St. Cloud Council of Catholic woman
Our Lady of Lourdes, Little Falls, MN
September 19, 2009
Convention “Women of Faith, Women of Action”
My dear Ladies,
It is so good to be here and I am glad that you made the decision to be here I am confident our time together will be fruitful. I am always refreshed after attending a CCW event. I normally would go right into my talk, less I waste valuable time on your part.
But to be brutally honest with you these last few weeks I have been swamped with work with the beginning of School in our pre-school through 12th Grade parish Catholic School and the beginning of CCD as well as the normal parish activities, about 10 days ago I went into my secretary one and said, “ If you ever for pray for me- pray that I learn to say no once in awhile.” She looked at me and said, “You mean you should have said no to the talk to the CCW in St. Cloud,” and said right now I am thinking “ yes” and then she said, “ you will fret and write and rewrite and in the end prepare a good message and the ladies whom you love will be given a witness of faith and be given something to think about – what more can you ask for.” And she was right. I fretted, changed sentences, added new ideas and finally arrived at the final product.. I will leave it up to you to determine whether it is good or not and applicable to your lives.
I can tell you honestly that there is no place I’d rather be this morning then here, for I have said it so often the women of CCW always energize and inspire me because they do so much for the Church and for The spreading of the kingdom of God– I am happy I am here and I am happy that you are here and I will go back to my secretary and tell her that she can put her praying that I learn to say no on hold – for I will remind her that my model for years has been “work feverishly for God now for we will have all eternity to rest. If we don’t work now we may not have all eternity to rest. “
I once heard a speaker say that if the audience claps at the beginning they have faith if they clap in the middle they have hope and if the y clap at the end they have charity – you have already clapped so I know you have faith and pray that you clap in the middle indicating that you have hope and also that you clap at the end so that I know that you have charity..
I think all of you are familiar with Mary Ann Kuharski, the founder of pro-life across Minnesota now pro-life across America – intermittently she sends out a newsletter in which her husband John writes jokes.
IN the recent issue he tells the story of a boy in a CCD who was relating the story of Lot and his wife who had been instructed upon leaving Sodom and Gomorrah not to look back, however Lot’s wife could not resist. She looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. The little boy added an editorial comment saying his mother look back while driving and turned into a tree.
May dear Ladies, The theme of our time together today is: Women of faith, Women of action., I will address that theme now
In mid-winter this last year Pope Benedict found himself immersed in a world wide controversy after he lifted the excommunication from the four Bishops who were illegally ordained bishops by Archbishop Lefebvre some twenty years ago. He lifted the excommunication in order to show mercy and good will inviting them to think about returning to full union with the Church.– Unity (oneness) has always been a mark of the Church- unity is to preserved at almost all costs, because disunity is so much against the will of God. This action on the part of the pope provoked controversy because unbeknown to him one of the four bishops recently had said that he didn’t believe in the holocaust, that killed over 6 million Jews in the concentration camps. In his opinion it never happened. This, I believe was aired on Swiss TV the very same time the pope was lifting the ban.
Eventually the pope wrote a letter to all the bishops of the world explaining why he had lifted the excommunication. It was a significant letter. Pope Benedict has a remarkable way of stating complex ideas simply. He did so in this letter. I would like to quote a paragraph of the letter:
“ In our days, when in vast areas of the world the faith is in danger of dying out like a flame which no longer has fuel, the overriding priority is to make God present in this world and to show men and women the way to God. Not just any God, but the God who spoke on Sinai; to that God whose face we recognize in a love which presses "to the end" (cf. Jn: 13:1) – in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. The real problem at this moment of our history is that God is disappearing from the human horizon, and, with the dimming of the light which comes from God, humanity is losing its bearings, with increasingly evident destructive effects.
Leading men and women to God, to the God who speaks in the Bible: this is the supreme and fundamental priority of the Church…” (March 14, 2009.)
