Catholic East Texas: Vol. 32 Issue 1

J E S US CHRIST: TEACHER & TRUTH

Volume 32 | Issue 1

Produced by the St. Philip Institute of Catechesis and Evangelization

Cover artwork: The Sacred Heart of Jesus, oil on Canvas by Robert Puschautz, Stabat Mater Art Fellow at the St. Philip Institute

Impressum Catholic East Texas (USPS 001726) is a publication of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler, produced by the St. Philip Institute of Catechesis and Evangelization: 1015 ESE Loop 323, Tyler, Texas 75701-9663. Telephone: 903-630-5055. Fax: 903534-1370. E-mail: Media@StPhilipInstitute.org. ÂŠ2019 St. Philip Institute.

Vo l u m e 3 2 - I s s u e 1 Publisher Most Rev. Joseph E. Strickland Bishop of Tyler Executive Editor Stacy Trasancos, Ph.D. Managing Editor Luke Heintschel, M.A. Director of Faith Formation Fr. Joshua Neu, S.S.L. Director of Family Life Deanna Johnston, M.A. Chaplain Fr. Matthew Stehling Design & Printing by TCM Printing

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: CET Subscriptions, 1015 ESE Loop 323, Tyler, TX 75701-9663 Published four times per year. Periodical postage paid at Tyler, Texas, and additional mailing office. Subscription is $25 per year. Please contact managing editor for advertising rates, deadlines, and information. The publisher and editor reserve the right to reject, omit, or edit any article or letter submitted for publication. The St. Philip Institute and/or the Catholic East Texas cannot be held liable or in any way responsible for the content of any advertisement printed herein. All claims, offers, guarantees, statements, etc., made by advertisers are solely the responsibility of the advertiser. Deceptive or misleading advertising is never knowingly accepted. Complaints regarding advertising should be made directly to the advertiser or the Better Business Bureau. All registered parishioners in the Diocese of Tyler may receive the Catholic East Texas magazine for free. If you are a member of a parish or mission in the Diocese and you are not receiving your free subscription to the magazine, please contact your parish/mission or contact the Diocese of Tyler so that we may add you to our mailing list. The Diocese of Tyler is committed to providing a safe environment for children and vulnerable adults. Please report any questions or concerns about the behavior of church personnel to the diocesan Promoter of Justice, 877-415-6423. All communications are confidential. The State of Texas requires that any suspicions of abuse of a minor be reported. Contact 800-252-5400.

Vo l u m e 3 2 - I s s u e 1

IN THIS ISSUE FROM BISHOP STRICKLAND

JESUS CHRIST:

TRUTH AND TEACHER 4

JESUS CHRIST: Truth and Teacher BIS HO P S T R I C KLAND

THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN CHRIST FR . J O S H U A N E U

STEALING PAST THE WATCHFUL DRAGONS: Jesus and the Movies N IC H OL A S W I LLE Y

REVIEW OF FR. GEORGE ELLIOTT’S Discernment Do’s and Don’ts: A Practical Guide to Vocational Discernment FR . M AT T H E W STE H LI NG

JESUS, LORD OF THE UNIVERSE, LORD OF OUR HOME M IKK I S C I B A

INTERVIEW WITH TYLER NATIVE SHAWN CARNEY, Founder of 40 Days for Life KE V IN K U K L A

JESUCRISTO: El Maestro y la Verdad

OB ISPO J OSEPH STR ICK L AND

LOS DONES DEL ESPÍRITU SANTO EN CRISTO PA DRE J OSH UA NEU

ROBANDO LOS DRAGONES VIGILANTES DEL PASADO: Jesús y las Películas N ICHOLAS W IL L EY

JESÚS, SEÑOR DEL UNIVERSO, SEÑOR DE NUESTRO HOGAR

MIK K I S CIBA

Dear East Texas Catholics, As the new Executive Director of Bishop Joseph Strickland’s St. Philip Institute of Catechesis and Evangelization in the Diocese of Tyler, I am also the new editor of the Catholic East Texas. I want to explain who we are, what we do, and why we publish this magazine. The St. Philip Institute was founded by Bishop Strickland when he issued his Constitution on Teaching the Catholic Faith. Our job is to produce the materials, training, and expertise to share Catholic teaching with everyone in this diocese, including nonCatholics. The Institute’s two primary departments are Faith Formation and Family Life. The Faith Formation Department produces the materials for teaching new converts and children. This year we are working on a package for parents to prepare for the Sacrament of Baptism, a new training program for catechists, and website with a full series of videos and quizzes that accompany The Way of Christ book. The Family Life Department organizes marriage formation and natural family planning seminars, retreats, and teaching events. These include the World Marriage Day Celebration, “Three to Get Married” retreats, and marriage enrichment conferences. In addition, the institute hosts talks such as the one on Eucharistic Miracles that I gave at the Cathedral Center. We are planning a Lenten series titled “Habits of Happiness” and a series of talks titled “When the Church Was Awesome!” We are also working on more books to publish. Bishop Strickland also placed the production of the Catholic East Texas magazine within the institute. He intends for this publication to be a tool of catechesis and evangelization. My job as director of the institute is to decide how this tool is used. I am a wife and mother. My goal for this magazine is to reach straight into your homes and lives and deliver the beauty of the Catholic faith. We strive to write articles that you can use to learn and share with your friends and family. This is not a magazine that merely comments on current events. It is, instead, meant to be timeless, something you can put on your bookshelf and keep. As the Bishop said, “This publication will serve as a touchstone, an anchor which every family member can return to as they journey in faith.” I tell our writers that the goal for every article is to change lives. I hope you find that we meet our goal. The magazine is published quarterly and funded by the Diocese of Tyler. The subscription rate is $25 per year for those outside the diocese, but every registered parishioner in the Diocese of Tyler is eligible for a free subscription. Please let us know if you would like to sign up for, or maintain, your subscription by filling out either the online form or mailing in the cut-out form below. Gratefully in Christ, Stacy Trasancos, Ph.D. Executive Director, St. Philip Institute

INSTITUTE DAY

EDUCATING AT THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN SCIENCE & RELIGION

FAITH AND SCIENCE DO THEY CONTRADICT?

Stephen Barr, Ph.D.

Stacy Trasancos, Ph.D.

Cory Hayes, Ph.D.

Luke Heintschel, M.A.

The Myth of Conflict (Friday) Catholicism and Evolution

Completing the Scientific Revolution

Galileo and the Church

Archaeology and Faith

Friday, April 5, 2019 Dinner Lecture, 6:30PM

Potpouri House Adults: $25, space limited, register today

Saturday, April 6, 2019 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM

Sts. Peter and Paul Chapel, Tyler, TX Adults: $15, teens come free, Lunch included

For more information and registration, please visit StPhilipInstitute.org/events This event is made possible through the generous support of the Diocese of Tyler, the St. Philip Institute of Catechesis and Evangelization, the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and the Koch Foundation.

NOURISHING THE CATHOLIC IMAGINATION. RENEWING THE CHURCH.

JESUS CHRIST: Teacher and Truth BISHOP JOSEPH STRICKLAND In the New Testament, we find many titles for our Lord. He is the Christ (or Messiah), the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Word, the King of kings, the great high priest, and many more. One that speaks to me is his title as “teacher.” We find Jesus referred to as “teacher” by many people in the Gospels, including Jesus himself. Jesus’ enemies call him teacher in verses like Matthew 9:11. The disciples call Jesus their teacher in John 1:38. Jesus identifies himself as our teacher in John 13:13. I launched the St. Philip Institute to teach the Catholic Faith more effectively in our diocese and beyond; so it would be good to meditate on Jesus’ role as teacher, as well as what that means for our lives. This is Eternal Life (John 17:3) I’ve presided over more than a few weddings, mostly as a priest before I became a bishop. One thing pretty much all those happy couples had in common was that they spent time getting to know each other. A man and woman get to know each other deeply before they enter into the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. The love between them is born from their knowledge of one another. Our Lord wants this kind of relationship with us; he wants a relationship built on mutual knowledge, like a good marriage. Of course, he knows us better than we could ever hope to know ourselves. In order to love him in return, we must know him. Jesus says, in the Gospel according to St. Luke, that you must love God with “all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27). Real love of God is born from knowledge of God. This is why God reveals himself to us: he loves us and wants us to love him. He also calls us to be disciples. That word “disciple” means “learner” or “student.” Our role as Christians is to study at the foot of our master teacher: Jesus Christ. We cannot love God unless we learn about him, unless we become disciples. The more we learn about him, the more we are able to love him. This is why our whole lives should be devoted to learning more about Jesus Christ, so that we can come to love him more. In addition, coming to know God more and more gets us closer to heaven. Jesus says that eternal life is knowing the only true God. They will all be taught by God (John 6:45) We are taught by God in three primary ways: first by creation, second by revelation, and third by instruction. St. Paul says, “Ever

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IN GOD’S VERY ACT OF CREATING THE UNIVERSE, HE REVEALS HIMSELF AS A LOVING GOD.

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since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20). In God’s very act of creating the universe, he reveals himself as a loving God. The simple things in the natural world teach us about his beauty and majesty. I think especially of an east Texas sunrise in the winter. The frost glistens in the new day’s sunlight shining through the pine trees. The silent beauty of this new dawn can be breathtaking. We can also learn about his existence by reasoning about the universe and existence itself. It takes plenty of work to reason all the way to the right conclusions, however. Coming to knowledge of God through reasoning about nature is difficult. It requires a lot of intellectual heavy-lifting. Even though we should clearly perceive his eternal glory and majesty through the things he has created, often times we do not. St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologiae I. 1.1) gives three reasons why that is the case: •• not many people will actually put the intellectual work in to finding out about God; •• those who do put the work in will take a long time to come to knowledge of God; •• and that knowledge of God will be mixed in with errors about him as well. Because of these things, God also reveals himself to us. He used human beings as instruments with which to write the books of the Old and New Testaments. He didn’t force them, nor did he dictate to them. He used their free will and personal styles to have written everything he wanted written for the sake of our salvation. God is a real author of Scripture, and in fact he is the primary author, but he employed the intellect and will of free human beings to get this done. He also reveals himself in the Sacred Tradition handed on to us from the Apostles. We especially find this tradition in the Liturgy, but also in doctrines held in seed form from the beginning of the Church’s long history. He who has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9) The ultimate revelation of God is his incarnate Son. In Jesus Christ, we learn more about God than in any written book. Jesus is both the Truth and the Teacher. He is the Truth because he is God himself. The Letter to the

mission of running the Church, especially in teaching people the Truth (Matthew 28:19-20), which is handing on Jesus Christ himself to God’s people. Then they appointed others to succeed them in this teaching mission. Those men appointed others, and on until the present day. This is the role of all Christians, but in a special way, it is my responsibility as Bishop, as successor to the Apostles, to hand on the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles.

