Archive for the 'Sublime to Ridiculous' Category
How often do we hear kids say, either about Mass or about religious education class, “It’s boring”? Too often, I’m sure.
Kids (and most of us in general) are engaged when there is drama involved. That’s why sports is so big…we don’t know how the game is going to turn out and so we are engaged. Movies and video games are big because we don’t know how they will end.
One of the challenges we face as catechists is to present the drama of the Christian story. This can be particularly challenging because, on the surface, we know how the story ends. During Holy Week, we enter into the dramatic events of Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection. And yet, we know “how the story ends.” Where’s the drama?
The drama is, in fact, discovered in how the death and resurrection of Christ intersects with our own lives.WE DO NOT KNOW HOW OUR OWN PERSONAL STORY “ENDS.” We do not know how the Paschal Mystery will “play out” in our own lives.
The only way that the Christian story, and Mass, and religious education can be perceived as boring is if we in general find life to be boring. Granted, we do experience redundancy in our lives, but there is nothing boring about the human experience. Our challenge is to tap into the drama of the human experience and show our young people how the death and resurrection of Jesus is found in that experience and how the paschal mystery of Jesus can transform our experience.
One way we can bring our young people to this realization is to be sure that we are always addressing the profound issues of life going on around us. We need to invite our young people to pray for and keep in mind those people who are sick, suffering, oppressed, enduring hardships, experiencing the loss of a loved one, or a relationship, or of a job, and so on. We need to invite the young people to share prayers for people in their own lives who are experiencing these things, as well as the great joys of life…births, accomplishments, victories, vacations, engagements and marriages, and so on.
Life is not boring. It is full of turns and twists that can make our heads spin. We need to invite our young people to plunge headlong into the mystery of life and help them to see how God is found in the midst of it. We do our young people no favors by suggesting that following Jesus is fun or that it will take away all of our problems. The biggest favor we can offer our young people is to recognize the profound complexities of life within the context of the death and Resurrection of Jesus.
My thanks to Fr. J. Glenn Murray, S.J. for touching on this topic in his workshop at the L.A. Congress this past weekend. It obviously made me think!
Saint Patrick’s Day will fall during Holy Week this year for the first time since 1940. This means that there will be no Mass in honor of St. Patrick on March 17 which is the Monday of Holy Week (according to the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat of Divine Worship).
Many Catholic bishops are asking for even more sensitivity to this overlap by urging parades and festivities to be scheduled outside of Holy Week. Many cities and organizations are doing just that. However, in Columbus, Ohio, the Shamrock Club is going ahead with its March 17 parade. The president of the club cites the following:
“It’s not a sin to celebrate your Irish culture.”
and
“Actually, you’re born Irish first and then you’re baptized.”
In both cases, he is technically correct but spiritually wrong. It is not a sin to celebrate your culture. It’s a matter of timing and of priorities. The word “holy” means to be “set apart for God’s purposes.” Holy Week is thus a time that we set aside from our usual practices to enter more deeply into the Paschal Mystery of Christ. To insist on celebrating Irish heritage during this week is to miss the profundity of the Paschal Mystery in our lives.
Likewise, when we place anything, including our cultural heritage, in a position of more prominence than our relationship with God, we are skewing our relationship with God. What is sin other than the skewing of our relationship with God and others?
Most importantly, the idea that we are born Irish (or Polish, or African-American, or Puerto-Rican, etc.) first and then baptized is chronologically correct. However, it misses the entire point of baptism. In baptism, we are born again, recognizing that our true heritage is as children of God. This is why St. Paul said,
“for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:26-28)
As in many cases, this is not a case of the Church asking us to say “No” to something as it is asking us to remember what it is that we have said (and must continue to say) a greater “YES!” to.
Being Irish (or any other ethnic background) is nice, but it’s not our source of salvation.
Catechists, let’s be sure to plan any recognition of St. Patrick’s Day with our students BEFORE Holy Week so that Holy Week is truly holy: set apart for God’s purposes.
