Sunday, April 19, 2009 ~ Divine Mercy Sunday

Note: These Sunday & Holy Day Gospel Reflections are written so that mothers may prepare for Holy Mass in advance either as a small group or individually (especially since we are so often necessarily distracted during Mass itself).





John 20:19-31



On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, "Peace be with you."
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
"Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained."


Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord."
But he said to them,
"Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe."
Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples
that are not written in this book.
But these are written that you may come to believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that through this belief you may have life in his name.




Reflection

These poor disciples! How emotional the week had been for them! We try to recreate Holy Week and Easter Sunday, but it is impossible for me to truly imagine what it must have been like to be there. We try to empathize with their lack of understanding, but knowing the entire story, I cannot help but wonder why they didn't "get it."

This week's Gospel begins the evening of Easter Sunday. The disciples are truly afraid, hiding in a locked room, when Jesus appears. On Divine Mercy Sunday, this Gospel resonates with my fears of sin, failure, and suffering. Sometimes I lock my mind away, hiding from my own emotions, forgetting the promises of Christ. For He promises peace, forgiveness, and freedom from fear if we only rely on His Divine Mercy. Jesus, I trust in you!

As Jesus releases the disciples from their fears, He then ordains them His holy priests. In that upper room, He gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit to aid them in their ministry. To diverge for a moment, when I used to do Confirmation retreats for youth, we did a demonstration with a glass of chocolate milk that was very popular. It went something like this...



(place empty glass on a table, visible to all)
Before Baptism, your soul, like this glass, is empty, and then it is made pure and clean by immersion in holy water at Baptism.
(pour in the milk).
At that time, you are given the gifts of the Holy Spirit through the anointing with Holy Chrism, these being wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.
(pour in the chocolate syrup)
Most young children are not mature enough to need the gifts of the Spirit active in their lives except in cases of stress or tragedy, when life gets shaken a bit.
(shake the glass a bit to make the chocolate sauce mix in just a bit)
But, most young lives are pure and simple without too much fuss.
(let chocolate sauce settle again)
It is in Confirmation that you are given the tool and the responsibility to use the gifts of the Holy Spirit in your life.
(drop the spoon in the glass and turn away)
Congratulations. What a wonderful day it will be!
(pause for a while or start something else, until the youth ask you to stir the chocolate sauce into the milk)
Ah! This is your choice. You will be given the tool and the responsibility at Confirmation, but your life will not be fully complete or as sweet as it could be unless you stir the spoon to mix the gifts of the Spirit throughout your life. You choose to use it or not; it will always be there for you.
(drink the milk, perhaps serve chocolate milk or pass out spoons as tokens --- one priest went so far as to have some spoons engraved and distributed them at the end of their Confirmation Mass)


I shared that, because I strongly feel it is a priest's responsibility to lead us away from our fears towards faith in Jesus Christ, but each of them has to make that choice, and that is why they need our constant prayers. Especially in today's world, where it is difficult to believe and hope in God, just like Thomas, we need strong leaders, like those first priests, to help us to believe. Pray for them! Sacrifice for them! Help them!

We absolutely must help them by being "those who have not seen and have believed." By accepting what the Catholic Church teaches us through Her holy priests, we are helping our leaders. By living out our vocations as wives and mothers, we are inspiring them to holiness. (I know this, because many priests have told me that this is how it works.) By modeling lives of holiness and enjoying the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we make their jobs easier!

John sums up his entire Gospel passage by saying that these few are merely examples of the amazing things Jesus did during his forty days of Resurrection and that these examples are specifically given for us to have faith --- for us to have faith in our priests, for us to have faith when we cannot see like Thomas, for us to have faith "that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in His name."

Jesus, your Divine Mercy covers all our sins, fears, failings, and sufferings. May we know to turn to you and trust in you and not lock ourselves away. Bless our priests, dear Jesus. They need your mercy more than anyone. Help us to remember to pray and sacrifice for them to fully access the gifts of your Holy Spirit. Teach us how to stir the spoon of your grace in our lives, so your gifts will permeate every aspect of our daily duties, trials, and blessings!

Holy Week Internet Fast

Happy Easter!!! I am finally fully back online, this blog being my last step.

