A Reflection for Christmas

Sleeping Child

All creation ached to see the Word when He leapt down,

When God eternal, visibly, cast off his heavenly crown.

In the cold of night He came, as starlight blazed and filled the skies,

He left that place beneath her heart, and looked into her eyes.

Her fiat's Fruit, her yes's Son, her blessed womb had borne,

Yet death's dark shadow lingered close, as swaddling clothes were shorn.

For as the humble came to set themselves beneath His gaze,

She knew not all who sought Him out would offer joyful praise.

Could she see through tears of joy and mingled sorrow twain?

Divested from her womb, she now must lay him down again?

But to evince and show to all her perfect love of God, 

She laid her Son thus shrouded by for shepherds, kings, to laud.

But when his eyes grew heavy, and He knew an infant's rest,

She kissed his head and gently held her son against her breast.

In sorrow hence she'll hold Him thus when all is reconciled,

But joy pierced first His mother's heart, held by her sleeping Child.

~May the Child Jesus always find in your heart a welcome place to rest. 

Merry Christmas and God Bless,

Mandie DeVries, Director of Religious Education

The Original Bonus Baby

It is always interesting when children eavesdrop on adult conversations. You never know what ideas they get in their heads when they think they know what you're talking about, but they really don't.

Recently, our family had a lovely visit from a parishioner who brought us a meal to celebrate the birth of our baby boy, David. She enjoyed holding him and telling stories of her family. As usual, my older girls gathered round to listen in, and put their oar in whenever they could find a space.

We were talking about how much more you appreciate the little babies when you are older. I had my first baby 13 years ago and with the huge learning curve for the first one and toddlers to distract me for the other four, this is my first baby that I have really been able to enjoy from the start!

Adorable pic of David taken by Emily Perry at Emily Perry Images

When our guest shared about how blessed their family has been by "bonus babies," our 8-year-old piped in wanted to know what a bonus baby was.

"Well," I began, carefully, "when a couple thinks that they aren't going to have any more children, then God blesses them with one, people call that a bonus baby."

"Oh," she said, "like your friend Mary?"

I explained to our guest that after miscarrying her second child, my friend Mary was told that she had less than a 1% chance of having children again, but after being anointed with Lourdes water at a healing mass, she WAS blessed with another child, and is now expecting her 6th!

"That's one way to look at it, but that isn't exactly what people mean," I told Leah. "Usually a "bonus baby" is a blessing a couple receives when they are older and don't expect to have more children."

"Ooooooh!" She said, as the lightbulb went off in her head. "Like Abraham and Sarah when they had Isaac!"

We all laughed and concurred that she got the concept this time. "Yes," I told her, "I think Isaac must have been the original bonus baby!"

The Best Thing I Ever Did

About 11 years ago, someone invited me to take a class on how to teach preschool religion. I had an almost-preschooler and a new baby. The cost was a bit steep at $375, but everyone spoke so highly of this 8-day course, I decided to go for it. After a few days in the course, I was more than intrigued by the formation - I was hooked! That was when I realized that this was only Part ONE of the Level I course, and that the following summer would be another 8 days and another $375! But it was too late. I was already sold. Eleven years later I will still tell you it is the best thing I did for my faith, my parenting, and maybe my life!

Not everyone begins formation for Catechesis of the Good Shepherd as blindly as I did. I showed up the first day unaware that this was more like a college course than a workshop. Even if it was more educational than I forsaw, it was also far more of a spiritual investment than I expected.

Ever since that summer in 2004, I have been telling everyone I knew to give some time to be formed in CGS, and if they can manage it, to get trained in all three levels (270 hours!) In the years since I was trained, things have changed quite a bit in our area. The biggest change is that we have local trainers, and the cost and format of the trainings have been streamlined.

About 2 years ago, with much prayer and trepidation, I began the discernment process of working to become a formation leader for Level I of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. It was about 6 weeks ago that I received my recognition as a formation leader from the National Association. I have long desired to open this opportunity to adults who are not quite ready to make the commitment to be catechists, but who have been hearing of the spiritual fruit that is coming from these incredible formation courses and want to come and see!

I am thrilled to announce that as part of our Adult Faith offerings at All Saints, we will be offering a national Level I course (serving 3-6 year old children) beginning in January for a parishioner rate of $60 for the whole course! (Out of parish participants will pay $300 for all 90 hours).

For more information about CGS, this course, or to register, check out our parish website: www.dmallsaints.org/cgs or our blog at allsaintscgs.blogspot.com. Class size is limited to the first 15 participants (and it is my secret hope that many of them will be MEN). I hope to see you on the first day, January 16th!

What's Left

Our family has had a pretty good string of mornings lately where we have had some good breakfast Bible time. When our family routine works out, we'll eat breafast together and read the daily readings for Mass that day.

When our children were younger, we would just read the Gospel of the day, but now we will go through the day's readings with me reading the first reading and psalm, a (usually) lovely rendition of the Alleluia verse led by our 4 and 8 year olds, and Dad reading the Gospel. Then we'll often go around the table and just say one word or phrase that stuck out to us. Most of the time, it ends there and we finish up our breakfast, but sometimes something amazing happens.

In last week's readings, Jesus was being especially tough on the Pharisees. After reading about how that generation would be "charged with the blood of all the prophets from the foundation of the world..." there was a heavy silence at the table. Our oldest stated honestly, "I don't think that Jesus sounded very merciful to the Pharisees."

Matt and I exchanged glances and were about to join in the conversation, when our 8 year old surprised us by jumping to Jesus' defense.

"I think he was merciful," she offered between bites of cereal, "but they rejected his mercy. Then, all that was left was his justice."

We were speechless, and honestly, there wasn't much else to say anyway. I thought a lot that day and in the days that followed about how important it is to accept God's mercy in my life (and to offer it to others). I definitely don't want what's left over!

Such wisdom "from the mouths of babes" was also a humbling example of how God the Father speaks to his children through the living Word. It was a poignant reminder to my husband and I of just how important it is to our family to give God the firstfruits of our day in reflection, and not just what's left at the end!

Prayer Table in the Home

Prominent in every Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium is a corner where the children gather (and sometimes go alone) for quiet and prayer. As I was talking with veteran parents in our program this year about how CGS has affected their family, several parents told me that the biggest change for them has been the addition of a prayer table in their home.

What is a prayer table?

