A New Years, a New Opportunity

My sister once told me that she has four major reflective moments each year to assess how she is as a human being: the beginning of Lent, her birthday, the beginning of Advent, and New Years.  Tomorrow will be New Year's Eve.  How are you and your family?

Growing up, my parents encouraged us kids to participate in "giving things up" during Lent, but not before thinking about what we did with our time.  This taught me that reflection is necessary before action (or resolution).  As I grew older, this practice transitioned into making New Year's resolutions, something I continue to this day.  Thanks Mom and Dad!

Help your children cultivate that sense of self-reflection.  Encourage them to think about how they are and who they would like to be; how they spend their time and how they would like to grow.  Here are some practical tips to help you do that.

Be specific
"I will be awesome" is a great resolution...if you want to fail.  Instead, think of specific areas in your life and encourage your children to do the same.  What do you do (or don't do) that you want to change (or start to do)?  Try something challenging but doable.

Use this format

• I will _________.  I plan to do this by __________.
  
      OR
• I will not __________.  Instead, I will _________.

Example A (for adults): I will spend more time with my family.  I plan to do this by silencing my phone during dinner.
Example B (for children): I will not watch 2 hours of TV a day.  Instead, I will play my musical instrument, read, and play with my Legos.

Start with yourself
You can't pass on what yourself don't already practice.  Before encouraging reflection in your children, take sometime when you 're alone (even if it's in the restroom) and be with yourself and with God.  Have you had something peculating for months that you think would be a good resolution?  Is there a glaring area of need for balance in your life?  Or maybe this will be the year when you finally do XYZ.  If you don't try, it won't happen.  Try something challenging, but doable.

Encourage your children
Guide your children through a similar process as mentioned above.  Help them think about their own lives, how they treat their family and friends, how the spend their time, how much screen time they have, etc.  As with yourself, encourage them to try something challenging but doable.

Share your resolution
Maybe your resolution will be to be more forthcoming in your relationships: "I will share my resolution with my family.  I plan to do this by printing the resolution out and giving it to my family so they can hold me accountable."  Sounds like a great plan.

But seriously, if you keep your resolution to yourself, it'll be tough to keep.  As the old saying goes, "When shared, joys are multiplied and burdens are divided."

...And may you and your family have a Happy New Year!  See you in 2012!

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image Credit: jeff_golden
Image Credit: Carlos Maya

Website Wednesday: Pray.nd.edu

This is how it looks

Continuing our series of looking at websites on Wednesday, we turn our gaze to a website focused on praying through the daily mass readings: Pray.nd.edu.  Run by the University of Notre Dame, my alma mater, "Pray" includes different content every day, centered around the Gospel for that particular day.  Each day, you find the text for the Gospel, a brief reflection written by someone connected to the University, and a prayer.

One of the strengths of this website is the sheer number of contributors.  Tapping into the vast resource of Notre Dame students, alums, and friends, Pray has featured past Notre Dame football stars, current students, priests and religious, and of course alumni.  Hearing from many different individuals keeps the site fresh.  There are "as many ways [to God] as there are people," as Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) once said.  The different perspectives allow us to see God with new eyes.

Let's take a look at a few of the other parts of the site.

Seasonal Sections
During Advent and Lent, "Pray" features videos for each week of the season.  Each video includes a well thought out, well delivered ~5 minute reflection on a particular aspect that shines forth in that week's mass readings.  I particularly enjoyed the one for the 2nd week of Advent:


Free Online Prayer Cards
Ever hit a patch where you don't know how you want to pray, don't feel like you have time to pray, and need to pray something short and meaningful?  So do I.  The prayer card section on the Pray website is an incredible resource for people in that spot.  Each prayer card is a PDF that can be printed out, cut, and folded up to fit in your wallet.  Here's an example of one of the prayers, a prayer for healing (PDF):

Prayer for Healing

Dear Jesus, we turn to you in this 

time of illness. Ease our worry 

and sorrow with your gentle love. 

Gift us with the strength to accept 

this burden. Lord, we place our 

worries in your hands. We place 

our sick under your care and ask 

that you restore your loved one 

to health again. Above all, grant 

us the grace to acknowledge your 

will and know that whatever you 

do, you do for the love of us.

Adapted from Missionary 

Oblates of Mary Immaculate 

Faith Videos for You

Looking at the world through a faith perspective requires some support and some challenge.  Tender, Strong, and True is a video series that tries to do just that.  With a wide range of relevant topics (starting and maintaining prayer, living faith at work, not being stressed), this video series is a real gem for anyone looking for help and guidance.

A great resource for Catholics on the go (they'll send you daily emails) or Catholics not on the go (watching videos), Pray.nd.edu can help you grow closer to God day by day.

If you have a website you recommend, leave a comment or send Isaac an email:

Christmas Mass Schedule

As you may have noticed, things have slowed down a bit in the blog. We will pick it back up a few days after Christmas. Until then, here's the Christmas Mass schedule for St. Mark in Vienna,VA.

Saturday, December 24*:
• 8PM
• 10PM
Sunday, December 25:
• 9AM
• 11AM

* there is Mass at 3:45PM and 6PM, but you need a ticket to enter, by order of the fire marshall.

Merry Christmas!

What the Star in the Christmas story can teach us

Here is a beautiful musical reflection on the significance of one star in the Christmas story.



How are we chosen to shine the light and show the way to Jesus?

