| “The sickness of a family member, friend or neighbor is a call to Christians to demonstrate true compassion, that gentle and persevering sharing in another’s pain.” – Pope John Paul II |
2-Minute Book Review: “The Great Divorce” by C.S. Lewis
A 2-minute book review by Fr. Bob Weighner
During this time of the liturgical year, when the Church invites us to reflect on the ‘apocalypse’, the revealing, of what will be when our days on this earth come to an end, a very timely book is The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. It is a short book that can be read quickly, and offers a novel, compelling, brilliant psychological analysis of those attitudes and relationships which keep us from letting God and neighbor into our lives. These things are often so subtle that we don’t realize the damage they are doing to us. The Great Divorce is not about divorce, but about an incredible flying bus that transports willing souls to an in-between place, where each has an opportunity to revisit the life
that he has lived, and to be invited to a place higher and deeper into the divine life. Lewis teaches that, ultimately, the choice is up to me – if I want God, then I will have God. Life without God is dreary, grey, fruitless and frustrating. Life with God is light and joy. It is one of my favorite books and I know you won’t regret discovering it for yourself. Every time I read it I discover something new, and have a hard time putting it down until the last
page.
Catholicism & Citizenship
| “We owe it to our country and the age we live in, to be faithful Catholics. If we’re good Catholics first, then we’re good citizens, and if we’re good citizens, then we’ll be a force of transformation for justice in the world.” — Archbishop Charles J. Chaput |
National Donor Sabbath: A Special Opportunity to Make a Difference by Linda Bevec
For more than 12 years, the month of November has held special significance in the world of organ donation – it’s National Donor Sabbath. National Donor Sabbath is celebrated each November when leaders of all major faiths and denominations are invited to join together with organ donor and recipient families, donation organizations and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to bring attention to the precious gift of organ donation. It’s a time to spread the message of hope and healing to those in the faith community and make a difference for the more than 108,000 people waiting and for life-saving transplants by informing others on how to register to become organ donors.
Many life-threatening diseases have treatments, cures or can be managed with lifestyle changes, medication or surgery. But organ failure has no cure. Every day 20 people die from the lack of available organs for transplant and every 10 minutes another man, woman or child is added to the national organ transplant waiting list. Only one real hope exists for them and that is through the gift of donation and transplantation. Life is the greatest gift we’ve all been given. And it is also a gift that we are called to treasure, care for and save when at all possible. All of life is God’s, and deserves the chance to triumph over death; the unborn, the terminally ill, the impoverished, the elderly, the incarcerated. We live in a culture where life is not entirely valued; where the sanctity of human life is often so trivialized. I never thought of organ donation as being part of the pro-life message, but it is. It’s a powerful and faith-filled message of building up the culture of life and preserving the sanctity of all life when you consider the gift of organ donation and giving of oneself for the sake of another.
Our daughter Claire celebrated her 10th birthday two and a half months after her kidney transplant. And on her birthday this year she told me how lucky she feels to now have two birthdays – the day she was born, which is March 16, 2001, and the day she was given new life on December 31, 2010 thanks to the gift of a healthy kidney from our friend Jeff. I don’t think she was just hinting for more gifts, cake and ice cream. I think she knows far better than we ever could what it really means to be given that gift of life, a second time. God gave us all life, and He continues to show us the importance of human life by also giving us the ability to share it and save it whenever possible. Just think about the gift of a surgeon’s hands holding a human heart, a kidney or a liver and placing it into the body of someone who is sick and suffering. And then watching that organ restore and give new life; it’s an everyday miracle and testament to the sanctity of all life and we know the Lord has his hand in each and every one of those situations. That’s how precious life is to our Lord…so precious that He’s given us the ability to save it, protect it, share it and rejoice in it through organ donation.
If you’d like to learn more about organ donation please visit www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov to read some of the many stories and facts on how organ donation saves lives. You can also register at either site to be an organ donor in the state of Wisconsin. Next week I’ll also have a table of organ donation materials available after each Mass and will be available to answer some of the most common questions or concerns people have about becoming an organ donor. In the Catholic Church, like all other major religions, organ and tissue donation is considered to be an act of great charity and love. The Vatican supports it as building up the culture of life and preserving the sanctity of what God has created. Here’s was Pope John Paul II said about organ donation.
