A Clean Start

A clean desktop on my iMac, makes life seem less stressful and offers a good metaphor for life: Clean your heart, simplify your life!

There's always been something about a clean space that has made me think, work, create better. Perhaps that's one way I am made in the Image and Likeness of God; for, He too began with a clean slate... actually, He began with a "formless wasteland and darkness covered the abyss." Now, I'll admit my iMac may at times seem like a formless wasteland as I get in a rut of saving things too quickly to my desktop, but what a wonderful feeling to see it all wiped clean and actually witness the beauty of the picture that lies underneath. 

This too is how I feel in life sometimes. I get in a rut with sin... same old sins, just increasing in quality and quantity and piling up on the desktop of my soul. How blessed I am to have the forgiveness of my Heavenly Father. To know, without doubt, that the Sacrament of Reconciliation brings forgiveness of sins and a restoring to God's grace is one of my favorite things about being Catholic. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that those receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation with a contrite heart experience a true spiritual resurrection, which is followed by a peace and serenity of conscience. That's it! That is the beauty I experience as I am joined in an intimate friendship with my Creator. That is the wiping clean of my spiritual desktop and a revealing of the beauty God has place in me... the beauty of His image... the ultimate screensaver! 

Sometimes a clean desktop is all I need to ensure a good night's sleep, but always a clean soul is what I need to ensure serenity of heart... and safeguard me from having to undergo a total reboot.

Wrap up the Christmas Season & Begin the New Year Striving to be A Star

On January 1, I watched (on TV) crazy, nutty people take the Polar Bear Plunge and throw their half-naked bodies out of the 16 below zero air temperature into icy cold waters through a hole that had been chiseled into frozen Lake Minnetonka.

Now, as a nurse, there is no way you could convince me that throwing my body, or my heart for that matter, into a fight-or-flight response would be fun: as a person whose baseline body temperature indicates she should be living in Southern California, nothing could be further from my bucket list!

So it’s no wonder that as I was making the New Year’s dinner that night, I had a the sense something was bothering me, I just I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. The second my hands hit the ice cold water I was rinsing the green beans under, I remembered! It was those crazy people risking life and limb for an adrenaline rush and a little bragging rights.

It always amazes me how I can read, hear or see something and hours later still feel it tugging at my attention. This happened on Christmas Eve. Something Catholic author and Bible teacher Sarah Christmyer wrote in our Advent Reflections on Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel” (Evangelii Gaudium) stayed with me all morning.

As I sat waiting for Mass to begin at 5:00 p.m. her words filled my thoughts again. Sarah summarized the final paragraphs of Evangelii Gaudium, the paragraphs that focused on Mary as the Star of the New Evangelization, like this: 

Mary is her son’s gift to his people, Pope Francis says; then he picks up the title used by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI before him: she is the “Star of the New Evangelization.”

When I first read that, the ex-Protestant in me cringed. Don’t make her the star, I wanted to say – Jesus is the star! But her “star power” is not that of, say, Jenifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie. Mary is like the North Star, Polaris, the Guiding Star. Brightest among the stars in Ursa Minor and easy to find, it is the still point in the wheeling Northern sky. But you don’t find Polaris for its own sake, you find it so you know where North is.

“But you don’t find Polaris for its own sake, you find it so you know where North is.” Those were the words that set my heart “a pondering”.  The brightest star isn’t created for us to bask in its beauty; it is created to point us in a direction.

Then it hit me! A star, though majestic and beautiful in its own radiant light, should always point to something greater. That was exactly the role of the Star of Bethlehem. That is exactly the role of Mary, the Star of the New Evangelization. Both lead to the Perfect Light, the Light of the World, Jesus Christ, and that’s exactly what we should do. We should be stars that guide others to Christ.

One of my all-time favorite quotes is by the author of A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle:

“We draw people to Christ by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.”

The question then follows, how do we do this? How can we be such a light to others?

There are two Christmas songs that I have known since I was a child, but it wasn’t until a new mixed version of the songs came out in September of 2010 that they climbed to the top of “My Favorite Christmas Songs” list. The song combines God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and We Three Kings and the chorus is something to be pondered, not only in light of “three wise guys,” but in light of the Blessed Mother and in light of our call to be the light of Christ to the world, to share the Gospel with joy!

After reading Sarah Christmyer’s post, I decided to reflect on the words of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings in light of three things: the star of Bethlehem, the Star of the New Evangelization, and the star we are commissioned to be. When looking at the chorus, the meaning pertaining to the star of Bethlehem is the most obvious, and one can easily see how the lyrics fit the Blessed Mother as well, but it got me thinking, “What do these lyrics mean in light of me leading others to Christ?”

Star of wonder

Star of night

Star with royal beauty bright

Westward leading

Still proceeding

Guide us to thy perfect Light

Star of wonder:

As evangelists, we should be joyful! We should radiate a light so lovely that people wonder with all their hearts, “What has she got?”

Star of night:

In times of darkness and suffering, we should shine that peaceful light of Christ. When others are suffering, our faith and compassion can bring them comfort. When we are suffering, praising and thanking God can lead us out of our darkness.

