Sharing the spirit of St. Francis with the world VOL. 129/NO. 6 • DEC. 2021/JAN. 2022 • PUBLISHED BY FRANCISCAN MEDIA
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: A Second Life for Your Advent Candles PAGE 34
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THE SPIRITUALITY OF SENIORS WHY WE GO ON PILGRIMAGES A STARRING ROLE FOR ST. JOSEPH
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VOL. 129 N O. 6
DEC./JAN
20/21 21/22
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FEATURES
28 COVER STORY: Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas By Daniel Imwalle
For nearly 600 years, the appearance of the Virgin Mary to St. Juan Diego in Mexico has captivated countless hearts and minds worldwide.
18 Senior Moments: Wisdom, Grace, & Courage By Elizabeth Bookser Barkley, PhD
COVER AND ABOVE: BROTHER OCTAVIO DURAN, OFM
A rich treasury of spirituality and service can enhance the later stages of life.
22 Why We Go on Pilgrimages By Stephen J. Binz
Pilgrimages add a spiritual dimension to travel, opening us up to authentic and unexpected encounters with God. Here are seven reasons people make these holy journeys.
COVER and ABOVE: A statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe towers above the treetops on a hill near Chalma, Mexico.
34 Give Your Advent Candles a Second Life By Carol Ann Morrow
Your purple and pink tapers can be used again—to bring reflection and importance to other Church feasts and noteworthy days.
37 A Starring Role for St. Joseph By Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP
St. Joseph may not have speaking parts in Scripture, but his role in the life of Jesus—and ours—is hardly a bit part. A film reviewer explores characters that showcase Joseph’s virtues.
Coming in the
FEBRUARY Issue
An article that explores how to discuss the difficult topic of racism with our children
StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 1
T
he saints were real people with real stories—just like us! Their surrender to God’s love was so generous that the Church recognizes them as heroes and heroines worthy of being held up for our inspiration. Join Franciscan Media in our daily celebration of these holy men and women of God. Sign up for Saint of the Day, a free resource delivered right to your inbox.
St. Lucy
St. Thomas Becket
St. Marianne Cope
Little is known about St. Lucy except that she had taken a vow of virginity and that she was martyred in 304. Yet devotion to her sprang up in the early Church, and she is mentioned among the martyrs in the first eucharistic prayer.
Thomas Becket is a saint with a checkered past. He did not at first take his responsibilities as a deacon seriously, but when King Henry II tried to use his friend’s lukewarm devotion to his advantage, he found a converted cleric who was a worthy match for any king.
Born in Germany, St. Marianne Cope’s family soon moved to Utica, New York. In 1862, she entered the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, where she served as superior. In 1883, St. Marianne went to Hawaii, where she and her community cared for women and girls with leprosy.
December 13
December 29
January 23
Servant of God Brother Juniper January 29
Brother Juniper was a simple man who joined St. Francis in the earliest days of the order. While Francis praised him and wished he had a “whole forest of such Junipers,” nevertheless, he could be exasperating for his generosity. Juniper shows us that even saints can be frustrating.
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ALL IMAGES FALL UNDER PUBLIC DOMAIN RIGHTS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED
Holy people featured in the months of December and January include . . .
VOL. 129 N O. 6
“At all times and seasons, in every country and place, every day and all day, we must have a true and humble faith.”
—St. Francis of Assisi
10 SPIRIT OF ST. FRANCIS 10 Ask a Franciscan Jesus’ Human Soul
20/21 21/22
16 POINTS OF VIEW
15 Editorial | Susan Hines-Brigger Christmas: An Antidote to Discord
12 Followers of St. Francis
16 At Home on Earth | Kyle Kramer
14 Franciscan World
48 Faith & Family | Susan Hines-Brigger
Jim Hodska
ALL IMAGES FALL UNDER PUBLIC DOMAIN RIGHTS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED
DEC./JAN
The Challenge of Waiting
The Franciscan Sisters of Allegany
The Joy of Little Things
14 St. Anthony Stories Gone Fishing
46 CULTURE
44 Media Reviews
Podcast | Become Fire Books | Celebrating Advent and Christmas
46 Film Reviews
No Time to Die 15 Minutes of Shame The Crickets Dance
6 ALSO IN THIS ISSUE 4 Dear Reader 5 Your Voice 6 Church in the News
49 Friar Pete & Repeat 50 Let Us Pray 52 Reflection
StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 3
dear reader Changing Seasons
B
y the time you read this, the year will quickly be coming to an end and opening the door to a new one. I don’t know about you, but I have found that the older I get, it feels as if the years are racing by faster and faster. And with each passing year, life looks more different. My kids, who I swear just yesterday were learning to walk, are now learning to walk into the world on their own. That means growing and changing as a family. For example, because two of our kids live out of town, we have had to adjust how we celebrate holidays. You can read about that new experience in the Faith and Family column on page 48 of this issue. But as hard as the passage of time can be, there can also be beauty in it. Author Elizabeth Bookser Barkley, PhD, reflects on that in her article, “Senior Moments: Wisdom, Grace, and Courage,” on page 18. In it, she speaks not only of the challenges of aging, but also of the gifts that it can bring. As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “Change is the only constant in life.” As we move forward into the new year, may we embrace those changes and see the beauty in them. We wish you a blessed Christmas and new year, surrounded by family and friends.
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STEPHEN J. BINZ WRITER
BROTHER OCTAVIO DURAN, OFM
Dr. Elizabeth Barkley is a professor of English and chair of the department of liberal arts at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is the author of four books—Life After Death: Practical Help for the Widowed, Loving the Everyday: Meditations for Moms, Woman to Woman: Seeing God in Daily Life, and When You Are a Godparent—as well as numerous feature articles, many of which have appeared in this magazine.
Stephen J. Binz is an awardwinning author and Catholic biblical scholar. He has written over 40 books on biblical theology, commentary, and spirituality. He is also a popular speaker, offering keynotes and addresses at national, regional, and diocesan conferences. Additionally, he provides education for priests and parish leaders, missions, and retreats. He lives with his wife, Pamela, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. You can learn more about him at Bridge-B.com.
Brother Octavio Duran, OFM, a native of El Salvador, Central America, is a Franciscan friar from Holy Name Province who serves as director of media for the province’s office of development. Brother Octavio is known to the Catholic media through his many years as a photojournalist. During his years as a seminarian, he captured many iconic images of St. Oscar Romero during the final two years of the Salvadoran archbishop’s life.
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ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER (ISSN #0036276X) (U.S.P.S. PUBLICATION #007956) Volume 129, Number 6, is published 10 times per year for $39.00 a year by the Franciscan Friars of St. John the Baptist Province, 28 W. Liberty Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 452026498. Phone (513) 241-5615. Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati, Ohio, and additional entry offices. US POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: St. Anthony Messenger, PO Box 292309, Kettering, OH 45429-0309.
POINTSOFVIEW | YOUR VOICE Communication Is Key
The article by Joyce Duriga and Karen Callaway in the October issue of St. Anthony Messenger on Father M.J. Groark, OFM Cap (“A Friar for Broken People”), was a truly moving story. However, what I found to be most relatable to my life was Susan HinesBrigger’s Faith and Family column, “Bridging the Generation Gap,” and its sidebar by Erika Glover, “A Different Generational Perspective.” Being a baby boomer with three kids in their 40s and a grandson born in 2001, I have a better understanding of their frustration with me and other people my age. Once again, communication is the answer to so many problems (or headaches) we all face. Thanks for another great issue. Sheila Glynn, Bayside, Queens, New York
Praying through Grief
Stephen Copeland’s Let Us Pray column in the October issue of St. Anthony Messenger (“When Words Fall Short”) resonated with me. There are times when there are no words to express what we pray. Thank you for articulating this so clearly. I remember my father’s death, over 50 years ago, vividly. For me, it was holding my 2-month-old daughter and simply being. Thank you so very much.
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Norma Loch, Howell, Michigan
Welcomed with Open Arms
I only subscribe to one magazine, St. Anthony Messenger. It informs and inspires me in ways that speak to my heart and soul. Tonight, while finishing the August 2021 issue, I was filled with joy while reading Susan HinesBrigger’s Faith and Family column (“The Day My Daughter Left the Church”) and the sidebar by Sandy Howison (“Welcome to My Family”). Howison asks what the reader thinks of her family, and I want her to know that my family would welcome them with open arms. I agree wholeheartedly that our Church needs to do so much more to welcome our LGBTQ brothers and sisters as “perfectly created children of God.” Thank you, Susan Hines-Brigger and Sandy Howison, for sharing your stories. And God bless your families. Cathy Hoelter, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Feedback from Our Online Readers On “A Friar for Broken People,” story by Joyce Duriga; photography by Karen Callaway (October 2021)
I read your heart-wrenching and heartwarming story with humility and gratitude. Your ministry, Father M.J., is an extremely important one. I pray for men and women of all ages who struggle with recovery from various addictions. I’m so glad you felt called to be a Franciscan!—Sister Marie Lucey, OSF Father M.J., thank you for sharing your story about your recovery, with complete transparency. What an inspiration you are! To God be the glory, the mercy, and the compassion to stop us in our tracks, forgive us, and help us turn our lives around so that we may be of maximum service to others in his holy name. This is a modern story of St. Francis of Assisi. Love it.—Jessica Cabness I am honored and blessed to know Father M.J. and his amazing mom and dad. The Groarks are an inspiration not only to me, but also to hundreds of others, for their vibrant faith and consistent trust in our Lord’s unfathomable love and mercy! Pax et Bonum, dear friends! You are all in my heart and my prayers! —Deborah Thomson, BSCD On “Living as Francis Did,” by Patrick Carolan (October 2021) I felt deeply moved to read the faith-sharing of Patrick Carolan. His journey from a comfortable life to a transformed life is truly inspiring.—Joseph Victor Edwin, SJ On “My One-Year Experiment with the Rosary,” by Shannon K. Evans (October 2021) The fruits of the mysteries of the holy rosary explained in simple words added a new insight for praying the rosary.—Bernadette Thank you for articulating exactly how I feel about saying the rosary. I returned to my faith a few years ago after a long absence, and I am grateful every day. Your article says so much, and thank you for posting it online.—Irene
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StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 5
people | events | trends
By Susan Hines-Brigger
REPORT RELEASED ON CHURCH SEXUAL ABUSE IN FRANCE
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Archbishop Aupetit said that even though the Church had striven for several years to respond to “this terrible tragedy seriously,” it was clear “that we still have a long way to go to welcome the suffering of the victims, to accompany them in their reconstruction, and to make our common home safer. We will need all of you to enlighten us and help us in the necessary reforms.” Upon learning of the report’s findings during an “ad limina” visit of French bishops to Rome, Pope Francis offered his thoughts and prayers to those who suffered abuse by members of the clergy. Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, said the pope expressed his gratitude for “their courage to speak out” and for “turning to the Church of France, so that, having become aware of this appalling reality and united to the suffering of the Lord for her most vulnerable children, she may take the path of redemption.”
POPE JOHN PAUL I TO BE BEATIFIED
ollowing the acceptance of a miracle attributed to the intercession of Pope John Paul I, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree, leading the way to the late pope’s beatification. According to the congregation’s website, the miracle is about the healing of an 11-year-old girl who was at the end of her life with “severe acute inflammatory encephalopathy, a malignant refractory epileptic illness, and septic shock.” Her situation was very serious, characterized by numerous daily seizures and a septic state of bronchopneumonia. The initiative to invoke Pope John Paul I for healing was taken by a priest whose parish is under the jurisdiction of the hospital. Pope John Paul I was elected to lead the Church on August 26, 1978. He died suddenly just 33 days later on September 28.
6 • December 2021/January 2022 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
CNS PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PAUL HARING; COURTESY OF THE CROSIERS/GENE PLAISTED, OSC; VATICAN MEDIA; COURTESY ARCHDIOCESE OF DENVER
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Pope Francis and four French bishops gather at the Vatican for silent prayer for the victims of abuses committed by members of the clergy.
CNS PHOTOS: TOP: VATICAN MEDIA; BOTTOM: L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
n independent report commissioned by the French bishops and religious orders on sexual abuse in the Church, which was released on October 5, estimates that 330,000 children have been abused since the 1950s. The Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church published its findings in a 2,500-page report following a two-and-a half-year investigation, reported Catholic News Service (CNS). According to the report, most of the victims were preadolescent boys representing a variety of social backgrounds, and more than a third of the assaults were committed by laypeople. The commission identified six categories of abuse of children: “parochial abuse,” committed by a local priest or vicar; “school abuse” by a priest, religious teacher, or housemaster; abuse by a family member or close family friend; abuse committed within the context of “a patronage or Scouts movement”; abuse committed by “a priest acting, or claiming to act, as a psychotherapist”; and what it labeled as “prophetic abuse, committed within the context of so-called new communities, which were particularly popular in the 1970s.” Among the recommendations made in the report are a review of the traditional discipline of priestly celibacy to allow the ordination of married men, and the demand that priests break the seal of confession and inform police of sexual offenses against children or vulnerable people that are reported to them by penitents. The commission also recommended that power should be taken away from diocesan bishops in favor of a more democratic and synodal governance of the local Church. In response to the report, Archbishop Michel Aupetit of Paris issued a statement saying that the French bishops and religious orders commissioned the investigation “in order to get the truth, because we absolutely owe it to the victims and to all the faithful. We have discovered this truth with all of you. It is far beyond what we thought we knew; it is frightening.”
CNS PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PAUL HARING; COURTESY OF THE CROSIERS/GENE PLAISTED, OSC; VATICAN MEDIA; COURTESY ARCHDIOCESE OF DENVER
CNS PHOTOS: TOP: VATICAN MEDIA; BOTTOM: L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
NEWS BRIEFS
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Pope Francis listens to reporters on a flight back to Rome. St. Irenaeus of Lyon will be named a doctor of the Church, the pope announced. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the pope exchange gifts during their October 9 meeting. The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver was among the 100 Catholic sites vandalized nationwide since May 2020.
