Posted by Charles Paolino | Filed under The Everyday Gospel | Jun 19, 2013 No Comments »

Paula Cooper had good reason to think that June 17, 2013 would never come — at least, not for her. In 1986, when she was 16, Paula was sentenced to die, and with good reason: she had brutally murdered a 78-year-old woman in Indiana.  But Paula did not die, and, on June 17, after spending 25 years in prison, she began life anew as a free woman.
 
The story of Paula’s crime, and the unlikely friend she made because of it, illustrates one of the most challenging aspects of the Gospel —  Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness.
 
Sr. Catherine Nerney, SSJ, author of RENEW International’s resource Lenten Longings, reflects on Paula’s story and this challenge of forgiveness.
 
“We behold the sacred mystery of God at work in Jesus’ dying and rising for the sake of the world’s salvation,’’ Sr. Catherine writes in the Lenten Longings faith-sharing book for liturgical year C. “God’s reconciling love is seen in Jesus’ suffering face and heard in his loving words as he hangs on a cross on Golgotha: ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing’ Does Jesus see something that we don’t? How is he able to look into a mocking crowd and see a people who don’t understand what they are doing? Is this vision, this attitude, available to us who live in Christ?’’
 
Sr. Catherine cited, as an example of Jesus’ attitude, Bill Pelke, the grandson of the woman Paula Cooper murdered.
 
Paul and two other girls, all then 15, had talked their way into Ruth Pelke’s house on the pretext of seeking Bible lessons. They robbed the woman of $10, and Paula, using a butcher knife, stabbed her multiple times.
 
Because of Paula’s  age, this sentence prompted protests and pleas for clemency, including a personal appeal to the governor of Indiana from Pope John Paul II.
At first, Bill Pelke thought the death sentence was just, that anything less would have demeaned the value of his grandmother’s life.
 
“However,’’ Sister Catherine writes in Lenten Longings, “in the months that followed, Bill underwent some difficulties in his own life, realizing ways that he had messed up. He began to think of this fifteen-year-old girl, Paula, on death row, coming to grips with what she had done. He began to pray for forgiveness for Paula, but he felt absolutely no love or compassion for her.
 
“Then, he realized beyond a shadow of a doubt that his grandmother would have had love and compassion for all her assailants, would have wanted none of them to die, and would have wanted someone in their family to have that same love and compassion for them.’’
 
Bill Pelke began to correspond with Paula, and the two developed a friendship, and Bill became an advocate against the death penalty, not just for juveniles but for anyone.
 
After a series of legal actions and court rulings concerning the age of a defendant, Paula Cooper’s death sentence was overturned, and she was given a prison term of 60 years.
 
By her own account, she was for a while a troublesome inmate, but eventually she accepted responsibility for what she had done; she determined to put her time in prison to good use and earned a bachelor’s degree.
 
Because of her behavior, she got credit for early release, and she left the prison on Monday, June 17, 2013 aiming — with Bill Pelke’s help — to lead a productive life.
 
Sr. Catherine, who teaches at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, has for many years incorporated the story of Paula Cooper and Bill Pelke into her course on Forgiveness and Reconciliation.
 
She presents Bill Pelke’s journey to forgiveness as a lesson for everyone:
 
“Such is the transformative power unleashed by Jesus’ action at the Last Supper,” she writes in Lenten Longings, “the power of take and bless, break and share. The same Spirit that led Jesus to give his very life over for the life of the world dwells in us also.’’
 
Charles Paolino is a member of the RENEW staff and a permanent Deacon in the Diocese of Metuchen.

Posted by Sr. Terry Rickard, O.P., D.Min. | Filed under God in the Stuff of Life: Sr. Terry Rickard | Jun 19, 2013 No Comments »

The recently published book, “Pope Francis: His Life and His own Words,” documents the interviews Pope Francis had with two Argentinian journalists while he was still Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio. One of the journalists asked him, “Do we need to rediscover the meaning of leisure?” Pope Francis replied: “Together with a culture of work, there must be a culture of leisure as gratification. To put it another way: people who work must take the time to relax, to be with their families, to enjoy themselves, read, listen to music, play a sport. But this is being destroyed, in large part, by the elimination of the Sabbath rest day. More and more people work on Sundays as a consequence of the competitiveness imposed by a consumer society.” The pope concluded that in these cases, “work ends up dehumanizing people.”
 
It seems in our fast-paced world we need more than ever to recover Sunday as a Sabbath day — a day of worship, leisure, rest, and family time. Two of my favorites among the memorable statements Pope Francis has made so far are that encouragement to relax more and his observation that sourpusses hurt the church’s witness and mission (Homily, May 10). I know that when I do not have enough leisure time I become a sourpuss. So as the summer begins I pledge to take more leisure time, have lots more fun, and spend more time with family and friends.
 