Star with royal beauty bright:

I am the daughter of a King and my mom is the Queen of Heaven. Just knowing that should make me shine with beauty bright. And get this, through our baptism we all share, according to our own vocation, in Christ’s royal mission. How can we not shine? (CCC 1546)

Westward leading:

Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden into exile, and which way do you think they headed? They headed east of Eden, away from God’s presence. As evangelists, our every action, our every word should be leading people “back to the Garden.” We should be leading people into the presence of God in all we do.

Still proceeding:

Perseverance! We must never give up sharing the Good News with the world. No matter how dark our surroundings may be—for one thing is certain, when the sun sets, darkness follows—we must always proceed forward, shining the light of Christ.

Guide us to thy perfect Light:

By having the joy of Christ in us and living that joy daily, we can be the light that guides people to “thy Perfect Light.” This is what the star of Bethlehem did. This is what Mary the Star of the New Evangelization does, and this is what we are have been commissioned to do. (Mt 28:19-20)

Hopefully this post will linger in your minds and tonight you’ll find yourself peeling potatoes and contemplating how Mary is a “star with royal beauty bright,” or maybe you’ll ponder how you have led others to “thy perfect Light” by radiating the joy of the Gospel.

Or maybe flip that scenario and ask yourself: In the past year, how has someone been a guiding light for me? How has a person led me to a deeper relationship with Jesus?

Who knows, maybe after reading this you’ll hear a song, or a Gospel reading, and see the message in a different light, like I did with the remix of two classic Christmas carols.

All that said, I want to share that song with you. As you listen to it, close your eyes and reflect on how you can be that star.

Now, please realize I can’t control the name the band gave themselves way back when, but it is with the greatest of ironies that this column, which began talking about half-naked people jumping into the frozen January waters of a Minnesota lake, found its inspiration in a remix of Christmas songs by a band whose name would indicate one would definitely feel a little chill in 16 below weather.

Here’s the remix: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings featuring Sarah McLachlan.

"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings" Feat. Sarah McLachlan From the album "Barenaked For The Holidays" available now on iTunes and Amazon

Third Millennium Wise Men: Orienting the periphery toward the “Centre”

This is one of the most beautiful, insightful and thought provoking reflections on the three wise men I have ever read, and I count it a great blessing to share it with you.

Many writings and reflections focus on the three wise men from 2,000 years ago. In this reflection, Patricia Jannuzzi focuses on the here and now —God-with-us TODAY, as she asks us to consider the three wise men God has gifted us, in our time, to lead us to His Son. 

Over two thousand years ago Our Savior was born. Angels sang. Shepherds watched. Oriented Wise men visited. The three wise men followed a Star in the Heavens to find Our God, Our Centre humbly lying in a manger. Christ arrived and lay where the animals ate. The wise kings knelt. They offered Him gifts.

Not much is known about the three wise men, such as who gave what gift, but I like to think Caspar, the youngest, offered Gold, signifying humble Kingship. Melchior, the mindful stargazer, offered the smoke of Frankincense, signifying prayer and His Divinity. Balthazar offered Myrrh, a fragrant ointment used to anoint the dead, signifying His humanity and our humanity.

The three wise men departed by a different route to protect the new born King from the jealousy and tyranny of Herod the Great. They entered Bethlehem with temporal treasure. They left with eternal treasure. They continued into the periphery. The eternal centre of Christ was stamped in their hearts, minds, bodies and souls.

Approximately two thousand years later on the cusp of the Third Millennium in the small “peripheries” of Poland, Germany and Argentina, three male infants were born to be baptized as Carol Wojtyla, Joseph Ratzinger and Jorge Bergoglio. They were lovingly raised in the tender lap of Mother Church. At a young age they encountered Christ in the “Centres” of their families and Church. As they grew up, they learned to follow the Heavenly Star, Our Blessed Mother, who led them to Christ. 

Carol joined a “living Rosary”, Joseph frequented the Marian Shrine of Otting and Jorge devoted himself deeply to Our Lady of Knots and Our Lady of Aparcedia. Like the three wise men, Mary’s prayer, the heavenly star, guided these young men to Christ. They heard The Lord ask, “What gifts do you bring to me “Carol, Joseph, Jorge?"  They answered, “Our complete lives Lord. We want to be your Priests.”  He accepted their gifts with joy! They were anointed. They became His priests!  

Each developed their God given Gifts in extraordinary ways and under extraordinary circumstances. Carol used them in the periphery of Philosophy under the dictates of Nazism and Communism. Joseph used them in the periphery of Theology under the dictates of theological Revolutionaries. Jorge used them in the periphery of the poor under the dictates of corruption.

Each had threatening adversaries such as Nazism, Communism, Corruption, Fundamentalism, Atheism, Secularism, and the worst enemy of all, betrayal from within. Each answered their adversaries with humility, love, dialogue and prayer.

Time passes but again the Star appeared and Mary prayerfully guided them to profoundly encounter Christ. Again, The Lord asked, “What gifts do you have for me Carol, Joseph and Jorge?” They responded, “Lord we have given you our lives!” The Lord continued to prod “What unique gifts do each of you have to shepherd my people, my people Universal? My people are scattered in a confused “periphery”.  They do not recognize me as their “centre” and source. They erroneously think that their hearts, minds, bodies and souls are disconnected from, and not integrated with me, their Creator and Source of life. They worship idols. They are unanchored and afloat in a dark and cold periphery. They do not look or listen to my love in my written word. They do not recognize me or hear my heart in the Eucharist. They do not see me in their brothers and sisters who suffer and are weak. What gifts do you have to offer me for my people?”   