Hebrews opens with these words: In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the ages. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. (Hebrews 1:1-3)

The Holy Spirit… will teach you all things (John 14:26) When he left the Apostles and their successors to run the Church, Jesus didn’t leave them alone. The second way Jesus teaches us is as God. As God, he can do what no human teacher can: he can teach us interiorly. As man, Jesus teaches exteriorly by presenting us with the Truth. As God, he can actually illuminate our minds and hearts from within our soul. He does this by giving us his Holy Spirit, especially through the Sacraments. Jesus promised that he would send the Holy Spirit for this exact purpose:

God’s revelation in Jesus Christ is full and complete. By knowing Jesus, the divine second person of the Holy Trinity, we know God himself. This is why Jesus calls himself “the Truth” (John 14:6). Jesus himself is the content of what God wants to teach us. Not only is he the content of the teaching, Jesus is also the teacher par excellence. He teaches us in two primary ways: he teaches us as a man, and he teaches us as God. The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority (John 14:10) We find Jesus teaching as man when we hear the content of his preaching. This is why it is so important to read Scripture. St. Jerome says, “ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Most especially, I encourage all in the Diocese of Tyler to meditate on the Gospels every day. Attending daily Mass is a marvelous way to enter deeply into the content of Jesus’ teaching on a regular basis. In the Mass, we hear the teachings of Christ in the Gospel, but also that teaching is handed on to us by the priest in his homily.

These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:25-26) The Holy Spirit then illumines our minds and moves us closer to the Truth. In the Sacraments, we receive God’s grace; we receive his very life. God gives us life by living in us. Even here on earth, we receive the eternal life of God through the Sacraments of the Church. With God living in us, he teaches us about himself in a profound way, by illuminating our minds. This is the most intimate form of knowing God. This is the principle way here on earth in which we can love God with our whole minds.

In the Mass, the priest teaches explicitly through his homily and implicitly through his care and fidelity in the celebration. If you cannot attend daily Mass, just reading a few verses out of the Gospels each day is a healthy habit to acquire, and doesn’t take too much time.

Heaven is nothing more than knowing and loving God. This is how we get there, even before we die: in the frequent partaking of the Sacraments, we come to know God intimately as our beloved. And in those Sacraments, we come to know deeper that profound love God has for each of us. In the context of the Eucharist, we hear these words on the lips of our Lord:

The Gospels also give us stories of Jesus teaching by example. He teaches about his divinity by walking on the water. He teaches about his humanity by eating with his disciples. Most importantly, he teaches about the profound love of God, and what love looks like, by going to the cross to suffer and die for our sins.

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3)

Jesus taught his Apostles in a unique way. They heard the content of his preaching, as did the crowds, but he also explained it to them on a deeper level in private. Jesus took three years to form these men into ministers of his new covenant before ascending to the Father. Jesus then left the Apostles with the

Most Reverend Joseph E. Strickland Bishop of Tyler

THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN CHRIST FATHER JOSHUA NEU This passage prophesies one who is to come, one upon whom the Spirit will rest. That “one who is to come” has arrived. He is Jesus the Christ. So the rest of the passage describes the type of Spirit that rests upon Christ.

As we study Christology and strive to know Christ more perfectly, let’s take it from a different angle, the Holy Spirit and His seven gifts. One Gift and Seven Gifts When giving the sacrament of confirmation, the Bishop says to the person being confirmed, “Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.” We could also translate this as “Be sealed with the Gift that is the Holy Spirit.” The person is being strengthened, or “confirmed,” in the Gift of the Holy Spirit by receiving the Holy Spirit. With the Gift of the Holy Spirit comes another set of gifts, which we call the “gifts of the Holy Spirit.” There are seven: wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord. So when we are confirmed, we are strengthened by the Gift that is the Holy Spirit, with the result that we receive His sevenfold gifts.

Jesus Christ possesses the gifts of the Holy Spirit most fully, to the highest degree that a human can. The Catechism of the Catholic Church confirms: “The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They belong in their fullness to Christ, Son of David” (CCC 1831). All of this raises a few questions: What exactly are the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Why did Jesus need the gifts of the Holy Spirit? What is their role in the life of the average Catholic? The Gifts of the Holy Spirit It can be tough to pin down just what sort of thing these seven gifts are. For example, we know that wisdom is a virtue, but fear is not a virtue, even though both are gifts of the Holy Spirit. To know why Jesus had the gifts of the Holy Spirit and why we need them, we have to narrow down just what they are in the first place.

These seven gifts are mentioned in the Greek version of Isaiah 11:1-3, which reads: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of piety, and his delight will be in the fear of the Lord.

The term “gift” is itself a helpful hint. Where there is a gift,

They make us more human, more perfectly what God wants us to be. They make us docile to God by perfecting us as humans.

there must be a giver. The giver is, of course, God the Holy Spirit. The next helpful hint comes in the verses from Isaiah mentioned above, in which the gifts are described as spirits. When we receive the gifts, we receive the “spirit of wisdom” and the “spirit of fortitude.” Use of the word “spirit” suggests that the gifts are a form of inspiration. When someone is inspired by God, like the Biblical writers were inspired, that means God is moving them to know something or do something. God is working in them to move them toward knowledge and love.

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God is working in them to move them toward knowledge and love.”

Jesus, then, filled with the Holy Spirit, had sails on his ship, the gifts of the Holy Spirit. As God, Jesus can do all he wills. As man, Jesus is moved by Holy Spirit like wind blowing on the sails of a ship. With all that, Jesus’ human knowledge and love are perfected, he definitely does all that he wills.

What about Me? Throughout Jesus’ life on earth, he was moved the Holy Spirit through the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit that he had. We who are baptized, and especially we who are confirmed, have the same gifts of the Holy Spirit. We have been given the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord. With these gifts, the Holy Spirit can move us to do his will.

So this is where we end up in our brief study of what the gifts are: the gifts of the Holy Spirit are dispositions that God gives us by which he can move us to greater acts of the intellect and the will, even beyond what we could do all by ourselves. If that’s too technical, think of it in terms of a ship sailing on the sea. You are the ship. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are the sails. And Holy Spirit is the wind blowing the sails. God gives us these sails so that he can move us in the direction he wants us to go.

At the same time, this may not always be totally obvious. The Holy Spirit, like the wind, is invisible, and also like the wind, his effects are usually subtle and only sometimes dramatic. While we shouldn’t pretend to see dramatic movements of the Holy Spirit frequently, we can nevertheless have confidence that the Holy Spirit will guide us through the gifts we have received from him, if we are in a state of grace, pray and receive the sacraments often, believe the teachings of the Church, and strive to follow the law of God.

Jesus and the Gifts Since Jesus is both God and man, it would seem like he doesn’t need any extra help to go where God wants him to go. The gifts of the Holy Spirit would be unnecessary and superfluous since Jesus can do everything he wants to do already.

That is a great formula for imitating Jesus and doing God’s will. Be sure to remain in a state of grace, pray and receive the sacraments often, believe the teachings of the Church, and strive to follow the law of God. When we are doing all these things and asking the Holy Spirit to move us by his seven gifts, we can go confidently toward the throne of grace.

And yet, Jesus himself possessed the gifts of the Holy Spirit more than any of us. Luke 4:1 tells us “And Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert.” Jesus was filled with the Gift that is the Holy Spirit, so Jesus possessed the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit to the full. While Jesus, as God, has the power to do all he wills, Jesus’ divinity does not subsume his humanity. That means that Jesus isn’t any less human because he is God. Rather, Jesus’ humanity is perfected. Every human being can be perfected by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including Jesus. Those gifts like wisdom, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord don’t make us less human.

FATHER JOSHUA NEU 8

Now Available!

Museum quality glicee prints of paintings by the sacred artist for the St. Philip Institute and Diocese of Tyler, Robert Puschautz, are now available to purchase online. Robert is a classically trained artist who works primarily with oil paint. Through the generosity of an anonymous donor, Robert is being commissioned by Bishop Joseph Strickland to paint beautiful works of art to adorn Churches in the Diocese of Tyler. Now you can bring these paintings home! The Immaculate Conception, 2018 Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Tyler, TX

Visit StPhilipInstitute.org/Store to buy one for your home. Robert Puschautz painting in his studio

Redemptoris Mater Chapel John Paul II Catholic Campus Ministry Tyler, TX

STEALING PAST THE WATCHFUL DRAGONS: Jesus and the Movies NICHOLAS WILLEY On the 7th of May, 1989, the great Pope St. John Paul II gave a short address at the Vatican on the subject of the Church’s relationship with media. During that message he said these words: “The question confronting the Church today is not any longer whether the man in the street can grasp a religious message, but how to employ the communications media so as to let him have the full impact of the gospel message” (“Religion in the Mass Media”, 5). The Pope was keenly aware of the growing influence of all forms of media and how widespread and influential they would come to be in forming the minds and imaginations of future generations. And he was right: communications media may be the best way to say what needs to be said to the modern culture. The Challenge We’re all familiar with the Parable of the Sower. Jesus tells a story in the Gospels of a man who sows some seeds in the earth. Some seeds fall on rocky ground, some fall among thorns, and others on the wayside. These seeds do not yield a good crop. Some seeds, however, fall in rich soil, and these seeds grow to yield a good crop, “some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:8). Jesus goes on to explain to his disciples the meaning of the story. The sower is the one who proclaims the Good News; the seed is the Good News itself; the various surfaces are the different responses of those who hear the Good News. Many reject it or do not receive it well, and so the Good News does not have a chance to grow and flourish in them. Those represented by the rich soil receive the Good News, nourish it, and thus lead flourishing and fruitful lives. We live in a Christian culture here in East Texas. Situated in the Bible Belt, we are well positioned to be good soil, open and receptive to the Good News Jesus came to give us. Often, however, living in the midst of a Christian culture can actually make it harder to receive the Good News. There is a human tendency to take the familiar for granted and become desensitized to it. Paradoxically, it can be harder to truly come to know and love Christ in a culture with a church on every corner than in a secular culture where the life-giving value of the Gospel can be clearly seen in contrast with its absence. The challenge for those of us living in the Diocese of Tyler, then, is how to truly be ‘good soil’ for the Gospel. Somehow,

Then of course the Man in me began to have his turn. I thought I saw how stories of this kind could steal past a certain inhibition which had paralysed much of my own religion in childhood. Why did one find it so hard to feel as one was told one ought to feel about God or about the sufferings of Christ? I thought that the chief reason was that one was told one ought to. An obligation to feel can freeze feelings. And reverence itself did harm… But supposing that by casting all these things into an imaginary world, stripping then of their stained-glass and Sunday school associations, one could make them for the first time appear in their real potency? Could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons? I thought one could. C.S. Lewis

Lewis’ observation here is remarkably simple, and yet it is profound in its implications. Put in different words, he is saying that a well-told story can pass through the head to touch the heart. It can help us experience the truth of the Gospel in a way that mere words cannot. Once we understand the transcendency of stories over mere words, we are in a better position to fully appreciate Pope John Paul’s statement:

we need to learn to see the Gospel anew, in all of its splendor. This is our challenge. C. S. Lewis’ Insight I think that Catholic media—Catholic film in particular—is one answer to this challenge. C. S. Lewis, well-known and loved among Christian thinkers of the last century for his works of Christian apologetics, is mostly remembered in popular culture for his series of children’s books: The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis was a storyteller; he loved stories. He also believed they had real value in conveying religious themes.

The question confronting the Church today is not any longer whether the man in the street can grasp a religious message, but how to employ the communications media so as to let him have the full impact of the gospel message.” A good film, combining the power of story with visual media, is perhaps the perfect medium to steal past the watchful dragon of familiarity and touch the heart.