Christmas Carol at Family Movie Night - Friday December 16

On Friday, December 16 you and your family are invited to view A Christmas Carol.  The film is part of the family movie night series and will start at 7PM.  Based on Charles Dicken's classic, this version is the 1984 iteration starting George C. Scott (snippet below).



You're invited to bring cookies to share and there will be some complimentary refreshments.

First Penance

Jesus brings us mercy and forgiveness

On Saturday, December 10 over 100 St. Mark children celebrated First Penance.  In the moments and days afterward, I asked them how they felt and their responses were somewhere between “good!” and “awesome!” Everyone likes to be forgiven, even second graders!

Grace permeates the moments surrounding this and other Sacraments, even when the moments don’t feel graceful. For example, these very same students minutes before Penance were on pins and needles, nervously going through the Penance dialogue and examination of conscience as they waited in line (some for 45 minutes). But when the time came and they found themselves moving from the front of the line to the priest, they were ready. God’s life, love, and mercy are shared in this Sacrament, which each child felt “good” or “awesome” about. God was there in the preparation before, the celebration of, and the peace found after Penance, bringing forth new life and joy.

These children remind us that the feeling coming from confession trumps the anxiety leading up to that moment, and that forgiveness of sins is both possible and important. May their witness be an example to us all!

Active Waiting

A little more from our friend Henri Nouwen:

Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is a waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for. We wait during Advent for the birth of Jesus. We wait after Easter for the coming of the Spirit, and after the ascension of Jesus we wait for his coming again in glory. We are always waiting, but it is a waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God's footsteps.

Waiting for God is an active, alert - yes, joyful - waiting. As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes.

image credit: CmdrFire

Penance 101

As we gear up for our First Penance celebration (and the parish-wide Advent Penance celebration), it's time to brush up on why we go to confession.  Take a look at this 5 minute video to review why in the world we should go to confession instead of only asking God for forgiveness on our own.



Where do you need healing?  Where is God calling you to new life?  Is there something you did that's weighing you down?

Solemnity of Immaculate Conception - Mass Schedule

Tomorrow, December 8 is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.  Come and celebrate at St. Mark in Vienna.  Here is our mass schedule:

• Wednesday, December 7:  Vigil Mass at 7:30pm
• Thursday, December 8: 6:15am, 9:15am, 5:30pm and 7:30 pm

Website Wednesday: CatholicMom.com

This is how it looks using Google Chrome

Reviving a Wednesday theme, let's take a look at a great Catholic website for all parents that will help you include faith in your life.  CatholicMom.com is for more than just moms.  Click around the menu long enough and you'll soon realize there's something for everyone: Mom, Dad, teachers, catechists, Catholic and non-Catholic alike.

One of the strengths of the website is that it's updated with regularity.  If there's something going on in the Catholic Church, odds are there's an article, activity, or idea to incorporate it into your family.  You can see from the screen shot that there's a section on Advent.  And for the Immaculate Conception, they have a short article explaining history and some of our beliefs about the day.

Digging a little deeper, here are a few of the sections I'd like to highlight that are useful.

Sunday Gospel Activities
Encourage your children to learn about the Good News at home by utilizing one of the activities present in CatholicMom's incredible collection.  Organized by month and then by Sunday, the Sunday Gospel Activities provide something for many ages.  Your child is in the coloring phase?  There's a weekly coloring page (PDF). Kids love word searches?  They've got the word search (PDF) market covered.  Simple crossword?  You bet (PDF).  There are even what they call "mass worksheets" for children ages 7-10 (PDF) and 11-14 (PDF) to help them get more from that weekend's liturgy.  I wouldn't recommend coming to mass to fill these out, but still these can be great for getting ready for mass or processing afterward.

Movie Reviews
Multimedia play a big role in the life of children in the 21st century.  But as with anything we're exposed to, we need to be aware of what that media does to us and to our children.  CatholicMom's provides a tiny section on movie reviews that will review newly released DVDs as well as films still in the theaters.  Past reviews include the re-release of Dumbo, Super 8, and The Help.  While not updated with every movie that comes out, movie reviews do come in from time to time and appear on the front page of the main website.

(If you're very interested in other good film review sites, Catholic News Services reviews films as does a Christian website called Decent Films.)

Blog
Probably the greatest strong of the website is the blog that's updated every day.  It also happens to be the front page of the website.  A variety of articles will educate and entertain you, providing you helpful articles for parents and some opportunities to grow in your own faith.  Since that's along the same lines with what I hope to provide here on the blog, you should definitely check them out!

A hub for all things Catholic, CatholicMom is a solid resource for you and your family.

If you have a website you recommend, leave a comment or send Isaac an email:

Prayer as Seeking Depth

Prayer: elusive but important

Raise your hand if you struggle with prayer.  Now that all our hands are raised, where do we go from here?  (You can put your hands down.)

Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI, is an author of many spiritual articles and books (his most famous/best selling being The Holy Longing).  This Advent, he is writing a four-part series on prayer.  Below is an excerpt from part 1 called "Prayer as Seeking Depth."

In our more reflective moments we sense the importance of prayer; yet, we struggle to pray. Sustained, deep prayer doesn't come easy for us. Why?

