Our blog series continues. We’ve now heard from Fr. Bob and several contributors on the four sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:  “what we believe,” “how we worship,” “how we live,” and “how we pray.”  Each week, we will focus on one of these sections — either with a personal witness story or some perspectives on a particular teaching. We continue on this path with some thoughts from Les Stahl, music director, St. Anne, on “what we believe” regarding divine providence.  According to the CCC, #302, “God carries out his plan through divine providence…guiding his creation toward perfection.”   Les is a professional composer and musician with a rich history in leading productions, liturgical music and worship programs.

“I Believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.”

Oh boy, here we go. We casually say these words every Sunday, and it’s easy to just let the words fall out of our mouths as simple memorized recitation. But it is a powerful phrase, packed with more meaning than our casual Sunday brush with it might allow. And one worth unpacking.

The new IPhone has a digital assistant known as “Siri.” You’ve seen the commercials: you can ask your phone anything and it responds with an answer. “Where can I find a good pizza?” and it comes back with a list of restaurants in your area. “How do I get home?” and directions with a map immediately appear on your phone. I asked it “What is the meaning of life?” Depending on “her” mood she comes back with several answers: “To think about questions like this.” (a tip of the hat to Descartes). “I find it odd that you would ask this of an inanimate object.” “I give up.” (probably the safest answer).

To the question “Who is the Creator?” Siri responded with “God is the eternal being that created and preserves the universe.” Okay now we are getting somewhere. What is meant by preserving the universe?” Answer: “Creation has to do with the origin of things while preservation has to do with their continuance. The Bible says that the same God created the universe in the beginning is presently preserving it.” Okay, simple enough.

Catholics call this Divine Providence (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 302). Although creation has its own perfection, it did not spring forth complete from the hands of the Creator. The universe was created “in a state of journeying” (in statu viae) toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained, to which God has destined it. We call “divine providence” the means by which God guides his creation toward this perfection.

The witness of Scripture makes it clear that God cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history. Jesus asks for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father who takes care of his children’s smallest needs: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’. . . Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and
his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” God has a
plan for creation and is working it out.

But here is the hard part: God grants his creatures not only their existence, but also the dignity of acting on their own, of co-operating in the accomplishment of his plan. This is where human failings enter into the equation.

One other phrase we casually recite by rote every Sunday in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy will be done.” That is the meaning of life. Our faith is based on the principle of living a life in consonance with God’s plan. We are invited to be a part of God’s plan by surrendering to it rather than assuming we are the center of the universe, not God. God uses our cooperation. In his goodness, God gives us our free will and the opportunity to cooperate in his plan. Our lives are to be lived in abandonment to divine providence.

We hear the stories of saints and think: “All well and good for them, but I can’t possibly be as holy, selfless, humble, _______ (fill in the blank).” And as for all those folk in the Bible, set before us as examples, there is no way I can live up to their lives. But it’s not their journey that God wants for us; it’s our journey that matters. “We know that in
everything God works for good for those who love him.” The constant witness of the saints confirms this truth. If our lives are a constant commitment to “the journey” we are in sync with God’s plans for us. As we are his creatures, we are graced with God’s perfect love that teaches us the way home to Him.  His only desire is for his beloved children to be reunited with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Hebrews 12, verse 1 and 2: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.”

There is a saying: “Let Go, Let God.” For us the letting go that we most need to do is a type of surrender. We try to keep a tight grip on things that are out of our control. This is like trying to grip the water flowing in a river. Put your hands into the river. If you try to get the water by grabbing it and clenching your fists, it goes right out of your hands. If
you relax and open, gently cupping your hands, the water flows into your palms. By relaxing, opening, and trusting, we can hold onto more of what is precious to us. By letting go, we open ourselves to becoming in sync with divine providence, God’s plan for us.

No one gets to the heart of the mystery of life, or has the key which will unlock all the doors of divine providence, unless we work to live our lives as part of God’s plan. Without that realization, life is an unsolvable riddle.

Back to Siri: “Do you have all the answers?” She irreverently answered: “A fine question. Now can we get back to work?” No one has all the answers, but we can work on it.

In our last blog, Fr. Bob Weighner introduced the fourth and last leg of our Catechism of the Catholic Church, “how we pray,” discussing the many forms of prayer. Here, Linda Bevec, parishioner of St. Anne gives her personal witness on the power of praying the Rosary. Linda has been a parishioner for six years along with her husband Frank and children Frankie, Claire & Grace. She was baptized Episcopalian, raised Lutheran, sprinkled with a variety of Evangelical Christian beliefs and has loved growing her faith the most in the Catholic church for 17 years.

