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Week of February 5, 2012

Sunday, February 5
Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time; World Day
for Consecrated Life
Dear sisters and brothers: Thank you!
Today we pray for and give thanks to the men and women who publicly profess to live the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Monks, hermits, contemplatives, and religious priests, sisters, and brothers represent the diversity of consecrated life recognized by the church. Those who choose this life are committed to imitating Christ, engaging in his ministries of spreading the Good News, and showing that “the world can be transfigured with the spirit of the beatitudes” (Catechism 932). Their witness reminds all of us that our lives have purpose and meaning beyond this age, so we’d better choose how we live our present days wisely.
Today’s readings: Job 7:1-4, 6-7; 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23; Mark 1:29-39 (74)
“All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it.”

Monday, February 6
Feast of Paul Miki, martyr, and companions, martyrs
Keep the story alive
Christianity came to Japan with the arrival of Saint Francis Xavier in 1549. In fewer than 50 years, however, all foreign missionaries had been expelled and 26 Christians were condemned to die, including Paul Miki, a Japanese-born Jesuit priest. The story does not end there. In the 1860s new missionaries to Japan were astonished to discover a hidden but thriving Christian community numbering in the tens of thousands. They had managed to pass along the faith informally for 200 years! Such is the power of the Christian narrative. What is your favorite story from the life of Jesus? Why? In what ways has it influenced your life? How can you pass it along?
Today’s readings: 1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13; Mark 6:53-56 (329)
“As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.”

Tuesday, February 7
May God rest in peace!
Talk about holy sites: the Temple Mount, where King Solomon is said to have built Israel’s First Temple around 3,000 years ago, has been considered a sacred location by at least four religious traditions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and even Roman paganism. Competing claims on the site, and on the area known as East Jerusalem where it is located, are a central element of Arab-Israeli conflict in the region. Surely we can find a way to bring lasting peace to the place where tradition says the Divine Presence rested after creating the world and then gathered the dust to form the first human beings. Add your voice to those calling for a negotiated peace in God’s backyard.
Today’s readings: 1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30; Mark 7:1-13 (330)
“May your eyes watch night and day over this temple.”

Wednesday, February 8
Don’t be late to break-fast
With the season of Lent and its practice of fasting arriving in a couple of weeks, it’s a little puzzling to remember that Jesus was a great breaker of fasts and violator of religious food rules—that was one thing that got him into trouble with the authorities. His followers gathered grain on the Sabbath because they were starving. He ate with sinners and outcasts. He simply did not follow the rules, but for a purpose: to show how the rules should not control but rather serve to bring a person into a more loving relationship with God and neighbor. What makes a person holy is not external observance but internal faith and love, which leads to right behavior.
Today’s readings: 1 Kings 10:1-10; Mark 7:14-23 (331)
“Everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile . . . . But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles.”

Thursday, February 9
What do you choose?
Being chosen by God seems attractive, but God’s choice is less entitlement to special favors and more being selected for a commission—given a job to do. Further, we find that God does not usually choose as we might. We find God picking, for example, David, the runt of the litter; Mary, an unknown girl from Nazareth; the sinner over the holy man. Try to be aware of how you make choices: how you will treat a troublesome fellow-worker or that driver who is tailgating or how scrupulously honest you will be. Like God, who chose you to be one in Christ, make decisions based not on the obvious but on what is inside the other—and who dwells within you.
Today’s readings: 1 Kings 11:4-13; Mark 7:24-30 (332)
“When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods.”

Friday, February 10
Feast of Scholastica, virgin
What’s between your life’s bookends?
We know few facts about Saint Scholastica: She lived in Italy in the fifth and sixth centuries, was the sister of Saint Benedict, became a nun and a prioress, and helped found Benedictine monasticism. Yet, thanks to two brief comments by Saint Gregory the Great, we know volumes about how she lived her life. Of her childhood Gregory wrote: “She was devoted to God from a very early age,” and a few paragraphs later he added that when she died “her soul ascended into heaven in the likeness of a dove.” Though seemingly innocuous, these comments are like bookends of Scholastica’s existence and give us a sense of the rich content of her biography. As you think about your life’s journey, what do your bookends look like?
Today’s readings: 1 Kings 11:29-32; 12:19; Mark 7:31-37 (333)
“He has done all things well.”