First of all, we struggle to make time for prayer. Prayer doesn't accomplish anything practical for us, it's a waste of time in terms of tending to the pressures and tasks of daily life, and so we hesitate to go there. Coupled with this, we find it hard to trust that prayer actually works and brings about something real in our lives. Beyond that, we struggle to concentrate when we try to pray. Once we do settle in to pray, we soon feel ourselves overwhelmed by daydreams, unfinished conversations, half-forgotten melodies, heartaches, agendas, and the impending tasks that face us as soon as we get up from our place of prayer. Finally, we struggle to pray because we really don't know how to pray. We might be familiar with various forms of prayer, from devotional prayers to different kinds of meditation, but we generally lack the confidence to believe that our own particular way of praying, with all its distractions and missteps, is prayer in the deep sense. 

 Interest piqued?  Read the rest on his website.

Part two can be found here.

image credit: mojoey

Something Hardly Noticeable: Advent Reflection from Henri Nouwen

To prepare us for, or to continue reflecting on, the second Sunday of Advent, below is a reflection on the working of God by Henri Nouwen.  You can sign up to receive daily reflection similar to this at HenriNouwen.org

Something Hardly Noticeable

"A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him . . ." (Isa.11:1-2)

These words from last night's liturgy have stayed with me during the day. Our salvation comes from something small, tender, and vulnerable, something hardly noticeable. God, who is the Creator of the Universe, comes to us in smallness, weakness, and hiddenness.

I find this a hopeful message. Somehow, I keep expecting loud and impressive events to convince me and others of God's saving power; but over and over again I am reminded that spectacles, power plays, and big events are the ways of the world. Our temptation is to be distracted by them and made blind to the "shoot that shall sprout from the stump."

When I have no eyes for the small signs of God's presence - the smile of a baby, the carefree play of children, the words of encouragement and gestures of love offered by friends - I will always remain tempted to despair.

The small child of Bethlehem, the unknown young man of Nazareth, the rejected preacher, the naked man on the cross, he asks for my full attention. The work of our salvation takes place in the midst of a world that continues to shout, scream, and overwhelm us with its claims and promises. But the promise is hidden in the shoot that sprouts from the stump, a shoot that hardly anyone notices.

Image Credit: Peter Renshaw


iGracias! - A Latin American Journal (December 2, 1981) © Henri J.M. Nouwen. Published by HarperCollins.

New Roman Missal: Liturgy of the Eucharist

People using a prayer aid:
our reality the next few months

Finishing our series on the New Roman Missal, we turn our attention to the prayers surrounding our reception of Jesus in the Eucharist.  Even though I knew the change was happening, the degree of change in the Eucharistic Prayer really caught my attention.  Below we'll take a look at a few of the different prayers prayed by the priest and the assembly.

Hosts ≠ wafer

We've been praying the revised Holy, Holy, Holy for a few months now in song.  There's only one minor change.  Instead of being a "God of power and might," we now pray that God is a "God of hosts."  Ask any second grader preparing for First Communion and they'll tell you host means wafer, but that's not the cast.  Here, hosts means a multitude of angelic beings.

As with many of the changes, "hosts" is a direct allusion from Scripture, this time Isaiah 6:3:

One [angel] cried out to the other:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”

Sounds familiar?  Here, the prophet Isaiah is having a vision of God sitting on a thrown on high surrounded by angels (whose name literally means messenger).  Having dwelt with God, the angels should know a thing or two about God, so their proclamation that God is holy should be taken seriously.  And just before this prayer, the priest invites us to join the heavenly choirs of angels in praising God.  When we do this, we're uniting our voices not only to their voices, but the voices of countless generations of Jews and Christians who have acclaimed the holiness of God through multiple millennia.  Our prayer and worship of God becomes united to the prayer and worship of all those saints and angels.  What a truly awesome experience!

Chalice not cup
The best summary I've found of change from cup to chalice is found in the Life Teen video for Parents, the same one I posted previously.  Below is that video linked up to the time where he talks the shift (the explanation is less than one minute).



As an aside, the change from cup to chalice reminds me of the fictional Indiana Jones scene where Dr. Jones is picking the Holy Grail, believed to be the true cup of Christ (he chose poorly, he chose wisely).  Even though the vessel the poor man chose looks more ornate than the vessel Dr. Jones picked, Indy's choice does look like the chalices we use at ST. MARK.

Is many less than all?
One of the more controversial changes was the decision to translation the Latin word pro multis from "all," as in the previous translation, to "many."  Does this mean Jesus didn't die for less than all, because many is less than all?  No.


The official US Conference of Catholic Bishop's website provides a very helpful FAQs about this translation.  Below is an excerpt from the FAQs:

Does this mean that Christ did not die for everyone? 

We believe Jesus died for all

No. It is a dogmatic teaching of the Church that Christ died on the Cross for all men and women (cf. John 11:52; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; Titus 2:11; 1 John 2:2). The expression “for many,” while remaining open to the inclusion of each human person, is reflective also of the fact that this salvation is not brought about in some mechanistic way, without one’s own willing or participation; rather, the believer is invited to accept in faith the gift that is being offered and to receive the supernatural life that is given to those who participate in this mystery, living it out in their lives as well so as to be numbered among the “many” to whom the text refers. 

What is the significance of “for many” in this context and in the context of the Gospel? 

With these words, Jesus identifies his mission to bring salvation through his Passion and Death, his offering of himself for others. In a particular way he identifies himself with the Suffering Servant of the Prophet Isaiah, who suffers to “take away the sins of many” (Is 53:12).