“LISTEN!” IS THE THEME that Pope Francis has chosen for the 56th World Communications Day, which will be celebrated in 2022. In announcing the theme, the Holy See said that the pope “asks the world of communication to learn to listen again.” THREE MEMBERS OF THE PONTIFICAL SWISS GUARD have resigned rather than be vaccinated against COVID-19, Lt. Urs Breitenmoser, the spokesman for the Guards, told Tribune de Genève, a Swiss newspaper. Three others were temporarily suspended from duty in early October as they were completing the vaccination cycle. Mandatory vaccination for those serving in the military, he said, is “a measure in line with those adopted by other armed corps around the world.” While the Vatican has not made vaccination obligatory for all employees, beginning October 1, anyone—employees and tourists alike—who wants to enter Vatican territory is required to show either proof of vaccination, recovery from COVID-19, or a negative COVID-19 test taken within the previous 48 hours. Without one of the three, employees are not allowed to work and will not be paid unless they have a note from a physician explaining why they could not be vaccinated.
ON OCTOBER 7, POPE FRANCIS announced that he will be naming St. Irenaeus of Lyon as a doctor of the Church. The second-century theologian is known for his defense of orthodoxy. The pope made the announcement during an audience with members of the St. Irenaeus OrthodoxCatholic Joint Working Group in the Vatican. POPE FRANCIS MET WITH US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the Vatican on October 9. Pelosi was in Rome to speak at a meeting of legislators from around the world in preparation for the UN climate summit. The Vatican released no details of the encounter, but Pelosi said it was “a spiritual, personal, and official honor” to have an audience with the pope. SATANIC AND OTHER HATEFUL GRAFFITI scrawled on the walls at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver, Colorado, on October 10 marked the 100th incident of vandalism, arson, or destruction at Catholic sites around the country since May 2020. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty launched the “Beauty Heals” project in response to the destruction of Catholic statues, which features videos from various dioceses discussing the significance of sacred art. StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 7
people | events | trends
OVER 500,000 PEOPLE SIGN PETITION CALLING FOR ROE V. WADE TO BE OVERTURNED
F
ollowing a prayer rally outside the Supreme Court on October 4, protesters released a petition, signed by over half a million people, calling for the Roe v. Wade decision to be overturned, reported CNS. The “Moral Outcry Petition,” released by Students for Life of America and the Justice Foundation, consisted of two massive scrolls filled with the signatures. Tina Whittington, executive vice president of Students for Life of America, said: “This is an unprecedented moment in our fight to abolish abortion. With a ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson, the pro-life movement may soon see at least the partial reversal of Roe v. Wade.” She added that “the prolife generation will not rest until abortion is abolished and made unthinkable.” On December 1, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Dobbs case, which is an appeal from Mississippi to keep its ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Supporters of the law are urging the court to reexamine its previous abortion rulings, including Roe v. Wade.
Pro-life leaders unfurl a petition in 2019 containing 250,000 signatures calling for Roe v. Wade to be overturned.
If the court overturns Roe, the move would not make abortion illegal throughout the United States but would return the issue to the states to be decided.
POPE JOINS RELIGIOUS LEADERS IN PRAYING FOR PEACE, COMPASSION, AND CARE FOR THE EARTH
8 • December 2021/January 2022 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio, speaks at an October 7 meeting with Pope Francis and other religious and political leaders in Rome.
are increasingly becoming the shared patrimony of many religions. Prayer and action can change the course of history. Be courageous.” At the end of the gathering, religious leaders present joined in an appeal, which was read by a young woman who recently fled Afghanistan. “In front of the Colosseum, [a] symbol of greatness but also of suffering, let us reaffirm with the strength of faith that the name of God is peace,” the appeal said.
CNS PHOTOS: TOP: COURTESY POPE’S WORLDWIDE PRAYER NETWORK; BOTTOM: JOSHUA ROBERTS/REUTERS
ope Francis and other faith leaders gathered outside Rome’s Colosseum on October 7, where they asked members of all the world’s religions to pray for peace, those in need, and the earth, reported CNS. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also joined the group. Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio, which organized the meeting and has done so each year since St. John Paul II gathered religious leaders in Assisi in 1986, said the need to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts, and the climate crisis have drawn religious believers together like never before. Pope Francis pointed out the fact that, during the first century, the Colosseum was “the site of brutal mass entertainment: fights between men or between men and beasts, spectacles of fratricide, deadly games played at the cost of human lives. “Today, we, too, can be spectators of violence and war, of brothers killing brothers, like games we watch from a safe distance, indifferent, certain that they will never affect us. The suffering of others scarcely troubles us. Not even the sufferings of victims of war, migrants, young boys and girls trapped in conflicts and robbed of the carefree games of childhood.” He said that “in this climate of deterioration, it is encouraging to think that the same concerns and commitments
CNS PHOTOS: TOP: TYLER ORSBURN; BOTTOM: VATICAN MEDIA
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‘CLICK TO PRAY’ APP GETS UPDATE BEFORE SYNOD
CNS PHOTOS: TOP: COURTESY POPE’S WORLDWIDE PRAYER NETWORK; BOTTOM: JOSHUA ROBERTS/REUTERS
CNS PHOTOS: TOP: TYLER ORSBURN; BOTTOM: VATICAN MEDIA
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n updated version of the “Click to Pray” app and website was unveiled on October 19 at a Vatican news conference, reported Vatican News. The app, launched by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, offers users a variety of specific propositions to pray together with Pope Francis on a daily basis and support the process of the upcoming synod. “Click to Pray” is a collaboration among the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, and the International Union of Superiors General. According to the “Click to Pray” website (ClicktoPray. org), the app “is a digital community of prayer where you can share the intentions of the Holy Father and pray together with others. The community builds bridges between generations, where we all pray as one.” It also connects users with thousands of people who pray every day “for the challenges of humanity and for the mission of the Church as the pope proposes in his monthly prayer intentions.” Msgr. Lucio Ruiz, the Secretary of the Dicastery for Communication, said that one of the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that “the digital culture has much to offer” and has the capacity “to reach and accompany men and women wherever they may be, including those who may find themselves in geographical and existential peripheries.” He noted that the pope’s social media platforms have increased enormously in followers in the past couple of years. So far, the app, which is available in seven languages, has over 2.5 million users worldwide, allowing more than 400,000 users to pray together with Pope Francis.
WHITE HOUSE NOMINATES NEW VATICAN AMBASSADOR
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n October 8, the White House announced that President Joe Biden will nominate Catholic lawyer Joseph Donnelly of Indiana to be the next US ambassador to the Vatican, reported CNS. The nomination needs to be confirmed by the Senate. Donnelly served in the US House of Representatives from 2007 to 2013, representing Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District, and was a US senator from 2013 to 2019.
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StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 9
SPIRITOFST.FRANCIS | ASK A FRANCISCAN
By Pat McCloskey, OFM
Jesus’ Human Soul
As fully divine and fully human, Jesus must have had a human soul, right? When did that soul come to exist, and what happened to it after Jesus died on the cross? Did it cease to exist? es, Jesus had a human soul during his life on earth, the same soul he continues to have in his glorified body in heaven. He was and remains fully human and fully divine. If he now lacked a human soul, he could not be fully divine and fully human, which is what we celebrate at Christmas. Once the Roman persecutions ended in the fourth century AD, controversies within the Church centered on how to talk about Jesus and later the Holy Spirit. What we know as the Nicene Creed began to clarify the situation: Jesus is of the same nature as God the Father. The teaching of Arius, who denied that, was rejected. In 381, another ecumenical council was held in Constantinople. The bishops there added a final section about the Holy Spirit. The Council of Chalcedon (451) formulated the basic teaching that Orthodox, Catholic, and mainline Protestant Christians still accept.
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WE HAVE A DIGITAL archive of past Q & As. To get started, go to FranciscanMedia.org/ St-Anthony-Messenger/ Ask-Archives. Material is grouped thematically under headings such as forgiveness, prayer, saints, sacraments, and Scripture.
‘Scripture Alone’
I know that this term is strongly supported by some Christians and vigorously challenged by others. When did it originate and what does it mean? his expression arose during the Reformation in 16th-century Western Europe. It was a challenge to the suggestion that God’s self-revelation comes through Scripture and tradition. Martin Luther and other reformers said that this slighted the importance of Scripture and justified many practices not authorized by Scripture, for example, the selling of indulgences to build St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. A problem arises because most Christians understand Scripture as the books of the Bible: its table of contents, so to speak. That table of contents, however, was not revealed in the same sense that the Book of Genesis or the Gospel of Matthew was revealed. Some people understand Scripture alone as shorthand for saying “Only God was involved” regarding certain issues, whereas tradition is understood as meaning “Humans had a hand in this issue, and thus they should be disregarded.” Like many catchy slogans, this solution is simply not true. What is intended as a shortcut to something good can, in fact, turn out to be a dead end. The canon (list of biblical books) was not generally agreed on until the fifth century after Christ. The Catholic Church made no official and binding declaration about this list until 1546, a year after the Council of Trent began. The community of believers (Jews for their Scriptures and Christians for theirs) played an absolutely crucial role in recognizing which writings are trustworthy sources of God’s self-revelation. Some very old writings are not part of the Bible because Jews or Christians did not find their faith reflected in those texts. A very rigid understanding of Scripture alone would mean that Christians or Jews can make no moral judgments, for example, about nuclear war because that was not possible (and, therefore, not mentioned) when the Bible was written.
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Father Pat welcomes your questions!
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Pat McCloskey, OFM
Attending Mass on YouTube
I have not been vaccinated and have been attending Mass via YouTube since March 2020. Does a Mass on YouTube fulfill my Sunday obligation? t the moment, that may be the best that you can do. Although bishops in some areas lifted the Sunday Mass obligation for several months, the greatly increased danger posed by the delta variant adds a significant new factor for attending in-person Masses. However, you should honestly explain to God your decision in this matter. In any case, please get vaccinated for your own protection and that of others. Protecting public health is also a serious moral obligation.
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How Should I Think about German People?
How could Germans before and during World War II support Hitler’s efforts to exterminate Jews, Gypsies, disabled people, homosexuals, and all the others whom the Nazis hated? Is it a sin for me to dislike all Germans because of that? t is a sin to deny that God created and loves all people. Not all Germans supported these hateful policies. On this issue in Germany then—and in other places around the world even now—people sometimes lie to themselves about what is at stake in so-called “political decisions.” Politics is simply how we promote the common good of society in general. Any attempt to scapegoat all of a group’s problems onto some minority of people is always a lie and thus a sin. Unfortunately, our interest in the truth frequently disappears when pursuing it leads to “inconvenient truths” that we would rather deny. God has given us curiosity and intelligence; we should not deny either of them in order to preserve a status quo that we consider comfortable. I wish I could tell you that mass self-deceptions are no longer possible, but that would be a lie.
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Quick Question and Answer CNS PHOTO: YVES HERMAN/REUTERS
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On the other hand, a very loose understanding of tradition would enable its promoters to promote ideas or practices that clearly contradict what the Bible teaches. Some people gravitate toward “either/or” language, but in many situations “both/and” language is needed in order to be faithful to God’s self-revelation in the Scriptures and within the faith community.
My grandchildren (a 5-month-old and a 3-year-old) have never been baptized. Can and/or should I baptize them without their parents’ knowledge? I will try my best to give these grandchildren religious teaching as they grow.
No, you should not. The Catholic Church understands that doing so would seriously violate their parents’ rights. Please do not underestimate the powerful witness of your own life as a living witness of the Gospel.
Silent Night,
Holy Night Light a candle in memory of a loved one or for your special intention. When you light a candle on StAnthony.org this Christmas season, it will burn for three days at the National Shrine of St. Anthony in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Franciscan friars are ready to light a candle for you!
LIGHT A
Christmas Candle StAnthony.org
The Franciscan Friars, Province of St. John the Baptist 1615 Vine St, Ste 1 Cincinnati, OH 45202-6492 513-721-4700, ext. 3219 StAnthony.org
StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 11
SPIRITOFST.FRANCIS | FOLLOWERS OF ST. FRANCIS
By Patrick Carolan
ur spiritual paths are hardly straight lines. Rather, the many twists and turns along the way are evidence of our stumbling toward the life God is calling us to. Jim Hodska can attest to that. Jim grew up as part of the post-World War II generation in Stratford, Connecticut, a suburb of Bridgeport. His early life was typical of a White middle-class Catholic family. Going to church was more about fulfilling certain obligations, such as attending Mass every Sunday, going to confession, and receiving the sacraments. As Jim got older, he began to feel an uneasiness about his faith. “I have always struggled with my place in the Catholic Church,” he says. “For years, I felt that my faith should be foundational to the way I live my life, yet I was not getting that from the Church.” The joys and challenges of raising a family and building a career put Jim’s spiritual struggles on the back burner for some time. But still, the yearnings were there. DRAWN TO SERVICE
His career in sales and marketing took him to various parts of the country until he eventually came home and settled down in Stratford. Jim married the love of his life, Andrea, 56 years ago. They bought a house and raised four children in the Catholic faith. If Jim’s story ended there, he would have been described as a good Catholic family man who cared about others, someone who wouldn’t hesitate to reach out and help a friend in need. But the notion lingered in Jim’s mind that there was more to being a person of faith than attending church on Sunday and receiving the sacraments. When Jim retired he could have chosen to live out his life in comfort, spending time with his growing family of grandchildren, traveling around the country with Andrea, and taking up golf. Instead, he began a period of self-reflection and study on Catholic social teaching. Jim has also always
Jim Hodska (foreground) leads a group of volunteers in prayer before going to the Bridge, an outreach ministry of St. James Parish in Stratford, Connecticut. 12 • December 2021/January 2022 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
been drawn to St. Francis and the Franciscan charism. “St. Francis showed that giving to the poor is not enough,” Jim says. “We must progress from sympathy to empathy and compassion, which will lead to transformation. We have to be with the poor.” He began to understand that the Church is not only in a building but also out in the world, especially where there is suffering. Father Tom Lynch, a friend for over 60 years and Jim’s pastor for more than 30 years, describes Jim as “always having a passion for life and part of that was to continually deepen his faith. He was always committed to charitable giving, but through the years I watched him begin to build relationships with the poor and marginalized. Listening to their stories, Jim became a voice for social justice. He really strives to live the radical demands of the Gospel.” BUILDING BRIDGES
At his parish, St. James in Stratford, Jim helped found a ministry called the Bridge. The idea is centered on the concept that on one side are people with resources and on the other are people with needs. Jim and his team of volunteers would go to nearby Bridgeport and bring food, clothing, and
At the Bridge, volunteers from St. James Parish bring food, clothing, and personal-care items to those in need in Bridgeport, Connecticut. What started as a small group now numbers around 50 volunteers.