Pope Benedict had already said something similar to this in 2005 a short time after his election as pope when he participated in his first World Youth Day. During the homily at the Closing Eucharist he said, and I quote, “anyone who has discovered Christ must lead others to Him. A great joy cannot be kept to oneself. It has to be passed on. In vast areas of the world today there is a strange forgetfulness of God. It seems as if everything would be just the same even without him. But at the same time there is a feeling of frustration, a sense of dissatisfaction with everyone and everything, people tend to exclaim, “This cannot be what life is about.” Indeed not.” Page 60-61 “God’s Revolution” Ignatius Press.
I believe that the analysis of Pope Benedict is correct. The evidence is overwhelming. That God is being obscured and people are acting as if he makes no difference. We only have to think of:
The lack of participation in the Church, particularly the non attendance at Mass.
The continued spread of contraceptives, and the back up contraception – abortion.
The violence that keeps cropping up in the world
The breakdown of the family.
The lowering of morals, especially what Pope Benedict calls the “dictatorship of relativism”
Little prayer in the homes etc. etc. etc. etc..
A constant need to be busy, especially about entertainment.
Our fundamental mission in the world is to make God known and Pope Benedict was right in calling our attention to it. Nothing ought to distract us from that fundamental calling. We have to be single minded in this endeavor. We are to be the salt of the earth – the light of the world. Our task is to show the world what it means to be human. For we believe that Christ reveals man to himself.
The command to make God known is not new – it was stressed already in the Old Testament. We read in the book of Deuteronomy. “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone: Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today, “Drill them in to your children . Speak of them at home and abroad whether you are busy or at rest. Them at your wrist as a sling and let them be a as pendant on your forehead. Deut. 6:4-8.
And in the NT Jesus gives us the explicit command at the end of Mathews Gospel, “ go out to all the nations and proclaim the Good News, “and that Good News is that Jesus has died and has risen from the Dead. We are redeemed. There is no better news.
The mission of the Church is crystal clear and Pope Benedict put it clearly – “to make God known.”
St. Paul says in Romans “But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can people preach if they have not been sent?” (Rom. 10:14-15.)
One more quote I would like to use is from Pope John Paul II, 2. At the beginning of the third Christian millennium the missionary duty is ever more urgent, because as I said in the Redemptoris missio Encyclical "The number of those who do not know Christ and do not belong to the Church is constantly on the increase. Indeed since the end of the Council it has almost doubled. When we consider this immense portion of humanity which is loved by the Father and for whom he sent his Son, the urgency of the Church's mission is obvious" (n. 3).
Pope Benedict has said that the duty of the Church is to make God known and present. We are the Church and we have the command from Christ to spread his word.
How do we evangelize, how do we do that?
In a document (Apostolic Exhortation”“ Evangelii Nuntiandi” that was written by Pope Paul VI in 1976 we read in P41, “For the Church, the first means of evangelization is the witness of an authentically Christian life, given over to God in a communion that nothing should destroy and at the same time given to one’s neighbor with limitless Zeal. As we said recently to a group of lay people, “Modern man listen more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they re witnesses. ... It is therefore primarily by her conduct and by her life that the church will evangelize the world, in other words, by her living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus – the witness of poverty and detachment , of freedom in the face of ht powers of this world in short the witness of sanctity.”
Pope Paul VI states that it is by the lives we live that we give the overriding witness to the presence of God. I would like to recall that that is enshrined in the baptismal ritual when it says to the parents in the blessing to the father, “God is the giver of all life, human and divine. May he bless the father of this child. He and his wife will be the first teachers of their child in the ways of faith. May they be also the best of teachers, bearing witness to the faith by what they say and do, in Christ Jesus.” (Rite of Baptism). In other words the parents are to be the models of the faith.
A number of years ago a strong recommendation was issued in our diocese that our education committees or Boards of Education would better be called “Committees on Evangelization and Catechesis; that defines better what we are about. Sure we are about education in the faith , but by using the words evangelizing and catechizing we are saying specifically that we are about passing on the faith- the gospel -and helping people to come to know Jesus thus understanding the Gospel better and being formed it.