Inez, our parish housekeeper, often shares stories of her mother and grandmothers who would have a small table that was always decorated with religious items like rosaries, a bible, pretty flowers, and even beautiful wrapping paper that was saved from birthdays or Christmas. She told me how her grandmother made it a priority to always have enough "candle money" to keep a vigil candle there.

The prayer table in the atrium is a lot like this, yet simpler, so that the young child can prepare it on his or her own. On a shelf or in a basket next to a low table, we have 4 different colored cloths (purple, green, red, and white)--one for each liturgical season. The child will make sure that the prayer table cloth matches the color he or she sees Father wearing at Mass.

There is also a bible stand, a beautiful, yet small, bible (to which the children show tender and awed reverence), a small candle, and a few options for little statues that the child may place.  There is also a basket of prayer cards with simple (for the youngest children) and then more complex prayers and psalms written on them (at home we have many saint cards and holy cards, too). There are also options for beautiful art and often the table will be decorated by the children with flowers.

One parent in particular told me how her 5 year old son will bring her to the prayer table in their home throughout the day, just to offer quick prayers for people he loves. Having a holy place prepared in our homes is a great reminder of the sacred that is all around us, and more importantly it is a call to prayer!

Prayer Cloths Available!

Shepherd's Staff is the regional board that serves Catechesis of the Good Shepherd catechists in Iowa, and they have put together this beautiful collection of prayer cloths for the atrium and for home! BONUS: proceeds from the sale of the cloths helps to provide scholarships for CGS trainings!

The cloths are $30 with shipping, but to save on shipping, we have a dozen or so sets available at All Saints for $25. First come, first served! If there is high demand, we'll put in another order.

Rule #1

In our house, we have a short list of rules. Some are silly like Rule #3: "Don't sit in Mom's camp chair" and some sound silly, but really are serious like Rule #5: "Don't melt on a rainy day."

Rule #1 was established a while ago, but I didn't realize how important this rule would be for our family when I made it. What is Rule #1?

Two words: Keep Calm.

When you live in a house with as many girls in it as I do, it is important to have proper rules in place to limit drama. It is worth almost any effort to avoid the "freakout snowball" whence everyone in the house melts to pieces over something that is relatively trivial, say, a missing hairbrush when we running are late. Hence: The Rules.

Yet, while I knew Rule #1 was a practical necessity, I did not realize how much it was also a spiritually-practical necessity until reading a small but life-changing book called Searching For and Maintaining Peace by Father Jacques Philippe. It seems every new section explored new reasons why maintaining a calmness of spirit, or seeking always to hold on to that peace that passes understanding, is the #1 Rule in the spiritual life.

I've been at this spiritual life thing since I was baptized several decades ago. I have to admit I was really taken aback to realize that I missed this rather key point: The quest for peace should take precedence over every other spiritual pursuit (including virtue building or building a strong prayer life). Yet Father Philippe's arguments for seeking peace as the first goal of the spiritual life were rock solid:

1. God is the God of Peace, not of turmoil.
2. God can't work in your soul if you don't let Him.

In short: if we want God to act, we have to simmer down and actually let Him take control.

So whether we are dealing with small things like missing hairbrushes, silly things like someone sitting in our favorite chair, or big things like facing a terrible enemy in a difficult situation, we must not be so foolish as to face our difficulties alone and handle it with our own feeble power.

We must always remember Rule #1:

"It would be well to keep this in mind, because, quite often in the daily unfolding of our Christian life it happens that we fight the wrong battle...We fight on a terrain where the devil subtly drags us and can vanquish us, instead of fighting on the real battlefield..."

"The believer, throughout the entire battle, whatever the degree of violence, will strive to maintain peace of heart in order to allow the God of Armies to fight for him." Fr. Jacques Philippe

Nemo Dat, Quo Non Habet

Last weekend, several parish catechists and a few tag-alongs joined in a retreat at Conception Abbey in Missouri celebrating the completion of our 10th year of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd at All Saints.

The theme of the retreat which was facilitated by the very talented Katie Patrizio was "Mercy: The Message of the Catechist." Katie closed the retreat with reflections on this question:

"Which is the most important thing: to love or to be loved?"

She ventured a guess that many of us would consider it a much more noble thing to love than to be loved. I remembered, for example, the famous Franciscan prayer and song where I pray to never seek "to be loved" so much "as to love with all my soul..."

Yet her reflection grew much, much deeper. When it comes to our fellow travellers, our children, our spouse, our friends, our enemies--this sentiment of loving first holds. We must seek not their love, but to love. Or as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta said, "Where you do not find love, put in love, and you will draw out love!"

But if your own tank is empty, where are you going to get the gas to fill up someone else?

Katie suggested that when frustration comes our way and we find ourselves unable to love, it is because we are laying hold to love in the wrong order. We think that we must love first in order to be lovable. We think we must be well in order to go to the physician (see Mark 2:17).

She proposed that it is far more important for we humans to know deeply we are loved than to love. In fact, when Jesus gives the commandment to love, he does so only in reference to his own love for us: "Love one another as I have loved you." (John 13:34) It is impossible for us to do all God asks of us, if we don't live and experience and trust in that merciful love each day.

It is probably the greatest trick that the devil ever pulled off to make the core proclamation of the Gospel - that God loves you - sound like a platitude. 

So many complaints about catechesis over the past 50 years center around the fact that we traded in the "real" catechesis for the fluffy "you are special" and "God loves you" catechesis, and yet, this is the most fundamental and important truth.

Pope Francis entreats us: "On the lips of the catechist the first proclamation must ring out over and over: ‘Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and now he is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you.’" (#164 Joy of the Gospel).

If we are looking for reasons of the failure of catechesis, I would say that the finger should not be pointed so much at the lack of moral formation (how well we love others), but of a failure in initial evangelization (how deeply we understand that we are loved). No moral formation (parenesis) will ever be successful without a firm grounding in this first and always primary proclamation (kerygma) which gives us joy!

This proclamation of mercy should be not only on the lips of priests and catechists, but of each and every one of us. Yet before these words can be truly sounded, they must echo deep in our own hearts. We must know deeply that we ourselves are loved in a radical, unconditional way. As my dear friend Tom always says, "Nemo dat, quo non habet."

In plain English, "You can't give it, if you don't got it!"

John 6:66

After many many weeks of hearing in the Gospel of John about Jesus being the "bread of life" we get to the crux of it: the decision point. Jesus is saying something that he knows is hard to understand, hard to believe: that "unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you shall not have life within you."

