Yes, Virginia, There Really is a Saint Nicholas

Over a hundred years ago, the New York Sun printed a letter to the editor from an 8 year old girl (Virginia) who wanted to know if there was really a Santa Claus. The famous reply is the most often reprinted editorial in the English language. It's actually a very interesting reply, and goes to the heart of believing in that which we cannot see, and how some of the most real things in life are not tangible at all.

Despite the beauty of Frank Church's famous response, when you think about it, it's not exactly what Santa Claus or Christmas is about. Christmas is not the feast in which we celebrate what we can't see, but that which we can! We celebrate the invisible made visible, Love made incarnate, God made man. Even this tradition of Santa Claus is born from tangible, real actions of generosity and charity that Nikolas of Myra (who was actually a bishop!) made anonymously and famously to those in need.

As one story goes, Bishop Nikolas (later known to us as Saint Nicholas), knew of an unfortunate man who owed a debt so large that he was facing the terrible necessity of selling his daughters into slavery. In the night, Bishop Nikolas snuck in and placed the needed amount of gold coins in their stockings as they hung to dry. How else was this man's radical charity inspired but by the profound humility and complete sacrifice of the Child who was born in Bethlehem this day.

Mr. Church noted that Santa Claus exists "as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist" and that without this "there would be no child-like faith... no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence." He is right again, and this really is the reason we must continue to lift up for our children and for ourselves revolutionary examples of love and generosity and devotion.

Because, my friends, there really was a Christ Child born in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago, there really is a Saint Theresa of Calcutta, a St. Francis of Assisi, a St. Clare, and yes, Virginia, there really is a St. Nicholas.

Merry Christmas!
Mandie DeVries
Director of Religious Education

Reach Up

We interrupt your regularly scheduled bulletin article to bring you a science lesson. Why? Because it is totally cool, that's why! Maybe you are a super genius and learned this before last week, but among the large amount of things I didn't know was this interesting fact: Did you know that lightning can come up out of the ground?!? When a lightning bolt forms in a cloud and tries to find its way to earth, it has a crazy effect on the ground.  It isn't like the ground just sits around and waits for lightning to strike it.  Little bursts of what looks like ground lighting - actually called "positive streamers" which are sometimes 3 feet, sometimes 300 feet - are drawn up from all around to meet the lightning strike from the cloud! Like this: Then when the lightning from the cloud (technically the "step leader" which is searching for a path to the ground) makes contact with one of these positive streamers: BOOM! I know I said this article is about science, but I have to say that the whole idea of positively charged streamers flying out of the ground drawn by the powerful energy coming out of the sky couldn't help but draw out some reflection on the spiritual life, too. As I watched a super cool video explaining this phenomenon, I kept thinking about how God is always looking for a "path" to earth. The Lord sought out Abraham to bless all nations through him. He found King David to be a "man after His own heart."  He connected with those receptive listeners called the prophets. Then God made the most powerful connection to that point in history with a woman who reached out her hands with the response, "Be it done unto me according to your word," and indescribable, unfathomable power flowed through her. In the fullness of time, God sent His only begotten Son Who reached up to heaven as the Father reached down and formed a powerful connection with earth that will never be broken. Still today, God is searching for more pathways to send down His healing, transforming, life-giving power to the world.  He is reaching down, step-by-step, with his Word and with His Sacraments, especially the Sacrament of... well... all of them! Of course, He also continually reaches down through His total accessibility in prayer. It is pure scientific wonder to discover the ways that lightning finds its way to the ground, but God's ways of finding a path into the human heart are so much more awesome. Reach out! He is there: in prayer, in Sacrament, and in Power!

God's blessing on you and your family this week and always, ~Mandie DeVries Director of Religious Education

Open to Life

As parents of 5 daughters, the second most common question we're asked (after "All girls?!") is usually, "Are you trying for a boy?" Our canned answer is most often: "No, we were thinking of going for a volleyball team." But if I were to tell you a desire deep in my heart, it would be to have a son, and to have a son who would grow up to be a priest.

After losing Baby Jude last fall, however, it has been a bit of a struggle to remain open to life.  Not just open with our actions, but also in our hearts. As I am sure is the case for many couples experiencing infertility or secondary infertility, risking hope and facing disappointment is a roller coaster that is really hard to ride.

