Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Monday, June 11, 2018
How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist - part 6 by Michael Dubruiel
From chapter 1 - Serve. Part 2
T H E L
O R D
Jesus told his
followers that when they had done all that had been commanded of them they should
say:“We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty” (Luke
17:10).
Our lives
often are like a field of weeds with pressing concerns that can seem to take
priority, but indeed the weeds are not as powerful as they might seem, and
remembering who is Lord, Master, and God can help us put everything into
perspective.
LE S S O N S LE A R N ED F RO M A T H REE -Y
E A R -O L D
Anyone who has a
young child has a built-in reminder that coming to the Eucharist requires
servitude. Preparations have to be made so that the child will be taken care of
during the celebration. Sometimes this means making sure that a child’s prayer
or Mass book is in his or her possession. At other times it simply means having
tissue for a runny nose or having an extra dose of patience to deal with any
outburst that might occur. One thing is certain: any parent who has a young
child is already bringing the attitude of a servant to the Eucharist. If I get
a little too comfortable in the pew and lean back in the posture of a
spectator, my three-year-old will pretty quickly remind me that I’m not there
to relax but to serve.
“Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and
whoever receives me receives him who sent me; for he who is least among you all
is the one who is great.”
— LUKE
9 : 4 8
Having a young
child in our midst, whether it is our own or someone else’s in the next pew, is
a great reminder to us to humble ourselves, that in serving the child we may
serve the Lord himself.
“Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and
whoever receives me receives him who sent me; for he who is least among you all
is the one who is great.”
— LUKE
9 : 4 8
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Sunday, June 10, 2018
How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist - part 5
From How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist by Michael Dubruiel
Chapter 1 - Serve, Part 1
“You shall worship the
Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”
M ATTHEW
4 : 1 0
In my home
parish, St. John the Baptist in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the words Parate Viam Domini are inscribed over
the front doors. The two years of Latin that I had in college and my knowledge
of Scripture are enough for me to figure out that the message greeting me each
Sunday are the words of St. John the Baptist in the desert, “Prepare the way of
the Lord.” It is an excellent message to set the tone for the mystery that is
about to be celebrated.
17
18
P R E PA R AT I O N
I remember how differently I approached the Mass when as a
young man I began to serve at the Eucharist as an altar boy.Before I could
serve for the first time, I had to attend training sessions so that I knew what
gestures and movements I was to make, and had to study the Latin responses so
that I could answer the prayers of the priest at the appropriate time.Sometimes
school was sacrificed so that I could serve a funeral mass,or a Saturday
afternoon so that the priest could be attended to as he witnessed the marriage
vows of a couple celebrating the Sacrament of Matrimony.
The thought and preparation that went
into serving at the Eucharist required a sacrifice on my part but kept me
focused on why I was there. Adults who serve as lectors, ushers, extraordinary
ministers of the Eucharist,and choir members often mention feeling similar
sentiments when they first take on these acts of service. Yet with time we are
all apt to find ourselves going through the motions without much preparation
and indeed without much thought about the fact that we are serving God in our
respective roles at the Eucharist, and this inattentiveness is to our
detriment. Making preparations is the work of a servant, and in the celebration
of the Eucharist it is the work of every disciple of Christ.
T H E WAY
“The Way” is one of the oldest names for the first followers
of Christ. Jesus often told his disciples that he came to show them “the Way”
to the Father, that God’s ways were not our ways, and that He was the Way. The
routine that we can fall into at the Eucharist happens precisely when we stop
seeing what is taking place as “different”from everything else that we
experience in life. Not only is it different, but if we truly enter into the
Eucharist with a spirit of sacrifice,it will change the way that we view
everything in our lives. The tension between Christian beliefs and the beliefs
of “the world” is understood only when we come to embrace “the way” of Our Lord
Jesus Christ.
19
Most converts
to Christianity have a clear sense of the saving power of Jesus as “the Way.”