Sr. Terry is the Executive Director of RENEW International and a Dominican Sister from Blauvelt, NY.

Posted by Sr. Terry Rickard, O.P., D.Min. | Filed under God in the Stuff of Life: Sr. Terry Rickard, Year of Faith | Jun 19, 2013 No Comments »

During this Year of Faith, we will blog reflections and stories to accompany you on your faith journey.
 
“When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.” – Memorial Acclamation 2
 
My 92-year-old dad had been in a coma for six hours—we thought this was the end. During those last months, he refused to fight against death, but instead he fought for life with a tangible faith and a confidence in God.
 
One evening, my brother-in-law Doug was keeping vigil. Suddenly, my dad opened his eyes and said, “Hey, Doug, is that you?” Doug replied, “Yeah, Dad.” With an incredulous look, Dad said, “Jeez, am I still here? I thought the Lord already came for me.” Two days later he peacefully passed from death to life—entering into the fullness of the paschal mystery.
 
Proclaim the paschal mystery!
After the consecration, the priest now says or sings to the congregation simply, “The mystery of faith,” and we respond with a prayer proclaiming the paschal mystery.
 
The word “paschal” is derived from the Greek word meaning “pass over.” At its very heart, it is less about events and more about movement: from slavery to freedom, from death to life.
 
Each of the three new Memorial Acclamations includes us (“We proclaim,” “When we eat,” and “Save us”) and speak of what Christ did for us (“you have set us free”).
 
The very core of our faith
We respond to the words “The mystery of faith” by acclaiming that the bread and wine have been changed into the Body and Blood of Christ and that the paschal mystery is the core of our faith.
 
We acclaim that death does not have the last word—that through our faith in Christ we too will move from death to life. It is truly a mystery in that the fullness of God’s love, Jesus the Christ, is made present among us. In this life we grasp something of the mystery of God’s reign, but the full reality remains veiled before our eyes—until he comes again!
 
Our source of strength and hope
For more than 90 years my father, through God’s grace, acclaimed the mystery of faith in the ups and downs of his daily life and, yes, at Mass too. We too gain strength from the Eucharist so we can embrace our own suffering and transform it into a sure hope in the Lord’s many comings into our life.
 
Suggestions for Prayer:
   - How do we enter more consciously and more fully into Christ’s paschal mystery in our life’s daily experiences?
   -Pray each of the three Memorial Acclamations with a new sense that each one includes us and speaks of what Christ did and is doing in our daily lives—setting us free.
 
Reprinted with permission from Living with Christ. For more information or to subscribe, visit www.livingwithchrist.us or call 1-800-214-3386.
 
Sr. Terry is the Executive Director of RENEW International and a Dominican Sister from Blauvelt, NY.

Posted by RENEW | Filed under Reflections on the coming Sunday's Gospel | Jun 17, 2013 No Comments »

“Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’ They said in reply, ‘John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, “One of the ancient prophets has arisen.”’ Then he said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter said in reply, ‘The Christ of God.’ He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.
He said, ‘The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.’ Then he said to all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it’” (Luke 9:18-24).
 
Peter was able to proclaim Jesus as “the Christ of God,” but he had little understanding of what this messiahship entailed. Peter did not yet understand that the Messiah would sacrifice himself for the well-being of others, and that he would expect his followers to do the same for each other. Jesus tells us that if we want to be his disciples, we must deny ourselves and take up our cross daily. The key word in this phrase is “our”—“take up our cross.” Yes, we have to follow Jesus to the cross to get to resurrection, but our cross is not the same as Jesus’ cross. Yes, we will have to take up the cross of Jesus and accept his yoke on our shoulders, but we will not be overwhelmed. Jesus will never let that cross be more than we can bear.
 
Similarly, each time we receive the blood of Jesus in Communion, we are aware of Jesus’ question, “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink” (Matthew 20:22)? We can say “yes” when we realize that each of us has our own particular “cup” to embrace. Each day we are asked to pick up our unique cup and drink it to the full. Where is the grace to do this? Among other graces, Jesus has given us his own eucharistic presence to inspire and sustain us.
 
- What supports or graces are available to help you with your crosses?
 
Adapted from PrayerTime: Faith-Sharing Reflections on the Sunday Gospels, available at the RENEW International store

Posted by Charles Paolino | Filed under The Everyday Gospel | Jun 13, 2013 No Comments »

Here’s what I have in common with St. Anthony of Padua.
 
One Sunday morning, as I was vesting for the 8 a.m. Mass, I glanced at the schedule and realized for the first time that I was supposed to preach.
 