But the practice of being open to life is a lot bigger than being willing to accept a pregnancy if it comes. It's being willing to let God surprise you with his answers to your prayers. It is a decision to live without a guarded heart, and instead cultivating an inner life that is ready to receive whatever gifts may come.

Enter Daniel.

While Matt and I were in Phoenix for the International Celebration of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd we met an incredibly joyful young man who is absolutely full of life named Daniel.  He is a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Manizales in Colombia. Through an incredible chain of events, Matt and I have "adopted" this young man into our own family and with the help of Father Harris and Bishop Pates, we have received the extraordinary permission from Daniel's own archbishop and seminary director to have Daniel assigned to All Saints Parish for his internship this December!

 

I can tell you I never in a million years guessed that God might give me the gift of a "son of my heart" in the form of a seminarian from Colombia! But I also realize that to be surprised by the grace and Spirit of God, both my husband and I had to be ready and willing to receive it. 

With all the hard things and hurts that this life brings, it is tempting to build walls and protect our fragile hearts. But if we are ever to experience the power of God in our lives, we must be open. Only then will we be able to receive God's mercy and grace when He surprises us with the gift of abundant Life!

God's Blessing on you and your families this week and always,

Mandie DeVries, Director of Religious Education

Faith Formation Begins at Home is a weekly article I write for our parish bulletin and sometimes post here. It offers a perspective of the domestic church and the idea that forming the life of faith must begin and be sustained in the home.

And Now For Something Completely Different!

Serving as a catechist in multiple levels always gives a fresh perspective on child development (spiritual and otherwise), but this is the first year I've been in a Level I atrium alongside the older kids. After 7 years with the older kids, I could describe the transition back to Level I with six words:

"And Now for Something Completely Different!" 

This is probably because the 3-6 year old child has not yet moved into what Montessori called "the rational mind." They are still absorbing everything with no filter, and they can't necessarily verbalize what they need or what they are thinking. I have already had to use nearly all of my skills as a reverse hostage negotiator to help some of the 3 year olds get over the threshold of the atrium.  Never have I had to do that with 10 year olds!

At the beginning of the year, the catechists from the older atria are often smiling and going on about the fruit they are seeing with the children they serve, while the Level I catechists share struggles with spills, messes, and little children who actually get up and walk away during their presentations.

But there is the other side of the coin: one parent told a Level I catechist that her child has been talking about her all week and already loves her.  I don't think any of my Level III boys will get quite to that point, even after the whole year! Another three year old Level I child told his dad, "I didn't think I would like going to catechism. But I do! I really, really do!"

It's pretty easy to get a big head when you are a catechist for the youngest children, because they are so full of joy and love, and when they see you, they want to hold your hand and they seem so happy.  But that is the nature of the 3-6 year old child.  They love with all that is in them, and they want to feel safe, and protected, and cared for.

It is our work as catechists to be the "matchmaker" between these little children who have such a desire and capacity for love and the Good Shepherd who calls them by name and cares for them so deeply.

While the privilege of seeing an older child mature into a more adult faith is awe-inspiring, the spiritual development of the 3-6 year old child retains and reveals something to us that is totally mysterious and, in reality, completely different.

Jesus Christ, the true Catechist, reminds us to pay attention to how His love grows in these little ones:  
"The kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Luke 18:16b-17

And again,

"Whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me." Matthew 18:5

May God Bless you and your family,

Mandie DeVries, CGS Catechist and Director of Religious Education

Interested in learning more about Catechesis of the Good Shepherd? New formation courses are beginning all the time!  Check out www.cgsusa.org to find a course near you.  

Handles

For a three-year-old, getting through Mass on Sunday can be quite the challenge. Some people, recognizing this difficulty for the young child, elect to wait until the child is older and can understand what is going on before bringing them to Mass on a regular basis.

Yet, when the time comes to get ready for First Communion, you'll often see that fidgety 6-year-olds and children who are learning the rules of this quite foreign experience are put off with crayons and books so that they will be less distracting to the rest of the congregation. Around the age of “you’re too old for that stuff” we’ll sometimes see kids who are prone to long bathroom breaks, or who sit with a less-than-interested expression, as though they are being forced to do something they loathe. After a while, parents say, “Well, I can’t force them to come” and we don’t see the kids at all anymore.