The Chronicles of Narnia is an allegory. The lion, Aslan, represents Jesus. In the first book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Aslan dies in place of Edmund, who represents sinful humanity, and then comes back to life after he has been killed. It is literally the story of Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection in the form of an allegorical fantasy. Now, it is important to note that Lewis did not set out to write a Christian allegory at first. The Narnia chronicles started with an image that Lewis could not get out of his head. In an essay that he wrote, entitled, “Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s To Be Said”, Lewis explains how Narnia came about:

Case in Point The religious potential of film, then, lies in its power to cut through the head to the heart. In this way it is a particularly suitable solution to the challenges of a Christian culture like ours where the obstacle is combatting desensitized faith, a faith which too easily may think it knows all that Christ has to offer.

Some people seem to think that I began by asking myself how I could say something about Christianity to children… This is all pure moonshine. I couldn’t write in that way at all. Everything began with images; a faun carrying an umbrella, a queen on a sledge, a magnificent lion. At first there wasn’t even anything Christian about them; that element pushed itself of its own accord. It was part of the bubbling. (C. S. Lewis, On Stories. New York: Harper Collins, 1982)

A movie that illustrates what Pope John Paul and C. S. Lewis were getting at is the 1959 epic, Ben-Hur. Starring one of the great Hollywood stars of the era, Charlton Heston, the film tells the story of Judah, a man living in 1st century Israel whose life is profoundly impacted by encountering Jesus of Nazareth. The film is widely acknowledged as one of the best films in American cinema. Ben-Hur features compelling characters, exciting action sequences, a great soundtrack, and much more to recommend it. What makes the film significant for our purposes, however, is the relationship of the central character to Jesus, and more specifically, how the filmmakers chose to portray Christ.

This should not surprise us. Lewis was a true storyteller, not a propagandist. True art does not begin with an agenda: it wells up from the heart and imagination of the artist. Then, in inevitable succession, the beliefs and worldview of the storyteller will be infused into those raw materials. It is at this point, as Narnia begins to take shape and Lewis begins seeing the religious potential of his ideas, that he makes the discovery we have been looking for.

Fascinatingly, we never see Jesus’ face. In the scenes in which Jesus is present, we only ever see him turned away from the camera. By shooting the character of Jesus this way, the filmmakers focus our attention on how Jesus affects those around him. This was a bold creative choice, but it is incredibly effective. After all, no actor playing the role of Jesus can ever do it justice. To play the Son of God is an impossible undertaking. The

employed appropriate technological advancement in service of the Gospel, and our interconnected world provides the latest of these opportunities. The Institute will employ these techniques in service of the mission of the Diocese. (Constitution on Teaching, 2:8)

filmmakers chose to leave the image of God Incarnate to our imagination, to inspire our imagination. In the words of C. S. Lewis, they made Jesus “appear for the first time in [his] real potency.” Through a reverent yet new and bold portrayal of the person of Jesus and the way in which he affected those with whom he came in contact, the filmmakers allow us, the viewers, to experience “the full impact of the gospel message.”

I strongly believe that one way to incorporate the Bishop’s mandate is through film: to combine the power of visual media with the inherent power of story in order to communicate the riches of the Gospel in a compelling way. I want the St Philip Institute to pioneer the way in the use of narrative media for the New Evangelization. By using film to tell stories that convey an authentically Catholic worldview, we will be responding to the call to engage with the media in service of the Gospel.

Conclusion It is time for us to take the words of Pope John Paul to heart and to act on them. Those of us who care about communicating the riches of the Gospel cannot afford to ignore the power and importance of visual media. Here at the St. Philip Institute of Catechesis and Evangelization, communicating the riches of the Gospel is a task near and dear to our hearts, and in his Constitution on Teaching, Bishop Strickland emphasized the importance of the communications media in this work:

We need to Catholicize our entertainment, to make and view films which direct us to the Divine and allow them to cut us to the heart. Perhaps then we will come to see the Gospel anew, to revitalize our Christian culture, and become good soil which allows the Gospel to grow and bear its fruit in our lives.

I desire that the Institute take the best techniques from the world of media to enhance teaching in the Diocese... technology has provided myriad means of direct engagement, and the Institute will make use of these tools. The Church has always

NICHOLAS WILLEY

FIVE WAYS A GIFT ANNUITY CAN BENEFIT YOU and Help You Leave a Lasting Catholic Legacy… Mark Henry, JD, Secretary, Stewardship and Development, Diocese of Tyler

Have you considered the benefits of obtaining a gift annuity with the Diocese of Tyler? 1. Attractive Rates. Mrs. Adams is 75 years old and is receiving a modest income from her Certificate of Deposit. She is currently receiving 0.59% percent annually on her CD. When the CD matures in two months, she plans to obtain a Diocese of Tyler gift annuity and start receiving 6.2 percent. Gift annuity rates are very attractive for older friends of the Diocese of Tyler. Many folks in their retirement years are pleased when they compare their current low investment rates with the current annuity rates offered by the Diocese of Tyler. 2. Tax-Free Payments. Part of each annuity payment is tax-free. The tax-free portion of the annuity payment is considered “return of principal” and continues through your estimated life expectancy. 3. Income Tax Deduction. Because a charitable gift annuity is partly a gift and partly an investment in an annuity contract, the donor is entitled to an income tax deduction for the gift portion of his or her annuity, as allowed by IRS rules. 4. Fixed Regular Payments. It’s nice to be able to count on a specific amount of payment no matter what happens in the volatile financial markets. Your annuity payments will not change from year to year. And your check will be mailed to you (or direct deposited) every payment date for the rest of your life. 5. Personal Satisfaction. Perhaps the greatest benefit of a Diocese of Tyler gift annuity is personal fulfillment you receive by helping the Church. Your gift annuity helps the Church make a difference in the lives of others.

There are additional reasons for obtaining a gift annuity. Some like the idea of reducing the size of their estate, thus lowering potential estate taxes. Others like the ease and simplicity of gift annuity transactions. People with highly appreciated stock can also benefit from a gift annuity. They particularly like the partial bypass of capital gains they receive. With a gift annuity, you can achieve your financial goals, reduce your taxes and leave a lasting legacy to support your East Texas Catholic Community. Whatever the reason, you owe it to yourself to find out more about charitable gift annuities. To obtain a personalized illustration, fill out and return the coupon below. Or contact Mark Henry in our Stewardship and Development Department at 903-534-1077. (Please complete and return this reply form) YES, I am interested in a personalized gift annuity illustration. Please mail the illustration to me. Please contact me to arrange for a visit. Name:___________________________________________ Street address:____________________________________ City:________________ State:________ Zip:____________ Telephone:_________________ Email:_________________ Information needed to complete illustration (confidential) Name and birthdate of person to receive annuity payments: _______________________________ B/D:_______________ Amount to be used for illustration: ($25,000 min.)_________ Type of asset:___cash ____ stocks/bonds _____ Mail this form to: Diocese of Tyler, Attn: Mark Henry 1015 E. Southeast Loop 323, Tyler Texas 75703

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We greatly appreciate our generous friends who support the Church through gift annuities or by remembering us in their estate plans. If you would like more information, ideas, or help with charitable planning, please call Mark Henry, J.D. at (903) 534-1077 x 200, email him at mhenry@dioceseoftyler.org or get ideas on what type of legacy you can leave at www.etcflegacy.org.

Did you know?

St. Gregory (est. 1946) and Bishop Gorman (est. 1958) Catholic Schools are the oldest established private schools in Tyler. The Class of 2018 was offered over 7 million dollars in college scholarships. Over 30 Bishop Gorman students have been recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program since 2004. The majority of St. Gregory 4th and 5th grade students are annually recognized by the Duke Scholar program. St. Gregory and Bishop Gorman are recognized schools by the National Catholic Board on Full Inclusion.

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REVIEW OF FR. GEORGE ELLIOTT’S Discernment Do’s and Don’ts: A Practical Guide to Vocational Discernment FR. MATTHEW STEHLING God, a literal booming voice from heaven, before deciding what vocational path to take. Fr. Elliott’s steps, rather, help young people to hear “the still, small voice” that God often uses to speak to us. Taking our natural personality traits, strengths and weaknesses, and our own interests and abilities into account, God calls each of us a path he has planned out for us. As St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us, grace builds on nature.

I would like to introduce to you a new book, Discernment Do’s and Don’ts: A Practical Guide to Vocational Discernment (TAN Books, 2018). This is is a great book that I highly, highly recommend. My own discernment process before I entered seminary was a bit unguided; I wish I had had this book back then. For the sake of full disclosure, I have to first say that I know the author of the book. Fr. George Elliott is a priest of the Diocese of Tyler and is currently assigned as Pastor of Sacred Heart in Nacogdoches. I studied with Fr. Elliott in Rome and have known him since I entered the Diocese as a Seminarian twelve years ago. (I promise he didn’t pay me to say nice things.)

Each step is accompanied by a short reallife story from Fr. Elliott’s own experience. He then explains the way in which a person can implement the step in his or her own life, drawing from many saints and the traditions of the Church. He then gives the practical Do’s and Don’ts. These are short reminders of how to approach each step and what pitfalls to avoid as we implement the step. There are also discussion/reflection questions at the end of each chapter, making this ideal for use in Bible study or youth groups and for personal reflection or journalling.

All Catholic young people go through, even if unconsciously, a process of discernment as they decide what path to take in their lives. When we hear the word “discernment” however, what comes to mind for most people is the religious life, becoming a Priest, or Nun, or Monk. This book is not intended only for those seeking to enter into the religious life but those seeking to enter any vocation, married or celibate. Young people’s options are seemingly endless, and that can create a sense of overload and paralysis. Many young people just can’t make up their minds about which path to take because there are too many choices and too many voices pulling in different directions.

If you are looking for something to give as a graduation gift to a friend or family member, this small book should be on the list. At just under one hundred pages, it’s a very quick and accessible book for any young person. If you’re a young person not sure what you want to do with your life, these steps will help you discover God’s will for you.

Fr. Elliott gives several straightforward, simple, and practical steps to better understanding God’s call for you in your life. Too often the discernment process is clouded in mysticism or rooted too heavily on emotion. We may wait for a glaring sign from

“

I have one criticism of the book, the title. I suggest he re-title the book in the next printing, Every High School Graduate Should Read This Book.

As St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us, grace builds on nature.” 15

JESUS, LORD OF THE UNIVERSE, LORD OF OUR HOME MIKKI SCIBA Throughout life we have been presented with a variety of questions. Some were light and easy while others were more difficult and complex. Can you think of a question you had to answer that would change your life forever? Jesus proposed the most important question of all time to his apostles centuries ago, and he sets it before you this day. Each person’s response will guide the course of his or her life both here on earth and for all eternity. What is the question that Jesus asks? It is found in the Gospel of Mark. He asks, “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29) This question invokes an intimately personal response. I encourage everyone reading this to reflect upon and write down their answer. Peter responds with a declaration that should be our own, “You are the Christ.” The word “Christ” comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah”, which means “anointed one”.

