Melita will receive a copy of Great People of the Bible Student Book and Catechist Guide, a $28.90 value.

Bring Salvation History to Life! Parish leaders have been requesting a Catholic Bible study curriculum for middle school students, created specifically to fit their parish schedules. Saint Mary’s Press is pleased to respond to this need with the Great People of the Bible parish curriculum.

The Great People of the Bible curriculum offers:

- A student book that is found in conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a supplemental curriculum resource, and the only Bible curriculum for middle school students with this approval

- Twenty-five, one hour sessions designed to fit a typical parish calendar

- A catechist guide that offers easy-to-follow session outlines for the volunteer catechist

- Flexible options for the Catechist to complete student activities in class or use as family learning assignments in the home

- One student book that covers both the Old and New Testament and that supports the ABC’s of biblical literacy

- Engaging student activities, now with expanded background content, based on the ever popular Student Activity Workbooks for Breakthrough! The Bible for Young Catholics

Great People of the Bible
ISBN: 978-0-88489-690-6, paper, 56 pages

"Heigh ho, heigh ho, holiday,

The first day of the year,

Matty Groves to church did go

Some holy words to hear."

This medieval English ballad tells us that the Church has long celebrated the beginning of the secular year, January 1, with special festivity. Although this feast was a Marian feast in Rome even before the seventh century, in medieval times it was replaced by the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus. Later, after the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI replaced the Feast of the Circumcision with the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. And so we celebrate it today.

Perhaps this year I am especially aware of this Marian feast because of the impact of the Newtown tragedy, just before Christmas, upon my own spirit. For a few years I was a teacher aide in a public school, and I followed the same class from second grade into fifth. As an aide, I had my own chair in and among the class desks, and was in an excellent position to observe and even be part of these energetic little lives.

Our editorial group was leaving Winona on that Friday (having gathered from various corners of the country) and it was not until Friday evening, riding back from the airport, that I heard what had happened. When I woke up at 4 a.m., thinking about those children and their parents, the first prayer that came to mind was, "Hail Mary, full of grace . . ." And I prayed it, over and over. There are times, even for us grown-ups, when no one but a Mother will do.

What a gift Jesus gave us when, at the foot of the cross, he gave us his Mother! Even though this year is not a "Marian year" in an official sense, let us make it one. Let us note Marian feasts and communicate their meaning to our students whenever we can. Let’s begin or end a class or presentation with a Hail Mary or a decade of the Rosary. I myself never appreciated the Rosary as a child or teen, and I admit that I do not say it very often as an adult. However, my teachers and catechists made sure it was part of my prayer repertoire. And now I know why.

Our Lady has always been present to God’s people, especially to those who are poor or suffering. Surely she wrapped her mantle around the children of Newtown and brought them into heaven. In this New Year, let us ask her to comfort their parents and families, as only a mother can, until we are all united in God.

Blessings on your ministry!

Peace and joy,

Joanna Dailey

A note on the Year of Faith: As we reread and meditate upon the mystery of the Church, articulated in the documents of Vatican Council II, during this Year of Faith, we can note that the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) includes an entire chapter (chapter 8) on Mary. This chapter considers the role of Mary, Mother of God, within the mystery of Christ and of the Church. If you are looking for excerpts to read in prayer services or other celebrations, the translation edited by Austin Flannery, OP, is a good one. Look for Vatican Council II: Constitutions, Decrees, Declarations: A Completely Revised Translation in Inclusive Language. It is published by Costello Publishing Company, Northport, New York, © 1996.

How appropriate to include Mary, the preeminent woman of faith, in our Year of Faith focus. As her cousin Elizabeth said to her, "How happy you are to believe that the Lord’s message to you will come true!" (Luke 1:45, Good News translation).

This learning activity was originally written for the month of May. However, it can be used any time you want to celebrate Mary on one of her feast days. This activity includes the making of a simplified rosary.

Overview
To honor Mary the mother of Jesus, in this activity the young people hear about Mary and the church’s devotion to her, make simple rosaries, and learn about the tradition of votive candles.

Suggested Time
35 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the group

Group Size
This strategy works with any size group. However, if your group is larger than ten people, you may want to recruit other adults to help.

Materials Needed
· a pillar candle and matches
· a statue of Mary
· a Bible
· a table
· a variety of common household, outdoor, and office objects (such as a paper clip, safety pin, photograph, rock, bottle cap, battery, spoon, eraser, audiotape, piece of clay, small flower, button, cellophane tape, and rubber band), at least one for each person
· a rosary
· string or elastic, enough for each person to make a bracelet from it
· colored beads that can be strung on the string or elastic, twenty of one color and one of a second color for each person
· newsprint and markers
· masking tape
· votive candles or tea lights, one for each person
· a tape or CD player, and a recording of reflective music or a song honoring Mary (optional)

Procedure:

Preparation. Set up a prayer space with a pillar candle, a statue of Mary, a Bible, and votive candles or tea lights. On a table near the prayer space, display a collection of common household, outdoor, and office objects.