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF JIM HODSKA
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The Long and Winding Road of Faith
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ST. ANTHONY
FRANK JASPER, OFM
BREAD s
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF JIM HODSKA
The food pantry at St. James Parish is fully reliant on donations from the congregation. Every Wednesday morning, the parish opens its doors to those in need.
personal-care items to the poor and homeless who congregate under a highway overpass. “Like St. Francis, this is our opportunity to stand with the poor and to understand their lives at a deeper level,” Jim says. The Bridge started with a handful of people gathering and spending time with the poor and homeless. It evolved into a team of over 50 volunteers, including parents and children. While it certainly helped those being served, it was also transformative for the parish and volunteers. Jim Travers, a volunteer with the Bridge, describes his experience: “Jim and our pastor, Father Tom Lynch, were among the first to get me out of my comfort zone and show me, by example, how to start walking instead of just talking about loving my neighbor. He’s a consistent and always zealous promoter of the beatitudes, and because of Jim and others like him (most notably his wife, Andrea), our parish exemplifies the spirit of Matthew 25:35–36 [‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me’].” Jim Hodska with his wife, Andrea, Another fellow parishioner, Janine and great-grandson, Connor Walsh, says about Jim: “When I would see Jim in conversation with homeless people, his eyes were always full of love. It is easy to see he is living his faith in an active, tangible way.” In addition to the Bridge, Jim helped start and run a food pantry, soup kitchen, and a community garden where all the vegetables grown go to the food pantry. He started discussion groups around the connection between justice and charity. His actions helped transform St. James from a place where people attended Mass on Sunday to a community where people came together to bring about change. “For me, standing with the poor has transformed me,” says Jim. “I view the world and its politics through a different lens. I believe that a Church that does so much charity work for the poor must take the lead in social justice.”
The National Shrine of St. Anthony is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Consecrated in 1889, it includes a first-class relic of St. Anthony and serves as a center for daily prayer and contemplation. The Franciscan friars minister from the shrine. To help them in their work among the poor, you may send a monetary offering called St. Anthony Bread. Make checks or money orders payable to “Franciscans” and mail to the address below. Every Tuesday, a Mass is offered for benefactors and petitioners at the shrine. To seek St. Anthony’s intercession, mail your petition to the address below. Petitions are taken to the shrine each week. viSit our webSite to:
StAnthony.org
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mAil poStAl communicAtionS to:
St. Anthony Bread 1615 Vine St. Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498
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StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 13
SPIRITOFST.FRANCIS “Her life was one of trials, but she weathered all, trusting in God and Mary to help her solve her problems.”
—Sister Veronica Rodrigues about Rev. Mother Mary Teresa O’Neil
Allegany, New York
By Pat McCloskey, OFM
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he Franciscan Sisters of Allegany (New York) were founded in 1859 when Franciscan Father Pamfilo da Magliano, head of nearby St. Bonaventure College (now University), gave the habit to Mary Joseph Todd of Philadelphia. She was soon joined by Sisters Mary Bridget (Fallon), Mary Michael McFall (Aston), and Mary Teresa (O’Neil), who would eventually serve for 55 years as the congregation’s superior. The sisters concentrated on teaching in Allegany, Buffalo, New York City, and Winsted, Connecticut. By 1926 they worked in 27 schools, two hospitals, an orphanage, and a day nursery. When they went to Jamaica as teachers in 1879, they were the first US Franciscan sisters to establish a school outside their home country. The Franciscan Sisters of Allegany recently The sisters serve in educastarted a new mission in Mozambique. tion, health care, social serBrazilian Sister Marinez Arantes da Silva vices, pastoral outreach, and serves the community there. spiritual ministries in Brazil and Jamaica, and social advocacy in 14 US dioceses as well as in Bolivia. They can be contacted at AlleganyFranciscans.org. Thanks to Denise Bunk-Hatch for assisting with this profile.
ST. ANTHONY STORIES
Gone Fishing
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y family members and I are somewhat scatterbrained, so we are always calling on St. Anthony to find cell phones, wallets, and keys. This recent time was truly a miracle. My son Kevin had to get tested for COVID-19 after possible contact. He went to one of our free county sites where you have to show ID to prove you’re a resident. He pulled out his driver’s license and went to get tested. Afterward, as St. Peter did in John 21:3, Kevin decided to go fishing. He went to a store to get some worms for fishing and, when he looked in his wallet, his license was gone! After searching his car without success, he drove to his fishing spot. He once again searched for it when he got out of the car, looking between and under the seats. He was starting to think he lost it at the testing site and was worried. He remembered to call on St. Anthony for help and then went fishing. When he got back to his car, the driver’s license was on the driver’s seat! There is no way it was there before he went fishing. Thank you, St. Anthony! He never seems to tire of our family’s requests! —Linda E. 14 • December 2021/January 2022 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
REV. MOTHER MARY TERESA O’NEIL At the age of 15, she joined the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, New York, and never looked back. IN 1859, Mary Anne O’Neil of New Jersey joined a new Franciscan congregation whose main work was teaching immigrant children and took on the name Mary Teresa. The community was sponsored by Franciscan Father Pamfilo da Magliano, superior of St. Bonaventure College (now University) in southwestern New York. By the time she was elected the congregation’s superior six years later, the sisters were teaching in Buffalo, Manhattan, and Winsted, Connecticut. In 1879, the community sent sisters to teach in Jamaica. Sister Mary Teresa served as general superior for her community for 55 years before she died in 1926. —Pat McCloskey, OFM
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COURTESY OF FRANCISCAN SISTERS OF ALLEGANY (3)
FRANCISCAN WORLD
POINTSOFVIEW | EDITORIAL
By Susan Hines-Brigger
Christmas: An Antidote to Discord
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his past September, discord within the Church hit the news when Pope Francis addressed the criticism he has received during his papacy. At a meeting with fellow Jesuits on his trip to Slovakia, the pope was asked how he deals with people who look at him with suspicion. “There is, for example, a large Catholic television channel that has no hesitation in continually speaking ill of the pope,” said Pope Francis. “I personally deserve attacks and insults because I am a sinner, but the Church does not deserve them. They are the work of the devil. I have also said this to some of them.” While the pope did not specifically call out EWTN by name, many people quickly made the connection. After all, the two have not always seen eye to eye. It is true that, for years, EWTN has provided a great service by giving access to things such as daily Mass or praying of the rosary for many people who cannot attend these celebrations in person. It is also true, however, that it has created a safe space for those who disagree with things taking place within the Church to loudly voice their opinions and air their grievances. For the almost nine years of his papacy, Pope Francis has been the target of many of those grievances. The situation has become a perfect example of the usversus-them mentality that seems to be taking over not only society but also our Church.
CLOSER TO HOME
Here in the United States, that dynamic has also been playing out regarding the topic of who should or should not be able to receive the Eucharist, spurred on by the election of President Joe Biden. Some believe he should be denied Communion because of his stance on the issue of abortion. Others argue that the Eucharist is not to be used as a weapon to punish people for their behavior or positions on issues. As of this writing, the bishops are scheduled to discuss the topic at their November meeting in Baltimore. Not yet knowing the outcome, it is probably safe to say that people on both sides of the issue will be very vocal and either pleased or displeased no matter what happens. Unfortunately, it is just how we seem to have become. It’s not only those in positions of authority who seem caught in this back-and-forth. It even plays out in families during the holiday season, making joyous celebrations rife with tension, stress, conflict, and behavior counter to the season’s message. Pick an issue, any issue—immigration, COVID-19 vaccination, racial tensions, education—and you will find discord. We gather up the information that suits our narrative and attack those whose narrative doesn’t mirror ours.
WHAT TO DO?
And yet it shouldn’t be that way, especially this month, as we celebrate Christmas and the birth of Christ. The holiday is at the very foundation of our faith—Christ come to walk among us. Given that, you would think that is something we should be able to agree on and celebrate without division. It is a time of inspiration, and these days, that seems to be high in demand. Information we can find. Inspiration? Not so much, lately.
Consider the birth of Christ to be your pep talk to move forward with love and understanding when the burden of discord weighs you down.
That is why the Christmas season is so important. During his response about dealing with criticism, Pope Francis went on to explain how he tries to respond. “Yes, there are also clerics who make nasty comments about me. I sometimes lose patience, especially when they make judgments without entering into a real dialogue. I can’t do anything there. However, I go on without entering their world of ideas and fantasies. I don’t want to enter it, and that’s why I prefer to preach,” the pope pointed out. “I go ahead, not because I want to start a revolution. I do what I feel I must do. It takes a lot of patience, prayer, and a lot of charity.” “Patience, prayer, and a lot of charity” is a very good phrase to use as a mantra during this season and moving forward into the new year. Let us bring the joy and message of hope that we receive at Christmas and integrate it into our daily lives. Consider the birth of Christ to be your pep talk to move forward with love and understanding when the burden of discord weighs you down. The birth of Jesus is the antidote to all of the discord we are carrying in our hearts. And it is a perfect moment for all of us to stop and reevaluate our role in the disagreements and disharmony we keep finding ourselves caught in. After all, even some soldiers during World War I found a way to take a break from fighting to celebrate this blessed occasion of the birth of Christ, when they declared an unofficial truce on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in 1914. Let’s try to find a way to follow their lead and then carry it into the new year. StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 15
POINTSOFVIEW | AT HOME ON EARTH
By Kyle Kramer
The Challenge of Waiting
Kyle Kramer
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ne of my favorite lines of Scripture is Isaiah chapter 43, verse 19: “See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the wilderness I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.” I’ve returned to this verse at various times in my life, usually when I have been either going through a personal transition or discerning one. Advent is the time when we anticipate the new thing God brings into the world through the incarnation of Christ in the baby Jesus. It’s also a special time for us to discern what new thing God may be bringing into our own lives, in our own time—how Christ is born in us. THE CHALLENGES OF BIRTH
For my part, a new thing feels long overdue. I dream of the world that Pope Francis described in “Laudato Si’”: a world of “integral ecology,” a world where we live more in harmony with each other and the rest of the natural world—not only so that God’s will be done on Earth as it is in heaven, but also for the blunt fact that our survival as a species depends on it. In fits, starts, and glimpses, I feel as if I’m beginning to perceive how God is making a way through our present wilderness. Something new definitely wants and needs to be born.
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But birth is rarely easy. I haven’t gone through the pain of labor and childbirth, but I’ve been at my wife’s side as she has brought our three children into the world. I always wondered whether I’d be tough enough to do what she managed to do. If human birth is so difficult and fraught with peril and uncertainty, how can we possibly expect that the birth of new social, economic, and environmental relationships would be easy? The early Christians, experiencing persecution and martyrdom, certainly didn’t delude themselves this way. So if our faith calls us to a new thing and that it indeed is springing forth, and if new births are filled with challenge, how do we help to midwife this challenging birth? MARY, OUR TEACHER
Mary is one of the best guides we have through this journey of new birth. Mary’s journey toward Jesus’ birth began with her fiat, her willingness to say yes to the plan and promise of God. Like Mary, our own faithfulness to God’s new thing means saying our own trusting yes, aligning ourselves with the divine will, even in the midst of so much uncertainty regarding how it might come about. And this isn’t a onetime yes. Every day, in many different ways, we need to keep saying yes, to keep reminding ourselves of
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EarthandSpiritCenter.org
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TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF KYLE KRAMER; TOP: BORCHEE/ISTOCK
Kyle is the executive director of the Passionist Earth & Spirit Center, which offers interfaith educational programming in meditation, ecology, and social compassion. He serves as a Catholic climate ambassador for the US Conference of Catholic Bishopssponsored Catholic Climate Covenant and is the author of Making Room: Soul-Deep Satisfaction through Simple Living (Franciscan Media, 2021). He speaks across the country on issues of ecology and spirituality. He and his family spent 15 years as organic farmers and homesteaders in Spencer County, Indiana.
our commitments to the new, even and especially in the midst of doubt. Mary was also patient. New births take time to gestate, whether it’s the nine months of a human pregnancy or the work of societal transformation that might take years or decades or centuries. Advent is the season of the liturgical year that teaches us explicitly to wait and prepare our hearts for the coming of something new. I find such patience immensely difficult because I know the urgency of the social and environmental challenges we face. It feels as though every day that we waste makes the consequences of inaction more and more dire. I have to ask God for patience nearly every day. Mary teaches us to embrace the unknown. In saying yes to Gabriel’s message, Mary embraced an unbelievable amount of uncertainty. How could she know that her betrothed wouldn’t cast her aside when he learned of the pregnancy? And how could she know that she and Joseph would soon become refugees, on the run from Herod’s murderous plans to eliminate any kingly competition from newborns? I may have some opinions about what God’s new thing will and should look like, but I don’t really know how it will come about and what it will look like. One of my biggest leaps of faith is to let go of my own expectations and to trust, in the midst of the cloud of unknowing, that God knows what God is doing.
LEARNING TO TRUST
What does such trust look like in practice? Mary, the truest of contemplatives, again shows us that the most essential part of trust is to be present to what is: to say yes not only to the promise of the future, but also to each moment that leads to its fulfillment. Being present in this way is one of the most profound spiritual practices there is. It requires deep courage: an ever-opening heart that is willing to embrace uncertain outcomes. Trusting the future also requires leaning on others. Mary made it through her pregnancy with the help of her cousin Elizabeth. She made it through the birth and tumultuous early years of Jesus’ life with Joseph at her side and surrounded by her kin circles. If I’ve learned anything from being Catholic, it’s that we don’t and can’t make it on our own; we are always surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Ignoring them, imagining that we are going this alone, is a path that leads only to despair. Finally, and paradoxically, the pathway to God’s new future is paved with gratitude for the present. If we look only toward the new future, pinning all our hopes on it, we can easily miss the gifts along the way and, in an awful irony, we make ourselves less ready for God’s future, not more. As St. Catherine of Siena put it so beautifully, it’s heaven all the way to heaven. Waiting in hope isn’t easy. In fact, I’d say that it’s just as much a miracle as the virgin birth we await on Christmas Day.