Again, this shift focuses on harmony with our biblical texts.  Matthew 26: 26-28 says (emphasis added):

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body.”  Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.

Enter under my roof
Like many of the revisions, when we pray "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my souls will be healed," we're alluding to Scripture.  If you're unfamiliar with the story of the centurion, there's a brief recap below:

When he entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.” -- Matthew 8:5-8, 10

Swap servant for soul and we quote Scripture directly.  When we pray this prayer, we're placing ourselves in the shoes of the centurion who showed great faith.  And we're hearing from Jesus about how great our faith is "as you have believed, let it be done for you" (Matthew 8:13).

We're all searching for healing in life.  Others hurt us and we hurt others.  Words, actions, inactions, thoughts, social systems, our complacency: we are a world in need of a savior, in need of a healer.  Jesus is that healer.  When we say "roof" we're not talking about the roof of our mouth.  Instead, we're praying that because of our unworthiness, because of our sinfulness, we feel unworthy to have Jesus enter into the house that is our heart, our soul.  May Jesus continue to heal us as individuals and as community!

photo credit: michael_swan; Bruce Guenter

Five Family Advent Ideas

Yesterday we learned about Advent in two minutes.  So how do we practice preparation in our family?  Here are five ways your family can prepare for Christmas this Advent.

Decorate

My wife and I started a tradition last year of decorating our house on the third Sunday of Advent.  Why the third Sunday?  Because it's Gaudete Sunday!  It's a Sunday of Joy and we mark that time as a Church by using rose (pink) colored vestments at mass and light the rose (pink) colored candle.  Decorate with various greens, religious icons or drawings or pictures, lights, a creche (see below) and of course all the usual Christmas decorations.

Use an Advent Calendar

There are many Advent calendars to choose from online.  Here's one for a family (PDF) and one for children (PDF).  For you parents, here's one you can do online, which I do every year.  It includes a short quote or video clip and an action to do each day. On the First Sunday of Advent, it featured an excellent video clip from Lord of the Rings -- so you know it must be good.

Or, make your own calendar.  On the days from today to Christmas, write a different action you or your family can do in preparation for the coming of Christ. For example, write a Christmas card to a relatives, clean the house for guests, or make Christmas presents instead of buying them.

Make a Creche
At the manger scene, you can gather each night for prayer. Tell your kids to place one piece of straw in the cradle for good deeds they or their family did that day. The more good deeds, the softer the cradle becomes for Jesus. My family has a tradition of placing baby Jesus in the cradle when we come back from Christmas Mass on Christmas Eve.  Use that or create your own tradition.

Use an Advent Wreath
Light candles corresponding to the candles lit at Mass on Sundays and pray around the wreath every day.  Need your wreath blessed?  Try this family Advent wreath blessing from Loyola Press or this blessing from our own US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Donate
Gather some clothes, toys, and other items to donate to a local charity. Try donating a favorite toy or favorite article of clothing. It may be difficult, but giving up our favorite items can foster a deeper love for others and remind us that others deserve the best we have to offer.

How does your family prepare for Advent?  What's your favorite family tradition?  What do you hope your children pass on to their children?  Share your ideas, leave a comment.

Advent in 2 Minutes

Advent has been overshadowed this year by our new Roman Missal.  Want to know what this season is all about?  Watch this short video.



More to come on Advent in the next few days, including ways to celebrate in your home.

What ways do you celebrate Advent?  Or do you struggle with how to introduce Advent in your home?

New Roman Missal: New Creed? (no, just a different translation)

in one God...

Another big change in the revised translation (coming to a parish new you in 6 days!) is the Nicene Creed, the statement of belief that we Catholics say together at Mass.  It's more than just a statement of belief, but a prayer of identity, for when we recite the Creed we say together "this is what I believe," and our beliefs help form us into a local and universal community.

Open this PDF to view our new translation of this ancient statement of belief and prayer, the Nicene Creed, with the changes in bold.  Read through it a couple of times and become a little more familiar with the text.  Keep the PDF open as we look at three phrases or words that are different in the new Roman Missal

All things visible and invisible
With the translation, we say we believe in a God who is a maker of "all things visible and invisible."  The visible is easy to understand.  Look outside and you can see the beauty of creation all around us.  But what about the invisible?  Our belief that God is the maker of "all things invisible" is not an expression of belief in object permanence, that things exist even when we can't see them.  Instead, there are somethings that are invisible by nature: love, virtue, truth, etc.  God created all those invisible things too.

There are also things that become invisible after time, namely people.  This belief helps unite us with our brothers and sisters in faith who have gone before us in faith who are "invisible" to the eyes, but approachable in our faith when we ask for their prayers.

Consubstantial
My spell checker tells me consubstantial is not a word, so why are we is it part of what we believe?  What does it mean?

Let's take a look at Mickey's second Maneline article for better understanding:

"Consubstantial" is an entirely new English word – based on the Latin word "consubstantialem." When the Nicene Creed first appeared in Greek, it used the Greek "homoousion" which literally meant that the Son is constituted from the same divine "stuff" or substance as the Father.  In the Latin translation homoousion became consubstantialem, which could be translated "one in substance with" the Father.  Indeed, as many older Catholics will recall, those were precisely the words in the first provisional English text of the Roman Missal.  But in the 1975 translation "one in substance" was changed to "one in being."  In the new translation the "divine sameness" of Father and Son is conveyed by the word "consubstantial."  