My pastor walked into the sacristy, and I told him that I mistook the schedule and hadn’t prepared a homily.
 
“Well, then,” he said, “we have a problem.”
 
And he walked out.
 
By then, it was about 7:55, so I had roughly 15 minutes — ten of them with the Mass already in progress — in which to concoct a homily.
 
I can credit only the Holy Spirit with the fact that I thought of an obscure baseball player from the 1950s — Julio Becquer — who kept a crucifix in his pocket and touched it whenever he stepped into the batter’s box.
 
I somehow saw a connection between that practice and the gospel reading for that day.
 
St. Anthony, a 13th century Franciscan friar whose feast we celebrate on June 13, had a similar experience.
 
After poor health had frustrated his desire to work in North Africa as a missionary, Anthony, a native of Portugal, was living in a rural hospice in the Romagna region of northern Italy.
 
While he was there, an ordination of priests was scheduled, but no arrangement was made for a homilist.
 
Anthony’s superior first asked and then ordered the reluctant friar to preach.
 
Whatever homily Anthony composed made a powerful impression, and he was ultimately commissioned to preach the Gospel throughout Lombardy.
 
During what remained of his relatively brief life, Anthony took on other responsibilities, including as a teacher in France, but preaching — in which he directly confronted the heresies of his time — was always the foremost of his pursuits.
 
Eventually, he preached in the court of Pope Gregory IX and was commissioned to publish a collection of his homilies for feast days.
 
He died in Padua on June 13, 1231 and was canonized less than a year later by Pope Gregory.
 
Anthony was modest about the preaching prowess that gained him his reputation.
 
“I ask,’’ he wrote concerning his homilies, “that if you find anything edifying, anything consoling, anything well presented, that you give all praise, all glory and all honor to the Blessed Son of God Jesus Christ.
 
“If on the other hand, you find anything that is ill composed, uninteresting or not too well explained, you impute and attribute it to my weakness, blindness, and lack of skill.’’
 
There are a lot of stories about miraculous events connected to St. Anthony — including the appearance of the infant Jesus in his arms — but his glory emanates from the fact that he preached the Gospel without compromise and that he lived the Gospel in simplicity and humility.
 
Charles Paolino is a member of the RENEW staff and a permanent Deacon in the Diocese of Metuchen.

Posted by Amy Reed | Filed under Spiritually Speaking | Jun 11, 2013 No Comments »

My son was baptized on Pentecost. Celebrating his first sacrament, and joining all Catholics around the world celebrating the birth of the Church on the same day was an amazing experience. I’d love to take credit for some ingenious planning, but it was the Holy Spirit at work. Two dates in May were available, and the 19th was better for us. When I realized that the celebrations were the same day, I prayed in thanksgiving for such a gift. Of course, the Holy Spirit would always be with my son, but this made it even more special.
 
I started planning with zeal. A lovely, upscale restaurant; beautiful centerpieces; 80 of our family members. I even hired a photographer for family pictures. My son was going to wear my husband’s baptismal outfit. As the day drew closer, the weather forecast called for a gorgeous high 60s/low 70s weekend. Everything was shaping for a perfect day.
 
Then the day arrived. Ever hear the saying, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans”? Well, it was kind of like that. It poured rain, and because my son doesn’t nap well, I had to walk him in the rain for an hour in the stroller to make sure he napped before the big event. He had a great nap, and I thought, “Crisis averted.” The photographs? Not a problem. The church is gorgeous, so we’ll just take pictures inside.
 
My husband played with our son while I got ready, and off to church we went. On the way, my phone rang. It was the restaurant. “Are you sitting down?” was the way the conversation started. The fire alarm and sprinklers had gone off in the kitchen as the staff was preparing for the party. They were waiting for the Board of Health’s approval so they could reopen for the party. “Worst case scenario,” she said, “is that we won’t have time to prepare the food and we’ll order pizza.” Pizza? Hours of party planning and we’re having pizza?
 
The ceremony was lovely. The Holy Spirit was alive and present, and I felt great joy. Almost every guest made it to the church, and we were surrounded by so much love. And my son didn’t cry (probably due to the fact that the baptismal water in our church is heated) or poop through his vintage baptismal gown. I was re-inspired.
 
I had missed several calls during the ceremony, all from the restaurant. I called back after the baptism, and they gave me an update. “Change of plans,” she said. “The Board of Health didn’t get here in time, but the restaurant next door has generously lent us their space.”
 
The restaurant next door is a pub. Not that there’s anything wrong with eating pizza in a pub, but it certainly was not the day I had imagined and spent hours planning.
 