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TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF KYLE KRAMER; TOP: BORCHEE/ISTOCK
HELPFUL STOP AND REFLECT
TIPS1
Try this experiment to help you learn to wait. Sit quietly for your prayer or meditation. If you have an itch, ache, or pain, don’t move to address it. Sit with that discomfort for the time you’ve committed to prayer. Pay attention to your desire to take care of it, but simply be patient and let it be. Eventually, it will resolve.
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Use this Advent season as an opportunity to discern what new thing to which God might be calling you. Set aside daily time in your prayers to open your heart to this new birth. StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 17
SENIOR MOMENTS
WISDOM, GRACE, & COURAGE A rich treasury of spirituality and service can enhance the later stages of life.
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hat do you think you will be doing when you’re 80?” a first-year college student challenged her classmates at the beginning of a presentation about a woman her project group believed promotes the common good. Reactions were immediate: “I’ll probably be lying in a bed in an old folks’ home.” “Someone will be pushing me down to dinner in a wheelchair.” And, finally, to spontaneous laughter, “I’ll be dead!” Then the students projected a slide with a picture of their exemplar of the common good: a smiling, lively-looking Sister Helen Prejean. At age 80, she had just published her third book, a memoir, and was still at the helm of the Ministry Against the Death Penalty.
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My students’ hilarity and overt ageism quickly dissipated. Amused but not surprised by this reaction, I wondered how my 18-year-old students might reinterpret me, their energetic teacher, if they realized I trailed Prejean in age by only 8 years. Would they be surprised, even shocked, to realize I could be their grandmother? A MYRIAD OF CHALLENGES
Based on current data about aging, my teaching career could last for almost another decade. According to a 2021 report from the National Center for Health Statistics, taking into account deaths in 2020, life expectancy for males in the United States is 75.1 years and for women, 80.5.
ISTOCK PHOTOS: LEFT TO RIGHT: EMP PHOTOGRAPHY; MEDIA PHOTOS; RAPID EYE
By Elizabeth Bookser Barkley, PhD
ISTOCK PHOTOS: LEFT TO RIGHT: EMP PHOTOGRAPHY; MEDIA PHOTOS; RAPID EYE
Even though my peers and I are living more active lives one lived in service to her church—as an elementary school than our grandparents, there is no escaping the reality of teacher, as director of ministerial development in a Kentucky aging: the physical, psychological, and spiritual challenges diocese, and as a full-time pastoral associate for four small that each year presents. Like those before us, we can, in the parishes near Dayton, Ohio. words of poet Dylan Thomas, “rage, rage against the dying of Although Rusen’s relations with Church leaders have the light,” or we can openly assess the years we have lived so sometimes been strained, she vows, “I will never leave my far to find meaning and peace in the years to come. faith.” In fact, she credits a Roman Catholic priest, Father But limitations are real. In The Seasons of a Man’s Life, Bob Monnin, the pastor of her young family’s parish in psychologist Daniel J. Levinson writes of an aging man: Vandalia, Ohio, with “shaping my spirituality and family life.” “Even if he is in good health and physically active, he has Mike Harmon traces his spirituality to the deep faith many reminders of his decreasing vigor and capacity. If of a mother and father who raised their 11 children in the nothing else, there are more frequent aches and pains.” Catholic Church and provided each a Catholic school educaThat description rings true for Mike Harmon, 80, of tion. From 1961 to 1969, he belonged to the Society of Jesus, Cincinnati, who describes “how hard it is to get used to where he was “strongly influenced by Jesuit spirituality: arthritis in my hands, as I struggle to button my shirt or finding God in all things, practicing discernment, blending unscrew a cap. And my hearing and eyesight are going contemplation and action.” down.” More worrisome is a recent His spirituality has helped him grapdiagnosis of smoldering myeloma, a ple with what he considers the biggest “The crisis adults face bone marrow cancer. psychological challenge of aging: the Even without such a diagnosis, aging loss of friends, several of whom died between the ages of 40 friends have to face their physical limitasuddenly before he could reconnect. and 65 centers around tions. A few years ago, a longtime friend, “As I age, I think about people who leaving a legacy. In Bonnie Finn, was chopping up fallen have gone on before me,” he reflects. psychologically healthy branches in her garden on a wintry day “For the past year, I’ve been sort of adults, there’s a desire when she slipped off a wet rock and depressed that people I have loved have to mentor those who will ended up with her wrist in a cast. died so suddenly.” survive you.” Among the mental declines are In one instance, he and Fran, his wife memory problems and aphasia. If you’re of 52 years, visited an 80-year-old friend —Mary Kay Fleming, PhD not familiar with that term, you probin the hospital. As they entered his ably have not reached age 65. Derived room, they discovered that this friend’s from a Greek word that means “speechlessness,” this is the family had gathered when summoned by hospice to say their inability to retrieve the right word, especially proper names. goodbyes. In a scene Harmon describes as “unexpected and Sometimes it takes a spouse or friend to nail down the word. unnerving,” he and Fran had arrived at the moment of their Or even a community: “Where two or three are gathered,” we friend’s death. “I sat and held his hand as he died.” might eventually come up with the name of a movie whose WHO AM I NOW? plot we all remember but whose title escapes us. While each person ages uniquely, psychologists have identiIn realistically facing mental and physical diminishment, fied life crises that are universal. Mount St. Joseph’s Dr. 66-year-old Mary Kay Fleming, PhD, notes that a valuable Fleming relies on developmental psychologist Erik Erikson’s coping mechanism is a good sense of humor. The professor eight stages of life when explaining to undergraduate stuemerita at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati says, dents what aging looks like. “You can moan about aches and pains, or you can be more “The crisis adults face between the ages of 40 and 65 playful and laugh at yourself.” centers around leaving a legacy,” she explains, referring to Erikson’s seventh stage of development, which he termed A WELL OF SPIRITUALITY “generativity vs. stagnation.” Dr. Fleming says that “in psyCoping with the challenges of aging doesn’t come naturally chologically healthy adults, there’s a desire to mentor those to everyone. However, Dr. Fleming mentions one wellwho will survive you.” documented predictor of our ability to “bounce back” from The next stage, age 65 and beyond—called by Erikson significant challenges: a deep spirituality. “Religious faith “integrity vs. despair”—is the time to “look back at life and reminds us that there is more to life than our present ailhopefully bring things to a point where you are happy with ments,” she explains. “We know we are not islands and that where you are in life,” says Dr. Fleming. “The challenge is not we belong to something larger and more meaningful.” to be overwhelmed by regret, but to find a way to heal damFor Anne Marie Rusen, 75, religious faith—her own aged relationships and be useful to those you are attached to, Catholic faith and her husband, Ted’s, devotion to the despite your physical limitations.” Russian Orthodox tradition—has been foundational to their The Rev. Maureen Doherty, an Episcopal priest, recently 49 years of marriage. 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“I need to redefine my meaning and my purpose under these new circumstances.” —Rev. Maureen Doherty
‘A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS’
It’s not difficult to find public models of graceful and active aging just by browsing a newspaper or turning on the news: President Joe Biden, theologian Sister Joan Chittister, or actress Sophia Loren, who at age 87 recently
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REACHING OUT
Continuing to find meaning is one of the great tasks of the later years of our lives, says Dr. Fleming: looking outward, serving others, sharing wisdom even as physical energy begins to wane. For Rusen, that means reaching out to people older than herself in her new neighborhood. “I am trying to learn the people I live near,” she says. “Some of their stories break my heart. After helping with 500 funerals in my
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meaning and my purpose under these new circumstances.” According to Fleming, Rev. Doherty’s struggle is a perfect example of Erikson’s eighth stage: “Who am I now, in this condition/circumstance, and how do I make peace with it?” Rusen has little trouble naming her biggest hurdle: starting over late in life when she and her husband moved to Powell, Ohio, to be closer to her husband’s doctors and several of her children and grandchildren. The move meant leaving friends and a parish where she had participated in a rich community and liturgical life. She hopes to find one that will feel like home and sustain her as she ages.
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sold her house in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and moved into a senior independentliving facility with her spouse, Joan Farstad, also a priest, who is adjusting to Parkinson’s disease. Their new lifestyle has been shaped by Joan’s “physical disabilities and diminished freedoms.” Instead of celebrating Eucharist within a parish, Rev. Doherty is sometimes asked to help with liturgies at the nursing home. With more isolation required by the recent pandemic, the couple feel fortunate to be able to be together in their apartment, sharing prayer each evening. Another challenge for Rev. Doherty is giving up “knowing what I am doing every day when I wake up. I am the kind of person who needs to get up and move,” but by the nature of Joan’s illness, she needs to be with her many hours each day. “I am asking myself, What is the next part of my call here, in this town, in this residence?” she reflects. “I need to redefine my
starred in a miniseries. Several of those interviewed for this article need look no further than their age-mates to find inspiration as they navigate their final years. Rusen looks to her husband, who has had two kidney surgeries and takes 27 medicines a day, “but never complains about his illness.” She admires his “spiritual depth. He is a good, good man, and I want to imitate him.” Though Harmon falls short of canonizing his 80-year-old wife, he holds up Fran as a role model because she is “a person serious about her faith, forgiving, always open, never fearful, and focused on serving others.” Rev. Doherty calls up the memory of the woman religious who helped her recalibrate her life. Each time they met, Rev. Doherty noted a gradual decline— from independent living to using a walker, then a wheelchair. Even though her friend was eventually confined to a bed in her community’s nursing facility, Rev. Doherty says, “She was sharp intellectually, and she kept having purpose through interacting with people.”
“As I grow older, I observe more; I listen more.” —Mike Harmon
ministry, I know how to read people. I plan to use the gifts I have developed over the years to help as I can.” Although Rev. Doherty no longer ministers in a parish, she has responded to requests from local funeral home directors to lead weekly grief support groups. Despite restrictions on sizes of gatherings because of COVID-19, she has managed to find spaces to maintain these groups, which are so necessary as aging participants cope with grief in times of unbearable isolation. Harmon, despite physical limitations, still serves a variety of causes. One role he cherishes is his position on the board of the St. Francis-St. Joseph Catholic Worker House for homeless men in the center of Cincinnati. Despite the limitations of aging, he can see an upside to them: “As I grow older, I observe more; I listen more.”
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‘BE NOT AFRAID’
Even while pledging to reach out to others as long as they can, each of my interviewees is realistic about the spiritual task that awaits them as they envision their own deaths. That is one of the goals of aging, Dr. Fleming reminds us: “to come to terms with life, to find gratitude, to forgive, and not to be afraid of death.” During a phone call with my friend Bonnie Finn near All Souls’ Day, we reminisced about those who have gone before us, friends we admired, many of them religious sisters. We named them with respect and love—Elizabeth, Joan, Margie, Paula—grateful for their
impact on our lives, for being role models as we age. “They are the ones who made me unafraid of death,” she told me. “It’s like they are here with me. I talk to them about God and death, and they know, because they are there.” When I asked Rev. Doherty, Harmon, and Rusen whether they feared death, each pointed to belief in something beyond their physical existence. Harmon expressed it this way: “I have no fears except that life is so beautiful and wonderful and I will miss it in the way I have experienced it, but I will still be part of the great stream of creation.” As I reflect on my own “beautiful and wonderful” life, I am reminded daily of my mortality by reports of the still-rising death toll from the coronavirus. At the time of this writing, I have just finished a semester connecting with my students remotely, their disembodied faces and voices emanating from my computer screen. These students have many decades before they
confront their own aging, but perhaps someday they will pick up a dusty copy of Prejean’s memoir River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey and tear up, as I do, when reading its afterword: “My Sisters strengthen and inspire me to be generous in service and faithful in prayer, even when God seems to go dark. And now, as we age, they are teaching me how to die. But only when it’s time. For now, it’s all about riding the life river wherever it leads, full throttle, no-holds-barred. “One thing I love about Jesus’ spirit is that he was always talking about really living, being truly alive. And as I experience it, that’s what the Jesus spirit in us does: quickens us to touch and enliven each other to life.” Elizabeth Bookser Barkley, PhD, is an English professor and chair of the department of liberal arts at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is also the author of four books, including Life after Death: Practical Help for the Widowed (Franciscan Media).
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WHY WE GO ON PILGRIMAGES By Stephen J. Binz
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Pilgrimages add a spiritual dimension to travel, opening us up to authentic and unexpected encounters with God. Here are seven reasons people make these holy journeys.
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’ve been leading pilgrimages to sacred places for about 30 years, experiencing the desires that spring up in my own heart and learning the many reasons why people choose to go on a sacred journey. Beginning in the 1990s, I offered trips to biblical lands that would help people experience the places of the Bible and thus learn more about the context of God’s word. But I have increasingly discovered that education is only one of many reasons people desire to travel to these holy sites. Sometimes we discover our deeper reasons for pilgrimage only while on the journey. As we look forward to a future with fewer COVID-19 restrictions, I know that people will be eager to travel again and that many will experience a deeper longing to go on pilgrimage. Like all genuine desires, there are reasons God instills these yearnings within us. Here are some of the motives I’ve seen within people who long to go on pilgrimage.
1) The simple interior of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Assisi is conducive to pilgrims looking for a quiet place to pray. 2) This statue of St. Peter in Rome is a popular destination. The foot, which is believed to have healing powers, has been touched so often that the bronze is worn down. 3) Visitors view the panorama of the holy city of Jerusalem. 4) Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chavez speaks to Italian pilgrim Thierry Bonaventura near a portrait of St. Oscar Romero at St. Francis Church in El Salvador. 5) A traveler sits in contemplation on the Obradoiro Plaza in Santiago de Compostela.
