When I think of family, the image of my parents and siblings comes to mind. One of ten children with seven brothers and two sisters, I come from a prototypical Catholic family of the 1950s. My parents have been married to one another for 65 years and have lived in the same home since 1954. When we gather in the house for family celebrations, more than 75 people attend: children, spouses, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Some have college degrees, but most do not. Some are active Catholics or Protestants while others are not. And from my immediate family, nine are married to their first spouse. While for me this is a “normal” family, I know my understanding varies greatly from most people. But then “normal” is a different experience for every family.

During the week of September 22, 2015, family delegates representing dioceses from around the world will gather in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for the Vatican’s World Meeting of Families. Several thousands typically participate in the event, but this year, in response to Pope Francis’ papal visit for the occasion, a million are expected to attend.

The theme for this gathering is: “Love Is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive.” In preparation for the meeting, a corresponding preparatory catechesis book also titled Love Is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive was developed. The catechesis focuses on the ten themes that will strengthen the family unit. Dioceses across the United States are similarly reinforcing the event’s focus by encouraging families to reflect on the same ten themes.

As part of our goal to support the Church’s catechetical mission, RCL Benziger commissioned writers, noted for their expertise in family ministry, to compose brief articles reflecting on the ten themes. The articles’ intent is to provide you, our reader, with a starting place for personal reflection on these themes. The articles offer insights on challenges facing families today as well as valuable ideas to support and nurture those with whom you minister.

During the month of March, we celebrate the feast day of St. Joseph, husband to Mary and earthly father of Jesus. We dedicate this series of articles to St. Joseph and the Holy Family asking for continued guidance in and support for this endeavor.

Daniel S. Mulhall is a catechist. He also serves as the Director of Special Markets for RCL Benziger.

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The Easter season speaks new life to us in so many ways. Here in the Midwest, where I live, pansies and crocuses are blooming, seedlings are flourishing, gardeners are preparing the soil for the spring planting, the sun is shining, and joy is in the air.

Joy is in the air! For the People of God it sparks as the fire is lit in the dark of our most holy night, as the story of our ancestors in faith is told, and as the abundant waters of Baptism are poured. Joy is in the air in the sweet fragrance of Sacred Chrism, and as we take our place in the magnificent procession to the Table of the Lord where we say with faith and hope renewed, “Amen!” We believe!

Joy is in the air as we sing again, with full voice, on-key and off-key, our Easter Alleluias and the hymns that define the season and remind us of what has happened in history, and in our midst today. Alleluia! Alleluia! Let the holy anthem rise! Jesus Christ is risen today! I know that my Redeemer lives! ¡Resucitó! This is a day of new beginnings!

Joy is in the air, and we need to take time to savor, celebrate, appreciate, and cultivate this Fruit of the Spirit in our lives. The Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the General Roman Calendar remind us that the Great Fifty Days, from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday, are to be celebrated “in joy and exultation as one feast day” (see UNLY 22).

So, make a plan! What will you do to bring more joy into your life this Easter Season? Will you savor a good spiritual book, take longer walks in the light of early evening, or begin a gratitude journal to capture the joys each Easter day brings? Will you take time to find a new Easter outfit that outwardly express the change that has taken place within you as you prayed, fasted, and gave alms throughout the forty days of Lent? And how will you cultivate joy in your home? Will you create an Easter candle for your family prayer table, spring clean the windows to let the sunlight in, or try a new recipe for an Easter dessert?

Consider ways to share Easter joy with those you work with, live near, study with, or communicate with from afar. Call or write the person who has been on your mind and in your heart. Make room at your table for neighbors and neophytes. Revisit the Works of Mercy, and make a commitment to live these practices so that others may come to know the Good News of Jesus Christ, our true reason for Easter “joy and exultation”, through you.

Help your students and the children, youth, and families you serve celebrate this season of joy, too. Go to RCLBenziger.com for a listing of Easter resources for students and teachers, including: Preparing the Easter Table and Welcoming the Alleluia; Celebrate the Saints and Solemnities of Easter; The Blessing of Seeds; Adorning an Image of the Blessed Virgin Mary; The Spirit’s Presence; and more!