There’s a popular children’s book featuring Grover from Sesame Street titled There’s a Monster at the End of This Book! I remember reading this book to my daughter when she was little. Throughout the book, loveable furry Grover begs the reader not to turn the page for fear that there is a monster at the end of the book. At the end, Grover says, “oops, I am so embarrassed” because the monster at the end of the book is none other than Grover himself.
Children are afraid of monsters. But then, so are adults. Oh we may not believe in gigantic furry creatures with claws, be we are afraid of human monsters…those seemingly less than human people who hurt, maim, and kill other human beings. When good people die senselessly, we look for the monster. We’re still looking for the monster(s) responsible for the JFK assassination because we can’t believe that a little twerp like Lee Harvey Oswald could be responsible for such a heinous deed. People are still looking for the monsters responsible for Princess Diana’s tragic car crash. In the aftermath of the killings at Columbine HS and at Virginia Tech, you could almost feel a palpable sense of relief in the American psyche when it was revealed that the young men responsible for those killings were such social misfits: clearly monsters waiting to attack.
Now, we have Steven Kazmierczak who killed 5 people and injured numerous others at Northern Illinois University last week. Authorities still don’t really know what set him off. Indications are that he struggled with some mental illness but so do countless millions of Americans. We will keep searching until we dig up something that shows us he was a monster so that we can all relax knowing that there is a huge chasm between creatures like him and ourselves.
However, we are not finding any evidence that he was a monster. What he did was monstrous but the frightening reality is that Stephen Kazmierczak apparently was not all that different from most of us. Something pushed him over a line that most of us do not cross but that we all brush up against in our lives. I say all this because I have heard that some people’s bright idea of how to “solve” the problem of campus shootings is to allow students to carry concealed weapons. The people who advocate this believe in monsters. They believe that “normal” people will be able to protect themselves with concealed weapons should monsters appear on campus. They don’t realize that they will simply be putting guns in the hands of more people like Stephen Kazmierczak - people who are basically normal until something pushes them over a line and they can easily reach into their holster and use their weapon to release their rage.
There are no monsters at the end of this story. Just ourselves. Let’s not arm ourselves with the weapons that make it so easy for normally law-abiding citizens to cross that line.
I thought you might enjoy this reflection.
http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/
It is with great sadness that I provide a link to my 4/16/07 post that followed the Virginia Tech shootings. In that post, I offered some strategies for helping children to cope with disaster. In light of the shootings at Northern Illinois University yesterday, I’m aware of the fact that some of us catechists may find ourselves in a situation where it would be prudent for us to speak about the incident.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the Northern Illinois University community and to the families of all who have been affected by this enormous tragedy.
I offer a few thoughts from a book by Fr. Richard Hauser, S.J., titled Finding God in Troubled Times:
Where is our God in suffering? We Christians do not have a fully satisfying explanation for why the world contains so much suffering. But we have something better: we have the power to deal with the suffering. We know where our God is during suffering. Our God is with us - in all the senseless accidents and ruptured relationships and interior brokenness of our lives. And we cannot claim to be living a fully Christian life until we believe and live this dimension of the gospel, trusting God’s presence and power working through our own “thorns in the flesh,” Gethsemanes, and Calvarys.
Click here to watch an interview with Fr. Hauser about the topic of finding God in troubled times.
I find Valentine’s Day to be a wonderful opportunity to talk about the Church’s sacramental life. A traditional definition of a sacrament is “an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace.” For the most part, this is a good definition, especially the phrase “outward sign.”
Catholic sacramentality basically expresses our belief that the invisible God can be recognized and encountered through the physical world. That’s why we use water, oil, bread, wine, flame, etc. in our sacramental celebrations. Through these visible and tangible realities, we encounter and recognize the invisible and intangible God.
