Church historian Norman Tanner SJ gives a short history of this time of joy and preparation.

March 13-15 , 2011 at 7:00 pm

with  Father Thomas  Dragga,

Rector of Borremeo Seminary Cleveland

Father Dragga will help us reflect on the implications of our baptismal faith from the Lenten Sunday Readings of the Samaritan Woman, the man born blind and the raising of Lazarus.

Our  Sunday and Monday evenings  will consist of  Evening Prayer, Reflection, Conversation and a time for refreshments.

Our Tuesday evening will include  Mass at 5:30 pm, simple supper at  6:00 pm  and the  conclusion of the Mission  at 7:00 pm. For more information call 330.743.2308

This year, Cycle A, we hear the great gospels of people in Jesus’ time coming to faith in him as the One sent by God.  Those preparing for baptism or confirmation use these gospels to reflect on their own faith journeys.  We invite you to journey along, too.  Invite a friend or your family to make this retreat with you.  It is based on the Sunday by Sunday reflection resource published by Good Ground Press.

The gospel for each of the parts of the retreat is in reader parts.  If you do not read the gospel aloud with others, read it aloud to yourself.  You will hear better the conversation Jesus initiates and continues with the gospel characters, a conversation he wants to have with you this Lent.

May your retreat be blessed in abundance.

First Sunday of Lent: Who Do I Serve?

Second Sunday of Lent: What Is My Dream?

Third Sunday of Lent: What Is the Spirit Saying?

Fourth Sunday of Lent: What Do You See?

Fifth Sunday of Lent: We Live in the Lord

“THE 40 DAYS OF LENT” has always been more of a metaphor than a literal count. Over the course of history the season of preparation for Easter Sunday has ranged from one day (in the first century) to 44 (today in the Roman church). Officially since 1970, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sunset on Holy Thursday.

How do we get 40 days of Lent?  I count 46!

By Linda Friern and Tony Bartlett, in The Fire of Peace

Let us pray to Jesus Christ that we may be set free from the chains of violence and war.

Jesus the Christ, by your cross and resurrection

… deliver us.

by your nonviolence and love

by your witness to truth

by your passion and death

by your victory over the grave

from the desire for power

from the conspiracy of silence

from the negation of life

from the worship of weapons

from the celebration of killing

from the slaughter of the innocent

from the extermination of the weak

from the nightmare of hunger

from the politics of terror

from a false peace

from relying on weapons

from the spiral of armaments

from plundering the earth’s resources

from the despair of this age

from global suicide.

By the light of the Gospel

… give us your peace.

by the good news for the poor

by your healing and wounds

by faith in your word

by a hunger and thirst for justice

by the coming of your reign

by the outpouring of the Spirit

by reconciliation of enemies

by gentleness and nonviolence

by the truth that sets us free

by prophecy and witness

by persecution because of your name

by the power of your love.

Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,

… have mercy on us.

Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,

… have mercy on us.

Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,

… grant us peace.

–from The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister

“Life, we come to understand, is not only about joy. It is about the power to endure what is not joyful as well.

I remember quite clearly the day in grade school when my teacher put a large box on the corner of her desk and posters of starving children around the room. Lent was coming, she explained to us. We should give up candy and put the candy money we saved in the box for the missions. These were the poster children we should be sacrificing to save.

It was a child’s catechetical exercise, yes, but it carried with it spiritual messages enough to last for a lifetime. Clearly, we were being put on notice. There were things in life, other people in life, for which each of us was responsible, however young we were and whether we had any association with them or not. There were things in life so important, it seemed, that we would need to give up some things for ourselves in order to take care of the needs of others. And it all had something to do with God.

When you’re young, the act of giving something up for Lent is an epochal moment. It involves a complete revaluation of what it means to be human. If life is not about permanent and continual self-satisfaction, what is it about? And why? How is it that the notion of bridling the self can be as important as satisfying the self?

What becomes even clearer as the years go by is that this understanding of penance and sacrifice as part of what it means to be a spiritual person is one of the most ancient traditions in religious history. It is common to all religions; it is thousands of years old.