“The Rosary is the most beautiful and the most rich in graces of all prayers; it is the prayer that touches most the Heart of the Mother of God…and if you wish peace to reign in your homes, recite the family Rosary.”
Pope Saint Pius X

I’m probably not the best person to be blogging about the Rosary. But I chose this one. Or, more truthfully, it chose me. Having been raised Lutheran, I knew very little about the rosary most of my life. And what I generally thought of the rosary was that it was an ancient Catholic tradition mixed with a bit of hocus-pocus and superstition. Kind of like how, walking home from school as a kid I’d try desperately not to step on a crack or I’d
break my mother’s back. It seemed to me a senseless recitation of detached words for the sake of earning divine graces. As a Lutheran, I felt rather privileged to bypass those ancient rituals and go right to the front of the line in prayer with a “fast pass” to God. No Rosary for me, thank you. Don’t Catholics know they can just pray directly to God?

Fast forward to March 2001. I’ve now been a Catholic for 7 years and converted just before marrying my husband Frank. I like to think I was the more humble one in our relationship giving up my Lutheran faith for the sake of truly becoming “one.” I realized that being Catholic was really not all that different from being Lutheran. Except for the Rosary, which I still didn’t understand or wholeheartedly want to. So, like many Catholics who pick and
choose, I opted out of that one and took what I was willing to accept as being “just enough” Catholic to get by.

Then, in March 2011 something unexpected happened. While in the neonatal intensive care unit with my newborn daughter Claire, I stepped out to the waiting room for a cup of coffee. The days were long and exhausting. Claire was in critical condition after being diagnosed at birth with a rare genetic kidney and liver disease and she was not expected to survive. And as I poured myself a cup of coffee, I sat motionless for some time staring blankly at the TV. I remember a woman sitting in the corner busy making something with her hands and thought perhaps she was knitting. I paid her no attention. I was so weary, so emotionally drained and broken down that I truly felt transparent, as if no one could see the sorrow in my heart or know my pain over the very real possibility of losing my newborn daughter. And then the woman who had been sitting in the corner of the room got up and stood in front of me and handed me a Rosary. And all she said was, “I made this for you and I’d like you to take it.” I took the Rosary into my hands and thanked her. She smiled and walked out. I spent the next 3 months in the hospital going in and out of that waiting room for coffee several times a day. I never saw her again.

That Rosary ended up in a drawer of my night stand for 9 years. Occasionally I’d take it out and look at it, but didn’t know what to do with it. A couple times I wanted to use it, but oddly enough, I didn’t feel privileged enough to do so…like I didn’t really deserve to pray it because I neglected to see it as an important part of my faith for so long. We moved
twice in those 9 years and I always kept it in the same drawer.

In October, 2010 I asked my husband and children if they wanted to go to St. Anne one night and pray the Rosary. We were 2 months from Claire’s kidney transplant and I was going through an especially difficult time with some personal struggles. They all agreed to go and we sat among a small group of parishioners praying the rosary together. My son was beside me and I was so very humbled as he quietly showed me how to hold the Rosary and follow along in prayer with the beads. As we prayed, my mind wandered. I faded in and out of focused prayer thinking of things I needed to pack for Claire’s hospital stay, phone calls I needed to return, unfinished tasks waiting for me at home. And somewhere in the midst of our voices united in the quiet recitation of this beautiful and meditative prayer my eyes were drawn to the statue of Mary above the tabernacle. As I looked at her, I felt her looking at all the pain, all the sorrow and all the fear in my heart. She saw me, she knew me and she had been waiting for me. I looked away, almost afraid to look back, but I felt such peace in her gaze, such love and an immense feeling of her truly knowing what I
was struggling with in my life as a woman of faith, a wife and a mother. And that was the first time I prayed the Rosary.

The Rosary is a perfect blend of vocal, meditative and contemplative prayer. (More on these types of prayers can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2700, 2705 and 2709). The Rosary is a walk with Mary, the mother of our Lord, through the mysteries, joy, life, suffering, death and glorious resurrection of her son. And it’s a walk through our lives too where we can bring our own hearts full of joy and sorrow, fear and failings; and reside in her love as she transforms us with peace, faith and forgiveness. It’s a prayer that has deepened my faith in unexpected ways and has given me a closeness with Christ through her.

