Lectionary: 54 

Adults: When have you seen the power of love overcome a bad situation? 
Children: Do you believe love is stronger than hate? Why?

When we gaze at the stars, we behold a wonder like no other. The size of the galaxies and stars is unfathomable. We on Earth are but dust in relation to the cosmos. 

Reflecting on this gives us a small glimpse into the awesome power of God "who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its produce, who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk on it: . . ." (Isaiah 42:5). With simple speech God spoke everything into existence. And bearing his imprint, the "heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1).

As powerful as this act of creation was, it pales in comparison to the true power of the universe: Love.

The Lord of the Universe created us with free will. What a great risk! C.S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity: "Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk." People use their freedom for diabolic things every day. But when we exercise our will for the sake of love, we exercise a power greater than the creation of the universe.

This might all sound very lofty and heroic, but let us remember that love is often manifest in the small things—a kind gesture, a warm smile, a firm handshake, holding the door for someone, or saying thank you. These are all examples of the small ways that love wins over evil. When we begin the practice of love in the little things, we develop the fortitude to practice love in the big things.

This is, after all, the example God gives us in becoming human. The Lord of the Universe became a helpless baby as part of God’s great plan to save humanity. He then proceeded to live an ordinary human life. It was in Christ’s final hours—through his Passion and Death, and by his Resurrection—that the Father’s great love was so powerfully revealed.
In Romans 12:9-21, St. Paul describes the marks of a true Christian. Verse 21 reminds us: "Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good." We really can make a difference in the world. When our lives manifest love and goodness, we exercise the greatest power in the universe.

(June 9, 2019) | Lectionary: 62/63

Adults: What gift of service have you received from the Holy Spirit and how well are you using it right now?
Children: What gift do you hope to receive from the Holy Spirit? How could you use it to serve others?

by Thomas Gette

One of the issues I face in my life is getting ahead of myself with a list of all the things I want to do. For example, I might want to increase time for prayer in my life, but then I envision all the other things I want to do. As a result, I become overwhelmed and I end up making no changes at all. 

If I do get started with my goal of praying more, it becomes too much to maintain, and I end up with less of a prayer life afterward. I do a similar thing with new hobbies and life goals, and with trying to serve in my parish and in my community.

In other words, I get carried away with wanting to do this, that, or the other. Then I find myself not doing anything. This situation arises when I don’t take the time to consider my gifts and talents and how to use them. Instead, I get mired in this idyllic vision of how I want to serve. This usually leads to burnout. I either become over-committed or I never get started because it feels too overwhelming.

There is no doubt that God calls all of us to serve in this world. What we often don’t consider is that God calls each of us to do something specific. It is a great spiritual exercise to discern and discover what our gifts and talents are. In fact, acknowledging our gifts and talents is a way to glorify God. It is not prideful to acknowledge our gifts. When we humbly use our gifts at the service of others, then we are truly embracing them.

There is something very liberating about this practice. When we focus on the core things that we are good at, then we become much more willing and able to make use of those gifts. It allows us to focus on doing service instead of just thinking about it. 

The gift of service comes in many forms. Some, like cloistered women religious, use the gift of unceasing prayer. Missionaries give the gift of spiritual and material comfort and healing to those in far off lands. Catechists use the gift of teaching to help form virtuous and faithful Christians.

It is easy to get overwhelmed with what to do and how to serve. If we are ever feeling at a loss for how to serve, a great place to begin is by considering our day-to-day lives. Parents have the obvious task of serving their children by caring for them and raising them. But we can also look at our jobs outside of the home. Whether we are a student, a parent, or a career person, our daily duties are a type of service. They open up for us opportunities to constantly discover new ways to serve.

We do not all need to be at a soup kitchen or doing foster care, but we should each search and discover where God wants to make use of our gifts. 

The goal isn’t for us to become superheroes. The goal is for us to play our part.

