secular Institute for the laity under religious vows

Every convent and rectory should have a dog, cat or bird! (I feel)

n

Offering unconditional love, pets are special to clergy, religious


SYRACUSE, N.Y. (CNS) -- Paddy, a 12-year-old black Labrador retriever, works in public relations at St. Joseph's Church in Endicott in the Syracuse Diocese. "Paddy's always there to greet people as they enter church," said Father Jim Serowik, the pastor. "She's also a four-legged alarm -- she barks when people leave early." Father Serowik, who received the dog on St. Patrick's Day in 1995 when he was pastor of St. Patrick's in Whitney Point, holds Paddy in the highest regard. "She's a great friend" and "a sign of God's unconditional love," he told the Catholic Sun, the diocesan newspaper. Franciscan Sister Eileen Derrick owns not only a dog, but also two ponies. "I believe in the therapeutic value of pets," she said. "Interaction with animals puts us in touch beyond ourselves. It brings a sense of calm and well-being into our lives." Sister Eileen is in the process of beginning a Ponies for Peace program at Alverna Heights in Fayetteville, a retreat center run by the Sisters of St. Francis.

Underground church priests released in China's Wenzhou Diocese


HONG KONG (CNS) -- Two underground church priests, officials of Wenzhou Diocese in eastern China, were freed in mid-January after being detained for two and a half months. UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, reported Jan. 27 that Father Shao Zhumin, 44, vicar general of the diocese, and Father Paul Jiang Sunian, 36, diocesan chancellor, were released Jan. 11 and 13, respectively. Their diocese is based in Wenzhou, in China's Zhejiang province. After his release, Father Shao was rushed to a hospital for kidney treatment. A source told UCA News Jan. 25 that he was unlikely to be discharged before Jan. 29, the beginning of the lunar new year. Father Jiang underwent a medical checkup and is said to be in good health. Before Christmas, he staged a three-day hunger strike to demand that Mass vessels, confiscated when he was detained, be returned to him so he could celebrate Christmas Mass. The vessels have not been returned, the source said. Public security officers arrested the priests separately Oct. 27, hours after they celebrated Mass to close the Year of the Eucharist.

George please promise to tell me on the final plans! I don't want to miss our A2K meeting! Thanks

N :wink:

Timber do you get to these meetings, Neo? Who is going tell me?

n

I've been to a couple. I'll be going to This One.

Timber and everyone:

If you ever come to Massachusetts call me and we can meet!

n

Daily Reflection
January 29th, 2006
by
Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9
1 Corinthians 7:32-35
Mark 1:21-28
Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer

PRE-PRAYERING
We are preparing for this week's Eucharistic celebration by reflecting on the personal mission of Jesus. We pray with our own desires to hear His call and our own call to extend that mission.

We pray with the awareness of all the tempting voices around us which seem to have attractive power. The voices from within and from outside us can seem to be grace-filled and godly. We pray for a greater sense of what is from and of God and what is truly false.

REFLECTION

The people following Moses, who are about to enter a new land for them, do not want any more horrible experiences of God. They have heard God's terrible voice and been shaken by experiences of God's fire. They have put in a request for a kinder and gentler God. Moses encourages his hearers in today's First Reading. The prophet who will mediate between humankind and God will be like Moses himself, taken from their very own company. This prophet will have the words of God for the betterment of the people.

The land into which Israel is soon to move is populated by a people who have their own prophets or soothsayers. This prophet will have the authority or power coming directly from God. The people will have to learn what God sounds like through this prophet's words and not listen to alien voices. If this prophet misuses God's power or his position, that prophet will die. If this prophet speaks concerning some future event and it does not take place, that prophet has been speaking in his own name and the lack of fulfillment is the proof.

We are going to be watching Jesus as prophet during these next weeks of our walking through Mark's account of the life of Jesus. His curings and accompanying teachings will be the proof that He is the awaited-for Messiah. This "authority" with which He speaks is not bravado or simple self-confidence. Mark presents Jesus as a prophet Who speaks the Word of God and His actions testify to His authority.