Saturday, February 11
Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes; World Day of the Sick
God is bigger than our needs
In an hour of crisis it may be impossible to imagine that help will arrive in time, or that your great need might be met with sufficient comfort to make a difference. Yet Jesus once faced a hungry multitude and fed them with next to nothing—and no one went away in want. Today the church remembers those who are sick: all who carry the cross of chronic problems like diabetes, AIDS, or mental illness as well as those struck with a diagnosis of an illness like cancer, heart disease, or stroke. We and our loved ones are not forgotten. Jesus comes to fulfill every need. And his mother Mary’s arms are wide enough for all of us.
Today’s readings: 1 Kings 12:26-32, 13:33-34; Mark 8:1-10 (334)
“They ate and were satisfied.”

©2012 by TrueQuest Communications, L.L.C. Phone: 800-942-2811; e-mail: mail@takefiveforfaith.com; website: www.TakeFiveForFaith.com. Licensed for noncommercial use. All rights reserved. Scripture quotes come from the New American Bible.

Contributors: Alice Camille, Daniel Grippo, Caroline Hopkinson, Father Larry Janowski, O.F.M., Ann O’Connor, Joel Schorn, Patrice J. Tuohy, and Sister Julie Vieira, I.H.M.

Week of February 12, 2012

Sunday, February 12
Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time; Birthday of Abraham Lincoln
God’s ways are mysterious indeed
President Abraham Lincoln knew a thing or two about grief and the struggle to find God within the mystery of seemingly senseless loss. The year 1862 saw the death of his son Willie at the age of 11 of typhoid fever while the Civil War raged, bringing death and destruction to a divided nation. Lincoln struggled to find a divine purpose behind it all. Of the war he wrote: God “could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.” There may be no final, satisfactory answer to the mystery of suffering, but there is a response: compassion. Practice some toward everyone you meet.
Today’s readings: Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46; 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1; Mark 1:40-45 (77)
“Do everything for the glory of God.”

Monday, February 13
Take advantage of the trial period
Everyone experiences difficulties at some point in their lives. No matter how fortunate a person may be, going a lifetime without adversity is next to impossible. The early church from time to time went through trials of a different sort: hostility, persecution, and the general tension of living in a pagan world that did not share its beliefs. These days there is still friction between a life of faith and an increasingly secular world. The response of some is to condemn that world rather than engage it. On this score, however, contemporary Christians can learn from the first ones, who saw in trials the opportunity to grow in virtue and develop their faith.
Today’s readings: James 1:1-11; Mark 8:11-13 (335)
“Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials.”

Tuesday, February 14
Feast of Cyril, monk, and Methodius, bishop
Don’t get lost in translation
The ninth-century siblings Cyril and Methodius, known as the Apostles to the Slavic people, were particularly sensitive to helping people use their own language and images to experience God and articulate their faith. Pope Benedict XVI spoke about this gift of theirs in 2009: “Each people should make the revealed message penetrate into their own culture, and express the salvific truth with their own language. This implies a very exacting work of ‘translation,’ as it requires finding adequate terms to propose anew the richness of the revealed Word, without betraying it. The two brother saints have left in this sense a particularly significant testimony that the church continues looking at today to be inspired and guided.” How can you translate God’s Word effectively in your own day and age?
Today’s readings: James 1:12-18; Mark 8:14-21 (336)
“All good giving and every perfect gift is from above.”

Wednesday, February 15
Use your imagination
One of the fundamental Catholic beliefs is that God is present in every aspect of creation. This perspective has been called the “Catholic imagination” and is rooted in the teachings of Jesus. When he looked at the ordinary stuff of life—dough, coins, vines, lamps, mustard seeds—he saw how each thing revealed the loving presence of God. Catholics do the same. When we look at a person or object, we are aware that there is more than meets the eye, and that “more” is God. The essence of Catholic imagination is captured in this passage from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” Practice using your Catholic lenses today. What do you see?
Today’s readings: James 1:19-27; Mark 8:22-26 (337)
“Do you see anything?”