The ascetic is the person who sets out to subject the body to the spirit. Athletes do it to achieve physical development and somatic control. They give up food and time and physical comfort to conquer mountains and swim channels and win athletic competitions. Spiritual seekers do the same things, but they do them for a different reason. Their goal is to conquer themselves and develop their souls.

There is nothing passive about asceticism. It is the active giving of the self—physical and spiritual—in order to concentrate the soul, viselike, on the center of life rather than on its peripherals. The ascetic knows that to become what we can become spiritually, some things—even good things, perhaps—must be forgone. It is not that good things must be forsaken; it is that they must be indulged in with balance. The Talmud says that “If a person has the opportunity to taste a new fruit and refuses to do so, he will have to account for that in the next world.” The ascetic lives with the spiritual awareness that choosing between the good and the better is the discipline that makes us the best of what we set out to be. Asceticism is not about giving things up for their own sake. It is as much about achieving more life—another kind of life—as it is about giving it up.”

I went to him and said,
“I will take you down.”
And I began to take the nails
out of his hands and his feet.
But he stopped me and said,
“You cannot take me down.
For I cannot come down
until every man, every woman, and every child in the world
shall come together to take me down.

“But sir,” I said, “your cry: I cannot bear your cry.”

“This cry,” he told me,
“It is the anguish of those with no food,
of those who thirst,
the ones huddled naked against the cold,
the cry of those who are lonely and in prisons.
This is the cry of the homeless,
of the ones rejected and hated by society.
It is the cry of those whose lives are snuffed out
by anger, hate or fear.
This is the cry of those living on the edge of war,
those made to wander from their homes in search of peace.”

“Then what am I to do?” I asked him.

“Go about the world,” he said,
“Tell everyone you meet: It is a shared cross on which we all do hang.”

Adapted by Bill Huebsch from an unknown source.
Based on Matthew 25. Artwork by Mark Hakomaki.

PDF copy of Poem

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.

• Red is for the bBlood He gave
• Green is for the grass He made
• Yellow is for the sun so bright
• Orange is for the edge of night
• Black is for the sins that were made
• White is for the grace that He gave
• Purple is for the hour of sorrow

Thanks to www.childfun.com for this list.

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.

to get a better view of the pictures go to:

Through the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit the Youth Ministry group enacted a moving and spiritual portrayal of the 14 Stations of the Cross to an audience of approximately 50 lenten pilgrims at St. Edward Parish.

The “cast” comprised of 11 youth:

• Jesus – Ryan Cox
• Pilate – Anthony Thomas
• Chief Priest / Judas – Joe Hosa
• Roman Guards – Noah Patoray & Greg Ferechak
• Mary -Valerie Thomas
• Simon of Cyrene – Anthony Thomas
• Veronica – Hanna Rhiel
• Weeping Women of Jerusalem – Logan Hunkus, Amanda Leone, Halee Sepulveda, Anna Marie Thomas
• Joseph of Arimathea – Joe Hosa

Pictures of the Cast:

View Photos on Picasaweb:

Living Stations 2010

What are some of the symbols in your life?  What do they tell others about you?  What do they tell you about yourself?

The early Christians used symbols extensively in their faith and worship.  Many of those symbols we still use today.  One that you are sure to know is the cross itself.  To a non Christian, a cross may simply be two pieces of wood in a specific arraignment.  No deeper meaning.  To us it means something  Holy or Sacred.  It is a symbol to remind us of the passion Christ; that he died for our sins.  That he was rejected by men, but still he forgave them.  It may remind you of church, or time with family.  It may bring to mind special prayers.  Point being – this symbol means many things, and different things, to each of us.  But, having the symbol makes us think and that is important.

During Lent, try having different symbols around you.  I brought the Crown of Thorns plant to our meeting, and a sketch of Jesus with His crown of thorns.  These are two power symbols of Lent.  I also mentioned (in the last post) about the knotted rope in the church and its meaning.  Maybe there are some things around your house that could help you to think about the way you are living and what changes you could make to be more like Christ.