He just fed 5000 men and untold numbers of women and children with 5 loaves and 2 fish. Then, right after that, he walked on water. Over the course of about 24 hours, he's demonstrated powerfully that he can do amazing things that are hard to understand and hard to believe. Yet when he said, "my flesh is true food" and "my blood is true drink," it proved too much for many of his followers.

Probably the roughest (and most ominously numbered) verse in all scripture follows: John 6:66.

"As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him."

But there are some who stayed.

They didn't stay because it was easy to understand, or because it was easy to belive. Peter intones my favorite words (that are not spoken by Jesus) in all of the Gospels:

"Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life." John 6:68

It has not always been true that I believed and followed the teachings of the Church because they were easy to understand or believe. Sometimes I just had to follow because there was simply no better alternative. I echoed Peter in my heart as I prayed to God, "Lord, to my human wisdom this doesn't make sense, but without you, nothing makes sense, so I choose to follow you anyway."

As time has gone on, clarity and a deepening of my understanding of the gift of the Eucharist and many of the more difficult to understand teachings of the Church has found its way into my heart. Peter's faith-filled response has been my cry and my safeguard when the doubts and darkness threaten to overcome my belief or to tempt me to follow my own conceptions of what Jesus should have said or meant.

I pray for all who struggle with this belief in the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It may not be an easy teaching to understand, but it is HIS teaching, and he continues each day to prove himself trustworthy. Remain with him, even as you struggle. When you are tempted to return to your former way of life, let Peter's cry be your protection.

"Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life." John 6:68

Sandcastles in December

Is it a surprise to anyone that parenting is hard? Growing up, I thought it looked relatively easy from the kid side, and if my parents would have asked me, I could have given them some simple pointers on all the ways that they could have done it better. ("Just you wait," Mom would tell me).

I would say that the biggest parenting surprise did not come in how hard it was to BE a parent, but how hard it was for ME to be a parent.

I really thought I would nail this thing.

I mean, I wanted to be a mom. I got married thinking I would have a gaggle of little ones. It was all I wanted. When reality hit hard after about 5 years, I remember being so dazed that I couldn't figure out what was going on. Was the problem that my darling daughters were not the sweet little baby dolls that I expected, or was it something deeper in me that just wasn't adjusting to this "mother thing?" I felt trapped.

I called a veteran mom friend to beg for some perspective. I didn't want to hear another country music song about how I'm going to want this time back, I wanted to know why I didn't want this dream anymore. What was wrong with me that I couldn't find joy in my mothering?

After listening patiently for a while, she diagnosed my problem with three words. She said that it sounded like I was trying to build sandcastles in December.

She'd heard the analogy somehwere describing how the human heart gets so restless with reality, that it spends its best energy longing for what it doesn't and really can't have right now. In December, you are miserably cold trying to build sandcastles on the beach, and in July, you are frustrated with longing for sledding and snowmen.

It was like that for me and my mothering. Rather than experiencing the joys that season in my life had to offer, I was jealously coveting the pleasures and joys of a mom with older children or even grown children.

Carefully avoiding any reference to country music,

my wise friend counselled me that God gives us the present moment as a beautiful gift and that I will only receive that gift when I embrace it with open arms.

No matter what our current station in life, working hard or retired, single, widowed, married with grown children or longing for children, or being reminded by every grocery store checker that "you sure have your hands full," don't miss the joys of the present because you want another season's gifts. God has abundant JOY for us and for our families today that is just for us in our own season of life.

Why? vs. What Now?

Sometimes when I am talking to my children, bits of wisdom come out of my mouth and I have no idea where they came from. I usually give the credit to my mom, or any one of my brilliant and holy friends, or, of course, Catholic radio. Sometimes I'll even remember reading it somewhere in a book written by a saint or other holy person. So you have been informed. Pretty much nothing I ever say in this column is original, it is all pilfered from much holier and more intelligent folk. All the better for you.

Well, in the last few months, we were dealing with a difficult situation in our family. There were some serious moments where the "whys" were sapping up so much strength and energy that it was difficult to focus on anything else. In talking to one of my girls who was really struggling to put words to the "whys."

I stopped her. "God is not in the 'why'," I told her, "He's in the 'What Now?'"

I realized, after wondering what on earth made me say that, that this insight was a powerful synthesis of many lessons I've been learning over the past years.

It is seldom, if ever, peaceful to look back on the past and lament over why we fell, why we or others chose so poorly, or why a tragedy may have happened. The tough subject of why there is evil in the world and why I (who should know better) participate in it sometimes, is one that philosphers and theologians will wrestle with until the end of time. Even with some of the big questions answered, "Original Sin" doesn't seem that satisfying of an answer when you make a serious mistake, when someone you love hurts you, or when someone you trusted betrays you...

The answer is often simply that sometimes we don't get to know why. It is humbling. It is limiting. Sorry, child, you and I don't get to be omnipotent.

But always, always, we can pray for light to know what to do next. We don't have to waste our time and prolong our grief or brooding by dwelling too long on why things aren't different. God is here now, in this particular situation. He may not give us light to see our path for the next ten years, but if we are honest, we have never been left without light enough to know what to do for the next ten minutes.

After the tragedy on 9/11, I heard a reporter interviewing a Catholic priest about why God allows evil. His answer was so simple and confident: "So that God can bring a greater good out of it." To what "greater good" is God calling and leading us? We can't know that if we are only looking backward.

So, taking advantage of the gift of Reconciliation if we need it, we must walk in trust, peace of heart, and faith whatever path you can see ahead. God will show us the "what now" once we leave the "whys" behind us.

Inside Out

In the very early morning if you tune into Iowa CatholicRadio, you can hear a spot on the EWTN Sunrise Morning Show that is dedicated to movie reviews. As a Catholic parent, it isn't very practical to pre-view every single movie that your child will see, so this can be really helpful when trying to discern what is (and isn't) good for our kids and even us grownups to watch.  A few weeks ago, I caught enough of the review on the new Pixar movie, Inside Out, that I decided it would be okay to take my family and check it out. 

I was not disappointed.

The prevailing descriptor for this movie has been one word: clever. Most of the action in the movie takes place on the inside of a little girl's head, centered in her "control center" where the characters are played by her prevailing emotions (or her "passions" for you classically trained philosophers out there): Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear.

I loved this movie, which, since I can be pretty hard to please cinema-wise, is a big deal for me. There are so many great life lessons to be learned and interesting thoughts to be "thunk" for grownups and kids alike.

