Human Life is Precious

Anyone looking at a portrait of our family would count nine children.

But that picture wouldn't tell the whole story of our family. Two children are missing.

We have no images of those children, who were miscarried in early pregnancy. We never really got to know them, even knowing if they were boys or girls, or one of each.

Yet they existed -- and still exist.

If they were here with us now they would be in college, or at least be college-aged. Long ago I gave them names to help me pray for them and with them: Stephen Michael and Anne Marie.

They were sandwiched into the middle of our family, so their absence creates a four-year gap between our older set of four children and a younger set of five. I'm grateful to the Pope Paul VI Institute in Omaha for those five younger children. Doctors there figured out why I had miscarriages and found a simple solution, injections of the hormone progesterone.

I'm also grateful that the doctors intervened when they did. Apparently conventional medicine didn't deem miscarriages worth investigating until a woman had three. We weren't willing to wait for another baby to die. But how I wish we figured out the problem earlier.

The image above, or at least one similar to it, has given me great comfort, particularly because the angel is holding two babies.

A magnet we used to have on our refrigerator also comforted me. The magnet contained a quote from St. John Paul II: "Human life is precious because it is the gift of a God whose love is infinite; and when God gives life, it is forever."

The great pope settled my concerns about why God even bothers to create earthly lives destined to be so short. Our Lord has a higher purpose and plans for those tiny children -- though while we are still on Earth we may never fully grasp His designs. He lovingly created our little ones, and they rest surrounded in His love.

Over the centuries, church scholars have discussed what happens to babies who die before they have a chance to be baptized. I am no longer concerned with that question after a wise person recommended simply entrusting those children to God's mercy. Ultimately, I couldn't think of a better place for them.

"Is there anyone among you who would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or would hand him a snake when he asked for a fish?
"If you, then, evil as you are, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" -- Matthew 7:9-11

Sometimes when I pray, I imagine Jesus holding my babies. I ask Him to kiss them for me. And I ask them to kiss His Holy Face for me. Pray for our family, I ask the children, so that some day all of us can join you in God's presence.

I encourage anyone who has undergone the loss of a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth or infant death to attend an Oct. 14 prayer service hosted by the Elizabeth Ministry and led by Father Reeson. The 7 p.m. service will honor and remember our babies and offer support to those who mourn their deaths.

Let us entrust our little ones to the Lord and find our solace in Him.

Stephen Michael and Anne Marie -- and all of your little friends --  pray for us!

Inspired by the Year of Faith, Susan Szalewski began writing weekly columns for us. Although that year is over, we liked them so well that we asked her to keep writing. Thankfully, she said yes. So watch for these on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.

Theology Lessons Abound

Earlier this week a certain sixth-grader asked me: "Mom, what's your definition of theology?"

"The study of God?" was my hesitant answer.

Paul, the sixth-grader, hadn't been happy with some of the dictionary definitions he found for his homework which mentioned neither God nor study. I'm not sure what he wrote down for his homework answer, but his question got me thinking, especially because St. Columbkille Parish began offering an eight-week course on St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body.

If God reveals so much to us through His creation of the human body, what about the rest of creation? Aren't there lessons from God everywhere for us?

And even beyond the physical world -- the Earth, the sun and moon and stars, the flowers and plants and creatures -- what does God reveal to us in our experiences, the passing of time, in our relations with others?

At each moment, God is everywhere, waiting to communicate with us and teach us.

We need to be like the saints, who were perceptive enough to listen.

"Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart," St. Luke tells us.

Our Lord provided St. John Paul with enough insights on the human body to span five years of teaching during his Wednesday audiences. And that was just one aspect of the pope's teaching legacy. He taught on a wide range of topics, including what God reveals to us in Mary, the family and the lives of saints.

St. John Paul canonized more than 450 saints, each one a lesson in theology, reflecting something unique and beautiful about God.

Indeed, every person we encounter is theology lesson for us.

Inspired by the Year of Faith, Susan Szalewski began writing weekly columns for us. Although that year is over, we liked them so well that we asked her to keep writing. Thankfully, she said yes. So watch for these on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.

A Feast in the Midst of our Fasts

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me." -- Luke 9:23

Welcome to Lent.