I believe that it was a wise move for several reasons-it wasn’t change for change sake. I believe it calls us back to who we are and secondly it uses a religious term rather than a secular term and model.
It brought to our consciousness that our baptismal call to reach out and to always try to share the faith. Words are important.. It is true that Evangelize is still a word that many of us recoil upon hearing. Yet it is a word that we need to sear into our minds. We must be evangelizers in what we say and do.
How do we evangelize ?– by being holy – by living a holy life -and in that way we become witnesses. As Pope Paul VI says speaks to the people of today. When we have met the Lord and encountered the Good News we must pass it on. We will never be effective evangelizers or people who pass on the faith unless we have it ourselves -unless we have met the Lord and allowed him to fill our hearts with his love. There is an old Latin adage, “NON DAT QUOD NON HABET –“YOU CANNOT GIVE WHAT YOU DON’T HAVE” We cannot pass on the faith unless we have it and are committed to it. We cannot give a love of Jesus and His Church unless we have a deep personal relationship with him.
People will come to know God through us or they won’t come to know him. God wishes to use us as his instruments. Therefore it is important that we have a living relationship with the Lord.
How do we develop that relationship and foster it?
Since I have been fond of quoting the popes in this talk let me return to Pope Benedict. In an address he gave in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the publishing of the Constitution on Divine Revelation of the Second Vatican Council which speaks of the bible on Sept. 2005 shortly after his return from Cologne and the World Youth day he said, –
I would like to mention the spread of the ancient practice of Lectio divina or "spiritual reading" of Sacred Scripture. It consists in pouring over a biblical text for some time, reading it and rereading it, as it were, "ruminating" on it as the Fathers say and squeezing from it, so to speak, all its "juice", so that it may nourish meditation and contemplation and, like water, succeed in irrigating life itself.
One condition for Lectio divina is that the mind and heart be illumined by the Holy Spirit, that is, by the same Spirit who inspired the Scriptures, and that they be approached with an attitude of "reverential hearing".
This attitude was typical of Mary Most Holy, as the icon of the Annunciation symbolically portrays: the Virgin receives the heavenly Messenger while she is intent on meditating upon the Sacred Scriptures, usually shown by a book that Mary holds in her hand, on her lap or on a lectern.
This is also the image of the Church which the Council itself offered in the Constitution
Dei Verbum:"Hearing the Word of God with reverence..." (n. 1).
Let us pray that like Mary, the Church will be a humble handmaid of the divine Word and will always proclaim it with firm trust, so that "the whole world... through hearing it may believe, In this context, I would like in particular to recall and recommend the ancient tradition of
Lectio divina: the diligent reading of Sacred Scripture accompanied by prayer brings about that intimate dialogue in which the person reading hears God who is speaking, and in praying, responds to him with trusting openness of heart (cf.
Dei Verbum, n. 25). If it is effectively promoted, this practice will bring to the Church - I am convinced of it - a new spiritual springtime.
As a strong point of biblical ministry, Lectio divina should therefore be increasingly encouraged, also through the use of new methods, carefully thought through and in step with the times. It should never be forgotten that the Word of God is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path (cf. Ps 119[118]: 105). “Sept 16, 2009 congress on 40th Anniversary of Dei Verbi.
Again a long quote, but a significant one. But what is this Lectio Divina he is recommending as a significant way of bringing about a new spiritual springtime in the Church? –
I would like to spend some time on this because I believe ,like Pope Benedict, this can have a profound effect on each of us, if practiced, and on the Church and ultimately the world.
Lectio Divina is not a bible course but an encounter with the living God. It is allowing ourselves to come to know the living Lord and having an experience of him by listening to his word and using the word the Pope uses “ruminating” I believe that if we do that what Pope Benedict has said as well, that a renewal of Lectio Divina will bring about a new Springtime in the Church.