“The Gospel of life is to be celebrated above all in daily living, which should be filled with self-giving love for others. Over and above such outstanding moments, there is an everyday heroism, made up of gestures of sharing, big or small, which build up an authentic culture of life. A particularly praiseworthy example of such gestures is the donation of organs, performed in an ethically acceptable manner, with a view to offering a chance of health and even of life itself to the sick who sometimes have no other hope.”
Please consider sharing your gift of life by registering as an organ donor today.
“Blessed Art Thou: Mother, Lady, Mystic, Queen”
I was raised by my parents as a Missouri Synod Lutheran. My childhood and teen years were filled with memorizing a lot of passages of Scripture from the King James Bible (it was pretty much the only translation used by Protestants at the time). We memorized creeds and prayers, sang hymns in four parts from the hymnal, and our faith was formed by memorizing Luther’s Small Catechism (the Lutheran counterpart of the Baltimore Catechism for Catholics). As a Lutheran seminary student I dug deeper into the fundamental parts of Christian faith, what every Christian should know, or at least every Lutheran Christian.
The one thing that was clear to Lutherans and most Protestants was that Mary was important as an historical figure but that’s about it. In fact I still remember the memorized passage from the small catechism: “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord.” That’s it. The only mention of Mary in the catechism is 5 words long; less than Mary was mentioned in the Bible. So it is no wonder that my consideration of Mary was put on a back burner.
Later in life, as I worked as a musical director in a string of Catholic parishes in the Chicago area, I became seduced by the spirituality of the Catholic faith. Here I am, picking music and directing liturgies, gradually making the decision to convert and enter the RCIA program. It wasn’t an “aha!” moment, just a realization that my prayer life was Catholic, not Protestant, and I wanted to receive the Eucharist and be part of the Body that I served.
The last bastion of my upbringing to fall was this “Mary” thing. I didn’t quite get it. In working for a Catholic publisher I came in regular contact with Br. Mickey McGrath, an amazing artist and author, and a person who became a good friend. One of the projects that I worked on with him was an art/music/meditation based on the titles of Mary found in the Litany of Loreto. This litany, one of the oldest prayers of the Catholic Church, is a list of the various titles we ascribe to Mary: Queen of Heaven, Our Lady of Peace, Mystical Rose, Gate of Heaven, Mother of Sorrows, and Our Lady of Refuge among them.
This project consisted of 20 paintings created with acrylic paint on watercolor paper, creating a soft yet vibrant color effect. (You may recognize his art: it has appeared on many covers of America magazine, as well as many book covers and posters). Mary is presented in this series of paintings in a contemporary light. “Our Lady of Peace,” for example, is evocative of the turmoil we face in the Middle East. Mary is cloaked in both a Jewish prayer shawl and an Islamic shawl. On her lap sits a dove, behind her is the Wailing Wall. Food for thought…
In working on this project with Br. Mickey, I came in touch with Mary in a profound way. All of sudden the contemporary images helped me find a personal connection to Mary. Now that was truly an “aha!” moment. And this collaborative project became a beautiful book that I want to share with you.
“Blessed Art Thou: Mother, Lady, Mystic, Queen” features vibrant contemporary art of the Virgin Mary. Brother Mickey also contributes his own writings and reflection that inspired the creation of each of the individual works in the book. Prayers are included with each image. The book is not only a beautiful addition to a library and art collection but one that can aid in your prayer. Mary is presented throughout as an inclusive and unifying figure in an increasingly diverse church. Br. Mickey takes a traditional symbol and image, and gives it a twist, sometimes humorous, sometimes profound. Some of the images may startle but ultimately speak with reverence and relevance to Catholics.
Blessed Art Thou: Mother, Lady, Mystic, Queen
Br. Michael O’Neill McGrath, OSFS
World Library Publications
Here is a link to a Youtube video based on the book.
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