Thursday, February 16
Use your head
Remember when Jesus got into an argument with Saint Peter and even called him a devil? Actually, Peter “started it” because he thought Jesus was not acting like a proper Messiah, predicting he would be persecuted by the religious authorities! To Peter it didn’t make sense; it didn’t fit with what he’d been taught. Poor Pete, and poor us. How can Jesus expect us to expect the unexpected? How can we dare to think and act outside the religious box we grew up in? We use our brains and seek to understand before we form opinions, go again and again to prayer, and finally submit to the gospel itself, which like a plumb line, is always true.
Today’s readings: James 2:1-9; Mark 8:27-33 (338)
“You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Friday, February 17
Feast of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order, religious
A noble calling
Imagine seven of the leading citizens of New York, London, or Paris suddenly leaving it all behind and heading to the hills to dedicate their lives to God. That is how the Servite Order was founded in 13th-century Florence, a city flourishing with culture, trade, and political and religious intrigue. In 1240 seven noblemen of the city decided to withdraw from urban life to a solitary place for prayer and service of God. In their monastery they led a life of prayer, work, and silence while in the active apostolate they engaged in parish work, teaching, preaching, and other ministries. God calls all of us to service and prayer; at the end of the day, these are the actions that ennoble us all. How will you serve?
Today’s readings: James 2:14-24, 26; Mark 8:34-9:1 (339)
“Whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it.”

Saturday, February 18
Change is in the air
We are quickly approaching the beginning of Lent, 40 days of reflection and waiting for the Resurrection of the Lord. Lent marks a time when we challenge ourselves to really think about our actions and intentions toward others. When Christ took the apostles Peter, James, and John up to the mountaintop, he was transfigured before their eyes; during Lent we begin to transform ourselves into better human beings. It was up on that mountain that God said the words: “This is my beloved son. Listen to him.” This Lent let us listen for the Lord and open our minds and our hearts to his transforming presence.
Today’s readings: James 3:1-10; Mark 9:2-13 (340)
“From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this need not be so.”

Contributors: Alice Camille, Daniel Grippo, Caroline Hopkinson, Father Larry Janowski, O.F.M., Ann O’Connor, Joel Schorn, Patrice J. Tuohy, and Sister Julie Vieira, I.H.M.

Week of February 19, 2012

Sunday, February 19, 2012
Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
Get carried away
In the story of Jesus healing and forgiving the man lowered before him through the roof of a house, Jesus is impressed less with the faith of the needy man—after all, there were many people crowding in—and more with the four friends who carried him there and tore open the roof. Sometimes we need to submit to the care of others and let ourselves be carried by that concern. That is one of the joys of our community of worship. We might come to pray overwhelmed by our own misery, confused, or just bored and disinterested. At such times we can do no better than let the faith of our friends, our sisters and brothers, carry us to Jesus.
Today’s readings: Isaiah 43:18-19, 21-22, 24b-25; 2 Corinthians 1:18-22; Mark 2:1-12 (80)
“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Child, your sins are forgiven.’ ”

Monday, February 20
Pass along a peace of advice
Peace activists aren’t born; they are inspired by others. Longtime Catholic peace worker Kathy Kelly was introduced to the writings of Daniel Berrigan, S.J. and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. while a student at a Catholic school during the turbulent 1960s. “The St. Paul faculty,” she says, “gently but consistently showed us hero-figures who had tried to confront injustice and cruelty and who believed in love of enemy as well as love of neighbor.” Let’s make sure children are exposed to more than comic-book action superheroes writ large on theater screens. Let’s introduce them to the real heroes, those who have worked tirelessly for peace and justice.
Today’s readings: James 3:13-18; Mark 9:14-29 (341)
“The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.”

