Adult Faith Formation News

Grief ministry: Share in Your Sorrow Part 3, Final Part.

4/18/2019

It’s better to take all our emotions to God than others, for He fully understands us.
The Bible says, "Rend your heart to God, not your garments." To "rend" means to rip open. The Israelites, when morning, used to rip open their robes and put ashes on themselves. But, this verse is telling us to do something else.  This verse means, to open up all of our hearts, all of our emotions to God. He wants all of who we are.
The Psalms of Lament, a third of the Psalms, show us that we can be angry at God. YOU can be mad at God. God made you who you are and gives you the emotions you have. He wants us to give fully of ourselves to Him. As a spiritual exercise. Sneak into the chapel, reverently take off your shoes, and let God have all your emotions. OUT LOUD! …...YELL, if you must, at GOD in the tabernacle.

Doubt is not opposed to faith; despair is. We see this in the case of the father who brought his son to Jesus for healing. When Jesus encouraged the father to have faith, he replied, “I do believe, help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). Pray for an increase in Faith and Hope in Jesus!
Even Saint Paul tells us he was “perplexed, but not driven to despair” (2 Corinthians 4:8). In despair we give up on our relationship with God. Pray for an increase in Faith and Hope.

John 9: 1-3 “Who sinned this man or his parent.” Jesus replied, “Neither.” It’s not your fault.  How our sinfulness has an effect on our children is through the passing on of Original Sin, not on the loss of a child.
I repeat, "IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT."

Resources
Diocese of Baton Rouge: www.mfldiobr.org/miscarriageearly-infant-death
www.catholicmiscarriagesupport.com
aleteia.org/2018/08/20/3-women-saints-who-know-the-pain-of-miscarriage

Prayers
I beseech you, O Lord Jesus Christ, that the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose most holy soul was pierced in the hour of your Passion by the sword of sorrow, may intercede for us with Your mercy now and at the hour of our death.
Amen
O most holy Virgin, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by the overwhelming grief you experienced
when you witnessed the martyrdom,
the crucifixion, and the death of your divine Son,
look upon me with eyes of compassion,
and awaken in my heart a tender. Amen

Pieta Prayer: (Would be good to pray in front of our Pieta with your spouse.)
Mother of Sorrows, You who held Jesus in your Arms, Please intercede with your Divine Son in our behalf. Ask Him to help us to know, one another better, To forgive one another more readily, To love one another more deeply, Mother of all mankind inspire us to travel without falter along the road at the end of which, Under the Fatherhood of God, there is true peace. Amen

Grief ministry: Share in Your Sorrow Part 2

4/16/2019

We are called to be a communion of Saints. I know that often times it is very difficult for we in our society to tell others that we are suffering. We like to suffer alone for some reason. I think it's something the devil really likes because it's a way to cut us off and can lead to despair. Maybe the initial feelings are from God, He calls us to withdraw into our room, alone; so that we can lean on those Saints that are part of our Community that sometimes we who haven't passed on don't always notice. The trick is to not get stuck in our room. When we recognize that the Saints are praying with us and for us then we are called back out into the community, different from the experience but not despaired.
Here are some
Saints to pray with:

St. Catherine of Siena: Patroness of Miscarriages.
St Gianna Beretta Molla: lost two babies by miscarriage. She delivered on Good Friday and died a week later.
St. Catherine of Sweden: Patroness Against Abortions and Miscarriages. The Holy Spirit is probably hinting at something here by linking Abortions and Miscarriage.
St. Zelie Martin: Mother of St. Therese of Lisieux, her husband, St. Louis Martin, and her had four children die before the children were five. Often mentioned their children in Heaven to their living daughters. The following letter is from her.

St. Zelie’s letter
After Zelie’s sister-in-law also experienced a miscarriage, Zelie reached out to her through a letter. “When I had to close the eyes of my dear children and bury them, I felt deep sorrow, but I was always resigned to it,” she wrote. “I did not regret the pains and the sorrows which I had endured for them. Many persons said to me: ‘It would have been better for you if you had never had them.’ I could not bear that kind of talk. I do not think that the sorrows and the troubles endured could possibly be compared with the eternal happiness of my children with God. Besides, they are not lost to me forever; life is short and filled with crosses, and we shall find them again in Heaven. Above all, it was on the death of my first child that I felt more deeply the happiness of having a child in Heaven, for God showed me in a noticeable way that He accepted my sacrifice. Through the intercession of my little angel, I received a very extraordinary grace.”