Family photos were taken in the church and then we set off to the restaurant. Our guests were already there when we arrived, they were all having a blast, and they could not wait to meet my son. The love and joy I felt at church immediately returned and replaced the dread I felt walking into the pub. Love of family, shelter from the rain, warm food, and celebrating the sacrament of baptism. It was all I hoped and dreamed for the day, just in a different package then I expected.
 
Amy Reed is a member of RENEW International’s Marketing and Communications team. A Notre Dame alumna, she and her husband recently welcomed their first child, a boy, to the family.

Posted by RENEW | Filed under Reflections on the coming Sunday's Gospel | Jun 10, 2013 No Comments »

“A Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.’
Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment. So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven because she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.’ He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’
The others at table said to themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ But he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace’” (Luke 7:36-39, 44-50).
 
Every party has a guest list. Even the most open celebration has an implied set of “undesirables” who are not welcome. So we can imagine the reaction when a “sinful woman” from the city shows up at Simon the Pharisee’s by-invitation-only dinner party. To make matters worse, she makes a scene by crying and pouring a jar of scented oil over Jesus’ feet.
 
When Jesus fails to rebuke the woman as Simon expects, Simon begins to doubt that Jesus is a prophet. He assumes that Jesus must be ignorant, because no man of God would willingly associate with a sinner—nevermind let her touch him!
 
Both Simon and the woman have made mistakes, and Jesus accepts them both. The difference between them is that one has an appreciation for how much grace she has been given, while the other does not. Simon believes that any sins he has committed are far less than those of the penitent woman —in other words, that she has far more need of forgiveness. Accordingly, Simon’s interest in Jesus is strictly intellectual. He respects Jesus, he includes him among the dinner guests, but has little emotional attachment to him.
 
The woman, on the other hand, shows her love for Jesus devotionally. She cares for him and weeps over the sins that have damaged their closeness. Simon’s and the woman’s relationships reflect their awareness of grace. Simon clings to the idea that he is self-sufficient and has little patience for the grace Jesus shows the woman. The woman refuses to be put off by Simon’s judgment. She acknowledges Jesus’ grace, hears his call, and comes to him despite being the undesired guest.
 
When we take time to think about how much grace God has shown us, we too learn to love God devotionally and to see more clearly the physical and spiritual needs of those around us. The grace we receive enables us to become instruments of grace in the lives of others, and we set aside the notion that we shouldn’t associate with the “unworthy.” This is what Jesus taught Simon—since all are unworthy, all are worthy.
 
- How can you break the habit of judgment? How can you help heal the damage done by judging others?
 
Adapted from Word on the Go, a downloadable resource from RENEW International

Posted by Sister Marie Cooper | Filed under Around the World, Spiritually Speaking | Jun 7, 2013 No Comments »

At an early age, I learned from my mother and grandmother that Jesus has a great heart and wants to embrace us in his love. They introduced me to devotion to the Sacred Heart. A picture of the Sacred Heart enthroned in the kitchen, where we spent most of our time, was a constant reminder. The devotion was further nurtured in me in our New York parish and school of St. Ignatius Loyola.One of our teachers, Miss Blanche Catherine Tintle, produced a large craft envelope on the first Thursday of every month and gave us each a Sacred Heart badge to wear to Mass the next day. I put it on and wore it proudly from that moment on. After school my mother took me to church to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation. All this in preparation for “making the nine First Fridays,” a loving response to the great love of Christ poured out on us. On Friday morning, we celebrated Eucharist with the parish and received Communion. Because we had fasted since midnight, and I’m really dating myself here, we went to the Automat restaurant for breakfast with some of my classmates and their mothers and fathers. This breakfast was a special treat, a sign of our parents’ love. We were enthralled with the possibility of seeing so many options through the little glass doors, making a choice, putting in our coins, and retrieving the plate! After that, it was off to school for the day. At the end of the day, we returned the badges to Miss Tintle, to be saved for the following month.
 
Because I was a child, there were, of course, mixed motives behind my eagerness to participate in this monthly devotion. But what had penetrated deeply into my heart was the certainty that Jesus loves me and wants me to love others, so that in high school, I went on my own, satisfied with an apple for breakfast on my way to school.
 
When I entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny I discovered that we, too, have a tradition since the time of our founder, Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey, of devotion to the Heart of Christ. Making the “nine First Fridays” was a lot easier in a community that had Mass every day of the year, but the spirituality of welcoming the boundless love of Christ and reaching out to others in love became more and more a part of me. In fact, a friend, looking through my Bible one day, exclaimed: “You have a one-sided vision of God!” When I asked her what she meant, she said, “Well, just about everything you have underlined and highlighted in your Bible is about God’s love. You’ve missed the whole message about God’s anger and judgment!”
 
