Thoughts On Holy Week

Wow. Not only was Easter really early this year, but it also came really quickly. Now we are already in Holy Week.  I don’t know about everyone but I really feel like I didn’t take full advantage of Lent this year to reflect and sacrifice.  It kind of feels like it passed me by while I wasn’t looking…sneaky Lent!

In that spirit I recently found an interesting reflection that I want to share with you guys that has helped me take advantage of the small time I have left in this season of reflection.  It is called the Examen, or Examination of Consciousness.  Not to be confused with the Examination of Conscience, which is used before the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession), this examination is more centered on recognizing God in our daily lives.

It was started by Saint Ignatius, who is very well known for his deep reflective prayer methods.  You can use this prayer at any time of the day in any place, and continued use can help you recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit in your daily life.

1.  Recall that you are in the presence of God. 

No matter where you are, hilltop or valley, country or city, in a crowd or alone, you are a creature in the midst of creation. As you quiet yourself, become aware that God is present within you, in the creation that surrounds you, in your body, in those around you. The Creator who brought you forth into being is concerned for you. The Spirit of God, sent by Christ, will remind you that you are gifted to help bring creation to its fullness. Ask the Holy Spirit to let you look on all you see with love. “Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; … it does not rejoice at wrong but rejoices in the right … Love hopes all things.” (1 Cor.)

2.  Spend a moment looking over your day with gratitude for this day’s gifts. 

Be concrete and let special moments or pleasures spring to mind! Recall the smell of your morning coffee, the taste of something good that you ate, the laugh of a child, the fragrance of a flower, the smile brought forth by a kind word, a lesson that you learned. Take stock of what you received and what you gave. Give thanks to God for favors received. Also look at your permanent gifts that allow your participation in this day. Recall your particular strengths in times of difficulty, your ability to hope in times of weakness, your sense of humor and your life of faith, your intelligence and health, your family and friends. God the Father gives you these to draw you into the fullness of life. As you move through the details of your day, give thanks to God for His presence in the big and the small things of your life.

3.  Ask God to send you His Holy Spirit to help you look at your actions and attitudes and motives with honesty and patience. 

“When the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13) The Holy Spirit inspires you to see with growing freedom the development of your life story. The Spirit gives a freedom to look upon yourself without condemnation and without complacency and thus be open to growth. Ask that you will learn and grow as you reflect, thus deepening your knowledge of self and your relationship with God.

4.  Now review your day. 

This is the longest of the steps. Recall the events of your day; explore the context of your actions. Search for the internal movements of your heart and your interaction with what was before you. Ask what you were involved in and who you were with, and review your hopes and hesitations. Many situations will show that your heart was divided-wavering between helping and disregarding, scoffing and encouraging, listening and ignoring, rebuking and forgiving, speaking and silence, neglecting and thanking. Remember, this is not a time to dwell on your shortcomings; rather, it is a gentle look with the Lord at how you have responded to God’s gifts. It is an opportunity for growth of self and deepening your relationship with God. Notice where you acted freely-picking a particular course of action from the possibilities you saw. See where you were swept along without freedom. What reactions helped or hindered you? See where Christ entered your decisions and where you might have paused to receive His influence. “Test yourselves,” St. Paul urges, “to see whether you are living in faith; examine yourselves. Perhaps you yourselves do not realize that Christ Jesus is in you.” (2 Cor.) His influence comes through His people, the Body of Christ. His influence comes through Scripture, the Word of God. Now, as you pray, Christ’s spirit will help you know His presence and concern. As you daily and prayerfully explore the mystery of yourself in the midst of your actions you will grow more familiar with your own spirit and become more aware of the promptings of God’s Spirit within you. Allow God to speak, challenge, encourage and teach you. Thus you will come to know that Christ is with you. Christ will continually invite you to love your neighbor as yourself and strengthen you to do this.

5. The final step is our heart-to-heart talk with Jesus. 

Here you speak with Jesus about your day. You share your thoughts on your actions, attitudes, feelings and interactions. Perhaps during this time you may feel led to seek forgiveness, ask for direction, share a concern, express gratitude, etc. Having reviewed this day of your life, look upon yourself with compassion and see your need for God and try to realize God’s manifestations of concern for you. Express sorrow for sin, the obscuring darkness that surrounds us all, and especially ask forgiveness for the times you resisted God’s light today. Give thanks for grace, the enlightening presence of God, and especially praise God for the times you responded in ways that allowed you to better see God’s life. Resolve with Jesus to move forward in action where appropriate. You might like to finish your time with the Lords Prayer.

By recognizing Christ in our daily lives, we can truly recognize the sacred gift of His death and resurrection more fully.  I encourage you, especially if you have felt, like me, that this season of Lent has flown by, to take 5 minutes each day this week to draw closer to the heart of Christ as we prepare for the Easter Season!

Happy Holy Week!

Religious Education

For the sake of humor on this first day of Holy Week, check out the video below!

Something to Chew On...

Question:  Why do Catholics not eat meat on Fridays during Lent?

Answer:

Interesting question!  There are a lot of different reasons given for Catholics’ abstaining (to refrain deliberately and often with an effort of self-denial from an action or practice [1]) from meat on Fridays during Lent.   Here are a few of the top reasons for you to chew on:

A: Sacrificing meat on Fridays reminds us of the sacrifice of Christ on Good Friday.  As Lent is a time of preparation for The Passion and Resurrection of Christ, taking a moment to remember what Christ did for us and participate in a sacrifice of our own can, in some small way, unite our sacrifice to that of Christ’s. The types of meat we abstain from were referred to in older times as “fleshmeat”, so by giving up our “fleshmeat” (red meat, chicken, etc...), it helps us to remember and venerate Christ’s sacrificing his own flesh for our sake on the Cross.  Some Catholics do not eat meat on Fridays all year long (though this practice is not required) as a continued reminder.