Carol is the first to answer. He humbly states, “Like Balthazar, who offered you Myrrh for the anointing of the Body, LORD, I will offer you my body. I will teach the souls of your people ‘Theology of the Body’ which is your truth explaining why we are created male and female. I will teach them that our bodies matter. I will go even further and witness by using any bodily suffering you allow to point to you so that they might see the value of redemptive suffering and conclude that all life matters. Our embodiment matters. Divinely matters. I could offer more if it is your will, but that would be my starting point.” The Lord Says, “Go and Be Not Afraid, Pope John Paul II, I am with you.”

Joseph is the second to answer, “Like Melchior, who used his mind to study the heavens and offered you incense to point to your transcendence, LORD, I will offer you my mind and its knowledge of your  tradition, scriptures and liturgy. I will instruct your people on the transcendent nature of your Liturgy and reintroduce them to the ancient prayer of Lectio Divina and Eucharistic Adoration so that they may personally encounter your mind and heart as their Centre. I will teach them the hermeneutic on continuity and reinforce the truth that all Church teaching flows from the same source, your Centre, and does not break from the past. I could offer more, but that would be my starting point.” The Lord says, “Go and be my humble servant in the vineyard, Pope Benedict XVI, I am with you.”

Jorge is the third to answer, “Like Caspar, who offered you gold for your humble Kingship, LORD, I will offer you my heart as a heart of gold centered on the poor. Through my life witness I will lead your newly ‘centered’ people into the periphery and away from their comfort zone. I will teach them to be missionaries so that they may reach the souls of the poor, lost, confused, rejected, suffering and abandoned. I will teach them to reach out with Your Heart, Mind and Body. I will teach them to give joyfully and humbly your Mercy in the Periphery. The Lord says, “Go and walk in the periphery with my people, Pope Francis, I am with you.”

And so now it is our turn. The Lord asks, “What gifts do you bring for my people? What unique gifts do you have to build my kingdom?”

Do you generously offer the eternal centre of Christ? Do you recognize Christ who is sacramentally stamped within your heart, mind, body and soul for His mission?

The Lord has set the stage for the New Millennium! He has given us three great wise men with extraordinary gifts to lead us. Let us embrace them! Let us follow their lead and give back to God the gifts He has given us to build His kingdom. And let us go to the periphery proclaiming Christ is the Centre of our lives in all we do!

Blessed Epiphany,

Patricia Jannuzzi

NOVENA TO THE MAGI IN ANTICIPATION OF THE EPIPHANY

5 January:

O holy Magi, who were first among the Gentiles called to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and who persevered in the faith till your deaths, obtain for us of the Lord the grace of living always in conformity to our baptismal vows, ever leading to a life of faith; that like you we may attain to the beatific vision of that God Who now is the object of our faith. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

Continue the Journey through The Joy of the Gospel

How apropos that on the Feast of the Epiphany, the day in which our novena to the Magi comes to a close, we are encouraged to continue the journey to the heart of Christ by living The Joy of the Gospel!

Twenty-four days of reading and mediating on the Advent Reflections of The Joy of the Gospel, inspired Janae Bower to share a personal exhortation of what the walk through the Holy Father's first apostolic exhortation meant to her.

Janae didn't see reading The Joy of the Gospel as a simple task that she could just check off her To Do list at the end of Advent, but rather as an opportunity to reflect on her life in light of the words of Pope Francis and ponder what his letter means to her as a wife, a mother, a woman with missionary zeal.  Yes, The Joy of the Gospel helped us prepare our hearts for the coming of the Christ Child this year. Yes, the 12 Days of Christmas and the novena to the Magi helped us to begin to unwrap the wonder of the Holy Father's words. And NOW, with all this beautiful preparation in place and as we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, we are encouraged to ask ourselves, "What is the gift that we can present to Jesus in our lives this coming year?"

In this short video, Janae gives us a beautiful insight into how her heart was transformed this Advent and Christmas Season and also shares what she currently does, and is going to do, to live The Joy of the Gospel in 2014 and beyond.

I invite you to grab a cup of coffee, sit back and watch this heartfelt presentation, and I also challenge you to do the same, to make your own Personal Exhortation for the coming year! 

Click on the image below, and enJOY!

NOVENA TO THE MAGI IN ANTICIPATION OF THE EPIPHANY

4 January:

O holy Magi, who, when warned by an angel not to return to Herod, traveled back to your country be another road; obtain for us from the Lord, the grace that, after having found Him in true repentance, we may avoid all danger of losing Him again. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

Odd Gifts for a New Born!

The Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the Magi, or wise men from the East, visiting the Christ child and bringing Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Upon first hearing this, one has to shake his head and think, “Odd gifts for a newborn.” In fact, I once saw a plaque that said if the three wise men would have been three wise women, they would have “asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole and brought practical gifts.” Although the plaque was comical, and probably true on many points, particularly the casserole comment -and I imagine it would have been Shepherd’s Pie- the gifts of the Magi were absolutely perfect for the newborn before them; for, they showed the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament. (Nm 24:14; Ps 72:10-11; Is 60:6) 

Frankincense, a plant resin, was used to make incense and myrrh, an ointment made from a plant resin, was used to prepare the bodies of the dead for burial. Gold was the sign of the wealth of a king. So how are these three gifts appropriate gifts for a newborn wrapped in swaddling clothes? Well, if that newborn is God Incarnate, then what better gifts than frankincense to represent the prayers made to Him, myrrh to remind us of the salvation He won for us on the cross, and gold to always keep before us that this most humble of creatures, a helpless newborn, is the King of kings? 