As a child, I grew up in a house without air-conditioning. It was a small, three-bedroom ranch and not a lot of windows for airflow. Air-conditioning made my mom sick, so there was no chance we would have one in the house. But one year my dad finally convinced her to let him put a window unit in the garage, which, in the warm weather, became our summer room. 

My dad built a large screen which sat behind the garage door, so when the door went up the screen provided a view to the neighborhood and the best airflow in the house. But there were days when even that wasn’t enough. So, when my mom said “Yes” to the window unit, my dad and I could barely contain our excitement. 

The good, cool times lasted about a month before my mom came down with a cold which she blamed on the air-conditioner. So, we went back to wet towels around our necks and cold drinks on the shaded patio. We realized what we had already learned over the years, that comfort is relative, and many times our feelings of being physically uncomfortable are more minor inconveniences than serious problems.

I would learn more about being spiritually uncomfortable as I studied my Catholic faith. Scripture made it clear that Jesus was a master at making people feel uncomfortable—especially those who needed a new perspective, a fuller understanding of God, or a radical change of heart. 
In fact, someone borrowed a phrase coined by American author and journalist, Finley Peter Dunne to describe Jesus as one who came to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”  

Jesus encouraged the afflicted to know and believe that their uncomfortableness would be blessed; we hear his words from the Sermon on the Mount when he shares the Beatitudes: 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.  Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 

Matthew 5:3-10

Today, when I begin to feel comfortable with my faith, foolishly believing I have it down pat and I’m doing all the right things, God inevitably shows up with the thorn in my spiritual side and nudges me to look at things with the eyes of Christ so my hands and my feet and my heart can start moving in a more productive direction.  Faith, after all, is a verb.

This morning’s news included an interview with Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish student and climate activist who was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Deeply disturbed by the global environmental crisis and frustrated by the fact that no one was doing anything about it, Greta staged a strike, standing alone outside the Swedish parliament. That was in August of 2018.

Today, students in more than 100 countries around the world have become a part of Greta’s climate change movement, walking out of school and staging strikes to focus attention on an issue that has disturbing ramifications for the future. Hundreds of thousands of children and youth have participated in some way in a movement begun by one teenager who was determined to make a difference.

Whether or not we agree with Greta’s mission or methods, she stands as a living example that every journey begins with the first step.

Each year, it seems, the needs of our world, our communities, our parishes, our poor, become greater. We can become so overwhelmed by the breadth of need that we feel hopeless to make a difference. Our challenge is to step out in faith, carried by our God who fed thousands with a few fish and loaves of bread.  What, then, could God do with our meager efforts?

A source of encouragement for me has been Dorothy Day, social activist, writer, Catholic convert, and woman of great faith who believed that the Gospel call to holiness was possible for all of us.  Recently, I had the great privilege to be part of a team transcribing her personal diaries for the cause of her canonization.

Her handwritten notes and her powerful example remind us of the radical teachings of the Gospel. She keeps me walking and building with my little bits and pieces, even on those days when I feel like saying, "What's the use?"

Dorothy Day’s words are inspiring: "People say, 'What is the sense of our small effort?' They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time. A pebble cast into a pond causes ripples that spread in all directions. Each one of our thoughts, words and deeds is like that. No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do.”

One of the greatest gifts we can give our children is a belief in their power to make a difference. It begins with a conversation about what’s important to them and includes a need for us to listen. 

Saint Paul’s first letter to Timothy is a wonderful encouragement for our young people: “Let no one have contempt for your youth, but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).

When my children were young one of our favorite vacation haunts was Wildwood, NJ.  My husband and sons loved staying for a week in the motel, spending hours in the motel pool and exciting times on the boardwalk rides.

I loved being able to see the ocean every day, walk to the beach, find a quiet spot away from the crowds and think undisturbed.  This was God’s creation and I could feel the divine presence in it all. So I completely understood when my friend, Chris, a uniquely funny and upbeat person, one day told me that she needed to go the beach at Wildwood to talk to God and get answers to some issues in her life.

When another friend replied that she didn’t understand Chris’ need to go to the ocean to talk to God, Chris replied, “You don’t speak wave.”

