KNEADING FAITH
By Fran Lavelle
I remember the day that Pope Francis was elected. I was still working at St. Joseph in Starkville serving as the campus minister. We had a television in the parish center lounge that the staff had on to watch the live coverage. I remember crying when they announced his name. In the photographs and television coverage that followed, I remember being taken by his eyes and his infectious smile. What I did not know at the time was how much his papacy would influence my ministry.

It is said that whatever is not transformed is transferred. Transferring supports a “that’s the way we have always done it” mentality and leaves no room for new ideas or ways of being. Transformation requires a continuous and intentional evaluation of the welfare of an organization. Pope Francis was intentional to his core. His desire to lead from the center instead of the top allowed him to model what he expected from his clerics. He invited the clergy to smell like the sheep. He chose to stay close to the poor and marginalized and demonstrated simplicity and humility.

I have been known to joke that we were basically the same person, Jesuit educated with a Franciscan spirituality, and we share the same name. But seriously, finding ways to emulate his life has not been lost on me. Out of many there is one major way in which he influenced my ministry and my life. He taught me the value and importance of synodality as a pathway for transformation.

My first experience with synodality was in 2018 when Pope Francis called a synod of bishops on “Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment.” The papal exhortation, Christus Vivit, the final document summarizing the work of that synod, was published in 2019. It was an invitation to the young church and those of us who accompany them to take a long look at how we are in relationship with God and one another. Pope Francis called on adults who form youth in the church to first exercise the “apostolate of the ear” – that is to be first, a listener. He said, “Attentive and selfless listening is a sign of our respect for others, whatever their ideas or their choices in life,” quoting from Christus Vivit 292.

He was demonstrating how to journey with the young church as they discover God’s deep seeded love for them. “Rather than being too concerned with communicating a great deal of doctrine, let us first try to awaken and consolidate the great experiences that sustain the Christian life. In the words of Romano Guardini (from Christus Vivit 212), “when we experience a great love … everything else becomes part of it.”

Unpacking the wisdom of the Synod for Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment helped prepare me for my role a few years later when Pope Francis called for a universal Synod on Synodality.

The Synod on Synodality was an opportunity for the people of God to pray together and ask of ourselves as individuals and within our church community where we are being called by the Holy Spirit in our journey of faith. It was the Pope’s desire to hear from all demographics, all ages, all people. This reflected his belief that the workings of the church is not a clandestine process that happens behind closed doors. Pope Francis asked church leaders to open wide their arms, ears and their hearts to hear the prophetic voice of God’s people.

Since the conclusion of the Synod process, the diocese has been intentional in animating what we heard from our synodal listening. A Pastoral Reimagining process was launched in 2023 whereby every parish in the diocese was given an opportunity to reflect on where they were and articulate a plan to get them where they want to be. Those plans were collated by deanery and a reimagined vision for each deanery was set forth.

To further reflect our understanding of what we heard, a full-time young adult and campus ministry coordinator for the diocese was hired in response to a call for greater leadership for that demographic. Additionally, in response for a call for greater lay formation, the Bishop William R. Houck Center for Lay Formation is being established to provide lay people with easy access to formation opportunities. The work continues to unfold. The Synod on Synodality was the pebble in still water that continues to create ripples in our diocese and around the world.

There is much to appreciate in his years as our Holy Father. He gave us so much to reflect on … be it how we recovered from the pandemic, faced the sin or racism, addressed poverty, considered care for our common home, or care for those on the periphery. Through it all synodality was at the core of his ministry. In the Jesuit tradition to see, judge and act – Pope Francis created opportunities for dialogue rather than dictates. We are a better church for his leadership. I am eternally grateful for how his vision helped form my own.

(Fran Lavelle is the Director of Faith Formation for the Diocese of Jackson.)

