Forming our future
By Karla Luke
Lent has always been my favorite time of year. So many things happen during those forty days! Time change, spring break, seafood, seasons change, oh did I happen to mention spring break! Spiritually, I have always looked forward to this time of renewal – the time that the Church teaches us to focus our actions on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, in an effort to deepen our relationship with Christ.
As children, some years ago, we were encouraged to “give up” something for Lent to show that we suffer with Christ. Through the years, I have “given up” everything from chocolate, sodas, and favorite TV shows to impatience, judgment, and unforgiveness. But if we want to truly deepen our relationship with Christ, we must move beyond the stage of merely sharing in His suffering and realize the purpose of His suffering: to hear the call to action. We as Catholic Christians are called to do more!
Consider this part of the Gospel proclaimed on Monday, the first week of Lent, Matthew 25:37-38, “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?’” Those very words remind me of the Holy Father’s Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium in which he urges us to “go out” and meet Christ by having a personal encounter with others. We, as a church have many opportunities to fulfill our Lenten obligation to pray, fast and give alms simply by encountering the people around us.
On the road to Calvary, Jesus encountered many who shared in His suffering, but only a few moved beyond that sharing and took action. In the fourth station, Jesus met His mother who, unafraid of what others might think, offered Him gentleness and comfort to soothe Him on this difficult journey. In the fifth station, Simon of Cyrene, an unwilling participant along the way, helped Christ carry His cross.
Though scripture does not tell us directly, I choose to believe that Simon must have been transformed by this experience with Jesus. In the sixth station, Veronica in an act of love wiped the face of the suffering Messiah. In that moment, Jesus showed us once again that if we come to Him in faith, He will bless us in return. He left Veronica with an imprint of his countenance upon her cloth.
While many see these times as challenging; financially, politically and socially, I see an area of great opportunity for us to prove that we are indeed able to carry out the kingdom of God on earth. The opportunity to meet Christ in the homeless, immigrants and the working poor is also present in meeting the fallen away, the uncaring, the angry and those whose hearts are wounded. These, our brothers and sisters in Christ, are all worthy of our continuous prayers. We help our universal family, not so much by changing their condition; but, by changing ourselves! We embrace the spirit of “going out” from within ourselves, without fear like Mary, sometimes unwilling like Simon, to share the gift of ourselves with others only to see the imprint of Christ upon our hearts.
So, as we approach this halfway mark during this holy season of Lent, my favorite time of year, let’s use the remaining twenty-one days, to listen to the call of Pope Francis and “go out” – out from within yourselves, to share empathetically in the plight of others by praying for all people.
Let’s fast from selfishness, anger, hatred, indifference, judging others and lack of forgiveness; all of which keep us from being a loving community. Give your alms by sharing material goods but also by sharing yourself, a true gift of God, with others. Blessings on a Holy Lenten season!
(Karla Luke is the Coordinator of operational and support service for Catholic Schools in the diocese. She can be contact at karla.luke@jacksondiocese.org)

Kneading Faith
By Fran Lavelle
I was scrolling through my social media the other day when I saw an interesting meme. It said, “We are responsible for the effort, not the outcome.” I didn’t give it too much thought as I breezed by, continuing to scroll. Suddenly, something stopped me and I went back and re-read the meme. What at first glance seemed like an innocent remark; on further inspection gave me cause to reflect. Intentional or not statements like this legitimize our aversion as Christians to take responsibility for our faith.
I thought about the implications of this statement. It sounded a wee bit like a like a cop-out, as in “oh well, I made the effort!” Yes, effort is important. And, yes, there are situations where no matter how intense one’s effort may be the outcome does not depend on us. But, in most cases, the outcome can be measured by the level of commitment to the effort.
We are in the process of rolling out the bishop’s pastoral plan. It articulates three priorities that have been identified over the past year. The process began with listening sessions and included an Envisioning Team that took the comments from the listening sessions and framed a mission and priorities for the diocese. One of the priorities is facilitating life-long formation of intentional disciples. While that sounds like a lovely sentiment, what exactly does it mean? I see intentional discipleship as a concerted effort to engage individuals, families and communities in our Catholic faith.
For me this kind of catechesis must connect both the head (our intellect) with the heart. We must literally fall in love with the person of Christ in order to maintain a lifetime commitment to our faith. But, love of God must be accompanied with an intellectual understanding of what we believe as Catholics and why we believe it. Bringing this vision to fruition depends on all of us making an effort. It also depends on all of us working to ensure our efforts produce a positive outcome. Intentional discipleship is like a slow burning fire. Once a spark catches fire, properly tended it continues to burn if we feed the fire. As Catholics, the spark that becomes fire at Baptism must be attended to until the day we die. I was at a conference where I heard a speaker remark that we take infants, baptize them and then tell the families to come back for religious education once the child reaches kindergarten age. He implored us to think about providing a catechetical opportunity for that young family when, “the cement is still wet.”
If we are tired of folks showing up just for the sacraments in our religious education programs we have to ask ourselves why they are not coming the other years. We must be brave enough to ask the tough questions and be prepared to shift our thinking to achieve our goals.
I have said in the past that one of the greatest gifts I bring to my current position from my days in campus ministry are the memories of young people who showed up and sought to deepen their relationship with God as young adults. I must admit, some young people gravitate to campus ministry in college because they are socially awkward and the Church is a comfortable place to be. But, by far, most young people show up at campus ministry because they had one or more of the following: a great religious education program in their home parish, a great Catholic school, a great family and home environment or a great group of friends that encouraged them to get involved. The natural question is how do we emulate those environments to produce young adults who seek an adult relationship with God and the Catholic faith? Understanding the “how” for subsequent generations is an example of what intentional discipleship is all about.
I encourage all of you who are part of your parish’s faith formation team to take an active role in the promotion of the pastoral priorities, most specifically lifelong faith formation. Get involved! Most of all do not be afraid to shake things up a little bit. Lifelong faith formation includes religious education of our children, youth ministry, campus ministry, adult faith formation, family ministry, evangelization and RCIA.
Make sure leaders of your faith formation teams have input. Intentional disciples are nurtured. Intentional discipleship requires a continuity of care from the womb to the tomb. Most of all it requires a concerted and consistent effort. All of us, working together toward this priority, can transform and energize our formation programs. Remember, the outcome is a byproduct of the input. Good input; good outcome. Be assured of my commitment to help you in any way I can to ensure the successful implementation of the pastoral priorities in your parish.
(Fran Lavelle is the Director of Faith Formation for the diocese. She can be contact at fran.lavelle@jacksondiocese.org)