Catholic ID: The "Be" Attitude - Archdiocese of Milwaukee

For the Feast of Saints Peter & Paul, Year A

“The Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it.”

What does it feel like when you know you are relying on the Lord’s strength and not your own?

How will you listen to that inner voice so that you rely
more on the Lord?

(from clWeekly)

Saint Peter and Saint Paul, June 29

At this time of the year we are thinking of planting things or at least thinking about things we could have planted or did plant. We are not thinking of harvesting things yet, but actually some harvesting is taking place already if the weather has been cooperative. Farmers have hopefully started on their 1st crop of hay if they haven’t finished with it already. We are already visiting the Farmer’s Markets to take advantage of spring vegetables and fruits. The church celebrates the beginning of the harvest season with the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29th. They are remembered together for “beginning the ‘harvest of the church.” (1) And because of their harvest we are part of the crop, or God’s harvest.

You may want to celebrate these 2 saints by having a seafood meal, to honor St. Peter the fisherman, with a glass of grape juice (or wine) to honor St. Paul as he recommends in his epistle to Timothy (5:23), “Take a little … for your stomach’s sake.” Another way to celebrate SS. Peter and Paul is to make or buy fresh bread and share that with your family and/or friends. Bread is made with grain and we all know that is harvested before it can be made into bread.

As you celebrate SS Peter and Paul remember those who earn their living off of the harvest. Say a prayer that the weather will be kind to them this year when it is time to bring in their harvest as well as it grows and flourishes beforehand.
( 1 - Take Me Home, Liturgy Training Publications, 1991)

June 24 – Midsummer Nativity

June 24 is when we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist. Halfway between the beginning of spring and the beginning of autumn. It is also 6 months since Christmas and in turn that means in 6 months Christmas will return. June 24 is also 3 months from the time that Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth (John’s mother) who was then 6 months with child and right after the Annunciation when the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and she said yes to being the Mother of God.

This is the time of the year when daylight lasts the longest in the Northern Hemisphere. From now on daylight hours will begin to get shorter until Christmas time. And then we start all over again. Isn’t that amazing, as John the lamp that holds the light is born the light begins to decrease until Christmas time when Jesus the Light of the World is born and then the light increases again. Just as John is the lamp that holds the light so are we. When we are baptized we receive the light of Christ and we become the lamp that carries Jesus to all we meet.

In the past, a long, long, time ago, nighttime bonfires were lit in honor of St. John the Baptist. How can you celebrate this midsummer event? Do you have a fire pit, if you do you could have a bonfire and invite your friends over to celebrate. Or you could put luminarias out, don’t know what those are? They are paper bags with sand in the bottom and then a lit candle is placed in the sand, they can be put out to light the path to your door. If you don’t have a fire pit and do not want to fiddle with paper bags, sand and candles have a “bonfire” in your grill as you cook your evening meal and bless the fire with this prayer from “Take Me Home” published by Liturgical Press in 1991: “Oh God almighty, unfailing ray and source of light, sanctify this fire that we have kindled with joy at the birth of John, the herald of you Son, and grant that, after the darkness of this life, we may come to you, who are light eternal. Amen.”

Body and Blood of Christ , Year A

Bread for others

Reading I: Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16 (God’s care)
Reading II: 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 (the Eucharist vs. pagan sacrifices)
Gospel: John 6:51-58 (the living bread)

Key Passage: I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. (John 6:51)

Adult: What does it mean for you right now to be bread for others as Jesus was?
Child: In what ways can Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist help you do good things for others?
(from PastoralPlaning.com)

June – The month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. When I ran across this I thought to myself why didn’t I know this? But then the more I thought about it I realized that I did know this from my childhood. Why is it that some things we readily remember and others slip away maybe never to be retrieved or if we do retrieve them it is only with a not so gentle reminder? I don’t expect an answer to that just my mind rambling….

The Feast of the Sacred Heart has been in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar since 1856, and is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost. As Pentecost is always celebrated on Sunday, the Feast of the Sacred Heart always falls on a Friday. This make the feast day a moveable feast, but for the most part it always falls in June so that is why June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This year the date is June 27.

The name Sacred Heart of Jesus expresses what we know about Jesus. It represents the mystery surrounding Him, the sum of His being. We know his is the Son of God, the Word Incarnate and our Savior. Pope Benedict explained it like this: The Sacred Heart is a symbol "of the Christian faith that is especially dear, to ordinary people as well as to mystics and theologians, because it expresses the 'good news' of love in a simple and authentic way, encapsulating the mystery of Incarnation and Redemption." The Sacred Heart reminds us that Jesus is truly man and truly God.

“The heart is the center of a person, the place from which he/she makes the choices which will affect the world within them and around them. Devotion to the Heart of Jesus reminds us that it is in His Sacred Humanity that we find the pattern for becoming fully human ourselves. In His Incarnation, saving life, death and Resurrection, we receive both the pattern - and the means - to become more like Him. The Feast of the Sacred Heart reminds us of our mission in a Culture which has forgotten God. Let us spend the month of June in Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, lifting up our Nation, indeed the whole world, to the One in whom we place all of our trust. He will not disappoint; His Heart still beats with Mercy and Love for the world.” Taken from: http://www.catholic.org/homily/yearoffaith/story.php?id=51278 I found this on Catholic.org and it explains it way better than I can.

Planting Seeds

I tell the catechists all the time not to get too excited if the children they are working with don’t seem to be taking anything into their brains since they are planting seeds and the harvest may be many years in the offing. We never know when a seed we plant will burst into bloom we just patiently wait for it to happen.

This is the time of year people love to plant vegetable gardens, flower beds, patio pots etc. Do you plant a garden even if it is a patio pot? There is something so refreshing about picking fresh vegetables and then preparing them for yourself or your family that gives a person a feeling of being one with the earth. What about fresh flowers. I must admit those are my downfall, I have 5 and a half flower beds. The half one is a work in progress. Not that they all aren’t, but it is a new one. Flowers are easy to grow from seed and can be kept in pots or in the ground. Just think God gave us the earth to nurture and enjoy so we need to take advantage of that and do as he wanted.

When we grow vegetables or flowers they take a little bit of work too not just stick them in the dirt and hope for the best. We need to keep the weeds pulled so they don’t crowd out the good plants. Sometimes we even need to thin out the seedlings we have planted so the others can grow strong and produce a great yield. When we are tending to our gardens whatever form they take it is a good time to pray a blessing over the things we have planted and pray to God to watch over his creation with love and caring. In that short prayer we can also ask God to help us see the way that best works to take care of the earth he has given us to care for.

By the end of the summer perhaps even in time for Assumption Day in August we should be seeing benefits of our work with flowers blooming and vegetables forming for us to use as nourishment. Imagine that if this happens by planting seeds, bulbs or seedlings what will be waiting for us on the day of resurrection.