For one thing, all of the emotion characters most respected JOY. Even if they sometimes "drove", they recognized the value of trying to always see the positive and to choose Joy. Even they knew that things rarely go well when your primary driver is disgust, fear, anger, or sadness. Interestingly, though, the movie doesn't fall into the trap of teaching that all can be solved by being a cock-eyed optimist. Sometimes, in fact, those other emotions can serve very useful purposes, especially when they "drive" together with Joy.

About all I could say was, "Wow." It isn't very often that you get a message from a major motion picture that life can be hard and beautiful at the same time, or that our emotions are not just something that happen to us, but something that we can choose.  As Christians, it is especially poignant to see how Sadness and Joy can blend together in a situation that involves suffering. 

If you haven't watched this movie with your family yet, I encourage you to do so and to take some time over ice cream and talk about it afterward. Maybe your child or you will come up with even more interesting ideas from this movie about the meaning of life and how we respond to it. Clever movies like this one aren't necessarily designed to lead us one way or the other, but to affect everyone in different ways from the inside - out! 

What is CGS? A Primer for Parents

Is this your first time in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd? You probably have a lot of questions. Hopefully this post will give you some answers. This post is a beautiful one by a parent who discovered our program. We hope you feel the same way as she did!

How Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is different from traditional textbook methods of religious formation

We can begin with the obvious: there are no textbooks! But let's first describe a textbook classroom.

In a textbook classroom:

• there are tables and chairs where similarly aged children usually sit for the entire class time which varies but is usually 75 minutes or fewer
• a catechist leads the class as a whole, usually at the head and leads the lesson and makes assignments. She or he is the director of the classroom activity
• the catechist in these classrooms may be someone with 15+ years of experience as a catechist and a professional teacher on the side, or it may be someone without any formal training doing this for the first time
• the material is covered according to the textbook. The scope and sequence is determined according to the text, as well as the interest of the class as a whole
• a good catechist is someone who can create exciting ways to impart the material in the text in a way that the children will retain it

In a CGS atrium:

• there are many different areas where the children may sit and receive lessons or work, as well as 3 different ages of child who are instructed not simply according to age, but also interest and ability.
• the catechist generally does not instruct the class as a whole unit, but gives lessons or "presentations" to small groups of children at a time. The child's activity, beyond the presentation he or she receives, is chosen by the child from a variety of choices that are offered. In this way, the child is generally the director of the time, choosing work that corresponds to his or her interests and abilities.
• The time in the atrium is usually more extended, allowing for a settled pace. There is no hurry, and there is time for the child to enter into "bigger work."  One of the chief ways a child defends himself against a hurried pace and interrupted concentration is boredom. We do not see boredom as an enemy in CGS, but often as a part of the process of building concentration that leads to contemplation. After a few months, the children groan when the closing bell is rung because the time is too short, not too long!
• Each trained catechist has an "album" of presentations, 50+ presentations per level, complete with direct and indirect aims laid out--these are the goals of what we want the children to achieve and how we measure our success in the presentation. The material from these presentations is drawn from liturgy (the Mass) and scripture.
• The CGS catechist falls into two categories: lead catechist and assistant. The lead catechist is someone who has undergone a 90-hour formation/training course (over 2 weeks of formation) for the level in which they work. Each level is a pre-requisite for the next, so if someone is a lead catechist in Level III (for the 9-12 year old child), she or he has completed a 90 hour training course for Level I and a 90 hour formation course for Level II, as well as 90+ hours for Level III. It does not necessarily mean that the catechist is "experienced," yet, and I can tell you that it is definitely a learning process to catechize in this way, but generally catechists will return year after year to serve and often get to serve the same child for multiple years. An assistant is someone who may or may not have been through formation, but "assists" the lead catechist with the work of maintaining the environment and assisting children in their work.
• The material is presented on a 3 year cycle and is presented according to the age and ability and interest of the individual child as much as possible. A material is never "done," and a child who wants to delve more deeply into geography or the parables or the bible work may always choose to do so.
• A good catechist is a "co-listener" with the children to the Word that she or he proclaims. The true catechist in the atrium is the Holy Spirit, and adults come to learn and be led with a listening, rather than instructing, stance before the child.

Child working with Level II Baptism Work

How thus approach was developed over the course of the last 60+ years

CGS began simply. The foundress, Sofia Cavalletti, was a well-educated scholar of the Hebrew Scriptures, and was asked to help prepare a friend's child for First Holy Communion. She took this role very seriously, and through collaboration with other women who had great interest and experience with child development research and success of Maria Montessori, this group of women developed what we know today as Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. It has been over 50 years now of observing what lessons and parables most resonate in the heart of the child, and what work leads them to desire holiness and develop spiritually according to their great potential.

What to expect (and what not to expect) from your child

Atrium is a bit more like going to church than it is like going to school. The experiences are very personal and sometimes difficult to explain. It is not a matter of: "I drew this today" or "I learned about this today" so much as it is, "I received the Word of God, and it spoke to me in a new way." These sentiments can be difficult for a child to verbalize. However, sometimes it happens! We had a child last Sunday who spent time in the class "prayer chair" writing up her "prares" after working on two materials over the previous weeks:

"Jesus Christ thank you for bringing me into the world. You take away the sins of the world and keep me safe."

"From creation to Redemption to Parousia you have been leading us into your light. You sacrificed your life for us thank you Jesus Christ Amen"

In the younger ages, the first few weeks are not as obviously fruitful, as the child has quite a bit if "practical" work to do to prepare and enable themselves to hear and absorb the content that will be presented. In some ways, the practical life work in the atrium, such as cutting paper, spooning beans, and pouring water, can appear to be completely unrelated to the goals at hand. However, these activities build the child's capacity for concentration and control of movement: very important skills needed for further exploration of the atrium!

How the three levels of CGS meet the developmental needs of the 3-6, 6-9, and 9-12 year old child (Levels I, II, and III respectively)

It is worth pointing out that CGS begins with the needs of the 3 year old child in mind, but continues to grow and change to meet the needs of children in their own unique developmental stage. The need for repetition in young children is more than met in the Level I atrium by the work presented there, while the need but lack of desire for repetition is met for older children by varied works on the same topic. Many of the materials in a Level III atrium can be as difficult or simple as the child needs them to be, and the extention works (e.g. research that the child may do) are directed exactly where the child is. This is why one never really outgrows the material in Level III (I know I haven't), but the way in which it is used changes. For more information on this, keep reading in the blog for individual work descriptions!