Print the words to the Hail Mary and the Lord’s Prayer on newsprint. Post both prayers in a place where everyone can see them.

1. Gather the young people in the prayer space and light a pillar candle. Prayerfully raise up a statue of Mary and say, "Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us."

Read Luke 1:46–49. Then present the following information in your own words:

The name the church has given to this passage is the Magnificat, from a Latin word that means "to magnify." The first line of the passage in some translations of the Bible is "My soul magnifies the Lord." The Catholic church honors Mary in a special way because she said yes to God and because her body housed Jesus, the Son of God, from conception to birth. She tenderly mothered Jesus from infancy to adulthood, and continued to serve God by being with her Son until his death, and even beyond. Mary was one of Jesus’ first disciples. She helped spread the word about his mission and message. Note the difference between worshiping God and honoring Mary. We worship God and Jesus because they are divine. Mary was simply human, just like us. We honor her but do not worship her. This is a teaching that is sometimes misunderstood by Christians who are not Catholic.

2. Call the group’s attention to the table of common objects you have arranged. Ask the participants to consider which object they would choose as an icon of Mary. You may need to define the word icon as "an object that in some way reminds us of God or a holy person." For example, a rock could be an icon of Mary because it reminds us that Mary’s faith was as strong as a rock. Direct the young people to choose their icon and return to their place. When everyone has made their selection, ask each person to explain how their icon reminds them of Mary.

3. Show the young people a rosary and explain that many people pray the rosary as a special devotion to Mary. Explain that the rosary is simply a collection of beads that are used to count prayers while meditating on events in the lives of Jesus and Mary. Give each person a piece of string or elastic, long enough to tie around their wrist loosely. Also give each person twenty beads of one color and one bead of a second color. Tell the participants that they are each going to make a simplified rosary. Direct them to put ten beads of one color on their string or elastic, then the one bead of a different color, then the remaining ten beads of the first color. Have them tie their finished bracelets on one another’s wrists, leaving enough room to slip the bracelets off easily.

4. Compare the full rosary with the ones the young people have made, and explain that the participants’ bracelets are simplified rosaries. That is, they include just two decades, whereas the traditional rosary has five plus an opening sequence.

5. Display the prayers that you posted on newsprint. The young people are likely to know the Lord’s Prayer, but many may not know the Hail Mary. If that is the case, explain that the Hail Mary begins with the words spoken by the angel Gabriel when he announced that Mary would bear God’s Son (Luke 1:26–35). It also includes Elizabeth’s words when Mary went to visit her (Luke 1:41–42). Using the beads on the bracelets as counters, together pray the Hail Mary ten times, the Lord’s Prayer once, and then the Hail Mary ten more times.

6. Explain that often in Catholic churches, votive candles are placed around a statue or painting of Mary. People light votive candles and pray for special needs. The tradition is that Mary hears those prayers and intercedes, or asks God to pay special attention to the needs of the people praying. Invite the participants to go to the prayer space and each light a votive candle or tea light for a special need for themselves or for the world.

7. Close the session by asking the young people to sit quietly for a minute or two, reflecting on the votive candles. You may want to play reflective music or a song honoring Mary during this time. Invite the young people to pray their rosary silently if they wish.

Tell the participants to take their rosary home and use it as a private devotion anytime during the day or night.

Alternative Approaches

· If you have extra time, begin the session by asking the young people what they know about Mary and the church’s devotion to her. Let them tell the group what they already know. Fill in as many of the missing pieces as time allows.

· Though it will take a little more time, consider asking the young people to make an entire rosary. Several organizations provide inexpensive supplies for rosary making. They offer a kit that includes beads, wire, a small cross, and a medal. They also supply an instruction booklet for the mysteries of the rosary. One such group is Our Lady’s Rosary Makers, P.O. Box 37080, Louisville, Kentucky 40233; phone 502-968-1434.

· Ask the young people to borrow a variety of Mary statues or portraits fromrelatives or elders in the parish. You might also put an ad in the parish bulletin, asking people to lend your group such items. Display these statues or portraits for the participants to examine, and perhaps invite the young people to compare and contrast the different representations.

· If people in your parish gather to pray the rosary before liturgy, suggest that the young people participate in the prayer.

· Invite a parish elder to tell the group about the tradition of May crownings.