Below is a feast in the midst of our fasts: Lenten prayers and words of wisdom from saints and others, to feed us on our journey.

“As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus’ thirst. . . . ‘Repent and believe,’ Jesus tells us. What are we to repent? Our indifference, our hardness of heart. What are we to believe? Jesus thirsts even now, in your heart and in the poor – He knows your weakness. He wants only your love, wants only the chance to love you.” – Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

 “Nothing, how little so ever it be, if it is suffered for God’s sake, can pass without merit in the sight of God.” – Thomas a Kempis

“Lent stimulates us to let the Word of God penetrate our life and in this way to know the fundamental truth: who we are, where we come from, where we must go, what path we must take in life. . .” – Pope Benedict XVI

“Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor. . . . Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.” – Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

“Christ, like a skillful physician, understands the weakness of men. He loves to teach the ignorant, and the erring He turns again to His own true way. He is easily found by those who live by faith; and to those of pure eye and holy heart, who desire to knock at the door, He opens immediately.” – St. Hyppolytus

"We can think of Lent as a time to eradicate evil or cultivate a virtue, a time to pull up weeds or to plant good seeds. Which is better is clear, for the Christian ideal is always positive rather than negative. A person is great not by the ferocity of his hatred of evil, but by the intensity of his love for God. Asceticism and mortification are not the ends of a Christian life; they are only the means. The end is charity. Penance merely makes an opening in our ego in which the Light of God can pour. As we deflate ourselves, God fills us. And it is God's arrival that is the important event."  – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

“Look at His adorable face.

Look at His glazed and sunken eyes.

Look at His wounds.

Look Jesus in the face.

There, you will see how He loves us.” – St. Therese of Lisieux

“My beloved Jesus, Your face was beautiful before You began this journey; but now it no longer appears beautiful and is disfigured with wounds and blood. Alas, my soul also was once beautiful when it received Your grace in Baptism; but I have since disfigured it with my sins. You alone, my Redeemer, can restore it to its former beauty. Do this by the merits of Your passion; and then do with me as You will.” – St. Alphonsus Liguori

“Are you capable of risking your life for someone? Do it for Christ.” – St. John Paul II

“Lent comes providentially to reawaken us, to shake us from our lethargy.” – Pope Francis

“Lent is a fitting time for self-denial; we would do well to ask ourselves what we can give up in order to help and enrich others by our own poverty. Let us not forget that real poverty hurts: no self-denial is real without this dimension of penance. I distrust a charity that costs nothing and does not hurt.” – Pope Francis

May Christ bring us closer to Him this Lent!

Inspired by the Year of Faith, Susan Szalewski began writing weekly columns for us. Although that year is over, we liked them so well that we asked her to keep writing. Thankfully, she said yes. So watch for these on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.

Vocations Monstrance

Before the Year of the Eucharist St. John Paul II blessed six monstrances, one for every continent (okay -- he didn't include Antarctica). Each was to travel within each continent to pray for Vocations. There was such a demand, that they continue to be used.

Tonight it is in our chapel. After the noon Mass today it will be used within Benediction then it will move on to another parish. So stop by this morning and pray -- even if just for a few moments.

St John Paul II's Gift for Us

Twelve years ago this month, St. John Paul II left us a gift, one of the many treasures he left us during his long pontificate.

This particular gift was given to him when he was a child, and he lovingly passed it on to us to be rediscovered and appreciated anew: the rosary.

In 2002 the pope issued his apostolic letter “Rosarium Virginis Mariae,” the Rosary of the Virgin Mary, and delved into the richness of this traditional prayer. It had become devalued in recent times, the pope wrote, but was the perfect prayer for the new millennium, “destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness.”

At the time, St. John Paul II saw the many challenges faced by families, and throughout the world “the need to implore from God the gift of peace.” The answer, he said, was in the rosary.

Twelve years later, we need the rosary more than ever. Now, after celebrating the newly canonized saint's feast day and during the month of the rosary, let's renew our efforts.

If you have never regularly prayed the rosary, now would be a good time to start. If you have been praying it faithfully, you might consider reading (or re-reading) the apostolic letter, to learn from a master how to unite yourself with Mary to contemplate the face of God.

