As catechists, one thing that is important for us to remember is that for us to best enrich the lives of the disciples entrusted to us, we must remember to take care to of our own spiritual needs too.  If your life is anything like mine, you are very busy and that makes it easy to get stuck in routines.  We can have a tendency to put our own spirituality on the back burner as we focus on our students, our families and our friends.  Additionally, in going through our hectic lives, we can pick up some bad habits that impact our spiritual health in a negative way.

I recognize these tendencies in myself and I’m sure that I’m not alone.  I’m always looking for opportunities to strengthen my own spirituality, not only to help me grow closer to God, but to be able to share Him more effectively with others that I come in contact with.  So, you can imagine my excitement then when I found out that Joe Paprocki was having another one of his free webinars, this time on this very topic.  If you don’t know Joe, his blog, Catechist’s Journey, was the first blog for catechists that I found on the web.  I consider him a sort of online mentor for me based on the content on his blog, not only regarding ideas and techniques for being a good catechist, but also by reflecting on his comments as a way of seeing where I need to improve in my ministry.

Joe’s upcoming webinar is titled “7 Keys to Spiritual Wellness” and is based on some of the information found in his new book by the same title.  While I have not read the book (yet), based on the description I was able to find on the Loyola Press website, it looks like a great resource for catechists, but it is clear from the description that this would be valuable for all sorts of people looking for spiritual renewal, whether in a formal ministry or not.  This webinar will cover some of the principles from the book and will similarly be a great resource for those looking to strengthen their spiritual health.

Like Joe’s prior webinars, this one is free.  It is scheduled for Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 6pm EDT and should last about an hour.  If his prior webinars are any indication, the time will be well spent.  Below is a link to the post on Joe’s blog describing the webinar and that page also contains a link to sign up for the event.  You will need to sign up to get the link to the session.

7 Keys to Spiritual Wellness: A Webinar for Easter People

I know we are all on a spiritual journey and as human beings, we can have a tendency to not give our journey the attention it deserves.  This should prove to be a great opportunity to refocus ourselves on our spiritual wellness and can take us another step closer to our Lord.  I hope you’ll have the opportunity to attend.

Until next time, keep sharing the faith.

There is so much to gleam from these two inspired works and so many observations and lessons to learn from them as well.  Two things that have struck me so far as I read the scriptures in a focused way.  The first is the use of parables by Jesus as a means of teaching.  While the use of this method of teaching by Him is not new knowledge for me, reading these parables consecutively like this brings a new perspective as a catechist.  It is so easy for me to “teach” something, but seeing Jesus use them in context like this reminds me of a saying that fellow blogger Joe Paprocki of Catechist’s Journey often quotes from St. Ignatius of Loyola, “entering through their door but leaving through your door”.  This is exactly what Jesus does with these parables.  He frames it in a way that his disciples can relate with, but uses that to bring his lesson out.  It’s very easy to fall back to catechizing from our viewpoint without remembering to catechize from their viewpoint so it has more meaning.

The second observation is from my readings in the Old Testament.  Both the LORD and Moses use the term “stiff-necked people” when referring the people of Israel.  As I’ve been reading, my initial impression is that these people just don’t get it.  Why are they so dense?  I mean, God just smote the first born of an entire nation for them, split a sea in half and fed them out of no where and they are just a bunch of spoiled brats!!  Then it hit me.  We are a “stiff-necked people” too in our day.  In fact, I myself am a “stiff-necked people”, if I am honest with myself.  How many times have I turned my back on God, whether a little of a lot?  Whether I’m choosing to do something else over prayer, or deciding to do something other that what my conscience is telling me to do, I have many time done something contrary to what God wants me to do, even in the face of all the reminders of His will for me.  This makes me just as much a “stiff-necked people” as the decedents of Israel in the Book of Exodus.  We are all sinners and stiff-necked in our own way.  And just how many times did Jesus imply the same thing in Gospel I just finished reading?  This ends up being a good reminder for me for the next time I end up at that crossroads (which should be any minute now).