Faithful, lifelong Catholics may not have as keen an understanding until they
experience the difference their faith has made to them in contrast to the
rejection of that faith in one of their children.Yet understanding that “the
way” of Christ is not business as usual can keep us from thinking that we have
nothing to prepare for when we celebrate the Eucharist. Once we realize that
God’s ways are not our ways, we will always see the need to “prepare ourselves
for these Sacred Mysteries” we are about to celebrate.
LIVING THE E UCHARIST
Throughout the day,when the events of the day do not go your
“way,” before frustration has a chance to set in, stop and ask yourself what
God’s way might be for what the day has given you. Try to think of a similar
incident in the life of Christ to the one in which you find yourself — how did
Our Lord handle the situation?
“You shall worship the
Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”
M ATTHEW
4 : 1 0
LIVING THE E UCHARIST
Throughout the day,when the events of the day do not go your
“way,” before frustration has a chance to set in, stop and ask yourself what
God’s way might be for what the day has given you. Try to think of a similar
incident in the life of Christ to the one in which you find yourself — how did
Our Lord handle the situation?
Saturday, June 9, 2018
How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist - part 4 by Michael Dubruiel
From How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist by Michael Dubruiel
I was giving a talk at a Catholic parish in rural Ohio a few
years ago about the topic of this book.When I had concluded my presentation someone asked,“Why do people care so little about
their faith today?”
I told them of a man, a non-Catholic, I
had known who cared little about his faith but attended Mass every week with
his Catholic wife because he wanted to make her happy. He did this for years,
to the point that several priests tried to convince him that he should convert
to the Catholic faith since he had been attending the Eucharist for so many
years. He refused.
Then he was diagnosed with bone cancer.
His condition deteriorated rapidly. In a few months he went from being robust
and strong to bedridden and totally dependent upon others.He called for a
priest, who heard his first confession and then offered the Eucharist at his
bedside, where he received his First Holy Communion. In the last months of his
life, his Catholic faith was all that mattered to him.
This led a woman in the group to recall
an incident when a tornado had wiped out her family’s farm and the family had
sat huddled together in the storm cellar, praying the Rosary. At that moment
their faith had mattered more than anything else in the world to them.
Someone else mentioned that in the weeks
following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on this country he had noticed more people
in the Church and more fervency in the way people seemed to pray.
Our faith is a matter of life and death
and our faith is totally centered on Jesus Christ.The Scriptures reveal that
Jesus did not leave us as orphans but founded a Church. He made the very human
apostle Peter the first leader of this Church. He left a memorial of his saving
death in the Eucharist and commanded his disciples to perform it.
Getting the most out of the Eucharist is
an urgent task, then, because our very life depends upon Christ, and Jesus
comes to us in the celebration of his passion, death, and resurrection at every
Eucharist. Jesus said that he is the vine and that we are the
branches. In the
Eucharist we receive the very life that connects us to Christ the Vine.
Jesus told a
parable about what happens when a storm comes that lashes out against our very
lives (see Matthew 7:24–27). He said that the wise person builds his house (his
life) on solid ground,on rock (the image that he used to speak about his church
and Peter). The foolish person builds on sand and is destroyed by the storms of
life.
The work of
building the foundation on which our lives depend takes place every time we
participate in the Eucharist. While I was putting the finishing touches on this
book I traveled to Florida, right after Hurricane Frances had made a direct hit
near Stuart, Florida. I had been scheduled to give a talk in nearby Palm Beach
Gardens two days after the storm had hit.The talk was canceled because the
church, St. Patrick’s, was without power, but I had the opportunity to meet
with the pastor of the parish, Father Brian Flanagan, and some of the parish
staff. In the midst of much devastation what remains vivid in my mind is how
peaceful everyone there was. I know Father Brian to be a man whose deep faith
is rooted in the Eucharist, and what I experienced in those days immediately
following Hurricane Frances was a literal exposition of Jesus’s parable — the
storm had come,but because the lives of the people I met were built on solid
rock, they were not destroyed.