A recent pew study found that after 8th grade, ¼ of youth stop coming to church at all, and by the time they are graduating college, less than ¼ remain.

But there is another way.

Much like language is assimilated much more easily by the youngest child, a child who attends Mass as a baby and toddler is far more likely to experience the Mass as a native—to develop the prayerful attitudes through practice—than to see it as a foreign, impossible thing.

But just bringing a child to Mass doesn’t make them know the Mass! They can’t enter into something that isn't made accessible to them. Just as we repeat and practice and encourage language and physical development, we must help the child get across that hour on Sunday in a way that gives them (and you) joy! I like to think of these familiar moments as “handles.” What are the moments that a child can grab on to and understand that helps him or her participate more fully in the Mass?

In our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program, we offer the young child (3+) “handles” in the form of:

· Prayer language—like the Amen, Alleluia, and the Sign of the Cross
· Familiarity with the objects of the Mass—like the three-year-old who pointed out to his mom,  

“Mom! Father just poured wine into the chalice!” 

· Knowledge of gestures he can do and see like genuflection, epiclesis, and offering
· Reverence—a growing ability to be silent and focused in the presence of God
· Community—the young child loves to be loved! When he comes and sees those who are his friends and those who have come to love him, Church feels like a place of love and friendship.

Of course, you don’t need to wait until your child is three to start doing and teaching these things! Parents are the first teachers of their children, and our parish CGS program can be a great asset to you as you seek to help your child grow in his love and reverence for the Mass. It is my hope that we see more engaged toddlers, children, and teens in our parish every year. They have much to teach us about their great spiritual potential if we will take the time and make the effort to help them participate as fully as they can in the Mass each week!

Note: Atrium lists for our CGS program that serves 3 year olds – 6th grade are being put together right now for the coming year! You can find more information about our programs and sign up ONLINE! Check it out on our website www.dmallsaints.org under Faith Formation. We look forward to welcoming your child(ren) this fall!

Catechist Prayer Group

Dear CGS Catechists and Assistants,

I have so much I want to share with you after a blessed week in Georgia for the Level I Formation Leader's Training Course.  Among the beautiful gifts I received last week, one of them is a new and clear perspective about prayer and the work of the catechist.

As you know, when we prepare materials for the atrium, it is a further opportunity to reflect on the beauty of the presentations we will offer to the children.

It was a surprise to me that one of the seasoned formation leaders did not let her participants even BEGIN writing an album page without first working directly with the material for a sustained period of time.  God makes himself present in the tangible--He uses stuff to teach us about Himself!  The catechist, through his or her proclamation AND the material she prepares, makes present the mysteries for the children and for him/herself, even if in a hidden way.  We must take time with the physical material in order to understand what is hidden!

I invite you to consider joining us for our prayer/material-making sessions from 2-5 or 6-9pm on Wednesdays this month.  It will be a time of fellowship, creativity, and, yes, prayer.  If you cannot join us, don't worry! We'll have plenty to do that we will invite people to take home for personal or family prayer time.

Hope you are having a blessed summer!

~Mandie 

Catechist Humor

Who Forms Whom?

I'm blessed to be writing this week's article from a Formation Leader's Training Course in sunny (and maybe a little muggy) Georgia.  As I've sat and listened to some of the most illustrious names in the Montessori and Catechesis of the Good Shepherd worlds, I am struck by the mysterious and simultaneous gift that the child is for us: he is both our student and our teacher.

We are always thinking of how we can better form our children, raising them up in the faith we love.  Parents spend much time learning how to care for their child, and preparing for the work of teaching them all they must know to be happy, healthy, and wise when they are grown. But which of us could completely become who we were made to be without the influence of a child?

Who else but the child can teach his parents to forget themselves and to pour themselves out for love? Who can teach us patience in the way a child can?  Who can teach us wonder like a child who discovers a little bug or a violet in the middle of a grassy yard?  Who can teach us to slow down like the child who cannot hurry? Who can teach us joy like the child who lives fully in the moment, and gleefully enjoys every touch and smile and look of love from her parents?  Who else can show us what it is to choose to forgive and love without limits those who are poor, those who are rich, those who are old or young? Who can teach us about true beauty except the child who sees to the heart and finds beauty in everyone who loves him?  Who can teach us to love without limits or conditions like the child who is love?

