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Fr. Dennis

11/23/2020

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Beginning this Advent, our Diocese is embarking on a program to help Catholics to delve more deeply into the Word of God, the Scriptures.
Many Catholics, for one reason or the other, are ignorant or unfamiliar with the Scriptures and many Catholics often feel inadequate as to how to  incorporate the reading and praying with Scripture as a regular part of their spirituality. I think that many Catholics find the Bible intimidating. You do not need to be an expert or a theologian to understand Scripture. While it is possible to misunderstand the meaning of the Bible, that’s why we have the Church, we have to remember that Scripture is God’s Word to us, and if we approach the reading of Scripture with an open heart and with humility, it is unlikely that we will go wrong. After all, we live in a marvelous time when Catholics have untold resources to help us. Here are a few:
Magnificat - a wonderful booklet/missal published monthly with the readings, reflections, explanations, stories of the saints, prayers and so much more. You can purchase this at the Rosary Book Store in Lansing.
​Good News Ministries – an email resource which includes a reflection on the daily readings of Mass. On Sundays, the reflection includes questions for private and group use, sent a week early to help you prepare for next Sunday's Mass.
Lectio Divina – publication of the Ignatian Spirituality Center with a weekly guide on how to pray with the Bible.   There are numerous websites using this ancient tradition of Lectio Divina, the Carmelites have one and there are many others.
Sunday Connection (Loyola Press) - a weekly email that provides useful background and activities, for children and the whole family, to better understand the Sunday's Scripture readings, helping connect the Scripture to daily life in a meaningful way.
The Question of the Week (Our Sunday Visitor) - a resource that looks at the Sunday readings, especially the Gospel, with a question based on the Sunday Gospel to reflect on.
Word on Fire Sermon Podcast (Wordonfire.org) - Bishop Robert Barron provides weekly audio podcasts of his sermon online and on iTunes.
The Catholic Children's Bible app (Saint Mary's Press) -  - a great resource for children that uses images, dynamic animations, realistic sounds, and engaging interactivity to engage children with the Scriptures.
These are just a few resources. Most importantly the church fathers have over and over again emphasized the “spiritual interpretation” of Scripture. What does this mean?  It means that if we read and pray with the Scriptures with an open heart and a desire to grow in holiness, the Holy Spirit will always guide us. Of course we need the Church – for she has a vast wealth of spiritual knowledge and experience throughout the ages. By remaining close to the church we will be led to the truth. Jesus promised this in the Gospels.
History - The best way to begin your journey of reading and praying with Scripture is as always, look to the beginnings, the roots of our faith. That means understanding the history and origins of how the Scriptures came about. 
Of course, the Scriptures pre-date the Christian tradition.  The Jewish people were the first to authorize and authoritatively gather together texts which recounted the history and Word of God to His people. We call that the Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures. As Christians we inherited the sacred tradition of reading, understanding, celebrating liturgically the Scriptures.
First we must realize, that modern people tend to think of the Bible as a book, and this is such a limited way to look at the Scriptures. First and foremost the Scriptures are God’s Word to us! The Word of God is not a book, it is a person, Jesus Christ. He is the Living Word who speaks to us. 
Historically the Bible wasn’t always bound between two covers. The Bible we know today took a long journey through many eras, communities, and places before it became the sacred text we recognize today. The word Bible comes from the Greek word biblia, which means “books.” This is a more accurate description of what the Bible is, a collection of many books, like a library. Each Biblical book has a unique history and took a distinctive route on its way to inclusion in the Bible.
Many authors in very different places and times, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote and edited the books that constitute the Old and New Testaments. The most well known compilation of the Scriptures is what the Jewish people call  the Torah, or The Law, or the Books of Moses, since the orthodox Jews believe these first five books were written by Moses himself: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