During the Epiphany, or “the manifestation”, Christ appeared as God-with-us to the Magi. Today, He also appears to us and we, just like the Magi, can give Him our gifts as well; we can give Him our gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Perhaps our gold is the relationships we hold dear to us, the joys of our lives, the loves. Our frankincense may be our prayers, our supplications, our thanksgivings that we lay before Him, and our myrrh, representative of our sufferings, our pains, our troubles and hurts… our deaths unto self that we face on this journey. We can bring all these gifts to the alter as we go forward and receive the greatest gift of all, the source and summit of our faith, the Eucharist. 

As we celebrate Christmas and the Feast of the Epiphany, may we be ever mindful of our need to recognize Christ’s presence with us and how we can give back, and may we adore our Lord through prayer, worship and self-sacrificing good works. These are three really good and practical gifts… for wise men and wise women alike. 

Cool Fact #1: Magi is plural for Magus, meaning a member of the priestly caste of Persia 

Cool Fact #2: Since the seventh century in the Western Church, the Magi have been identified as Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar 

Cool Fact #3: Balthasar was on the list of top ten baby names for boys in 2010… no, not really true… not at all, but who knows, maybe we could bring it back.

- See more at: The Integrated Catholic Life

NOVENA TO THE MAGI IN ANTICIPATION OF THE EPIPHANY

3 January:

O holy Magi, who offered to Jesus Christ gold, incense, and myrrh, thereby recognizing Him to be at once King, God, and Man; obtain from the Lord for us the grace never to present ourselves before Him with empty hands; but that we may continually offer to Him the gold of charity, the incense of prayer, and the myrrh of penance and mortification. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

NOVENA TO THE MAGI IN ANTICIPATION OF THE EPIPHANY

2 January:

O holy Magi, who, entering full of faith into the stable of Bethlehem, prostrated yourselves on the earth, to adore the newborn King of the Jews, though he was surrounded only by signs of poverty and weakness; obtain from the Lord for us a lively faith in the real presence of Jesus in the blessed Sacrament, the true spirit of poverty, and a Christ-like charity for the poor and suffering. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

Mother of God! Mother of God! Mother of God! Amen

Pope Francis' homily from the Solemnity of Mary 

In the first reading we find the ancient prayer of blessing which God gave to Moses to hand on to Aaron and his sons: "The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace" (Num 6:24-25). There is no more meaningful time than the beginning of a new year to hear these words of blessing: they will accompany our journey through the year opening up before us. They are words of strength, courage and hope. Not an illusory hope, based on frail human promises, or a naïve hope which presumes that the future will be better simply because it is the future. Rather, it is a hope that has its foundation precisely in God’s blessing, a blessing which contains the greatest message of good wishes there can be; and this is the message which the Church brings to each of us, filled with the Lord’s loving care and providential help.

The message of hope contained in this blessing was fully realized in a woman, Mary, who was destined to become the Mother of God, and it was fulfilled in her before all creatures.

The Mother of God. This is the first and most important title of Our Lady. It refers to a quality, a role which the faith of the Christian people, in its tender and genuine devotion to our heavenly Mother, has understood from the beginning.

We recall that great moment in the history of the ancient Church, the Council of Ephesus, in which the divine motherhood of the Virgin Mary was authoritatively defined. The truth of her divine maternity found an echo in Rome where, a little later, the Basilica of Saint Mary Major was built, the first Marian shrine in Rome and in the entire West, in which the image of the Mother of God – theTheotokos – is venerated under the title of Salus Populi Romani. It is said that the residents of Ephesus used to gather at the gates of the basilica where the bishops were meeting and shout, "Mother of God!". The faithful, by asking them to officially define this title of Our Lady, showed that they acknowledged her divine motherhood. Theirs was the spontaneous and sincere reaction of children who know their Mother well, for they love her with immense tenderness. But it is more: it is the sensus fidei of the holy People of God which, in its unity, never errs.

Mary has always been present in the hearts, the piety and above all the pilgrimage of faith of the Christian people. "The Church journeys through time… and on this journey she proceeds along the path already trodden by the Virgin Mary" (Redemptoris Mater, 2). Our journey of faith is the same as that of Mary, and so we feel that she is particularly close to us. As far as faith, the hinge of the Christian life, is concerned, the Mother of God shared our condition. She had to take the same path as ourselves, a path which is sometimes difficult and obscure. She had to advance in the "pilgrimage of faith" (Lumen Gentium, 58).

