The Eucharist and Gluten Intolerance

In the April 2011 issue of Catholic Mirror Rebecca Drake wrote a sensitive article on gluten intolerance and the Eucharist. In it, she interviewed Msgr. Daniel Liston, chancellor of the Springfield Diocese. Msgr. Liston stated that low-gluten hosts produced by the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, MO are approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for use with those with celiac disease. Those for whom even the minimal amount of gluten is an issue may choose to receive the Eucharist only from the cup (which still contains the full Body and Blood of Christ).

If Today You Hear His Voice . . .

The April 2011 issue of Columbia Magazine focuses on Pope John Paul II in light of his upcoming beatification on May 1st. The back page offers his description of how he was called to be a priest:

I am often asked, especially by young people, why I became a priest. Maybe some of you would like to ask the same question. Let me try briefly to reply.

I must begin by saying that it is impossible to explain entirely, for it remains a mystery,even to myself. How does one explain the ways of God? Yet, I know that at a certain point in my life, I became convinced that Christ was saying to me what he had said to thousands before me: "Come, follow me!" There was a clear sense that what I heard in my heart was no human voice, nor was it just an idea of my own. Christ was calling me to serve him as a priest.

And you can probably tell, I am deeply grateful to God for my vocation to the priesthood. Nothing means more to me or gives me greater joy than to celebrate Mass each day and to serve God's people in the Church. That has been true ever since the day of my ordination as a priest. Nothing has ever changed it, not even becoming pope.

Pope John Paul II
Los Angeles, CA Sept 15, 1987

When Spouses Disagree About NFP

Faith and Family has a good article up today on When Spouses Disagree about NFP. It can certainly be a source of much guilt, pain, and resentment when one member of the couple wants to follow Church teaching and avoid artificial contraception and the other member doesn't. It can be even more difficult in a marriage when one member is Catholic and the other is not. As the article suggests, it is extremely important to keep praying and keep going to Confession.

Dealing with Pain from the Past

I came across this post today on dealing with pain from the past. No one gets through life without being hurt and hurting others. Everyone has things in their past that they regret or wounds that just won't seem to heal, no matter how much time has past. This article offers some concrete suggestions on how to cope.

How Do I Deal with Pain from the Past

Socrates Cafe

Maureen Whittmann offers an informative reflection on using the Socratic method with teenagers in this Catholic Mom article.

One thing that I have learned in leading a history co-op over the past several years is that if I spend all of my time lecturing the children, they do not retain a great deal. However, if I engage them in conversation and ask probing question they make connections, come up with insightful conclusions, and retain their lessons. This is known as the Socratic Method. The method is, of course, named after Socrates.

Read more here: Socrates Cafe

Dealing with Distractions in Prayer

Perhaps somewhere out there are women who can completely empty their minds and focus totally on God. I’m sorry to say that I am not one of them - never have been. Just by way of example, there are times I have said an entire rosary and realized at the end of it that my mind was elsewhere the entire time.

Perhaps someday my life will have less stress and less to think about, but I’m not holding my breath. Most of the senior citizens I know still have a whole lot on their respective plates – life seems to get more difficult, not less, with age. Therefore, I’m fairly certain distraction during prayer is something I will be dealing with every day of my life.

Obviously, it would be better if I could clear my thoughts, but that doesn’t seem to be within my capabilities at the moment. Then, what should I do? Does my prayer not count because my mind wanders? Should I give up praying as a lost cause? No, not at all.

I can take some comfort in the fact that I am not alone in this difficulty. Distraction during prayer is such a common problem that the Catechism of the Catholic Church offers the following advice: “The habitual difficulty in prayer is distraction. It can affect words and their meaning in vocal prayer; it can concern, more profoundly, him to whom we are praying, in vocal prayer (liturgical or personal), meditation, and contemplative prayer. To set about hunting down distractions would be to fall into their trap, when all that is necessary is to turn back to our heart: for a distraction reveals to us what we are attached to, and this humble awareness before the Lord should awaken our preferential love for him and lead us resolutely to offer him our heart to be purified. Therein lies the battle, the choice of which master to serve.” (CCC 2729)

St. Teresa of Avila also suffered from distraction in prayer. She wrote, “Do not imagine that the important thing is never to be thinking of anything else and that if your mind becomes slightly distracted all is lost.” It is still important to keep praying. Praying provides us the “the strength which fits us for service. . . The Lord leads each of us as He sees we have need.”

Praying is too important to abandon due to distractions. When I realize that my mind has wandered, I try to bring it back to prayer. If my mind has drifted to a concern I am having, I ask God to help me with it. If my mind has traveled to a sinful thought, I ask God’s forgiveness. I may not focus on every word of prayer that I say, but I do know that God knows my intent to lift up my heart and my needs to Him.

This isn’t to say that I am giving up the effort to try to focus more. Lately, I have been making a concerted attempt to say one “Our Father” each night before I go to bed and truly pay attention to each word and the meaning it contains. It isn’t easy, and I don’t always make it through the whole prayer, but I am trying.

In the meantime, I will continue praying and offering my distractions up to God.

Book Review; "Pathway to our Hearts"

Pathway to Our Hearts: A Simple Approach to Lectio Divina With the Sermon on the Mount
by Archbishop Thomas Collins
Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 2011

Archbishop Thomas Collins states "Lectio divina is a prayerful encounter with the word of God. By the 'word of God,' I do not mean simply the text of the Bible; I also mean Christ our Lord." "Pathway to our Hearts: A Simple Approach to Lectio Divina with the Sermon on the Mount" grew out of Collins' experience of lectio divina sessions he held at the Cathedral in Edmonton, Canada. He emphasizes that lectio divina is not the study of Scripture, although such study can be good preparation for it. Rather, lectio divina is an "intimate encounter with the Lord God through the medium of his inspired word in the context of prayer."

Each chapter in "Pathway to our Hearts" is designed as a full lectio divina session, focusing on a section of the Sermon on the Mount. Archbishop Collins begins each session with the simple prayer "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening" and then an initial reading of the Scripture passage. He then goes on to offer his reflections on the individual verses. These reflections are truly powerful and insightful. Archbishop Collins invites reader to contemplate the deep meaning of these passages which have become heard so often they are sometimes glossed over.

The Sermon on the Mount offers a blueprint for Christian living. It is the heart and soul of Jesus' teaching. The Archbishop delves into what it means to be pure of heart and to root out the evil desires that live within each of us. He offers a discussion of The Lord's Prayer and what it means to truly pray. He talks about the role of anxiety and judgment in our lives and what we should do about them. He encourages us to ask for God's help every day, to remember that "God is God and I am not . . . we acknowledge our reliance on God and on his power to save us." Lastly, we must always choose life. It is the narrow road; it is hard; but it is the choice Christians must make every day.

The value of "Pathway to our Hearts" far exceeds its stated purpose. It is much more than a primer on lectio divina - it is an instruction manual for the Christian life.