Perhaps I am a bit one-sided in focusing more on the love of God, but reflecting on God’s love and in particular on the love of Christ who became one of us and gave his life for us, urges me on to love him more and follow him more closely. I am deeply grateful for this understanding of God because God has always seemed very close to me in my life. Jesus is no only my savior but also my friend, my brother, the one who is always with me and with whom I can share everything. He’s also the friend and brother who gives it to me straight and doesn’t let me get away with anything, and he does it with love.
 
I believe the greatest testimony to the devotion we Cluny Sisters have to the Sacred Heart was given by former students gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our presence in a parish school. After reminiscing about all the pranks they’d played on us, and the trouble they’d gotten into, they said, “but we always knew you loved us.”
 
This year, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart falls on June 7. It is one of our moveable feasts, coming 19 days after Pentecost. For me it stands as one more reminder of the assurance of Jesus, “I will be with you until the end of time,” as well as his command, “Love one another as I have loved you.”
 
Some background on the feast: From Scripture, we know that “God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son” (John 3:16), and that “God is love” (I John 4:16). In the early church there was no special devotion to the Heart of Christ. This devotion began later on, and was a private devotion for centuries. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitadine sister, who lived in 17th century France, experienced visions of the Sacred Heart in which she was given the task of imparting new life to the devotion. Christ asked her to rekindle love in his people by assuring them of his love for them. He asked for a devotion of frequent Communion, Communion on the first Friday of the month, and the observance of the Holy Hour. The mission of propagating the new devotion was especially confided to the religious of the Visitation and the priests of the Society of Jesus.
 
In 1856, Pope Pius IX extended the feast to the universal church. On June 11, 1899, Pope Leo XIII, in what he called the “great act” of his pontificate, consecrated all humanity to the Sacred Heart.
 
(Source:The Catholic Encyclopedia online at: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07163a.htm)
 
Sister Marie is a member of the RENEW staff, a Sister of St. Joseph of Cluny, and the Project Leader for RENEW Africa.

Posted by RENEW | Filed under Reflections on the coming Sunday's Gospel | Jun 3, 2013 No Comments »

“As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, ‘Young man, I tell you, arise!’ The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming, ‘A great prophet has arisen in our midst,’ and ‘God has visited his people’” (Luke 7:12-16).
 
When we read a miracle account in the Bible, we can become distracted by the flashy nature of the miracle and forget the human story it conveys. The miracle described in this Scripture passage shows that Jesus’ authority extends even over death and the dead. This isn’t an action movie; it’s a drama. Let’s look beyond the “special effects” and pay attention to the characters and their story.
 
For the widow, the young man’s death is not only emotionally devastating but also could be a material tragedy. A widow’s life was not easy in the ancient world. With no husband to support her and now no child left who to take care of her, she will live the rest of her life as a beggar.
 
This mix of grief at the present and horror for the future is what moves Jesus to compassion. When he tells the widow not to weep, it isn’t just an attempt to comfort her in her distress. In raising the young man from the dead, he provides for all the widow’s most basic needs. He offers physical and emotional healing to the mother as well as to the son.
 
Jesus’ miracle inspires the crowds to make two statements, and we should be attentive to them both. First, they call him a “great prophet,” an acknowledgement of his amazing power. But the second sums up the point of the reading: “God has visited his people!” The Gospel is not mainly about God’s power but about God’s favor, or grace. By bringing the widow hope, Jesus opens her eyes to the lengths God will go to in his love for her.
 
When we serve food to the homeless, show struggling kids how to succeed in school, or simply provide companionship to the elderly or lonely, we aren’t simply preparing them to receive some abstract Gospel. We show them that God is aware of their needs and is working to take care of them. We “preach” the Gospel by our actions.
 
- What is it like to be a small instrument of God’s hope and how have you made this part of your life?
 
Adapted from Word on the Go, a downloadable resource from RENEW International

Posted by Dr. Laura Zane Kolmar | Filed under Meet Mary in Prayer, Spiritually Speaking | May 31, 2013 No Comments »

Today is the Feast of the Visitation. Each year I marvel at how the day’s Scriptures surprise and challenge me. This year is no different. However, this year I decided to prepare for this feast day in a way I never have before.
 
Almost two months ago, on April 8, the feast of the Annunciation, I gathered for Mass with my colleagues here at the RENEW office in Plainfield, NJ. We talked about how Mary, in addition to saying “Yes” to God, also took an immediate action and set out to visit Elizabeth. In our faith sharing we discussed how Mary received a sign from God when the angel told her that Elizabeth was pregnant. Mary did not ask for a sign, nor did she need one, before committing herself to God. Nevertheless, it was an opportunity for her to reach out to assist her kinswoman. Her action was inspired by her faith.
 
