Accepting Challenge and Change

Challenges are inevitable in life.  If we avoid challenges, we stay as we are.  This can seem the more comfortable path, the path of least resistance, but ultimately, it hurts us more than it helps us.  If we never do things that are hard, we never have a chance to grow.  Think about a task you now view as mundane and easy, like tying your shoes.  You don’t fully realize how difficult tying your shoes really is until you try to teach a child how to do it.  At one point in your life, you had the same trouble (unless you picked it up really easily).  Other examples might be riding a bicycle, operating a computer, or figuring out the latest feature on a new cell phone.

But, you might say, the kids can do it so much easier than me.  That’s because they’ve grown up with these things.  They’ve had more exposure to them, especially when it comes to technology.

Perhaps the best example of a challenging activity for adults is learning a new language.  We are able to speak, read, and write our native language as adults because it’s what we grew up with.  It’s what we’ve had the most exposure to and experience with.  Learning a new language, especially one very dissimilar to your native language, can be very challenging.  You might be tempted to give up.  But if you stick with it, slowly, it becomes easier and more intuitive.  You just need to have patience and perseverance

The same can be said for challenging yourself spiritually, or adjusting to changes in your church environment.  The third edition of the Roman Missal began implementation almost nine years ago, in Advent of 2010.  There are still times when adults will use the wording of the prayers from the previous edition because it’s what we grew up with.  It’s what we know “the best”.  Whereas, kids going through catechesis today learn the new versions first, so they know those better.  I know, as a cantor, I picked up the newer wording more quickly because I was exposed to it often, multiple times each weekend in some cases.

So, when changes are made in church, whether it is to the environment or to the liturgy itself, challenge yourself to have patience and perseverance.  Find out more about why changes are being made.  Understanding more about the reasons for change often aid in accepting change.  But most importantly, accept that you may feel some opposition toward change at first.  That is normal and human.  Realize as well, that you don’t want to be stuck with "untied shoes" spiritually forever.  You have to work at it if you want things to get easier.

"Ordinary" Time?

The longest period in the Church’s liturgical year is the second period of Ordinary Time, and boy, does it feel like it this time of year.  When we get to the thirtieth, thirty-first, thirty-second, and thirty-third Sundays in Ordinary Time, it can start to feel like we’ll never get out of the doldrums of plain old Ordinary Time.

But Ordinary Time isn’t called “ordinary” because there isn’t anything special about it.  It is called “ordinary” in the sense that we are ordering our weeks (with ordinal numbers).  We are counting the weeks until we enter a special season of the church such as Advent when we prepare for Christmas, or Lent when we prepare for Easter.

So, how do we make Ordinary Time feel less ordinary?  Treat it like a journey.  The Gospel readings during Ordinary Time often tell us of Jesus’ public ministry, the places he preached about the Kingdom of God, and the reasons why God the Father sent His Son into the world.  They tell us, most notably, the parables that Jesus used to convey truths about His Father’s Kingdom.

God knows us better than we know ourselves.  He knows that we need ideas we can relate to in order to understand just a little bit what the Kingdom of Heaven is.  So Jesus uses comparative language:  “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…”  Through Jesus, God speaks to us, even today, in terms we can understand.

If we treat Ordinary Time as a journey to discover the truth about God’s Kingdom, we are in essence walking a journey of faith.  Be mindful of this journey as we take the last few steps in the coming weeks.  Journeys can often be transformative.  How will you allow God to change you in these last few weeks leading up to Advent?

Give Us A Chance

A new group of RCIA inquirers has begun meeting here at Saint Ambrose on Tuesday nights.  We call the first “stage” of RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) the inquiry stage because at this point, those who are participating in the process are checking out the Catholic Church.  They are deciding if this is a good fit for them, if this is what is right for them at this stage of their faith journey.

At this point, the inquirers are giving us a chance.  Obviously, we want to put our best foot forward.  We want to show the best side of the Catholic Church and why it is a great “place” to call “home” (even though the Church with a capital C is much more than just the physical building).  This can be tricky, especially given the events and scandals of recent months and years.  But as one of our newly baptized Catholics who received the sacraments at the Easter Vigil in April said to us at about this time last year, the Church is more than the actions of some of its priests.

Our inquirers have taken the first step.  They are giving us a chance.  And whether the average parishioner in the pew realizes it or not, the entire parish is a participant in forming each new potential member of the Catholic Church.

Help us help them give us a chance, and put our best foot forward.

Is Summer Vacation a Good Thing?

This will be the second summer that I have worked a job straight through the summer.  I was very lucky growing up that I did not need to have a summer job.  In fact, almost every summer after I graduated from high school, I was involved in some sort of summer course through various colleges.

It has always helped me to have some sort of continuing structure to my summers, similar to what I had during the school year, whether I was a student or a teacher.  When I didn’t have something to do, my days became tedious and almost wasted, so for me, it was better to keep busy and mentally stimulated.

Studies of human development indicate that it is necessary for children to have a “break” from academics so that they can process what they have learned and get ready to learn new things.  Different studies contend that while breaks are necessary and good, perhaps long breaks, such as the two and a half to three months of summer vacation are in fact too long.  This is the stance of advocates of a year-round school model.

For students who attend Catholic schools, summer vacation might also mean a break from church.  Mr. Timothy Carr, principal at Cosgriff from 1993 to 1997, used to tell us at the end of the last school Mass of the year, “Don’t let this be the last time you’re in church until August.”  In other words, don’t take a vacation from God.

So yes, summer vacation is a good thing, but like all good things, you can have too much of it.  Be mindful of that when making your summer plans, and remember to keep God in your summer.