Our Lord said, "Unless you turn and become as little children, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Learning to meet the needs and honoring the values of the children in our lives are a built-in exchange of formation between the child and the adult. Without the children in our lives, we may never discover who we are made to be. But we must listen to them, and we must be humble enough to learn what it is they are teaching us.

"I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, you have revealed them to childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will."  Matthew 11:25-26    

It’s Going to Get Worse Before it Gets Better

Sometimes a life lesson hits you over the head at the most unexpected times.  For me, it was at my sweet 10 year old’s piano lesson a few weeks ago. 

Emma was feeling pretty good about a Frozen piece she had been practicing when we went to her weekly piano lesson and she showed her teacher.  I watched Ms. Becky as she listened carefully and circled a few places in the book toward the beginning of the piece, then put her pencil down and settled in to enjoy the rest of Emma’s song.  She smiled and praised my daughter for her hard work in figuring out how to play the piece.

“But,” she turned slightly serious, “there were several places where your fingering wasn’t right and the rhythms weren’t played as written.  It still sounds very good, but if you want to master this piece, you are going to have to UNLEARN a lot of what you’ve already taught yourself. I would be willing to help you and to keep working on this, but you may just want to keep playing it the way it is, because it sounds pretty good.  It’s your choice, but if you want me to help you get better, you’re going to have to get a lot worse, first.”

I watched my daughter as she thought about the option her teacher laid before her:

1) Present good versus future great, with a ton of work in the middle, or

2) Sound just fine to most people and avoid all the work and pain of unlearning and relearning. 

I couldn’t help but think that this question is also laid before us in the spiritual life.  Most of us have friends and neighbors who think we’re “pretty good people.”  I mean, to the untrained eye, we may seem like we have it together in our marriage, in our family, AND in our spiritual lives.  But the Lord does not give us just a cursory glance,

“I the Lord test the mind and search the heart,
to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.”

Jeremiah 17:10

He asks us the question: are you willing to settle for being “okay” or do you want to do the hard and hidden work to “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect”?  Matt 5:48.  When we work on our virtues, we oftentimes have to unlearn our bad habits, things that might be crutches for us and help us be our “okay” selves, but keep us from who we are made to be.  If we decide to really try to become the “best version of ourselves” we are likely going to find that we get worse before we get better.

My daughter didn’t think about it for very long.  “I want you to help me,” she told her patient teacher.  She now has many more hours of practice ahead of her, and I get to hear “Let it Go” about a hundred more times than I would have, but I am proud of my little girl. I hope it is just one of many such choices in her life to choose to do the hard and often hidden work to become the best she can be.

Talking to Myself

I remember my own mom lamenting dozens of times that even though she had five kids, she often felt like she was talking to herself for all that we listened to her. Well I had that same experience a few weeks ago, though it wasn't at all what I thought my mom meant when she said it!

I called up a friend and asked her if she could meet me for a chat. We set up a date at a nearby park where my children could play and we could walk around. I was kind of a mess--feeling overwhelmed with this and that, and struggling with different relationships.  My wise friend patiently listened to me and said, "Oh no!" and "That's terrible!" at all the right times.  As we walked around the park, I devised my plan for dealing with the great turmoil I saw in my life, though I just felt agitated and not peaceful.

Just then, one of my children burst in on my "adult problems" with a decidedly "kid problem."  Tears and anger and crossed arms, combined with a storming stomp led to the announcement of her difficulty: "She called me MEAN!" 

I excused myself from my friend, who stepped to the side, still within an earshot.  After bringing over the name-calling child, I discovered that the whole problem was over passage over the monkey bars. One wouldn't move, the other skipped the "ask nicely" step and went straight to name-calling.  I think they were both a little extra tired and cranky, too.  Both were at fault, both were right that the other wasn't being charitable.  And they were both miserable on a beautiful day at the park.