“By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledged ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the ‘Mother of Mercy,’ the All-Holy One.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2677)

I pray that you will open your hearts to her love in this beautiful gift of the Rosary. It was a long process for me to get to that point. But she was there waiting for me all that time and she’ll be there for you too.

“The things that we love tell us who we are.” ~ St. Thomas Aquinas

Grace and peace,

~ Linda

Here, Fr. Bob Weighner introduces the fourth and final leg of the Catechism of the Catholic Church — How We Pray, which is actually titled, “Christian Prayer” in the CCC.  Starting with section 2558 “Great is the mystery of the faith!” The Church professes this mystery in the Apostles’ Creed (Part One) and celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy (Part Two), so that the life of the faithful may be conformed to Christ in the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father (Part Three). This mystery, then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. This relationship is prayer.”

There are so many ways to approach the topic of prayer.  At its essence, prayer is communication with God, speaking to him from the foundation of our experience; listening for his Word and opening our hearts to his Spirit.  Depending on the circumstances of our lives, prayer can take on many forms, such as petition, praise, thanksgiving, intercession for others, adoration (CCC 2626-2643).  We pray for light, to know the path God desires for us, and we pray for the strength to walk that path with perseverance and faithfulness.

The fourth part of the Catechism is a wonderful summary of prayer.  This section is largely influenced by Eastern Rite Catholicism, with its emphasis on the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, Mary, and the perfect prayer of Christ, the Our Father.  It speaks of the battle of prayer and the fight to overcome obstacles such as distraction or dryness.  It speaks of the example of the saints, who have all persevered in prayer and give us an example for our lives.As we progress in prayer, we become familiar with its various expressions: vocal prayer, prayer of meditation, and contemplative prayer (CCC 2700-2719). 

We are all familiar with vocal prayer – the prayers we ‘say’ or ‘speak’.  When we meditate, we make use of some passage of Scripture or some holy work to enter into the presence of God, and into conversation with him.  We discourse with him, open ourselves to the Holy Spirit, to come to a greater knowledge of God and his ways, and the path for our lives. 

Contemplative prayer is the experience of God praying within us (CCC 2709).  There is a union with God which makes prayer almost effortless, and which bears great fruit in the practice of virtue. Faith is the virtue that opens the possibility for prayer.  I must believe that God created me out of love and desires life for me.  When I allow the desire for God and life to grow in my heart, prayer results.  I seek God, and reach out to him with the gifts he has given me – my mind and my heart.  If I am to be a man or woman of prayer, then I must set time aside to be alone with God.  I must be confident that he hears every word, even though I be distracted, and I have to be willing to fight the good fight of prayer, and not give up until I have allowed God to enter fully into my life.

Another work I would recommend is Pope John Paul II’s Rosarium Virginis Mariae, which describes prayer, through the rosary, in the depth of all its expressions – vocal, meditative, contemplative.  It describes Mary as the woman of prayer par excellence, since from the moment that she gazed upon the face of Christ, she never let that image go from her heart.  She was totally captivated by the face of Christ, which is another beautiful description of what our prayer can be.

In the CCC, the Church invites the faithful to regular prayer: daily prayers, the Liturgy of the Hours, Sunday Eucharist, the feasts of the liturgical year.  At St. Anne, we have an abundance of prayer opportunities, i.e., daily Mass, monthly Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, the book of prayers, Mass intentions, to name a few. As we near the end of our Lenten season, I invite you to find time each day with our Lord in silent prayer — to talk with Him and to listen to what He may impart in your hearts. 

God Bless You!

Last week, Fr. Bob Weighner wrote about the third leg of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), “How We Live.”  In this blog posting, Margie Mandli, parishioner of St. Anne and contributor to this series offers a perspective on “how to live” through the Cardinal Virtues, which are discussed in-depth in the CCC, section 1804. Margie, an independent marketing communications consultant, along with her husband, Mark and their three children, reside in Kenosha. You’re invited to attend the St. Anne Lenten Mission, “How to Live Your Faith in a Challenging World,” on the evenings of Wednesday, March 21 through Friday, March 23.

How am I going to live today?  Do you ever wake up and ask yourself this question?  Honestly, I can’t say that I do. For me, I go from task to task.

5:30 a.m. Get ready…say my morning prayers  (often too quickly)

6:30 a.m. Pick out kids’ clothes (yes, I still take pride in doing this for my kiddos)

6:45 a.m. Make lunches for the family

7:10 a.m. Get on the road – the rush begins

8:00 a.m. Start my  to-do list at work or home

Imagine if I started my day, and I asked God these questions:

• To whom do I need to be merciful?
• How can I be more patient?
• Whom do you want me to comfort?
• Who needs Your light today, and how can I help spread it?