Although I already have a devotion to Mary, I decided to find ways in the weeks leading up to the feast of the Visitation to recommit myself to Mary and to seek new ways in which she could lead me to her son, Jesus. When the feast of the Visitation arrived, I wanted to be ready to recognize and welcome Jesus as Elizabeth did.
 
Through prayerful meditation on the Scriptures and the mysteries of the rosary I became more attentive to the role that waiting plays in our faith. I learned that patience, in the form of waiting, is not passive. In these few short weeks, I “waited” in various emotional states—anxiety about test results, sadness in the anticipation of the anniversary of the death of a dear friend, and excitement as I looked forward to my son’s wedding. I found that I was challenged to find ways to “wait” with others. How could I, whether at home, in the office, or with friends, find ways to ease the suffering or join in the joy of “waiting” with others?
 
Although it would have been faster to “set out” with text messages, phone calls or emails, I decided on “snail mail” and wrote cards and notes to various people who were “waiting” in various circumstances. I sent notes to my friend and her daughter as the anniversary of the death of their husband and father approached. I sent a card of encouragement to a friend dealing with the care of aging parents. I sent notes of congratulations to recent graduates, and a card with a scripture quote to lend inspiration to someone searching for a job.
 
Preparation for today’s feast of the Visitation blessed me with the gift of a deepened faith and trust in the Lord’s presence. I made my way toward today “waiting” for Mary and Jesus to greet me yet again. I disposed my heart to be open to the surprise this visit would hold for me.
 
So today, filled with a sense of wonder at the presence of the Lord and the gift of faith, I ask myself, “To whom shall I go? What action am I called to take to carry the Lord to another?”
 
- How did the Lord visit you today? What action are you called to take to carry the Lord to another? Please share your ‘visitation’ with the Lord by posting a comment below.
 
Dr. Laura Kolmar is Director of Pastoral Services at RENEW International, and has worked in parish social ministry, workshop and retreat leadership, and pastoral care and counseling.

Posted by Amy Reed | Filed under Spiritually Speaking | May 29, 2013 No Comments »

Newborns sleep approximately 16 hours a day. That’s what all the books say. I own nothing short of a dozen books on newborn care. Reading all these books when I was pregnant gave me a false sense of what life with a newborn would be like. With all that sleep, I would never fall behind on laundry, I could still get dinner on the table, and, of course, who wouldn’t have time to shower? Sure, the nights would be hard with getting up every few hours, but I could even find time to nap during the day with the baby having 16 hours of                                  sleep.
 
I should have taken my Aunt Lynda’s advice—throw all the baby books out the window.
 
I’m not sure who these amazing newborns are, but my child does not sleep 16 hours a day. Not even close. So the laundry piles up, dinner is often take-out, and I might get to shower every other day.
 
It’s frustrating, to say the least. In fact, after weeks of being up five times a night, not getting anything done around the house, and feeling like a complete failure, it’s downright brutal. What is one of the happiest times in my life also leaves me crying in the bathroom or the basement (trying not to wake the baby). Of course, then that snowballs into more crying because I think: look at this amazing little miracle. He’s perfect and wonderful, and how can I be upset, mad, and frustrated?
 
Talk about a perfect time to talk to God.
 
And I do. All the time. I pray that my baby sleeps to help his mental and cognitive development. I pray that he’s eating enough. I pray that I’m stimulating him enough with books and toys, but not too much to give him sensory overload. I pray that my husband continues to be so patient and understanding when I’m a mess of exhaustion and tears when he comes home from work. I talk to God a lot. Or, really, I talk at God a lot.
 
But at the end of the day, as I tiptoe past the bassinet and slide as noiselessly as possible into my bed, I have the time to actually have a conversation with God. And when I do, my prayers always start with two little words. Thank you. Thank you for this amazing miracle of a child. Thank you for my wonderful husband. Thank you for our supportive families. Thank you for our home to sway and shush and swaddle this baby in.
 
I came to a realization last night after putting my darling boy down at 3:30 a.m. and praying that he’d sleep for at least two hours (which he did not, by the way). There is a reason for everything. God knows what I want. And God gives me what I need. Maybe God is telling me to slow down and enjoy my time with this little infant. He won’t always be this needy and want his mother all the time. While I’m in the midst of it, it feels like eternity, but this newborn stage will be gone in a flash. Laundry can wait; dinner can wait (sorry, honey). I can’t get upset when he wakes up after a brief 30-minute nap and it will take another 20 minutes to get him back to sleep. Instead, I need to scoop him up, cuddle him, whisper sweet nothings in his ear, and soothe him again. And as I do, thank God for his beautiful miracle and the time I get to spend with him.
 
Amy Reed is a member of RENEW International’s Marketing and Communications team. A Notre Dame alumna, she and her husband recently welcomed their first child, a boy, to the family.