2) MARKING A LIFE TRANSITION
Many of the saints of old, when they experienced their conversion to a life devoted to God, marked that transition by going on pilgrimage, often journeying to Jerusalem or Rome. Arriving in the holy city symbolized the surrender of their lives to God. For similar reasons today, people experience the major transitions of life as sacred times, often associated with a desire for sacred travel. Friends of mine recently said that they are going on a pilgrimage because their last child was finally leaving home, and they have been trying to figure out how to live purposefully with an empty nest. Pilgrimage became for them an opportunity to cross the threshold from the activities of family life to the more mellow days of life together. And pilgrimage seems to make that passage more intentional and God-centered. Retirement can be a similar kind of moment. When people retire, they often mark the transition to this new phase in their life by taking a trip. Those who wish to seek God’s direction for the years ahead might make that retirement trip an experience of pilgrimage in order to designate their willingness to let God lead their way in the years to come. 3) HONORING A LOVED ONE
The death of a loved one often leads people to choose a pilgrimage. Usually it takes about a year to get through the hard grieving that follows a painful loss, but after that first cycle of yearly events has passed, the survivor is ready for something new. A pilgrimage often marks that passage from brokenhearted loss to the desire to figure out how to get on with the rest of life. A few years ago, three siblings traveled with me because their father had just died and left them with an inheritance. Rather than simply paying down credit cards or remodeling 24 • December 2021/January 2022 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
a kitchen, they decided to pay tribute to his life by traveling to Italy together in his honor. They knew that he would be proud that they were doing this to remember him and to express the faith he had given to them. On every trip I lead, there are usually a few recently widowed women and men. While visiting the holy places, they are comforted by a deep sense that the beloved is with them along the way. But, at the same time, they gain new confidence that they can make it on their own, with God’s grace and the help of family and friends.
What are you asking God to do in your life at this place? 4) PRAYING FOR A NEED
Christian shrines and tombs of the saints throughout the world are often adorned with votive offerings: tangible objects deposited and displayed at the site to express the petition, trust, or thanks of pilgrims. Traditionally at healing shrines, the offering takes the form of small silver models of the afflicted body parts or hearts made of precious metals. These are physical signs that healings are happening at this place, and others can call upon divine help in their needs. When a pope brings a votive offering to a shrine, it may be a crown for the Virgin Mary or a golden rose as an expression of affection. When I bring an offering, it is more likely a flower to leave at the altar, a monetary offering for the shrine, or a votive candle lit to implore the saint’s intercession. Pilgrims need time to pray at sacred places and to remember the purpose of their journey. I often remind my groups to pray for their intentions and those of their family and friends back home. I find it helpful to ask questions like these: What are you asking God to do in your life at this place? How do you hope to be different after this pilgrimage than when you started? 5) ENRICHING A MARRIAGE
Married couples sometimes get into ruts. Life together becomes routine and predictable. Pilgrimage can be a means to shake things up in a relationship, an opportunity to renew the bonding forces of love. Because love is not measured by emotional feelings from day to day, but by the accumulated choices and activities together, the shared memories of a Jerusalem is a holy city for members of three faiths: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. One of the most notable Christian sites is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed to be the location of the crucifixion and the tomb of Jesus. 1) Two women light candles in the church. 2) A tour group finishes the Way of the Cross in front of the church. 3) Christian pilgrims pause in reflection at the Fifth Station. 4) In the entrance hall of the church, pilgrims lie prostrate in prayer at the Stone of Unction, thought to be the place where Christ’s body was anointed and prepared for burial.
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A call from God is experienced as a deep desire, whether it’s a momentary urge to do a good deed or a divine nudging toward a lifelong vocation. For anyone experiencing such a desire, it’s important to explore its sources and to consider ways to realize it. People tell me, for example, that they’ve wanted to go to the Holy Land their whole lives, but that recently that desire has become more intense and tangible. I tell them that they might be experiencing God’s call, and that now it is up to them to determine if God is clearing their path by giving them the right circumstances, the ability to sacrifice what it takes from their savings, and the space away from their ordinary responsibilities to make the trip. If these things all become possible, then that’s a sure lead. As people depart on pilgrimage, I invite them to consider how God has made this trip possible for them, who is sacrificing for their sake, and how all the pieces have fallen into place for this moment. Then I urge them to be grateful, relax, and follow God’s lead along the journey.
1) AND 4) COURTESY OF STEPHEN J. BINZ; ISTOCK IMAGES: 2) KOBBYDAGAN; 3) ENGIN KORKMAZ
1) EXPERIENCING A CALL
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life-changing pilgrimage can renew a marriage like nothing else. My wife and I both love to travel. We both enjoy photography, experiencing new places, and purchasing remembrances for our home. But when we go on pilgrimage together, there is an extra layer of significance that can’t be quantified in photos and souvenirs. A sacred place enriches the soul. We return to ordinary life more refreshed in spirit and more bonded on a level that is difficult to express. When married couples travel with other couples and get to know one another, they have the opportunity to uplift the marriages of one another. By getting to know other couples, learning about their lives, and having fun together, a couple can find their own marriage becoming more whole. When all that becomes enriched by prayer and the sacraments on pilgrimage, the results are transformational.
1) PAUL HARING/CNS PHOTO; 2) AND 4) COURTESY OF STEPHEN J. BINZ; 3) ENGIN KORKMAZ/ISTOCK
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6) ENCOUNTERING GOD MORE EXPERIENTIALLY
Throughout the Bible, people encounter God in new ways when away from home and on a journey. Abraham and Sarah had to leave their homeland in order to get to know God. The people of Israel grew to understand their identity while traveling through the wilderness. Mary and Joseph lived their earliest time with their infant son while journeying from Bethlehem to Egypt. In our tradition, people meet God in experiences on the road. I recall the feelings associated with a midlife transition I experienced a couple of decades ago. The anxiety, uncertainty, and fear associated with midlife brought me to a place where I knew I had to go somewhere—preferably somewhere far away, mysterious, and deeply spiritual. I had an intuitive sense that such a transcendent journey would allow me to return home ready to take the first step toward the second half of life. I’m not sure what it is about the spiritual journey that is so transforming, but people through the ages in every religious tradition have found it to be so. If you need to be deeply renewed, purged of toxins, and ready to start life anew, let God lead you on pilgrimage. For Christians, pilgrimage appeals to our ability to encounter God through creation, through history, and especially through what Celtic spirituality calls “thin places.” We experience holiness in those locations where the barrier between earth and heaven is particularly thin. Because of our sacramental imaginations, we want to see, hear, smell, 1) The Basilica of St. Francis rises above the plain in Assisi, Italy. 2) Hands reach out to touch a stone believed to hold a footprint of Jesus at the Chapel of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. This is thought to be the place from which Jesus ascended into heaven after his resurrection. 3) According to Greek Orthodox tradition, the Prison of Christ, located in the Monastery of the Praetorium, is where Jesus was held before his trial. 4) A priest celebrates Mass before the altar at Bethlehem’s Grotto of St. Jerome. In this cave, the saint spent 30 years translating the Scriptures into Latin.
taste, and touch those places where people have experienced God in unique and particular ways for a long time. 7) JOINING WITH CHRISTIANS ACROSS TIME AND PLACE
When Jesus told the people of Nazareth that no prophet is accepted in his hometown and by his own people, he was speaking a truth about familiarity. In our familiar places, our expectations are lowered. This is the reason we have to leave home and travel in order to receive the grace of pilgrimage. Life with God is full of surprises, and God is quick to go beyond our expectations, but sometimes we’ve got to leave our town and our neighbors for a while in order to experience the truth of this reality. When I travel to places of pilgrimage—Middle Eastern biblical sites, striking Gothic cathedrals, sanctuaries of the saints, places where Mary has appeared—I’m overwhelmed by the beauty of the Church. Each How do you hope place of pilgrimage is soaked to be different after with the prayers of people who have come there for centuries. this pilgrimage than When I see people coming from when you started? all over the world—some wearing indigenous attire—to a place very different from my homeland, offering exotic foods, and expressing unique customs, I’m awakened into hopeful expectancy. Yet, amid all the diversity of these places of Christian pilgrimage, I know there is one Lord, one faith, one Baptism. I experience a unity with all these holy people, sisters and brothers in sorrow and joy, children of God seeking healing and hope. I know that in Christ I am united with all these people in a way that transcends everything else. So when another group is filling the pilgrimage site to celebrate a wedding, mourn at a funeral, or offer the Mass, I don’t resent the fact that I can’t get closer or capture that perfect photo. I am able to stand back, offer a quiet prayer, and rejoice that this sacred place is enriched with living faith, that it is not a museum but rather a place to encounter the living God. Because I experience the truth, goodness, and beauty of the Church on pilgrimage, I can return to my hometown and my familiar places and there remember that God is real. I can know again, as if for the first time, that God is alive in my everyday life, that I can encounter the divine presence in my family, school, and work. Pilgrimage has renewed my soul, and I can return home with new eyes and a converted heart. Stephen J. Binz is a biblical scholar, sought-after speaker, and author of Saint Junipero Serra’s Camino: A Pilgrimage Guide to the California Missions (Franciscan Media). He leads pilgrimages to biblical sites and sacred places throughout the world. For information about his publications, speaking topics, and pilgrimages, go to his website at Bridge-B.com. StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 27
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ith bowed head, brown skin, and wearing a blue-green robe studded with stars, Our Lady of Guadalupe is instantly recognizable and one of the most iconic images associated with Catholicism. Despite the widespread fame of this Marian apparition, its origins are quite humble and deeply connected to the identity of indigenous people in Mexico and beyond. The story begins 490 years ago in 1531 in Mexico City, a New World metropolis recently conquered by the Spanish.
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Juan Diego, an indigenous man who had converted to Christianity, would make regular visits to a Franciscan mission for religious education, typically passing by Tepeyac Hill. On the morning of December 9, as he walked past the hill, the Virgin Mary appeared before him with a message: Request that the bishop have a chapel built in her name in this location as a place for those in need to pray for her intercession. After two more Marian apparitions—and a demand for proof from Bishop Juan de Zumárraga—on
LEFT: OCTAVIO DURAN, OFM
For nearly 600 years, the appearance of the Virgin Mary to St. Juan Diego in Mexico has captivated countless hearts and minds worldwide.
ISTOCK PHOTOS: MIDDLE: BYELIKOVA OKSANA; RIGHT: JULIO ORTEGA
Our Lady of Guadalupe, P
e, Patroness of the Americas
ISTOCK PHOTOS: MIDDLE: BYELIKOVA OKSANA; RIGHT: JULIO ORTEGA
LEFT: OCTAVIO DURAN, OFM
By Daniel Imwalle
December 12, Juan once again encountered Our Lady, who uttered these famous words: “Am I not here, I who am your mother?” She instructed Juan to gather flowers, and when he did, she arranged them in his tilma, or cloak. When Juan returned to tell Bishop Zumárraga about this latest encounter, he opened his tilma, the flowers fell onto the floor before the prelate, and emblazoned upon Juan’s cloak was an image of the Virgin Mary. Being the culmination of the four Marian appearances to Juan Diego, December 12 is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Now, there is not only a chapel built in her honor on the Hill of Tepeyac, but also two basilicas. Construction on the original basilica began in the late 1600s and was completed in 1709. Built with heavy stone in the style of churches of that era, the old basilica slowly began
LEFT: On Tepeyac Hill, where Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego in 1531, a bronze sculpture installation by Aurelio G.D. Mendoza titled The Offering shows 17 figures, including the Virgin Mary, Juan Diego, Bishop Juan de Zumárraga, and indigenous people bringing gifts to honor Our Lady. MIDDLE: The old Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe (foreground) has, until recently, been closed to the public due to its uneven foundation. The new basilica (background) was built to accommodate up to 10,000 people. RIGHT: In the days leading up to the feast day in 2020, thousands of faithful had already come to honor Mary by lighting a candle such as this one and offering prayers.
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LEFT: CNS PHOTO/COURTESY ARCHDIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES; RIGHT: STEVLER/ISTOCK
to sink and become unstable, due to Mexico City being built on a dried-out lake bed. The second basilica, built to handle the fluctuating earth underneath, opened its doors in 1976. The original tilma worn by Juan Diego is on display in the new basilica. Well before the construction of the basilicas, the site was already venerated as a place of pilgrimage, even dating back to the year of the apparitions themselves—1531. Now it is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world, and the third most visited sacred site across all religions. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, around 10 million people visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe each year.
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ABOVE: A painting of Juan Diego on display at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles shows flowers falling from his opened cloak. RIGHT: Draped with the Mexican flag below, the original cloak worn by Juan Diego hangs above the altar at the new basilica in Mexico City. BELOW: The connection between indigenous heritage and the Marian apparitions is strong, as evidenced by pilgrims wearing traditional indigenous clothing.
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Daniel Imwalle is the managing editor of St. Anthony Messenger. Having traveled many times to Mexico with his wife, Belinda, who is from Mexico City, he is grateful for having had the opportunity to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, among other national historic sites.
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CNS IMAGES: TOP RIGHT: PAUL HARING; LOWER LEFT: ANTHONY
The facts that Our Lady of Guadalupe has mestizo—a combination of European and indigenous—features, and that she chose to appear to an indigenous person have long held an important place in the Mexican identity. She also reportedly spoke to Juan Diego in his native tongue, Nahuatl. Outside of Mexico, Our Lady of Guadalupe is honored by millions in the United States, other countries in Latin America, and beyond. In Los Angeles, for example, an annual procession honoring the Virgin of Guadalupe has taken place since 1931. In cities and towns across the United States, more and more festivities and processions are popping up each year. So although this feast is thoroughly rooted in Mexico, it’s no surprise that Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patroness of the Americas.
CNS IMAGES: LEFT: VICTOR ALEMAN/VIDA NUEVA; MIDDLE: JAMES RAMOS/TEXAS CATHOLIC HERALD
LEFT: Dancers in colorful garb perform at a celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2012. The event commemorated the 10th anniversary of the canonization of Juan Diego in 2002. MIDDLE: The diaspora of Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrations has continued to spread in the United States. A woman wearing a traditional Aztec headdress participates in a ceremony honoring the Virgin in Houston in December 2019. UPPER RIGHT: Pope Francis burns incense on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Vatican in 2019. In his homily, the pope said, “May she speak to us as she spoke to Juan Diego with these three titles: with tenderness, with feminine warmth, and with a closeness of ‘mixedness.’”