Deciding to undergo this activity is turning out to be a great method of spiritual growth for me.  I am starting to appreciate scripture so much more by doing this.  I do find myself challenged in relating to the Psalms very well at this point of my readings, however.  I have a tendency to be literal when I read and I’m just not in the middle of a physical war or a battle where I can relate to the psalmist’s plight.  I recognize that I am in a spiritual sense, but I still have trouble relating to many of them.  I’ll have to pray on that point.

Until next time, keep sharing the faith.

In its most basic form, penance is a way of making up for a wrong done.  In a Catholic sense, it’s a way of making up for a wrong or offense done to God.  The three most common forms of penance are prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  Prayer forces us to stop and prioritize God above all else.  It acknowledges that God is greater than us and by raising our hearts and minds to Him, we endeavor to grow closer to Him.  Fasting is the forgoing of something we find desirable.  Normally food, but it really can be most anything.  This causes suffering, whether an actual physical hunger for food or the fighting of another desire that we have chosen to set aside.  Need I say that suffering is not “fun” and can easily get a frown (and much more negative responses) from students?  Almsgiving is doing for others, generally for the glory of God and to please Him.  Most commonly viewed as helping the poor by providing money or goods, it can actually also be much more.  Giving alms includes giving of your time through volunteering or by helping a neighbor, giving of yourself to others in need, including emotional need, spiritual need, etc.  This means you have to forgo something to offer the other person.  Again, this can produce a form of suffering by not being able to use the thing being given or the time being offered for something else that might be more pleasurable.

However, the wisdom of penance is much greater than the obvious products of our efforts noted above, as is the case with all suffering.  A practice of penance and suffering can lead to detachment.  As you focus on these acts of penance, over time you begin to place less importance on the things you are giving up and even the pleasure they might otherwise bring you.  You begin to refocus your life through this detachment of earthly “things” and begin to focus on God and love for Him.

This is what Lent is all about.  Taking 40 days “in the desert” to refocus our lives back on God — to acknowledge where we have gone astray, with contrition ask for forgiveness and make up for our sinfulness.  By refocusing back on God, we should expect to take what we’ve learned and changed during Lent and do it for the rest of the year and the rest of our lives.

As catechists, we must bring these principles back to the forefront of our students’ lives.  While we can plant the seeds, the students must make the changes themselves, preferably with the guidance and support of their families.  We, however, should be tools to help them better understand the importance and value of these traditions that, through the Wisdom of God, the Church has charged all the faithful to follow.

Until next time, keep sharing the faith!

(Jonathan Sullivan has invited Catholic bloggers everywhere to write on a common theme today — penance — as part of the first Catholic Blog Day.  Please visit the Catholic Blog Day site to find other great posts from a variety of Catholic bloggers.)

Lately, I feel like I’m walking down a dark path and I stop and yell out to see if someone can direct me.  I know someone is there willing to, but I can’t quite make out where they are telling me to go.  So, I keep walking down the path I’m sure is the right one and in a short while, I yell out again to see if the person I know is out there somewhere can tell me the way, but I end up with the same result.  That pretty much sums up my spiritual life these days.  I know someone’s there trying to tell me where I should go next, but I can’t quite make out what they are saying.

As I’ve reflected on this feeling, not really one if despair, but more of confused longing, I keep focusing on something I read a couple of years back in the Guide for Catechist, which was issued in 1993 by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.  It states, “To help catechists in their spiritual life, spiritual direction should be made available” (#22) and “… spiritual direction is very important, as it touches the depths of a person’s soul and helps open it to God’s grace” (#28).  Additionally, as I’ve read other blogs, such as Joe Paprocki’s Catechist’s Journey, he has mentioned once or twice about the benefits of spiritual direction, even for the laity.  I also have recalled a news piece a few years back where the Holy Father himself encouraged everyone to seek spiritual direction.

This is a journey that I have contemplated taking from time to time.  I’ve given myself the excuses that I don’t have time, or that a potential director’s time would be better spent on someone else, that this is not for me, etc.  And those times that I’ve brushed aside all those excuses, I’ve faced apprehension, intimidation and at times, downright fear of the process.  That smells like attachment to me, and not in any good sense.

