Learning to be Quick to Listen

Kevin Considine gives us a nice, brief explanation of why many venerate the Virgin Mary. The veneration and adoration of Mary is as old as the church itself. The earliest record of Mary’s veneration probably comes from the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus in A.D. 431. There church fathers affirmed Mary as the Theotokos, or God-bearer. The title stuck, and today we refer to her as the “Mother of God.” This designation of Mary as the mother of God is really at the root of Roman Catholic veneration. Mary is the link between our broken humanity and the boundless divinity present in the triune God. Mary is redeemed, as she is human, but she is also considered to have a special and unique relationship with God, as she shares DNA with Christ. Mother Teresa once remarked, “She gave Jesus his body, and his body is what saved us.” In the many years since 431, Mary has come to occupy a powerful place in Roman Catholic spirituality. She has many faces and innumerable names, among them Our Lady ...

Here are more suggestions for us to reclaim Christmas. What could Christmas be like? More time spent with people, sharing memories of the past year, making plans for the coming one. Doing things together, being more prayerful and more playful, telling stories, talking about God. Reaching beyond ourselves. One common theme emerge, a plan of action takes shape. One family might make their presents this year. Or give each other things they already own, trade things that are important parts of their lives. This will help them get to know each other better and experience each other as family, helping each other grow by giving to each other. Or maybe this year the family will make a little retreat to a quiet spot in the woods. They could take the time to relax and regain a sense of family, to get to know each other again, and then return in time to share their strength and peace on Christmas day. A group of friends might make a special effort this Christmas to reach out to those less fort...

This is part of an article published 35 years ago in US Catholic Magazine. It is still so relevant, maybe even more so now. Why do we race around the week before Christmas buying expensive gifts as if it were a rite of preparation for the coming of the Lord? Jesus did not say we would recognize him in the breaking of the bank. And in fact it becomes very difficult to recognize him when we spend most of the season fighting crowds and fatigue. Mostly we get trapped. It’s not that we intend to be swept up by the needless overconsumption of the season. It’s that we haven’t stopped to think about the season ahead of time and make sense of it. We haven’t stopped to choose what kind of Christmas we would like to have. We’ve been trapped into thinking we have to act in a certain way during the season. Advertisers pull out the heavy artillery at Christmas, bombarding us with messages that say, “The only way to celebrate is to buy these shiny, expensive gifts.” But Christmas is for sharing. W...

At the opening of the Year for Consecrated Life, Pope Francis issued a challenge to consecrated men and women, inviting them to lives of courage, communion, and joy. Nearly 50 years after Vatican II's decree on the Adaption and Renewal of Religious Life, Perfectae Caritatis, Pope Francis convoked the Year with the aim of expressing the “beauty and preciousness of this unique form” of Christian discipleship. The Year for Consecrated Life begins Nov. 30, the first Sunday of Advent, and concludes Feb. 2, 2016. Because the start of the 2015 Year for Consecrated Life coincided with Pope Francis' trip to Turkey, his message was read out in his absence on Nov. 30 by Cardinal João Braz de Aviz at the beginning of Mass in Saint Peter's Basilica. Through various initiatives in the coming months, Pope Francis told consecrated men and women in his message that their “shining witness of life will be as a lamp,” placed where it can “give light and warmth to all of God's people.” ...

A life-affirming online ad campaign seeks to present the positive experience of adoption as an alternative to abortion for women facing unexpected pregnancies. “We believe that women deserve to know about all of the options available to them, and we are grateful for the opportunity to connect more women with information and support as they consider adoption as one of those options,” said Marissa Cope, Director of Special Projects at Heroic Media. Heroic Media, a pro-life multimedia organization, teamed with the Gladney Center for Adoption in 2013 to promote the choice of adoption. This year, they worked together to launch a pro-life adoption advertisement titled “Last Year.” “The newest ad features a young woman sharing her positive experience of placing her child up for adoption, stating that she has made a plan to finish school and the adoptive family she chose will raise her baby ‘and love her forever,’” Heroic Media said in a Nov. 25 statement. The commercial highlights a you...

As we celebrate everything Mary today on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, it is important to remind ourselves why this day is important. The feast itself speaks to the dogma that Mary was redeemed from the moment of her conception. It is based on the fact that God had a special mission for Mary. God of course knew what would become of Mary and so it makes sense that he would preserve her for what was to come. It also reassures us that God has a plan for each of us. We should allow God to guide us toward Hise plan and Mary provides the perfect example of that adherence. So why was Mary chosen as Jesus's birth mother? After all, couldn't God have merely come to earth as a man without all of the usual pregnancy issues? Remember that Jesus was fully man and fully god. Mary's part in this birth then becomes very important. Jesus was born just as you and I were born. Our kinship is formed by this human birth, in the same way that Joachim and Anne formed Mary. So why honor ...

An innovative educational model that would serve Baton Rouge’s most impoverished students may become part of the Catholic school system as early as the 2016-17 school year. Community leaders as well as school officials of the Diocese of Baton Rouge have spent the past several months discussing the potential launch of a Crisco Rey Network high school, which employs a unique model where students work one day a week to help defray the cost of tuition. At least three meetings have already been held and a fourth was scheduled this past week. “We have had excellent feedback but we are still at the beginning stages,” said Cristo Rey Director of Growth Brian Melton, adding that a feasibility study must first be completed before moving forward. “It’s not a foregone conclusion (that a school will open in Baton Rouge) but we sure hope so,” he added. “A lot of things have to happen before then.” Bishop Robert W. Muench and Dr. Melanie Verges, superintendent of Catholic Schools, endorsed the fe...

In an address to the Swiss bishops on Monday, Pope Francis urged them maintain a lively faith, lest their country’s religious buildings become nothing more than dust-filled museums. The Holy Father also used the opportunity to encourage the bishops to live their episcopal fatherhood; to uphold the ministerial priesthood; to engage in frank ecumenism; and to maintain the Church's witness to the Gospel. “Your country has a long Christian tradition,” he said in a text delivered to the bishops of Switzerland Dec. 1 at the Vatican, adding, “you have a great and beautiful responsibility to maintain a living faith in your land.” “Without a living faith in the risen Christ, your beautiful churches and monasteries will gradually become museums; all the commendable works and institutions will lose their soul, leaving behind only empty spaces and abandoned people.” He continued, “the mission that has been entrusted to you is to nurture your flock, proceeding in accordance with current cir...