Preparing for Lent

Before we know it, Ash Wednesday will be here (a week from today, it will already be history!)  How best can we use this precious time, or even more fundamentally, DO we want to use it at all?  Will every day be like every other day of the year, or will we be able to crank up the steam and the discipline to take advantage of the atmosphere, the readings, and the encouragement offered to us to"repent and believe the good news"?
One advantage is that "everybody is doing it."  In the Eastern Church, meatless days have already begun, so families who have been abstaining from meat over the years have accumulated enough recipes to see them through six weeks of meatless meals without much difficulty.  Even with this "routine" in place, it's still a demand and sacrifice to remain faithful to this regimen.  And sacrifice in union with the sacrifice of Jesus is really the point of this strict abstinence.  The Roman Rite demands abstinence from meat only on Ash Wednesdays and the Fridays of Lent.  Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of Fast and Abstinence:  (one complete meatless meal each day)...to "feel the pinch"  to say to the natural urges to satisfy every tickle of the tongue, "You are not in charge, I am.". 
Moreover, in addition to the "giving up" aspect of Lent...what positively and actively can we do to make these upcoming six weeks different and spiritually productive?  This is the time to start thinking ahead so that on Ash Wednesday, we'll have a plan in place and be ready to roll as soon as the ashes on our foreheads proclaim our resolve to spend a fruitful Lent, come closer to Jesus, and become a better Christian.
Bro. Rene

Experience of Church

We read in our school guide, In the Footsteps of Marcellin Champagnat, that "we are to provide our Christian youth with an experience of Church and foster their love for it."  This morning a speaker, Carl Wilkens, who remained in Rwanda during the Genocide, told us that he saw the role of Church as two-fold:  to help us build our relationship with God and with our neighbor.  During the Genocide, the churches basically ignored this second goal and for the most part stood mute while a million of their church members were slaughtered by other church members solely because of fear and hatred: it was a we against they situation.  In come instances, the churches even aided in the killings.  When an institution thinks only about its survival and not about the well-being of its members, it is doomed to destruction.  We hope and pray that the experience of Church we give our students in our Marist World is the one that embodies its total purpose.
Bro. Rene

Short Bread

Today will be a very thin slice of "short bread" as time for posting fast approaches.  Our Parent Guild showed its appreciation for the faculty by putting on a spectacular breakfast...following a spectacular evening for our accepted students last night.  The energy and spirit of the school nearly raised the roof off the gym, and prospective students and new parents were fairly sold on Central.  The next question is the financing, always the biggest obstacle.  We're asking people who can to make an annual donation over and above the regular tuition so that the children of struggling middle-class families, who don't qualify for the largest aid packages might be able to receive a little bit more and thus send their deserving children to us.  Please join us in gratitude for all that we have been given and wish to share with ALL who apply.  St. Marcellin, pray for us!
Bro. Rene

Catholics in America

It's no secret that Catholicism has been taking subtle and often not-so-subtle hits from the media for the past several years, a trend exacerbated by the clergy child abuse scandal, which seemingly is always in the news. The troubles in Los Angeles, being the latest target.  The stories of people leaving the Church, the decline in vocations, the closing of schools and merging of parishes, always in the headlines, tend to add to the image of a Church bleeding to death. Sr. Mary Johnson, SND, a sociologist, spoke about a different view of the current situation based on actual facts and demographics.  She informed us that yes, there is a decline in the Catholic population in the Northeast, for example, but there is a counterbalancing growth in the south and west, to the point that the numbers of Catholics in the United States grows by 1% each year, a figure that has been constant since heads have been counted.  There are 72 million Catholics in the United States today, about one fourth on the population, a percentage that has been constant since the '50's.  True there are large numbers of aging religious, but there are also large numbers between 20 and 40.  And surprisingly enough, there are more men in formation for religious life than women, a first in the history of the Catholic Church in America.  So let not the headlines dampen our spirits.  There is movement going on that does not make the headlines!  See America (Jesuit weekly magazine) October 15, 2012:  "Reality Check" by Sr. Mary Johnson and Sister Patricia Wittenberg.
Bro. Rene