Catholics do this because it’s the human thing to do. Those things that are most profoundly human - including our sharing in the divine life of the Trinity - cannot be “captured” in words alone. When encountering that which is profound, we move beyond words into the realm of metaphor, signs, and symbols.
Some people dismiss Valentine’s Day as a “Hallmark holiday.” However, it is another opportunity for people in love to express that profound love through signs and symbols. And so today at work, I saw flowers delivered to one of the women in another department. During lunch, I walked over the Ethel’s Chocolate shop to pick up a few gingerbread chocolates for my wife. Later we will go out for dinner, something we rarely do on a Thursday evening. Countless numbers of people will exchange gifts or receive flowers, chocolates, and cards, and enjoy a night out on a work night. And, of course, many couples will share intimate moments with one another, expressing that love physically, beyond words. That which is most profound requires a language beyond words.
In the Sacraments, we encounter the love of the Trinity and enter into an intimate relationship with God. We Catholics know that words alone cannot come close to expressing the profound nature of that encounter. We need signs and symbols.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Last night, we took our classes to church for the Lenten Sacrament of Reconciliation. For the most part, they behaved very well and it was a very nice service (it includes individual confessions which means the kids need to behave for a long stretch of time). My aide, Kris, and I were talking afterwards about how funny the kids can be. While some of the behavior can be a bit maddening, most of it makes me laugh on the inside. Here are just a few tidbits from last night.
- Kris and I both received one Valentine’s gift each…a small package of Fannie May chocolate hearts. One young man (he’s a tall 8th grader…about 5′ 10″) came into class before we headed to church and handed Kris her gift which I thought was very sweet. Then he handed me my gift without missing a step as though it was the most natural thing on earth to do for a boy to give his teacher a Valentine gift. I was impressed that there was no razzing from the other students standing around. It was so completely innocent and sincere that I had to chuckle to myself.
- Before heading to Church, one of the girls said, “we just went to confession in Advent.” I explained why Lent was so early this year and that, yes, it seems like we had just gone to confession. She responded, “Yeah, but I haven’t done anything wrong since then!”
- In Church, the DRE used the time while kids were going to confession to sign up some of them for roles at the Confirmation Mass. One of the girls then called me over in a good-natured panic and said, “I just signed up to be a reader at Confirmation! I’m gonna make a fool of myself. I gonna mess up! I’m gonna fall down the stairs! I don’t know what to wear!” The kids around her started to laugh as I tried to calm her down (laughing quietly to myself) and one of the priests actually came over and reminded us to quiet down! I assured her that the DRE was going to work with her and that she would be fine.
- After confessing to the priest, each student was to go to the altar, say their prayer of penance, and then write down on a piece of paper what they would do during Lent as acts of penance. Then, they drop the paper in a bowl in the middle aisle as they return to their seats. One of the boys came back and told Kris, “I think I wrote the wrong thing on the paper. I wrote down my sins! Can I go back and change it?” She assured him that God knew what was in his heart and that no one would dig out his paper to read his list of sins.
- After the prayer service, we distributed a study sheet in preparation for their Confirmation test (assessment) coming up in 2 weeks. Immediately, the big question was, “What if I fail?!!! Will I be held back?!!!” Kris and I calmed their fears and told them that if they don’t do well, we will personally work with them to make sure they know their faith in preparation for celebrating Confirmation. We had to remind them that we were not “weeding them out” but assessing their progress and responding as needed.
- One of the young men (whose behavior has been less then stellar all year) asked me if I had gone up to one of the priests to confess my sins! I told him that I had not on this night but that I went during the Advent service and hope to go again before Lent is over. I got a kick out of being checked up on.
- Apparently, this same boy commented to Kris last week (I was not present last week) about his less-than-favorable R.E. report card saying, “Thanks for getting me in trouble with that report card.” Without missing a beat, Kris said, “You wanna see who was responsible for that?” and took him around the corner of the room where there is a mirror on the wall and had him stand in front of it! She said, “I didn’t write your report card, Mr. Paprocki did, but here’s who’s really responsible.” He apparently reacted fine to that. Way to go, Kris!