This new evangelization and springtime can’t help but happen if we come to meet the lord and follow him. He will change our hearts and thus we will become that person that is so imbued with the Catholic Faith and our love of Jesus that we will want to speak of him and give testimony of Him in our lives. We will not cowl under pressure by family or friends. Jesus will have grasped us and we will have become his instruments.
Lectio Divina.
I have passed out a sheet that explains it. It can be done in solitude or in a group. In 2008 the Representatives of the Bishops from around the world met to discuss the importance of proclaiming the word of God to the world.
Two bishops in particular spoke of the use of Lectio Divina in their diocese; one from Chile and one from Sri Lanka. They said that the practice of Lectio Divina has changed their diocese.
It can do the same here if we practice it regularly.
If we begin to practice this method of reading SS we will be changed – Because we will continually be engaged in a conversation with the living God, The God whose voice we hear when his word is read and whose face we see in Jesus.
Ideally it would be good if it was done in the parish and be led by the pastor. But this is not possible each of us can do it individually or as a family. It is taking time to allow the word of God to infiltrate our very being. It is taking seriously what we believe: that the SS are the word of God and God speaks to us through them. It is taking seriously the words of The second Vatican Council that said that we venerate the SS as we venerate the Eucharist.
The Word of God has power and when we allow it to truly penetrate our beings we will be changed and the Church well be changed.
I believe that our faith can be immensely enriched through Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. This as well, is highly recommended both by the Popes. (Just recently Pope Benedict, in this year for the priest, decreed that priests are able to receive a plenary indulgence if they pray the Morning Prayer or evening prayer of the liturgy of the hours in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.) Adoration is a way of prolonging the union with Christ that happened at the mass. It is stating that Christ is present with us and never abandons us. Form this we receive strength, courage and consolation.
Adoration is a powerful means to grow in holiness and help bring about a spirituality of communion in our Church that begins with a union with Christ and flows out to embrace all, thus enhancing unity among all in God’s family.
Liturgy of the hours is a means to extend the liturgy of the word of the mass throughout the day.. It is a prayer deacons, priests, bishops are obliged to pray every day – but is recommended for all the laity as well. It is a wonderful way of staying connected with Christ for in the liturgy of the hours we pray primarily the psalms —the very prayer that formed the prayer life of Jesus. How better to take on the mind of Jesus then to pray the very prayers that he prayed. That is why they are so powerful.
We are to be women of faith – if we attempt Lectio Divina, Adoration, and Liturgy of the hours we will become more and more women of faith imbued with the Spirit of Jesus and thus better witness of his in the world.
Daily Mass, Rosary, and other devotions common among Catholics are significant as well.
I have spoken about Lection Divina now I would like to turn to another area that will help us grow in our faith and help be women of action especially as we try to respond to world with Gospel values and become effective bearers of the Good News and bring God to the world.
I would like also to challenge you to take up a study of the Theology of the Body.
From Sept of 1979 to November of 1984 Pope John Paul II dedicated the messages of his weekly Wednesday audiences to an explanation what he himself called a “Theology of the Body.” This has been said by George Weigel, the author of the internationally acclaimed biography of Pope John Paul II entitled “Witness to Hope,” that the Theology of the body is like a time bomb that is set to go off some time in the 21st century..
What is at the heart to TOB and why do I bring it up in a talk to women entitled “Women of faith women of action.”?
Because it addresses the meaning of life. As women of faith we must be sure about the meaning of life and where we find it. Pope Benedict whom I quoted has stated that people today are frustrated and asking for a meaning in life. The Theology of the body can answer that.
. John Paul says that a study of the Body will help us answer that question. It is written in the very body of men and women. It is a revelation from God therefore it is a theology for it tells us that we can discover the meaning and purpose of life in the very way we are made. We are to be people who give – we are a gift and are to give ourselves as gift. The meaning of life is found in giving. Theology of the Body is important for everyone and helps us live in this modern world.
But surely the theology of the body gives us an understanding of some of the more perplexing problems in the world today – especially in the area of sexuality. Theology of the body will help us understand better the teachings of the Church regarding God, ourselves and how we relate to God and each other and thus be able to respond better to some of the harshest criticisms against Catholics and the Church today.