The rosary, St. John Paul II said, will conform us to Christ and allow us to not just know Jesus’ teaching, but to know Him and proclaim Him.

The pope teaches us that the rosary is not just a “mechanical repetition of formulas” but a way to remember the events of our salvation. “Those events not only belong to ‘yesterday,’” he reminds us, “they are also part of the ‘today’ of salvation.”

And “to ‘remember’ them in a spirit of faith and love is to be open to the grace which Christ won for us by the mysteries of His life, death and resurrection.”

St. John Paul II's writing is eloquent, yet easy to understand, with helpful tips that might enhance you or your family’s prayer.

A few of those suggestions:

-Announce each mystery of the rosary, perhaps even use an icon to portray it.

-Follow with “the proclamation of a related biblical passage, long or short, depending on the circumstances.”

“No other words can ever match the efficacy of the inspired word," he said. "As we listen, we are certain that this is the word of God, spoken for today and spoken ‘for me.’”

-Be silent. Pause and focus attention on the mystery before moving into vocal prayer.

-Then say the Our Father. “After listening to the word and focusing on the mystery, it is natural for the mind to be lifted up towards the Father.”

-Pray the Hail Marys, drawn from the words spoken by Mary to the Angel Gabriel and by Saint Elizabeth, contemplating in adoration the mystery of that decade.

Note that the name of Jesus is the "hinge" between the two parts of the prayer. Reverently pause at His name or add a clause related to the mystery. For example, in the Fifth Joyful Mystery (the finding of our Lord in the temple), you could say: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, found in the temple.

-Pray the Gloria (Glory Be), not just as a “perfunctory conclusion,” but to raise your heart and mind “to the heights of heaven.”

Some other things to keep in mind as you pray:

-The beads are more than a counting mechanism. Notice that “the beads converge upon the Crucifix.”

 “The life and prayer of believers is centered upon Christ. Everything begins from Him, everything leads toward Him, everything, through Him, in the Holy Spirit, attains to the Father.”

The beads also “evoke the unending path of contemplation and of Christian perfection.” They are a chain that links us to God, a “sweet chain.”

And for parents who are reluctant to pray the rosary with their children:

“Why not try it? With God’s help, a pastoral approach to youth which is positive, impassioned and creative – as shown by World Youth Days! – is capable of achieving quite remarkable results.”

Alone or with others, give the rosary a try, St. John Paul II encourages us.

“Dear brothers and sisters! A prayer so easy and yet so rich truly deserves to be rediscovered by the Christian community. Let us do so . . .”

Inspired by the Year of Faith, Susan Szalewski began writing weekly columns for us. Although that year is over, we liked them so well that we asked her to keep writing. Thankfully, she said yes. So watch for these on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.

Archbishop Cupich and our Parishioners

In 1975 Blase Cupich was ordained a priest for the Omaha Archdiocese by Archbishop Daniel Sheehan.
In 1998 St. John Paul II chose him to become the Bishop of Rapid City.
In 2010 Pope Benedict chose him to become the Bishop of Spokane.
It was announced Saturday that Pope Francis has chosen him as the next Archbishop of Chicago.
But yesterday, during a quick trip to our archdiocese, he got to meet a couple of our parishioners.

Congratulations Archbishop Cupich!

Constitution Day

In celebration of Constitution Day, some of our Cub Scouts raised and lowered the flag at the Education Center today.

They began by inspecting one another to make 

certain they were all presentable for the ceremony.

 They returned to lower the flag as well.

As one of the scoutmasters said, 

"Lowering the flag is very uplifting."

Thank you for your service!

In 1987, on the 200th anniversary of the Constitution, St. John Paul II spoke on the importance of the Constitution and the Freedom it offers.

Labor Day Statement

Every year on Labor day the US Bishop release a statement. This year the statement was written by Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami who is the Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

This year Pope Francis canonized Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II. Both made immense contributions to the social teaching of the Church on the dignity of labor and its importance to human flourishing. St. John Paul II called work "probably the essential key to the whole social question" (Laborem Exercens, No. 3) and St. John XXIII stressed workers are "entitled to a wage that is determined in accordance with the precepts of justice" (Pacem in Terris, No. 20).