CNS IMAGES: TOP RIGHT: PAUL HARING; LOWER LEFT: ANTHONY ALONZO/NORTHWEST INDIANA CATHOLIC; LOWER RIGHT: JULIO ORTEGA/ISTOCK
CNS IMAGES: LEFT: VICTOR ALEMAN/VIDA NUEVA; MIDDLE: JAMES RAMOS/TEXAS CATHOLIC HERALD
Give Your Advent Candles a Second Life
Your purple and pink tapers can be used again—to bring reflection and importance to other Church feasts and noteworthy days.
By Carol Ann Morrow taper announcing almost, but not quite Christmas. They’ve all done their duty, so to speak, but they won’t work well for an encore next Advent when the cycle is repeated. This past year, I reconsidered shelving the centerpiece of our Advent ritual and repurposing it well into the octave of Christmas and beyond. Why not? Popular culture is filled with suggestions for recycling, repurposing, and reusing. Four tapers shouldn’t be much of a challenge.
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ur Advent wreath is always packed away prematurely. Its purple and pink palette clashes with the red and green signaling the Christmas season. The parish church may hold off until the 25th, but it’s hard at home with a decorated tree announcing that Christmas is much closer than those four lighted candles hint. When I pack up the wreath, I find myself with one stubby purple candle, one half done, one barely used, and one pink
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THIS LITTLE LIGHT
ISTOCK PHOTOS: LEFT: FAMVELD; MIDDLE: ABRIENDOMUNDO; RIGHT: KUVONA
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In our home, we’ve known the custom of lighting a candle at the dinner table to signal the presence of Christ, who sustains us as much as any meal can. This custom was abandoned when the grandchildren thought candles invited birthdays. Any flame was blown out with a wish, no matter if cake and ice cream were to follow. Perhaps a taper could become a teaching moment. The shortest purple candle could be lighted for the feast of St. Stephen. Just one day after we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we revisit the death of the first Christian martyr, Deacon Stephen, stoned to death for his belief. Right on top of the holly-decorated tablecloth, I could restore a touch of purple that should rightly burn until its light/life is extinguished. Then there are three. DAY OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS
The tallest “leftover” candle is hardly adequate for December 28, but it will serve. On this day, we don’t really want to reflect on all the little ones who met their death so that Herod’s power would never be threatened by growing boys. It’s not a pleasant thought when new toys, holiday cookies, and poinsettias speak of holiday happiness. Still, it surely marks the longest days of mourning for so many mothers whose loss anticipated Mary at the foot of the cross many years later, but still cradling the son she had carried. So I place the purple candle of mourning on the table, and we pray for all the babies, unborn and birthed, whose lives melt into memory too soon. This candle will burn until it is no more. Then there are two.
OCTAVE OF GOODBYES
The eighth day after Christmas has known many names, but for many of us it signals a different kind of Boxing Day. Ornaments come down to be wrapped in tissue, greens drop their needles, guests pack their bags and say goodbye. Bring out that last lonely purple candle. It isn’t meant for mourning exactly, but it is a sober color. When this last purple cylinder is lighted, we can rekindle the gift of the season that is passing. In a week, the anticipation, the excitement, the celebration have given way to routine, leftovers, and return to school and work. This day’s evening meal is a refusal to forget. Meal prayer can be a gathering of memories so they are not really packed away, but spotlighted, cherished, highlighted like the candle itself. They won’t really melt into a puddle. That wax will be a seal on the season. PURPLE PARADE
Wait just a minute here! Three purple cylinders. Three kings coming. Another repurposing of Advent purple could be the visit of the three guests from the East. Epiphany is not a day to be taken lightly—or without lights! Purple has traditionally been a royal hue, so the three remaining Advent lights could return to the table to celebrate gold, frankincense, myrrh, and the travelers who brought such impractical presents. Candles are impractical in these days of electricity, energy-saving bulbs, and daylight savings of all kinds. But they are symbols, as are the gifts brought under the light of a star. This meal might be eaten by candlelight alone. It StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 35
Keep the Wreath Around
PINK PRESENTATION
Wrap the final candle in tissue and save it for February 2, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, 40 days after the birth of Jesus. It’s definitely a day for lights. In fact, it’s also known as Candlemas, a day when the candles to be used in the church for the entire year were blessed, and candles for the next day—the blessing of throats—were set aside in readiness. In contemporary experience, the Baptism of an infant seems much like Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the Temple for the presentation. A candle is part of the baptismal ceremony, one lighted from the paschal candle, blessed on Holy Saturday evening. Where are those candles from the christenings of those in our own household? Where are the white garments? Where are the certificates? When was the day? One pink candle is hardly enough to mark this particular festival. It’s a day to resurrect any candles, any memories, and all the meaning of presentation, of Baptism. What has it meant to celebrate the arrival, the survival, of an infant? This may be the last of the Advent candles, but it is the day of Anna and Simeon recognizing that they have finally welcomed the long-awaited one into their lives. On this day, we can pray with Simeon, as recorded by Luke, “My eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel” (2:30–32). Four candles may not be enough, but then we can repeat and repurpose again in all the Advents that lie ahead. Carol Ann Morrow is the former assistant managing editor at St. Anthony Messenger and the author of A Retreat with Saint Anthony: Finding Our Way (Franciscan Media). She lives in Northern Kentucky. 36 • December 2021/January 2022 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
Alternatively, some wreaths could adorn a mantel, door, or window. A string of sparkling lights threaded through the circle celebrates the starlight that led to the manger. Somehow it just seems right to use all the symbols of the Advent season in the joyful decor that marks most every home at Christmas.
ISTOCK PHOTOS: BOTTOM: C STAR 55; TOP LEFT: FATHADAM; TOP RIGHT: PINKY BIRD
might be best eaten with guests. As the three tapers illuminate the space, they invite insight into our own journey. How is this new year progressing? Have the resolutions of the first melted into memory? The feast of Epiphany with its three visitors and its three candles can shine a light on a new year barely begun. Then there is one.
WHILE AN ARTIFICIAL wreath is certainly recyclable, it can also signal the transition from Advent to Christmas. Red and green candles in place of pink and purple immediately signal that the child has come. Placing a baby inside the circle changes the space of waiting into a place of welcome.
A STARRING ROLE FOR
ST. JOSEPH St. Joseph may not have speaking parts in Scripture, but his role in the life of Jesus—and ours—is hardly a bit part. A film reviewer explores characters that showcase Joseph’s virtues. By Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP
AK2/ISTOCK
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n his apostolic letter proclaiming 2021 as the Year of St. Joseph, Pope Francis details many of St. Joseph’s virtues as the husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus: He was a loving and tender caregiver; a protector and defender of his family; a dignified and honest worker; noble of heart, trustworthy, and mature. Joseph taught Jesus to make his own decisions as any father should. He confronted crisis after crisis and creatively found a way to resolve them. Trusting in divine providence, Joseph knew that God acts through events and people. As a film reviewer, it occurred to me that St. Joseph’s virtues, or “habits of being,” are often seen in characters in television and films—some directly and others indirectly. As Catholics, these characters may especially resonate with us as the Year of St. Joseph concludes December 8. Of course, myriad films and television shows that tell the Christmas story feature St. Joseph as an essential character. Recent films delve into Joseph’s personality and develop an actual character arc. Examples include Catherine Hardwicke’s The Nativity Story (2006), Christopher Spencer’s Son of God (2014), and Cyrus Nowrasteh’s The Young Messiah (2016). Beyond these more biographical treatments, we also can see glimpses of St. Joseph’s virtues in memorable father figures featured on the big and small screen. These characters are all flawed to some degree and do not reach the heroic height we attribute to St. Joseph. Yet, even though some may seem improbable as role models, their virtues resemble those of the saint, and their stories can inspire us.
StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 37
ST. JOSEPH FIGURES IN FILM
REFLECTION QUESTIONS: As a parent, when have you had to make decisions that go against the prevailing culture? What can St. Joseph teach us about trusting in God when we face challenges?
The Way (2011), directed by and starring Emilio Estévez as Daniel, features his real-life dad, Martin Sheen, as his screen father, Tom. Tom is an ophthalmologist who must travel to Spain to retrieve Daniel’s ashes after he died in an accident on the first day of walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. Tom and Daniel had argued on the way to the airport because Daniel told him he was dropping out of a doctoral program. Tom was angry, disappointed, and concerned that his only son had left everything to find himself. Rather impetuously Tom decides to walk the Camino himself, taking his son’s ashes with him. Tom is a lapsed Catholic, and this journey with three others he meets along the way renews him in soul and body. Tom has provided for his family, made sacrifices for them, and taught Daniel to make his own decisions—and when he does, Tom struggles to accept this new reality. At this crisis point in his life, Tom finds a creative way to resolve his inner turmoil and reconcile with his son’s memory and with God. REFLECTION QUESTIONS: On the Camino, Tom made peace with his son as he walked with others in his grief. When have we had to let go of the dreams we had for our children? What can we learn from St. Joseph about the value of respecting our children’s freedom?
38 • December 2021/January 2022 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
CNS PHOTOS: THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS: COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC (2); LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL: MIRAMAX (2)
Dads is a 2020 documentary by Bryce Dallas Howard, Ron Howard’s daughter. The film features reflections on the joys and challenges of fatherhood from Ron Howard, other celebrities, and dads from around the world. Among all the fathers featured, almost every virtue of St. Joseph is showcased. One father from Japan, after suffering a kind of breakdown, decides with his wife to become a stay-at-home dad to their son. This is not very acceptable in Japanese society, and it was a courageous, countercultural decision. St. Joseph had to make a countercultural decision, too, when he accepted Mary as his wife even though she was with child.
A FATHER WALKS A HARD ROAD
DADS: APPLE TV+; THE WAY: CNS PHOTO/PRODUCERS DISTRIBUTION AGENCY/ARC (2)
THE CHALLENGES AND JOYS OF FATHERHOOD
CNS PHOTOS: THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS: COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC (2); LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL: MIRAMAX (2)
DADS: APPLE TV+; THE WAY: CNS PHOTO/PRODUCERS DISTRIBUTION AGENCY/ARC (2)
THE DIGNITY OF WORK
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) stars Will Smith as the real-life Chris Gardner, a bone-density-scanner salesman in San Francisco. In 1981, he was in the process of losing everything—wife, son, job, and apartment. At one point he and his son, Christopher, spend the night in the bathroom of the subway because they have nowhere else to go. While sharing a taxi ride with a stockbroker, Chris solves a Rubik’s cube in amazing time. The stockbroker is so impressed, he invites Chris to apply for an internship at his firm. Chris is a generous man and stalwart dad who never gives up. This is a heartbreaking, tense story about a man who perseveres against all odds and cares for and protects Christopher at all costs. Eventually, his talents and hard work are greatly rewarded, and he makes a home for his son. REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Pope Francis points to St. Joseph as a patron of dignified work. What can we learn from St. Joseph about the meaning of our work? How as a society can we ensure that all have an opportunity for work and a fair wage?
CREATIVITY AND COURAGE
Roberto Benigni cowrote, directed, and starred in Life Is Beautiful (1997), a tragicomedy about the Nazi occupation of Italy in 1944. He is Guido, a Jew, who has married Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), a gentile. Guido is very funny and cares for his family with antics and good, often over-the-top humor. They have a son, Giosué (Giorgio Cantarini), who is the light of their lives. Though Italy is at war, they work hard at running a bookstore in their northern Italian city, and things are peaceful enough, though anti-Semitism is rife. On Giosué’s fifth birthday, Guido, his uncle, and Giosué are rounded up by the Nazis and put on a train for a concentration camp. Dora joins them, but at the camp they are separated. Guido, knowing the danger they are in, nevertheless exhibits humor, optimism, and hope before losing his life to the Nazi death machine. Guido is a Joseph figure in so many ways. He sacrifices everything he can to save the lives of his family. His good humor and creativity to make sure his son survives the biggest human crisis of the 20th century make him one of the most beloved screen fathers ever. REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Pope Francis calls St. Joseph a “creatively courageous father.” How have our parents been creative and courageous when faced with a crisis? How can we exhibit those characteristics?
StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 39
REFLECTION QUESTION: What does St. Joseph teach us about the courage to “let go” as our children begin to mature? 40 • December 2021/January 2022 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
FORTITUDE IN THE FACE OF CHAOS
Over its six seasons now streaming on Netflix, Schitt’s Creek has slowly gathered a gigantic and devoted following because of its great heart. The Roses—dad and businessman Johnny (Eugene Levy), mother and actress Moira (Catherine O’Hara), gallery-owner son David (Daniel Levy, real-life son of Eugene), and globetrotting daughter Alexis (Annie Murphy)—once very wealthy, have lost everything after being defrauded by their business manager. The government, however, lets them keep a rundown town in the Canadian outback that Johnny once bought for David as a joke. They are also allowed to take whatever personal possessions they can carry in a few suitcases. Schitt’s Creek becomes their new home, and the quirky mayor, Roland Schitt (Chris Elliott), gives them a place to live in the town’s motel, run by a snarky young woman, Stevie Budd (Emily Hampshire). When their lives are in chaos, Johnny is the calm in the storm, the noble head of the family. He shows fortitude in the face of life’s “frustrations, contradictions, and disappointments,” as Pope Francis describes St. Joseph. He is also a tender and loving father to his almost-middle-aged kids. Joseph had to work hard to support his family too. Though with few possessions, Joseph and his family thrived because he was a virtuous, principled man, who loved and sacrificed all to be the foster father of Jesus. REFLECTION QUESTION: When have you or your family faced a sudden change or reversal of fortune?