MORE INFORMATION FOR THE VERY CURIOUS

How CGS follows the guidelines of the General Directory for Catechesis
The GDC and the NDC are both followed very carefully by the content presented in CGS. The difference is merely in the method and approach. We have a catechist in our Level II (1st grade-3rd grade) atrium who had taught 2nd grade faith formation for years and she was impressed at how everything that was covered in the book was woven seamlessly into the CGS approach. I have templates covering exactly how our presentations work to meet these guidelines available for parents who want them. Just let me know!

Why CGS is respected worldwide and used by the Nashville Dominican Sisters (Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia) and Missionaries of Charity

When asked why the Missionaries of Charity have gone to using CGS in their schools as well as in the formation of their own sisters, the superior of the order (after Mother Theresa's death) replied, "Contemplation." The Good Shepherd approach, as you could see in the 5th grade girl's prayers above, facilitate contemplation in the child... more than just thinking about God, it is a communication with him, and a driving force behind the desire for holiness.

How to follow your child's work and communicate effectively with his/her catechists

• This BLOG! Read here to learn more about the actual lessons and fruit that is taking place in the different levels of CGS.
• Email Mandie! I send a weekly email with announcements for the week, and you can just hit "reply." I can also put you in contact with your catechists with one click!
• Observe in your child's atrium! Ask your child's catechist when would be a good time to come and observe. There are some guidelines that we have (trying to be invisible is one of them!) that the catechist will give you to help you see how the class goes even when you aren't there!
• Hang around after class or come early and ask the catechist how your child is doing. Catechists love nothing more than talking about the work of the children in their atrium!

That is about all for this rather lengthy "orientation," but I hope you have a better understanding of the experience your child will be having this year. We look forward to working together with you!

God Bless,

Mandie DeVries, CGS Catechist and Director of Religious Education

Mothers for Vocations

A long time ago, but not that long ago, some mothers got together in the small town of Lu, Italy and did a little thing with BIG consequences. This town had just a few thousand inhabitants. As it was an Italian town, I suppose many of the people who lived there were Catholic.  A group of mothers, with the permission of their parish priest, began to gather each Tuesday for an hour of prayer and adoration with this intention: that their sons may hear the call to become priests.

Incredibly, this small weekly gathering that may have seemed an annoying hassle to those moms sometimes and insignificant to them at other times, bore perhaps the most astounding vocational fruit that has been seen in the history of the Church. From that generation came forth... wait for it... three hundred twenty-three vocations to the priesthood or religious life. In September 1946, there was a reunion of these classmates and village mates and this immortal photo was taken:

Photo Credit spiritualmotherhoodforpriests.blogspot.com

Back in January, I saw a CNN episode that our diocese posted on Facebook. It was about how the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan is defying all statistics and experiencing a vocations boom. I was curious about why and wanted to ask more questions than Lisa Ling did. After checking out their website (very excellent, with cool videos that they have produced), I noticed right away that they have a beautiful, young, consecrated single woman who serves the Director of Consecrated Vocations for their diocese. (Interesting!) I was still curious, so I decided to call the vocations director in Lansing and asked him what has been the key to their success.

His answer was something that the mothers of Lu figured out more than a hundred years ago. In order for vocations to thrive in a community, the parish and community must intentionally foster a culture of vocations and make it a normal life decision. Those mothers in Lu were a constant and weekly presence that was known and expected. The community was praying to God and truly expected God to answer them. 

This vocations director also pointed out was that when discerning your vocation and highly considering priesthood or religious life became normal, it was more common for young men and women to try it and find out it was not for them.  But he did not see this as a negative at all. In fact, when more of our young people enter seminary or formation for religious life, it is a sign that our young people are thinking more deeply about what it is that God is calling them to be. This culture leads to holier marriages, priests, deacons, and religious, because the young person's vocation is not something that is chosen by inertia or by default, but by choice. It reminds me of a great quote at the end of the movie The Trouble with Angels (which you should absolutely watch with your children--teenaged pranks notwithstanding): "She didn't yield, she chose. And I'd rather have one like her who chose than a hundred who yield."

It has been a very, very long time since All Saints has borne the fruit of a religious vocation. Yet we already are seeing the beginnings of new fruit as two of our parishioners have entered the aspirancy for the diaconate! Most definitely it will not be a "normal" thing for that first man or woman (young or not-so-young) to start a new tradition at All Saints. It will take greater courage than perhaps it will for those who take this step in the future. 

So often we pray for vocations for the Church, but we don't pray intentionally for vocations in our parish or vocations in our families. Let us earnestly begin! Only then will we see God's hand clearly as He moves more and more of our parishoiners and children to listen to His call and equips them with all they need to fully answer Him.

Life's Not Fair

Long ago, Maria Montessori famously identified something called "sensitive periods" in children. Some of the earliest of these (0-6 years) are the sensitive periods for relationship, order, movement, and language. The one that I want to talk about today emerges when a child is nearing 7 years: the sensitive period for justice.  Or as I like to call it, the "It's-Not-Fair Age." 

I'm sure if I could see your faces, I would see you nodding in recognition. There comes a time in our lives when we naturally seem to be a little or a lot more prone to want to discover what the rules are and to feel a desperate need to make sure that other people are following them and to complain vociferously if they don't.

It has long been a stock phrase in the vocabulary of mothers to respond to our children's complaints about injustice with the cliche, "Life's not fair. Get over it."  But this remark sometimes gives the impression that justice is not to be sought, and that being a victim is to be expected in this world.

Sometimes people look at the teaching of Jesus and they think that He is telling us that to be Christian you have to be a doormat that lets everyone walk all over you. That doesn't seem fair, does it? Why should I have to be the loving one (Love your enemies)? The kind one (Pray for those who persecute you)? The forgiving one (I say forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven times)? Why do I always have to "lose" and let the other guy get away with it (If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, give him your cloak as well)? 

Jesus isn't just telling us that Life's Not Fair, He's actually encouraging us to generously give away whatever "rights" we may have vis-a-vis other people, forbidding us to "get even" with our enemies. I think it would be more fair to knock out your tooth if you knock out mine, than to walk two miles when you force me to walk one! 

Yet, Jesus teaches over and over again that we need to change our focus: not on brooding over how we've been "done wrong" but on developing contrition for our own shortcomings and lots and lots of mercy for everyone else's. 

So what's up here?  