It was centuries later that the Christian Church added to include the psalms, the books of the prophets and the other historical texts of the Old Testament and called them inspired and sacred texts, even though the Jewish people revered these texts and used them liturgically, like the psalms. In the earliest times, before they were written down, most of the stories of the Old Testament were passed on by word of mouth and kept sacred, memorized and repeated over and over in their liturgies and communities.
How did the Bible become the Bible we know today? - We cannot possibly explain every aspect of how the Bible came to be in this article, but let me focus on a few aspects.  First, we must understand that the Bible is the Church’s book, it is her sacred text, and she herself brought it about. How? Well, as I explained before, the church received the Old Testament from the Jewish people – remember – the apostles were Jews and many of the early church believers were converts from Judaism. The Jewish people waited for a Messiah and when He came, they saw Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises. And so the early church looked back on the Old Testament and saw how Jesus fulfilled these texts and promises in Scripture.  But even in the early church there were struggles and conflicts.  Some took it upon themselves to interpret the Scriptures.  We see this in the Acts of the Apostles where some believers without the authority of the apostles went out preaching that the Gentiles had to become Jews in order to become Christians. How was this resolved? By the authority of the apostles and early church leaders.
Every once in a while there will be an archeological discovery of an ancient text that is contemporary with the Gospels. Many will say that the church suppressed these other texts to force their interpretation on the community.  This is absolutely false. Some examples of these writings that are contemporary with the Gospel are…. The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Mary Magdalene…. And many others were well known to the early church fathers. But they rejected them. Why? The criteria for acceptance in the Canon of Scripture (the official books of the Bible) were: 
These “Apocryphal writings” or as they are sometimes called “Gnostic” writings, were rejected because:
1. They denied the material world and rejected the Incarnation.
2.  They saw human sexuality as fallen and dark.
3.  They often had a magical way of looking at the early life of Jesus.
4.  They had a misogynistic view of women.
5.  The crucifixion and resurrection were not accepted as the central parts of salvation.
6.  Salvation tended not to be seen as a gift of grace, but rather as having special knowledge (the word “gnosis” is the Greek work for knowledge).
7.  These Gnostic writings were not of apostolic origin.
Why did these early church fathers carry such weight of authority?  Because many of them were taught by the apostles themselves or their immediate successors. So they had a direct connection to the apostles themselves and what Jesus had authoritatively passed down to them. For example, St. Irenaeus, one of the early church’s bishops and martyr, who wrote often directly to or about the Gnostic heretics was himself a disciple of the bishop and martyr St. Polycarp who himself was a disciple of St. John the Apostle.
The Canon of Scripture, the authoritative list of the Books of the Bible was confirmed at several official Councils of the Church.  The Council of Hippo in 393 A.D., of Carthage in 397 A.D. and the Council of Carthage  in 419 A.D.
Are the Scriptures the work of men or God? -Yes and no.  In the Judeo Christian tradition we understand that God inspired men, sacred authors to write down His Word. But God did it in a human way… using the history, traditions, understanding of men at different times to write down these texts. Ultimately that is why we need an authority, the Church. The Church has been given by God the authority to speak and act in His name, always with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The Diocese of Lansing wants to help you in your journey with Scripture. - During Advent we will continue to have teachings about the Bible.  Bishop Boyea of Lansing is inviting all Catholics to join him in reading the Bible over the span of 365 days starting on the First Sunday of Advent. Here is how to sign up:
 