Tuesday, February 21
Feast of Peter Damian, bishop, doctor of the church; Mardi Gras
Get ready to get ready
Preparation is crucial for a meaningful celebration. Advent prepares us for Christmas, Lent prepares us for Easter, and Mardi Gras prepares us for Lent. These alternating seasons of quiet and celebration help us notice and appreciate the fact that God is found not only in austerity and prayer but also in music and celebration. As a result, we experience the sustaining presence of God in every aspect of our lives. A good Mardi Gras will help us have a good Lent. A good Lent, in turn, ensures a spiritually rich Easter, which is the ultimate goal. So go ahead and celebrate Mardi Gras today! Decorate your home, gather with friends, enjoy some good food. Tomorrow you enter the desert.
Today’s readings: James 4:1-10; Mark 9:30-37 (343)
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”

Wednesday, February 22
Ash Wednesday; day of fasting and abstinence
Be creative this Lent
Is it Lent already? Yes, which means another season of opportunity to grow in faith. Consider how you might wisely spend the next 40 days by focusing on one thing in your life that needs to change. Try a new spin on the traditional practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Prayer can be engaged in many ways: with words, silence, contemplation of icons—or walking a labyrinth or the Stations of the Cross for the spiritually fidgety. You can “fast” from more than food: Give up media distractions or idle gossip. Alms can be paid out in other than dollar bills: Offer your time to the lonely, your love to a child.
Today’s readings: Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 (219)
“Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart.”

Thursday, February 23
Feast of Polycarp, bishop, martyr
Bring it on
You have to admire the early Christian martyrs, not only for their courage but also for the defiance, even confidence, with which they faced dying for their faith. The bishop Saint Polycarp had been a Christian his whole life, but for some reason the Romans waited until he was 86—an unheard-of age in the ancient world—to hunt him down. He refused to flee, and when hauled before a Roman official engaged him in lively debate. When threatened with burning at the stake, his eventual fate, he retorted that while the fires of martyrdom last only for a while, the fires of judgment never go out. Polycarp and other martyrs offer the example of those who reckoned their eternal fate more important than their earthly one.
Today’s readings: Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Luke 9:22-25 (220)
“If . . . you turn away your hearts and will not listen . . . I tell you now that you will certainly perish.”

Friday, February 24
Friday after Ash Wednesday; day of abstinence
Not so fast?
One out of six people in the present generation lives in extreme poverty. Not simply below the poverty line established by government organizations: Extreme poverty means living in danger of death because there is no food. By virtue of living in a country where food is made affordable by subsidies and meal programs are available to make up the shortfall, it’s easy to forget and hard to imagine the kind of suffering starvation entails. If one in six neighbors were hungry, wouldn’t the other five feed that person? Fasting, even abstaining from meat, reminds us that our neighbor is hungry—and of our responsibility to help.
Today’s readings: Isaiah 58:1-9a; Matthew 9:14-15 (221)
“This . . . is the fasting that I wish: . . . . Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless.”

Saturday, February 25
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Take the fast track to hunger awareness
Fasting is a spiritual discipline to which we are called during Lent. It not only helps us become more aware of our dependency on God but also aware of those who experience hunger on a regular basis. The U.S.D.A. estimates that tens of millions of Americans are in that very situation. “It is unacceptable,” says Catholic Charities USA, “in a nation as bountiful as ours that children, adults, and senior citizens experience food insecurity that puts their physical, mental, and developmental health at risk.” Contact your local office of Catholic Charities, Food for the Poor, or a food pantry or soup kitchen to see how you can be part of the solution. CatholicCharitiesUSA.org can help you get started.
Today’s readings: Isaiah 58:9b-14; Luke 5:27-32 (222)
“If you bestow your bread on the hungry . . . then light shall rise for you in the darkness.”

Contributors: Alice Camille, Daniel Grippo, Caroline Hopkinson, Father Larry Janowski, O.F.M., Ann O’Connor, Joel Schorn, Patrice J. Tuohy, and Sister Julie Vieira, I.H.M.

Week of February 26, 2012

Sunday, February 26
First Sunday of Lent
Follow the rainbow
The rare and beautiful event of a rainbow usually lasts only a short while, but its colors and soaring form make a lasting impression. It follows storms as if to show the incredible beauty and peace of creation after a demonstration of its awesome power. In Hebrew scripture the rainbow symbolizes God’s promise to Noah never to destroy the earth and all its creatures again with water, but just as important it was a sign of the wonderful re-creation of the world after the destruction of the biblical Flood. The season of Lent offers a unique opportunity to make a course correction on the path toward God. The goal is clear: the new life of Easter, fixed before your eyes like a glorious rainbow.
Today’s readings: Genesis 9:8-15; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15 (23)
“I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”