Isn’t this
what we all want, a joy that the world cannot take away, no matter what might
happen? Our Lord offers it to us at every Eucharist. It is my hope that this
small book will help you to better experience this joy, and to discover the
richness the Lord’s Eucharistic presence can add to your life.
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Thursday, June 7, 2018
How to Pray by Michael Dubruiel
The letter to the Hebrews draws a strong connection
between the cross and prayer. Because every moment of our
earthly existence is threatened by death, and we know neither the
day nor the hour when that existence will come to an end, we,
too, need to cry out to the God who can save us. Like Moses, we
need the help of our fellow Christians to hold up our arms when
they grow tired. We, too, need the help of the Holy Spirit to
make up for what is lacking in our prayer.
-The Power of the Cross by Michael Dubruiel
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
Novena to the Sacred Heart Continues
The Novena to the Sacred Heart continues
When Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his Apostles to stay where they were and to "wait for the gift" that the Father had promised: the Holy Spirit. The Apostles did as the Lord commanded them. "They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers" (Acts 1:14). Nine days passed; then, they received the gift of the Holy spirit, as had been promised. May we stay together with the church, awaiting in faith with Our Blessed Mother, as we trust entirely in God, who loves us more than we can ever know.
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Monday, June 4, 2018
Solanus Casey
From 2004 by Michael Dubruiel Taming the Wild Solanus had also been cultivating a patch of wild strawberries which he told the friars he was "taming." Father Solanus: The Story of Solnus Casey O.F.M. Cap. p.174
I had been making my lunch time pilgrimage for several months when I read a chapter from Cathy Odell's book on Solanus' time in Huntington. I had literally walked the fields and woods throughout but had never come across any wild strawberries. They must have perished when some of the land was plowed, I figured.
It was a beautiful sunlit day, not a cloud in the sky and very low humidity. I started out walking the perimeter of the property, as was my usual route, and began to pray the rosary. Normally this meant finishing the joyful mysteries by the time I reached the far forest where an Eagle Scout had cleared a trail through the woods. There I would begin the sorrowful mysteries reaching the Capuchin graveyard about the time I reached the third sorrowful mystery (the Crowing with Thorns) where I would prostrate in the direction of the simple wooden cross at the head of the graveyard and pray the prayer of St. Francis, "We adore thee O Christ and we praise Thee because by thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world." Then I would pray the third sorrowful mystery on my knees for the Friars and others buried there, at the same time asking for their intercession for my many needs.
Then I would retrace my steps backward in a slightly different path along the woods rather than through them. At about the same spot where I had discovered an apple tree left over from the orchard that Solanus had blessed, I looked down and spotted something red blooming. At first I thought they were small red flowers that had some how resisted the mowing the lawn had received recently. But on closer inspection I found wild strawberries almost ready to be harvested.
I thought of the irony of my discovery on the very day that I had first read about Solanus' "taming" of wild strawberries, then I thought of the whole aspect of "taming" the wild.
Looking over the property of what had once been a flourishing center of Catholic spirituality, I could not help but be struck by the apparent failure. What had been tamed here and once again become wild.
It struck me as an apt symbol for the state of Catholicism in the United States at the beginning of the Twenty-first century. The in-roads that the Church had made in converting and bringing Catholic Christianity to this country seemed to have reverted back to its wild state. Those who call themselves Catholic pick and choose what they believe and how they practice their faith. In many ways they mirror the environment they live in with very little to distinguish them from their non-Catholic neighbors.
Of course it also struck me that I suffered from this as much as anyone.
Picking up the wild strawberry, I saw how immature it was. No doubt Solanus' taming of the "wild" strawberries had resulted in them growing into substantial fruit that was enjoyed by the Huntington Capuchins. Now without that taming, the wild strawberry had once again returned to a small pitiful caricature of what it might have been.
Sadly this is what we also have become. Our influence in our culture is weak and we risk giving scandal to those who look to us as representatives of all that is Catholic. We are "wild" Cathlolics, in great need of being tamed by Our Lord Jesus Christ.
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