So, enough is enough.  It has become quite clear to me that I am being called to find a companion to help guide me down the path and to help me interpret what that voice, God’s voice, is actually guiding me to do.  I’ve been fortunate to find a number of resources to help prepare me for this journey.  Sites like Catholic Spiritual Direction have been extremely eye opening.  A number of other bloggers like Fr. Charles Sammons from a minor friar and Becky Eldredge from Everything Is Holy Now have inspired me through some of their blog posts and comments to take this very important next step in my spiritual journey.  As a final step in preparing to begin the process, I’ve also discovered and have been reading “Seeking Spiritual Direction: How to Grow the Divine Life Within” by Thomas Dubay, S.M. on the Catholic Spiritual Direction site.  I’m almost done with reading the book and it has proven to be a wonderful resource!!  I would highly recommend it to anyone who is considering finding a spiritual director.

My initial meeting with my new director is tomorrow.  I have mixed feelings of excitement and apprehension, but I am committed to this process  and am looking forward to seeing where God is leading me next in my spiritual journey.  Please pray for me as I take this next step down the path unknown with the Lord.

Until next time, keep sharing the faith.

As I look forward to the new year, I have been trying to set some goals for myself.  One thing I’ve been considering doing for some time now is to read the Bible completely.  It can easily be a daunting task when you look at the thickness of the book itself, but there is no doubt as to the value one can obtain from reading all of salvation history in Holy Scripture.

As I’ve considered how to best tackle the undertaking, I’ve come across a number of suggestions on how to read through the Bible.  The approach I’ve settled on is to read the Bible in one year.  Many of the one year plans I’ve seen are based on the Protestant Bible, but I did come across a document from an organization called The Coming Home Network International.  They have a plan to not only read the Bible in a year, but the Catechism of the Catholic Church as well.

I’ve taken their plan schedule and also built it into a spreadsheet format that allows me to keep track of my progress right on my iPad as I use my Bible app and a CCC link right off of that device.  I can read my daily reading from anywhere, and if I miss a day along the way, it’s very easy to catch right back up.  For those interested in the plan, below are links to the original PDF as well as my spreadsheet versions. I would suggest that one always looks at the PDF first, even if they want to use the spreadsheets because the PDF contains some additional guidance where the spreadsheets are exclusively the listing of the daily readings.

Read the Bible and the Catechism in a Year
– Original PDF Format
– Excel Spreadsheet Format
– Open Document Spreadsheet Format

I’m looking forward to my own personal growth as I read through the Bible fully, along with the Catechism and I know it will absolutely help in my catechetical ministries.  I hope it can be helpful to all of you as well.

Until next time, keep sharing the faith.

Until next time, keep sharing the faith.

This retreat was completely structured around Advent with a focus on the word “come”. It gave me a new appreciation for the meaning of the season. It began with a reading from the Song of Songs 3:1-4. This passage speaks about searching for God, and when he is found, bringing him into the deepest, most private place in the house. We then had a silent meditation around our readiness to bring Christ into the deepest, most private place in our hearts, in our souls. Am I ready? What’s holding me back?  That was followed by a discussion that Jesus wants all of us, not just the perfect parts and that we need to remember that we need to bring everything, including the good and the bad, to God.  He wants us all!

Do you have any sense of how much the Church uses the word “come” in its prayers during the season of Advent? The Liturgy of the Hours uses the response, “Come, Lord Jesus”. Various antiphons, readings and Alleluia versus of the Masses throughout Advent all ask our the Lord to come. Just look at the O Antiphons for a perfect example of the Church, as the bride, asking her bridegroom, Jesus, to come. What a great image!!

Lastly, we focused on part of the nativity narrative from Luke (Luke 2:1-14). We had another terrific period of silent prayer to meditate on the scripture passage. Silence is underrated, by the way. What a wonderful opportunity to put oneself there with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. From the journey to Bethlehem, to the birth and the message of the angel to the shepherds, it gave me an opportunity to appreciate what people must have felt, not only emotionally, but physically as well.