FROM THE HERMITAGE
By sister alies therese
Mother Teresa commented, “Everywhere there is suffering, but there is also a great hunger for God and love.” Gotta go for that, and as we welcome the ‘Pope named Bob’ as our shepherd, I suspect the tension between the two will continue to be addressed. One way Pope Francis left us, not long before his passing, was his charge to artists. As we move into this new era, let us not forget how critical beauty is!

At White Night in St Peter’s, Papa Francis told artists, “the responsibility of artists is to make beauty shine.” He included all sorts of artists … writers, dancers, musicians and painters, among many, and he set a bar for happy hearts. There is much suffering, and there is much hunger, and one way these are addressed is through the arts. That Pope Francis charged artists with the ‘responsibility’ of ‘making beauty shine’ is no small assignment. Most countries have a national arts something or other that shares culture and beauty … some nations restrict how they share it. Even the poorest of nations have marvelous works of art that lift the spirits of their families and peoples and share with others the joy of their culture.

Francis suggested that “artists must help humanity not to lose its way … to be witnesses to the revolutionary vision of the beatitudes … not only creating beauty but also ‘revealing the truth and goodness hidden within the folds of history giving voice to the voiceless.’” Over centuries, artists, builders and designers have left behind impressions and monuments, pots and aqueducts, which have stood the test of time. We saw a lot of Rome as the conclave met … buildings, statues, paintings … all telling stories that the artists wanted us to remember. The scriptures were announced, and we were reminded of the functionality of buildings and also the ways they brought exquisite beauty and harmony to the scene.

Francis continued, “We need artists to help us ask questions about time and purpose … are we pilgrims or wanderers? Does our journey have a destination, or are we directionless?” What demanding questions for people with great insight and courage. It takes both for a person to function as an artist … partly because the criticism can be high enough to cancel them out! No, he asks artists to show us the way forward … to move us beyond selfishness to sharing. If you notice, the conductor has his/her back to the applause. The conductor caresses and encourages the musicians and takes care that they make the music beautiful. Her/his responsibility is to share that joy with listeners so that their hearts might light up and their anguish be set free.

“We must learn,” he said, “to discern between the chaff scattered by the wind from what is solid like trees planted by streams of water (Ps1).” The artist leads us in at least two ways … outward toward the universe (into the 6-20 trillion galaxies and their swirls of old and new designs of stars) and/or down deep into our hearts where we are touched to grow and create. Ecclesiastes reminds us that “God has made everything beautiful in its time.” When the writer says ‘everything’, I have to remind myself that everything means just that … difficulties as well as successes, hard times as well as times of ease. Our God, the greatest of artists, has created for us such beauty and wonder that we can never, even in the longest of lifetimes, take it all in. We are grateful as well to those who can draw our attention to it through their creativity, sharing in these gifts of God. And Paul in Ephesians reminds us that we are indeed God’s work of art … and no artist wants his/her art to be trashed or considered less than. Francis would want us to remember that as we learn to treat one another with greater dignity and respect.

I imagine the era of Pope Leo XIV to be one of learning even more how to care for one another and let us thank Pope Francis for his invitation and charge to artists to make beauty shine.

Blessings.

(sister alies therese is a canonical hermit who prays and writes.)

GUEST COLUMN
By Deacon Ted Schreck
As I look back over the years since my ordination to the permanent diaconate in June 2016, I recall so many wonderful memories and some difficult times as well. Actually, my journey began years earlier. My baptism was when I was 10 days old back in December 1969; however, when I think about what led more immediately to my call, I think of the time from 2011 when my older brother Mike was ordained as a permanent deacon for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. I watched my brother and his family for the years of his formation and was blessed to be present for his ordination. To say the least, this made a lasting impression on me.

In 2009-2010, I began earnestly considering my own call to consider making an application for the permanent diaconate formation program. At that time, we in the Diocese of Jackson had not had any formation classes for permanent deacons in a very long time. However, while I was watching my brother’s call coming to fruition at his own ordination, I was being encouraged to consider my own call especially among my brother deacons serving in the Diocese of Memphis where I was working both at Memphis Catholic High School and Middle School and at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in East Memphis.