What exactly is Jesus anointed to do and what does that mean for individuals and families? The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: It became the name proper to Jesus only because he accomplished perfectly the divine mission that "Christ" signifies. In effect, in Israel those consecrated to God for a mission that he gave were anointed in his name. This was the case for kings, for priests and, in rare instances, for prophets. This had to be the case all the more so for the Messiah whom God would send to inaugurate his kingdom definitively. It was necessary that the Messiah be anointed by the Spirit of the Lord at once as king and priest, and also as prophet. Thus, Jesus fulfilled the messianic hope of Israel in his threefold office of priest, prophet and king. (CCC 436)

All baptized individuals are incorporated into the life of Christ and therefore are called to share in his three-fold mission. “Jesus Christ is the one whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and established as priest, prophet, and king. The whole People of God participates in these three offices of Christ and bears the responsibilities for mission and service that flow from them” (CCC 783). Parents have a unique responsibility for introducing this mission to their children and providing a culture in the home that fosters a deep realization and execution of this divine calling. Let’s explore each of these divine missions and how families can incorporate them into daily living.

in your house. Seeing sacred objects draws us to sacred truths; be generous in your use of these religious items. The faithful also encounter Christ through the sacraments for the grace of God flows abundantly through them. Frequent reception of the sacrament of reconciliation allows us to encounter the immeasurable mercy of God. Participating in the Eucharistic Sacrifice as a family during Mass on Sundays and feast days is powerful for the soul’s progression in the spiritual life. Through this sacrament we are intimately united with Christ and spiritually nourished. Eucharistic Adoration is an extension of the worship of our Lord.

You are Part of the Common Priesthood A priest serves as a mediator between God and humans and offers sacrifice to God on behalf of others. Parents can fulfill their priestly mission by creating a culture in the home where encounters with Christ occur daily. We experience the presence of Christ in his Word, in prayer, and in the sacraments, most especially the Eucharist. The world our children are exposed to can be hostile towards holiness. Make your home a sanctuary of the sacred, a place of spiritual retreat and refreshment. Become a family rooted in Scripture. Place a Bible in a prominent place, read it together, memorize Bible verses, and have family Bible studies or discussions.

Plan regular visits or make impromptu visits to an adoration chapel or church to spend time in the presence of Christ. Jesus, the high priest, offered his body on the cross and in the Eucharist. A beautiful yet challenging element of family life is its sacrificial nature in imitation of Jesus. Romans 12:1 says, “...present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Work on creating an environment in the home where each member of your family can learn to grow daily in sacrificial love for each other, even when it’s difficult.

Establish a regular daily prayer routine with the family. Jesus tells us, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). The Church provides a richness of various forms of prayer like the Divine Office, recitation of the Rosary, grace before and after meals, novenas, and chaplets. Finding a rhythm of prayer that works with the many demands of family life may take some time. But persevere! People find time to do what is most important. If we are ever too busy to pray, then we are far too busy. The greatest of saints had the same amount of time in a day as we do. The big question is how we choose to prioritize our time.

You are a Prophet A prophet is a messenger of the Lord and proclaims God’s truth to his people. There may be this idea that the role of prophet is reserved only for a chosen few, but all baptized persons are anointed as prophets called to proclaim the gospel through word and deed. A child’s first exposure to the Gospel happens in the home. Parents exercise their prophetic mission by being the primary teachers of the faith to their children. I worked in education for eleven years and, speaking from my own experience, teaching was incredibly difficult if I did not have knowledge of the subject matter. Participating in faith formation opportunities, religious education classes, and reading spiritual writings are a great way to grow in knowledge of the faith.

Fill your home with items you may find in a church: a small holy water holder at the entrance of your home; religious candles; images of Christ, the Blessed Mother and the saints; and religious/ prayer books. Create a small home altar or designated prayer space

Our children learn many things through our own actions. Living an authentic Catholic faith and following the teachings of the Church will be a compelling prophetic witness for your children. Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in self-denial, sound judgment, and self-mastery...Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children. By knowing how to acknowledge their own failings to their children, parents will be better able to guide and correct them. (CCC 2223) The prophets of old also went out to the people and shared God’s Word. Provide opportunities for your children to practice actively sharing God’s message. Having them read a Bible story and re-telling it to you is a good introduction to proclaiming

God’s Word. Encourage them to reach out and invite others to your home to celebrate feast days, host Bible studies, or prayer events. Evangelizing can be intimidating, but parents can inspire confidence by being an example and offering encouragement and support to their children.

in our lives and allowing truth, grace, holiness, and charity to prevail. If you want your children to pray, you pray. If you want them to be gentle, patient, and kind; you must be gentle, patient, and kind. If you want them to love God, you must love God. They must see God’s love in action through you.

It is also important to teach your children that sharing God’s message is not always popular. Many times prophets, including Jesus, were not well received among the people. They suffered persecution for what was right. Jesus warned his disciples that they would be like “lambs in the midst of wolves” (Luke 10:3). Fear of persecution and suffering is a great silencer of speaking truth. Do not be afraid for we have been given the Church with a wealth of grace which flows from Christ through her. We are also surrounded by a cloud of heavenly witness who boldly proclaimed God’s truth—Jesus, his Blessed Mother and all the angels and Saints in heaven—whom we can rely on for assistance.

The undertaking of rearing your family is an endeavour of the utmost importance. Imagine what the world could become if all Christian families made Jesus the Lord of their homes by participating in his three-fold mission as priest, prophet and king. Who do you say Jesus is? How you answer will shape the culture of your family life. God wants to infuse supernatural life into your home. Suffering and death was not the end of Jesus’ story. He rose from the dead! He is a God of resurrection and new life. Whatever the condition of your current family life, Christ can claim it, resurrect it and breathe new life into it. You must first begin by uttering these words, “You are the Christ.”

You are Royal A king is one who holds authority and serves as lord over a certain area or people. In order to understand our kingly mission, we must understand the type of king Jesus is. He is not a dictator or tyrant who lords his power over his people. Christ says in Matthew 20:28 that “the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Jesus, the Lord and King of all, made himself a servant to all. A family rooted in service to God, its members, and to God’s people is a kingly family.

MIKKI SCIBA

Practicing the spiritual and corporal works of mercy is a good way of involving your family in some type of service on a regular basis. Parents, your kingdom is your home. You have full control to create the rules, expectations, and structure of your home life. The environment established in your home matters because it speaks the truth of what you value. As parents you have tremendous power to create an environment at home that says, “Jesus is the King and Lord of this house.” The governing of your home should orient your children towards a life in Christ where they can flourish in the faith and love of God. Do your best to remove obstacles that are obstructing your child’s view of Christ. Yes, some tough decisions will have to be made about friend groups and what is allowed in the home regarding pop culture and modern society. Great care should be taken in decisions about appropriate TV shows, music, movies, social media and time spent on technology. And yes, your children may at times vehemently disagree with you and even profess their disdain for the rules of your home, but God has placed these precious souls in your care to guard, protect, and lead to Jesus. The culture in your home needs to be more powerful than the culture outside the home. The “do as I say not as I do” model is not effective. Parents are called to lead by example. Participating in the kingship of Christ involves overcoming the reign of sin

INTERVIEW WITH TYLER NATIVE SHAWN CARNEY, Founder of 40 Days for Life Kevin Kukla In July 2004, Shawn Carney sat at a table with three others and prayed for an end to abortion in their town, Bryan-College Station, Texas. The result, however, impacted much more than their local community. Shawn Carney founded the 40 Days for Life prayer campaign, which has changed the whole world. The group planned a one-time, 40-day prayer vigil outside their local Planned Parenthood for fall of that year, but the idea spread. In time, communities from around the nation and the world organized their own 40 Days for Life prayer campaigns. Since 2004, twenty-two total prayer campaigns have occurred in 816 cities from fifty-six countries. That adds up to a total of 6,020

individual prayer vigils involving about 750,000 individuals who prayed peacefully outside local abortion facilitiesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;all intent on ending abortion. Where 40 Days for Life prayer vigils have taken place 12,256 unborn babiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lives have been saved, 186 abortion workers have left their jobs, and 99 abortion facilities (and many more abortion referral centers) have closed their doors. The program asks communities to commit to prayer, fasting, and community outreach in an ecumenical effort to end abortion. The results speak for themselves.

meet my teenage son!” There, right in front of him, was a life that had been saved because of a commitment to prayer.

For the first time ever, a 40 Days for Life prayer campaign will be held in Shawn Carney’s hometown, Tyler, Texas. The Catholic East Texas had the opportunity to interview Shawn.

Shawn says it was a beautiful and unexpected moment. “That really reminds us that, yes, we are fighting for unborn babies, but when we do that we are fighting for toddlers, and kindergarteners, and teenagers, and future moms and dads and grandparents. There is nothing more at stake than there is with an abortion, because there is nothing more sacred than a human life.”

When asked what gets him out of bed each morning to continue the pro-life effort even after fifteen years, Shawn said that it is because of the value of human life. “I think it’s the sense of urgency that comes with every abortion. Every single abortion ends an innocent human being. And no matter how long I have done this, I have never felt burnt out from the root of what we are fighting for. If I didn’t do this work, this thought would consume me.”

Shawn attended Catholic schools in Tyler from Kindergarten at St. Gregory Cathedral School through high school at Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Catholic high school in Tyler. He says his interest in the pro-life movement was piqued by the Irish priests at the school who so joyfully defended the sanctity of the human person. Shawn says these priests had such a profound influence on him that he once had plans to become a priest himself, and he attributes his work and who he has become largely to his Catholic education.

Shawn, who is a father of seven, recounts an unforgettable story he experienced last year in Tyler when he was there to give a talk for CARE Ministries (Christ-Centered Abortion Recovery & Education). He met a mother who had driven to the Bryan Planned Parenthood in the fall of 2004, during the first-ever 40 Days for Life prayer vigil that Shawn and his friends had organized. The mother told Shawn that on that day after seeing the people praying, she turned around and decided not to abort her child. The mother had never contacted any 40 Days for Life staff members; in fact, she had never told anyone what she had almost done. Then she said to Shawn, “But now I want you to

Although he considers himself to have been a “terrible” student at Gorman, Shawn thinks that parents take a huge risk by not giving their kids a Catholic education; parents want their

“

It’s tremendous to see what God does with the smallest of our ef for ts.”

kids to have the best possible education. “The way to do that,” he says, “is to give them the fullness of the faith, and to, yes, prepare their minds, but also prepare their souls for what is a very hostile culture we are sending them out into.”

and Tyler Junior College. Shawn expressed his gratitude for the people of Tyler—and especially for Bishop Joseph Strickland—for committing to the 40 Days for Life campaign. “It is going to have a tremendous, tremendous impact,” he says.

He acknowledges that the family is under attack and that the Church is the ultimate guardian of the family. “Our Lord came into the world through a family, and now it has been beaten to death the last 50 years,” he said. Shawn calls on Catholics living in 2019 “to restore and to defend the beauty and the joy that is the family because without the family our country doesn’t have a future.” Fundamentally, abortion destroys the family.

For those nervous to join the prayer vigil outside Planned Parenthood, Shawn has some advice. “I was terrified to go out to pray outside a Planned Parenthood my first time. I think everyone is—that just makes you normal! We have to overcome this with prayer and conviction.” He reminds us that a vigil is not a protest. It’s peaceful, it’s law-abiding. Without people present to pray, an abortion facility has no peace and no obedience to God’s laws. Shawn knows from experience. “It’s tremendous to see what God does with the smallest of our efforts.”