I crouched down with them and explained that both of them were focused on the wrong thing.  We are supposed to be loving each other, not focusing on what the other was doing wrong.  They were focused on their presumably justified anger, not how to build a loving and peaceful family, or how to make our time at the park a fun time for each other (not just themselves).  "We have to shift our focus from the one who has wronged us, to what we can do to bring love and peace to our family." 

As I sent them off to a nearby picnic table to work things out (which they did easily--one of them started telling jokes and they were all giggles and friends again), my friend walked slowly back to me. 

We both knew immediately that all the wisdom I was looking for while walking around the park, I heard myself say when I was talking to my kids.  It wasn't even that I felt like I was talking to myself. I felt like I was the child and God was talking to me!  How much He loves me, to correct my vision in such a gentle and patient way.

The "adult" problems we have are oftentimes nothing more than a storm in a teacup. It's like we're all kids on a playground, and God is the one walking around the outside, waiting for us to come to Him for help.  I just needed a shift in perspective.  I have way more in common with the kids playing in the park than I do with God who is walking around it. 

Parental wisdom  is a gift from God to help us raise our children well. And if you listen to yourself carefully, you might just hear your Father's gentle voice talking to you!

Where do you pray?

Where do you pray?

I attended a retreat recently where the participants were asked this question.  The answers were all over the place (literally!):

• I pray before meals, so I guess I pray at the table a lot. 
• I have a long commute so I turn on my Rosary app and pray in the car sometimes.
• I pray in Church (duh). 
• I sit at my kitchen island and pray with my coffee in the morning.
• I curl up in a comfy chair with a blanket and pray.
• I go for walks and pray as I am walking.
• I always pray by the side of my bed.

I had to think for a little bit about this question. Do I have a favorite place?  I have some favorite spots to go, but when it comes to daily prayer, I guess there's one place that is constantly a reminder to me that I need to check in with God: my bed. More specifically: on my pillow! 

It was kind of an unconscious thing for most of my life. I must have heard and resonated with the psalm I heard as a young person : "I think of you upon my bed, I remember you through the watches of the night" Psalm 63:7. For some reason I never really thought about, going to bed was a time to remember and think of God.  

What about you?  What is your favorite place to pray?  What about your children?  If you don't have one yet, what place could you make into your own "prayer place"?

Take the Elevator

I don't know about you, but after 40 Lenten days of sort-of tackling penances and prayer exercises, sometimes I wonder if I've made any progress at all up that "rough stair of perfection" we call the spiritual life. I feel like each stair is 6' tall, and I can't seem to clear one of them.  Worse, sometimes in my failings, I think I don't even WANT to climb up.

The much-loved St. Therese of Lisieux could relate. She lived in a time when the "lift" or elevator was just being invented.  Being of a weaker physical build, and often sick as a child, she was definitely someone who would take advantage of that elevator instead of opting for the stairs. 

Her ponderings on this subject led her to wonder if there were such a thing as an elevator for the spiritual life!  There has to be,she thought, because Jesus knows how little I am and how there is no way I can climb up that rough stair! Her famous "little way of perfection" is one that is perfect for all the little souls out there (of any size).  Her "elevator" is simply the arms of Jesus. 

In our "Don't be a wimp! Take the stairs!" culture, it can be hard for some of us to feel like it is right to do this.  Here's a story about a girl who didn't take the elevator: Out of love for Jesus, she climbed each rough and broad stair. She called on Jesus for help, but she definitely wanted to finish on her own. (Parents--can you hear your young stubborn toddler saying, "I do it!"??)

When this girl arrived at the top of the stairs, her virtues were shining and she had such love in her heart. She was able to offer Jesus her sufferings and a lifetime of effort.  Jesus welcomed her in to heaven, and she was so happy.  But she looked up ahead and saw saints who just glowed with love.  They were as close to the throne as they could possibly get.  "Who are these, Lord? Who are so happy and so exalted here in heaven with you?"  His answer, "These are the saints of the Little Way."  

She was not troubled, but puzzled. She asked God why this should be so.  She felt that her hard work for the love of Jesus, her "I do it!" attitude, and her perseverance should have been most pleasing to the Lord. She did not expect that she was a great saint, but she expected "great saints" to be closest to God. It surprised her that these who took the "elevator" would have been so highly exalted in heaven.