Pope Francis added to this tradition that work "is fundamental to the dignity of a person.... [It] 'anoints' us with dignity, fills us with dignity, makes us similar to God... gives one the ability to maintain oneself, one's family, [and] to contribute to the growth of one's own nation." Work helps us realize our humanity and is necessary for human flourishing. Work is not a punishment for sin but rather a means by which we make a gift of ourselves to each other and our communities. We simply cannot advance the common good without decent work and a strong commitment to solidarity.

Labor Day gives us the chance to see how work in America matches up to the lofty ideals of our Catholic tradition. This year, some Americans who have found stability and security are breathing a sigh of relief. Sporadic economic growth, a falling unemployment rate, and more consistent job creation suggest that the country may finally be healing economically after years of suffering and pain. For those men and women, and their children, this is good news. ...

Meaningful and decent work is vital if young adults hope to form healthy and stable families. Work and family life "must be properly united and must properly permeate each other. In a way, work is a condition for making it possible to found a family, since the family requires the means of subsistence which man normally gains through work" (Laborem Exercens, No. 10). Research is bearing out the consequences of neglecting this relationship: marriage rates have declined by close to 20 percent in the last 40 years, and the birth rate is the lowest on record. Among young adults, the decline in marriage has been steeper, at 40 percent. Although not the only reason, many young adults, because they are unable to find decent work, are delaying marriage and starting a family.

Our challenge this Labor Day is to rise to the challenge of solidarity posed by Jesus when he commanded, "[L]ove one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another" (Jn 13:34). The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, "Socio-economic problems can be resolved only with the help of all the forms of solidarity: solidarity of the poor among themselves, between rich and poor, of workers among themselves, between employers and employees in a business, solidarity among nations and peoples" (No. 1941). Since each of us is made in the image of God and bound by His love, possessing a profound human dignity, we have an obligation to love and honor that dignity in one another, and especially in our work.
What would our communities, parishes, and country look like if we all recommitted to each other and the common good? If, instead of lamenting the dwindling hopes of our young people, we create institutions, relationships, and an economy that nurture human flourishing? If, instead of bickering about ideologies, people acknowledged the human dignity of others and worked together?

For the full statement, click here

A Saint on Skis

As Pier Giorgio Frassati was declared Blessed by St. John Paul II, a banner of him was unfurled. Traditionally such banners depict an icon of the saint. But instead it showed a young, strong mountain climber with one foot firmly resting on rock.

"With every passing day," Pier Giorgio wrote, "I fall madly in love with the mountains; their fascination attracts me." He was a member of the Italian Alpine Club and scaled a number of mountains. He once spent a sleepless night in a hole dug in snow and a descent in a snowstorm. The mountains allowed him to test his athletic body. With contagious joy he experienced the spirit of emulation.

With others, he would sometimes say his foot hurt so he needed to rest in order to not humiliate those who really did need to rest. He would also go back and forth between the mountains and plain in order to lighten the backpacks of those who were a little weaker. He had a spirit not even fatigue could destroy. Despite his off-key voice, he would sing for the group or invite everyone to pray before sleep.

He had a deep spiritual life with the Holy Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin as the two poles of his prayer life. While only 17, he joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society serving the sick and needy, caring for orphans and assisting the servicemen back from World War I. He would run home from school so he could give his bus fare to others. His charity was not simply giving to others, but fully giving himself. He often gave up vacations at the family summer home because "If everyone leaves Turin, who will take care of the poor?"

He told a friend he had decided to become a mining engineer (studying at the Royal Polytechnic University of Turin) so he could "serve Christ better among the miners." He joined the Catholic Student Foundation and Catholic Action promoting the Church's social teaching based on the principles Pope Leo XIII set in his encyclical Rerum Novarum.

Pier Giorgio contracted polio just before graduating form the university. Doctors suspected he caught the disease from the sick whom he tended. Still, he neglected his own health because his grandmother was dying. After six days of great suffering, he died on July 4, 1925 at the age of 24. The day before he died, with a paralyzed hand, he wrote to a friend asking him to take medicine to a poor man he had been visiting.

