Looking to God for the Answer?

LAY DIRECTOR BLOG

What is your picture of Christ that you carry in your mind? How do you picture Him? Is he laughing? Or maybe smiling? How about contemplating? Is he crying?

I think we all have different views or pictures of Christ. And they are all correct. If we think about it, Jesus went through everything that we do. Everything that we have gone through in the past and everything we will go through in the future. But it doesn’t stop there. He walks beside us each and every day. Every minute, step, jump, hop. He is there with us. I believe the hard part is accepting that. We want to think and believe that we need to live some days or parts of the days alone. But God wants to be part of our everyday lives. The little decisions and the big ones too.

I was talking with a young man about when he knew and how he knew that he was being called by God to be a priest. He had been struggling with the decision of whether to continue on the path to become a physical therapist or stop that and go to the seminary. He had sought out the advice from many priests that he looked up to. He didn’t share what they all had told him, but he did share that he ended up in an adoration chapel praying for an answer. He said he prayed “God, what do you want me to do”? He felt God answer in his heart that it was up to him. He (God) would be with him no matter what he decided. But he persisted. “God, I want to follow your will for my life”. God seemed to answer again in his heart, “Look at your life, and how you have gotten to where you are. Think of all the people involved. Look at the high points in your life up ‘til now.” He remembered his sacraments, 1st reconciliation, 1st Holy Communion, Confirmation. Those really stuck out and he knew then that God was calling him to the priesthood. He put aside what he wanted to do and followed the call from God.

We sing that at every closing; “What do you want of me Lord? Where do you want me to serve you?” I think of this often. Am I following what God is calling me to do? And allowing Him to guide my feet, mouth, and hands? Or am I doing what I want to do. As we celebrate the Eucharistic Revival I know I need to spend more time in front of the Eucharist and really listen to what He is saying to me. How about you? Maybe listen to ‘The Summons’ (Will you come and

follow me).

John Lyons and Kathy Otermat

Celebrating the Church's Calendar for October

Our Spiritual Advisor for October

De Colores! My Sisters and Brothers in Christ.

Have you ever considered the difference between the secular calendar versus the Church’s Calendar? The two calendars are vastly different because the secular calendar centers our lives around it. We use the secular calendar to help organize our lives. It helps us make and keep appointments and know where we are to be on a specific day and time.

I often wonder how aware people are of the Church’s calendar. Do you ever give much thought to where we are in the life of the Church at any given time? We know the major seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter. We know of the Major celebrations of Ash Wednesday, the Ascension of the Lord, Pentecost Sunday, and the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (corpus Christi). The Church calendar starts with the first Sunday of Advent on December third this year and ends with the Thirty-fourth week of Ordinary time. Are we aware of the different feast day of Mary, the Saints, and the Angels we celebrate yearly? The Church invites us to celebrate these special people for who they were and what they did. I encourage you to read and learn more about these people of faith in October.

During the Sundays of October, we celebrate the Twenty-Sixth through the Thirtieth Sundays of Ordinary time. Do you know that I write a short daily reflection on the Gospel daily on Facebook?

On October Second, we celebrate the Holy Guardian Angels. Our faith teaches us to believe that each of us has an angel to help guide us through life. Do you know your special messenger from God?

October Fourth, the Church remembers St. Francis of Assisi, celebrate St. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish Religious Sister known as the messenger of Divine Mercy. Also on this day, I observe a Redemptorist, Bless Francis Xavier Seelos, a priest who served throughout the United States and died in New Orleans in 1867.

On October Sixth, the Church celebrates St. Bruno, a priest who founded the Carthusian Order in Germany. In North America, we celebrate Blessed Marie Rose Durocher, a Canadian religious sister who founded the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary to educate children in Canada. She is also known as a patron for those who are sick. On many Saturdays, we celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary.

On October seventh, we remember Our Lady of the Rosary.

On October Ninth, we have St. Denis and Companions who became martyrs for the faith. St. Denis was a bishop in Paris, France, in the third century; also, on the Ninth of October, St. John Leonardi, and Italian Priest and Patron of Pharmacists.

On October Eleventh, we remember St. John XXIII, the first pope I remember in my lifetime, who initiated the Second Vatican Council that brought many changes to our Church.

Another Pope we celebrate on October Fourteenth is St. Callistus, a martyr who emphasized God’s mercy in his ministry.

October Sixteenth is a special day for me as a Redemptorist Brother where the Church remember St. Gerard Majella, the patron of mothers and their unborn children. Also, on that day, the Church remembers St. Hedwig, a Religious Sister who died in 1243, and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a French nun whose visions of Christ helped to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart.

Seventeenth of October, the Church celebrates Sat. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr; on the Eighteenth, St. Luke Evangelist is celebrated.

On October Nineteenth, in North America, the Church celebrates Saints John de Brebeuf and Isaac Jogues, companions and Martyrs. These men were members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). the first missionaries to the North American Indians.

On October Twentieth, the Church celebrates St. Paul of the Cross, who founded the Passionist Congregation.

October Twenty-Third, the Church celebrates St. John of Capistrano, a Franciscan Priest in the 15th century and leader of an army that liberated Belgrade from the Turkish invasion.

October Twenty-Fourth, the Church remembers St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop of Santiago, Cuba and founder of the Claretians.

Saturday, October Twenty-Eighth, the Church celebrates the Apostles Simon and Jude. There are so many beautiful things we can learn this month. Let us also continue to remember the women working and living their Cursillo weekend on the weekend of October 12-15.

Brother Daniel Hall, CSSR

September: A Time for Harvest

LAY DIRECTOR

Hello, dear friends in Christ!

September is a beautiful and busy time. The summer flowers are bursting, full of color and at their peak. Vegetables already picked have been enjoyed, and the ones that are picked last are ready to be gathered in. The crops in the fields are at their finest, just starting to show the signs that the plants are getting ready for the harvest before too long. A hint coolness in the evenings is a welcome break from the warmth of the summer. School is beginning, with all the activity that occurs there and throughout our communities.

Jesus is calling us too for His harvest. From Mt 9:37-38: “Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.’” We have men’s and women’s Cursillos coming up soon. The men’s weekend is Sept. 7-10; the women’s is Oct. 12-15. How can we support the harvest of souls that the Cursillo weekends help to provide? The teams in formation are doing just that by offering themselves for the weekend. The sponsors are doing that also by their work of “making a friend, being a friend, and bringing that friend to Christ” through sponsoring candidates for the Cursillo weekend. (Applications for candidates for the women’s weekend are still being accepted.) We as Fourth Day can do that through our prayer and palanca, our participation in the Holy Hours and Serenades, and by attending the Closings.

Let us all do what we can to bring about an abundance of souls filled with the Holy Spirit to advance the kingdom of God on Earth. Jesus qualifies the called. And we are all called to be His disciples. John 15:15a “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.”

DeColores!

Kathy Otermat and John Lyons