Radical Generosity

"Turn around. Mary wants us to go to Mass."

Our van was acting very weird after coming 90% of the way through our mountain vacation. My husband had just asked who we should pray to for intercession. I replied, "I think Our Lady has this one." Immediately, the van lost power. We knew that Mass would be starting in this small town in 20 minutes, so we decided to spend the hour in prayer first, THEN we'd figure out what in the world to do about 8 people stuck in the middle of Colorado with a van full of "Thrift Store Santa" gifts and a week's worth of luggage.

When we walked in to St. Rose of Lima parish and saw 5 women in white habits and black veils, I knew that we'd be okay. My guardian angel leads me to Nashville Dominicans regularly. After Mass, we explained our situation to the sisters, who promised us that they would pray.

As we walked back to our car, I was disappointed. Matt and I both thought that somehow we'd have more answers after going to Mass, but so far we were in the same place we were before. We could get a hotel room, sure, but with no mechanics open for two days and no car rentals for 100+ miles, we were really feeling stuck.

"How about I just go and ask Father if there is anyone in the parish that might be able to help us if we get stuck on the way out of town?"

As I headed back to the doors of the church, the group of sisters were walking toward me. "We were thinking," one of them said, "we're going to Denver. How about we give you our cell # in case you van breaks down on the way?" Gratefully, I programmed the sister's cell into my phone.

I still decided to find out if Father thought there was a parishioner who could help us, but Father had already gone to the rectory.  I asked the parishioners who were locking up if any of them would be able to help us if we got stuck. "Of course," a nice woman replied, as she scribbled down her husband's cell phone number next to hers. "And you can always stay at our home if you need to. We have plenty of room." She also boldly went and asked Father to come out of the rectory and bless our car. (He did!)

Confident that we would be okay, we decided to try it again. The van (with a new transmission, mind you) could not make it up the hill outside of town.

Long story short, we ended up staying at the home of this amazing family. The wife was the Religious Education director of their parish, the husband is in diaconate formation, and their son plans to enter seminary next fall. My daughter, Leah, remarked, "Wow. They are so nice. I wonder if they are Polish?!" Turns out they were very Polish. We saw no less than three images of Our Lady of Czestochowa on the walls of their home and her parish classroom. See? Our Lady wanted us to go to Mass!

We stayed up for hours talking to our new friends about all manner of things and formulated the only plan that could possibly have worked: they would loan us their 8-passenger vehicle (which they only use to pull their camper) so we could drive to Denver in the morning where we could rent a vehicle to get home. We could leave the vehicle with one of their family members up there.

On Our Way to Denver in a Borrowed SUV

There are dozens of other details and side-stories in this little adventure, but I can't help but think about all of the life lessons we learned. Here are three that come to mind:

1. Whenever something doesn't go as expected, look out for your guardian angel because something amazing is going to happen.
2. If we had not expected God to take care of us, we would never have met the wonderful family who said to us, "Thank you so much for this gift of being able to serve you." 
3. Be radically generous, and be willing to receive radical generosity. Families are in a special situation of being able to serve in this way, even more so than the priest or the sisters were able to do. Think about it: the Good Samaritan was just a regular old guy. (My husband was the one who made that connection!) 

So families: Be bold! Give radically. Receive radically. How else can God show others how much He loves them or show you how much He loves you?

Practice or The Game

A guest reflection by parishioner and Level II catechist, Angie Julander.

My husband and I have been blessed with three boys. I wish I could tell you that each Sunday I say “It’s time to get ready for church” and the boys jump up and make themselves look handsome and we all happily get in the car and arrive early to mass! I wish! I am sure other families can relate when I say, some Sundays easy and some…are not!

With three active boys, our family is always involved in sports in one way or another. The boys play sports, they watch sports, they talk about sports, they probably dream about sports! Since they love it so much, it is a great tool to teach them about other things in life. One day a thought popped in my head, so driving to Good Shepherd this Wednesday I decided to try it out and I asked, “What do you think is more important, the practice or the game?”

Like normal I ask a question and I get three different answers! “the game”…“the practices”…“both are important.” “Why?” I asked. “The game is important because that is the whole point”, our oldest says. Next chimes in our youngest, “the practices are more important because that is where you learn.” Our middle son, says with the most confidence “It’s both! The practices are important because if you don’t practice, you won’t know how to play the game. But, the game is a little more important because that is what it is all for!”

So, I asked, “Would you go to a game if you had never gone to practice?” “No way!"..."How would we know what to do?”…“How would we know who was on our team?”
“What if you went to every practice and then it was time for your game and we were too busy to go? Or just too tired?” They laugh, “That’s crazy!”…“Why would we skip the game?”…“Why would you say that?”

“Well…think of church on Sunday as the game and our Wednesday atrium as the practice. Each week we go to the atrium and we practice. We learn the parts of mass and what they mean, we learn how to sit quiet and listen to God, we learn about Jesus and how he loves and calls us and we meet our friends and catechists so we know who is on our team. If we miss Atrium, we miss all that. Then each Sunday we have our big game. We go early to prepare for the game by calming our minds, we say hi to all our teammates and we participate by listening, singing and receiving the sacrament. If we miss Church, it’s like missing the big game.”

We rode in silence for a minute or two before someone started talking about something completely different and we were onto something new, but for the few minutes of silence I prayed that my words sunk in deep into their little hearts, and…that next Sunday is one of the easy ones!

Unless a Grain of Wheat...

"Can I take some of these seeds home and plant them?"

Ms. Lynn had finished presenting the Mystery of Life and Death, and one of the children wanted to see how it worked for herself.