So, the discernment process for me continued in earnest. I wanted to know for myself that I was not seeking some title or specific affirmation for my service in the church. When we finally had an information session at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Batesville, Mississippi, I welcomed the words from the presenters that the call was “not about you,” but about answering God’s call for his church and his people. This realization that my call to consider the permanent diaconate was not about me, but about seeking to do God’s will in my community was what I needed.

I learned a lot about myself as I reflected on my spiritual autobiography and began to share with friends and long-time neighbors from years previous that I was seriously considering this call to become a permanent deacon. The amazing thing that I heard from these friends and family members was “It’s about time … I’ve seen the servant in you for years.” Talk about God showing others our gifts and we ourselves not recognizing those gifts.

To fast forward, I loved (for the most part) my years of formation with my cohort from the Diocese of Jackson and the men (and their wives) from the Diocese of Memphis. I truly experienced being stretched and formed. I recognized strengths within me and some weaknesses as well. I have to say that while the information and knowledge gained was very important, I grew the most I believe through walking with my brothers through the formation process. We each experienced joys and sorrows over that 5-year period. But we stood together, and we laughed and we cried together.

One funny story that we like to look back on from time to time is when I parked my vehicle at St. James in Corinth to ride along with my brothers from St. Joseph in Starkville up to a retreat at St. Meinrad in Indiana. You may know that Corinth (in the New Testament – the home of the Corinthians) is in modern day Turkey. Well, on that day as I parked my vehicle at St. James in Corinth, I met some not-so-friendly wild “turkeys” that the priest at that time was raising on the church property.

Finally, after five years of formation, I and my brother deacons arrived at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Jackson for our ordination. I remember so many different feelings and joys on that day. The very next day as I returned to Christ the King parish in Southaven for the first Mass after our ordination, I had the opportunity to preach the homily for the first time. Understandably, I wanted to include thanks to my family and my fellow parishioners who had walked along this journey with me. Several parishioners asked me not to make them cry every time I preached like they did that day as I remembered my mother who had passed away many years prior.

So, what have these last almost nine years brought about in my life as a husband, brother, dad, grandfather and deacon? I have celebrated over 75 baptisms, 18 weddings, 4 presentations, 29 funerals, and many opportunities to walk alongside families from very different cultures. And, I have grown with each individual, couple and family I have encountered.

This growth has primarily come through my ability and desire to listen and to connect with others. Each day, I pray that God gives me the strength and the courage to be a better husband, a better father/grandfather/brother, a better friend and a better deacon. And he keeps on answering that prayer beyond my wildest expectations. I’ve certainly made my share of mistakes, but I am truly blessed to get to listen to and connect with more and more people in the six parish communities which I serve and in other parish communities when I have been invited to offer Advent or Lenten reflections.

In my case, I was working in a Catholic school throughout my years of formation and then worked at another Catholic elementary school as the director of development even after my ordination. In early 2022, I took a further step outside my comfort zone and joined the parish staff for the six Catholic parishes of Northwest Mississippi which are served by the Priests of the Sacred Heart as the director of evangelization. I say that this was outside my comfort zone as I considered which qualifications I did not possess (or my weaknesses). But I have been beyond blessed as I pursued this work especially in adult faith formation, OCIA, sacramental preparation, and so much more. I believe that any real success that has come through trusting in God’s will and pursuing my strengths (more than focusing on my weaknesses).

What’s next? I know that there is so much work to do in helping God’s people draw closer to Him and closer to His church. That’s where my focus is! I just pray that I allow God to use me as he sees fit. My goal is to continue to grow as a Man of God, to be faithful to my family, and to fulfill my baptismal promise. Amen!

(Deacon Ted Schreck is the director of evangelization for the Catholic Parishes of Northwest Mississippi. He can be reached at nwms.evangelization@gmail.com. To learn more about the permanent diaconate visit https://bit.ly/JacksonDiaconate.)

IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
Benedictine monk shared this story with me. During his early years in religious life, he had been resentful because he was required to ask permission from his Abbott if he wanted anything: “I thought it was silly, me, a grown man, an adult, having to ask a superior if I wanted a new shirt. I felt like a child.”

But as he aged his perspective changed: “I’m not sure of all the reasons, though I’m sure they have to do with grace, but one day I came to realize that there was some deep wisdom in having to ask permission for everything. We don’t own anything; nothing comes to us by right. Everything is a gift. So ideally everything should be asked for and not taken as if it were ours by right. We need to be grateful to God and the universe for everything that’s been given us. Now, when I need something and need to ask permission from the Abbott, I no longer feel like a child. Rather, I feel that I’m more properly in tune with the way things should be in a gift-oriented universe within which nobody has a right to ultimately claim anything.”

What this monk came to understand is a principle which undergirds all spirituality, all morality, and every one of the commandments, namely, that everything comes to us as gift, nothing can be claimed as if owed to us. We should be grateful to God and to the universe for giving us what we have and careful not to claim, as by right, anything more.

But this goes against much in our instinctual selves and within our culture. Within both, there are strong voices which tell us that if you cannot take what you want then you’re a weak person, weak in a double way. First, you’re a weak personality, too timid to fully claim life. Second, you’ve been weakened by religious and moral scruples and are unable to properly seize the day and be fully alive. These voices tell us that we need to grow up because there is much in us that’s fearful and infantile, a child held captive by superstitious forces.

It’s precisely because of these voices that today, in a culture that professes to be Christian and moral, leading political and social figures can in all sincerity believe and say that empathy is a human weakness.
We need an important reminder.

The voice of Jesus is radically antithetical to these voices. Empathy is the penultimate human virtue, the antithesis of weakness. Jesus would look on so much that is assertive, aggressive and accumulative within our society and, notwithstanding the admiration it receives, tell us clearly that this is not what it means to come to the banquet which lies at the heart of God’s kingdom. He would not share our admiration of the rich and famous who too often claim, as by right, their excessive wealth and status. When Jesus states that it is harder for a rich person to go to heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, he might have qualified this by adding: “Unless, of course, the rich person, childlike, asks permission from the universe, from the community, and from God, for every new shirt!”

When I was a religious novice, our novice master tried to impress upon us the meaning of religious poverty by making us write inside every book that was given to us the Latin words: ad usum. Literally: for your use. The idea was that, although this book was given to you for your personal use, you didn’t own it. It was only for your use; real ownership lay elsewhere. We were then told that this was true as well of everything else given to us for our personal use, from our toothbrushes to the shirts on our backs. They were not really ours, merely given to us for our use.

One of the young men in that novitiate group who left the order is today a medical doctor. He remains a close friend and he once shared with me how today, as a doctor, he still writes those words ad usum in every one of his books. His rational is this: “I don’t belong to a religious order. I don’t have a vow of poverty, but the principle our novice master taught us is just as valid for me in the world as it is for a religious novice. We don’t own anything. Those books aren’t really mine. They’ve been given to me, temporarily, for my use. Nothing ultimately belongs to anybody and it’s best never to forget that.”

No matter how rich, strong and grown-up we are, there’s something healthy in having to ask permission to buy a new shirt. It keeps us attuned to the fact that the universe belongs to everyone, to God ultimately. Everything comes to us as gift and so we may never take anything for granted, but only as granted!

(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)

FROM THE HERMITAGE
By sister alies therese
A little research goes a long way. As we approached Palm Sunday, I started looking up vines, branches, palms, trees and their unique flavors and how they have been used in parables and fables to teach us. Using a guide like The Jerome Biblical Commentary (or other commentaries) and a book like Herbert Lockyer’s All the Parables of the Bible will land you just where you want to go … or find something new you hadn’t thought of! The footnotes of your study Bible are also very important.