Carney attended Texas A&M University after Gorman and met his future wife, Marilisa. She convinced him to pray outside their local Planned Parenthood for the first time while they were in college. Being on the front lines of the spiritual battle had a tremendous impact on Shawn. “I remember my heart being broken in a whole new way, because I saw my peers, 18-, 19-yearold couples going in and having an abortion. At that point, I felt deeply grateful for my Catholic education and formation.” In a culture where abortion is legal and available, young people can be easily led into evil. Shawn recalls the way his peers looked that day. “The relief that they thought would be there was absolutely nowhere to be found. It was written all over their faces. It really convicted me as a young man to just do more in the pro-life movement.”

Please find out more about the 40 Days for Life campaign in Tyler at this website: 40daysforlife.com/tyler, and sign up to pray for at least one hour outside the Planned Parenthood abortion referral center, located at 601 Turtle Creek Dr, Tyler, TX 75701. The prayer vigil will last from March 6th through April 14th, 2019, 7 am through 7 pm each day. Kevin Kukla is a happy husband and proud father living in the Diocese of Tyler. He freelances for Catholic and pro-life organizations and has appeared on numerous Catholic media outlets. Subscribe to his blog at ProLife365.com, where you will receive a free ebook endorsed by Bishop Joseph Strickland.

Shawn Carney would go on to eventually lead the Coalition for Life in Bryan/College Station, which became the 40 Days for Life organization. When asked why 40 Days for Life has been successful all these years, Shawn says, “It has given people the ability to defend life where they live.” 40 Days for Life is an invitation to confront abortion prayerfully, peacefully, and legally. The presence of confident pro-life advocates gives hurt and lost souls a chance to turn around, including those who work in the abortion industry.” Shawn says that Tyler is perfect for a 40 Days for Life campaign. There are plenty of people here who want to do something about abortion in our nation and state. There are no abortion facilities in Tyler, but Planned Parenthood plans to expand its business. Shawn has heard that Tyler is specifically being targeted by Planned Parenthood to add a surgical abortion center in this city because of the growth of the University of Texas at Tyler

Estimados Católicos del Este de Texas, Como nueva Directora Ejecutiva del Instituto San Felipe de Catequesis y Evangelización del Obispo Joseph Strickland en la Diócesis de Tyler, también soy la nueva editora de Catholic East Texas. Deseo explicar quiénes somos, qué hacemos, y porque publicamos esta revista. El Instituto san Felipe fue fundado por el Obispo Strickland cuando publicó su Constitución en Enseñanza de la Fe Católica. Nuestro trabajo es producir los materiales, entrenamiento, y experiencia para compartir la enseñanza Católica con todos en esta diócesis, incluyendo a los no Católicos. Los dos departamentos principales del Instituto son Formación de Fe y Vida Familiar. El Departamento de Formación de fe produce los materiales para enseñar a los nuevos convertidos y a niños. Este año estamos trabajando en un paquete para padres para prepararlos para el Sacramento del Bautismo, un nuevo programa de entrenamiento para catequistas, y página red con una serie completa de videos y cuestionarios que acompañan el libro El Camino de Cristo. El Departamento de Vida Familiar organiza la formación matrimonial y seminarios de planificación familiar natural, retiros, y eventos de enseñanza. Estos incluyen el Día Mundial de Celebración Matrimonial, “Son Tres los que se Casan” retiros, y conferencias de enriquecimiento matrimonial. Además, el instituto organiza charlas tales como la de Milagros Eucarísticos que yo ofrecí en Centro Catedrático. Estamos planeando una serie de Cuaresma titulada “Hábitos de Felicidad” y una serie de charlas titulada “¡Cuando la Iglesia Era Impresionante!” También estamos trabajando en más libros para publicar. El Obispo Strickland también puso la producción de la revista Catholic East Texas dentro del instituto. Él tiene la intención para que esta publicación sea una herramienta de catequesis y evangelización. Mi trabajo como directora del instituto es decidir cómo se usa esta herramienta. Yo soy esposa y madre. Mi meta para esta revista es llegar directo a sus hogares y vidas al enviar la belleza de la Fe Católica. Nos esforzamos para escribir artículos que usted pueda usar para aprender y compartir con sus amigos y familia. Esta no es una revista que sólo comenta los eventos recientes. En su lugar, tiene la intención de ser eterna, algo que usted puede tener en su librero y conservar. Como el Obispo dijo, “Esta publicación servirá como una piedra de toque, un ancla en la que cada miembro de la familia pueda volver en su caminar en la fe.” Yo les digo a los escritores que la meta para cada artículo es cambiar vidas. Espero que descubra que cumplimos nuestra meta. La tarifa de suscripción es $25 por año, sin embargo cada feligrés registrado en la diócesis es elegible para una suscripción gratis. Por favor avísenos si usted se quiere anotar, o mantener, su suscripción al llenar una de dos, la forma en línea o mandando por correo la forma de recorte posterior. Agradecidamente en Cristo, Stacy Trasancos, Ph.D. Directora Ejecutiva, Instituto San Felipe

JESUCRISTO: El Maestro y la Verdad OBISPO JOSEPH STRICKLAND En el Nuevo Testamento, encontramos muchos títulos para nuestro Señor. Él es el Cristo (o Mesías), el Hijo del Hombre, el Hijo de Dios, la Palabra, el Rey de reyes, el sumo sacerdote, y muchos más. Uno que me habla a mi es su título como “Maestro.” Encontramos a Jesús referido como “maestro” por mucha gente en los Evangelios, incluyendo al mismo Jesús. Los enemigos de Jesús lo llaman maestro en versículos tales como Mateo 9:11. Los discípulos llaman a Jesús su maestro en Juan 1:38. Jesús se identifica a sí mismo como un maestro en Juan 13:13. Yo inicie el Instituto San Felipe para enseñar más efectivamente la Fe Católica en nuestra diócesis y más allá; por lo tanto sería bueno meditar en el papel de Jesús como maestro, al igual de lo que significa para nuestras vidas. Esta es la Vida Eterna (Juan 17:3) Yo he oficiado más de unos cuantos matrimonios, principalmente como sacerdote antes de ser un obispo. Una cosa que casi todas las felices parejas tenían en común era que pasaban tiempo para llegar a conocerse el uno al otro. Un hombre y una mujer llegan a conocerse el uno al otro profundamente antes de entrar al Sacramento del Santo Matrimonio. El amor entre ellos nace de su conocimiento del uno al otro. El Señor quiere esta clase de relación con nosotros; él quiere una relación edificada en el conocimiento mutuo, como en un buen matrimonio. Por supuesto, él nos conoce mejor de lo que nosotros podríamos esperar conocernos a sí mismos. Para poder amarlo en cambio, debemos conocerlo. Jesús dice, en el Evangelio según san Lucas, como debemos amar a Dios “con todo tu corazón, con toda tu alma, con todas tus fuerzas, y con todo tu espíritu” (Lucas 10:27). El amor real de Dios nace del conocimiento a Dios. Es por esto que Dios se revela a sí mismo a nosotros: él nos ama y quiere que nosotros lo amemos. Él también nos llama para ser discípulos. La palabra “discípulo” significa “aprendiz” o “estudiante.” Nuestro papel como cristianos es estudiar a los pies de nuestro dueño y maestro; Jesucristo. Nosotros no podemos amar a Dios al menos que aprendamos de él, a menos que seamos discípulos. Entre más aprendemos de él, lo más que somos capaces de amarlo. Es por esto que todas nuestras vidas deben ser devotas a aprender más de Jesucristo, y así podamos llegar a amarlo más. Además, el llegar a conocer más a Dios nos acerca al cielo más y más. Jesús dice que la vida eterna es conocer al único Dios verdadero.

Todos serán instruidos por Dios (Juan 6:45) Somos instruidos por Dios en tres maneras principales: primero por la creación, segundo por la revelación, y tercero por la instrucción. San Pablo dice, “Ya que sus atributos invisibles, su poder eterno y su divinidad, se hacen visibles a los ojos de la inteligencia, desde la creación del mundo, por medio de sus obras” (Romanos1:20). En la propia obra de Dios de crear el universo, se revela a sí mismo como un Dios amoroso. Las cosas simples en el mundo natural nos enseñan belleza y majestad. Yo pienso especialmente en la salida del sol en el este de Texas en el invierno. La escarcha que brilla con la luz del sol del nuevo día a través de los pinos. La apacible belleza del nuevo amanecer puede ser asombrosa. También podemos aprender sobre su existencia al analizar el universo y la misma existencia. Sin embargo toma mucho trabajo para analizarlo todo hasta las conclusiones correctas. Llegar a conocer a Dios por medio del razonamiento acerca de la naturaleza es difícil. Requiere levantar muchas pesas intelectuales. Aunque nosotros debemos claramente percibir su eterna gloria y majestad por las cosas que él ha creado, con frecuencia no lo hacemos. Santo Tomás de Aquino da tres razones porque es ese el caso: •• En realidad no muchas personas pondrán su trabajo intelecto en descubrir acerca de Dios; •• Aquellos que si ponen su trabajo les tomará mucho tiempo para llegar a conocer a Dios; •• Y ese conocimiento de Dios también será mezclado en errores sobre él. Debido a estas cosas, Dios también se revela a sí mismo para nosotros. Él usa seres humanos como instrumentos con los cuales se escriben los libros del Antiguo y Nuevo Testamentos. Él no los obligó, tampoco se los dictó. Él usó su libre albedrío y estilos personales para tener por escrito todo lo que él quería escrito por el bien de nuestra salvación. Dios es un autor real de la Escritura, y de hecho él es el autor principal pero él, empleó el intelecto y voluntad de seres humanos para hacerlo. Él también se revela a sí mismo en la Tradición Sagrada pasada a nosotros por los Apóstoles. Especialmente encontramos esta tradición en la Liturgia, pero también en las doctrinas llevadas en forma de semilla desde el principio de la larga historia de la Iglesia. El que me ha visto, ha visto al Padre (Juan 14:9) La revelación fundamental de Dios es su Hijo encarnado. En Jesucristo, aprendemos más de Dios que en ningún libro escrito. Jesús es ambos la Verdad y el Maestro. Él es la Verdad porque él es Dios mismo. La Carta a los Hebreos inicia con estas palabras, Después de haber hablado antiguamente a nuestros padres por medio de los Profetas, en muchas ocasiones y de diversas maneras; ahora, en este tiempo final, Dios nos habló por medio de su Hijo, a quien constituyó heredero de todas las cosas y por

mi responsabilidad como Obispo, como sucesor de los Apóstoles, de pasar las enseñanzas de Jesús y los Apóstoles.

quien hizo el mundo. Él es el resplandor de su gloria y la impronta de su ser. El sostiene el universo con su Palabra poderosa. (Hebreos1:1-3)

El Espíritu Santo… les enseñará todo (Juan 14:26) Cuando él dejó a los Apóstoles y sus sucesores para dirigir la Iglesia, Jesús no los dejó solos. La segunda manera como Jesús nos enseña es como Dios. Como Dios, él puede hacer lo que no puede hacer un maestro humano: él nos puede enseñar interiormente. Como hombre, Jesús enseña exteriormente al presentarnos con la Verdad. Como Dios, él puede en realidad iluminar nuestras mentes y corazones desde dentro de nuestra alma. Hace esto al darnos su Espíritu Santo, especialmente por los Sacramentos. Jesús prometió que enviaría al Espíritu Santo para este exacto propósito:

La revelación de Dios en Jesucristo es plena y completa. Al conocer a Jesús, la segunda divina persona de la Santísima Trinidad, conocemos a Dios mismo. Es por esto que Jesús se llama a sí mismo “la Verdad” (Juan 14:6). Jesús mismo es el contenido de lo que Dios quiere enseñarnos. No sólo él es el contenido de la enseñanza, Jesús es también el maestro por excelencia. Él nos enseña en dos maneras principales: nos enseña como un hombre, y nos enseña como Dios. Las palabras que yo les digo no son mías (Juan 14:10) Encontramos a Jesús enseñando como hombre cuando escuchamos el contenido de su predicación. Es por esto que es tan importante leer la Escritura. San Jerónimo dice, “la ignorancia de las escrituras es la ignorancia de Cristo.” Más especialmente, yo animo a todos en la Diócesis de Tyler a meditar en los Evangelios todos los días. Asistir a la Misa diaria es una manera maravillosa para entrar profundamente en el contenido de la enseñanza de Jesús en una base regular. En la Misa, escuchamos las enseñanzas de Cristo en el Evangelio, pero también esa enseñanza es transmitida a nosotros por el sacerdote en su homilía.