Our pilgrimage of faith has been inseparably linked to Mary ever since Jesus, dying on the Cross, gave her to us as our Mother, saying: "Behold your Mother!" (Jn 19:27). These words serve as a testament, bequeathing to the world a Mother. From that moment on, the Mother of God also became our Mother! When the faith of the disciples was most tested by difficulties and uncertainties, Jesus entrusted them to Mary, who was the first to believe, and whose faith would never fail. The "woman" became our Mother when she lost her divine Son. Her sorrowing heart was enlarged to make room for all men and women, all, whether good or bad, and she loves them as she loved Jesus. The woman who at the wedding at Cana in Galilee gave her faith-filled cooperation so that the wonders of God could be displayed in the world, at Calvary kept alive the flame of faith in the resurrection of her Son, and she communicates this with maternal affection to each and every person. Mary becomes in this way a source of hope and true joy!

The Mother of the Redeemer goes before us and continually strengthens us in faith, in our vocation and in our mission. By her example of humility and openness to God’s will she helps us to transmit our faith in a joyful proclamation of the Gospel to all, without reservation. In this way our mission will be fruitful, because it is modeled on the motherhood of Mary. To her let us entrust our journey of faith, the desires of our heart, our needs and the needs of the whole world, especially of those who hunger and thirst for justice and peace, and for God. Let us then together invoke her, and I invite you to invoke her three times, following the example of those brothers and sisters of Ephesus: Mother of God! Mother of God! Mother of God! Amen.

NOVENA TO THE MAGI IN ANTICIPATION OF THE EPIPHANY

1 January:

O holy Magi, who were gladdened by the reappearance of the star which led you to Bethlehem; obtain for us from God the grace, that, remaining always faithful to Him in afflictions, we may be consoled in time by His grace, and in eternity by His glory. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

NOVENA TO THE MAGI IN ANTICIPATION OF THE EPIPHANY

31 December:

O holy Magi, who, when deserted by the star in the city of Jerusalem, sought humbly, and without human respect, from the rulers of the Church, the place where you might discover the object of your journey; obtain for us grace to have recourse, in faith and humility, in all our doubts and perplexities to the counsel of our superiors, who hold the place of God on earth. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

NOVENA TO THE MAGI IN ANTICIPATION OF THE EPIPHANY

30 December:

O holy Magi! who regarded neither the severity of the season, nor the inconveniences of the journey that you might find the newborn Messiah; obtain for us the grace not to allow ourselves to be discouraged by any of the difficulties which may meet us on the way of salvation. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

Faith in Action

In an effort to find a deeper  personal relationship with the newborn Messiah, this coming New Year I am going to embark on a journey implementing Vision Divina (Praying with Art) into my prayer life. Every Saturday for 28 weeks, I am going to add Visio Divina to my prayer, and I invite you to join me. To learn more about prayerfully meditating with some of the masterpieces of the Vatican Museum visit: Visio Divina—Praying with Art

Visio Divina – Praying with Art

You probably know what Lectio Divina is, but are you familiar with Visio Divina?

Lectio Divina is a method of prayerfully reading Sacred Scripture, in which you slowly read, meditate, pray, contemplate and respond to a specific verse or verses in the Bible. Often the Psalms are used to do this and it a wonderful habit to get into as it makes one's prayer life so very rich. Visio Divina, which is Latin for "divine seeing", is a method of praying with an image. Above is an image by Federico Fiori Barocci painted in 1570 that perfectly fits today's Gospel. The memory of this image quickly filled my mind as I heard the Gospel proclaimed today and I decided that when I got home from Mass I was going to find this image, Rest on the Flight to Egypt, and continue my Sunday prayer with a Visio Divina on the Holy Family.

I was so blessed to be led through a beautiful meditation by Fr. Mark Haydu on this painting while at the Napa Institute last July. Being part of Fr. Haydu's Visio Divina on this masterpiece was a complete surprise to me!  I had been running late that morning and missed the lecture I intended on going to, so instead of entering the lecture late, I decided to go into the chapel to pray with my friend Patti Jannuzzi. I was completely surprised when Fr. Haydu stood, exposed the Blessed Sacrament, and then in the true presence of Jesus Christ, Father walked us through the true beauty of the a piece of art that told of the Lord's early life as He fled with His family to Egypt. (Though I was surprised to be in the right place at the right time, I imagine the Holy Spirit wasn't surprised I landed in the chapel in time for the meditation on Vatican Art!) The experience had a profound effect on me and since that day, Visio Divina has become something I have wanted to make more a part of my prayer life.

After the meditation, Fr. Haydu told us of an exquisite book, soon to be published, that guides the reader through spiritual meditations with masterpieces of the Vatican Museum and also encompasses Ignatian Exercises; but my heart sank as I learned the book would not be published for months. But here's the GOOD NEWS—the book is available for purchase now! Ahhhh, the JOY of Christmas continues! 

I was so excited to find this book published, that I immediately ordered my copy and I have decided practicing Visio Divina with this book is going to be my New Year Resolution! 

Each Saturday morning beginning in 2014, I am going to do one of these reflections. With that goal in mind, today I decided I'd look deeper into Meditations with Vatican Art, so I went to their website and saw you could download three of the meditations. I thought, "Perfect, this will surely help to give me an idea of what my 2014 Saturdays will look like," but get this, the sense of being surprised by JOY continued as I realized one of those meditations was the Visio Divina for the picture above, the picture that so perfectly put an image with today's Gospel, Matthew 2:13-23.

Thus, I have decided to use the downloaded pdf meditation on Rest on the Flight to Egypt to do a Visio Divina today in order to get a little taste of what 2014 will bring and I invite you to join me—both today and on the first 28 Saturdays of 2014. It will be like an elongated 28-week Ignatian Retreat.

