GET TO KNOW PARISHIONER JANET ZENZEN: Embracing Prayer and Discovering Stewardship

No stranger to the Our Lady of the Angels community, Janet Zenzen has been a member of the parish for almost her entire life. She and her husband, Steve, have three adult children and seven grandchildren. Considering her lifelong ties to the Our Lady of the Angels community, Janet sees how blessed she is to continue to be a part of the community that provided her with such a strong Catholic upbringing.

“I am incredibly blessed that my parents laid such a strong foundation for my Catholic faith,” Janet says. “I had the opportunity to attend Holy Family School growing up and that, partnered with Mass on Sundays, taught me the importance of the faith in our daily lives.”

When stewardship was introduced to the Our Lady of the Angels community, Janet signed up to support teens in the community through intercessory prayer. This commitment to pray for the youth of the parish became the starting point for entering deeper into a relationship with our Lord.

“Soon after I began supporting the Teen Intercessory Prayer Ministry, I signed up to lead the Rosary before Mass on Sundays,” she says. “That was the beginning of my deeper involvement within the community. Through prayer and listening to the Lord, my eyes were opened to seeing different needs within the parish community that I could contribute to and support other areas of the parish.” Currently, Janet continues to participate in the Teen Intercessory

Prayer Ministry and leads the Rosary before Sunday Masses. She particularly loves these prayer-based ministries as they have laid the foundation for deepening her faith life. In addition, she serves as a lector, is on the ACC Leadership Team, and is in her first year as a member of the Stewardship Committee. Looking back, she sees how deepening her faith life has led to deeper formation opportunities and greater love of her faith.

“Last summer I had the opportunity to go to the Msgr. McGread Stewardship Conference in Wichita, Kan.,” Janet says. “The conference really opened my eyes to how stewardship is a way of life and why it is critical to your relationship with God. Stewardship isn’t an obligation — it’s gratitude to the Lord for the gifts He has given us and we, in turn, use them to serve others.”

Through her journey — particularly leading the Rosary before Mass — Janet has found the importance and beauty of praying the Rosary every day. By helping lead the community she can pray the Rosary, which she loves, and provide a welcoming space for others in our community to engage in this prayer. Regardless of where we are in our faith life, we can follow the example of our Rosary leaders to pray the Rosary or simply a decade because they offer the opportunity to encounter this prayer with the community.

“I am blown away by how my participation in parish life has transformed me since I made specific commitments to prayer,” Janet says. “I invite and encourage people to pick a ministry to pray about and be willing to listen to God’s plan. Even turn to a family member or friend and ask, ‘What do you think I’m good at and how can I use these talents in the community?’ and then do that! You will be shocked by the joy and happiness the Lord provides as you serve others. Serving our community ceases to be an obligation, but a joyful experience to be encountered.”

Janet Zenzen and her youngest grandchild, Vaida Berscheit