ISTOCK IMAGES: TOP LEFT: NANKIM STUDIO; TOP AND BOTTOM RIGHT: DUNCAN 1890; BOTTOM LEFT: PHOTO STAR 73
Finding Nemo (2003) might seem like a stretch: Can a fish exhibit the qualities of a saint? Think of the angst that Mary and Joseph felt when Jesus stayed behind after making the customary Passover pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. Joseph must have felt responsible in a way only fathers can, and the fear of tragedy must have been almost unbearable as he and Mary rushed back to the Temple searching for 12-year-old Jesus (Lk 2:41–52). In Pixar/Disney’s Finding Nemo, Marlin, a clownfish, is father to young Nemo whose mother, Coral, was lost in a barracuda attack. Father and son live rather happily on the Great Barrier Reef. Nemo wants to explore the reef and far beyond into the ocean, and Marlin is terrified that something may happen to his son if he goes off on his own. He is overprotective and neurotic. Marlin embarrasses Nemo on his first day at school and Nemo swims away. A couple of scuba divers capture him. As Marlin gives chase, he meets Dory, a blue tang with limited short-term memory. Together they set out to find Nemo and bring him home. Marlin is caught up in his own inner chaos but must come up with a way to track his son, whom he loves to distraction. As a father, he must teach Nemo how to make some of his own decisions as he grows. At some point, Marlin will have to let Nemo go. While Marlin is flawed and has a lot to learn, his love for Nemo is strong and powerful. It brings out courage he never knew he had.
FINDING NEMO: CNS PHOTOS: DISNEY/PIXAR (2); SCHITT’S CREEK: LIONSGATE TELEVISION (2)
LEARNING TO LET GO
Modern-day dads can find inspiration in St. Joseph, who exhibited creativity and perseverance as he searched for a safe place for Mary to give birth.
Like the father figures featured in films such as Life Is Beautiful, St. Joseph was willing to sacrifice all to keep Jesus safe.
ISTOCK IMAGES: TOP LEFT: NANKIM STUDIO; TOP AND BOTTOM RIGHT: DUNCAN 1890; BOTTOM LEFT: PHOTO STAR 73
FINDING NEMO: CNS PHOTOS: DISNEY/PIXAR (2); SCHITT’S CREEK: LIONSGATE TELEVISION (2)
From demonstrating a strong work ethic to embracing masculine sensitivity, these father figures reflect aspects of one of our faith’s strongest paternal role models in Joseph. In fathers and St. Joseph, we seek guidance and strength. As Pope Francis writes in his apostolic letter “Patris Corde”: “Each of us can discover in Joseph—the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet, and hidden presence—an intercessor, a
support, and a guide in times of trouble. St. Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in the history of salvation.”
Just as St. Joseph the Worker provided for his family, the father portrayed in The Pursuit of Happyness goes to great lengths to find meaningful work.
Imagine Mary and Joseph’s panic when Jesus went missing at age 12. As we see in Finding Nemo, sometimes fatherhood requires learning to let go.
Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP, is the founding director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies in Los Angeles and an award-winning film critic for St. Anthony Messenger.
StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 41
ST. JOSEPH ON THE SCREEN A PROTESTANT MINISTER’S VIEW By Scott D. Young
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he presence of St. Joseph in a key role in film is more accurately a conspicuous absence, except in Jesus movies. Even then, St. Joseph is often represented as the odd man out. The scarcity in film can be explained, in part, by the preoccupation with Mary and Jesus, and scant information from biblical texts. The sainthood of Joseph suggests there are important aspects or features to his life demanding attention. Given the paucity of material for literal depiction, we are left with a few
clues and an open-ended invitation to the vivid imagination. Cinematic portrayals of Joseph are ones of inference and creative representations. I have selected two movies in which to excavate the spirit and characteristics of St. Joseph: First, in Boyz n the Hood, the Joseph figure is Jason “Furious” Styles (Laurence Fishburne). Released in 1991, Boyz n the Hood was written and directed by John Singleton and received widespread critical praise.
42 • December 2021/January 2022 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
PHOTOS COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES
The narrative, set in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, involves Furious Styles and his son, Tre Styles (Cuba Gooding Jr.). The story unfolds as a series of encounters common to neighborhoods infested with gang association and violence. Furious Styles is the conscience, protector, and prophetic voice in the drama. He is both a guardian and mentor to his son, Tre. Here is a quote on the Joseph-like qualities from a review of the film: “His mix of Black smarts and book smarts earns him enough credits to get a degree in legalized survival. Mr. Styles manages to teach Tre about everything he needs to learn to navigate his neighborhood, from racial profiling to gentrification.” One can imagine that Joseph played a major role in the life of his son, Jesus. I encourage readers to view the film and think of Joseph as one “badass” father who is also a lover of life.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF COLUMBIA PICTURES
BOYZ N THE HOOD
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CHILDREN OF MEN
Theo Faron (Clive Owen) is a Joseph figure, in my theological-cinematic imagination, embedded in the postapocalyptic film Children of Men. The movie was directed by Alfonso Cuarón and released in 2006 to critical acclaim. It was voted 13th among 100 top films in the 21st century by numerous critics around the world. The plot is complicated, but a quick summation is that women worldwide are suffering from infertility, so the future of human life on earth is in jeopardy. The political turmoil and threatened collapse have led to massive asylum-seeking. Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), who is pregnant, is desperate for documentation as she seeks sanctuary in the United Kingdom. Theo is hired to procure the papers and then escort her through a series of disasters to safety so the baby can be delivered, and the human race can gain a new lease on continued life.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES
PHOTOS COURTESY OF COLUMBIA PICTURES
Theo, as a Joseph symbol, is a former activist who rises to the calling of the moment. He is the “archetypal everyman” who reluctantly becomes a savior. His courage, creativity, persistence, deft handling of danger, and acuity in life-threatening situations to ensure continuity of salvation are prototypical St. Joseph. Joseph will likely never be in a starring role: Mary and Jesus will continue to dominate the lead roles. The revealing roles played by “archetypal” Josephs in films such as Boyz n the Hood and Children of Men spotlight St. Joseph’s virtues, however. I additionally recommend watching the following characters in these movies: Da Mayor in Do the Right Thing, Father Brendan Flynn in Doubt, and Jose Sanchez in Gregory Nava’s Mi Familia. A leap of the imagination may be required to recognize the Joseph figures, but stalwart, good, and noble men are there if we look. Scott D. Young is an ordained minister, the cofounder of Culture Connection, and the program director for Wesley Foundation Ministries in San Diego, California. His blog is the Culture Vulture Report.
This collector’s edition offers an in-depth and popular look at the saints including: • “Sts. Clare and Francis: Assisi’s Most Dangerous Citizens” • “An Unlikely Patron Saint” • “Blessed Carlo Acutis: The First Millennial Saint?” • “St. Joseph: Man of Virtue” Buy it at Franciscan Media’s online store:
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OWNS & O P E R AT E S
By Daniel Imwalle
Become Fire
Listen on Apple Podcasts or SoundCloud
ministry, as they discuss how parents can connect with their kids in meaningful ways without the use of screens and technological devices. They suggest putting cell phones in a basket while parents and children bond over board games or puzzles. What’s wonderful about this particular episode is how the friars draw parallels from their experiences living in community with the dynamics of family life. Though the two living situations aren’t exactly carbon copies of each other, there are many similarities when it comes to the need for face-to-face human interaction and the distractions that smartphones and social media bring. The Franciscans involved in Become Fire are lighthearted and approachable, even when talking about serious topics. They’re quick to identify with many of the same struggles that the people in the pews face, and they follow up with practical solutions that engage the spirit. To listen to the friars’ podcast, visit SoundCloud.com/BecomeFire or find them on Apple Podcasts. The friars also regularly post about the podcast on their Twitter handle, @BecomeFire.
ICONS
MUSIC
BOOKS
PODCAST TV & STREAMING
FILM
VIDEO
E-LEARNING & ONLINE
PHOTO CREDIT HERE
he Franciscan Friars of the Holy Spirit— based in Laveen, Arizona—have been ministering to the poor and preaching the Gospel in the Phoenix area since establishing their ministry in 1987. Their presence has since expanded to St. Mary of Redford Parish in Detroit, Michigan, where the friars have a House of Studies for those in formation who are discerning the call to religious life. Along with outreach to Native Americans and an inner-city ministry, the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Spirit— “grey friars,” who follow the Rule of the Third Order Regular—aim to evangelize in the spirit of their founder, St. Francis of Assisi. Among other initiatives, their evangelization efforts include a weekly podcast, called Become Fire. What began in 2018 as recordings of Sunday homilies has morphed into weekly conversations among friars—typically, Brother Elijah DeLello and Father Antony Tinker—about a wide range of topics and issues facing Catholics today. From discussing the moral implications of body modification (tattoos, piercings, etc.) to the pro-life ramifications of the 2018 horror film A Quiet Place, the friars don’t shy away from 21st-century subject matter. In another episode, they break down New Age culture and some of its potential positive aspects and pitfalls for Catholics. Apart from analyzing some of the inspirations and challenges Catholics encounter in secular culture, the friars delve into myriad other topics, including devotion to Mary, lessons from Mother Teresa, and ways to improve daily prayer practices. In episode #34, “Family Night,” Father Antony and Brother Elijah engage in a bit of family
COURTESY OF FRANCISCAN FRIARS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
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Curated by Susan Hines-Brigger
Celebrating Advent and Christmas
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he season of Advent is one of preparation. As we await the birth of Christ, we also look forward to the beginning of a new year—a type of new birth itself. To carry you through these two seasons, here is a list of books that may serve as good companions on the journey.
A CATHOLIC FAMILY ADVENT BY SUSAN HINES-BRIGGER
This book offers concrete ways for your family to prepare for Christmas by living out the themes and messages of the Advent season. In it you will find daily reflections, discussion questions, and family activities for the weeks leading up to Christmas.
HOLDING JESUS: REFLECTIONS ON MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD
MAKING ROOM: SOUL-DEEP SATISFACTION THROUGH SIMPLE LIVING BY KYLE KRAMER
Sometimes life can be overwhelming. In this book, Kyle Kramer chronicles his ongoing adventures and misadventures on the path to simple living and greater emotional, mental, and material freedom. BY RICHARD ROHR
In 42 scriptural reflections, Father Alfred McBride invites us to consider Mary as a young wife and new mother who holds her infant, as the Mother of Sorrows who holds her son when he is taken down from the cross, and as a witness to the infant Church when the Holy Spirit descends upon the Upper Room at Pentecost.
ADVENT WITH ST. FRANCIS BY DIANE HOUDEK
St. Francis had a special affinity for the Christmas story, so it makes sense that he would serve as a thoughtful guide through the Advent season. In this book, St. Francis is your daily guide through the Advent season, helping readers explore how they, too, can live the Gospel in the circumstances of their daily lives. COURTESY OF FRANCISCAN FRIARS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
s the Christmas season comes to a close, we turn our attention to the birth of a new year and new opportunities. Often, we seek ways to make our lives more fulfilling. Here are some books that may help as you discern ways to reach that goal.
BREATHING UNDER WATER
BY FATHER ALFRED MCBRIDE, O. PRAEM
PHOTO CREDIT HERE
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CAN YOU FIND JESUS?
WRITTEN BY PHILIP D. GALLERY, ILLUSTRATED BY JANET L. HARLOW
This book is a great way to introduce the Gospel stories to younger children in a fun and unique way. Readers are challenged to find certain biblical characters within the many illustrations that take them on a journey through the life of Jesus.
Buy these books NOW in our online shop! When placing an order, use code and receive a 10% discount. Visit: Shop.FranciscanMedia.org • Use code: SAMCulture10
Best-selling author Richard Rohr, OFM, shows how the Twelve Steps offer a spirituality that can help us face our dependencies headon and, in doing so, find fulfillment and true joy. The book also has a companion journal available in which you can reflect on the book and how it speaks to you.
SURROUNDED BY LOVE
BY MURRAY BODO, OFM
Franciscan Murray Bodo illuminates seven key teachings from St. Francis and shows how these teachings are the foundation for Franciscan spirituality today.
LUMINOUS: A 30-DAY JOURNAL FOR ACCEPTING YOUR BODY, HONORING YOUR SOUL, AND FINDING YOUR JOY BY SHANNON K. EVANS
In this beautiful journal (available in January 2022), Shannon K. Evans invites you to reflect on your relationship with your body, which, she says, cannot be separated from the health of your soul, for the two are intertwined to make up all that it means to be you.
StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 45
CULTURE
By Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP
Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP
FAVORITE HISTORICAL
FILMS
John Adams (2008) Glory (1989)
The Joy Luck Club (1993) Selena (1997) Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
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or viewers, it’s not easy to follow the story line of No Time to Die, the 25th installment in the James Bond film franchise, which is a continuation of the plot started in 2015’s Spectre. It’s more like a thrilling ride. This is actor Daniel Craig’s fifth and final outing as the suave British spy. Bond’s leading lady is, once again, psychiatrist Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), and they are dealing with the imprisoned Blofeld (Christoph Waltz). Though Swann and the retired Bond have been together for some time, he breaks off their relationship when he believes she has betrayed him to the criminal organization Spectre. What drives the story, however, is Madeleine’s memory of Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek), who murdered her mother when she was a child, and now reenters her life. Safin is on a mission to avenge the assassination of his family years before and is creating a biochemical weapon on an island between Japan and Russia. Bond meets his replacement, the new 007 (Lashana Lynch), when he is pulled back into the international mess between intelligence agencies created by his former boss, an embarrassed M (Ralph Fiennes). No Time to Die is an overlong and overwrought action thriller. The cinematography is often stunning, but the action sequences are exhausting. The film is scripted by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Cary Joji Fukunaga, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who was brought on to make sure that the women in Bond’s world were equitably represented (they are). The film proves my contention that too many writers are not good for the finished product, and the editors needed to trim off at least 20 minutes of running time. Though some have questioned the relevance of James Bond for today, one need only compare him to films based on popular comic book superheroes who fight the world’s problems through violence. Like them, Bond has amazing gadgets, he’s extremely intelligent, he survives what no mere mortal could, and he fights enemies to overcome oppression and injustice for the world. I think that somehow the franchise will continue; any continued relevance is yet to be proven. A-3, PG-13 • Pervasive violence, sexual innuendo, some language.