To join me today, download the pdf here -> Rest on the Flight to Egypt

The Focus of this Meditation: The hidden years of the Holy Family are veiled in mystery, still we are invited to prayerfully enter. Like a window, this painting images the family of Jesus in flight. May we imitate the virtues and lives of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as we endure our own personal trials and tribulations.

To join me for the next 28 Saturdays, purchase the book here -> Meditations with Vatican Art

NOVENA TO THE MAGI IN ANTICIPATION OF THE EPIPHANY

29 December:
O holy Magi! who at the first appearance of the wondrous star left your native country to go and seek the newborn King of the Jews; obtain for us the grace of corresponding with eager cheerfulness to every divine inspiration. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

NOVENA TO THE MAGI IN ANTICIPATION OF THE EPIPHANY

Our "action items" from our Advent preparation through The Joy of the Gospel were: to savor, to un-wrap and to present what we learned as we reflected on the beautiful words of Pope Francis over the 24 days leading up to Christmas. In an effort to do that, I invite you to join me over the next nine days in a novena to the Magi. To me, this is the beauty of the Communion of Saints! We have those who have gone before us —the Church Triumphant— to intercede on our behalf, to help us on our journey to union with God!

Now, I'll admit, I have prayed to Biblical figures that probably aren't as bombarded by prayer as some commonly known saints. I have prayed to Moses many times before having to give a talk, and I have even prayed to Noah's wife when faced with a situation in which I think my husband is nuts; but truth be told, I have never thought to pray to the Magi until my friend Thomas Smith posted this novena. What a fabulous idea on the heels of this great reflection on Evangelli Gaudium to pray to those who followed the star, who presented gifts to the Lord and to whom the manifestation of God-with-us was made known!

December 28 is the beginning of the Novena to the Magi, in anticipation for the Epiphany of the Lord. What a wonderful way to allow the message of  The Joy of the Gospel to infiltrate our lives over the Christmas Season. Let us follow Mary, the Star of the New Evangelization these next nine days as we anticipate, just as she did, God-with-us. Let us ask for the guidance of the Magi as we offer our gifts of our prayers of thanksgiving, of supplication and of praise to the Lord and let us ask those three wise men, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, to help us prepare our hearts for a new manifestation of God-with-us this coming year.

The following prayer was found on Fish Eaters and each day I will post that day's Novena to the Magi prayer here:

28 December:

O holy Magi! You were living in continual expectation of the rising of the Star of Jacob, which would announce the birth of the true Sun of justice; obtain for us an increase of faith and charity, and the grace to live in continual hope of beholding one day the light of heavenly glory and eternal joy. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

SOMETHING IS NOT WORTH LIVING FOR UNLESS IT IS WORTH DYING FOR

"Good King Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen." 

Good King Wenceslas looked out

on the feast of Stephen,

when the snow lay round about,

deep and crisp and even.

I love this paradox! Yesterday we celebrated the birth of the Savior, today we honor the death of the first Christian to die for professing his faith in that babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. St. Stephen is known as the first Christian Martyr (which means witness, one who gives testimony.) 

Does it seem like the actions of 2000 years ago are far away? They are not. The Christ child is present in the world today and Christians are killed for giving witness to their faith as St. Stephen did. In fact, today a Christian dies for their faith every 5 minutes or 105,000/year.

 

Challenges for us on this second day of Christmas:

1. Read the best re-cap of salvation history in Stephen's Speech to the Council in Acts of the Apostles, chapter 7. 

Something to think about: Read it out loud, or perhaps to a kid or two. And if you’ve gone through The Great Adventure, you’ll be amazed at how much this re-cap will bring that walk through salvation history rushing right back to your memory.

2. Reflect on what it means to be a witness for Christ today. 

Something to think about: John’s Gospel uses the word martyr ("martyria") instead of evangelize showing Christians are always on trial before the world and called to give witness, to give testimony to Jesus. In court, a witness speaks from first hand knowledge. A witness is someone who has first hand knowledge. 1 John: “What we have seen with our eyes, what we have touched with our hands, we pass on to you.” This is true of every disciple of Jesus... we have first hand knowledge... we speak because we have intimate knowledge of Jesus. We have seen with our eyes of faith, heard with our ears in faith and touched with our hands in faith.

The ultimate witness is to give your life for the testimony of Jesus.

Jesus and the Gospel are more valuable than life itself

3. Pray for those giving their lives for the Gospel. Pray for the grace to be a witness to Christ yourself and pray the conversion of those, like St. Paul, who are persecuting or idly standing by and watching the persecution of Christians.

Something to think about: "The martyr's life reflects the extraordinary words uttered by Christ on the Cross: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do' (Lk 23:34). The believer who has seriously pondered his Christian vocation, including what Revelation has to say about the possibility of martyrdom, cannot exclude it from his own life's horizon. The two thousand years since the birth of Christ are marked by the ever-present witness of the martyrs." (Blessed John Paul II)

If you have to choose between Christ and your life, you must choose Christ.  Today a Christian dies for their faith every 5 minutes or 105,000/year. The 20th century saw more Christians killed for their faith than all the other 19. (Massimo Introvigne, OSCE)

4. Pray for the conviction and to know without a shadow of a doubt that if the Lord brings you to that point where you have to make the choice, you can trust that He will give you the grace to be true to Him.

omething to think about: "For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved" (Romans 10:10). Christian faith includes two necessary things:

1. Belief from the depth of the heart
2. Externally confessing before other people

Christianity cannot be private. If you are a follower of Jesus,  stand up like St. Stephen and be counted. When given the opportunity, publicly confess even if it means paying the price.