This powerful healing is the "in sighting Incident" as is said in the theory of drama. It forms the frame for a more important revelation. Healing physical ailments is secondary to interior healing.

In our Gospel today, a person is suffering from an unclean spirit.This particular story is set up so that we see the "authority" of Jesus extends first of all over the Evil One. Jesus has come to establish a new kingdom, not dominated by evil, but by God's merciful love. The Evil One cries out that this spirit knows who Jesus is. Jesus quiets the spirit, because Jesus does not want the Evil One to proclaim the Messianic identity of Jesus. This announcing is to be carried out by the witnesses of His authority over evil.

The last line of the Gospel is about how Jesus' fame began to spread, because of His teachings, but even more, the proofs that even the unclean spirits obey Him. The good news spread that the words of Moses were being fulfilled. A Moses-like leader from within the Israelite community was making the rounds. The Gospel then, like gossip was beginning to be proclaimed. Physical wellness was meant to be a sign of God's blessing. Jesus uses this healing as kind of a medium and media.

The medium is the healing from various forms of illness and so He is seen as the man of blessings. This continues the process of how love needs to adapt to the convenient and comfortable medium of the beloved. Physical wellness, being the sign of God's love for a person, becomes the preferred way by humans of seeing God's love. The fertility and abundance of the fields and the fertility of wives and husbands to have children were other medium-platforms which God was using with Israel.

The media, as it is today, builds upon an event and then spreads the news around to share what has happened. The "gooder" an event is, the more it will want to spread. Those attending the events of Jesus' ministry spoke about it and about Him. Jesus was a kind of media celebrity, but He relied on the witnesses to extend the good news, or Gospel, beginning in Galilee.

What is going on here during these first weeks of Ordinary Time is the simple presentation of Jesus doing something good and significant according to the minds and expectations of what exactly the Messiah or "prophet" is to do. We in our turns are to interpret how God is lovingly adapting to how we personally need a Messiah, Savior, Healer, or what ever our needs call for. The healing of Jesus is way deeper than simple physical wellness. We are invited to sense ourselves and our spirits and check to see if we have been freed from self-spirits. "Unclean" has many meanings. There are events and persons whom God uses as mediums for our being cleared of our "dirtiness". When we experience this ego-exiting, which like the unclean spirit of the Gospel will shriek and convulse us, we will more freely spread the fame of the Name.

It is true that physical healing is more popularly attractive and celebrated. There is a great deal of attention and money spent on bodily wellness. As we walk along with Jesus these weeks we will find that God is spending spiritual funds and much attention on our inner wellness. This driving out of the unclean spirit is the first healing miracle by Jesus as presented by Mark. This healing becomes the real meaning of all the other healing miracles. This new "prophet" is extending the meaning of blessing. Inner spirit-wellness is now the definite orientation and redemptive mission of Jesus. When we allow Jesus in more, we will more let Him out.

"Let your face shine on your servant, and save me by your love. Lord, keep me from shame, for I have called to you." Ps. 31, 17-18



[email protected]

Prayer is such an important part of our lives!

n

The Second Week of Ordinary Time
"Speak, for your servant is listening." This week begins with a picture of the call of the first disciples of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. The first words of Jesus in this gospel are: "What are you looking for?" The disciples ask, literally, "Where do you make your home?" Jesus responds, "Come and see." The rest of the gospel tells of how he makes his home in us and invites us to make our home in him.

Tuesday is the Memorial of St. Anthony, Abbot. Saturday is the Memorial of St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr.

