An exhibit opening May 9, 2010 at the Maltz Museum in Beachwood. Rare artifacts, poignant photographs, compelling video and first-person accounts tell the stories of pioneering women who established schools, hospitals and other enduring institutions and continue to work for peace and social justice. WOMEN & SPIRIT: Catholic Sisters in America, will travel to Cleveland directly from its appearance at The Smithsonian to open at The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood, OH on May 9, 2010.
WOMEN & SPIRIT is a project of The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an association of the leaders of congregations of Catholic women religious in the United States. The Conference has more than 1,500 members, representing about 95% of America’s 68,000 women religious. Click here to visit the Women and Spirit website: http://womenandspirit.org/
My experience with sheep is limited. I have watched them grazing from a distance. I’ve walked among them on my uncle’s farm and found them skittish and aloof. I am allergic to wool.
Most of what I’ve heard about sheep is unflattering. They are reputed to be stupid, lacking in initiative and likely to fall over cliffs or entangle themselves in brush. They are not playful. Lambs have a winsome charm, but the adult animal is a little boring. Rams are distinguished by their horns. Although there may be some variation in color, most sheep resemble every other sheep in the flock. To see one sheep is to have seen them all.
And there is no such thing as an independent or self-made sheep. A sheep needs the shepherd to guide and care for it and – in dire straits – to rescue it. There is nothing sentimental about this relationship: for the sheep it is a matter of survival, and for the shepherd a matter of economy. The sheep are valuable property, not pets to be cuddled.
In our Gospel today, Jesus names himself the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd knows his sheep as individuals. Each one is worthy of his care and attention. Today, let us rest a bit in what the Good Shepherd offers us when we live the paschal mystery. For all our efforts to dying to self for the sake of the other, they do not equal the gift of self that Jesus gives us.
Let us rest a bit this Sunday, basking in Jesus’ care and protection, listening to his voice calling us to his loving embrace, This, too, is living the paschal mystery.
Today we recognize that the earth provides for all of us, and we commit ourselves to caring for it. We take only what we need, and we replenish what we take.
Food, including the ingredients for bread, is one thing that the earth provides for us. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Guide Pyramid recommends the following daily allotments: 6-11 servings of grain, 3-5 servings of vegetables, 2-4 servings of fruit, 2-3 servings of dairy foods, and 5-7 ounces of meat or fish or the equivalent in beans or nuts. Fat and sugar should be eaten sparingly.
Evaluate your family’s diet. Celebrate Earth Day by resolving to take only what you need!
God of wisdom, we see your love in the rising sun and waning tide,
you grace Earth with life in mysterious variety.
Earth Day - Star Ledger Photo
Every thing has meaning, is blessing; each of us is charged with their care -
from the smallest creature to the ocean’s depth.
Grant us wisdom to know your ways of love and gentle kindness.
Give us the mind to learn what we do not know but long to understand
so that we may honor and nurture all that makes us one with you. Amen.
Did you know that one tree in its average 50-year lifetime can clean-up $62,000 of air pollution? Trees and people keep each other alive. While trees give off oxygen for us to breathe, they inhale carbon dioxide, which trees thrive upon. Trees do other wonderful things, too; they recycle water, prevent soil erosion, and provide homes for animals and birds.
Planting a tree is great fun, and one of the best things you can do to save the Earth. The tree will reduce the carbon dioxide in the air, provide beauty and shade and attract wildlife. Every year, you and your tree will grow, proud to know you are both helping the earth.
If you walk into my office you will find a small sign – “Gone fishing”. This saying can either be read literally, indicating that I have really gone fishing, or it may mean that I have taken a break from the demands of my ministry. In our Gospel today, little does Peter realize that his fishing trip will end up immersing him ever more fully in the demands of a different kind of work.
It would seem that the disciples are missing the point of the Resurrection and how the Resurrection changes one’s life because Peter and the others revert back to what they know – they’ve gone fishing! The two scenes in our Gospel, the miraculous catch of fish and Jesus’ dramatic encounter with Peter capture two interrelated Easter mysteries- abundance of new life and love that overflows into following the risen Christ to the point of death. We give our lives because we have first been loved by God. Following Jesus isn’t easy for it means dying to self, even to the point of death for the sake of the other.
We share in this new life only if we are willing to share in its cost -dying to self for the sake of the other. Let us take care that our actions announce God’s blessings and God’s care.
We had the April Younth Ministry meeting on Sunday April 11th, 2010. It was a week later than usual since the celebration of Easter was last weekend.