Comfort Zones

What do we mean by Comfort Zones? Judith Bardwick says it is a state within which a person operates in an anxiety neutral position. Brene Brown says, “It is where our uncertainty, scarcity and vulnerability are minimized, where we believe we’ll have access to enough love, food, talent, time, admiration. Where we feel we have some control.” And many other psychologists refers to it as a state within which a person feels at ease, familiar, and in control, and experiences low anxiety. A person in this state uses a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk.

A Comfort Zone is an area which we are used to. It is plans, thoughts, words, actions and things that we love to do because with them we are assured of our happiness and success. We are used to them because it gives us a certain level of comfort. And so outside this zone, we become uncertain, insecure and unsure because we don’t know whether we will be happy or unhappy, successful or failures.

I believe that all of us have Comfort Zones. We do things that make us happy, we go with people that we are sure of. We go to places that are safe and secure. We do things where we can predict the outcome. We frequent restaurants that assure us of good and satisfying food and service. We make this; we plan that because we are sure of the outcome. These are our Comfort Zones.

The Apostles Simon, Andrew, James and John also had their own Comfort Zones. They were all fishermen. They were good at fishing. That was as far as they could go and fishing was their only Comfort Zone. Then here comes Jesus and invites them, “Come, follow me.” Following Jesus is way outside the boundaries of their Comfort Zones. They don’t know Jesus, they don’t what kind of word that this man Jesus is offering them, they don’t know where are they going to live, they don’t know what will happen to their families, but just the same they go beyond their Comfort Zones and do a heroic act: they follow Jesus. They just have found a new secure and reassuring Comfort Zone in Jesus.

Let us challenge ourselves to go beyond and move out of our Comfort Zones and discover life and discover Jesus. Some of us have so many fears, we have set our parameters so tightly around us that we cannot move anymore. Let us break loose, grow and discover new beginnings, new opportunities and more and wider Comfort Zones in life with God

Enhance your Experience at Mass

Have you ever noticed that sometimes the readings at Sunday Mass seem to be particularly relevant to what you are going through in your life at the time?  I have been noticing a link between the message of the readings and what our RCIA candidates and catechumens are learning about in our Tuesday night sessions.  We examined the sacrament of Baptism in depth shortly after the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.  Shortly before we took a deeper look at the Mass in RCIA, we had readings which detailed the beginnings of Jewish worship practices.  This week we looked at the sacrament of Reconciliation, which is very appropriate with Lent, the penitential season of the Church, right around the corner.

Of course, sometimes it is more difficult to find a link between your current circumstances and the readings at Mass.  To reflect on how God is speaking to you in the readings each week, you could consider practicing what the Church calls Lectio Divina.  Lectio Divina has four steps: Read (lectio), Meditate (meditatio), Pray (oratio), and Contemplate (contemplatio).

Read:  Choose a scripture passage.  It can be a passage from the Liturgy of the Hours or a reading from the daily or upcoming Sunday Mass.  Read it slowly.  Perhaps, read it several times.

Meditate:  Ask yourself what God is trying to convey to you through this scripture passage.  Were there parts that challenged you?  Parts that comforted you?  If you practice Lectio Divina in a group, after a period of silent meditation, you may share some of your thoughts with the group in what is called a “shared echo”.

Pray:  Speak to the Lord in whatever way the scripture passage inspires you to.  You may offer praise and thanksgiving to God, or you may ask for pardon or for a specific petition.  Or, you may just have an informal conversation with God about what is happening in your life at the moment.

Contemplate:  Think about the major themes in the scripture passage you read.  How do they apply to your life at the moment?  Do you need to make a change in your life to better follow God’s path?  If so, how?

If this kind of prayer sounds appealing to you, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Catholic.Bible publish a weekly Lectio Divina resource for the Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday.  You can subscribe to receive it by e-mail.  Simply complete the form at the bottom on this page.

Creating a New Status Quo

We’re over a week into the new year, and at this point you might be asking yourself, what happened to all of my shiny new year’s resolutions?  Most people see the beginning of a new year as the perfect time to make lofty goals for themselves.  And even if those goals are phrased in such a way so as to make them more achievable, most new year’s resolutions are doomed to failure.

Why?

Well, that’s an interesting question.  We’re back at work, the kids are back in school, and we’re settling into the status quo of our lives again.  Maybe that’s exactly why our resolutions fail.  The status quo or “the way things are” is resistant to change.  It’s comfortable… too comfortable.

We need to challenge ourselves to get past the comfortable, comforting status quo we are used to and find a new normal.  Here are some suggestions to help you strengthen your faith as you initiate a new status quo:

1. Make an effort to pray more.  Say an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be before bed.  Work up to a decade of the Rosary, then a full Rosary.  Or, make time during the day to say the morning prayer, evening prayer, or another prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours.
2. Try to get to Mass during the week as well as on Sunday.
3. Create a prayer journal, and use it to write your own prayers.  This could start as stream of consciousness recording and grow into bringing your struggles, praise, and thanksgiving to God.
4. Read the Bible.  Maybe not cover to cover, but read the readings for the day.  The USCCB website has a calendar with the readings for each day on a single page, and you can sign up for a daily e-mail that contains the readings.
5. Get involved in the parish.  We are always looking for people to help out in various ministries.
6. Volunteer your time at the St. Vincent de PaulDining Hall, the Good Samaritan Program, or Catholic Community Services.
7. Study the Saints.  Each day, our Facebook page highlights the Saint of the day with a link to a brief article about him or her.
8. Become more familiar with the Catechism.  You can access the complete English text of the Catechism online here.
9. Make an effort to include the pope’s intentions in your daily prayer.
10. Make a renewed effort to live the Golden Rule in your life.

Whatever you choose to do or focus on, try to commit to creating a new status quo.  Then next year, it will be even easier to create another new status quo, and watch your life grow closer to God.