Posted by RENEW | Filed under Reflections on the coming Sunday's Gospel | May 27, 2013 No Comments »

 
“Then taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets”
(Luke 9:16-17).
 
Bread is a simple, filling food, the mainstay of the poor. Until relatively recently in history, bread or other grain products made up the bulk of most people’s diets.
 
In Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt’s account of his impoverished childhood in Ireland, he describes going to confession, ready to atone for stealing bread for his hungry family. He expected the worst from the priest, but the priest offered instead a scathing indictment of the social conditions in which young Frank was forced to steal bread for his very survival. The priest told the boy that he was not a sinner but that rest of the community might have something to atone for.
 
That priest was echoing the compassion of Jesus in the gospel story of the multiplication of loaves and fishes. The Lord knew that the people who had gathered to listen to him were hungry. Yet, he didn’t let them remain hungry nor send them back to town where they may or may not have found provisions. Instead, Jesus broke bread and some simple fish, blessed them, and distributed them to the crowd.
 
Just before we receive the Eucharist at every Mass we attend, we pray that God will “give us this day our daily bread.” Yet many go without food while we enjoy more than enough and throw away what we don’t care to eat. What does it mean to receive the Body of Christ while others go hungry? Eucharist is about helping to satisfy spiritual hunger, and it nourishes us for the work of bringing about justice, of providing for the hungry, and working to eliminate hunger. Eucharist is about living who we are as the body of Christ in our world.
 
The next time you are offered the body of Christ, think about the work it is giving you the strength to do. Pope Benedict the XVI said it well: “A Eucharist which does not pass over into the concrete practice of love is intrinsically fragmented.”
 
- How does thinking about physical hunger affect your experience of receiving the Body of Christ?
 
Adapted from Word on the Go, a downloadable resource from RENEW International

Posted by Charles Paolino | Filed under The Everyday Gospel | May 22, 2013 No Comments »

When television was still a novelty, we would watch almost anything just because it was on.
 
In the early 1950s, for instance, when I was only about ten years old, I watched Life Begins at 80, on which a panel of four octogenarians would answer questions mailed in by viewers.
 
On another show from that period, two teams of four teenagers would compete in identifying verses from the Bible.
 
The moderator would read a passage, and the teams would vie to be first in finding it and stating the book, chapter, and verse.
 
Although I watched this show every week, these kids impressed me as geeks, and Protestant geeks at that. That was the easiest way to explain why I couldn’t do what they could do.
 
In those days, we Catholics celebrated the Mass in Latin, so the only Scripture most of us heard in English was the Sunday Gospel.
 
Our religious instruction concentrated on the catechism and never delved into the Bible.
 
But things have changed.
 
While most of us Catholics still couldn’t compete with those geeks, we have been encouraged by the Church to read the Scriptures, pray with the Scriptures, and learn about the Scriptures.
 
A significant step in this process occurred sixty years ago when Pope Pius XII issued his encyclical letter Divino afflante Spiritu (Inspired by the Holy Spirit), calling for new translations of the Bible and encouraging critical analysis of the texts in light of advances in archeology and historical research.
 
Then, in 1965, the Second Vatican Council approved the document known as Dei verbum (The Word of God) which says that the Scriptures, like the Eucharist, nourish the whole life of the Church.
 
The Council didn’t pull any punches in expressing, in the words of St. Jerome, the importance of biblical studies for the people of God as well as for scripture scholars and theologians: “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.’’
 
There are many opportunities now for Catholics to learn about the Bible — study groups or lectures sponsored by parishes and dioceses and formal courses offered by Catholic colleges and universities.
 
There are also many Bible-study resources for sale at Catholic book stores and on line.
 
But the Church doesn’t encourage us only to study the Scriptures in an academic way, but also to experience the Scriptures through prayer and contemplation.
 
One means of doing this, which began in monastic life but has become increasingly popular beyond the monasteries and convents, is lectio divina, a contemplative way of praying with the Scriptures each day to attune ourselves to the voice of God in our daily lives.
 
Another practice that began in religious life but is now used by many lay people is The Liturgy of the Hours.
 
Also known as “the Divine Office,” this is the official worship prescribed by the Church for each day of the week, consisting of psalms, prayers, hymns, and both biblical and non-biblical readings.
 
Joining one of the small Christian communities that exist in many parishes is still another approach.
 
Members of small communities engage in faith sharing that includes reading and reflecting on scripture passages and seeking ways to put the word of God into practice in everyday life.
 
And, of course, one can simply set aside a few minutes each day to read from the Bible and mediate on what words or phrases are especially moving or meaningful.
 