Yo les digo estas cosas mientras permanezco con ustedes. Pero el Paráclito, el Espíritu Santo, que el Padre enviará en mi Nombre, les enseñará todo y les recordará lo que les he dicho. (Juan 14:25-26) El Espíritu Santo entonces ilumina nuestras mentes y nos acerca más a la Verdad. En los Sacramentos, recibimos la gracia de Dios; recibimos su misma vida. Dios nos da la vida al vivir en nosotros. Incluso aquí en la tierra, recibimos la vida eterna de Dios por medio de los Sacramentos de la Iglesia. Con Dios viviendo en nosotros, nos enseña sobre el mismo en una manera profunda, iluminando nuestras mentes. Esta es la forma más íntima de conocer a Dios. Esta es la manera principal aquí en la tierra en la que podemos amar a Dios con todo nuestro ser.

En la Misa, el sacerdote enseña explícitamente por su homilía e implícitamente por su cuidado y fidelidad en la celebración. Si usted no puede asistir a Misa diariamente, sólo leyendo algunos versículos de los Evangelios cada día es un hábito saludable para adquirir, y no toma mucho tiempo. Los Evangelios también nos dan historias de Jesús enseñando por ejemplo. Él nos enseña sobre su divinidad al caminar sobre el agua. Nos enseña sobre su humanidad al comer con sus discípulos. De mayor importancia, nos enseña sobre el profundo amor a Dios, y como es el amor, al ir a la cruz para sufrir y morir por nuestros pecados.

El cielo no es nada más que conocer y amar a Dios. Así es como llegamos allá, incluso antes de morir: en la frecuente participación de los Sacramentos, llegamos a conocer a Dios íntimamente como nuestro amado. Y en esos Sacramentos, llegamos a conocer más adentro el profundo amor que Dios tiene para cada uno de nosotros. En el contexto de la Eucaristía, escuchamos estas palabras de los labios de nuestro Señor:

Jesús enseñó a sus Apóstoles en una manera única. Ellos escucharon el contenido de sus predicación, como lo hicieron las multitudes, sin embargo a ellos se las explicó en un nivel más profundo en privado. Le tomó a Jesús tres años para formar a estos hombres en ministros de su nueva alianza antes de ascender al Padre. Entonces Jesús dejo a los Apóstoles con la misión de dirigir la Iglesia, especialmente enseñando a la gente la Verdad (Mateo 28:19-20), lo cual es transmitido por el mismo Jesucristo para el pueblo de Dios. Luego ellos asignaron a otros para ser sus sucesores en esta misión de enseñanza. Aquellos hombres asignaron a otros, y así hasta el día presente. Este es el papel de todos los cristianos, pero de una manera especial, es

Esta es la Vida eterna: que te conozcan a ti, el único Dios verdadero, y a tu Enviado, Jesucristo. (Juan 17:3)

Su Excelencia Reverendísima Joseph E. Strickland Obisbo de Tyler

LOS DONES DEL ESPÍRITU SANTO EN CRISTO PADRE JOSHUA NEU Este pasaje profetisa al que ha de venir, uno sobre quien el Espíritu reposará. Aquel “que ha de venir” ha llegado. Él es Jesús el Cristo. Por eso el resto del pasaje describe el tipo de Espíritu que reposa sobre Cristo.

Al estudiar Cristología y el esfuerzo para conocer a Cristo más perfectamente, vamos a tomarlo desde un angulo diferente, el Espíritu Santo y sus siete dones. Un Don y Siete Dones Cuando se da el sacramento de la confirmación, el Obispo le dice a la persona que va a ser confirmada, “Recibe por esta señal el Don del Espíritu Santo.” También podemos traducir esto como “Recibe por esta señal el Don que es el Espíritu Santo.” La persona está siendo fortalecida, o “confirmada,” en el Don del Espíritu Santo al recibir al Espíritu Santo. Con el Don del Espíritu Santo viene otro grupo de dones, los que llamamos los “dones de Espíritu Santo.” Son siete: sabiduría, inteligencia, entendimiento, consejo, fortaleza, piedad, y temor de Dios. Por lo tanto cuando somos confirmados, somos fortalecidos por el Don que es el Espíritu Santo, con el resultado de que recibimos sus siete sagrados dones.

Jesucristo posee los dones del Espíritu Santo más plenamente, en el grado más alto que un humano puede poseerlos. El Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica confirma: “Los siete dones del Espíritu Santo son sabiduría, inteligencia, consejo, fortaleza, ciencia, piedad, y temor de Dios. Ellos pertenecen en su plenitud a Cristo, Hijo de David” (CCC 1831). Todo esto trae algunas preguntas: ¿Que son exactamente los dones del Espíritu Santo? ¿Porque Jesús necesitó los dones del Espíritu Santo? ¿Cuál es su papel en la vida del promedio Católico? Los Dones del Espíritu Santo Puede ser difícil precisar lo que este tipo de cosas son estos siete dones. Por ejemplo, sabemos que la sabiduría es una virtud, pero el temor no es una virtud, aunque ambos son dones del Espíritu Santo. Para saber porque Jesús tenía los dones del Espíritu Santo y porque los necesitamos nosotros, tenemos que precisar los que en realidad son en primer lugar.

Estos siete dones son mencionados en la versión griega de Isaías 11:1-3, que se lee: Saldrá una rama del tronco de Jesé y un retoño brotará de sus raíces. Sobre él reposará el espíritu del Señor: espíritu de sabiduría y de inteligencia, espíritu de consejo y de fortaleza, espíritu de ciencia y de temor del Señor.

lo que Dios quiere que seamos. Nos hacen dóciles para Dios al perfeccionarnos como humanos.

El término “don” es por sí mismo una clave útil. Donde hay un don, tiene que haber un donatario. El donatario es, por supuesto, Dios el Espíritu Santo.

Jesús, entonces, lleno con el Espíritu Santo, ha navegado en su barco, los dones del Espíritu Santo. Como Dios, Jesús puede hacer todo lo que desea. Como hombre, Jesús es movido por el Espíritu Santo como el viento soplando en las velas del barco. Con todo eso, la inteligencia humana y el amor de Jesús son perfeccionados, el definitivamente hace todo lo que desea.

La siguiente clave útil viene en los versículos de Isaías mencionados anteriormente, en los que los dones son descritos como espíritus. Cuando recibimos los dones, recibimos el “espíritu de sabiduría” y el “espíritu de fortaleza.” Usamos la palabra “espíritu” indicando que los dones son una forma de inspiración. Cuando alguien es inspirado por Dios, como los escritores Bíblicos fueron inspirados, eso significa que Dios los está moviendo a ellos para saber algo o hacer algo. Dios está obrando en ellos para moverlos hacia entendimiento y amor.

¿Qué hay de mí? Durante la vida de Jesús en la tierra, él fue sido movido por el Espíritu Santo por los siete dones del Espíritu Santo que él tenía. Nosotros los que estamos bautizados, y especialmente los que estamos confirmados, tenemos los mismos dones del Espíritu Santo. Se nos ha dado el don de sabiduría, inteligencia, entendimiento, consejo, fortaleza, piedad y temor de Dios. Con estos dones, el Espíritu Santo nos puede mover para hacer su voluntad.

Entonces esto es donde terminamos en nuestro breve estudio de lo que son los dones: los del Espíritu Santo son disposiciones que Dios nos da por las cuales nos puede mover para hechos más grandes de entendimiento y voluntad, incluso más allá de lo que nosotros podemos hacer por sí mismos. Si eso es muy técnico, píenselo en términos de un barco navegando por el mar. Usted es el barco. Los dones del Espíritu Santo son las velas. Y el Espíritu Santo es el viento que sopla las velas. Dios nos da estas velas para movernos en la dirección que él quiere que vallamos.

Al mismo tiempo, esto no puede ser siempre totalmente obvio. El Espíritu Santo, como el viento, es invisible, y también como el viento, sus efectos son usualmente sutiles y sólo algunas veces dramáticos. Aunque nosotros no debemos fingir mirar movimientos dramáticos del Espíritu Santo frecuentemente, sin embargo podemos tener confianza que el Espíritu Santo nos guiará por los dones que hemos recibido de él, si estamos en estado de gracia, oramos y recibimos con frecuencia los sacramento, creemos en las enseñanzas de la Iglesia, y nos esforzamos para obedecer la ley de Dios.

Jesús y los Dones Ya que Jesús es ambos Dios y hombre, parecería que no necesita ninguna ayuda extra para ir a donde Dios quiere que valla. Los dones del Espíritu Santo serian innecesarios y excesivos porque Jesús ya puede hacer todo lo que él quiera hacer.

Esa es una gran fórmula para imitar a Jesús y hacer la voluntad de Dios. Asegúrese de estar en estado de gracia, orar y recibir con frecuencia los sacramentos, creer en las enseñanzas de la Iglesia, y esforzarse por obedecer la ley de Dios. Cuando estamos haciendo todas estas cosas y le pedimos al Espíritu Santo que nos mueva por sus siete dones, podemos ir confidentemente hacia el trono de la gracia.