Christ is risen! Christ is truly risen! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Joy is in the air!

Mary Malloy is a Senior Editor for RCL Benziger.

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The calendar tells us spring is here, and for many in the country this is a welcome relief! The Church’s liturgical calendar tells us that we are coming upon Holy Week and the Easter Triduum, the most sacred days of the Church’s year.

Lent is a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, beginning on Ash Wednesday with the prayer, “Repent, and believe in the Good News.” The days of Lent leading up to Holy Week have been a time to reflect on our individual call to follow our baptismal promises and live a Christian life. Several key words can help to focus on the importance of Holy Week and the Easter Triduum.

DISCIPLESHIP
At the Last Supper we receive the mandate from Jesus to serve others. After Jesus washes the feet of his disciples, he tells us, “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash on another’s feet” (John 13:14). A disciple is one who follows in the footsteps of Jesus. The re-enactment of the washing of the feet is not just for Holy Thursday, but is meant to be a visual reminder of living as a servant-disciple the entire year. How are we doing in following the command of Jesus to be a servant to others as we live out our individual call to discipleship?

HOLY
To be holy means to be set apart to do something special. Each of us is called to holiness - to be holy as the Lord your God is holy. Holiness is being in communion with God and sharing in his very life and love. The Holiness Code from the Book of Leviticus (chapters 17-26) helps us to focus on three things - faith in God, gratitude to God, and remembrance of God. This is not only a holy time but also a time for us to remember our call to holiness, and see how we are living up to that call.

SORROW
Good Friday is the most solemn day of the Triduum, when we gather for the celebration of the Lord’s Passion and Death. The vivid accounts in the Gospel calls us to think about the Apostles - their fear, their sorrow, and their loss. The Apostles had been with their best friend Jesus for three years. Now he was gone; they too had run away. Their sorrow and confusion must have been overwhelming. This is a day to remember and experience some of that emptiness and loss. Often when we lose someone we dearly love, we refer to a feeling of emptiness in our hearts. Think of the emptiness, sadness, and sorrow the Apostles must have felt during Jesus’s Passion and Death.

EASTER VIGIL
The good news is that the sorrow and loss of Holy Week end with the joyful celebration of the Easter Vigil. And two wonderful words are part of that celebration.

PEACE
Whenever Jesus met the women and the Apostles after the Resurrection, his first words were always, “Peace be with you!” What a comfort to experience true peace! Peaceful people seem to know and understand that “all will be well,” and that peace is the absence of all fear, despair, and longing. Christians radiate the peace that the Risen Lord brings on Easter morn. And that is the peace we are called to share with each other every time we go to Mass.

It is so important to truly offer someone peace, that same peace Jesus brings to his disciples after the Resurrection and that Jesus sees in all of us. Mother Teresa was a fitting example of this, as she described finding peace in all people. We are called to see peace in each other and to share that peace with each other. Often at Mass we do a quick wave or nod to others during the Sign of Peace. This year, let us try not only to truly give a sign of peace, but to BE a sign of peace to others.

JOY
In all of the Easter stories, whenever someone meets and encounters the Risen Lord, they are so filled with joy that they have to run back and tell others that the Lord is truly risen. In the Eastern churches, on Easter morn, Christians greet each other with the words, “Christ is risen!” and the response is, “Christ is truly risen!” This is a joyful greeting and statement of the basis and foundation of our faith. It is a joyful reminder of the great mystery of Faith - Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.

Each of our lives should be filled with joy - the joy of knowing Christ is alive and actively working in our lives today. That joy must be so powerful we cannot keep it locked up inside - we have to go out and proclaim and live that joy. Once we have recalled the sorrow and sadness of Good Friday, then we are able to experience the fullness of the joy of the new life of the Risen Jesus. That is the joy of Easter, the joy that must be a vibrant part of our lives. As disciples and followers of Jesus, we live and radiate that joy in our lives.

Ron Lamping is a Senior Sales Representative for RCL Benziger.

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The Gospels say very little about Saint Joseph, the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus. He is only mentioned a few times by name (Matthew 1:16-25; 2:13ff; Luke 2), although Jesus is referred to as “the carpenter’s son,” so we know Joseph’s profession.