Come Holy Spirit! 

WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN… NOW LET'S UNWRAP THIS GIFT!

Merry Christmas – Savor, Unwrap and Present this gift

By Janae Bower

"The Joy of the Gospel" is an incredible gift with a beautiful bow tied together with insightful commentary from all the Catholic evangelists, writers and speakers who contributed to this blog. Whether you read one paragraph of the Apostolic Exhortation or all 48,000 words of it, you have received a precious present.  We hold in our head, heart and hands how to live and love like Jesus.

We celebrate Jesus being born today in Bethlehem which in Latin translates into house of bread. Every Mass we celebrate in our church home receiving Jesus as our daily bread. Just as the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith, we’ve all just reached the summit of this experience regarding the true source of our life and love. 

So what should we do with this gift? Let’s savor it, next unwrap it and then present it.

Savor it – Advent Preparation

Being part of this intentional daily Advent experience flipped things for me this Christmas season.  When in the past I’ve struggled with fitting my Advent duties into my Christmas activities; this year I struggled with fitting in my Christmas duties with my Advent activities. My Advent preparations far out-weighed my Christmas preparation and I even have documentation to prove it (the pages and pages of notes I took from the Evangelii Gaudium compared to my few Christmas lists).

Just as Kelly set this process into digestible sips for us, I hope you savored each one and let the flavor penetrate deep within your soul. Now that it’s done, I encourage you to keep relishing these hope-filled messages.  What usually happens after we experience things like this is that we check it off our list and move to the next thing.  Yet when we ponder in our hearts like Mary did the Lord can really brew it into something special.

Hold this gift in your hands.  Feel the joy it’s brought to your heart.  Savor it with all your senses.

Unwrap it – Christmas Examination

Picture three young boys in front of a Christmas tree with a pile of gifts and no gift-opening rules.  It’s complete chaos; a whirlwind of wrapping paper and presents flying everywhere (FYI: I learned quickly the importance of rules even when opening gifts).

This is what the Christmas season often feels like to me – a whirlwind of activity that I’m just trying to rip through.  Yet when I approach it this way, I don’t take the time to really unwrap the true experience of the season and appreciate all the gifts. 

Let’s use these twelve days of Christmas to unwrap what this Apostolic Exhortation experience means to us.  We can use these 12 days to slowly reveal the gifts of enlightenment, encouragement and evangelization we’ve received.  The Holy Father opened up (in paragraph 3) by inviting us to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus and what a perfect time to do so at Jesus’ birth. “The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step toward Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms.”

How did you grow intellectually with your faith?  What touched your heart and soul like never before? How are you inspired to be the hands and feet of Jesus after this?

Adapting a couple of practices within our faith could be helpful in examining this experience deeper. One way is through Lectio Divina.  You could use this sacred process of reading the scripture, one in which the Holy Father encourages us to do as well (paragraph 153), to unwrap what is meaningful to you. Read through your notes and the reflections; meditate on what is speaking to you; pray for how God wants to use you; and then contemplate what this means for your life.

Another way to examine this experience is adapting St. Ignatius’ Examen, one of the most important of his Spiritual Exercises that help to engage in the practice of examining one’s soul and life. Matthew Kelly adapted this into a Prayer Process that will be a “game changer for you spiritually and a game changer for every aspect of your life.” We can use his process to do the same with the Apostolic Exhortation:

·       Gratitude – What are you most thankful for with this experience?

·       Awareness – How did you gain a deeper awareness in your life?

·       Significant moments – What was most significant for you and explore what God might be trying to say to you?

·       Peace – Ask God to forgive you for any wrongs and to fill you with peace.  How might you spread peace to others?

·       Freedom – How is he inviting you to change your life so you can experience the freedom to be the best, holy you?

·       Others – How is God inviting you to evangelize and share the Good News to others?

Present it - Epiphany Jubilation

The Feast of the Epiphany our Lord Jesus Christ is one of the oldest Christian feasts.  It marks the end of the twelve days of Christmas.  Epiphany comes from a Greek word meaning “to reveal.” 

What did the Lord reveal to you in this Apostolic Exhortation?

Exhortations are meant to thoroughly encourage us, urge us to embark on a new chapter in our faith life NOW. This can be your chance to present to the King, as the three wise men once did, your gift to him.  Like the wise men, you’ve grown in wisdom through this journey and have divine gifts to share with him and to the world.

We need to know in our hearts what really matters to us; what is God – through this holy document and holy writers – trying to help us learn and discern right now in our own lives. This is our chance to write our own “Apostolic Exhortation” from how the Holy Spirit spoke to us from this inspired experience. 

Write your own joy-filled exhortation, one that will personally lift and guide you as a missionary disciple for 2014 and beyond. Once we know how we can uniquely express that heart of what matters to Jesus, then our hearts can be aflame with his love for the world!

To do so, use you what you learned from the examination suggested above and then create our own CLIFF notes.