Adopting this practice with a goal in mind, such as reading through the four Gospels, or through the books of Genesis and Exodus, or through the psalms, can be a good way to become familiar and comfortable with the Scriptures.
 
None of us needs to get to the point of flipping to the right page after hearing a single verse from the Bible, but all of us are welcomed and — this is important — encouraged to make a place in our often hectic lives for listening to the word of God, a word that is spoken not just for scholars but for all people.
 
Charles Paolino is a member of the RENEW staff and a permanent Deacon in the Diocese of Metuchen.

Posted by RENEW | Filed under Reflections on the coming Sunday's Gospel | May 20, 2013 No Comments »

“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you’” (John 16:12-15).
 
The feast we celebrate this Sunday is all about relationships. The Trinity offers us a model for living in right relationship. The Trinity is at the center of what being a Christian is all about: being in right relationship with our God, our brothers and sisters, and our world.
 
How can we begin to understand the relationships within the Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? The Father cannot do anything but love, and that love is poured out in creation and in the sending of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. God’s love is so immense that one can make sense of God as Father only as He is in relationship with the Son and the Spirit. We can’t understand Christ as God’s son without thinking of the Father as sending forth Christ. The Son makes sense only in returning to the Father. God calls the Son back, and the Son chooses to return to him The Spirit has moved throughout history, inspiring the prophets so that in the fullness of time Christ came to earth and redeemed us. That presence of Christ continues today through the Spirit, as we are continually called back to Christ through the way we live and love.
 
We are made to be in relationships, because we are human beings who are created in the image and likeness of God. And through our baptism we are adopted as God’s children, as we are plunged into the relationship of the Trinity—we are literally baptized “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
 
Only in relationships are we fully human, fully alive, as God has created us to be. The Trinity is a model of this sense of radical interconnectedness to which we are called—and it is through the Trinity that all our right relationships flourish.
 
Relationships are inherently dynamic—they change and grow, as do the people within them. They are meant to be life-enhancing, and at their best, allow each of us to become more fully who we’re meant to be.
 
The Trinity offers us great encouragement but also great challenge. For in and through others we are led to God; however, we are also called to help lead others to God. The Trinity is a model that can serve as a great witness to how we are to live, love, and grow throughout our lives.
 
- How are you imitating the model of God’s love in your relationships?
 
Adapted from Word on the Go, a downloadable resource from RENEW International

Posted by Charles Paolino | Filed under The Everyday Gospel | May 15, 2013 No Comments »

If you’ve been watching television as long as I have — 64 years — you know that there has been a big change over time in the understanding of what is and is not acceptable.
 
This has affected both the subject matter and images that are presented and also the language that is used.
 
We see and hear things on television today that were out of the question in 1949, when my family got our first 10-inch, black-and-white TV.
 
I recently experienced one particular part of this trend while I was watching a movie:the casual and even profane use of the name “Jesus.”
 
We’re accustomed to hearing the name used that way in everyday life, but for a long time no one would have thought to use it that way on television, and that has changed.
 
I happened to see that movie during the Easter season in the same week in we read in the Acts of the Apostles about the apostles being hauled before the Sanhedrin for resuming their preaching immediately after escaping from jail.
 
So I noted the way the high priest framed his statement:
 
“We gave you strict orders to stop preaching in that name.’’
 
If we read past this passage we learn that the Sanhedrin was so angry over the response — “The God of our ancestors raised Jesus, but you had him killed” — that they wanted to kill the apostles, but a wise member of the court talked them out of it.
 
And so, St. Luke writes, the Sanhedrin “had them flogged, ordered them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, and dismissed them.’’
 
And the text continues: “So they left the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.”
 
Most of these same men had scattered and gone into hiding when Jesus himself was arrested and executed.
 
All of these men had refused to believe it when they were told that Jesus had been raised from the dead.
 
But then they saw for themselves the evidence of the resurrection — they saw Jesus alive.
 
And because of their faith in the risen Jesus, they were on fire with the determination to spread his name not only throughout Jerusalem but throughout the world.
 
Eventually, most of them would die for doing exactly what the Sanhedrin tried to stop them from doing in those early days.
 
They would die rather than stop proclaiming his name.
 
The Oxford Dictionaries in the entry under the word Jesus, now include this definition: “an oath used to express irritation, dismay, or surprise.”
 
It’s in the dictionary now.
 
A person scratches off a losing lottery ticket, fails to beat a red light, forgets his glasses at home, hears the latest Dow Jones average, disagrees with an umpire’s call or the latest elimination on “Dancing with the Stars,” and his response is: “Jesus Christ.”
 
That’s a far cry from what St. Paul wrote to the church in Philippi:
 
“God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
 
Charles Paolino is a member of the RENEW staff and a permanent Deacon in the Diocese of Metuchen.