Grief ministry: Share in Your Sorrow Part 1

4/16/2019

The focus of these Sessions was on Miscarriages and those who lost children early in the child's life.

"Why?" is a big question we ask God.

The answer is different for all of us, but let me share this answer that my wife and I got during prayer as to "why" we've had miscarriages. It's a way to spiritually bond to Mary, specifically her sorrowful heart as "Our Lady of sorrows." Even though she never had the pains of a miscarriage, she knows the sadness of having an innocent child die. Therefore, of all the help or assistance we as a Church can offer, nothing compares to what, or rather WHO, Jesus offers to you, His mother!

If He provides for the birds in the air and the fish in the sea, How much more will He provide to you who mean so much more?

We hope that in sharing this pearl we received during our hard times that you are able to have some more consolation. Please, if you are willing, share some of the pearls you have noticed during your difficult times. We are called to a community to help lift each other up. May God bless us in all we do.

Formed Family Film Night.

1/22/2019

On February 8 our Parish will be hosting a film night. The film is the cartoon "God is with Us" that is found on formed.org. It is meant primarily for those ages 7+, but I enjoyed seeing the Gospel come alive in ways I haven't seen before. One can do more with cartoon films than non-cartoon films sometimes.

If you don't want to watch the film, then you have two other options. First, you could join those under 7 in playing or second, you could join other adults downstairs in fellowship. This event is not just for families. You can head on down to room D to share in fellowship with your Church family. Let's get to know each other a little better, go outside our bubbles and clicks to share the joy of Christ.

Ordinary time, dun dun dun.

1/15/2019

Welp friends Christmas is officially over and we are in Ordinary time for the next 8 weeks. We kick off this weekend with the Wedding Feast of Cana found in the Gospel according to John. This reading is very loaded, but I want to just touch on a couple things. One, that Mary is present at the wedding. And two, that Jesus probably doesn't have all of his disciples yet.

First, since Mary is present we can deduce that those getting married were relatives of Jesus. How can we reach to this conclusion? Well, not everyone would have known that they had run out of wine. Those in the inner circle would have had this knowledge. Mary was in the inner circle, and Jesus wasn't. This is very interesting to me. It points to some spiritual insights. If we let Mary into our lives, then she will bring our concerns to Jesus. There are religions out there, like Islam, that accept more Marian truth than they do Christology.

The second point that Jesus does not have all of his disciples yet can be seen by looking at the previous verses. He has at least six so far. One can then imagine Jesus showing up with a plus six to a wedding and since these guys have not been taught that they may have had a little to much to drink. Maybe Mary saw this and it's one of the reasons she went to Jesus. One thing we do know for sure is that the disciples saw the exchange between Mary and Jesus and that John wrote about it because it was Gospel worthy.

Still Christmas.

1/8/2019

Yes, it's still Christmas. We just had the Epiphany last weekend and this coming weekend we will remember Jesus' baptism, which will conclude the Christmas season. Therefore, I hope you all still are saying Merry Christmas to people and still have some of your stuff up. Sometimes I hear people shoulding all over themselves after the new calendar year that they should have all their stuff down. I try and remind them to be easy on their self and remind them that it's still Christmas. Don't buy into the fast pace of the secular world. We are still in the slow down season. Slow down, but confusing Christmas season is.

Something I have noticed this Christmas season is that I along with a number of other people get all confused at the time of day and which day it is. How can we not? Just to name a few: meal times are different, we go to Mass four times in two weeks, and talk to family at not the normal times. An example of the confusion is that one night after dinner my daughter almost had a melt down because I told her it was time to shower. She was so mixed up on the days and times of days that she thought we had just had breakfast. I hadn't even served a breakfast food like waffles. Sneaky me wants to do that next year though.

It's nice this last week of Christmas to be getting back to normal. It's the first full week of school and work. But, there must be something that God wants us to learn about the confusing time that is the Christmas season. Please share your stories and thoughts on your Christmas season confusions and things you have learned.