Y aun así, Jesús mismo tenía los dones del Espíritu Santo más que cualquiera de nosotros. Lucas 4:1 nos dice “Jesús, lleno del Espíritu Santo, regresó de las orillas del Jordán y fue conducido por el Espíritu al desierto.” Jesús estaba lleno con el Don que es el Espíritu Santo, por lo tanto Jesús tenía los siete dones del Espíritu Santo para estar lleno. Aunque Jesús, como Dios, tiene el poder para hacer todo lo que sea su voluntad, la divinidad de Jesús no incorpora su humanidad. Esto significa que Jesús no es menos humano porque él es Dios. Más bien, la humanidad de Jesús es perfeccionada. Cada ser humano puede ser perfeccionado con por los dones del Espíritu Santo, incluyendo Jesús. Aquellos dones como sabiduría, inteligencia, piedad y temor de Dios no nos hacen menos humanos. Nos hacen más humanos, más perfectamente para

PADRE JOSHUA NEU 27

ROBANDO LOS DRAGONES VIGILANTES DEL PASADO: Jesús y las Películas NICHOLAS WILLEY

El 7 de mayo de 1989, el gran Papa San Juan Pablo II dio un pequeño discurso en el Vaticano en el tema de la relación de la Iglesia con los medios de comunicación. Durante ese mensaje él dijo estas palabras: La cuestión que hoy se plantea para la Iglesia ya no es la de saber si el hombre de la calle todavía puede percibir un mensaje religioso, sino la de encontrar los mejores lenguajes de comunicación que le permitan dar todo su impacto al mensaje evangélico” (“La Religión en los Mass Media”, 5). El Papa estaba muy consciente de la creciente influencia de todas las formas del medio y que extendidos e influénciales serían al formar las mentes e imaginaciones de futuras generaciones. Y él tenía razón: los medios de comunicación pueden ser la mejor manera para decir lo que se necesita en la cultura moderna. El reto Todos conocemos la Parábola del Sembrador. Jesús cuenta la historia en los Evangelios de un hombre que salió a sembrar semillas en la tierra. Algunas semillas cayeron en terreno pedregoso, algunas entre espinas, y otras al borde del camino. Estas semillas no dieron una buena cosecha. Algunas semillas, sin embargo, cayeron en tierra buena, y estas semillas dieron un buena cosecha, “unas dieron cien, otras sesenta y otras treinta” (Mateo 13:8). Jesús continúa y explica a sus discípulos el significado de la historia. El sembrador es aquel que proclama la buena noticia; la semilla es la buena noticia por si misma; las varias superficies son las respuestas diferentes de aquellos que escuchan la buena noticia. Muchos la rechazan o no la reciben bien, y por lo tanto la buena nueva no tiene oportunidad de crecer y florecer en ellos. Aquellos que representan la tierra buena reciben la buena nueva, la nutren, y eso la guía a florecer y fructificar en su vida. Nosotros vivimos en una cultura cristiana aquí en el Este de Texas. Situados en el Cinturón Bíblico, estamos en buena posición para ser tierra buena, dispuestos y receptivos a la buena noticia que

Algunas personas suelen pensar que empecé preguntándome como podía decir algo acerca del cristianismo a los niños… Esto es puras pamplinas. Yo no podía escribir de esa manera para nada. Todo empezó con imágenes; un fauno llevando una sombrilla, una reina en un trineo, un león magnifico. Al principio no había nada de cristiano en ellos; ese elemento se empujó a sí mismo en su propio acuerdo. Era parte de las burbujas. (C. S. Lewis, On Stories. New York: Harper Collins, 1982) Esto no nos debe sorprender. Lewis era un verdadero cuentista, no un propagandista. El arte verdadero no empieza con una agenda: este brota del corazón y la imaginación del artista. Luego, en una sucesión inevitable, las creencias y la visión del mundo del cuentista serán infundidas en la materia prima. Es en este punto, cuando Narnia empieza a tomar forma y Lewis empieza a mirar el potencial religioso de sus ideas, que hace el descubrimiento de lo que hemos estado buscando.

C.S. Lewis

Jesús nos vino a dar. Sin embargo, con frecuencia, viviendo en medio de una cultura cristiana puede de hecho hacer más difícil recibir la buena nueva. Hay una tendencia humana de tomar lo familiar por hecho y nos hacemos desensibilizados a ella. Paradójicamente, puede ser más difícil verdaderamente llegar a conocer el amor de Cristo en una cultura con una iglesia en cada esquina que en una cultura secular donde el diario vivir valora el Evangelio puedes ser verdaderamente visto en contraste con su ausencia. El reto para aquellos de nosotros que vivimos en la Diócesis de Tyler, entonces, es como ser verdaderamente ‘buena tierra’ para el Evangelio. De algún modo, necesitamos aprender para ver el Evangelio renovado, en todo su esplendor. Este es nuestro reto.

Entonces por supuesto el hombre en mi empezó a tener su turno. Pensé yo mire como los cuentos de este tipo pueden robar el pasado de cierta inhibición que ha paralizado mucho de mi propia religión en mi infancia. ¿Porque uno encuentra tan difícil sentir lo que se le ha dicho que debemos sentir sobre Dios o sobre los sufrimientos de Cristo? Yo pensé que la razón principal era que se nos decía que teníamos sentirlo. Una obligación para sentirlo puede congelar los sentimientos. Y la reverencia por si misma hizo daño… Pero suponiendo que al emitir todas estas cosas en un mundo imaginario, tirándolos de la vidriera y las asociaciones de la doctrina, ¿Puede uno hacerlas por primera vez aparecer en su potencia real? ¿No puede uno robarse esos dragones vigilantes del pasado? Yo creí que uno si puede.

La Visión de C. S. Lewis Yo creo que la media Católica—filmes Católicos en particular— es una respuesta a este reto. C. S. Lewis, muy conocido y amado entre los pensadores cristianos del último siglo por sus obras de apologéticas cristianas, es mayormente recordado en la cultura popular por sus series de libros infantiles: The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis era un historiador; le encantaban los cuentos. El también creía que tenían un valor real al transmitir temas religiosos.

La observación de Lewis aquí es remarcablemente simple, y aun así es profunda en sus implicaciones. Puesta en diferentes palabras, él está diciendo que un cuento bien narrado puede pasar de la cabeza a tocar el corazón. Puede ayudarnos a experimentar la verdad del Evangelio en una menara que solo las palabras no pueden. Una vez que entendemos la transcendencia de los cuentos sobre sólo palabras, estamos en una mejor posición para apreciar plenamente la declaración del Papa Juan Pablo: “La cuestión que hoy se plantea para la Iglesia ya no es la de saber si el hombre de la calle todavía puede percibir un mensaje religioso, sino la de encontrar los mejores lenguajes de comunicación que le permitan dar todo su impacto al mensaje evangélico.”

The Chronicles of Narnia es un emblema. El león, Aslan, representa a Jesús. En el primer libro, El león, la bruja, y el armario, Aslan muere en lugar de Edmund, que representa a la humanidad pecadora, y luego regresa a la vida después de que le dieron muerte. Esto es literalmente la historia de la Pasión, Muerte y Resurrección de Jesús en la forma de una fantasía alegórica. Ahora, es importante denotar que Lewis no se propusó escribir emblemas cristianos al principio. Las crónicas de Narnia empezaron con una imagen que Lewis no podía sacar de su mente. En una composición que el escribió, titulado, “Algunas veces los cuentos de hadas pueden decir mejor lo que se necesita decir”, Lewis explica como surgió Narnia:

Una buena película, combinando el poder de la historia con el medio visual, es quizás el medio perfecto para robar los dragones vigilantes conocidos del pasado y tocar el corazón. El caso en punto

El potencial religioso de las películas, entonces, está en su poder para cortar de la mente al corazón. En esta manera es particularmente una solución adecuada para los desafíos de la cultura cristiana como la nuestra donde el obstáculo es combatir la fe desensibilizada, una fe que muy fácilmente puede creer que conoce todo lo que Cristo tiene para ofrecer. Una película que ilustra a lo que el Papa Juan Pablo y C. S. Lewis estaban entendiendo es la épica de 1959, BenHur. Protagonizada por uno de las grandes estrellas de Hollywood de la era, Charlton Heston, la película cuenta la historia de Judas, un hombre que vivía en Israel en el siglo I cuya vida es impactada profundamente al encontrarse con Jesús de Nazaret. La película es conocida ampliamente como una de las mejores en el cinema Americano. Ben-Hur caracteriza personajes irresistibles, secuencias de acción emocionante, un gran sonido de fondo y mucho más para recomendarla. Los que hace la película significativa para nuestros propósitos, sin embargo, es la relación del personaje principal a Jesús, y más específicamente, como los productores eligen representar a Cristo. Fascinantemente, nosotros nunca miramos el rostro de Jesús. En las escenas en que Jesús está presente, sólo lo vemos volteado alejado de la cámara. Al filmar al personaje de Jesús en esta manera, los productores centran nuestra atención en como Jesús afecta a aquellos que lo rodean. Esta fue una elección creativa simple, pero es increíblemente efectiva. Después de todo, ningún actor llevando el papel de Jesús puede hacerlo siempre justamente. El actuar al Hijo de Dios es imposible conseguirlo. Los productores eligen dejar la imagen del Dios encarnado a nuestra imaginación, para inspirar nuestra imaginación. En las palabras de C. S. Lewis, hacen a Jesús “aparecer por primera vez en [su] potencia real.” A través de una representación reverente y aun así nueva y simple de la persona de Jesús y la manera como el afecto a aquellos con los que vino a estar, los productores nos permiten, a los espectadores, experimentar “el impacto pleno del mensaje del evangelio.”

preocupamos por comunicar las riquezas del Evangelio no podemos darnos el lujo de ignorar el poder y la importancia de medios visuales. Aquí en Instituto san Felipe de Catequesis y Evangelización, comunicando las riquezas del Evangelio es la tarea próxima y apreciada para nuestros corazones, y en su Constitución de Enseñanza, el Obispo Strickland enfatizo la importancia de los medios de comunicación en esta obra: Yo deseo que el Instituto tome las mejores técnicas del mundo de los medios de comunicación para mejorar la enseñanza en la Diócesis… la tecnología ha proporcionado innumerables medios de compromiso directo, y el Instituto hará uso de estas herramientas. La Iglesia siempre ha empleado avance tecnológico apropiado en el servicio al Evangelio, y nuestro mundo interconectado provee las últimas de estas oportunidades. El Instituto empleará estas técnicas en servicio para la misión de la Diócesis. (Constitución en Enseñanza, 2:8) Yo creo firmemente que una manera para incorporar el mandato del Obispo es a través de películas: para combinar el poder del medio visual con el poder inherente de la historia para comunicar las riquezas del Evangelio en una manera irresistible. Yo quiero que el Instituto san Felipe sea el pionero en la manera de usar los medios narrativos para la nueva Evangelización. Al usar películas para decir historias que transmitan una visión del mundo auténticamente católico, estaremos respondiendo al llamado para ajustarse con los medios en el servicio del Evangelio. Necesitamos Catolizar nuestro entretenimiento, hacer y ver películas que nos dirijan a lo Divino y permitirles llegarnos al corazón. Quizás entonces lleguemos a ver el Evangelio nuevo, para revitalizar nuestra cultura cristiana, y convertirnos en la buena tierra que permite que el Evangelio crezca y de frutos en nuestras vidas.

Conclusión Es hora de que nosotros tomemos las palabras del Papa Juan Pablo de corazón y actuar en ellas. Aquellos de nosotros que nos

NICHOLAS WILLEY 30

JESÚS, SEÑOR DEL UNIVERSO, SEÑOR DE NUESTRO HOGAR MIKKI SCIBA Durante toda la vida se nos han presentado una variedad de preguntas. Algunas eran simples y fáciles mientras que otras eran más difíciles y complejas. ¿Puede pensar en una pregunta que tuvo que contestar que le cambiaría su vida para siempre? Jesús expuso la pregunta más importante de todo el tiempo a sus apóstoles hace siglos, y él la pone ante nosotros en este día. La respuesta de cada persona guiará el curso de su vida en ambas aquí en la tierra y para toda la eternidad. ¿Cuál es la pregunta que Jesús hace? Se encuentra en el Evangelio de Marcos. Pregunta, “¿Quién dicen que soy yo?” (Marcos 8:29) Esta pregunta invoca una respuesta íntimamente personal. Yo invito a todos los que leen esto reflexionar en ella y escribir su respuesta. Pedro responde con una declaración que debe ser la nuestra, “Tú eres el Cristo.” La palabra “Cristo” viene de la traducción griega de la palabra hebrea “Mesías”, que significa “el ungido”.