In the parable of the Unforgiving Servant, (Matthew 18:23-34), Jesus turns the "Life's Not Fair" maxim on its head and makes it mean something we may never have considered. In short, the parable is about a servant who owed a ridiculous amount to the King: the equivalent of many, many lifetimes worth of wages. This poor servant begged for mercy. (He begged for the King not to be fair, but to be merciful). He begged for time to pay back the debt, but the King went above and beyond this request and forgave him the entire amount!

But boy, oh, boy did this servant have a short memory for mercy. As soon as he left the palace, he encountered a man who owed him 90 days wages. That debtor begged to be given time to repay his debt, but the servant would hear none of his pleas and locked him in jail until he would repay the whole amount.

When the King caught wind of this, that ungrateful servant got a lesson in what it means when life is fair. The King gave that servant over to the torturers until he repaid his whole debt (which was basically going to be forever).

See, I think when we are all caught up in this idea that life should be fair, we are as short-sighted and ridiculous as that ungrateful servant was. In our relationships with others, we may not always get treated as we think we "deserve", but we must remember that we don't treat God as He deserves and He is still compassionate and merciful to us.

Jesus is very clear that our sins are forgiven ONLY IF we forgive others (Matthew 6:14-15). You either decide you want God to be merciful and so treat others with mercy, or you decide that you want God to be fair, and insist on holding grudges and getting even with others. I think we are all far better off when we drop the whole notion of life being fair, and live our lives in mercy towards others in grateful response to God for His abounding mercy.

You see, life's not fair. And that's a very good thing.

Bless Me, Father: A Primer on the Sacrament of Reconciliation

If you can handle the 12-year-old video technician's wobble, a few of my daughters and I put together something for you that might help give you some ideas of how to prepare your child for his or her first (and subsequent) confessions.

I do recommend this "mock confession" model. I also suggest the idea of filming a video with your child--this highly motivated Leah to learn! She told me the next day that she is READY for her First Reconciliation! The main thing to avoid is the idea of checking off a "grocery list." When you say you are sorry to someone you hurt, you come with contrition and sorrow. These are the most important elements for us to bring. God does the rest.

Another daughter and I also put together this little song to break down the 5 things you may say when you go to confession.  

Here are the words. The words in bold are the things you can actually say (the actual Rite does not call for these words, but they are the customary form and can help to get over nervousness):

1. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

2. Bless me Father, for I have sinned.

3. This is how long it's been.

4. These are my sins. (This is where you confess your sins).

These are the ways I've fallen short of who I want to be.

These are the things I've done that keep your grace from flowing free.

5. And I'm sorry for these and all my sins.

(Then it's Father's turn. He will give advice and a Penance, then he'll ask for the Act of Contrition which you say. He will then pray the Prayer of Absolution. You will make the Sign of the Cross at the end and say Amen and Thank you, Father! often you will go and do your penance in the church as soon as you are finished).

This isn't the theology of the Sacrament at all, that's what all of our the Bible studies are for! This is just the "form" so to speak. Some priests I've confessed to didn't care much at all whether or not I used the "form" above, but once you know it by heart, it takes a lot of anxiety away. We always have cards available so they can "cheat" on the customary form part, but it would be great for parents and kids to run through it a few times together. I know Leah felt much better after 5-10 minutes of going through it with me. 

God be with you as you prepare your child!

The Ninety and The Nine

The third bible study for First Communion/First Reconciliation preparation will take place tonight. This study focuses on two stories: that of the found sheep and of the found coin. Most of the children will have seen these presentations with materials in the course of the year, and they are already familiar with this scripture. 

The direct aim of this evening is to see the parallels and differences between these two parables and for the children to see similarities in their lives. A coin gets lost through no fault of its own, but a sheep may choose to disobey. Sometimes we get lost without being at fault, but sometimes we are lost and far away from where we want to be, and we know that we did something to cause it. 

The emphasis here, though, is not on the fault of the sheep or the coin, but on the action and LOVE of the shepherd and the woman. It is God’s initiative which brings us back, not our own, so we never need to fear confessing our fault—or being found—because it is the will and joy of God that a sinner repents. 

The following video was made for a catechist retreat a couple of years ago. The song is very old, but "His mercies are ever new." 

When those around Him ask the Shepherd: "You have 99 sheep here, are they not enough for you?" He responds with some force, "This of Mine has wandered away from me. And though the road be rough and steep, I go to the desert to find My sheep!"

Work for Free?

Ahhhhh, chores. The business of running a family can't seem to get by without that 6 letter word getting involved: taking out the garbage, mowing the lawn, setting the table, cleaning out the dishwasher, sweeping the floor, making the bed, folding the laundry, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Sometimes my children get a little crabby when they are invited/told to get going on their chores. I don't pay them or anything. It is just part of being in our family. Yet most parents with children above the age of 7 have heard this complaint: "You mean I have to work for free?"

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for them, they have me for a mother, and I have a standard comeback:

"Not at all! You do have to do the work, that's for sure, but you don't have to do it for free! Doing this work is the fastest way to become rich!" 

(Sounds pretty good so far, but my kids know me well enough to know there is probably a catch).

"But it all depends on how you do it. If you do it right, offering your work and your efforts to God with a good attitude, you can stock up your account with Virtues, and Character, and of course "Brownie Points" (at our house we call these "Murphy Awesome Points" but that is another story). 

"BUT, my darlings, you can also work for free if you want. You can complain, whine, mope, and have a bad attitude. Then, your reward is already paid: you got to complain, whine, mope, and have a bad attitude. But then you did all that work anyway and got nothing for it. So you choose! Do you want to get paid or do you want to work for free?"

As is often the case, these little lessons come straight out of my mouth and turn around and stare me in the face, because this lesson is as true for the little chores we give our children as it is for the "grown up" duties that we must fulfill as adults. Everyday, God has work for us to do, and there are also His rewards. 

Maybe it is a beautiful diamond of patience for not saying that harsh word to a coworker when they made more work for you, or a lovely amethyst of generosity for taking care of the supper dishes without brooding over the fact that he didn't help you again, or it could be the pearl of forbearance when instead of cursing under your breath, you invent a charitable and realistic story about why in the world that person cut you off on the interstate while driving like a maniac (and maybe say a prayer for him, too)...

So often, we leave these jewels on the table and never claim them for our own. We insist on working for free, because we don't do the extra bit of hidden work in our souls that is necessary to make our external work (or our sufferings) a gain for ourselves.

Well that's just silly. So long as we have to work, have to suffer, and get to live, we may as well make the most of it! We get one life after all. Let's make sure we "clock in" and make it count!