Being A Prophet

The Church is celebrating the Word Day for Consecrated Life today to heighten our awareness of this special calling in the Church to the sisterhood, brotherhood and religious community priesthood (as opposed to diocesan).  By publicly professing the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, consecrated religious make a prophetic statement that they will imitate Jesus, follow in his footsteps, and like him, be witnesses or prophets to truths that can often get lost and need to be reaffirmed.  They stand out as guideposts, challengers, comforters, leaders, and often as reformers, when even within the Church, things get off course.
In post-revolutionary France, several such prophets arose to rebuild the church on the blood of the thousands of martyrs who were executed during the Reign of Terror, St. Marcellin being one of them. However, the current surge in the numbers of Lay Marists is an indication that being a prophet does not necessarily lie with consecrated religious only..
A friend of mine called the other night on the way home from a short, prayerful vigil in front of an abortion clinic where he quietly and solitarily prayed the rosary for the mothers and unborn children who would pass through those doors.  He invited me to do the same locally once a month.  I agreed. No fanfare, no organizing, just a prophetic presence and trust in the power of prayer.  I invite those who partake of this daily bread to see if you can find the time to do this yourselves on your own time once a month.
One final example:  I attended the funeral of a classmate yesterday, whose life of quiet witness drew a large number of family and friends to the Mass.  I remember him as being a quiet,, unassuming boy in high school, and  he evidently remained that way throughout his life. But what power was in that life!
So, we can be prophets by loving, even our enemies, forgiving, and living according to Jesus, who does not forget those who love. Living a life of love is being a prophet.
Bro. Rene

The Presentation of the Lord

This magnificent Solemnity, formerly known as the Purification of Mary, and sometimes called "Candlemass Day", used to mark the end of the Christmas Season, for it commemorates the 40th day after the birth of Jesus when Mary and Joseph presented him in the Temple, according to the Law of Moses, and offered a sacrifice of two turtle doves in his behalf.  It is sometimes marked by a procession and the blessing of the candles to be used in the course of the next year.  Some parishes would give a pair of blessed candles to each family for use in their homes.So much has changed now, with oil candles becoming more popular, and the cost of beeswax candles increasing , that many parishes no longer can afford to do all of this anymore.  Yet, in our hearts, we can proclaim with the aged Simeon that we have seen this child who is a "light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of the people Israel." (Lk 2: 32). As Christians, we now ARE the temple, and as Marists, our mission is to proclaim the Light by our lives, and, "if necessry, by our words," according to St. Francis.
If we are not able to be at Mass today, we can pay special attention to our deeds, actions and words, and tomorrow when we receive the Eucharist, recommit ourselves to the service of the Light.  Perhaps lighting a candle at home today, or in church tomorrow, might be a sign and a reminder to us of the significance of this day and our call to live in the Light, to BE the Light of Christ.
Bro. Rene

New Month, New Challenges

As we turn the calendar today, a short month comes up, but one full of challenges.  Hopes fall on Punxsutawney Phil not to see his shadow so that spring will come sooner than if he sees his it.  How accurate?  Not clear, but a light distraction from the usual February Blues that can emerge from gray days, cold, Lent, and illness. Despite our daily prayers, often "done" too fast and not from the heart, we slide away from our relationship with Jesus and Mary, and travel on "automatic pilot."  A Marist Young Adult, Danny Chomat, from Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, and now at Notre Dame, wrote a telling blog about this very thing. When he found his encounter cross in his bag and not around his neck, it symbolized for him the disconnect he was experiencing with his relationship with Mary and the spirituality that flows from her and gives life to us.  Putting on the cross, and taking time to make a short retreat helped him to get back on course.  It's funny how even externals, such as the weather, can "get us down", or how a reminder of a deep spiritual experience, such as an Encounter cross, can pick us up.  We all have such token reminders of past experiences or people that helped us experience a closeness to God.  Perhaps "dusting them off" or paying attention to them during this month will help us meet February's challenges with strength and confidence.  Thanks, Danny, for reminding us of the simple things we have at our fingertips that can help us grow in our faith and relationship with Jesus and Mary.
Bro. Rene