¿Qué es exactamente para lo que fue ungido Jesús y que significa para individuos y familias? El Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica declara:

prominente, léanla juntos, memoricen versículos Bíblicos, y tengan estudios familiares o discusiones de la Biblia. Establezca una rutina diaria regular de oración con la familia. Jesús nos dice, “Porque donde hay dos o tres reunidos en mi Nombre, yo estoy presente en medio de ellos” (Mateo 18:20). La Iglesia proporciona una riqueza de varias formas de oración tales como el Oficio Divino, la recitación del Rosario, bendición antes y después de los alimentos, novenas, y coronillas. Encontrar un ritmo de oración que funcione con las tantas exigencias de la vida familiar puede tomar algún tiempo. ¡Pero persevere! La gente encuentra tiempo para hacer lo que es más importante. Si estamos incluso muy ocupados para orar, entonces estamos demasiado ocupados. Los santos más grandes tenían el mismo tiempo en un día como nosotros lo tenemos. La gran pregunta es cómo elegimos priorizar nuestro tiempo.

Pasa a ser nombre propio de Jesús porque Él cumple perfectamente la misión divina que esa palabra significa. En efecto, en Israel eran ungidos en el nombre de Dios los que le eran consagrados para una misión que habían recibido de Él. Este era el caso de los reyes, de los sacerdotes y, excepcionalmente, de los profetas. Este debía ser por excelencia el caso del Mesías que Dios enviaría para instaurar definitivamente su Reino. El Mesías debía ser ungido por el Espíritu del Señor a la vez como rey y sacerdote pero también como profeta. Jesús cumplió la esperanza mesiánica de Israel en su triple función de sacerdote, profeta y rey. (CIC 436) Todas las personas bautizadas están incorporadas dentro de la vida de Cristo y por lo tanto son llamadas a compartir su triple misión. “Jesucristo es Aquél a quien el Padre ha ungido con el Espíritu Santo y lo ha constituido “Sacerdote, Profeta y Rey”. Todo el Pueblo de Dios participa de estas tres funciones de Cristo y tiene las responsabilidades de misión y de servicio que se derivan de ellas” (CIC 783). Los padres tienen la responsabilidad única para introducir esta misión a sus hijos y proveerles una cultura en el hogar que fomente una profunda realización y ejecución de este llamado divino. Vamos a explorar cada una de estas misiones divinas y como las familias pueden incorporarlas en su vida diaria.

Llene su hogar con cosas que puede encontrar en una Iglesia: un recipiente pequeño de agua bendita a la entrada de su casa; velas religiosas de Cristo, la Santísima Madre y los santos; y libros religiosos/de oración. Haga un pequeño altar de hogar o un espacio designado para la oración en su casa. El mirar objetos sagrados nos acerca a las verdades sagradas; sea generoso en su uso de estos artículos religiosos. Los fieles también encuentran a Cristo a través de los sacramentos porque la gracia de Dios fluye abundantemente su medio. La recepción frecuente del sacramento de la reconciliación nos permite encontrar la inconmensurable misericordia de Dios. Participando en el Sacrificio Eucarístico como una familia durante la Misa en los domingos y días de fiestas es poderoso para la progresión del alma en la vida espiritual. Por medio de este sacramento estamos íntimamente unidos con Cristo y nutridos espiritualmente. La Adoración Eucarística es una extensión de alabanza a nuestro Señor.

Usted es parte del sacerdocio común Un sacerdote sirve como un mediador entre Dios y los humanos y ofrece sacrificio a Dios por el bien de los demás. Los padres pueden cumplir su misión sacerdotal al crear una cultura en el hogar donde el encuentro con Cristo ocurra diariamente. Experimentamos la presencia de Cristo en su Palabra, en oración, y en los sacramentos, mayormente en la Eucaristía. En el mundo nuestros hijos están expuestos para ser hostiles hacia la santidad. Haga de su hogar un santuario de lo sagrado, un lugar de retiro y sustancia espiritual. Conviértanse en una familia establecida en la Escritura. Coloque la Biblia en un lugar

Planee visitas regulares o haga visitas espontaneas a una capilla o Iglesia de adoración para pasar tiempo en la presencia de Cristo. Jesús, el sumo sacerdote, ofrece su cuerpo en la cruz y en la Eucaristía. Un hermoso elemento desafiante de la vida familiar es su naturaleza sacrificial en imitación de Jesús. Romanos 12:1 dice, “...presenten como un sacrificio vivo.” Trabajar en crear un ámbito en el hogar donde cada miembro de la familia pueda aprender para crecer diariamente en el amor sacrificial del uno por el otro, incluso cuando es difícil. Usted es profeta Un profeta es un mensajero del Señor y proclama la verdad de Dios a su pueblo. Puede haber esta idea que el papel de un profeta es reservado solamente para los pocos elegidos, sin embargo todas las personas bautizadas son ungidas como profetas llamadas a proclamar el Evangelio por palabras y obras. El primer encuentro de un niño con el Evangelio pasa en su hogar. Los padres ejercitan su misión profética al ser los primeros maestros

Practicar las obras de misericordia espirituales y corporales es una buena manera de envolver a su familia en algún tipo de servicio en una base regular. Padres, su reino es su hogar. Ustedes tienen todo el control para crear las reglas, expectativas, y estructura de su vida del hogar. El ámbito establecido en su hogar importa porque habla de lo que usted valora. Como padres ustedes tienen un poder tremendo para crear un ámbito su casa que diga, “Jesús es el Rey y Señor de esta casa.” El gobierno de su hogar debe orientar a sus hijos hacia una vida en Cristo donde puedan crecer en la fe y amor de Dios.

de la fe para sus niños. Yo trabajé en educación por once años y, hablando de mi propia experiencia, enseñar era increíblemente difícil si yo no tenía conocimiento en la materia. Participando en oportunidades de formación de fe, clases de educación religiosa, y al leer lecturas espirituales son una gran manera para crecer en conocimiento en la fe. Nuestros hijos aprenden muchas cosas a través de nuestras propias acciones. El vivir una autentica fe Católica y seguir las enseñanzas de la Iglesia será testimonio profético irresistible para sus hijos. Los padres son los primeros responsables de la educación de sus hijos. Testimonian esta responsabilidad ante todo por la creación de un hogar, donde la ternura, el perdón, el respeto, la fidelidad y el servicio desinteresado son norma. La familia es un lugar apropiado para la educación de las virtudes. Esta requiere el aprendizaje de la abnegación, de un sano juicio, del dominio de sí... Es una grave responsabilidad para los padres dar buenos ejemplos a sus hijos. Sabiendo reconocer ante sus hijos sus propios defectos, se hacen más aptos para guiarlos y corregirlos. (CIC 2223)

Haga lo mejor posible para quitar los obstáculos que están obstruyendo la vista de su hijo de Cristo. Sí, algunas decisiones difíciles se tienen que tomar acerca del grupo de amigos y lo que está permitido en el hogar concerniente a la cultura pop y sociedad moderna. Gran cuidado se debe tomar en decisiones acerca los programas apropiados de TV, música, películas, medios sociales y tiempo pasado en la tecnología. Y si, sus hijos a veces pueden vehementemente no estar de acuerdo con usted e incluso profesar su desdén por las reglas de su casa, pero Dios ha puesto estas almas preciosas a su cuidado para guardarlas, protegerlas, y llevarlas a Jesús.

Los profetas de la antigüedad también salieron al pueblo y compartían la Palabra de Dios. Proporcione oportunidades para que sus hijos practiquen activamente compartiendo el mensaje de Dios. Dejarlos que lean una historia de la Biblia y que la se la repitan a usted es una buena introducción para proclamar la Palabra de Dios. Invítelos a que salgan e inviten a otros a su hogar para celebrar los días de fiestas, organice estudios Bíblicos, o eventos. Evangelizar puede ser intimidador, pero los padres pueden inspirar confianza al ser un ejemplo y ofrecer ánimo y apoyo para sus hijos.

La cultura en su casa necesita ser más poderosa que la cultura de afuera de su casa. El modelo de “hazlo como te digo no como lo hago” no es efectivo. Los padres son llamados para guiar con el ejemplo. Participar en el reino de Cristo envuelve vencer el reino del pecado en nuestras vidas y permitir que la verdad, la gracia, la santidad y la caridad para prevalecer. Si usted quiere que sus hijos oren, usted ore. Si usted quiere que ellos sean gentiles, pacientes y amables; usted debe ser gentil, paciente y amable. Si usted quiere que ellos amen a Dios, usted debe amar a Dios. Ellos deben de ver en usted el amor de Dios en acción.

Es también importante enseñar a sus hijos que al compartir el mensaje de Dios no es siempre popular. Muchas veces los profetas, incluyendo Jesús, no eran bien recibidos entre la gente. Ellos sufrieron persecución por lo que era bueno. Jesús advirtió a sus discípulos que serían “como a ovejas en medio de lobos” (Lucas 10:3). El miedo a la persecución y el sufrimiento es un gran silenciador para hablar la verdad. No tengan miedo porque se nos ha dado la Iglesia con una riqueza de gracia que fluye de Cristo a través de ella. También estamos rodeados de testigos celestiales que proclamaron valerosamente la verdad de Dios—Jesús, su Santísima Madre y todos los ángeles y santos en el cielo—en quien podemos contar para asistencia.

La responsabilidad de respaldar a su familia es una obligación de suma importancia. Imagine en lo que el mundo puede convertirse si todas las familias cristianas hacen de Jesús el Señor de sus hogares al participar en la triple misión como sacerdote, profeta y rey. ¿Quién dice usted que es Jesús? Como su respuesta formara la cultura de su vida familiar. Dios quiere infundir vida supernatural en su hogar. El sufrimiento y la muerte no fue el final de la historia de Jesús. ¡ Él resucitó de entre los muertos! Él es Dios de resurrección y vida nueva. Cual sea la condición de su presente vida familiar, Cristo puede reclamarla, resucitarla y soplar vida nueva dentro de ella. Usted debe primero empezar al decir estas palabras, “Tú eres el Cristo.”

Usted es realeza Un rey es aquel que tiene autoridad y sirve como señor de cierta área o gente. Para entender nuestra misión real, debemos de entender qué tipo de rey es Jesús. Él no es un dictador o tirano que domina a su pueblo. Cristo dice en Mateo 20:28 que “el Hijo del hombre, que no vino para ser servido, sino para servir y dar su vida en rescate por una multitud.” Jesús, el Señor y Rey de todos, se hizo servidor para todos. Una familia fundamentada en el servicio a Dios, sus miembros, y al pueblo de Dios es una familia real.

MIKKI SCIBA 33

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Catholic East Texas: Vol. 32 Issue 1

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Jesus Christ: Teacher and Truth