46 • December 2021/January 2022 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
15 MINUTES OF SHAME: COURTESY HBO MAX; THE CRICKETS DANCE: COURTESY V AWAKEN PRODUCTION
Sister Rose’s
NO TIME TO DIE
LEFT: COURTESY SISTER ROSE PACATTE, FSP/MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS; NO TIME TO DIE: COURTESY METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER
Sister Rose is a Daughter of St. Paul and the founding director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies. She has been the awardwinning film columnist for St. Anthony Messenger since 2003 and is the author of several books on Scripture and film, as well as media literacy education.
THE CRICKETS DANCE
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15 MINUTES OF SHAME
15 MINUTES OF SHAME: COURTESY HBO MAX; THE CRICKETS DANCE: COURTESY V AWAKEN PRODUCTION
LEFT: COURTESY SISTER ROSE PACATTE, FSP/MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS; NO TIME TO DIE: COURTESY METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER
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his timely documentary from executive producer Monica Lewinsky begins and ends with asking: “Imagine you wake up one morning with the whole world knowing your name. What kind of world would you want that to be?” She describes how, in a single day in 1998, she went from being a completely private person to one who lost her dignity and almost her life because her affair with President Bill Clinton was revealed in the press and on the Internet. HBO Max’s film surveys the social phenomenon of Internet shaming and cyber-harassment—as well as its history. The film goes on to address the brain’s release of dopamine that first entices us and then addicts us to rejoicing in the downfall of others. It goes on to examine how social media’s advertising business model uses the placement of public shaming stories and angry responses to lure people to their ads. 15 Minutes of Shame offers several examples of people who have lost their jobs due to online shaming and bullying based on imprecise or erroneous reporting. Some of these shaming victims have come close to suicide because their lives and those of their families have been threatened. The experts interviewed call us to examine and change our negative online behavior, while acknowledging that boycotts can be good and effective. The phenomenon of public shaming of persons negates the human dignity of victims—as well as those doing the shaming. But there is hope. As professor and human rights activist Loretta J. Ross says at the end: “[To me] anger is empty. Replace it with radical love and call on myself to be the best human I can be.” Monica Lewinsky, an anti-bullying advocate, is the executive producer of 15 Minutes of Shame, and Max Joseph directs this important documentary that can help civilize public discourse, question social media messages, and help us understand the profit motive behind the public shaming that we may participate in. Not yet rated, TV-MA • Some language, bullying, suicide references, verbal violence. Catholic News Service Media Review Office gives these ratings. A-1 General patronage
A-2 Adults and adolescents
A-3 Adults
L Limited adult audience
O Morally offensive
ased on the 2019 novel by Deborah Robillard, and directed and scripted by Veronica Robledo, this film is a romantic tale of discovery and an exploration of racial identity in the American South. Angie Lawrence (Kristen Renton) is an attractive young lawyer in Savannah, Georgia, who is surprised when she inherits an antebellum mansion from a relative, Miss Claudia (Sandra Ellis Lafferty). When she moves in, Angie discovers a diary written by a young girl 150 years ago. Meanwhile, at work, she meets Andrew Ruben McGrath (Maurice Johnson), a handsome Black lawyer from Atlanta. As Angie, who is White, reads the diary, she discovers a story of slavery, cruelty, great love, and a mysterious history that binds her and Andrew together. Though interracial marriage was not only culturally forbidden but also illegal for almost a century after the Civil War, The Crickets Dance is a conventional love story that wants us to know that interracial love is part of our history, and it is something good and beautiful. Told from the White protagonist’s point of view, it would have been more interesting to hear it from Andrew’s perspective as well. Not yet rated • Racial slurs and bias, depiction of enslaved people, cruelty and violence, a nonexplicit sexual encounter.
Source: USCCB.org/movies
StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 47
POINTSOFVIEW | FAITH AND FAMILY
By Susan Hines-Brigger
The Joy of Little Things
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Susan welcomes your comments and suggestions! EMAIL: CatholicFamily@ FranciscanMedia.org MAIL: Faith and Family 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202
EMBRACING THE NEW
This year my family celebrated Christmas . . . in November . . . in Florida. Yes, you read that right. It was a far cry from our usual Christmas traditions back home in Ohio— cold weather, going to get the Christmas tree, baking cookies. But when you have two kids living out of town, you learn to adapt. So we sat and exchanged presents at my daughter’s house after enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner. There was no tree, no decorations, no cold weather or chance of snow. But you know what? It worked. We were all together for the first time in a while. We spent time talking—in person, as opposed to the scheduled FaceTime conversations we’ve gotten so used to. We laughed. My husband, Mark, and I reveled in watching our kids reconnect and catch up with each other. The whole scene made me think of the classic line from the Dr. Seuss cartoon How the Grinch Stole Christmas!: “He puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more!” A CHANGED PERSPECTIVE
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After we returned home and I started to pull out the Christmas decorations, I thought a lot about our family’s Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration. I thought back to how our kids spent more time focused on each other than they did on the gifts we brought them. I
48 • December 2021/January 2022 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
thought about the lack of decorations and how we still had a wonderful celebration of each other and the spirit of the holiday. And I thought about that profound quote from a simple cartoon. As I unpacked the ornaments, I looked at each one that we had bought on all of our family trips. While I placed each one on the tree, the memories that accompanied it came flooding back, bringing with it a sense of joy to my heart. I thought of how our kids had recounted some of those trips when we were together less than a month ago. But then I put many of the decorations back into their totes and returned them to the attic. This Christmas would be more about the small things—like time spent together—than the grand displays of decorations or stacks of perfectly wrapped presents. So, no, our trip to Florida wasn’t the traditional Christmas I have become accustomed to. But it was perfect and certainly captured the spirit of Christmas in the broader sense of what the season represents—love, family, and togetherness. After all, what really is at the heart of Christmas? Isn’t the true focus of the season supposed to be the celebration of a child born in the simplest of surroundings? It’s not about the decorations, the gifts, or the parties. Dr. Seuss might have been right. “Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more!”
TOP RIGHT: COURTESY SHANNON K. EVANS;
Susan has worked at St. Anthony Messenger for 27 years and is an executive editor. She and her husband, Mark, are the proud parents of four kids— Maddie, Alex, Riley, and Kacey. Aside from her family, her loves are Disney, traveling, and sports.
TOP FAR LEFT: MC KOZUSKO/SAM; TOP: YIN YANG/ISTOCK
Susan Hines-Brigger
t has been said that change is the only constant in life. After the past two years, oh boy, would I agree with that. And I’m sure many other people would too. Last year, thanks to COVID-19, for us there were no big family celebrations or midnight Mass. There were no nice Christmas outfits or fancy hairstyles. Instead, we celebrated in pajamas, sweatpants, and messy buns. It was the first Christmas without my dad, so no arrangements needed to be made for virtual visits to make sure he was included. In short, it was the most untraditional Christmas my family had ever celebrated. That is, until this year.
FAITH and FAMILY
CAPTURING THE JOY OF CHRISTMAS
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hen I was a kid, Christmas was downright magical. like hot cocoa on the stove, a single My mom and dad excelled in the art of the holiday string of secondhand lights, and a season; my mom filling the house with sweet and savory Christmas movie on TV are enough smells to complement the red and green decorations, my to fill them with giddy anticipation. dad always piling too many presents underneath the live When I see our home from their Christmas tree. In the O’Brien home, Christmas was a huge eyes, I am reminded that it’s not the extravaganza. And I assumed it always would be. huge, showy things that are necesBut now that I’m a parent, my own family’s Christmas sary for Christmas joy—it’s the little spirit looks pretty different than that of my things that come alive family of origin. Raising five kids means that in extra special ways. When I see decorations are limited, both because of our My husband our home tight budget and because pretty things get reminds me that Shannon K. Evans broken with a constant stream of toddlers in he, too, treasured from my kids’ our midst. And while the pile of gifts under the Christmas as a child, and yet his family celeyes, I am artificial tree might still be substantial, each ebrated the holiday in a more understated way reminded that person gets fewer gifts when they’re divided than mine did. Having him bring his perspecit’s not the among seven people. On top of all that, I am a tive in to add nuance to my expectations helps huge, showy far cry from the cook my mother is—in both to keep me from falling into the belief that there things that are quality and desire. is only one “right” way to celebrate Christmas. necessary for I am definitely not recreating my childhood It can all be magical; it can all be holy. Christmases here; and yet, I still dearly desire This year our five children range in age from Christmas joy. for my own kids to experience this holiday as a 2 to 11, so I’m sure Christmas Eve Mass will be magical, enchanting time. I want them to carry as chaotic and rowdy as ever in our pew. After memories of our spiritual practices and religious traditions Mass, we will return to our warm, cozy home in the snow, that evoke feelings of wonder and awe. Every year, I wrestle bake and frost some sugar cookies, and light candles to twinwith how to do this in a way that doesn’t concede to consum- kle alongside the lights strung around the living room. erism, waste, and greed; every year I wonder if I’m giving my And in the morning when we rise, there might not be children anything magical at all. lavish decorations or gifts—and I will very likely make a But what is so easy for me to forget is that the minds and subpar dinner—but there will be a sparkle in my children’s imaginations of children are already explosively dynamic. eyes and a joyful spring in their steps. And there just might It really doesn’t take much to captivate them: Little things be in mine too. —Shannon K. Evans
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These scenes may seem alike to you, but there are changes in the two. So look and see if you can name eight ways in which they’re not the same. (Answers below) ANSWERS: 1) One of the candles is no longer straight. 2) There is only one cord around the nun’s waist. 3) A poinsettia is missing its center. 4) The shape of one ornament has changed to a square. 5) There is another divider in the window. 6) The Advent wreath has another branch. 7) One of the candles is now lit. 8) The nun’s collar is now rounded.
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Fr i a r Pe te & Re pe at
LET US PRAY
reflect | pray | act
By Shannon K. Evans
A Prayer for the New Year
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A
s 2021 comes to a close, we’ve probably given some thought to our resolutions. While the cultural tradition has been criticized by some as being unsustainable, laying out specific intentions at the beginning of the year can propel us toward positive growth when set realistically. Looking ahead and setting healthy goals for ourselves—whether physical, spiritual, mental, or emotional—can bolster our sense of hope and create valuable inner motivation for moving forward. But entering into a new year is not only about a new beginning; it’s also about an ending. If we are to embrace the next chapter of our lives with open arms, we need to take time to cultivate a sense of closure from the last chapter. After all, it’s equally important to look behind as it is to look ahead. Without pausing to take a conscious assessment of the past year, setting new resolutions will likely only keep us running on the proverbial hamster wheel. Eventually, we’ll become exhausted. If we’re looking for true, soulful inner growth and not a quick fix, carving out time to pray and deeply reflect on the past 12 months is in order. When we stop to take inventory of our life experiences—especially in smaller increments of time, as with one calendar year—we have
50 • December 2021/January 2022 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
the opportunity to engage in deep listening with the Holy Spirit to better understand how God has been at work in our lives. The end of December provides the perfect time to reflect on the patterns and movements of God within us. It is also a time to look at the circumstances that we may not have noticed as they were happening in real time. Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20. Identifying the highs and lows of the past 12 months can offer valuable insight on how to make the most beneficial choices in the future: We can see what has moved us closer to God and what has moved us further away. Putting together the pieces in this way could be akin to following a trail of bread crumbs in order to find the right path for moving forward in the year ahead. Of course, looking into the past with openness and vulnerability is not always easy or pleasant. Painful things have likely happened in the past year; perhaps even things we would like to run from. But when we turn to God, we get the chance to see God’s presence even in the hardest times. CONSOLATION/DESOLATION
St. Ignatius wrote about times of “consolation” and times of “desolation,” indicating that both
TOM MERTON/ISTOCK
Shannon K. Evans is a frequent contributor to St. Anthony Messenger and is the author of Rewilding Motherhood: Your Path to an Empowered Feminine Spirituality (Brazos Press). She and her family make their home in central Iowa. Find out more on her website, ShannonKEvans.com, or follow her on Instagram at @ShannonkEvans.
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Shannon K. Evans
are part of the spiritual life. A state of consolation is when we are acutely aware of and are experiencing God’s active presence in the world and in our lives. In these times, we can clearly see the gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as love, goodness, mercy, and peace. On the other hand, a state of desolation is when we can’t seem to see or feel God’s active presence in the world. It may be because we are resisting God. Desolation tends to be marked by difficult feelings such as resentment, selfishness, fear, and gloom. Consolation certainly feels more pleasant, but desolation has things to teach us too, which is why annual days of reflection can be so beneficial. No experience, however trying, is wasted when brought to God: There is always growth, redemption, and fullness of life to be had when we put our life in divine hands. As we reflect on the year and seek
understanding of God’s movements in our lives, it’s often helpful to pull out a journal and write down our thoughts as they come. Previously prepared questions can serve as prompts to get us started, such as, “What did I learn this year?” “What rhythms worked for me?” “What do I wish I had more time for?” “What brings me closer to God?” “What feels unnecessarily hard?” “What feels unhealthy to me?” In the frantic pace of our busy culture, taking an entire morning for prayer and reflection can feel ludicrous and wasteful. The temptation is to barrel on into the new year with grandiose resolutions that we hope will improve our lives. But without stopping to seek God first, will any of those resolutions really last? Instead of taking a sip out of the nearest water fountain, what if we took the time to dig a deep, nourishing well? We might just taste the living water that Jesus promised.
ACTION
STEPS
MAKE A PLAN. Look at your calendar and set aside a few hours to devote to self-reflection.
COME PREPARED. Make sure you have everything you might need: journals from the year, cards from loved ones, mementos, a glass of water, a fresh journal, and a pen to write down your thoughts during this time. Leave your phone and computer in another room to minimize distractions. ASK FOR HELP. Before you begin your time of reflection, say a prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit to jog your memory, point out important themes, and illuminate your understanding.
A PRAYER FOR GRACE God of my past, present, and future, I trust you have been active in my life for the past year.
invited me to become a more whole, loving, and compassionate person. Give me the fortitude to continue to accept that invitation. TOM MERTON/ISTOCK
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Help me see the ways you have
Amen.
StAnthonyMessenger.org | December 2021/January 2022 • 51
As long as we know in our hearts what Christmas ought to be, then Christmas is.
—Eric Sevareid
52 • December 2021/January 2022 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
PHOTO CREDIT HERE MAMMUTH/ISTOCK
reflection
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