In the First Book of Samuel we hear God's rejection of Saul as king. Then Samuel the youngest of Jesse's sons, the shepherd boy David, as king. David kills the Philistine, winning victory for the people, in the name of the Lord. Saul becomes jealous of David and plans to kill him but Saul's son, Jonathan, changes his mind. This doesn't last long and Saul takes after David with his army. David sneaks up on Saul but refrains from killing him. Saul realizes David is God's anointed. At the beginning of the Second Book of Samuel David is full of grief at the news that Saul and Jonathan have died in battle. .'"

As we begin Mark's Gospel Jesus is asked why his disciples don't fast. He challenges the religious leaders to have a completely open mind and heart to his teaching because "new wine is poured into fresh wineskins." Jesus is the Lord of the sabbath, bringing a new freedom. It is only chapter 3 in the gospel, but because Jesus heals a withered hand on the sabbath, the Pharisees already seek to kill him. Jesus withdraws and people from the surrounding regions come to him, and even the demons know who he is. Jesus names twelve Apostles to be with him, to preach and to drive out demons. Jesus' relatives think he's "out of his mind" because so many people are coming to him that he can't even eat.

On the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time we read of the call of the disciples in Mark's Gospel.

Sunni Leader: Iraq Descending Into Turmoil
By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press Writer


BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's top Sunni Arab political leader accused Shiite-dominated security forces Sunday of pursuing a strategy of sectarian "cleansing" in Baghdad and said he opposed giving key Cabinet posts to Shiites -- a stance likely to further inflame tensions.

Iraq's ceaseless violence killed at least 20 people, including 13 Iraqi policemen and soldiers. Three Iraqis were killed in a spate of church bombings bearing the hallmarks of Sunni insurgent attacks.


Five coordinated car bombings targeted the Vatican mission and at least two churches in Baghdad and two churches in the northern city of Kirkuk within about 20 minutes.

ABC News co-anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were seriously injured Sunday in an attack and roadside bomb blast that targeted their joint U.S.-Iraqi military convoy near Taji, about 12 miles north of Baghdad, ABC News President David Westin said.

Both suffered serious head injuries and were taken into surgery at a U.S. military hospital in the area, the network said. A U.S. military investigation is under way.

I will probably miss this one.
Weekends are pretty full up.
Spent most of Saturday helping out at a fencing turnament at my son's
high school. (He came back from being down 1-4 to win a key bout. He
is totally jazzed right now!)

Gee! George, Sorry to hear you will miss our meeting! I really want to be there! I am really trying to follow the "Psst....." threat but I cannot seem to see if they decided on a time yet! I need to at least put in a 3 week notice for I do psych. counseling and I have to get my colleagues to replace me in that case! I am glad nonetheless they got a thread about a meeting! That was good!

Thanks for telling me about your weekends and about your family! That was so nice!

George and Timber could you tell me the history of A2k and where is the headquarters and what is the address and how can I send in a donation for the forum from time to time for this service! I want to do that!

Who are the administrators and I want to know all about it! How did you both get involved! I so love this forum so much!

Nancyann

from"www.creighton.edu"

How Do We Pray With Our Imagination?


We meet new friends and we want to get to know them better. How do we do it? We share our stories. We tell them about our childhood, how we met our spouse or how our great-grandparents moved here.

We live in a rational, left brain world with global technology at our fingertips. Yet as human beings, our soul is still fired by color and imagination. Our minds are storehouses of images and memories and through them God works in our hearts. Praying with our imaginations can create a deeper and more personal intimacy with Jesus, Mary, the disciples and others written about in scripture. We can take the familiar stories we know and let them flow through our own imagination and see where the Lord guides it.

Using the imagination in prayer has been a treasured tradition in prayer for centuries. It prompted St. Francis of Assisi to encourage people to create nativity scenes at Christmas, to imagine the Holy Family as people like we are. Four hundred years later, St. Ignatius of Loyola used imaginative prayer as a key part of his life-transforming Spiritual Exercises.

How do we start? First we get settled in a comfortable chair and in a quiet place where we won't be distracted. Our first gesture might be to open our hands on our lap, and to ask God to open our hearts and imaginations.