His response: "You held me at an arm's length while you climbed the stair. Your heart loved me, but you did not trust me to love you until you were more perfect.  We lost so much time in your life that we could have been close because of this.  These little ones came into my arms in trust FIRST.  Their virtues were developed in my arms and close to my heart, not just in my service."

We can't really forget the stairs.  Our efforts are still important and worthwhile. They just aren't going to get us very far, very fast. St. Therese discovered that building the virtue of trust first made everything else fall into place.  

Maybe we can make this our prayer this Easter season: 

"Jesus, I trust in you!  And I'm taking the elevator!"

Science: Get to the Bottom of the Glass

"The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you." Werner Heisenberg, quantum physicist and Nobel Laureate. 

I was watching an interesting interview recently with a famous astrophysicist by an equally, maybe even more famous, comedian.  As the best comedians do, the interviewer asked the humorously simple, yet deeply profound question to the scientist: "Is it better to know or not to know?"

If you think about it, is really a question that all Christians must grapple with. God's great universe stands out there, greater than we ever really imagined, but all of the stuff we find out there or even right under our feet can have a very unfortunate and unnecessary response from Christians: fear, or worse, crippling doubt.

But why is this so? Science is merely a tool and a method to discover the great mysteries that God has prepared for us. Granted: we can discuss the wisdom that humans use when they make these discoveries (i.e. the atomic bomb), but must we worry about faith/reason really contradicting each other? 

It is a logical fallacy to say that Science has led one away from God.  If anything, the discoveries of elegant, beautiful, and simply amazing realities such as pi and the theory of relativity should lead us to deeper reflection on the majesty and order of the universe God created. There are many who would argue that Science and Faith need not talk to one another; that Reason and Faith need not, and indeed cannot, agree.  But as Catholics, we have a long and beautiful tradition of both/and.  You can be assured that you will not be obliged as a Catholic to believe anything that is contrary to reason. But you also must be prepared to seek the knowledge and ask the question, "why"? As that famous astrophysicist stated, "To dismiss scientific discovery out of hand is the same as accepting it blindly."  Our faith is the same way-we cannot simply accept it blindly OR dismiss it out of hand.  Simply put, we can't give up the pursuit of Faith OR Reason.  We need both to get to the bottom of the glass, where God is waiting.

Precious Pearl

After an awesome weekend at the YOUTH 2000 Eucharistic Retreat, I was trying to decide what I could write about this week, when this email from a parent showed up in my inbox. We are blessed and privileged to collaborate with parents in forming the faith of their children. Occasionally we get to hear a story like this one:
Hi Mandie.  I am constantly amazed and awed by the ways that CGS has affected and shaped my children's spiritual life. Something happened last night that brought such joy to my heart, I want to share it with you, and any of the other catechists that you think would like to hear it. 

Last night, I was drying my six-year-old's hair during our bedtime routine.  She was super-talkative, as always at bedtime (I know, hard to imagine- she never opens her mouth in public), and she had a particular story she was excited to share with me. My husband went to the men's conference yesterday, and he had shared with her the story of the male model, Mario St. Francis.  Her translation went something like this:

"So Dad said there was this guy who was a model.  He was rich and he had everything you could want.  But one day, he realized that Jesus was more important, so he gave all that up so that he could follow him.  And mom, it made me think of the story Jesus told, about the merchant and the pearl?  He sold everything he had so he could get the precious pearl, which of course, is the kingdom of God.  So this guy gave everything up because he realized that God was more important!  He has the kingdom of God too!"  

I am sure there is much more to the real story of this model, but because of CGS, she keyed into the most important part.  And she had a real reference point so that when she heard of a story of someone who loves God and understands what is truly of value in this world, she made the connection and got excited about recognizing the truth in it.  What more can we ask for as parents? Her eyes were shining with joy for the man that he had "figured it out" too.

I thank God frequently for my "chance" meeting with you and All Saints.  I am so grateful for all the hard work you and everyone in the program puts into it every day in every way.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart; and never ever doubt that you are doing the work of The Holy Spirit!