Chris, like so many of God’s children, feels close to God in the heart of his creation. Who hasn’t felt the presence of God when walking along a serene path in the woods, watching the unfolding colors of sunset on the bay or being entranced by the eternal motion of ocean waves rolling across the shore, continually molding it into something new?

For me, those times and places offer the blessing of a sanctuary, where I can renew my soul in peace.

Pope Saint John Paul II, who spoke often of the sacredness of nature, taught that “the aesthetic value of creation cannot be overlooked. Our very contact with nature has a deep restorative power; contemplation of its magnificence imparts peace and serenity. The Bible speaks again and again of the goodness and beauty of creation, which is called to glorify God” (1990 World Day of Peace message, no. 14).

I believe our pope of blessed memory would have appreciated Chris’ small patch of peace and serenity. It was he who wrote that “nature becomes a Gospel that speaks to us of God: 'For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator' (Wis 13:5)” (General Audience on January 26, 2000).  

He reminded us of Paul’s teaching that “‘Ever since the creation of the world his (God's) eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made' (Rom 1:20).  But this capacity for contemplation and knowledge, this discovery of a transcendent presence in creation, must also lead us also to rediscover our fraternity with the earth, to which we have been linked since creation” (cf. Genesis 2:7) (General Audience on January 26, 2000).  

One year, when I was serving as a catechist in my parish, I was asked to prepare a small group of five high school students for Confirmation. They were older than the other candidates preparing for the Sacrament, and came from varied family situations.

Among the group was a young man, Joey, who had missed several years of religious education classes, so there was a lot to teach him. He was not, however, a good book learner. He was inquisitive, insightful and easily bored. I was routinely faced with a challenge on how best to engage him in learning.

At one point, I discovered Joey had never owned a rosary, nor had he ever prayed the Rosary. So, one day I brought him a rosary that he could keep as his own. He was visibly moved by the gift and asked me so many questions that we had regular conversations about the meaning of the rosary. From that day, he never came to class without the rosary beads in his pocket. In fact, he told me, he never went anywhere without them. He had been touched by faith, and the Holy Spirit.

One evening, I decided to take the class out to the parish garden for prayer and to have each young person hunt for an item that could serve as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. When we got back into the classroom, I asked them to use the item they found to draw their personal symbol of the Holy Spirit. They were encouraged to reflect on these symbols as they continued their preparation for Confirmation. 

Joey chose a dried, crinkled maple leaf that had fallen to the ground. He set it on the desk before him and began to draw, imbuing his drawn leaf with the myriad hues of fall. I watched as he extended the tips of the leaf upwards, changing them into flames of red and gold. It was a simple but beautiful masterpiece, but I wasn’t prepared for his explanation of the symbol he had drawn.

I asked Joey why his leaf was on fire. He looked up at me with a little grin and said, “The leaf was dead, but it is transformed by the fire of the Holy Spirit. The leaf will become life-giving. This is what the Holy Spirit does for us. It transforms us. It burns away everything that is not of God and gives us a new life.”

I cried. This was not a lesson I had taught him. It was his own insight, the fruit of having been touched by faith and the Holy Spirit. He was at a place in his life where it all meant something to him.

As Pentecost approaches, it is good to remember the burning leaf when we recall that the Holy Spirit appeared to the Apostles in the Upper Room as tongues of fire over their heads. In those moments the Apostles were also transformed and brought forth new life in the form of the Church, the Body of Christ.

As members of that Body, the words of Saint Teresa of Ávila (Teresa of Jesus) are a beautiful reminder of our own role in bringing forth new life in the Church and in the world:
“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”

Throughout my many years as both a religious educator and a journalist for Catholic newspapers, I have met myriad people and heard many varying thoughts on innumerable topics – some enlightening, some worrisome, and many that were memorable.

One such thought, which has stayed with me for years, came from a facilitator of a parish Scripture study program who was devoted to helping participants come to love and understand Scripture, and, also, to help them develop the skills needed to become future facilitators in the program.

