SAB Parish
Be a beacon of light and hope for those struggling in a world of 
confusion and darkness!
  • Home
    • Contact Us
    • Become a Parishioner
    • Online Giving
    • Mass Times
    • Capital Campaign
    • Music Ministry
    • Weekly Bulletin
    • Cemetery
    • Have a Question?
  • About Us
    • Meet the Staff
    • Ways You Can Serve
    • Funerals
    • Community Events
    • Stewardship
    • Pro-Life
    • Knights of Columbus
    • Medicare for Seniors
  • Evangelization
    • Young Adult Fellowship
    • Women's Ministries >
      • Ladies Guild
    • Men's Ministries >
      • Monthly Gatherings
      • Sunday Small Group
    • The 8th Continent
    • Faith Resources >
      • Great Websites!
      • Top 50 Catholic Apps
      • At-Home Studies
    • Digital Studies
  • Sacraments
    • Baptism
    • Confirmation
    • Eucharist
    • Reconciliation >
      • Examination of Conscience
      • How to go to Confession
    • Anointing of the Sick
    • Holy Orders
    • Marriage
  • Faith Formation
    • Year 1 Sacramental Prep
    • Year 2 Sacramental Prep
    • 2020-21 Family Faith Schedule
    • Important Forms
    • Youth Ministry
    • Adult Faith Formation
    • R.C.I.A.
    • Holy Trinity School
  • Abba House
    • Healing Mass
    • Parish Nurse Ministry
    • Upcoming Events
  • Vocations
    • Vocations
    • Discerning a Vocation?
  • Livestream

Renew the Imagination

8/27/2015

0 Comments

 

Ministry Tip of the Week

by Seth Evangelho
A digitized world has its advantages, but the drawbacks are dangerous. The constant bombardment of images and slogans, ad campaigns, tweets, blog posts, video games and Facebook 'likes' threatens to dull (or even replace) our deeply human sense of wonder, reflection, and imaginative thought. Why research something when Google has already done the work for you, right?
Again, tapping into the universal consciousness we call Google has its advantages but, if we're going to avoid the dumbing down of our own personal consciousness, we had better be proactive; for the modern loss of the imaginative faculty is paralyzing our ability to exercise the gift of faith.
Picture
In order to understand this a little better, let's be clear on what the imagination is. First of all, imagination is NOT reducible to our ability to pretend. To use your imagination does not primarily mean to fantasize or to make things up. The Imagination is a faculty of the human soul and a fundamental means by which God communicates to us the divine realities of faith. When we use this God-given, human faculty we bring to mind images of a reality that isn't immediately present to our senses. It's a faculty of memory, but also of hope and vision for the future. Most important of all maybe, the imagination is a power of the soul that allows us to perceive present realities hidden from physical sensation.
The Practice of the Presence of God
Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection wrote a timeless book based upon his spiritual habits of contemplative prayer: "The Practice of the Presence of God." Ultimately, he tells us that contemplative prayer takes practice and it's a question of continually recalling that we are in fact surrounded by the presence of Love Eternal. "As often as I could," says Brother Lawrence, "I placed myself as a worshipper before him, fixing my mind upon his holy presence, recalling it when I found it wandering from him. This proved to be an exercise frequently painful, yet I persisted through all difficulties." The imagination it turns out is a kind of spiritual muscle that, when exercised, creates in us a capacity to commune with the divine in our daily activities (Brother Lawrence was in charge of pots and pans in his monastery).
Without the imagination, faith can easily become a mundane list of facts and rote prayers. As "new evangelists" in the modern world, our job is to renew the imaginations of old and young alike. May this renewal begin first in our own souls; may the ease of modern technology be for us a tool  and not an addiction; may we struggle and persist through all difficulties to keep alive the presence of God and a living faith in all that we do; and may we teach others to do the same.
Picture
"There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God; those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it" (Brother Lawrence).
0 Comments

Follow the Leaders

8/21/2015

0 Comments

 

Ministry Tip of the Week

by Seth Evangelho
"Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1)

These words of St. Paul to the early Church capture a crucial insight into the Christian walk. We need examples. Real, living, and genuine examples of what it means to live a life of Catholic discipleship. 

Too often holiness gets distorted as a lofty ideal, or a pie-in-the-sky fantasy for everyday Joe's. A chasm of practical reality gets in the way of our life in Christ and we find ourselves up against a secular wall of responsibility, expectation, and... well (sadly), preference. 
Picture
That's why a witness to the Saints is so critical. It is possible, and even preferable, to be a saint. Holiness is a happier life, it's both more human and - simultaneously - more divine, and we have thousands upon thousands of examples to prove it. How well do we know our brothers and sisters in Christ? How many of those thousands are we familiar with at all? The more we discover and reflect upon the lives of the saints, the more we ourselves begin to grow in our spiritual lives. What they did, what they said, how they lived and often how they died, become for us doorways of understanding and channels of grace.