Trees take us back as far as the Garden of Eden and the opening of the Hebrew Bible, where we discover the Tree of Good and Evil. “God commanded the man, ‘You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don’t eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you’re dead.’” (Peterson, The Message, Genesis 2:16). Seemed quite clear – one has to wonder what went wrong!

Somewhere between the death of Joshua and the rise of Saul (6th century B.C.) some interesting characters appear in the story of Israel becoming a people. The age dominated by Moses was declining, and David was still far off.

The great question of the Book of Judges is: How can Israel live without a great leader? And the answer was that it lived, but not so well (JBC, Judges, p. 132). There was no king in Israel, as in the pagan communities around them. The Book of Judges is not about court but rather refers to ruling. Who will rule and serve the people?
As the story goes, Gideon refuses to rule even when they say, “Rule over us as you rescued us from the power of Midian.” “I shall not, nor my sons. The Lord must rule over you.” (Judges 8:22, NAB) Yahweh makes Gideon (who has 70 sons and a concubine who bears him Abimelech) a success, and the Israelites mistake that for a sign that he should rule them. Gideon declined and made an ephod of gold to be worshipped (rather than Yahweh) in the city of Ophrah, and this brought about the downfall of his family. (Judges 9:27, NAB)

Gideon dies, and the Israelites go back to worshipping the Baals, forgetting the Lord. They were not grateful for all the good Gideon had done for Israel. His illegitimate son, Abimelech, seizes kingly rank after talking to his mother’s people in Shechem, where his kinsmen sympathize with him. He then “hired shiftless men and ruffians as his followers … he slew his brothers and became king …” (Judges 9:5-6, NAB), though Jether and Jotham, the youngest, live … hiding away as this brother stands by the oak and is crowned king.

All this was reported to Jotham, who “went to the top of Mount Gerizim and cried out in a loud voice … ‘Hear me, citizens of Shechem, that God may hear you!’” (Judges 9:8, NAB). And he proceeded to tell the wonderful Parable of the Trees.

Already mentioned is the Tree in the Garden, and throughout the Scriptures, we have many stories, parables and fables featuring trees and vines. The very first parable, however, recorded in the form of a fable, is that of the trees choosing for themselves a king (Judges 9, NAB). Lockyer points out, “Jotham used this fable in order to convince the inhabitants of Shechem of the folly of having elected so vile a man as Abimelech for their king” (Parables, p. 10). You will find other parables – a favored teaching technique in the East and one of Jesus’ favorites – in Isaiah, the Parable of the Vineyard; Ezekiel, the Parable of the Vine Branch; Daniel, the Parable of the Great Tree; Zechariah, the Parable of the Horses and Myrtle Trees; Matthew, the Parable of the Tree and Fruit, the Mustard Tree and the Fig Tree; Luke, the Barren Fig Tree; and John’s True Vine. And that’s not all … what will you explore?

The wonderful Parable of the Trees makes the middle of Judges (9:7-15) so delightful and informative. Here we have the opportunity to consider those things that surround us and what they might symbolize. Jotham was the youngest son who came out from hiding and pronounced the story. Low-growing trees were invited, writes Lockyer, “olive, fig, vine and bramble, to wave to and fro over the loftier trees such as the cedar.” The olive tree is fat with the most valuable oil and food; the fig tree is sweet and provides shelter. The cedar is the tallest, with a brilliant quality of wood; the vine cheers with grapes and wine; the bramble, however, has no fruit, no shelter, only good for the fire. The people still did not repent, and Abimelech ruled for another three years. Ugh.

Did you know the Lord was crucified upon a dogwood tree? They did not want Him to rule either. “We will not have this man reign over us! Crucify Him!” The bramble brings fire and great tribulation. The fire will devour them. Lockyer writes, “And then (when the Lord comes back) the fatness, the sweetness and the cheer of the trees will bless Israel and make her a blessing; through the One who died on the cursed Tree” (p. 36).

Blessings.