Incarnate
Think Christmas.  Now think 9 months before Christmas (the Annunciation, March 25).  That's the Incarnation.

With our previous translation, we could have possibly misinterpreted our faith, which is not a good thing.  Instead of saying that Jesus was fully God and fully man in Mary's womb when the Holy Spirit acted, we could have understood "by the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary" to mean that Jesus wasn't God until birth.  We believe otherwise, that from Jesus' conception, He is divine and man.

Fun video on new Creed translation
A group of youth from St. Mark in Fallston, MD created this YouTube video to help introduce the new translation of the Creed to their community.  Check it out, a minute or so into the video, for a run through of the Creed.


image credit: SweetCapture

Matthew 25: 31-46

Matthew 25: 31-46

The following is used by permission from our friends over at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Mill Valley, CA.

In today’s Gospel we hear Jesus describing the Final Judgment, the Second Coming of Christ where (at some unknown point in the future) “Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end”. As Christians we look forward to this day, not because we want to escape the world around us out of fear; this is not a faithful Christian perspective. We look forward to Christ’s second coming because Jesus coming again makes present what we are working toward: the Transformation of the World so that Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Every day we are called to transform the world around us, to till the soil of the New Creation, so that God’s presence may continue to take root in the world. How do we do this? Sometimes this means living a life of humble heroic virtue, sometimes this means speaking to others about our Faith with confidence and invitation, but this must always include having a relationship with the poor.

Jesus has placed the poor in our lives as a sign of His presence among us. He has placed usin the lives of the poor so that we might meet their needs knowing that whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.

We do not ‘do service’ or help others because we want to be ‘nice’ or because it makes us feel good. We serve others and advocate for justice because we see the face of Jesus in every person, and believe that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God and has inherent dignity. When we see other people as our brothers and sisters, instead of as ‘others’, we cannot help but be in relationship with them.

This is our path to holiness, to transform the world and our hearts.

New Roman Missal: And With Your Spirit

Rejoining Catholics Worldwide in Saying "Spirit"

Yep, pretty official looking

"The Lord be with you."

"And with your spirit"

With the implementation of the New Roman Missal, the first change everyone will notice is the re-translation of the Latin "et cum spiritu tuo."  The previous translation, "And also with you" will be replaced with "And with your spirit," which aligns the English-speaking Catholics with Catholics across the globe.  In Italian, this phrase is translated "E con il tuo spirito," in French "Et avec votre esprit," in Spanish "Y con tu espíritu," and in German "Und mit deinem Geiste."

Scriptural Influences
The greeting between the priest and the assembly is not foreign to our faith, but an exchange the springs forth from Scripture.  Let's take a look:
"The Lord be with you." The priest's greeting to us is plucked almost word for word from the Gospel of Luke:

And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” -- Luke 1:28

Mary is hearing from the angel of God for the first time.  Another translation of the verse implores Mary to "rejoice" in hearing the greeting.  We too should rejoice when we gather and are greeted because we know that we enjoy God's favor as we gather to receive the Word of God in the Scripture and the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.  And like Mary, we have a choice to work with God to bring about the Kingdom here on Earth.

"And with your spirit."  Again, we find a very strong link to Scripture:

The Lord be with your spirit.  Grace be with you. -- 2 Timothy 4:22

At the end of his letter to Timothy, Paul asks the Lord to be with Timothy's spirit.  When we reply to the priest, we are asking the same.  The entire greeting expresses a desire for God's presence to be with us as we enter into prayer together either at the beginning of mass, or at other new moments during mass.

More on "And with your Spirit" after the jump.

New Roman Missal: What's This All About?

This isn't the exact book, but you get the idea

The First Day of the Rest of Our Catholic Lives
Ok, so a little over the top with the header above, but it's true: the First Sunday of Advent, 2011 will be the first day of the rest of our Catholic lives.  The words we use to pray together as a community will change.  The next few weeks this blog will have a series of blog posts to focus in on preparing us for the weekend of November 27.  Hundreds of resources exist to help parishes, parents, teenagers, and teachers get up to speed about the New Roman Missal and its translation.  It's my goal to highlight some of the best ones our Catholic churches have to offer for adults and children alike.

How Did We Get Here?
From St. Louis University's FAQs on the new Missal, we get the quick answer:

Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II before him have expressed their desire to restore greater mystery, transcendence, and reverence to the celebration of the Mass.

To dig deeper, St. Mark's own Mickey Edwards provides an excellent brief history of the Mass in the 20th century in one short article.  You can read the whole article in our August/September Maneline (PDF warning).  To quote from this article:

In 1982 a second edition of the Roman Missal appeared in Latin, and in 1998 the bishops of English-speaking countries submitted a translation to Rome for approval. But in 1999 the translation principles of Comme le prevoit [nb: published after Vatican II] were set aside by a new Vatican document on translation, Liturgiam authenticam, which rejects the principle of “dynamic equivalence” in favor of “formal equivalence.” Formal equivalence requires that every word in the Latin text be rendered in the translation and it also directs that the vocabulary, syntax, punctuation, and capitalization patterns found in Latin must be reproduced as far as possible in the vernacular translation. Gender-inclusive grammatical forms now commonly used in English are not acceptable.

In 2002 a third edition of the Roman Missal was promulgated in Latin. Guided by the new translation norms in Liturgiam authenticam, the ICEL produced an English translation which was approved by Rome in 2010. This is the translation that we will begin using on November 27th.