First, we must bring the witness of the Saints into our own hearts, and then we must learn to tell their stories. There are saints for all occasions: teaching saints like Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, and John Bosco, political saints like Gregory and Leo, mothers like Monica and Elizabeth of Hungary, fathers like Louis IX, lawyers like Thomas More, doctors like Giles and Gianna, and the list goes on.

Have you heard about the heroic life of Gianna Molla? Or Chiara Luce Badano? Or Pier Georgio Frassati? How well, even, do we understand the more popular saints like Francis of Assisi or Ignatius of Loyola, Dominic or Teresa of Avila? These are stories that will change your life, by their examples but also through their intercession. Learn their stories. Pray for their intercession. Share their witness. Most important of all, be imitators of them as they are of Christ. 
0 Comments

The Real Meaning of Apology

8/14/2015

0 Comments

 

Ministry Tip of the Week

by Seth Evangelho

Defense. Apology means defense.

The most popular "apology," of course, is Socrates' brilliant defense of his innocence before the men of Athens. Brilliant as it was, however, he was still rejected. Socrates had to either recant or swallow the hemlock - and he chose the deafening silence. Nevertheless, his words were heard by those who had the ears to hear them, and they still ring true today.
Picture
When it comes to the faith, we must learn to defend it - with passion. Yes, prepare to be rejected by some; but, learn to defend your faith well, and those who have ears to hear will be lead closer to Jesus Christ.

"Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence." (1 Peter 3:15)

A few years ago, we designed an apologetics course at our parish to help equip ourselves to give a strong defense. It wasn't easy, that's for sure. These are tough questions. Many of the topics required significant study and/or reflection (alongside a sincere humility and heartfelt prayer). Here are some of the biggies:
How can we trust the Bible? What books are supposed to be in the Bible, and why?

Does science contradict the Bible? What about evolution?

If we have the Scriptures, why do we need the Church?

Why is the Tradition important?

Why do we need a pope? Is that in the Bible?

What do we mean by infallibility?

Aren't the Sacraments in the way of a pure faith in Jesus?

Don't Catholics think they can earn heaven?

How could Mary be conceived without sin? Where's the Church's teaching on Mary in the Bible?

Why do Catholics baptize babies?

Didn't Jesus do away with the priesthood? Why can't we confess our sins directly to God?

How can the Eucharist be more than a symbol? Is that in the Bible?

Why do we have to go to Church?

Isn't the mass just empty ritual?

Isn't the sign of the cross superstitious?

Why do Catholics have statues? Isn't that against the first commandment?

Why do Catholics pray to saints? The bible says Jesus is the One Mediator, how does the intercession of saints not get in the way of that?

Why do Catholics pray the Rosary? Isn't that vain repetition?

What's so wrong with contraception, sterilization, and in vitro fertilization?

Why can't priests be married?

Why can't women be priests?

How can the Church be so unbending toward homosexuality and same-sex marriage?

What's the truth about divorce? Aren't annulments just "Catholic divorce"?

Why do bad things happen to good people?
Odds are, you've encountered many of these questions. Maybe these questions have even shook your own faith. Maybe you're asking them right now. There are answers. That's what apologetics is all about. The beauty of truth is that it's reasonable. The beauty of Catholicism is that it teaches what's true. Apologetics seeks to understand not whether or not a given teaching is true, but how and why a given teaching is true.

As Catholics, this point is crucial. Something isn't true because the Church teaches it. It's true, and the Church teaches it. I hope that makes sense. That's the premise for defending our faith. There are answers. We discover them first for ourselves, and then we learn to share them with others. We never 'apologize' for the truth, we defend it.

A couple of my favorite websites (great articles on all the tough questions):

http://www.cuf.org/faith-facts/

http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions

A couple of my favorite books:

Handbook of Christian Apologetics

Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain, and Defend the Catholic Faith

"Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence." (1 Peter 3:15)
0 Comments
    Subscribe to The Upper Room by Email

    Why follow our parish blog?

    Share our vision for discipleship, be enriched by helpful tips, share your thoughts, and stay up-to-date on the latest happenings around the parish!


    Main Contributors

    Picture
    Fr. Marc Drouin
    Picture
    Cory
    Johnson
    Picture
    Seth Evangelho
    Picture
    Caitlin
    Sica

    Archives

    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014

    Categories

    All
    Cory's Top 3
    Homilies
    Men's Group
    Ministry Tips
    Quick Catechesis

    RSS Feed

© 2021 St. André Bessette Parish