked to show the same love for the poor, The Church's love for the poor . . . is a part of her constant tradition1 (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2444). How do we live out this Tradition?

The Catechism continues, Hence, those who are oppressed by poverty are the object of a preferential love on the part of the Church which, since her origin and in spite of the failings of many of her members, has not ceased to work for their relief, defense, and liberation through numerous works of charity which remain indispensable always and everywhere2 (Catechism, paragraph 2448).

In the Catholic Church, we call such practices of charity the corporal works of mercy. The list of corporal works of mercy includes but is not limited to feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead3 (Catechism, paragraph 2447). These actions are works of charity, or love. They are ways of loving and caring for other human beings who need our assistance. We give this kindness and care to others because we recognize the innate dignity of every person as a child of God. All people deserve to be treated in a loving and caring manner because of their infinite value, which they have because God has loved them into being.

When I reflect on the corporal works of mercy, one person comes especially to mind. Saint Vincent de Paul made these actions the center of his life. He was born into a peasant farming family in southeastern France in 1581. As an adult he founded an association called the Confraternity of Charity, which attended to the long-term needs of the sick and impoverished. These confraternities exist today and are collectively known as the Vincent de Paul Society.

Through these confraternities, Vincent de Paul established a welfare system to care for the poor, the displaced, and anyone in need. He had an extraordinary ability to connect with all types of people and to urge them to serve the poor in their area. During his life he saw to it that thousands of poor people were fed and clothed, prisoners were visited, the sick were nursed, and orphans were cared for and given a place to live. Vincent de Paul was a person who lived the corporal works of mercy because he saw the works as a constitutive part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Catholic social teaching continues to call us to the awareness that caring for the poor is part of the Gospel message.

Wisdom Connection

Mark wanted his readers to see that Jesus was the One, the Messiah referred to in Isaiah 35:5-6. As the One sent by God, Jesus had power to heal, so that the blind could see, the lame could walk, the deaf could hear, and the dead could be raised to new life. Through the healing miracles in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus showed that he had power over the human condition and that he was willing to intercede and bring healing to places where there was brokenness.

The fact that the healing in this week's Gospel occurred in the district of the Decapolis reveals Mark's desire for his readers to understand that Jesus, the Messiah, had come not only to the Chosen People of Israel but also to the Gentiles who believed in Jesus. The Gentiles of the area demonstrated their belief by bringing the deaf person to Jesus to be healed. Because they had faith, Jesus healed the deaf man.

Finally, Mark gives us an image of a group of people who are astounded beyond measure (Mark 7:37). They can hardly believe what they have seen. Because they had previously encountered the deaf person who is now restored, they can proclaim Jesus's great works of healing with incredible zeal.

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. Centesimus annus 57; cf. Luke 6:20-22; Matthew 8:20; Mark 12:41-44.

2. Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, instruction, Libertatis conscientia, 68.

3. Cf. Matthew 25:31-46.

Break Open the Word

The Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

16-Sep-12

Mark 8:27-35

Opening Prayer

Jesus, while we share your word today, we ask you to send your Holy Spirit among us in a special way. Help us more clearly understand your challenge to be servants of all. You tell us that to serve others is the way to welcome you, Jesus, and the one who sent you, the Father. Come, be with us today and help us gain insight into your wisdom. Amen.

Context Connection

This Sunday's Gospel opens with a conversation between Jesus and his most trusted disciples. Jesus asks them, Who do people say that I am? (8:27). Their response at first is to say what others have been saying about Jesus--that he might be John the Baptist returned from death because in the Gospel of Mark John is killed in chapter 6, or Jesus might be the prophet Elijah who was taken into heaven in a fiery chariot who has returned to usher in the new era of the Messiah. Then Jesus makes his question more direct, Who do you say that I am? (8:29). Peter, as the spokesperson for the group, responds, You are the Messiah (8:29). Jesus sternly forbids the disciples to tell anyone of his true identity as the Messiah.