Process: How Did This Happen?
LifeTeen has a great video summary of how the translation came into being:


In future, we'll dive into specific parts of the New Roman Missal.  Do you have any questions?  What would you like to see us cover?  Leave us a comment and let us know.

Image Credit: Lawrence OP

"Between Heaven and Mirth": Jesus Probably Loved a Good Joke

Saints can be funny too

Fr. James Martin, SJ, culture editor of the weekly Jesuit magazine America and author of many books, has a new one out called "Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life."  Below is an excerpt from this book, perfect for a Friday in November:

"Accepting that you're not in control is a reason not only for humility — but also for more joy. You can work hard and leave the rest up to God. Pope John XXIII once said that when he woke up in the night, worried about the future of the church, he would relax by asking himself a question. 'Giovanni,' he would say to himself. 'Why are you so worried? Who is in charge of the church — you or the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit! So go back to sleep, Giovanni!' "

You are not God. And if you forget this, God will remind you. So we need to lighten up about life and ministries. Not that our work and family and religious lives are not important. But we're ultimately not the one who brings about results."

Fr. Martin was also recently on the Comedy Central show Colbert Report, answering questions about Between Heaven and Mirth, and showing the world that you can be joyful and humorous while being seriously faithful.  Embedded below (and linked here) is his interview with Stephen Colbert:

Link: Taking Young Children to Mass

Children and mass

"How do we bring our young children to mass?"  This question is on the minds and lips of many first time and veteran parents who risk stares if their young children make even a peep at mass.

Much ink has been spilled by way of pamphlets and brochures to help parents raise their kids in the faith.  A new article on ForYourMarriage.org distills many suggestions and presents them through the eyes of a couple with two young children.  Among the suggestions I found most interesting:

We physically hold our children in our arms during Mass. In fact, we adopted the position that our children’s feet do not touch the ground during Mass until they are three years old. This helps in many ways. The children get a get a better view; as they grow and mature we can talk them through the stories and the actions; and we have a bit more control over their behavior. If an infant or toddler gets squirmy, often switching who is holding them is enough to calm them down. Otherwise we might play a quiet game of “point to the…candles, priest, altar, cross, etc.”

Read the rest of the article for more tips on bringing children to mass or leave a comment to share your own.

Image Credit: Mandy_Jansen

A Good "No-School" Project: Thanksgiving Clothing Drive

Is this your closet?

"I get to sleep in until noon on Monday AND Tuesday!"
It's every student's favorite time of the school year, a four-day weekend.  As a child, my favorite part about long weekends was the shortened week before or after.  But now as an adult, I enjoy working on projects around the house, reading a few more chapters of my latest novel, and catching up with friends.

Pass on one of these these values to your children by planning a special project that will benefit those in need.  In a couple week's time, the annual St. Mark Thanksgiving Clothing Drive (TCD) will be up and running and will need donations from parishioners and others in the area.  Many families have come to rely on the TCD for warm coats and clothes to get through winter.  Here's how you can help:

• Go through your closet and look for warm items to donate.  Make sure the clothes are not raggedy and worn through.
• All sizes, styles, and types of clothes are accepted (but the largest need is for winter clothes).
• Collection begins in the St. Mark Activity Center on Saturday, November 19 (more details forthcoming).

You Clothed Me
Although giving clothes is a good thing in itself, give this project a faith backbone by reading Matthew 25: 31-46 (which, coincidentally, is the Gospel reading the Sunday before Thanksgiving).  Highlight the "clothing the naked" bit, noting that when we give our clothes, we are helping to clothe Christ who is present in the poor.  Jesus truly is "one of the these least brothers."  (Clothing the naked is one of the seven Corporal Works of Mercy, acts that are done to alleviate poverty and suffering in the world.)

Encourage your children (and yourself) to donate one item that you would never want to donate.  When we do that, we loosen the grasp our possessions have on us and open our lives more fully to the presence of Christ in the poor.

What will you donate this year?

Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

No RE Monday, November 7 and Tuesday, November 8

We will not have Religious Education classes Monday, November 7 and Tuesday, November 8 due to the Fairfax County Public School's schedule.  Classes will resume next week.

All Souls' Day: We Pray for and Remember the Dead

We pray for the dead

Prayers
All Souls' Day reminds us that part of the life of the Christian Catholic is to pray for the dead.  We have a mystical link to them through the Body of Christ and we believe that our prayers, somehow, help those in purgatory be with God in heaven.  (More information on purgatory and praying for the dead found here).

At St. Mark, we have a special Mass today at 7:30PM for all who have passed away, especially those who have died within the past year.  Throughout the month of November, our Book of the Dead will be available in the Narthex for you to inscribe the names of your deceased relatives and friends.  We will remember all these individuals during the masses this month.

Remembering
Aside from prayer, take sometime today to talk with your family about a love one who has passed on.  Growing up, I always loved hearing stories of relatives who passed before my birth, to see how the faces and voices of those sharing memories would brighten.  When we share these memories with each other, especially with children, we pass on our family tradition and heritage, and the childhood of grandparents or uncles seems more real.  Stories of how great grandma immigrated here not knowing the language inspire us to keep going even in the most difficult moments.

Give your children that gift today of coming to know someone you loved.  They'll thank you later.

Image: africa / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

All Saints' Day

With Halloween candy on the clearance racks today, we Catholics turn our attention to All Saint's Day (the Solemnity of All Saints).  Today is a wonderful opportunity for us to gather together to celebrate all the saints who have gone before us, both canonized and uncanonized.