I asked her why she spent so much time on developing the program and the many participants who gathered around the table each week as disciples to study and share their faith.

She replied, “One day God is going to say, ‘I sent them to you. What did you do with the ones I sent?’”

As a catechist, parish catechetical leader, teacher, ministry facilitator, and, especially, as a parent, the responsibility to lead others to God is a privilege and a challenge.

The idea of being responsible, in some way, for the faith formation of everyone God sends into our lives can also feel daunting. We may often feel like we have to be teachers of the faith in every circumstance, a role in which we may not be comfortable. There is also the reality that those who come to us, as friends, co-workers or even some family members, are not open to our preaching.

How do we accept such an all-encompassing responsibility? By being witnesses to Christ through how we live our lives. 

A deep faith in God helps us to live our lives with joy and confidence, even in difficult times. When others notice that we routinely worship and pray, treat others with kindness, practice forgiveness and give generously of all that God has given us, they are drawn to us. Often, they want to know the source of our peace of mind and heart. That is the time to share our faith with enthusiasm.

In his first letters to the Romans, Saint Paul offers encouraging words to the disciples there: “For I long to see you, that I may share with you some spiritual gift so that you may be strengthened, that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by one another’s faith, yours and mine” (Romans 1:11,12).

While we may never be the powerful evangelizer Saint Paul was, our witness to faith in Jesus can serve as an important foundation for others on the same journey, especially our children.
God will inevitably send others into their lives who will help fill in the gaps.

This month, I’d like to invite you to do a bit of exploring to find some treasures available to you for free throughout the catechetical year. This month’s newsletter provides you with three of the treasures—articles written by Dr. Timothy Hogan and Rev. Robert J. Hater, Ph.D., and a monthly prayer for families.

Begin your exploration by going to RCLBenziger.com. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and find the column titled “Our Company.” Here is where you will begin to find the treasures!

Click on “Catholic Resources.” You may recognize some of the offerings listed there, including the seasonal downloadable materials and the catechetical newsletters. Newer to the list of resources are the downloadable monthly prayers for families. This month’s prayer is the July prayer from that collection.

The body of resources also includes a collection of articles by Dr. Timothy Hogan, titled “Catholic Parenting 101: Tips for Building Strong Catholic Families.” His article, 
“Confronting the Challenges of Bullying,” is this month’s family article. 

Click on “Missionary Discipleship” and discover a series of seven articles written by Robert J. Hater, Ph.D. These articles will enrich your understanding of missionary discipleship and the New Evangelization as they apply to your personal, family, and professional life. The third article in the series, “Evangelization and Catechesis,” is this month’s religion teacher and catechist article.

Continue your treasure hunt by clicking on “Saints Resources.” Access this treasure through the RCL Benziger Web site or by going directly to SaintsResource.com. You will discover expanded stories of the saints who are a part of the Blest Are We and Be My Disciples families and the stories of many other saints. The Saints Index will help you locate the saint you are looking for. The Saints of the Month feature, including an image map, will help you celebrate with the children the many feasts and memorials on the Church calendar.

The third, and newest treasure to date, is “Family Resources.” Available at Family Resources are downloadable models for Faith Formation using Blest Are We or Be My Disciples. The models described are Classroom, At Home, Intergenerational, and Summer Concentrated. 

I hope you enjoyed this month’s treasure hunt! New treasures are offered throughout the year, so make it a point to return often in order to explore all that is available to you. You never know what new treasures you will find!

Once, when Pope Francis was meeting with a group of students whose school-year was coming to a close, a young teen named Marta admitted to the Pope that she was afraid to be leaving middle school and her long-time friends and to move on to high school.

She asked the Pope, “Why do I have to change everything? Why does growing up make me so afraid?”

Pope Francis replied with some beautiful insight. “Life is a constant ‘good morning’ and ‘farewell’,” he said, noting that sometimes the farewells are forever.