Scriptural Connections

· Luke 1:26–28 (The Annunciation occurs.)

· Luke 1:39–40 (Elizabeth honors Mary.)

· John 2:1–12 (Jesus and Mary attend the wedding at Cana.)

· Acts 1:14 (Mary prays with the disciples.)

The Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord
January 7, 2013
Luke 3:15-16,21-22

Opening Prayer
Jesus, through your baptism in the Jordan, you gained a full understanding that you were the Son of God. At our Baptism we became the adopted sons and daughters of God. Help us live out our roles as sons and daughters of God through the grace we received at our Baptism. Amen.

Context Connection
The first part of the Sunday's Gospel passage deals with the messianic hope of the Jews. Many people thought John the Baptist might be the Messiah because of his teachings, his charitable works, and his call for people to act justly. In the Gospel, John quickly clarifies that he is not the Messiah when he says, "One who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals" (3:16). You may recall that this passage was also part of the Gospel on the Third Sunday of Advent. Remember, John is making a powerful analogy: only the lowest of the slaves, only a non-Jew, would ever be required to loosen his master's sandal thong. John suggests that in relation to the Messiah, he is even lower than the lowliest slave.

John further contrasts his baptism of water to the Messiah's baptism of the "Holy Spirit and fire" (3:16). Baptism with the Holy Spirit is about bringing to the world God's salvation as well as his judgment (fire). Luke's image in verse 17 of the winnowing fork and the threshing floor dramatizes this baptism of fire, but we do not read it as part of the Gospel this Sunday.

The story of the baptism of Jesus is recorded for us in the first three Gospels. Jesus' baptism marks the beginning of his public life. In verses 21 and 22 Luke gives us his account of the baptism of Jesus. When you compare Luke's Gospel with Matthew's and Mark's, you see a unique difference in Luke. In Matthew and Mark, the spirit of God descends on Jesus as he comes out of the water, but in Luke, God's spirit descends on Jesus after he has been baptized and is praying. Jesus at prayer is a recurring motif in the writings of Luke, who punctuates Jesus's life story by recounting episodes of prayer, particularly at critical moments. In Luke, Jesus is praying when God descends upon him in the form of a dove to proclaim, "You are my son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased" (3:22). Luke also seems to draw on Genesis 1:2 in his account of Jesus's baptism. The Jerusalem Bible offers this translation of the Genesis passage: "And God's spirit hovered over the water." God's proclamation of Jesus as his son honors Jesus and clears any misconception about the true patrimony of Jesus. God also professes his love for Jesus and declares that Jesus had found favor with him. In the story of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple, we learned that Jesus was keenly aware that God was his father. In this week's passage God confirms that Jesus is truly the Son of God.

Tradition Connection
Jesus was baptized with water. Water was a symbol of life. The Bible has many stories about water. During creation God separated the water and the land appeared so that life could exist. Because Noah had an intimate relationship with God, he was able to save his family from the flood. Moses led the Israelites from slavery into freedom by taking them on dry land across the parted Red Sea through the intervention of God. Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land. By passing through water, all those people were conscious of God's direct hand in their lives.

In our Baptism we pass through the water and are claimed for Christ as sons and daughters of God. In Baptism you and I are "sacramentally assimilated to Jesus. The Christian must enter into the mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit so as to become the Father's beloved son [or daughter] in the Son." (Catechism, paragraph no. 537)

In Baptism we enter into the Paschal mystery of Jesus Christ--we enter into Jesus's dying and rising. In each sacrament that follows, we deepen our understanding of this mystery--that life comes through death. To make sacrifices in one's life is the pattern of a Christian life.

Wisdom Connection
Luke conveys the heightened expectation of the Jewish people, who waited with great hope for the coming of the Messiah. During John the Baptist's time, those expectations had been high for decades. Several pseudo-messiahs had made their appearance, leaving people disappointed but with heightened anticipation. In Sunday's Gospel, John announces that he is not the expected Messiah and says that the Messiah who is coming will be greater than he (3:16).

Verses 21 and 22 of Sunday's Gospel supply the definitive word that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one of God. Jesus is the one that God claims as his own Son and with whom God is well pleased. Jesus, the one favored by God, would fulfill the promise that the unique relationship between God and human beings--lost through the original sin of Adam and Eve--would be restored.

The message for us is that although we are waiting for the Second Coming of God, we are also celebrating his first coming. This means that we live at a time when Jesus has already freed us from the doom of original sin. His baptism marked the beginning of his public life, when he showed us what eternal life would look like. Our Baptism gives us the opportunity to carry out Jesus's ongoing mission of reflecting the eternal happiness of God here and now in our daily lives.