Then pick a story out of scripture. Read through it once slowly and put it down. Now we begin to imagine the scene as if we are standing right there. What is around me? Who else is there? What do I hear in the scene? If I am in a house, what noises are in the house or in the street outside? What are the smells I can pick up?

Now we begin to imagine the scene we read about. Who is in it? What conversation takes place? What is the mood - tense? joyful? confused? angry?

Feel free to paint this picture in any way your imagination takes you. If we worry about historical accuracy, it can be a distraction that takes us away from prayer. This isn't scripture - this is letting God take our imaginations and reveal to us something of the intimate life of Jesus or others. If, in our prayer, Mary pulls the toddler Jesus onto her lap to tie his shoes or zip his coat, we can let it happen that way. We don't want to fret about the historically accurate kinds of food served at a dinner or what kind of carpenter tools Joseph might have really had in his workshop. Here is an experience of prayer that lets our imaginations free themselves from anything that limits them. This is God revealing himself to us.

It helps if we imagine Jesus and his disciples as the real people they were who walked the earth. St. Ignatius imagined that the first person Jesus appeared to after the Resurrection was his mother and he encourages us to picture Jesus appearing at home to Mary, watching the joy and emotion in the scene.

Pat Callone
Institutional Relations
from "creighton.edu"

2 Samuel 12:1-7a, 10-17
Psalm 51:12-13, 14-15, 16-17
Mark 4:35-41
Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer



Today Mark gives us the picture of Jesus rebuking the wind and the sea when the violent squall came up as they were passing from one side of the sea to the other.

Jesus says to the wind and the sea, "Quiet! Be still!" The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked the disciples, "Why are you so terrified? Do you not yet have faith?"
…………………………….

I'm afraid if I were in the boat with Jesus and the disciples and the winds and waves became so threatening, I too would go to Jesus and say, "Can't you see we are in danger? Master, help us!"

And Jesus would say the same thing to me: "Why are you so terrified? Do you not yet have faith?"

And I would respond, "I have faith, Lord. But it didn't seem as if you were paying attention." I expect His response would be something like: "I am always aware of what is going on with you. Don't you yet believe in my power? Have I not always taken care of you?" And He would have to remind me how many times I have felt the same way and prayed the same words: "Lord, help me here. It is getting pretty rough. Can you hear me? Can't you see I need help?"

Evidently Jesus expects us to have deep faith….not just a little faith. And I think that comes only upon reflection about our own relationship with Jesus. For each of us Jesus could go down a list that hundreds of times He has taken care of us…..with our asking…and without our asking. He could say to me:

"Don't you remember when your mom had pneumonia and you called for help, and she recovered? Don't you remember when your mom needed comfort in her sickness? Didn't she pass quietly? Don't you remember when your dad didn't know you, and I gave you the courage to stay with him until the end? Don't you remember when your husband had those infections, and I helped you and Bill through the surgeries?" Jesus could go on and on.

So why can't I remember? I need to set aside more time for reflection on God's goodness to me and my family. I need to be grateful for all that I have and remind myself of God's constant care for me. Perhaps you have the same weakness as I do. If so, let us pray:

"O Lord, have pity on us of little faith; help us remember the many times you have been there to help us; help us trust You and have more faith in You. For we mortals are weaker than we think. We are more dependent on You than we can ever imagine. Have mercy on us and keep us close. Amen."

from "americancatholic.org"

Love for Christ
Christ wants to offer us the means of putting our love for him into action. He becomes hungry, not only for bread but for love. He becomes naked, not only for a piece of clothing but for love that understands, for human dignity. He becomes dispossessed, not only for a place of shelter but for the sincere and deep love for one another.
from Heart of Joy: The Transforming Power of Self-Giving

Is Neo still with me?

Is Chai Tea still with me?

Yep, but I have trouble keeping up.

Glad you are still with me Neo! I will try and post less!

n