“You grow by encountering and by taking your leave. If you don’t learn to say goodbye well, you will never learn how to encounter new people,” the Pope shared.

When I first read this story, I thought those were meaningful questions for adults as well. Change is hard, and we don’t always feel grown up, especially when we are afraid.

Pope Francis’ wisdom reflects one of the most difficult lessons we will learn. Life is about letting go.

One high school graduate recently explained what that meant to her at this point in her life. “My senior year was definitely my favorite because of all the ‘lasts’ I got to experience,” she wrote.  

She shared that the best memories from the past year included going to as many school events as possible because she and her fellow students realized it would be the last time they would be together as a community. 

Leaving each other and their school was bittersweet but necessary, so the best they could do was be present to the moment when they were in it. She was grateful for “being able to spend every day with my best friends and make memories that will stay with me forever.”

This graduating senior, like so many before her, was learning another bit of wisdom from Pope Francis: “We have to learn to see life by looking at the horizons.”

Letting go of our safe places—whether they be physical, mental or spiritual—is not easy. It requires courage and determination. Both are possible when we trust in the promises of God: “Do not fear: I am with you; do not be anxious: I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand” (see Isaiah 41:10).

Pope Francis also had wise words for how to make the journey more fruitful: Welcome others, listen to others, and share things.
Good reminders for us adults, as well.

Pope Francis’ quotes were from his June 2, 2017, special audience at the Vatican for members of a middle school group who were part of Communion and Liberation’s “The Knights of the Grail” educational initiative.

When our family was growing up, we took a road trip from New Jersey to Montana with our best friends and their children. We called it “15 for Road.” Eleven children and four adults began a more than 2200-mile trip in a nine-passenger station wagon and a beat-up van named Bessie. Bessie had 200,000 miles on her when we started, but our life-long friends were not the kind of worrying about such things.

There were no cell phones at the time, so we invested in the next best thing – walky-talkies. We would be following each other across the country, without GPS, so we thought they would help us keep in contact.

Our adventure included dazed wait staff in an Indiana restaurant, outrunning tornados in Kansas, a Bessie breakdown in South Dakota, and a hail storm that destroyed our campsite in Montana. One of our most memorable experiences was the day our friends missed the turn for the next leg of our journey.

We didn’t know what to do. We took it as slow as possible hoping our friends would turn around and catch-up, but we didn’t know if they even realized they had missed the turn. We had no idea where we were, except as a dot on the map. Then, one of my sons asked if we could stop at a restroom. That would mean getting off the highway. That could mean losing our friends completely.

I suggested to my husband that I get out of the car at the next exit, with the walkie-talkies, and try to contact our friends.  That would mean standing alone on the side of a highway in a place I didn’t know and hoping the state troopers didn’t pick me up before our friends came along.

That’s when I turned to St. Joseph – the patron saint of families. As mine drove away and left me there with cars whizzing by, I kept asking the humble saint to keep our families together. When I wasn’t doing that, I was repeatedly speaking into the walkie-talkie: “Hello, this is Aunt Mary. I’m standing on the side of the highway watching for you.”

A short time later, I got a reply – the sound of chaos and children screaming on the other end: “It’s Aunt Mary! There she is! There she is!”  

It must have been a funny sight to see me standing there, pacing back and forth with my huge walkie-talkie, but a welcomed sight as well. It meant our families would continue the journey together. It was the journey of a lifetime, one that bonded us together in a way nothing else could have. We still journey through life together today, though our clan now includes 18 grandchildren in total.

Let’s not forget Saint Joseph. He remains a part of our family and travels with us on every vacation. A small statue of him and Mary get tucked in my suitcase as a reminder of the importance of praying for our family. 

In our faith journey as Catholics, the saints are more than just interesting historical figures. They are part of our broader family, the Communion of Saints. They are friends in difficult times. Their prayers give us strength and hope. They stand as examples of how ordinary people can live extraordinary lives of holiness by putting God first. 

As you head out on summer travels, take the saints with you. They are wonderful traveling companions.