Lack of knowledge has not stopped people over the centuries from developing legends and tales about Saint Joseph, or from creating rituals that involve him. Some of these “remembrances” are, to say the least, very strange, while others seem quite appropriate for the head of the household of the Holy Family.

One of the more unusual rituals is the practice of burying a statue of Saint Joseph upside down in order to sell a home or property. You can even buy kits for this purpose with instructions on what to do. Why this practice is supposed to work is unclear. As one person was heard to say, “Wouldn’t it be more effective to hold statues of Jesus and Mary hostage than to bury a statue of Saint Joseph?”

One lovely practice that families can easily do is the age-old Italian tradition of the Saint Joseph Table. This tradition is still widely practiced today, on or about the March 19 Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The legend is that many centuries ago the island of Sicily experienced a severe famine. Starving villagers prayed for Saint Joseph to intercede on their behalf. Their prayers were answered, the famine ended, and people held a party to celebrate.

To celebrate the tradition of the Saint Joseph Table in the home, prepare a lovely meal and invite others to join you to celebrate that wonderful protector of families.

When held in churches, Italian villages, or Italian-American neighborhoods, this Solemnity of Saint Joseph is celebrated often with a tableau featuring an elderly man, a lovely young woman, and a little child (the Holy Family), and the three are frequently surrounded by a group of twelve men dressed as angels (the Apostles). When the food is blessed the "Holy Family" is served first. Then the entire community celebrates together for an afternoon and evening of feasting.

In a traditional Saint Joseph’s feast there are special decorations, foods (especially Saint Joseph’s Sfinge, a cream puff stuffed with ricotta and covered with oranges and cherries), and symbols. You can find suggestions for food and symbols online. What is most important is that people share what they have to feed their neighbors, especially those who are most in need.

There are many other customs and traditions celebrated by various cultures and communities throughout the Church’s liturgical year. You can learn more about these by visiting SaintsResource.com, SeanMisDiscipulos.com, and BeMyDisciples.com (Catechists/Teachers resources).

Daniel S. Mulhall is the Director of Strategic Markets for RCL Benziger.

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The Scriptures are filled with images and stories of people who need to see in order to believe. In the Gospels we read of many instances where Jesus healed the blind. Those whom Jesus healed received their sight and came to believe in him. The power of these miracles lies in the fact that people were made whole again, and at the same time they have gained the spiritual sight that will lead them to gain Salvation from God.

Sight is a sense that is most essential in our lives. The Gospel writers were aware of how difficult life must have been for those who suffered from some type of physical impairment. In Jesus’ time, the blind and those who suffered from most types of physical and mental ailments, were cast out and neglected by society. The sacred writers use blindness as a metaphor for sin; not having the gift of sight makes it difficult to achieve the Salvation we all desire. Being blind is paramount to not being able to rise above the challenges and limitations we face in life. It means being trapped in a world of darkness that leads to despair. Yet, our sense of personal flourishing and a desire to overcome this darkness is present in our human condition.

When Jesus healed the blind, he did so because he perceived a sense, or a kernel of faith in those who could not see. Jesus was moved out of love and compassion to heal them by restoring their sight, granting them forgiveness of their sins, and by increasing their faith. These miracles of healing happened during an exchange, a conversation, or interaction between Jesus and the person afflicted. Such encounters or meetings took place because Jesus, who is God Incarnate, walked through the towns, villages, and cities. Indeed, he continues to do so today. These encounters were filled with meaning, imagery, and metaphor, as attested by many such stories in the Bible. They give us a glimpse of the early Church celebrating God’s healing in communal, public ceremonies and rituals.

