Confirmation
We welcome our Vicar, Bishop Timothy O’Malley, on Sunday for the Sacrament of Confirmation. I am so very proud of these teens, most of them sophomores in high school, who will take a major step in making their faith their own.
Each confirmand writes me a letter stating why they want to be confirmed, and the vast majority of them emphasize that they are truly accepting the responsibility for their continued faith development. In my meetings with them, I emphasize that they not only receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit – WISDOM, UNDERSTANDING, RIGHT JUDGEMENT, KNOWLEDGE, COURAGE, REVERENCE and WONDER and AWE IN GOD’S CREATION, but that same Holy Spirit empowers them to be instruments of them. I emphasize that our world needs them to be examples of those gifts and, once again, this year I have confirmed my conviction that sophomore year in high school is a really appropriate time for Confirmation because these teens are now accepting more responsibility in life, such as that of driving a car, which most of them are in the process of preparing for. Please keep our confirmands in your prayers.
Eucharistic Adoration
This coming Wednesday, April 29, I will be making a presentation on the gift of Eucharistic Adoration. The talk will be from 7-8:30 in the Day Chapel. I will reiterate the gift that we have here at Holy Family in our Eucharistic Adoration Chapel (separate from the Day Chapel) located just off the Narthex and across from the Day Chapel on the eastern part of our Narthex. The Adoration Chapel is small and offers a very intimate experience of prayer, close to the consecrated host that is placed in the ornate monstrance, offering a very reverent display of Christ’s REAL presence. This is a wonderful and peaceful way to simply be in Christ’s presence.
You may develop your own practices of appreciating the quiet time with the Lord, but my presentation on Wednesday will suggest that our Adoration Chapel offers the opportunity to combine the following resources:
Silence, Scripture, Your Life Experiences,
A Mantra (repeated statement), Meditation,
Contemplation, Consideration and
Christ’s REAL presence
Here are some simple and very general descriptions of the three reflective techniques. You can apply these to any aspect of your life, but I find them particularly powerful as you reflect on God’s word in the presence of Christ in adoration.
Meditation
• An active training of your mind to achieve a certain state of focus on a certain object, word or phrase
• Clearing the mind to focus on a word or phrase
• Requires a lot of effort to train the mind to focus
• Mindfulness
• Work
• Example: Psalm 23, focus by repeating ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’ or simply ‘Shepherd’
Contemplation
• A more reflective or receptive, deep thinking, mulling over an idea, gazing at a phrase with wordless awareness
• Deep thinking to ponder a problem or analyze a concept
• Effortless reflection using the silence to open up and receive God’s grace
• Mindlessness
• Rest
• Example: Psalm 23, focus by repeating ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’ or even altering the phrase to ‘Shepherd me oh God’ and see where God’s grace leads you.
Consideration
Using your imagination to place yourself at the scene of a scripture story. This technique is best reserved for a miracle, healing, or teaching event by Jesus or other figures in Scripture.
Regardless of any technique used, time spent in our intimate Adoration Chapel offers a peaceful, quiet time to reflect on any aspect of life or faith. Personally, I have found it a vehicle for prayer that is enhanced by the simple awareness that you are in the presence of Christ, and it thus naturally more powerfully connects life and faith. Please plan on attending Wednesday evening and bring a friend who may not be aware of this great Catholic devotion and prayer form.
Kindness Lives
Don’t forget to continue sharing with us your experiences of Kindness and follow our progress on the Board in the back of the Narthex.