C – Clearly

L – Logically

I – Identifying

F – Faith-filled

F – Favorites

Instead of this year making another resolution around something you want to do better; this year I encourage you to mix things up and make a reSOULtion of how you will be more like Jesus this year. We encourage you to come back to us on the Feast of the Epiphany and after to present to us the big ahas from your own joyous exhortation. It will be a merry Christ-filled gift that you’ll be able savor, unwrap and present to others!

Janae Bower is an inspirational speaker, award-winning author, training consultant and founder of Finding IT.  Finding IT is an inspirational business specializing in personal and professional development to help others "Get It" - to the heart of what matters most in work and life. Through her books, products, speaking, trainings, consulting, retreats, fundraisers and online resources she inspires others to find more meaning, joy and balance for their lives. Her work, which has been presented nationally and featured locally on TV, resonates with people of all ages.  Janae has a Master’s degree in Human Resource Development from the University of St. Thomas and is adjunct faculty at other local universities in Minnesota. 

OF THE FATHER'S LOVE BEGOTTEN

CHRISTMAS DAY REFLECTION

 by: Msgr. Jeffery Steenson

 Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter 

Of the Father’s Love Begotten

Of the Father's love begotten, Ere the worlds began to be,

He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending he,

Of the things that are, that have been, And that

future years shall see, Evermore and evermore.

-- Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, 348-413 (Hymn 20]

         On Christmas Eve, we look imaginatively at Christ's birth from many perspectives.  We've heard the Christmas story from the point of view of Mary and Joseph, the Shepherds keeping watch over their flocks, the Wise Men journeying from afar, the Angels flying high over Bethlehem, the Innkeeper who turned the Holy Family away, wicked King Herod consumed with fear and jealousy, even the animals in the stable, and the manger itself.  But let us, as best as we can, letting the Scriptures be our guide, try to see this blessed event of the Birth of the Messiah from the Father's point of view.

         Prudentius, the author of this beautiful hymn, was one of the Church's first poets.  This Spaniard was a lawyer who turned from the glamour of public life to write Christian poetry, some four hundred years after the birth of Christ.  His hymn expresses the deep and mysterious truth of the Nativity -- "Of the Father's love begotten, Ere the worlds began to be."  Jesus Christ did not have a human father, because He has always existed eternally with the Heavenly Father.  Before the Old Testament, before Abraham, before Creation, the Son of God lived with the Father.  Everything else that was, that is, that will be, finds its life in Christ.  His appearance in Beth­le­hem, the Nativity, is part of God's everlasting plan.

         "For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only-Begotten Son ..."  As the Father looked down from Heaven on the night Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, He declares: "Here is My only Son, my gift to the world."   This was a gift with no strings attached, and the Father knew full well what it would mean.  All the Old Testament prophecies about the suffering of the Messiah make it perfectly clear that this was all factored into God's plan.  The Father willed for this to happen from the very beginning of man’s disobedience.  He has demonstrated His faithfulness for millenia, even when it might have been very tempting to give up on His fickle people.

         Tonight, as our Heavenly Father looks down on us, His Promise remains as true as ever -- "I will be your God and you shall be My people."  There is so much uncertainty about our lives, so many changes that threaten to overwhelm us, so much uncertainty about the future.  And yet here is a Promise we can really depend upon.  When we think of the Father in Heaven tonight, and His Son reigning with Him, let us think of the most extraordinary LOVE that binds them to each other and reaches out to us.

From Leo the Great’s Tome (449), the most important papal document ever:  

So without leaving his Father's glory behind, the Son of God comes down from his heavenly throne and enters the depths of our world, born in an unprecedented order by an unprecedented kind of birth.

In an unprecedented order, because one who is invisible at his own level was made visible at ours. The ungraspable willed to be grasped. Whilst remaining pre-existent, he begins to exist in time. The Lord of the universe veiled his measureless majesty and took on a servant's form. The God who knew no suffering did not despise becoming a suffering man, and, deathless as he is, to be subject to death.

By an unprecedented kind of birth, because it was inviolable virginity which supplied the material flesh without experiencing sexual desire. What was taken from the mother of the Lord was the nature without the guilt [of original sin].

     Putting aside for the moment the rich cultural themes of Christmas, let us go right to the heart of the matter.  Our Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, has written of how deeply disturbing the Incarnation is for the modern spirit; it is expected that God will remain in the spiritual realm, but He certainly does not belong in the material.  But this is precisely what God has done.  He has entered the world he made, the Creator now becomes the Redeemer, and what follows is a new creation (Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, pp. 56-57).   The Father sends His Son into the world to unite/sum up/recapitulate all things in him (Eph. 1:10).  It is fundamentally a new beginning, as God resets the clock and renews His creation.

         We who are baptized into Christ but who yet await the moment of our resurrection, live, as it were, with one foot in each created order.  The Church asks us to celibrate Christmas with this sense of anticipation of the wonderful healing, the joy, the perfection of life in all of its fullness, “a fundamental element of our faith and a radiant sign of hope” (p. 57).

Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson 

Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as first Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter on January 1, 2012. After 28 years as an Episcopal priest and Bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande, Msgr. Steenson was ordained a Catholic priest in 2009. He teaches Patristics at the University of St. Thomas and St. Mary's Seminary in Houston, TX