"But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal." Matthew 6:20

Get a Different IPOD

A long time ago (when I was in college), I was blessed to have a wonderful Franciscan nun as my spiritual director.  Her name was (and is) Sister Norma Jean. I almost exclusively called her "Marilyn" though, thinking I was quite clever. (Marilyn Monroe's name was originally Norma Jean...They both had about the same color hair, anyway). I still get Christmas cards from her signed, "Marilyn," so I guess she didn't mind. We met monthly during my senior year, and I remember how she would always start the sessions with almost the same question: "What is God doing in your life right now?" She trained me to look at the happenings in my life not as random, unrelated events, but part of a grander story between God and I, as He was molding me and showing me His love. Ah, but I was broken. Now, I suppose that's not a surprise. Most people have icky things that follow them around for years, and I was no exception.  I told her each month about how I felt like a failure, or how I strangely seemed to be sabotaging the most important relationships I had. I told her how personally I would take a slight from a friend, coworker, or other student, repeating the event over and over in my mind.  I had a wicked awful tendency to brood over injury and poor Sister Marilyn listened so patiently while I did it. But she never let me stay there. Over that year, she helped me start to see that what happens to us in a moment, is only a moment, but how we think about those things, can fill and define our whole lives. When we are in the silence of our own heads, we choose what tapes to play (or what mp3s to listen to). These tapes, these repeating words and images that we choose to think about ingrain a mode of thinking into our whole existence. They can either set us free, or make us victims and slaves forever. She always said to me: "Don't Play Those Tapes!" But generations are moving on, and colloquialisms must too, I suppose. Many of us have virtual IPODs full of narratives that we play over and over in our heads that bind our chains and hold us and others where we were instead of opening freedom, mercy, and forgiveness to us. I suppose you could sit down and proverbially weed through your IPOD and get rid of the old "tapes", but in this case, it might be better to upgrade and get a whole new perspective. You may wonder if the tapes you are playing (for yourself or for your children) are God's voice trying to convict you, simply your own, or the enemy's. Sometimes God does have hard things to say to us.  But these are usually changes that we know deep down that we need to make. God will never tell us that we are not worthy of love, or that we are a failure, or that we don't matter. Don't stay lost in the past! Get a new "IPOD" and load it with words that will free you and give you the peace to step into a new day with hope.  (Hint: the Bible is a great place to start!) "For I know well the plans I have in mind for you-plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope." Jeremiah 29:11

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

Language of Prayer

So many times in the atrium, our album pages (the "lesson plans" for our presentations) have as the direct or indirect aim "to serve as an aid to prayer."  This is work a child did in the "prayer writing corner" of her Level II atrium. It is evidence that the words we give to children can truly be a gift to them which they in turn use to offer the praise of their hearts toward God.  How beautiful!

"May Father Son and Holy Spirit Bless the world and may the holl world pray for the wonderful day of Parousia. When God will be all in all and will bless the earth with All his power." 

Prayer by a 7 year old girl during her 5th year in a CGS atrium. (I love how she misspelled "whole", but correctly spelled "Parousia"!)

Dandelions for Mother

Ahhhh, dandelion season.

It's that lovely time of year when our children spend more and more time running around outside, and more often than not, I have a little vase of fresh yellow "flowers" from my littlest ones that is constantly being refreshed.

My kiddos know that I love flowers, and even their little dandelions bring me joy because they remind me of their innocent little faces that were full of love upon handing me their gifts.

Next week (May 4th), at the 8:30 mass, our parish will have its annual May Crowning.  The women and girls of the parish will bring forward flowers from their gardens or local flower shops, and place them in vases before the statue of our Blessed Mother, and place a crown of roses on her head. 

I sometimes like to imagine Jesus as a child. and wonder what sort of gifts He would shower on His beloved mother.  He did perfectly keep all 10 commandments, after all, and "Honor your Father and Mother" would not have been an exception!  I can only imagine what great love He felt for her, and how much honor he showed!

Many Mother's Days ago, my husband bought me a beautiful Mary statue for our yard.  It has become a tradition in May each year for us to bring our handmade (silk) flower crown in procession to our Mother.  The children have little vases that they will place at her feet, (more often than not, these are filled with dandelions).  It's just a little thing that we do to celebrate the month of May, but it gives us a simple and innocent way to imitate the love that our Lord had for his Mother, especially during this month of blooms that so reminds us of Mary's beautiful love for Jesus and for us!

"O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today! Queen of the Angels! Queen of the May!"

Do all Catholics go to Hell?

Her catechist was worried.  The normally cheerful and bright eyed little 8 year old (who we'll call Ella) entered her Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium with a decidedly different aspect this particular Wednesday.  When the catechist went over to check in as she was doing her individual work later in the session, Ella looked even more upset and gave her worry words:

"Do all Catholics go to hell?"

Her well-trained catechist may not have been quite ready for that question, but she knew better than to answer right away and instead prompted her for more information and why she was asking.

Ella responded, "My neighbor came over to play last night and she told me that I was going to hell because I was a Catholic. Is it true?"

As a young child, this particular catechist had experienced the exact heartbreaking accusation from well-meaning friends, so poor Ella's worry hit a chord with her.  She quietly said a prayer and responded carefully, "What do you think? Do you think it is true?"

"No."

"I don't either. You know, sometimes it is hard to know what to do in a situation like that.  What do you think you can do for your friend?"

"Pray for her?" Ella responded, her eyes softening.

"That's a good idea.  Maybe we could go to the prayer table and pray right now."  Ella and her catechist prayed intently for Ella's little friend, and she was able to go back to her work with a lighter heart and her joyful eyes were alight again as her catechist blessed her as she left the atrium that day.

Not the First, Not the Last

When the catechist finished restoring her atrium that night, she came to me and shared the story. This was not the first time nor probably the last that I would hear of something like this that one of our parish children had to experience.

For the most part, I have not had to deal with too many people who have been so confident as to pronounce that kind of judgement on others, but I have had people exclaim in surprise, "Wow. I've never met a Catholic like you."  (Really? I wondered. What does that even mean?) "You know, a Catholic who is a Christian!"

While this may sound kind of bizarre to Catholics who consider the word "Catholic" to automatically imply and be synonymous to the word "Christian", there is a very important lesson to be taken from this constant mistake on the part of so many of our Christian brothers and sisters.  They are so concerned about us that they even tell their children that we aren't Christian, and that if we don't get "saved" we are going to hell. Putting their judgement of our eternal damnation aside (if we can), we ought to confront their main evidence:

We don't talk about Jesus enough.  