Upon his death, his family was stunned by the multitude of poor and needy who came to do him homage. They, in turn, were shocked to learn that he had been the heir to a wealthy family.

St John Paul II  said, "I wanted to pay homage to a young man who was able to witness to Christ with singular effectiveness in this century of ours. When I was a young man, I, too, felt the beneficial influence of his example and, as a student, I was impressed by the force of his testimony."

His remains, found incorrupt and completely intact in 1981, were moved from the family tomb to the cathedral in Turin. In 1990, at the beatification, St. John Paul II called him the "Man of the Eight Beatitudes." He was also named a Patron Saint of World Youth Days.

May, Mary and Mothers

St. John Paul II gave the world his Theology of the Body, which taught us that aspects of our bodies can teach us deeper truths about ourselves and our relationship with God and each other.

It was a revelation that was new and old at the same time. New because of John Paul's own particular insights, but old because it draws on an ancient principle: that God reveals Himself and teaches us through all of creation.

Spring, and particularly the month of May, has its own lessons and theology. And to me, they proclaim the glories of motherhood, and more specifically those of our Blessed Mother, Mary. So it seems no coincidence that May is the month of Mary and Mother's Day, which we celebrate Sunday.

Here is what I think May teaches us:

It's freshness and beauty reflect that of God and His mother. The clear, bright mornings. Warm, soft breezes that shower us with petals falling from flowering trees. The sweet smell of lilacs, mowed grass and fresh rainfall. They all speak of a greater, heavenly beauty.

May's flip side -- it's sometimes stormy, violent weather -- reminds us of God's might and the power He gave to Mary. She has been depicted as a warrior, with legions of angels at her disposal, to protect her children and defeat the devil. Every mother has a certain strength and fierceness within her and a natural determination to protect her children.

The new life we behold in May -- tiny birds hatching in nests; seedlings sprouting from the ground; bugs, snakes and other creatures emerging after a long winter -- teach us that each new life is glorious, that a mother's cooperation with God in creating life, is glorious. Mary's maternity brought forth for us Life Itself. He gave us a chance to be reborn again and again through the sacrament of Reconciliation and through His death and Resurrection restored our eternal life.

The fragile nature of tiny, new life reminds us of our need of God's protection, His tender, merciful care. "Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them," Jesus tells us in St. Matthew's Gospel. "Are not you more important than they?" And again: "Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will He not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?"

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers and all women, who through their very nature God created to be spiritual mothers.

Enjoy the beautiful month of May.

And may God grant everyone the help and protection of the most blessed of all women, Mary.

Inspired by the Year of Faith, Susan Szalewski began writing weekly columns for us. Although that year is over, we liked them so well that we asked her to keep writing. Thankfully, she said yes. So watch for these on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.

Fr Damian & St. John Paul II

In his Bulletin Letter this week, Fr Damian writes:

My only close encounter with John Paul came in 1998 when I went with a group on a pilgrimage to Rome led by a priest from Minnesota who had worked at the Vatican for seven years. A small group of us were invited to attend the morning Mass with John Paul. After Mass he came to the large reception room where we were waiting. He came to each of us for a brief conversation. My conversation with Pope John Paul went like this:

“Where are you from?” he asked.
“Omaha, Nebraska.” I replied.
“Where is Omaha, Nebraska?” he asked.
“You were in Des Moines, Iowa.”
“I remember Des Moines.”
“And, you were in Denver, Colorado.”
“I remember Denver.”
“Well,” I said, “Omaha is in between the two.”

“Good, good” he replied while he patted my hand, handed me a rosary and turned to talk to my mother who was standing next to me.

My mother was speechless as the pope took her hands into his and looked into her eyes. I explained to him that this was my mother.

“Ahh,” he said, “Mother is very good, good.”

John Paul was already suffering from Parkinson’s disease in 1998 and it was difficult for him to get around. He used a cane as he went around the room and spoke to each of us. As he finished his time with the group that day, he saluted us with his cane and a smile. (I still have the rosary he gave me that day).

Today is special as St. John Paul II and St. John XXIII have been canonized.