Oh, these kids are something else, aren’t they! Gotta love em.
I’m glad that we receive ashes only once a year and have the opportunity to receive the Eucharist everyday (and not the other way around!). Both actions express the same message: we are incapable of sustaining ourselves. On Ash Wednesday, we are reminded of what we are when no longer sustained by God…dust. The Eucharist, on the other hand, IS what sustains us…God’s grace - the presence of Jesus within us. The message of Ash Wednesday is not morbid…it is a joyful reminder that, with God’s life within us, we are so much more than dust and ashes!
I had the pleasure of sharing lunch with Connie Rakitan, the coordinator of a program called Faith and Fellowship - a ministry of faith formation for people who suffer from mental illness.
Statistics reveal that one in four American families are affected by mental illness. As catechists, we need to realize that 25% of those we teach are affected my mental illness, meaning that they or someone they know suffers from a mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, phobias, or major clinical depression, just to name a few.
Many people with mental illness can function and make great contributions to society. Unfortunately, people with mental illness are often socially isolated and even feel isolated from God. Connie’s Faith and Fellowship program seeks to help those with mental illness experience the love of God and of their sisters and brothers in faith. Faith and Fellowship strives to provide faith formation in a way suited to the needs of the mentally ill within the context of a small faith community as well as to offer opportunities for integration into the life and activities of the church or parish community. Connie provides training for her catechists to meet the unique needs of the faith community they are serving.
We as a Church are deeply appreciative to Connie and people who work with her in Faith and Fellowship for their dedication to our brothers and sisters who are often marginalized in our society. Their participation in the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy (ministering to the sick and “imprisoned”; offering counsel and comfort) is an inspiration to all of us.
Faith and Fellowship can be contacted at 38 N. Austin Blvd., Oak Park, IL 60302 / 708-383-9276.
I’m always suspicious of people who tell me that when they were in Vegas, they won X amount of money playing a certain game or machine. They never tell you how much they lost along the way!
In the same way, I’m about to tell you about a moment I had last night at religious education that was like hitting the jackpot. I’ll follow that, however, with a little disclaimer that shows it wasn’t all roses.
Anyway, last night I led a guided meditation on the Corporal Works of Mercy. In this meditation, Jesus enters the room and sits down next to the young person and they engage in conversation about what it means to follow Jesus. Jesus then slowly lays out the works of mercy that his disciples are called to do. In all, the meditation lasted about 15 minutes and I did it for 4 separate groups of 8th graders.
The “jackpot” moment was after one of the meditations, when I was explaining to the group that they had just meditated and that they key is to use their imaginations to engage in conversation with Jesus. A young man then said, “Yeah, it’s like he was sitting right next to me.”
WOW! Isn’t that what we catechists live for? I was thrilled to hear him say this, especially in front of his peers. I told the group that this is something they can practice at home: go to their room, get in a comfortable position, pay attention to their breathing until they slow it down, and then imagine Jesus entering the room to sit and talk with them.
Now, before you think that I had them eating out of my hand all night, here’s what else I dealt with:
- a cell phone going off in the middle of one meditation
- 3 young people who just couldn’t stop chatting with one another
- one young person who felt compelled to just blurt out a comment every few minutes during the meditation despite my directions for quiet
- a mysterious laser pointer whose source I was never able to determine
- 2 young people with the giggles during a meditation
- 1 young person who fell asleep during the meditation
Out of the 4 meditations, I would say 2 went extremely well, 1 was OK, and 1 was a struggle. The bottom line is that we have to let the weeds and the wheat grow together (Matthew 13:24-30). We need patience and endurance to put up with the frustrating part of our ministry, knowing that God’s grace can, does, and will penetrate and make an impact on some who are ready.
Here’s the text of the meditation. Feel free to use it.