In between all of that we had Mass, opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, lunch with friends and a sharing circle to round the day off. I’m so glad I went. The Lord spoke to me in a very special way at the retreat, not only through Fr. Matt and the other participants, but directly when in silent prayer. He knew what I needed (no surprise there) and showed me the way, not only for my ministry, but for me as well. I really need to make time to go on retreat more often, or at least find more opportunities for silent prayer during my day. Did I mention that science is definitely underrated?

Until next time, keep sharing the faith.

Last time, I mentioned that I was trying to begin a Youth Ministry group in our parish.  That has really taken up quite a bit of time.  The original core group of adults had a very different view of youth ministry than I did.  That being said, I tried to be accommodating because if it’s one thing I learned over the years, it’s that I do not have all the answers.  Well, the two other adults decided to leave the program and that left me having to do everything.  The good news is that I get to structure the group in a way I think best balances faith and social activities; the bad news is that it is all me at this point, which I think limits how much we can do.  I’m praying and asking for more help, but we’ll see what happens there.

As I mentioned, Religious Education is pretty challenging this year.  I have a group of 9th graders, and about a third of the class is made up of members of a local high school’s freshmen football team.  Additionally, two thirds of the class are boys that know and feed off of each other.  Discipline is a challenge and they seem so disconnected from their faith that they just don’t get the curriculum from this year.  I’m going to talk to my CRE about the possibility of changing the content for next year.  While I love the idea of going through the Mass in detail, there are some basic things these students seem to be missing, which significantly limits how much they can get out of the material.  Can you say “blank stares”?

Anyway, I’ve recieved some great feedback over the last few years on my blog and encouragement to keep it up.  I’ve also gotten a lot out of posting and reading the comments some of my readers leave, so I’m not ready to give this up.  I truly hope to have more content to offer going forward, but I also recognize that I’ve said that before and have then fallen off the face of the blogosphere.  I ask for your patience and forgiveness as I try to get back in a routine that will allow me to share with all of you again.

Until next time (which I hope will be much sooner than last time), keep sharing the faith.

Moving to a sitting position from her original laying position, she eyed me the entire time as I took out the trash barrel.  As I returned to where she was, she seemed to be significantly more friendly.  She was a bit dirty, which told me she had been outside for a while.  I also noticed that she had a collar and that it had a somewhat dated Dog License from a town about 10 miles away.  As I was looking at her collar, she offered me a paw and then the other to follow.  I began to wonder how she ended up at my back deck.  I went ahead and got her some water, which was really all I had to offer her at the time.  I had to take my daughter to school and my wife to work, so I left her on the deck with the water.

As I drove my wife to work, we talked about what we should do with our new visitor.  We agreed that I would call the town that issued her license to see if they could give me owner information.  I know that dogs are very much a part of one’s family and someone might be quite sad that this dog was missing.  We agreed that we would care for her until we could find her owners.  On the way back home, I took a detour to the supermarket and bought some dog food, a bowl and a leash.  When I got back home though, she was gone; off on her travels to who-knows-where, I guess.

As I thought about this experience, it reminded me of one of the initial lessons in our 6th Grade Religious Education Curriculum — Stewardship.  In Gen 1:28 we see that God has given us responsibility over His creation.  He has an expectation that we will responsibly use what he has given us to meet our needs and to care for what He has created.  Sometimes, you don’t know in what way you might be called to take action as a steward.  It can be fighting to save a rain forest, it can be defending the right to life, or it can even be helping a dog that unexpectedly shows up at your back door.  To be honest, I was a little sad that she was gone when I returned home, with the water still where I left it.  I hope I did my part in caring for one of God’s creatures, but I think this was God’s way of reminding me that I have a responsibility to care for what he puts on my path to knowing, loving and serving Him.

On a side note, this reminded me of one of my favorite videos.  I include it below in the hopes that it makes you smile.

Until next time, keep sharing the faith.