B: The practice can be traced back to the twelve Disciples and early apostles of Christ, who would fast from meat as a form of spiritual and bodily discipline. It was often used as a time of preparation for an event, whether in the church or in a person’s life. It also shows up in the Old Testament: "In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks." (Daniel 10:2-3)  In the New Testament, they would consume fish instead, which was a commonly known symbol for Christ.

C: In the time of the Christ, meat was very expensive and only the wealthy could afford to eat it often, so one theory is that abstaining from meat humbles us and allows us to contemplate our own spiritual poverty, as well as unite us with the poverty of others.

D:  Sacrificing meat on Fridays is also considered an act of penance (an expression of repentance for sins.) Since Lent is considered a penitential season, a time to reflect more deeply on our sins and what keeps us from full communion with Christ, practicing other acts of penance and sacrifice are highly encouraged as a way to grow spiritually.

Any way you look at it, abstaining from meat during Fridays in Lent is meant to provoke our thoughts and challenge us both physically and spiritually.  Lent is a time of reflection and anticipation of the Passion and Resurrection, and sacrificing meat on Fridays helps us to enter into the spirit of the season.

So, the next time you bite into that cheese pizza on a Friday during Lent, take a moment to remember why there is no Pepperoni, as well as the Man that gave up His flesh for YOU!!

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1 Miriam-Webster Dictionary

A Historic Day, Perhaps, But What's Next...?

President Barak Obama signed into law on Tuesday a bill that will bring health care to a reported 95% of Americans.  Through the lens of our Catholic tradition, this legislation brings with it an array of triumphs and struggles within the realm of Catholic social teaching.  Our role as young, active members of our faith is to respond knowledgeably, while remaining true to what we believe.


At noon on Tuesday, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Francis George, responded to the bill with this statement: 

For nearly a century, the Catholic bishops of the United States have called for reform of our health care system so that all may have access to the care that recognizes and affirms their human dignity. Christian discipleship means, “working to ensure that all people have access to what makes them fully human and fosters their human dignity” (United States Catechism for Adults, page 454). Included among those elements is the provision of necessary and appropriate health care.

For too long, this question has gone unaddressed in our country. Often, while many had access to excellent medical treatment, millions of others including expectant mothers, struggling families or those with serious medical or physical problems were left unable to afford the care they needed. As Catholic bishops, we have expressed our support for efforts to address this national and societal shortcoming. We have spoken for the poorest and most defenseless among us. Many elements of the health care reform measure signed into law by the President address these concerns and so help to fulfill the duty that we have to each other for the common good. We are bishops, and therefore pastors and teachers. In that role, we applaud the effort to expand health care to all.

Nevertheless, for whatever good this law achieves or intends, we as Catholic bishops have opposed its passage because there is compelling evidence that it would expand the role of the federal government in funding and facilitating abortion and plans that cover abortion. The statute appropriates billions of dollars in new funding without explicitly prohibiting the use of these funds for abortion, and it provides federal subsidies for health plans covering elective abortions. Its failure to preserve the legal status quo that has regulated the government’s relation to abortion, as did the original bill adopted by the House of Representatives last November, could undermine what has been the law of our land for decades and threatens the consensus of the majority of Americans: that federal funds not be used for abortions or plans that cover abortions. Stranger still, the statute forces all those who choose federally subsidized plans that cover abortion to pay for other peoples’ abortions with their own funds. If this new law is intended to prevent people from being complicit in the abortions of others, it is at war with itself.

We share fully the admirable intention of President Obama expressed in his pending Executive Order, where he states, “it is necessary to establish an adequate enforcement mechanism to ensure that Federal funds are not used for abortion services.” However, the fact that an Executive Order is necessary to clarify the legislation points to deficiencies in the statute itself. We do not understand how an Executive Order, no matter how well intentioned, can substitute for statutory provisions.

The statute is also profoundly flawed because it has failed to include necessary language to provide essential conscience protections (both within and beyond the abortion context). As well, many immigrant workers and their families could be left worse off since they will not be allowed to purchase health coverage in the new exchanges to be created, even if they use their own money.

Many in Congress and the Administration, as well as individuals and groups in the Catholic community, have repeatedly insisted that there is no federal funding for abortion in this statute and that strong conscience protection has been assured. Analyses that are being published separately show this not to be the case, which is why we oppose it in its current form. We and many others will follow the government’s implementation of health care reform and will work to ensure that Congress and the Administration live up to the claims that have contributed to its passage. We believe, finally, that new legislation to address its deficiencies will almost certainly be required.

As bishops, we wish to recognize the principled actions of the pro-life Members of Congress from both parties, in the House and the Senate, who have worked courageously to create legislation that respects the principles outlined above. They have often been vilified and have worked against great odds.

As bishops of the Catholic Church, we speak in the name of the Church and for the Catholic faith itself. The Catholic faith is not a partisan agenda, and we take this opportunity to recommit ourselves to working for health care which truly and fully safeguards the life, dignity, conscience and health of all, from the child in the womb to those in their last days on earth.