One of my favorite passages in the Gospel of Mark is Mark 10:46-52, the story of Blind Bartimaeus. When I envision this story, I see a great procession. I see Jesus walking along through town with his disciples and a crowd of other followers and onlookers. The story of Bartimaeus is one that is rich with images and symbols, easily ritualized and performed in order to teach and to help people draw meaning from it. In a similar way, popular devotions - especially as they have traditionally been lived and celebrated in many countries - are the ritualization of biblical narratives to help educate, form, and catechize. Popular devotions provide a different way of living, transmitting, and celebrating the faith. These celebrations tend to be rich in tradition, art, music, and drama. They involve all of our senses, especially the sense of sight. In most cities of Latin America, for example, patronal feasts are celebrated with a procession. In these processions, people rely on the ocular, the dramatic and colorful depictions of sacred images of Saints, Christ, or the Virgin Mary to live and express their faith. People participate in popular devotions by contemplating the many colorful altars, Nativity sets, or statues of Saints; or by venerating paintings or sacred images, as in the case of Our Lady of Guadalupe, or El Señor de los Milagros. Salvation is understood as seeing, believing, and following, such as in the case of processions, pilgrimages, the reenactment of the posadas, or the journey of the Magi.

Blindness, as a powerful image of unbelief, is a theme that is quite present in our culture and society today. The theme for this year’s Religious Education Congress in Los Angeles is “See”. Catechesis and religious education are definite sound ways to combat and cure our spiritual blindness and for us to come to see God’s Salvation. In celebrating and participating in popular devotions, not only can we see that Salvation, but also learn and transmit it beyond the pews and the classrooms. Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel, asserts that through popular piety Christians discover and learn the faith in a rich and fertile way. Believers, according to the Pope, discover and express the content of the faith more by way of symbols than by discursive reasoning. Bartimaeus, and the many other blind people who are healed by Jesus, do not come to the faith necessarily by receiving instruction, but by seeing and believing and then following and celebrating Christ, who is the Light of the world.

Francisco Castillo is the Senior Editor, Multicultural Specialist for RCL Benziger.

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A conversation that fellow parishioners had with their two daughters a few years back made a big impression on me.

Lent was approaching, and they began talking about what they might undertake as a family for the Lenten season. They discussed options that would be meaningful, prayerful, and really help them discover more deeply the Lord in their lives. The homily that Sunday suggested families do something EXTRA for Lent rather than simply giving up candy, desserts, TV, or things that aren’t good for us anyway.

The two girls were excited. They started naming really wonderful ideas: organize a clothing drive; assist weekly at the neighborhood food pantry; help out younger students at school with their reading skills; and various other ideas.

The parents could have “jumped on the bandwagon” and tapped into that enthusiasm. But Dad, showing a great amount of wisdom, challenged, “These are great ideas, but what are you going to give up in order to fit these new activities into your spring schedule?” Being very involved in sports, music, and clubs at school, not to mention homework, chores, and friendships, the girls were suddenly reluctant to give up any of these things. Homework was suggested, but Dad just smiled!

I imagine many of our schedules are like those of the two girls. In our 21st century lives we are presented with great ideas and options for taking an active part in outreach efforts, all intended to make this world a better place. Thanks to modern technology, social media, and ongoing access to world news, such opportunities come to us from every direction and at every minute of the day.

But our Church continues to invite us to remember that we need to regularly declutter and create quiet time so we can simply “let go and let God.” Let God speak to our hearts. Let God guide us in our efforts. Even our Lord, who could have spent the 40 days doing more teaching, more healing, more feeding of the multitudes, instead went to the desert to pray and fast. He needed such uncluttered, unscheduled, quiet time in order to have the spiritual strength to be about his Father’s will.

So, what might help us at this point in history to more faithfully follow the Lenten practices of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving in order to be about our Father’s will? Here are three practical suggestions:

Fasting Simplify, simplify, simplify! Is it possible to take your family schedule and clear it out a bit? If, for example, you are being pulled in too many directions at once, how can the demands on your time be simplified or reduced?

Prayer RCL Benziger’s free reproducible resources for Lent can be prayed with any age students or even on one’s own.

Almsgiving Intentionally look for opportunities to give money to those in need. My Dad has a $5 or $10 bill tucked into his wallet at all times. Its only purpose is to be given to the person he WILL meet who will need it more than he.

Going back to those two sisters, I really don’t know what they chose to do. All I do know is that they were going to put a lot of prayer and sharing into the decision-making process, which, in itself, is a great way to start Lent!

Do have a blessed Lent. Declutter the schedule, and create the quiet time that will nourish and strengthen you to be about your Father’s will.

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