Acknowledgments
The quotation from Genesis 1:2 is from the The Jerusalem Bible (Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1966). Copyright © 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd, Ltd., and Doubleday and Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

All other 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 Lord's Prayer is 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.

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 20, 2013
John 2:1-11

Opening Prayer
Jesus, we thank you for the abundant love that you continually shower upon us. Your unqualified love inspires us to live more closely to the way you lived when you were among us. Continue to share with us your wisdom and understanding so that we can always be a witness of your love in the world. Amen.

Context Connection
In Jesus's time, Cana was directly north of Nazareth (see map 6, quadrant B2, in The Catholic Youth Bible®). Because it would have been impolite for a nonrelative or stranger to interfere with wedding arrangements in Jesus's culture, we can assume that Jesus was related to the wedding couple.

The author John used symbols and signs to enhance his writing. So to understand John, we have to explore these symbols and signs. John used the occasion of the wedding feast to set the scene for Jesus to work his first sign that he is the Messiah. The other three Gospels begin the story of Jesus's public life with him preaching and healing individuals. John introduces Jesus's public life with the miracle of water being turned into wine to serve many. The wedding feast recalls other biblical images that portray the messianic age as a time of abundance of food and good wine. Such abundance of wine was a frequent prophetic figure of speech for the dawning of the messianic age (see Amos 9:13-14 or Joel 3:18). A closer examination reveals that Jesus did not simply change water; he changed water that was to be used in an Old Testament ceremonial ritual of purification (2:6) into the highest quality wine in abundant quantities. John is telling us that Jesus is ushering in a new age, and John's use of the symbolic language of the prophets tells us it is the age of the Messiah.

Another point of interest in this passage is the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus. We encounter Mary here for the first time in the Gospel of John, and John refers to Mary not by name but as the mother of Jesus. Mary's statement to the servants--"Do whatever he tells you" (2:5)--tells us she has complete faith in Jesus. Could that be John's way of telling the Christian community to also do whatever Jesus tells us? Jesus says to the servants, "Fill the jars with water" (2:6). They immediately respond to Jesus's direction and do it without question. Jesus then directs the servants to "draw some out and take it to the chief steward" (2:8). And again the servants do as he says without question and without even tasting the water (now wine) before giving it to the chief steward, another act of complete faith. Does John again use this scene to advise the Christian community to respond by faith alone to the directives of Jesus?

Tradition Connection
Throughout the prophetic books of the Old Testament, God's presence is marked by abundance. The prophets often used vivid imagery to convey that abundance: streams overflowing, deserts bursting forth in blossom, and banquet tables filled with the best food and wine. We believe in a God of abundance, not a God of scarcity. The wedding feast atCana shows that Jesus's presence gives us more than we can ask or imagine. Our God wants us to have all good things in excess. There is nothing God would not do or provide. The backdrop of the wedding feast atCana, along with the implied imagery of a new husband and a new wife--who each want every good thing for the beloved spouse and desire that those good things be continuous and overflowing--provides a fitting analogy for the relationship between Christ and us. One image of Jesus from this story is Jesus as the bridegroom of the Church. Jesus loves the Church (us) so completely that he wants his Church, his beloved, to have what it needs in abundance. We call that abundance grace.

The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification:¹

Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.² (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1999)

Even after Jesus ascended into heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit to be the ongoing manifestation of God's loving presence among us, which is called sanctifying grace.

Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God's call, is distinguished from actual graces which refer to God's interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification. (Catechism, paragraph 2000)

Wisdom Connection
In Sunday's Gospel John emphasizes the dawning of the messianic age with the arrival of Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah of the Jewish people. He came into the world to bring about the fulfillment of God's promises. Jesus transformed the ritualistic water for Jewish purification into the new wine of the messianic age. From that moment on, there would be a superabundance of good wine, of grace brought about by the Messiah. Just as the Hebrew people were lead by Joshua into a land flowing with milk and honey, Jesus the Messiah will lead those who have complete faith in him into a new age of abundance. By Jewish tradition the bridegroom supplied the wine for the wedding feast, but John tells us that in the new age, Jesus will supply the highest quality wine for the messianic banquet. John helps us understand the Eucharistic feast that is yet to be consecrated through Jesus's death.

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 from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers. Copyright © 1988 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. John 4:14; 7:38-39.
2. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18.

Mary is the Mother of God (Theotokos, God-bearer, is her Greek title) because she is the mother of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.

The Council of Ephesus affirmed this title for Mary in 431. Because we are united with Christ in Baptism, we are one with him as brothers and sisters. So Mary is our Mother too.

A very good compilation of information and articles on Mary’s motherhood can be found at http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1247.