Jesus then explains to the disciples that even though he is the Messiah he will have to suffer greatly and be killed but will rise from the dead after three days. What Jesus told them about what was going to happen was inconsistent with their understanding of what the Messiah would be. For Jews at this time the Messiah was envisioned to be a worldly leader that would free them from any oppressive foreign government and restore the kingship of Israel. How could it be possible that Jesus--the Messiah--would have to die. Peter rebukes Jesus for challenging his understanding of what the Messiah was to be. In turn Jesus rebukes Peter by calling him Satan, which means obstacle or adversary. Peter challenges Jesus to embrace the concept of the Messiah as the world leader, which would put the key disciples in powerful positions. Jesus is clear in letting Peter know that his understanding is incorrect and that indeed the Messiah would experience death but also resurrection.

The reading ends with the core message of Mark's Gospel, If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me (8:34). Disciples of Jesus also have to endure pain and suffering in their lives. They are not exempted from the process. Salvation comes by embracing what the Gospel demands of a disciple even if it means the individual will have to die for the sake of Gospel values.

Tradition Connection

Catholics take the words of Mark's Gospel to heart in their understanding of Jesus as the Messiah, not as a world leader but as a suffering servant. Peter is the herald in Mark's Gospel, proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, the one sent by God. But we learn in the Gospel for this Sunday that Peter does not understand that Jesus as the Messiah is not going to meet his Jewish expectations of a worldly messiah. The obstacle for Peter to overcome is to see Jesus as the suffering servant, as Jesus describes him. Jesus accepted Peter's profession of faith, which acknowledged him to be the Messiah, by announcing the imminent Passion of the Son of Man.1 He unveiled the authentic content of his messianic kingship both in the transcendent identity of the Son of Man who came down from heaven, and in his redemptive mission as the suffering Servant: The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.2 Hence the true meaning of his kingship is revealed only when he is raised high on the cross.3 Only after his Resurrection will Peter be able to proclaim Jesus' messianic kingship to the People of God: Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.4 (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 440)

For Catholic Christians, the suffering, death, and Resurrection of Jesus is at the core of the belief that Jesus was the Son of God sent to redeem the world. This redemption was only possible through the cross. The Paschal mystery of Christ's cross and Resurrection stands at the center of the Good News that the apostles, and the Church following them, are to proclaim to the world. God's saving plan was accomplished once for all5 by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ. (Catechism, paragraph 571) Through faith we believe that it was necessary for Jesus to suffer on the cross so that he could bring about his glory of Resurrection, the final triumph over death of all kinds--body, soul, and spirit. The historical reality is given witness to in the Passion narratives of all four Gospels that we hear proclaimed during Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday. The Church remains faithful to the interpretation of all the Scriptures that Jesus gave both before and after his Passover: Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?6 Jesus' sufferings took their historical, concrete form from the fact that he was rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, who handed him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified.7 (Catechism, paragraph 572)

Wisdom Connection

Mark helps the Christian community understand that even the key disciples struggled with the concept of Messiah that Jesus embraced. It was not the traditional understanding that the Jews held in the first century, that the Messiah would be a powerful world leader that would deliver them from pain and suffering. The reader finds out that being a true disciple of Jesus means that they will have to share in the suffering of Jesus, the Paschal mystery. But by participating in the suffering and death of Jesus, the disciples would also share in a like resurrection with Jesus. There can be no resurrection without suffering and death.

Mark challenges all disciples of Jesus to give themselves totally to trust in the suffering Messiah. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it (8:35). This is a concept that we continue to grapple with even today.

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 16:16-23.

2. John 3:13: Matthew 20:28; cf. John 6:62; Daniel 7:13; Isaiah 53:10-12.

3. Cf. John 19:19-22; Luke 23:39-43.

4. Acts of the Apostles 2:36.

5. Hebrews 9:26.

6. Luke 24:26-27, 44-45. 7. Mark 8:31; Matthew 20:19.

Saint Spotlight

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

September 5 is the memorial for Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.

Mother Teresa was born in 1910 in Albania. In 1950 she founded the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity with a commitment to serve the poorest and most neglected among us. In 1979 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts. Throughout her life she lived as a true servant leader, recognizing that it was her responsibility to offer love, comfort, and care to all of God's children.

For more information on Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, go to http://saints.sqpn.com/saintt1v.htm.