Love and Peace,

Michelle 

DeVries Family Meeting

Faith Formation Begins At Home

DeVries Family Meeting This Lent, All Saints has provided copies of Matthew Kelly's amazing book, Four Signs of a Dymanic Catholic to parishioners and guests. The Four Signs: prayer, study, generosity, and evangelization, were all things that the most engaged and dynamic Catholics had in common to some extent.  When you read the book, it is impossible not to be challenged to actually buckle down and become what Matthew Kelly calls "the-best-version-of-yourself!" Well, after reading the chapter on generosity, I called a DeVries Family Meeting. (This is a fancy word for holding everyone hostage before they are excused from the table).  There was one line in that chapter that hung with me over the week and I wanted to talk about it: "If it doesn't get measured, it doesn't get done." A retired businessman in our Friday morning book study noted that this is common maxim in the business world, too. If you aren't measuring the change you want, it probably isn't going to happen.  Matthew Kelly also put it this way: "You don't just FALL into good habits. You have to work at it!" So, with these thoughts on my mind, I called together the troops and told them that I'd read a good "God" book (no, not the Bible) that had me thinking about this question:   How much does our family pray? "You mean, like, in minutes?" A conversation ensued about how many waking minutes we are gifted with each day: Say 720 per person for 12 waking hours. Now we have 7 people in our family, so that's 5040 minutes that God gives our family each day.  OK. So--how many minutes do we spend each day actively talking to God who is actively giving us life? We added up our mealtime prayers (times seven), and our most-of-the-time morning perusal of the daily readings, and a few people added in their regular bedtime prayers, until we came up with what we think is a pretty good daily average.  Sundays throw the total way up since Mass is an hour. But as we looked at our total, a collective feeling of awkwardness shrouded our meeting.  It wasn't a very high number. I simply asked the girls: do you think we are being generous with our time of prayer to God?  What do you think we should be offering to him as a family and how can we do better? My 6 year old had a great idea: "How about we all pray the same number of minutes as our age?"  As the chronologically advanced members of the family exchanged a pensive look, the ten year old threw out another idea, "Maybe every time we pass by the crucifix at the top of the stairs, we could say a Hail Mary?" After a few more minutes of brainstorming, we all left the table just thinking a little bit more about how we should think about God just a little bit more in our day.  My 6 year old brought me a Rosary a few minutes later and asked if I would pray with her.  She said if I prayed with her our prayer time would get doubled.  So I did. Sometimes I think that my husband and I are the spiritual leaders of our family, but usually we just need to call a DeVries Family Meeting to discover how the spiritual gifts of our children are really leading and challenging us to grow.  I began the meeting with the idea of how we could measure and improve our family in one area: prayer.  I came out with a new respect for my children.  Time is their love language, and it isn't all that hard for them to fall into prayer, because for them it is like falling in love. May the children in our lives lead us all to grow in prayer, in patience, and in a more generous giving of love.

Catechist Formation

There are so many offerings coming up for catechist formation for those who are ready to jump in for the first time and even some old-timers who are wanting to dive even deeper.  One awesome event is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is an International Celebration of Catechists in Phoenix, AZ to celebrate the 60th anniversary of CGS.  Many of our catechists are highly considering going, and we have put together this event to help!  If you are nearby, I hope you'll come by and support this worthy effort!

My friend, Abraham

Just a anecdote to share this week.  One of our catechists was chatting with a parent about how things were going in the atrium with her child.  The parent shared something that happened at home that made her more intrigued as to what is going on in her child's classroom.  She said that it can be hard to get her children to share what they are learning or doing in the atrium, but they seem to enjoy going so she figured it was a good thing for them.

Then one day the family was sitting together and watching a show on The History Channel about the Bible.  She was shocked when her children began to share all that they knew about Abraham (which was far more than she knew!)  "They talked about him as though they knew him!"

It's been 2 years since we had our Abraham study with our Level III kids, and it warms the heart of any catechist to hear that what you taught has sunk in somehow.  Even more powerful was the witness that this parent gave to the intimacy that her children felt with this ancient Biblical figure.

The approach to studying the scriptures with the children, diving into the background (like how a Bedouin nomad lived and worshiped) and breaking open the typology that relates to Christ is found throughout all three years of Level III. It'll be another year until we visit Abraham again with a new group of Level III kids, but I look forward to the opportunity to introduce to them their father in faith, and hopefully a new friend.