Some would have us belief that our teachings, are out of date, especially those regarding sexuality – including contraception, sterilization, artificial insemination test tube babies, abortion. Even within our own Church many couples are practicing other methods of spacing birth than those accepted and taught by the Church.
If we are to be good witness we must witness to the Sanctity of human life and see it as a great gift from God.
A study of theology of the Body will aid us in to be able to take a deeper look at human life and the procreation of life.
Theology of the body will also help our marriages. If there is anything that we need to work on today it is marriage and family. Pope John Paul said in his Apostolic exhortation on the family, that the future o the world passes by way of the family. If that is the case we must do all we can to strengthen family life. I suggest that each one of us by studying of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body will begin strengthening our own marriage and thus be better witness to the world.
TOB is a reaffirmation of the goodness and beauty of the world. Although this world has been flawed by Original Sin it has been redeemed by the death an resurrection of Jesus who come to make things right to return them to the beginning before the fall.
Women of faith and women of action.
CCW is poised to to be a powerful force for bringing about the new springtime in the Church. That both Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict preached about. You are women in love with the Church. Your many acts of service and charity testify to this fact. .
You are women.
Who was the first one to go out and spread the good news? –it was a woman Mary of Magdala – after the death and resurrection of Jesus she went to the tomb and found it empty. The Lord then spoke to her and she then went and told the Apostles. (John 20: 11-18).
You have an organization, which is important. You have a support system in each other and- in your councils. Your organization has a connectedness from – parish, deanery, and diocese, national.
By nature you care and nurture and desire that which is the best for others especially your families.
Indeed it is true that many councils are struggling, but that should be seen as a challenge and an opportunity to grow. It is a challenge to be creative and to be about reforming. But women are always meeting challenges and overcoming them. We as Catholics are the largest religion in the United State and fallen away Catholics are the second largest we certainly have our work cut out for us. It will not be easy, but do not we believe that love conquers all – Faith which is steeped in love and action calls forth love as well.
We need to be people who are faithful realizing that God is always with us. In our concils we must be women who welcome and love thus promote unity and peace. I began with a quote from a letter of Pope Benedict calling for unity – we must do that in our own councils. Though prayer rand love.
I believe that lection Divine, adoration, liturgy of the hours and Theology of the Body will help all of us in our Chisinau vocation of being witness. We will become more charitable and more centered on what is at the heart of who we are and what we are about
When we are steeped in prayer and love we will be belter instruments and authentic witness. What Pope Paul VI says the world is calling or today and responds to. Thus we will strengthen each other.
‘
This is our mission
You are meant to be powerful witness to Christ. We are to be a Church of disciples. Disciples who have learn to follow Jesus our master – and have entered in to a deep personal relationship with him, then we can become leaders who bring his message to others by our lives. It is only when we learn to follow that we can become a leader. When we have a relationship with Jesus and have given our lives over to him then we become witness and thus leaders in the world. The type of leaders that the world needs and most fundamentally the type of leaders that each of our parishes need.
Be women of faith with a deep relationship with the Lord and you will be women of action – the best kind witnesses of Christ.
Thank you for listening and being so attentive. You have been so gracious now let us see If you have charity.
Addendum to talk
Synod Hears Explanation of Lectio Divina
Chilean Bishop Notes Fruits in Diocese
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 15, 2008.- Observers attest that the practice of lectio divina is a recommendation being made over and over by the synod fathers and auditors at the world Synod of Bishops.
An address Tuesday from Auxiliary Bishop Santiago Silva Retamales of Valparaiso, Chile, made a concrete presentation of this type of prayer that lasted some 20 minutes.
The prelate explained how in his diocese for the last five years, groups of prayer and meditation on sacred Scripture have significantly renewed the sense of communion in Christian communities.
Bishop Silva, named by Benedict XVI as the vice president of the commission for the message that the synod will produce, explained by citing St. Gregory the Great, that the objective of this practice is "to know the heart of God through the word of God."