“I invite you to join me in reading through the Holy Bible over the course of the next 12 months, starting this Advent. Together, it will be our Year of the Bible. Each day, I will text you or e-mail you a chapter of Sacred Scripture. We will then read it and meditate upon it. Over the weeks, I’ll also invite you to events; share video reflections with you; and let you know about other Year of the Bible updates. By the end of 12 months, together, we will have made our pilgrimage together.  All you have to do is pick up your cell phone and text the letters BYOB which stands for Bishop’s Year of the Bible – to 84576 OR to our Diocese of Lansing website here to sign up: 
https://www.dioceseoflansing.org/byob”

I encourage you to take up the bishop’s invitation and to learn more about the Scriptures and learn how to incorporate them into your spiritual life. God’s eternal Word, Jesus Christ, wants to speak with you. Let us all learn how to listen more deeply to Him.

​God bless,

Fr. Dennis
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Fr. Dennis

11/17/2020

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​The Holy Season of Advent
 
This weekend with the Solemnity of Christ the King, the Church brings to a close the Liturgical, and next weekend we begin a New Liturgical Year with the Holy Season of Advent.
 
When everything around us screams "Christmas is upon us!" something in our hearts whispers, "No, not yet. I have work to do, and God will not be fooled."
The world is impatient and does not understand nor obey the need for preparation,  prayer, reflection, of making ready.
 
The Scriptures of Advent are clear.  They speak of flattening mountains and filling valleys, we come to realize... what it's calling us to do is to make our hearts and the world around us a place for God to dwell.  But it must begin with our hearts first.  We cannot give what we do not possess.  
 
Advent also begins with a call to vigilance. There are numerous Scripture passages that call us to this vigilance and anticipation of the Lord’s coming.  Being vigilant means, also, that we are prepared. We are not caught off guard. Imagine if Christmas morning came and you woke up suddenly realizing that you forgot to prepare! Imagine if you had no gifts, no food purchased and no plans were made. Of course you wouldn’t allow that to happen, but we do sometimes allow it to happen spiritually speaking. We often are not prepared to celebrate the birth of Christ within our hearts.
 
Will we be ready when our Lord Jesus comes for us?  Are we preparing for it with the same fervor that you prepare for Christmas through shopping, cooking, decorating, etc?  Are we looking forward with hope to that day when He will return?   Are we awake and attentive to the numerous ways that God speaks to you on a daily basis?
 
This year and no doubt this Advent and Christmas will be very different for all of us because of the restrictions and challenges with COVID-19.  All the more we might be tempted to rush ahead to Christmas and not prepare.  It’s an understandable temptation.  For sure, we will want to make Christmas as special as we can, given the isolation and difficulties we have all been experiencing.  Maybe this Advent could be a creative time for all of us.  Maybe a time to focus on the sick, those who are cut off and isolated, our shut-in’s and those who are sick.  How can we make this a holy and special time for others?  Maybe we can focus as families on the needs of the poor, being reminded that Our Lord entered this world poor and lowly.
 
Maybe our prayer life and family prayer could be different this year; focusing on attentiveness to the Lord’s voice and thanksgiving, helping us to move away from ingratitude and complaining. Using Advent as a time to grow in the virtues. 
Holiness does not happen by osmosis. It happens as we submit ourselves to God’s plan and allow the Holy Spirit to teach us to live a virtue filled life.
 
There are the cardinal virtues:
Prudence from prudential, meaning "seeing ahead” is the ability to govern and discipline oneself.
 
Justice: is the virtue which regulates man in his dealings     with others.
 
Fortitude: or courage deciding to do what is right, even       when the pressure is on to be selfish and give into    sin.
 
Temperance or moderation. It’s not just about not    overeating or overdrinking, it’s about keeping our      tongue quiet, refusing to gossip, submitting our         thoughts to God.
 
Then there are the theological virtues:
Chastity: guarding our minds and hearts so they are pure.
 
Temperance: isn’t it interesting temperance shows up         twice? That’s because it is a key virtue.
 
Charity: having the love of God in our hearts.
 
Diligence: avoiding sloth and laziness.
 
Patience: accepting our situation and circumstances as      they are; learning how not to insist on our way all      the time – learning to think of others before         ourselves.
 
Kindness: we equate this virtue with being nice or   pleasant, as though it’s mainly about smiling,             getting along, and not ruffling feathers – it is learning to orient our hearts toward other people,      even when they don’t deserve it and don’t love us in            return. This virtue is meant to lead us and others to   repentance.
 
Humility: learning the hard lesson that we are not God and             never will be – it is to place our faith in God that He       will lead us in the best way to live.  We are to put      complete trust in the Lord and not deceive    ourselves with the pride of our egos or the lust that        tells us the lie that some “thing” can replace our        need for God.
 