Meditation on the Corporal Works of Mercy
Today, we’re learning about what it is that Catholics believe and do. During the next 20 minutes, we’re going to focus on some very specific things that Catholics do. They’re called works of mercy because, when we perform these works, we share God’s merciful love with others.
Let’s take a moment to get comfortable now.
Make sure you’re in a position where you can be comfortable and still for the next 20 minutes.
Let’s quiet ourselves. Slowly and quietly breathe in to the count of 5. (1,2,3,4,5)
Hold your breath for 1 second.
Now slowly and quietly breathe out to the count of 5 (1,2,3,4,5)
Let’s do that again. (repeat)
Now, imagine that everyone else in this room just vanished and that you are all alone, enjoying the quiet.
Before long, Jesus walks in and sits next to you.
He asks how you are doing. Talk to him.
He explains that he is here today to ask you to be one of his followers.
You ask him, “Jesus, what do I have to do to be one of your followers?”
Jesus says, “the most important thing to do is to care for the needs of others. I want you to show mercy to others by tending to their needs whenever you can.”
You ask Jesus, “what do you mean? What kind of needs?”
Jesus says, “let me tell you about the needs that people have and how you can help them:
I want you to recognize when people are hungry and thirsty. Start in your own home. People don’t have to be starving to be hungry. Think about how you can help at meal time in your family. Help set the table. Help to prepare the food in the kitchen. Help to clean up afterwards. But also, keep in mind all the people in the world who don’t have food and water like you do. Pay attention to how you can help with food drives, support food pantries, work at a soup kitchen, or give money to people who feed the hungry.
I want you to shelter the homeless. You are very lucky to have a good roof over your head. Take care of your home. Help your neighbors to care for their homes. Pay attention to some of the ways that you can support people who work with the homeless. Homeless shelters need donations of soap, shampoo, and other personal items…maybe you can help by donating some of these.
I want you to clothe those who have no clothing. Again, you are very lucky to have warm clothes and shoes on your feet. Thank your parents for providing you with clothing and try not to get hung up on spending a lot of money on clothes. Go through your drawers and your closet and pack up some clothing that you can give to someone less fortunate.
I want you to visit the sick and imprisoned. I know that you’re not old enough to visit people in jail and hospitals even have age limits. But there are other ways you can be present to people. You can call or send a card to someone who is sick. If you have relatives that can’t get out of the house often because of their age or sickness, spend some time with them. People don’t have to be in jail to be imprisoned. Some people are imprisoned in their own homes because of sickness. Of course, if any of your friends are sick, be sure to visit them or call them…it will mean a lot to them.
I want you to be of help to others who are suffering the death of a loved one. I know it’s not fun to go to a wake or a funeral, but it means so much to the people who are grieving to just know that you care and that they are not alone. If you have grandparents or other relatives who are widows or widowers, spend some time with them. They can be very lonely missing their loved ones who have died. You probably even have friends who have lost a loved one. Be sure to show that you care and that you are there for them.
Finally, I want you to do what you can to help the poor. I know you probably don’t have a lot of money of your own but you’d be surprised to know just how many people in the world have far less than you have. Do what you can to share with those in need. Save your change in a jar at home and every once in a while, donate it to those who work with the poor. Instead of buying something for yourself, every once in a while, buy something for the poor or give the money to help those who are poor.
Jesus pauses and then says, I’m not asking you to change the world. But if you and all of my followers do what you can, the world will change. I want you to do works of mercy: feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, bury the dead, and give to the poor. Will you consider being my follower?
Tell Jesus that you are preparing for Confirmation…preparing to follow him in a new way as a young adult. Tell him that you want to follow him but that you need his help. Talk to Jesus about what’s keeping you from truly being one of his followers.
Jesus knows that it’s time for you to move on now. He asks if there’s anything else you want to say to him or ask him. Take time to do that now.
Thank Jesus for this time together.
Watch as he walks out of the chapel and down the stairs.
Spend a quiet moment now with the Holy Spirit.
Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous 16 will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