(sister alies therese is a canonical hermit who prays and writes.)

IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI

I am sure many of you are familiar with the TV series about the life of Jesus called The Chosen. It was launched in 2019, has been in theaters and on streaming platforms since, and now has more than 200 million viewers. It has been translated into 50 languages and has 13 million social media followers, with about 30 percent of its audience being non-Christian.

It was created and produced by Dallas Jenkins, an Evangelical Christian with wide ecumenical and interfaith sympathies. Jonathan Roumie, a devout Roman Catholic, plays the role of Jesus, and the Jesus he portrays in The Chosen comes through as somewhat different from, and more relatable to, than the Jesus we have generally seen in other movies and portrayals of him. And this has had an interesting impact.

What’s the impact? Joe Hoover, a Jesuit priest writing in a recent issue of America magazine, makes this comment: “I have been a baptized Christian for 53 years, attended a Catholic Christian grade school and for more than two decades have been a member of a religious order that bears the name of Jesus … and ‘The Chosen’ television series had done things for my understanding and engagement with the life of Christ and his disciples that nothing else has. No sermon, no theological exhortation, no master’s degree, no class on John or Mark or Luke, no spirituality workshop, no 30-day biblically based retreat has brought the Gospels home and made Christ and his people real and relatable to me in quite the way ‘The Chosen’ has.”

That speaks for me as well. The Chosen has had a similar effect on me. Like Joe Hoover, I was baptized as an infant, raised a Roman Catholic, am a member of a religious order, have degrees in theology, have been to every kind of spirituality workshop, and have studied the Gospels under the guidance of some world class scholars, and yet this TV series has given a face to Jesus that I didn’t quite receive in all that past learning and has helped me in my prayer and my relationship to Christ.

In essence, this is what The Chosen has done for me. It has presented a Jesus whom I actually want to be with. Shouldn’t we always want to be with Jesus? Yes, but the Jesus who is often presented to us is not someone, if we are honest with ourselves, we would want to spend a lot of one-on-one time with, with whom we could be at ease and comfortable without affectations.

For instance, the Jesus who has often been presented to us in movies is generally lacking in human warmth, is distant, stern, other-worldly, over pious, and whose very gaze makes you feel guilty because your sin caused his crucifixion. That Jesus is also humorless, doesn’t ever seem to bring God’s smile to the world, and never brings any lightness into a room. He is not a Jesus with whom you are at ease.

Unfortunately, that is often the Jesus who has been presented to us in our preaching, catechesis, Sunday schools, theological classes and in popular spirituality. The Jesus we meet there, for all the truth and revelation he brings into the world, is generally still too divine and overly pious for us to be at ease with humanly. He is a Jesus we admire, perhaps even adore, and whom we trust enough to commit our lives to (no small thing). But he is also a Jesus with whom we are not much at ease, whom we wouldn’t pick to sit next to at table, with whom we wouldn’t pick to go on vacation, and who is so distant and distinct from us that it is easier for us to have him as an admired teacher than as an intimate friend, let alone as a lover to whom we want to bear our soul.

This is not a plea to humanize Jesus (as is sometimes in fashion today) by making him just a nice man who preaches love but doesn’t at the same time radiate God’s non-negotiable truth. This is not what The Chosen does. Far from it.

The Chosen presents us with a Jesus whose divinity you never doubt, even as he appears as warm and attractive, with a humanity that puts you at ease in his presence; indeed, it lures you into his presence. Watching The Chosen, one never doubts for an instant that Jesus is specially and inextricably linked to his Father and that he brings us God’s truth and revelation without compromise. But this Jesus also brings God’s smile, God’s warmth and God’s blessing upon our lives which too often suffer from a lack of these.
The great mystic Julian of Norwich once described God is this way: God sits in heaven, completely relaxed, his face looking like a marvelous symphony.

Among other things, The Chosen shows us this relaxed face of God, which to our own detriment we too seldom see.

(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)