Greeting Pilgrims from his balcony, Pope Benedict XVI had this to say to English speakers today:

I am pleased to wish all of you a happy All Saints Day! This wonderful feast, along with tomorrow's commemoration of the faithful departed, speaks to us of the beauty of our faith and of the joy that awaits us in heaven with our loved ones who have fallen asleep in Christ. Let us therefore pray earnestly that we may all be joyfully united one day in the Father's house. God bless you all!

So what is it about the Saints that captures our attention?  Fr. Jim Martin explains how real the attraction of saints can be, and how important they are for our faith:

Happy All Saint's Day!

Saints and All Hallows Eve

Next week is Halloween and, more importantly, the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls.  Is there a connection here?  If so, what is it?  And what do we really believe about saints?  Watch the video below to hear answers from Fr. James Martin, SJ.


[Video is 8:14 long]

Put on Superman

A version of this article appeared in the October 2010 Maneline.  Make this Halloween a teachable moment for your children.

Superman: always a popular costume choice

At the end of October, children across the country venture out into neighborhoods donning Superhero attire, Angel outfits, and all other sorts of costumes.  As a child I always looked forward to Halloween, the day I would march around in my homemade Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costume (as Donatello, of course) and walk from door to door trick-or-treating.  A funny thing would happen when I wore this costume -- I changed.  While in costume, everyone expected me to take on the persona and the behavior of Donatello and I happily obliged with “Cowabungas”, “Dudes”, and attempts at athletic jump kicks.  I had put on Donatello and the outside changed my very thoughts, words and actions.  I was a “little Donatello” for a night, realizing a lifelong dream of being a “hero in a half-shell.”

In baptism, we hope for a similar transformation.

No Family is Perfect

Halloween is a week away.  In Vienna, the annual Halloween parade is right around the corner.  You may feel lots of pressures to live up to how another family celebrates Halloween.  Keep this in mind.

"A family is holy not because it is perfect, but because God's grace is at work in it, helping it to set out anew everyday in the way of love." -- Follow the way of Love

 Simple words from the Bishop Conference echo those of Jesus: "Love one another."

Website Wednesday: Busted Halo

Busted Halo looks like this

Today, we'll take a look at a popular web magazine focused on our Catholic faith, and faith in general: BustedHalo.com.  Don't be fooled by its name, the website is a great portal for growing your faith.  Overseen by the Paulist Fathers, Busted Halo tries its best to reach you where you're at through engaging articles, podcasts, videos and more.

Engaging the World
Busted Halo makes a point of writing articles relevant to what's going on in the world right now.  An example of that was their recent coverage on the death of Steve Jobs.  Four different blog articles from four different perspectives appeared on the website, sifting through Jobs' life and finding principles that can be applied to our life in faith or lamenting how his passing will affect their family life.  If there's something big going on in the world, an article from Busted Halo should appear shortly, engaging that event from a Catholic perspective.

Car Conversation: Good Post-RE Questions

After RE classes have ended, you have a perfect opportunity to talk to your children about RE.  Following up will reinforce what they learned because it gives them an opportunity to articulate their faith in terms they know and use.  We'll take a look below at how to rephrase two common questions, and give you two more good questions to ask your child.

Rephrase Common Questions

• "How was class today?"  This question has a very limited answer range and doesn't invite children to give a good response.  Instead, try asking for something concrete: "What was your favorite part of class?"  They'll have an opportunity to pause and replay class in their mind before giving you an answer.  Give them time to respond, and make sure to ask all your kids.
• Potential follow up: "Why was it your favorite part?"
• "What did you learn about?"  Many children will answer this question with "God" or "Jesus" or something along those lines.  There answer isn't wrong, but probably isn't want you hoped for.  Try asking: "Tell me about what you learned?"  This question invites a much more thought out response.  Instead of answering a question, they can tell a story.
• Potential follow up: "Tell me more!"

Gospel Reflection (Oct. 16): What Belongs to God?

The following is used by permission from the blog Echoing Hope, written by Jonathan Lewis, a DRE in Mill Valley, CA.

Matthew 22: 15-21

In today’s Gospel passage the Jewish leaders are trying to trick Jesus into getting in trouble with the government (Roman Empire) by trying to get him to say that a person need not pay taxes (since paying taxes wasn’t one of the Jewish laws).

Jesus responds by asking them: whose face is imprinted on the coins? When they respond “Caesar” He tells them that they should “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God”.

It is important as Christians for us to live a life of justice: giving each person what is owed to them. But how do we give God what belongs to Him? What belongs to God? We believe that God created the world, every person, and everything. Every day God continues to give us life and love as a free gift. While Caesar’s face was imprinted on coins, the face of God is imprinted on each of our hearts. We are called to give God our whole selves, everything that we are, nothing less. We do this by resembling God in our thoughts, words and actions.

Car Conversation: Reminds You of Jesus

a statue of Jesus

An easy car conversation to hold with your children this week: Who have you seen or encountered this week that has reminded you of Jesus?  In what ways?


Makes sure before you ask the question you have an answer from your own life.  Your kids will probably ask you for an example right away.  The best examples will be someone that they know too, someone in their life.

Don't be intimidated or afraid -- you can do this!