God bless, -dave

Christmas!

1/3/2019

I had a really nice one written. Probably the best blog ever about Christmas in the history of the world. But, I lost it and don't have enough coffee in me to recreate it. But, I do remember the ending. I asked the readers, um... YOU, some questions. What are some things that you do spiritually during the Christmas season to grow closer to Jesus? How do you approach the Christmas season differently than all the other seasons? I pretty much just restrain myself from some secular things during Advent, like eggnog. I try really hard to hold off on the nog till Christmas day. Please comment below to help me grow. Thanks!

Oh Joy.

12/13/2018

The third week of Advent the Church lights up the Rose candle.^1
Also, during this Gaudete, or Rejoice, Sunday we have readings that are meant to have us feel and be full of Joy. This years readings, year C, start with Zephaniah who was a "prophet of doom." However, in the reading chosen for this Sunday, Zephaniah 3:14-18 we read him saying, "Shout for Joy!" So, even a doomy guy can tell us to shout for Joy. Therefore, we should all be able to at least look for some silver lining in doomy situations. Go read Zephaniah. It's a really short read.

^1 It's not a pink candle. As one priest pointed out to me a few years ago. Men don't wear pink, liturgically it's rose.

Advent 2018!

12/4/2018

Hope and Peace!

During the first two weeks of Advent the Church calls us to Hope and Peace. During the readings of the first week we are called to remember that our Hope is in God and that in a short while, Christmas, our Hope will become actualized, fully alive in the person of Jesus. He is the answer to all things we Hope for. During the Bible study last week the homework assignment was simple: Smile more, because it's contagious and also makes one feel better about oneself, and the second assignment was to to do more by doing less. By doing less during this season of Advent, we can do more spiritual activity. We can allow ourselves to Hope in Christ, give Him our fears and look to him for Hope.

This coming weeks readings the Church has us, with Hope in our pocket, turn to Peace.

St. John the Baptist is brought up and his call to repent and that his voice is calling out in the desert to bring the mountains down, fill in the valleys, and make the crocked ways straight. When we examine what the Baptist preached through the eye of Peace that the Church is having us view these reading through, then we see that the way to peace is by turning from sin. Send our bad habits on an exile, or out to the desert. Bring down the mountains of materialism that has such a grip on us in our country and especially during this Advent season. Materialism has stolen Advent from us, taken what should be a time of reflection filled with Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love; and turned it into a stressful time of "getting everything up" or "going to all the parties" or "buying all the toys" ..........etc., etc., etc.

So, how do we get OUR season back from the World?
We need to slow ourselves down.; try not to keep up with those around us. Focus on our Family more. Ask ourselves questions like: What do our kids really need? Why do I feel like I need to go to this party? Do I need to be at this party for a long time or a short time? Is it better for our family to slowly set up decorations to build up the excitement of Jesus' coming? What do I need to repent from that will bring me Peace? How has materialism crept into my family and how can I let Jesus in to kick materialism out?

These are just a few questions we can ask ourselves. We can ask ourselves more. Also, each is a loaded question. I strongly advise you to not try and tackle all these questions during one Advent. It can seem overwhelming if you do. Remember that each of us are unique and Jesus is meeting us on the path wherever we are and will walk with us. He will make the way straight. His way is filled with Peace.
Allow Peace in.

Guadalupe!

11/29/2018

Our Lady of Guadalupe was our final class in the Marian series. A very nice parishioner that wishes to remain nameless lead the class. She did a wonderful job. She brought in the classic Our Lady of Guadalupe film that can also be found on Formed.org. She also graced us with some great handouts and even some pins of our Mother. But, the best thing by far that she shared was the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe and her zeal for Our Lady.

We have such a blessing in Our Lady, she shows us so much about Jesus that I wouldn't be able to type all of it. But, what we can see that she shows us through her coming to St. Juan Diego is that she loves all of Jesus' people and wants us all to join together in worshiping Him. She reminds us that we are not alone, the Holy Spirit was very active with the Aztec people and the missionaries at the time just need a little course correction to see that Fact. Our Lady provided that nudge, as most good mother do.

As the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe approaches on December 12 and as Advent comes nearer and nearer may we allow ourselves to be nudged closer to Jesus.

Vivat Jesu!