The first few days of my Holy Week Internet fast were hard, but it was even harder to come back online! What a beautiful gift the Lord gave me by giving me that quiet and peace. Therefore, I have only gradually come back online, taking Monday to clean out the 200+ emails in my inbox, taking Tuesday to get up to date on my homeschooling library book requests and lesson research, and taking Wednesday to...well, stall by going back to Facebook, answering surveys sent to me, etc... LOL!

My week offline was incredible! I found myself accomplishing more housework, keeping my mind on God more often, and even playing with my children a bit more. The most interesting result was joy. Cheerfulness is something that does not come naturally to me, but because there was no email waiting or search pending that I was mentally anticipating, I enjoyed the moment much more. I found myself laughing more, taking my time with tasks, and focusing on what was before me. Unexpectedly, we were stuck at home the entire Triduum, and it was also peaceful and joyful.

So, I'm indulging online this week, catching up with the online programs I watch and blogs I frequent, just like I am devouring chocolate morning, noon, and night! But I am also observing myself and reflecting on how I can "go offline" for certain key periods during the day. I have tried this before, however, and it is quite a struggle for me. I am praying the Lord will show me a balanced approach to the Internet, so that I do not constantly feel pulled away from my daily duties (even as I resist the urge to see if I have mail!).

Today, though, I want to get back to blogging to share with you my small successes for Thursday and a reflection for this Sunday's Gospel. Perhaps you can think about your time online and, more importantly, the mental energy you give up to thinking about being online even when you are not. I pray your Holy Week was reflective and blessed and that your Easter Season continues to be amazing!

Offline for Holy Week

Readers,

I am going offline for Holy Week, hoping to spend more time in prayer and preparation for the mysteries of the Triduum and Easter Sunday. So, you will not see any posts from me until after Easter Sunday. I pray your Holy Week is filled with peace and grace as you meditate on our Lord's Passion and Resurrection. May He bless your family tremendously this week!

In the Love of Christ Crucified...

Little Flowers Loving God

These ideas were developed by me for my local group and are not a part of the official Little Flowers Girls Club ® created by Rachel Watkins. To purchase the excellent materials and begin your own local group, please visit www.beholdpublications.com

We had another meeting yesterday to discuss Love of God. Interestingly enough, I found there was not much more to say than to review what we shared at our last meeting. Love of God must come before all things, so I simply tried to reiterate that point.

First, we opened in prayer as usual, an offering, spontaneous prayer, Hail Mary, and our new St. Therese song to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Then, I gave each girl a blank sticker and asked them to draw on it a picture of something of this earth that they really love, or like a whole lot.

Once their drawings were done, we gathered together and talked about our last meeting. I asked them to remind me what our virtue is and how to live it. I asked them to remind me what the flower is and why it was chosen for this virtue. And, I asked them to remind me what the saint is and why she was chosen for this virtue. Their answers were clear and simple (and right!).

Then, I directed their attention to a tape measure I had taped to a pillar going vertically. It was a sewing one made of flexible plastic. To the top, I taped a large red heart made of craft foam on which I wrote "God." Then, I asked one of the girls to share what they wrote on their sticker. I forget what the first girl shared, but many put such things as rainbows, flowers, family, and friends. I asked whether we love God more or rainbows more, and when they responded God, I put their sticker below my heart.

I continued doing this with each girl's sticker, not saying every single one but mostly asked which we love more God or what was on the sticker. They were all eager to share their drawings, and it was a nice visual. At the end, I asked the girls if they knew what the Golden Rule said, and I reminded them that our next virtue will be Love of Neighbor. I also asked them what the Greatest Commandment is, and I indicated that our ruler on the pillar was an example of the first part of the Greatest Commandment.

The trick is going to be putting it back together, mostly, to use at our next meeting. You see, we will add to the visual, so check back in two weeks to see how I complete the Greatest Commandment! I will even include a photo at that time, I hope. The idea is from a book called The Big Book of Ideas for Children's Faith Formation.

Next, I asked for two volunteers who would be actresses that day. It was very difficult to choose, but it worked out great. I held up the book The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein and asked who had heard the story before. About half of the girls knew the story, including the two actresses. We chose one girl to be the tree and the other girl to be the child (While reading, I changed "boy" in the story to "child," since we are all girls.). They were instructed to act out the story as I read it to the girls.