Image: zole4 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Columbus Day

A reminder: no RE classes on Monday or Tuesday because of the Columbus Day holiday.  Enjoy the extra time with your family!

2 Other iPhone Apps for Catholics

iPhone: pretty popular

The final part of a three part series on iPhone apps for Catholics.

In our second installment, we looked at two apps meant to help you pray in outward ways (part one found here).  The Divine Mercy Chaplet can be prayed with many people, ditto the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office).  This last installment will take a look at two apps meant to be introspective prayer aides, helping us to turn to God in different ways.

Here are our last two apps we'll preview in this series.

Blessing of Pets

Meet Q the cat

Yesterday was the Feast Day of St. Francis.  Over the years, it's become popular for religious organizations to hold a "blessing of pets" or "blessing of animals" in the days before or after October 4 (see below if you wonder why).  Although we don't offer an opportunity to gather and bless your pets here at St. Mark, you can do a brief, and meaningful, pet blessing ritual at home.

Before the blessing, you'll want to decide whether you want to include singing or not.  Some great songs include Canticle of the Son (aka All Creatures of our God and King) of Prayer of St. Francis (aka Make Me a Channel of your Peace).  Another question: indoor or outdoor?  If you have an indoor only pet, the answer is obvious, but if your pet is both, then outdoor might be the way to go.

Feast Day of St. Francis

In honor of today's Feast Day of St. Francis, a brief look at his life:

Who Cares About the Saints? (St. Francis) from Loyola Productions on Vimeo.

Talking to Children about Death

With the recent passing of our Pastor Emeritus Monsignor Tom Cassidy, I thought it would be appropriate to post about a difficult topic of conversation with your children: death.  But instead of trying to write an article, I thought it more fitting to link to a few articles written by people who have talked to children about death, and pull out some common themes (found at the very bottom of the article).

Below are articles from several perspectives, one from a Catholic, one from a hospice care website, and one from more of a psychological background.  Included is information on pamphlets we have at St. Mark meant to help grieving children.  If you have any suggestions about how you have talked to your children about death, leave a comment or send me an email.

Funeral Information for Monsignor Cassidy

Sadly, early Saturday afternoon our pastor emeritus Monsignor Tom Cassidy passed away.  Below is the funeral information:

Thursday, October 6th

Wake: 4:00 to 6:00 pm

Mass of Christian Burial: 7:30 pm

Reception to follow in the Activities Center.

Private interment at a later date.

2 More iPhone Apps for Catholics

The ever present iPhone

This is the second of a 3 part series on iPhone apps for Catholics.  

In our previous installment, we found apps focused on Scripture, the Mass, and Catholic media and education.  Now we'll look at two more apps, both designed to help you pray in different ways.

Technology & the Family

Impossible to escape

Technology is ever present and ever changing.  You're experiencing that right now as you read this blog!

But how often do we pause and think about how we're experiencing technology and the effects that it has on ourselves?  How can we learn to embrace the positives of technological innovation while pushing back against the negatives?

Leading the charge to answer this question in the secular world is MIT professor Sherry Turkle, author of the book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.  She gave an interview on the book and this topic with a couple insightful takeaways on parenting in the age of the Internet.  [transcript of interview available here]

3 iPhone Apps for Catholics

Archbishop Carlson (of St. Louis) with his iPhone

This is a first in a 3 part series on iPhone apps for Catholics


Millions of apps tap in to the versatility of the iPhone. You can listen to the radio, read the news, play games, learn Spanish, and yes, even shoot, edit, and publish your own home videos. What about living out our Catholic faith? Yes, there’s an app for that too.

Here are three Catholic apps that can help you grow closer to God:

Car Conversation: Gives You Hope

Look familiar?

Northern Virginia has awful traffic.  In any given week, you might spend a few hours in traffic with your children driving to school, after school activities, and the grocery store.  Instead of jamming to the Top 40s or everyone popping in their headphones, shake things up with a car conversation.  "Car Conversations" suggests topics that you and your children can talk in the car while you're waiting for your red light on 123.

Website Wednesday: ForYourMarriage.org

Introducing Website Wednesdays, a chance for you to learn about faith-centered or family-centered websites that will be helpful for you and your family.  This won't be the update every Wednesday, but I liked the alliteration.

Today's website is a marriage website that was piloted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops a few years ago and is kept up to date; it's called "For Your Marriage."

The Lion King: 2 teachable faith moments

For two weeks, millions of adults and children will pour into movie theaters to watch the highest grossing animated film to date, the Lion King.  Redone in 3D, the film combines a great plot (said to be inspired by the stories of Moses and Joseph from the Old Testament and Shakespeare's Hamlet), award-winning music, and stunning animation into one of Disney's finest offerings.

But you already know all that.  The big question is what can we take away from watching this film with our children and how can we watch it in the context of our faith?  Here are a couple of moments you can harness to discuss faith and morals with your children.

Welcome Parents!

Welcome to a new initiative designed to help your family grow in faith together!  Over the course of the RE year, I will update this blog on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.  Posts will be aimed toward you, the parents, and will include practical, implementable ideas, quotes from holy people, conversation starters for talking about faith with your children, links to articles across the web related to faith-filled families, and more.

I encourage you to leave comments, which will be moderated.  If you have any suggestions for what you would like to see on this blog, please contact Isaac.

Updates will start the first week of RE (September 18).  You can subscribe by email in the box on the right hand side of the page or follow us on Twitter (@StMarkRE).