Sure, we imply it all the time. We talk about "getting the Sacraments," we talk about going to Mass, we talk about Mary, we make the Sign of the Cross when we pray.  But what is the result of this witness we give to our neighbors?  They don't know what a Sacrament is. They don't understand the historical and theological significance of the Mass. Transubstanti-what? They take our veneration of the Blessed Mother--which is nothing more than giving her the same honor that her own Son gives her--as idol worship.  They even see the Sign of the Cross which we make to remind ourselves of the armor of God that we received when Christ saved us in our Baptism as some sort of weird thing that might actually be condemned in the Book of Revelation!

Sure, we can get angry at someone who would presume to judge our or our children's final destination, but there is a bigger opportunity here: an opportunity for evangelization. The only thing I suggested the catechist add to her conversation with Ella is to encourage her to say the thing that is so obvious that we as Catholics miss it.

Ella should say to her friend the thing that most truly represents her relationship with God: "I love Jesus more than anything.  He is my God and He saves me and protects me. He is my best friend and I love Him with all of my heart! And I know He loves me because He gives all of Himself to me and doesn't hold anything back!"

The First Principle 

If Catholics start talking like that, our non-Catholic neighbors and friends will far more easily see their own Jesus reflected in our hearts. They may even start asking us about what it is we mean by Baptism, or Eucharist, or why we make the Sign of the Cross or pray on those beads. We must remember that what is obvious to us, is not so obvious to others. We need to proclaim Jesus Christ as the first principle from which everything we believe flows, and we need to say it out loud to our children so that they may be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks them one day if they are a Christian.

"Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence..." 1 Peter 3:15b-16a.

The Very Best Way

"Mommy?"

My very sad 7 year old sat down next to me as we returned home after Holy Thursday Mass. "Wasn't there some other way that Jesus could have saved us?  He was God.  Couldn't there have been another way?"

Another Way?

I had seen this little girl's tears at the end of Mass as the Eucharist was taken in slow procession from the Church and as the women reverently stripped the altar and removed the candles and left our tabernacle open and empty for all to see.  We were living that moment when Jesus had been taken from us, and it didn't sit well with little Leah (or me, either, to be honest).

Many worshipers had remained several moments in silence before quietly exiting or making their own sorrowful procession to the Altar of Repose that seemed to represent for us the imprisonment our Lord underwent before his death.  Our family had sat before this altar before we headed home, and I remembered how Leah's sweet little tears flowed quietly.

"Wasn't there another way?" she begged.

"Oh darling," I responded, too quickly for the words to have been my own. "He is God.  There may have been lots of ways to open the gates of Heaven, but He didn't just come to offer us salvation... He wanted us to receive it.  He chose the Cross to make us feel His love, and to draw out our love for Him.  He is God, Peanut.  So I think of all the possible ways, we can trust that He chose the very best way."

His Blood be on Us and on our Children

I'm reminded of the scripture verse from Romans 5:8: "God proves His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  To put this another way, He died for us while we were still enemies.

The crowds infamously responded to Pilate after he washed his hands "of this righteous man's blood" by saying, "His blood be on us and on our children" Matthew 27:25.  Their vitriol and hate in that moment was flung into His face and His response still shocks us...



"Yes," His love responded. "So be it."

As death was wrought and his heart was pierced, His blood did flow out and continues to flow even now over us and our children. Not as guilt or condemnation, but as an ocean of mercy that washes away all stain of sin and enmity.




You Can't Make Someone Love You

But why all this labor to win over our hearts to Him?

Jesus' parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), the story of that privileged one who wished death on his father to prematurely claim his inheritance, and found himself in dire poverty and misery, bears an explanation.

After reflecting on this parable a few weeks ago, I asked the children in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium, "The father must have heard about the famine. He must have been so worried for his son. Why didn't the father just go and get his son and bring him back?"

A 10 year old boy answered simply, "Because he didn't want a slave. He wanted his son. You can't make someone love you."

So the father watched and waited for the day that his son would come to his senses and remember the goodness of the father that he treated so poorly.  He waited for his son to love him. Yet that prodigal had no idea how deep his father's love was until his return - when this pitiful and contrite penitent begged enough forgiveness to be considered a slave and was instead overwhelmed with mercy and received again as a son.

The Very Best Way

It is the greatest mystery of love that God would choose to die at our hands so that we may know that "truly this is the Son of God." Oh that we would have the grace to suffer so well at the hands of our enemies so as to make them our friends!  It is the path that our Savior has blazed for us, and we ought to follow. He is God after all, and has shown us not only the way, but the very best way.

That We Might Become God

At Palm Sunday services, many moments can stick out as memorable: the procession with palms, an unusual number of people wearing red, the moment of extended silence as we kneel in the middle of the Gospel to be present in that moment of Jesus' giving up His spirit...  Yet, something new struck me last week.

It was just one sentence, I think it was in the Eucharistic Prayer, and Father said, "He died for our transgressions..."

Just a few moments before this, we heard the charges against Jesus: "You have heard the blasphemy," Caiaphas had said. Jesus was condemned by humanity because He sinned against God when He made Himself God.

But that wasn't Jesus' transgression. It was ours.  Isn't that every human's transgression? The Original Sin and all of its distant cousins and relatives have that one common thread: a man or woman desiring in their pride to be "like gods" and choosing for themselves what is good and evil.

The irony is that we as humans instinctively know that this is wrong. We ourselves condemn it as blasphemy and order death to any who would claim to be God. Against the One accused of this transgression we cry, "Crucify Him!"
Much like King David clearly pronouncing judgement against his own murderous actions after hearing Nathan's story of the rich man's treachery (2 Samuel 11), we are caught in our own net as our sin is finally and irrevocably revealed and we cannot claim ignorance or hide behind relativistic reasoning any longer.  Once we have proven our ability to pronounce fair judgement on one who would choose to be his own god apart from the One True God, we face King David's choice: to persist in our error or to throw ourselves upon the mercy of God.

Jesus Christ did not come to condemn the world, even when the world preferred darkness to Light.  In fact, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (460) repeats the shocking truth that Jesus came to offer exactly what our first parents sinned in grasping for: "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God." But let us not make their mistake. There is only One True God, and apart from Him we can do nothing.

It is through His great love and mercy He comes to each of us today to offer us a share in His Divine Life.  I hope you will join me in my prayer as I proclaim my gratitude for the triumph of God's great love! Praised be Jesus Christ! Now and Forever!