Nothing = Nothing
Denise Morency Gannon
E-Retreat - a new way to pray
I tried a new and really terrific Lenten prayer resource released just this week by HarperOne Publications. Father James Martin SJ created the first-ever e-retreat, a downloadable tool for any smart phone, Kindle, IPad, Tablet, laptop or desktop. If you're reading this blog, you use at least one of these items and can access Father Jim's guided retreat, which is an encounter with Jesus through several Gospels. I spent some time everyday this week with this new prayer tool and look forward to keeping up the practice throughout the season of Lent and beyond. I hope you take the time to at least check out Together on Retreat. Read Fr. Jim's description on his blog from America magazine to find out more about the book. Click here to read: http://americamagazine.org/content/all-things/whats-e-retreat
Prayer: I'm working on it
This year, I want to spend a bit more time on the Lenten practice of prayer. I don't know about you but I tend to isolate one Lenten discipline over another. When rehearsed dilligently, the Lenten tryptich of prayer, fasting and almsgiving form a perfect trinity of Christian conversion. The imbalance of preferential treatment over another creates an imbalanced approach to Lent, kind of like isolating andn exercising only one muscle over and over again and ignoring all the other muscles that need exercise too. I've been a Catholic Christian all my life and I'm still working on achieving that counter cultural balance of Christian discipline within a self-indulgent society. If you're one of our beloved Elect or someone who has been away from the Catholic church for awhile and thinking about returning or consider yourself a Catholic Christian who needs to work on being a better one, take heart! Conversion is a lifetime practice of prayer, patience and persistence. One foot in front of the other, as the saying goes. Grace is always with us; ask and receive.
Something old is something new again
While practicing Fr. Jim's new e-retreat, I marveled at the myriad of opportunities that we have at our disposal to really live Christian discipleship in this post-modern age of technology. The thought led me to read Paul VI's letter EVANGELII NUNTIANDI - On Evangelization In The Modern World, written in 1975 on the 10th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. What fascinated me was how the letter 'sings' of what the post-modern church calls the 'new evangelization.' Perhaps the tools of evangelization have increased and multiplied over several generations but the Christian message remains the same.
Paul VI writes that "The split between the Gospel and culture is without a doubt the drama of our time, just as it was of other times. Therefore every effort must be made to ensure a full evangelization of culture, or more correctly of cultures. They have to be regenerated by an encounter with the Gospel."
Keep in mind that Paul VI wrote this 38 years ago; we're still trying to turn the proverbial ship around. The only way that the Gospel can be heard by everyone depends on the commitment of each Christian disciple to use every tool available to grow in relationship with the person we follow - Jesus Christ. I think that the more we grow in our own faith, in our families, in our communities will the fruit of the discipline of Christian prayer, fasting and almsgiving be visible through our daily work in government, health care, church, education, social life, law and order and labor for the common good.
Read what Paul VI writes in this telling paragraph of EMW:
21. Above all the Gospel must be proclaimed by witness. Take a Christian or a handful of Christians who, in the midst of their own community, show their capacity for understanding and acceptance, their sharing of life and destiny with other people, their solidarity with the efforts of all for whatever is noble and good. Let us suppose that, in addition, they radiate in an altogether simple and unaffected way their faith in values that go beyond current values, and their hope in something that is not seen and that one would not dare to imagine. Through this wordless witness these Christians stir up irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how they live:
Why are they like this?
Why do they live in this way?
What or who is it that inspires them?
Why are they in our midst?
Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one. Here we have an initial act of evangelization. The above questions will ask, whether they are people to whom Christ has never been proclaimed, or baptized people who do not practice, or people who live as nominal Christians but according to principles that are in no way Christian, or people who are seeking, and not without suffering, something or someone whom they sense but cannot name. Other questions will arise, deeper and more demanding ones, questions evoked by this witness which involves presence, sharing, solidarity, and which is an essential element, and generally the first one, in evangelization."[51]
I know that reading an apostolic letter is probably the last thing you want to do but really, I found the entire (and short) letter spot on and relative to our own cultural needs in the church and in the world. You can read Evangelization In The Modern World in its entirety here. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19751208_evangelii-nuntiandi_en.html
Nothing = Nothing
Prayer, fasting, almsgiving -- a balanced approach. Take advantage of this time the church gives us to exercise some unused muscles and replace some of that old winter stale air (full of germs!) with some clean, fresh wind of the spirit of God. Replacing meat with fish on Friday? Good for you. Watching a little less television? Bravo. Filling a rice bowl with your extra change? That's great. Is it enough? 'Adequate' is never the right word in the Christian vocabulary. The stakes are too high for any of us who dare to call ourselves followers - disciples - to let this precious time of Lenten renewal slip between the cracks. Indifference and apathy in a relationship with the living God are not options for people who calls themselves Christians. If Fr. Martin's new book doesn't meet your needs, find another avenue; there are hundreds of options that you can try. But never do nothing. Nothing = nothing.
I read a Twitter post this week that read that when asked what the church needed in the way of change, Mother Teresa answered, "You and me." Good answer.
Lenten blessings.
Reader Comments (1)
Thank you Denise and Pat for many years of helping us to buy so many wonderful things!! You have been a gift to us all!