This picture is the result of planting about 9 seeds last year, then harvesting the wheat and planting those seeds.

Now a 4th grader, the young girl had this to say:

"I don't think that the seed really dies. There is still life because it can grow again. Just like in a garden, things look like they are dead, but they aren't. I think that Jesus is trying to tell us that when we die, we bear great fruit, because we go to heaven. We don't actually die! Our bodies will die, but our souls won't!"

The Spirit of St. Nick

*Spoiler alert!*

Last weekend in our final day of Level I formation for Good Shepherd, a super-charged, emotional, and sensitive topic came up during break. No, it wasn't politics. It was Santa Claus.

During one of my Level III sessions the week before, the topic also came up, but not in a way I knew how to handle. As the children were studying the two creation stories in Genesis 1 and 2, some of them were really grasping to try and understand how God could have existed before there was anywhere to exist. The conversation was fascinating, but one child piped in that it was easy to understand because God is just like Santa Claus.

*Cue Awkward Pause*

I let the child's comment go without comment, because I don't want to tread on ground that is truly parent territory, but I have to say that I was troubled for the next week about this topic that has been a struggle for me as a parent and catechist for years.

What's the struggle? That expect our children to believe us when we tell them about God, but that we rarely question our culture's modern-day obsession (which began with a Coca-cola ad, by the way) with telling kids about a man with flying reindeer, who flies about the whole earth in one night to bring presents to the "good kids."

Is God Just Santa for Grownups?

Sometimes it happens that our kids can't tell the difference between the "stories" we tell them and the truth. For example, catechist at training this weekend was sharing how her son's college roommate belittles her son's faith because he thinks it's all made up to make us feel better. "God's just a grownup's Santa Claus," this young man told her son. "He's just something you believe in to make you be good and feel less depressed about the troubles of life." Now that this young man was grown up he doesn't believe in "invisible things" anymore: God included.

Another catechist from Bolivia shared that this is not a struggle in her culture because Santa isn't really a part of their Christmas traditions at all. It is baby Jesus who brings the presents (and the wise men, too--on January 6th).

So What's a Parent to Do?

Everyone of us encounters this culture in a different way, but after our discussion last weekend, a few of the catechists asked if I would write up our family's traditions in an article as food for thought as families are preparing for the start of Advent. So here goes...

We tell our kids the truth--the whole truth. When we talk about Santa, we talk about a Catholic bishop named Nicholas who lived over a thousand years ago in modern-day Turkey. After his parents died, Nicholas used his inherited fortune to help those in his town who were in great need. Inspired by the gifts that God showered over him, he never wanted recognition, so he gave his gifts anonymously.

His life was given to Christ, and his work to care for those in need was so inspiring that the Church recognized him as a canonized saint! Just like all saints, St. Nicholas continues to care for us and intercede for us and our needs. He inspires so many people to give without a desire to be thanked. Sometimes we'll even receive gifts like St. Nicholas gave in the stockings of those poor girls who were to be sold into slavery if their father could not pay off his debts. We can say that the spirit of Santa, of St. Nicholas, is still thriving today.

Our children set out their shoes on December 6th (St. Nicholas' feast day) and receive golden coins (made of chocolate!) and a silver dollar. On Christmas, they'll find presents addressed to them with no name (some of these are from us, some are from other people who did not want to be thanked). We say: "It must have been St. Nicholas. Remember, he didn't want you to thank him. He wants you to thank Jesus." Sometimes the girls will make gifts for each other or other people signed "From St. Nicholas."

When you think about this way, Santa (or St. Nicholas) IS like God. He is generous, loving, and cares for others without thinking of himself, just as we are all called imitate our Lord in our love for our neighbor!

On Catholic Guilt

"Ms. Mandie? Is tonight Reconciliation Night?"

I was walking down the hall several years ago just before our Wednesday night session began when a third grade boy named Alex asked if it was the night, once a month, that Father Harris made himself available for children who choose to go to confession.

I responded that it was indeed, and Alex gave me the first of many surprising responses that we have seen since starting Catechesis of the Good Shepherd at our parish for preparation for Eucharist and Reconciliation:

"YES!" he cheered, as he pumped his fist.

I remember how I responded to the news that we were going to confession at CCD classes back in the day. Sweaty palms? Yes. Fist pump? No.

Over the past several years, it is this common and most striking response to the Sacrament of Forgiveness that has made catechists and parents alike comment that something different indeed is going on in the hearts of these children that have been placed in our care.

Catholic guilt doesn't seem to exist for them. They seem to fly to the Sacrament of Reconciliation each month with little fear or trepidation at all. Often the lines are so long that the priest (and sometimes two priests) can't get to all of the penitents in line.

Last week I found this drawing that Adam, a fourth grade boy in our program, made during his personal work time in the atrium. I almost looked past the significance, it was so stunningly simple. Though it had been a year and a half since he'd shared in the True Vine (John 15) bible study while preparing for First Communion and First Reconciliation, this little moral theologian pondered so deeply on the parable of the True Vine that he could articulate his own motivation to keep sin out of his life... and it wasn't because of so-called Catholic Guilt.

"If your [sic] bad, you clog the goodness." 

He realized that he is a branch on that True Vine, and the goodness (grace) flows from God (the Vine) to us (the branches). When we sin, it blocks that goodness. So don't sin! It has nothing to do with being a bad person or feeling great shame. It's about letting the LIFE of GOD flow into you!

The innocent and joyful witness of these children should inspire all of us to get rid of those "sap blocks" in our lives. Let us make confession, do penance, amend our lives, and for goodness' sake, let the grace flow!