This was hilarious and beautiful all at the same time! It was so much fun. I read the story with emotion, and my actresses put on a fabulous show. We were all laughing. When the applause died down at the end, I asked the girls who demonstrated love in the story. They knew it was the tree, so I asked how she showed her love for the child. They gave responses, like "She gave all of herself" and "She kept loving over and over." Then, I asked if they thought this could teach us how to love God and how to love others. Since we agreed it could, I reminded them how important it is to put God first and give Him all of our lives in complete sacrifice to please Him always.

Craft time! I bought these Prayer Journal craft kits at Oriental Trading Company this time. The purpose of the craft was to give them an opportunity and a reminder to spend some quiet time with God, writing and/or drawing. Some mentioned writing virtues and Scripture verses in theirs. I did pre-string the youngest girls' books, because the lacing was a bit challenging. I also started the lacing on the next youngest girls' books, doing three rows to get them going. Then, I provided glitter glue, fabric paints, stickers, photos of Mary and St. Therese, and extra foam in addition to the decorations included in the kits.

After a snack break, we did the Unity Circle. I used to use this with high school retreats, so I modified it for this group. Here is the text. We had a small group yesterday, so it more clearly demonstrated how close we can be if we all stay on the same path towards Christ:

Everyone get into a circle and put your arms around one another’s shoulders. This is a silent activity, so please listen carefully and do your best not to talk or giggle.
All of us love God above all things. That is one of the beautiful things that unites us as Little Flowers, as ARCHAngels, as Catholics. Our hearts know His love for us and want to repay His love.
Christ is our light and shows us the way to real love. The candle in the center represents that light.
But, sometimes, our actions, the things we do and say each day, do not fit with our hearts desires. We are tempted and fall short of acting like we love God above all things.
Close your eyes. Reflect on how you choose to show your love for God and how you sometimes forget about Him or turn away from loving Him.
If you have ever missed saying your morning prayers, lower your head.
If you have ever forgotten to say bedtime prayers, drop your right arm.
If you have ever complained about going to Holy Mass, drop your left arm.
If you have ever thought of things having nothing to do with God during Holy Mass, turn around.
If you have ever neglected to say a grace before meals, like when at a restaurant or picnic, take a large step forward.
If you have ever gone a week without reading any Bible stories or passages, take a large step forward.
If you have ever refused to participate in family prayers out loud, take a large step forward.
Open your eyes. When we neglect to put God first, not only do we stray from His love, we separate ourselves from others. We are alone, without God and without one another.
Our Lord, however, is always forgiving. He forgives our failings and invites us to return to Him, step by step.
If you have ever prayed aloud with your family, turn around.
If you have ever read a Bible story or passage, take a large step forward.
If you have ever said grace before meals, take a large step forward.
If you have ever thought of God during Holy Mass, take a large step forward.
If you have ever willingly gone to Mass without complaint, put your left arm around your sister in Christ.
If you have ever said bedtime prayers, put your right arm around your sister in Christ.
If you have ever said morning prayers, raise your head.
The Lord longs for us to be united, loving Him and loving one another as He loves us. No matter how far we stray from Christ, we can always return to Him.
The choices we make each day are choices that determine whether we demonstrate our love for Him, moving closer to Christ and one another or we walk away from God. Follow the light of His love.

After this activity, we practiced the Scripture verse song and closed in prayer, using our St. Therese prayer, the girls' intentions, and an Act of Love. It was a beautiful day with sun and lots of wind, but we managed to have a very pleasant meeting once again.

Per the request of the official Little Flowers Girls Club ® I have removed the downloadable patch project sheets and practice pages. If you are interested in learning about how I used these documents in my group, please contact me directly.

Sunday, April 5, 2009 ~ Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

Note: These Sunday & Holy Day Gospel Reflections are written so that mothers may prepare for Holy Mass in advance either as a small group or individually (especially since we are so often necessarily distracted during Mass itself).

Mark 14:1—15:47

This week, I invite you to pick up your own Bible and in silent meditation read this Gospel passage, the Lord's Passion. Not only is it too long to reprint here, I want you to have the opportunity to read it slowly and deliberately, pausing as necessary to truly reflect on what is happening.

Reflection

My friends, there is no reflection I can give to this Gospel at this time. I have been pondering it for days, but each time I read my Lord's Passion, I am overcome. I urge you to find some silence to read and ponder this Gospel sometime during this Holiest Week. May it ignite your love for Jesus Crucified anew.