Monday, February 27
Lenten weekday
The least we can do
The vivid biblical descriptions of the Last or Final Judgment are designed to impress upon us the importance of taking our obligations to the less fortunate very seriously indeed. “But where to begin?” you might ask. The Corporal Works of Mercy are a pretty good place. If we each do our part, we can hope for the day when there will be no more hungry to feed, homeless to shelter, prisoners to visit, and the like. Then we can welcome that Final Judgment with confidence. But let’s get started today—after all, none of us knows the day or the hour.
Today’s readings: Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18; Matthew 25:31-46 (224)
“Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”

Tuesday, February 28
Lenten weekday
Listen with your heart
One of the cornerstones of Lent is prayer, something we often consider our job: talking to God, pouring out our hearts, asking for what we need. It is all that, but more. If we compare prayer to the living intimacy between people who love each other, we will see clearly that if their conversation is one-sided, if they do not let the other speak, if they do not listen with the same intensity with which the other pours out their needs, then something is wrong. Someone put it this way: Show up. Shut up. Pay attention. Crude, but true. To spruce up one’s spiritual life is to consider how one prays. Is there room in my time with God just to be? Must I always be talking or reading or planning? Can I simply wait? Listen?
Today’s readings: Isaiah 55:10-11; Matthew 6:7-15 (225)
“My word . . . shall not return to me void.”

Wednesday, February 29
Lenten weekday
Take a leap this year
Pope Gregory XIII established the calendar we use to count our days, weeks, and years in 1582—and there have been calls for its reform more or less continuously ever since. There are differences in the details, but in general the reform advocates say every month should have the same number of days and every date should fall on the same day of the week. These appeals for a new ordering of days always fail, partly because humans resist change and partly because an unchanging calendar seems a little too rigid, a little too perfect. Logic and perfection have their place, to be sure. But so do flexibility and imperfection. February 29 is a good date to celebrate the latter.
Today’s readings: Jonah 3:1-10; Luke 11:29-32
“There is something greater than Solomon here.”

Thursday, March 1
Lenten weekday
Persistence pays off
The story of Queen Esther told in the Bible book that bears her name is a fascinating novella filled with subterfuge and intrigue. Esther uses her wit and wiles to get what she wants from the king, but her masterstroke is to use prayer and petition to get what she needs from God: namely a plan for deliverance for herself and her people. As we begin our Lenten journey, our first step should be to ask God to help us chart our course. Then, like Esther, we must fast, pray, and wait, and soon God’s plan for us will be revealed.
Today’s readings: Esther C 12, 14-16, 23-25; Matthew 7: 7-12 (227)
“Turn our mourning into gladness and our sorrows into wholeness.”

Friday, March 2
World Day of Prayer; day of abstinence
Out of the depths I cry to you
For some, prayer seems like a natural talent. For others, pulling teeth is easier! But for all, prayer is a necessary component of the life of faith. We seek a vital relationship with our Maker, and no relationship is complete without deep and meaningful communication. God begins the conversation with the words of scripture. You add your part in interceding for needs, offering thanks for gifts received, and singing praise for a world of wonders. As you abstain from meat on this global day of prayer, recommit yourself to the ways of fairness in family, work, civic, and international relationships.
Today’s readings: Ezekiel 18:21-28; Matthew 5:20-26 (228)
“Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?”

Saturday, March 3
Feast of Katharine Drexel, virgin
Share your gifts
When you think about Catholic stewardship, does your mind go to collection envelopes and fundraising appeals? While certainly that is part of what it means, stewardship goes far beyond financial contributions. The U.S. Catholic Bishops wrote that stewardship is a call to receive God’s gifts gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them lovingly with others, and return them with increase to God (Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response). We see examples of such stewardship in the church through people like Saint Katharine Drexel. She made good use of her education and financial resources, and she also made it her life’s work to help people in need, an effort that continues through the religious community she founded, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. How can you create a legacy of stewardship?
Today’s readings: Deuteronomy 26:16-19; Matthew 5:43-48 (229)
“The Lord . . . is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and . . . hearken to his voice.”

Contributors: Alice Camille, Daniel Grippo, Caroline Hopkinson, Father Larry Janowski, O.F.M., Ann O’Connor, Joel Schorn, Patrice J. Tuohy, and Sister Julie Vieira, I.H.M.