At this months meeting we continued the Lent & Easter theme. To remind us of prayer and fasting we made hand rolled pretzels in the church kitchen. From CathlicCulture.org we lerarned that Pretzels were originally developed in Ancient Roman family homes as far back as the 4th Century. Pretzels are breads made using only water flour and salt to remind themselves that lent is a time of fasting and focus on God – not celebration and rich foods like creams, meats and cheeses. The “Pretzels” were formed into a symbol of a person with their arms folded across their chest in prayer.
The Pretzel Prayer:
We beg you, O Lord, to bless these breads which are to remind that Lent is a sacred season of penance and prayer. For this very reason the early Christians started the custom of making these breads in the form of arms crossed in prayer. Thus they kept the holy purpose of lent alive in their hearts from day to day, and increased in their soulds the love of Christ, even unto death, if necessary.
Grant us we pray, that we too, may be reminded by the daily sight of these pretzels to observe the holy season of Lent with true devotion and great spiritual fruit. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
We also discussed some Christian meaning for the Jelly Beans given at Easter.
After making our pretzels we created fun little Chalkboard Easter Rabbits (I’ll call them T’wabits). The little chalboards are great for short messages (like tweets on www.Twitter.com). I found this craft on www.AllFreeCrafts.com and we all had fun gluing them together in funny ways. Check out the picture show below to catch a glimpse of a T’wabit.
Here are pictures from the Youth Ministry Meeting on April 11th.
This isn’t Ordinary Time but a season of purposeful time. On this Second Sunday of Easter, we continue to remember the events surrounding the resurrection of Jesus and marvel in the light of the Risen Lord. As we do so, we find our identity, as the body of Christ.
Eastertide is about the resurrection of Jesus; yes, but it also and perhaps especially about the new life he opens up for all in the body of Christ and the unstoppable mission on which he sends us as his disciples. It’s a mission of making sure the poor get good news, of releasing captives (and welcoming them back into our communities!), healing and restoring the sick, the lame, and the blind, witnessing to and joining the work of God’s kingdom whenever and wherever it may be found, and declaring God’s saving love and power that brings us into eternal life through Jesus Christ by our words and our actions.
We haven’t seen the risen Jesus in person with our eyes, yet many of us believe. Many of us can testify that “the Spirit bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God.” Still all of us, at times; and some of us, nearly all the time, struggle with belief, just like Thomas in the story from John’s Gospel.This story comes as a radical shift in tone. This story is for those who haven’t yet believed or seen or felt something of the resurrection of Jesus.
Three times in the Gospel the risen Lord addresses the gathered “Peace be with you.” What is this peace He brings? It is a peace that allays fears, empowers forgiveness and prompts us to accept that suffering and death is the doorway to new life.
When we live this “Peace of Christ”, our lives are marked by self-giving, forgiveness and genuine care for the other – even our enemies. As we offer the “Peace of Christ” today, let us remember, we move from bright lights to shadows, from joyous determination to fearful confusion. And the good news in this story is that our risen Lord comes to us wherever we are, however we are, and brings us what we need to believe, never condemning us for our doubts but meeting us in them.
When someone whom we love dies, we begin to tell stories about them. The memories of the things they said, the images of the way they looked and acted, flood our minds in the midst of our grief. The stories begin to take shape very soon and they may live on with great vitality. In the beginning, when the grief is still fresh and raw, the stories remain inside of us. It hurts too much to express them aloud. But eventually they are spoken, and in their speaking we begin to find healing.
In our Gospel today, we meet meet Mary Magdalene and two of the disciples – Peter and ” the one whom Jesus loved” – as they come to the tomb on their early morning pilgrimage . It is difficult to know exactly what they were thinking, but they must have been deeply shaken by Jesus’ violent death. The stories must have already begun to take shape in their minds and hearts. Perhaps they were still too frightened, and too overwhelmed, to utter these stories aloud, even to one another. After all, it had become dangerous to be associated with this Jesus of Nazareth. But, in the midst of their grief and fear, the memories of who he had been and of what he had done, of the ways in which he had engaged their deepest hopes, must have cascaded over them like a powerful waterfall.
Today, rather than trying to understand let us simply run so that we can enter the mystery and embrace it. As we rejoice in the risen life of Jesus, we are confronted with the cost of the Resurrection – self-emptying for the sake of others. Let us run with a purpose!
As we sing Resurrexit Sicut Dixit! Alleluia! Alleluia! let us be willing to identify ourselves with the dying and rising Christ. Let us be the Resurrection!
An exhibit opening May 9, 2010 at the Maltz Museum in Beachwood. Rare artifacts, poignant photographs, compelling video and first-person accounts tell the stories of pioneering women who established schools, hospitals and other enduring institutions and continue to work for peace and social justice. WOMEN & SPIRIT: Catholic Sisters in America, will travel to Cleveland directly from its appearance at The Smithsonian to open at The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood, OH on May 9, 2010.