Okay, I’ll try it. Maybe, I’ll let you know how it goes.

Meantime, in the last blog, Fr. Bob introduced the third leg in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), “How We Live.”  This part of the CCC addresses how we live
our faith and discusses in depth everything from morality to vocations to a
closer look at the Beatitudes.  Admittedly, I don’t often refer to this book…
in the middle of a disagreement with my child or with my husband or when making
an important life decision. Yet, how often are we faced with critical questions
or decisions in life?

• Is this a good movie for my kid?
• What should be the consequence for this action?
• Should we buy this new “toy” for our family?
• Is that appropriate attire for this occasion?
• For whom should I vote?
• Are we spending too much time [fill in the blank]?
• Is this the right job for me?

In fact, I believe all of these questions are about “how we live” our faith.  I once thought –
perhaps in college – that I could separate my faith (Mass on Sundays) from my life (what I do on the weekends).  The older I’ve become, I realize this notion is simply not possible.  Society, in many ways, would like to separate religion from culture. We see it in the news, in movies and in our culture all the time.  Nowadays, it seems that anything is permissible in the eyes of society.

When faced with questions like the ones above, Mark and I often feel inadequate to answer them. So, sometimes we turn to the Lord for guidance.  According to the CCC,
“Catechesis has to reveal in all clarity the joy and the demands of the way of Christ…for the newness in life in him should be a catechesis of the Holy Spirit, the
interior Master of life according to Christ, a gentle guest and friend who inspires, guides, corrects and strengthens this life.”

Isn’t it true that life can be so demanding and joyful at the same time?  Isn’t it true that often it feels as if we are carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders with
nowhere to turn?

Recently, I took note of section 1804 of CCC on Virtues.  It stated, “Human
virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and
faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good.”

Incidentally, there are four virtues that are deemed pivotal as a way of life, otherwise known as the four Cardinal Virtues:

• Prudence, that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it
• Justice, moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor.
• Fortitude, the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good.
• Temperance, is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods

How awesome is it that these virtues have been so well articulated? That they can be our moral compass in the multitude of decisions we are faced with each day?

Perhaps, I have just identified my new prayer:  to ask God for an increase in these virtues.
Maybe then the weight of the world won’t seem so heavy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next in our blog series, Fr. Bob discusses the third leg in  the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC): how we live.  The actual name of the section in the CCC is called “Life in Christ” and covers everything from vocations and morality to social justice and the ten commandments. Up to this point, we’ve heard about what we believe and how we worship. You’ll continue to hear from parishioner contributors on each of these topics.

I remember once hearing the phrase ‘presence is truth’.  I’m not sure who said it, or what the context was, but the words rang true.  They express the simple fact that if I truly care about someone or something, then I will make the effort and take the trouble to be present when they need me.  John Paul II was fond of saying that the modern world does not need more empty words.  Talk is cheap.  What the world truly needs is people who give authentic witness of their faith, people who really LIVE the faith, people who ‘put their money where their mouth is’.

I remember a television commercial from my youth, showing a dad who was mowing the lawn, washing the car, and various household tasks.  He had a 3-year old son who was following him around and imitating his every action.  In the ad, the dad told his son not to smoke, but the ad ended with his boy attentively watching his dad light up a cigarette.  Not hard to figure out how this was going to end.  Actions speak volumes.  Words are cheap.

Our words can paint a pretty picture, but it is our actions which reveal what is in our heart.  If I TRULY believe in God and if I believe the teachings of his Son, who founded our Catholic Church, then my actions will reflect what I believe.  How many times did Jesus answer the question about loving God in this simple way:  “if you love God, you will keep the Commandments…”  So simple and yet so difficult.

Catholic doctrine answers the question: what does a Catholic believe?  Catholic morality answers the question:  how does a believing Catholic behave?  Morality is a demanding yet accurate litmus test of my faith.  If I merely talk a good game, but am lax in understanding and living the richness of Catholic morality, then I have some soul searching to do.  Lent calls us to conversion of heart, and is a most appropriate time for focusing on this aspect of my Catholic faith.

I hope to see you at our upcoming Parish Mission.  Fr. Richard Gill will be here to help us both rejoice in our faith and deepen in our living of the faith in a challenging world.  See you there!

Fr. Bob