Mary, Mother of the Living Gospel!

From Pope Francis - 

a prayer to Mary 

to help us bring the Gospel to life today....

Mary, Virgin and Mother,
you who, moved by the Holy Spirit,
welcomed the word of life
in the depths of your humble faith:

as you gave yourself completely to the Eternal One,
help us to say our own “yes”
to the urgent call, as pressing as ever,
to proclaim the good news of Jesus.

Filled with Christ’s presence,
you brought joy to John the Baptist,
making him exult in the womb of his mother.

Brimming over with joy,
you sang of the great things done by God.

Standing at the foot of the cross
with unyielding faith,
you received the joyful comfort of the resurrection,
and joined the disciples in awaiting the Spirit
so that the evangelizing Church might be born.

Obtain for us now a new ardor born of the resurrection,
that we may bring to all the Gospel of life
which triumphs over death.

Give us a holy courage to seek new paths,
that the gift of unfading beauty
may reach every man and woman.

Virgin of listening and contemplation,Mother of love, Bride of the eternal wedding feast,

pray for the Church, whose pure icon you are,
that she may never be closed in on herself
or lose her passion for establishing God’s kingdom.

Star of the new evangelization,
help us to bear radiant witness to communion,
service, ardent and generous faith,
justice and love of the poor,
that the joy of the Gospel
may reach to the ends of the earth,
illuminating even the fringes of our world.

Mother of the living Gospel,
wellspring of happiness for God’s little ones,
pray for us.

Amen. Alleluia!
(Evangelii Gaudium, 288)

5 simple Summery things to do!

As the summer vacation season begins, many people make a big mistake.  They take a vacation from Jesus!

Let's have a different type of summer this year.  Let's realize that this is a great time to grow in our faith and to share it. 

Here are five simple Summery things you can do:

1. Feed your faith first.  Discover a nearby summer parish while on vacation and worship there on Sundays with your new vacation community.  After all, we are called "catholic" (which means "universal" in Greek) because we are everywhere. In particular, pray for the poor and those who will never have a vacation from their labor. Use your vacation to "give back" a bit - volunteer, or give a summer offering to Catholic Relief Services or Catholic Charities, for example.

2. Sign up for tweets from Pope Francis @pontifex.  Read what he has to say each day on your smartphone. Retweet him now and again.  Also, check out his daily homilies at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/cotidie/2013/index_en.htm  They are short and to the point.  Please let your family and friends know about these tidbits of papal wisdom.

3. Use your summer vacation to write little notes to your children and grandchildren about how much you love them!  Include a few sentences about how much you pray for them (you do, right?).  Let them know why your Catholic Faith has been so important to you through the years. And don't forget to always begin your writings (emails too!) with JMJ - Jesus, Mary and Joseph - or AMDG - Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam - for the greater glory of God - or some other phrase showing that God is first in your life.

4. Are you "connected" to the internet on vacation?  if so, maybe "disconnect" for a few days.  Chances are good that you will feel more peaceful and more attuned to the beauty around you.  Tell your internet friends the results when you "reconnect."  Give God online credit for these gifts when you reconnect.  After all, God is the maker of all good things - it is His peace and beauty you are rediscovering on vacation! 

5. Show your faith.  Wear your beautiful cross necklace.  Pray the rosary in your Adirondack chair.  Get that religious tattoo you've thought about for years - a cross, the Holy Face of Jesus, Our Lady of Guadalupe, etc. (assuming you're over 18!). Read the Bible in your cottage.  Make a summer commitment to daily morning (lauds) or evening (vespers) prayer with the Church. Read at least one religious book. When people ask you about these things, mention how much your faith means to you.  Be willing to follow up with them or refer them to someone who can answer their questions.


In a previous blog post we gave a great prayer  to say often during summer - (the Benedicite from the Book of Daniel).

Have a truly blessed summer!

Bible Study / Scripture Study - St. Benedict's

BIBLE STUDY:

St. Benedict's offers a number of Bible Studies. 

Are you looking for meaning in the scriptures? Do you open the Bible and wonder what God is saying to the world, to you? Do you feel it is time to do something more as a Catholic other than going to Mass? Come to Bible Study! We are a small group who meet weekly for an hour to study the Bible and we WELCOME new members.

Here is a link to the New American Bible which is the translation we use during our liturgies - http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/index.shtml

Here is a brief history of our Monday evening Bible Study:
The group was started by then seminarian Richard Cilano during the first summer he was with us in 2003. He is now a priest in our Diocese. He had two classes at the time, a morning group and evening group. He asked for input and those attending wanted to go book by book starting with Genesis.

When he had to return to the seminary, he asked CArol Mathner to take over when he found out out that she had received a MAT (1997) from Christ the King Seminary. Carol directed the evening group and has ever since!. He encouraged the morning group to join us but only 1 person did (and she is still with us).

The Collegeville Commentary is used as a resource for the classes. Although it was not very good for the Psalms so a Hebrew commentary from the Jewish Center is also used. It works great. It is amazing to see how 1 or 2 words could change a meaning!

We started out with about six members. Five have always stayed. People come and go. Some would join for a year, then illness, a painting class , moving to care for a parent.. what ever life gave people, would stop coming. Some came once or twice, said they enjoined it but didn't come back.

The prologue of The Catechism of the Catholic Church says God "calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him" and the way to hand on faith is through "Catechesis..and education in faith of children,young adults and adults". For four of our members, this is the 2nd -3rd -4th Bible group they belonged to in their lifetime. They thirst for God's love and they know to find it in the scripture. It is this thirst which has them devoted to coming together weekly all these years. As we are in the now [July 2011] in the middle of the New Testament they have expressed concern as to what will come when we finish Revelations.

In the hour we gather (and is exactly an hour) we read a passage. Carol points out historical, sometimes archeological, theological facts on the passage. Since we are in the synoptic gospels, Luke is compared to Matthew and Mark. Anyone can comment, with any background they know of, which may get a conversation going. Conversation also may involve how the passage affects us today. May not always happens and Carol does all the teaching! It all depends upon how the Spirit moves us.
We would love to have you study the Sacred Scriptures with us.

If you are interested, send us an email at Rectory@saintbenedicts.com or call us at 834-1041.
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