The prelate illustrated the steps that the Valparaiso groups follow in order to do lectio divina in communities.
1. The meeting begins by preparing the environment where the encounter will take place. Specifically, an open Bible is placed on an ambo and the participants are also prepared, not only in postures but also with a "clean heart." Each participant brings their own Bible.
2. Next, the Holy Spirit is invoked so that "as the Word was made a book," as in the experience of the first Christian community, so now "the book becomes Word," the bishop said.
3. Afterward, a Bible passage is given and prepared with reflection questions to go deeper in the understanding of the text.
4. The fourth step is the reading, or rather, the proclamation, of the Biblical text. Following the proclamation is a moment of silence so that each participant can personally reflect.
The participants are then encouraged to annotate the passage, using, for example, question marks beside passages that seem more difficult to understand and underlining verses they consider particularly important.
Thus, as a group, they go discovering the key points of the passage, or the group guide offers aids for understanding.
The participants read the passage again, marking it this time with exclamation points beside those verses that invite them to actions or changes of attitudes.
With an asterisk, they mark those passages that help them to pray.
5. Then the participants move on to meditation, following the exclamation points. As an aid, they are invited to ask questions that apply to their lives.
6. Next, the group begins to pray, using the asterisks -- to pray from and with the word of God and what has been lived in the encounter with the Word, that is, with Christ.
7. Finally, time is left for contemplation, aided by silence or music. What is important, the bishop said, is that "Jesus takes hold of me, looks at me and I at him, an exchange of gazes."
Thus, the participants move to the last stage, "action," writing a word (for example, dialogue or help) that indicates to them the path to follow and share.
These community activities are carried out over a span of three years, Bishop Silva explained. It does not pretend to be a Bible course, but rather, an encounter with Jesus in sacred Scripture.
In Chile, he affirmed, the meetings have brought "moments of great communion."
Bishop Joseph Rayappu of Mannar, Sri Lanka, also dedicated his intervention today to lectio divina. He described the fruits that the practice has had in his diocese, where the episcopal conference began to emphasize lectio divina 14 years ago.
The Sri Lankan prelate arrived to this conclusion: "The Church in the world today is facing serious threats from various 'isms' and in confronting this challenge, lectio divina is one way that is proven to be effective. In the words of our Holy Father: 'if lectio divina is effectively promoted this practice will bring to the Church -- I am convinced of it -- a new spiritual springtime.'"
Lectio Divina
What is Lectio Divina?
It is basically praying with the SS.
It is allowing God to encounter us in His Holy Word. “to know the heart of God through the word of God.” (St. Gregory the Great)
How do we pray using this method?
We begin with a prayer to the Holy Spirit. This is time to establish contact with God and place ourselves in His presence, believing that He is here in His Word.
We prepare our hearts so that they become “clean hearts”. “As the Word was made a book,” so now “The book becomes Word”
1. We read the chosen Bible passage and pause and reflect on it (2-3 minutes)
Basically we are allowing the Lord to speak to us by trying to understand the passage and entering into it. We may have heard this passage time and time again, but tonight we allow ourselves to experience it afresh as if we are hearing it for the first time.
2. We read the passage a second time slowly and reflectively. We pause again,(2-3 minutes) Basically we ask what is God trying to tell me. Are there any words or verses that strike me as significant.
3. We read the passage a third time and pause to reflect on it for two to three minutes. This time really allow our hearts to speak to God and become involved in the passage. Perhaps by putting ourselves in the passage – Perhaps as one of the characters
4. We read the passage a fourth time and meditate on it. Let us ruminate over it.. We take about 10-15 minutes to reflect on it in silence. Allow Jesus to take hold of you.
5. Are we able to share as a group some insights that we have had?
6. We are able to take a minute or two and make a decision on how I am able to put something that I have discovered or God has spoken to me about into practice.
Is there an attitude I need to change? Is there an action I need to do?
7. We say a prayer of thanksgiving for this time of prayer.