Lord, as Advent begins, help us to put our eyes on You. Help us to open our ears to Your voice. And help us to open our hearts to Your glorious presence. May we be attentive to You and your desire to love us. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
 
 
Prayer for Advent
Heavenly Father, source of hope and love, help me to enter into this holy season of Advent.  I desire to grow in virtue, to be a sign of Your love for my family and for the world. I want this holiday season to be filled with light instead of darkness.  Remind me that this world is passing away and that what matters are the things that come from above. Help, me by your grace to be sober and alert for the day when Our Lord returns in glory. Father, help me make this holy time an offering to You.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen
 
God bless you this holy Advent season, 
Fr. Dennis
 
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Corey Luna

11/9/2020

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During this past month (October 10th), the vatican announced the beatification of Carlo Acutis. This was an exciting event because he is the first Millennial to be on this path toward official sainthood. As a millennial myself, it has been so amazing to read about this kid. Someone with similar life experiences as myself (and others in my generation) being in heaven and having miracles attributed to them is so unreal. His story is so familiar and also very filled with the heart of God.

Carlo was born May 3, 1991 and grew up in the diocese of Milan, Italy. During his childhood, he had a lot of similar interests to any modern day kid. He was exceptionally gifted with technology and was considered an amateur computer programmer. Also, he loved video games, soccer, Pokémon, Nutella, making jokes, and hanging out with friends. All these things seem like such ordinary characteristics, but that’s what is so amazing about the saints. They are regular people in ordinary circumstances who allow God’s love to make them extraordinary. The extraordinary definitely shines out of Carlo’s life! 

He had a love of Jesus when he was really young, and growing up he brought Christ into everything he did. He went to daily Mass frequently, and often paused to adore Jesus after Mass. He was generous and attentive to the poor in his community, and would regularly use his savings to get them things that they needed. He had a devotion to the Rosary, and a love of the Eucharist that would define his life. Around the age of 11, he started to research different Eucharistic Miracles around the world. Towards the end of his life, he used his skills in computer programming and the research he had compiled to document these Eucharistic miracles online so more people could share in his love of God’s wonders. 

God’s goodness even shined through in his death. Carlo was diagnosed with leukemia during the summer of 2006. His reaction to this news was striking:

-"I offer to the Lord the sufferings that I will have to undergo for the Pope and for the Church, so as not to have to be in Purgatory and be able to go directly to heaven."

He had a heart that was completely in love with God, and devoted himself to offering his talents, resources, and even sufferings to God. Carlo died at the age of 15 on October 12th, 2006. (We have a Blessed who wore Jeans, a hoodie, and Nikes!)

As I’ve been reading about this amazing kid, I keep being drawn back to my job as a youth minister and to the students in our community. Carlo was so young, and yet was able to be a powerful vessel of God’s love to those around him. I believe that any of the students in this community are capable of the same things, but unfortunately Millennial young adults and Gen Z kids get a bad rap. I think older generations are really nervous about young people these days, and what they might do to the world. Although I do understand the concern, Blessed Carlo is an example to us of what modern day holiness can look like for our future generations. Carlo was a kid that spent a good amount of his time on a computer and online. He was technologically savvy like many of our kids, but because of his faith he was able to find virtue in his use of that technology and was able to use it for God’s glory! He is also an example of a need we have in the Church. If we have learned anything through this year, it’s that we need revival and renewal. Young people bring that to the church. Pope Francis says this if his exhortation to young people: 

“Through the holiness of the young, the Church can renew her spiritual ardour and her apostolic vigour. The balm of holiness generated by the good lives of so many young people can heal the wounds of the Church and of the world, bringing us back to that fullness of love to which we have always been called: young saints inspire us to return to our first love (cf. Rev 2:4)”.[21] Some saints never reached adulthood, yet they showed us that there is another way to spend our youth. Let us recall at least some of them who, each in his or her own way, and at different periods of history, lived lives of holiness.”

That is the possibility for any of our kids! If we have young people striving for sainthood then we can hope for renewal of the whole Church. So a challenge coming forth from Blessed Carlo Acutis’ example is to encourage, mentor, pray for and hope in our young people. They all can be (or maybe some of them are already) walking in holiness and the path towards sainthood.

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