Starting A Ministry At My Church

Last Sunday, we celebrated the Feast of Corpus Cristi, the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is not just Christ's physical being--it is most importantly about His Divine Spirit living within us. The Body of Christ is the Church that made up of His Family of believers. Though made up of many different ministries at Church, we worship, praise and evangelize Christ's Word as one, whole body. Our faith cannot grow alone. Think of it this way: we cannot function as individual body parts.

As I was growing up, being involved in Church was never a priority for me. When I got older, I began to feel the fulfillment of active participation within my parish. I wanted to dedicate my life to God by using my talents and gifts He has blessed me with. I am blessed to be part of a few ministries at the Church at Blessed Sacrament in Hollywood. As part of the music ministry and young adults group, I want to start a Creative Catholic ministry. I want to gather all creative Catholics in the area and evangelize through the arts!

If you are in the Los Angeles area, and you are interested in participating in this ministry, please contact me at AVLodevico@gmail.com. I am in the process of organizing everything. I will have more information soon!

What Does Evangelization Mean To You?

What do you think of when you see the word evangelization? I used to only think that evangelists were just those larger than life preachers as seen on TV. However, that is not what evangelization is about! I did not fully comprehend what evangelism meant until now. To evangelize means to share the Word of the Lord with others. According to the archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahoney's article "Directions in Evangelization," there are three levels of evangelization:

1) the attention to personal experience.
2) the sharing of experience with another or others in a community of faith.
3) the Word of God helps the person and community to interpret experience in view of the love of God proclaimed in the Scripture.

Cardinal Mahoney talks about NEW EVANGELIZATION which is focused on "evangelizing or re-evangelizing under-catechized, inactive, and alienated Catholics, as well as re-animating the faith of those who have grown up in the Church."

The question is HOW do we evangelize? I used to be scared of that word...I thought it meant standing on a soapbox on a street corner or going to door to door of strangers' houses. I didn't want to embarrass myself or offend others. The key to evangelization is profound RESPECT. We cannot force others or impose our beliefs. I do not believe in conversion through coercion. What we can do is pray and share our personal experiences with our encounter with Christ.

Evangelization can be done in many ways-- through special masses, small prayer groups, ministries, neighborhood celebrations, parish retreats, and even in daily conversations. We must center our daily tasks around the Word of Christ. Thus evangelization is not just limited to words, it is also done through our actions and the examples we set. A lot of people who find themselves alienated from the Church often say that they left because the Church is run by hypocrites. The truth is we are all human and we are not perfect. However the least we can do is practice what we preach! Through words and actions of evangelization, we can pray that we call those alienated from the Church back home.

As Cardinal Mahoney says, "The dynamics of evangelization are more a matter of the heart more than of the head."

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Lord God,
Thank you for all the blessings and gifts you have given us.
May we use our talents and gifts to praise you in every way,
Especially in our evangelization to others.
May they see clearly in your Light.

AMEN

Saint of the Day: St. Rita of Cascia

I read this from the"Saint of the Day" application on Facebook...what an amazing woman:

ST. RITA OF CASCIA

Rita was born in 1381 in a little Italian village. Her parents were older. They had begged God to send them a child. They brought Rita up well. Rita wanted to enter the convent when she was fifteen, but her parents decided that she should marry instead. The man they chose for Rita turned out to be a mean and unfaithful husband. He had such a violent temper that everyone in the neighborhood was afraid of him. Yet, for eighteen years, his wife patiently took all his insults. Her prayers, gentleness and goodness finally won his heart. He apologized to Rita for the way he had treated her and he returned to God. Rita's happiness over her husband's conversion did not last long. One day, shortly after, he was murdered. Rita was shocked and heart-broken. But she forgave the murderers, and tried to make her two sons forgive them, too. She saw that the boys, instead, were determined to avenge their father's death. Rita prayed that they would die rather than commit murder. Within several months, both boys became seriously ill. Rita nursed them lovingly. During their illness, she pursuaded them to forgive, and to ask God's forgiveness for themselves. They did and both died peacefully. Now her husband and her children were dead. Left alone in the world, Rita tried three times to enter the convent in Cascia. The rules of the convent did not permit a woman who had been married to join even if her husband had died. Rita did not give up, however. At last, the nuns made an exception for her. In the convent, Rita was outstanding for her obedience and charity. She had great devotion to the crucified Jesus. Once, while praying, she asked him to let her share some of his pain. One thorn from his crown of thorns pierced her forehead and made a sore that never healed. In fact, it grew so bad and gave off such an odor that St. Rita had to stay away from the others. She was happy to suffer to show her love for Jesus. St. Rita died on May 22, 1457, when she was seventy-six. Like St. Jude, St. Rita is often called "Saint of the Impossible." Today in prayer, we can pray for people who are not living close to God.

"I do believe, help my unbelief!"

In the Gospel of Mark 9: 14-29, Jesus is approached by a frantic father who asks Jesus to cure his demon possessed son. As the father brings his son to Jesus, Jesus says to him, "Everything is possible to one who has faith." The boy's father cries out, "I do believe, help my unbelief!" With this said, Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit out of the boy's body.

The statement, "I do believe, help my unbelief," stood out to me because I too, am asking for God to help me through my struggles in my faith. In a world that constantly distracts us from God, it is an everyday challenge to keep God in the center of our lives. It is easy to fall off track in our relationship with Him, forgetting our spiritual needs and neglecting Him to fulfill our own selfish satisfactions. Sometimes I find myself discouraged and I'd get frustrated because I can't seem to find God with me. That is why we cannot strengthen our faith alone. We experience the power of the Holy Spirit through the love of not only ourselves but through the love of others. We need constant prayer and reminder to nurture our faith and our desire to know and love God.

Dear Gracious God,
Be with us in our times of unbelief.
In a world that often turns us away from you.
Clear our minds from distraction, frustrations and worries...
As you shine your Light upon us.
Like green pastures, may we grow in our faith and love for you.

AMEN

A Little Note to God

I wrote this in the car this morning before driving to work:

"Dear God, Thank you for a beautiful day. I am always happy to spend time with you, especially every morning when I go to church before work. Hearing your Word and praying to you with a family of believers, makes me feel so much at peace. I hope to continue to feel you near me. Keep me close for I do not want to wander astray from you. Continue to shine your light in the path you want me to follow in the Life you have given me. I pray to have the courage and strength to fulfill what you want me to do. I am here for you Lord as you have always been here for me. "

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There is nothing more powerful than praying. When we feel overwhelmed with stress, we just need to stop everything that we are doing to talk to God. He is listening to us...He knows our frustrations and He wants to help you get through them. We need to welcome Him into our hearts...Once we do, we will feel more at peace with ourselves. Spending quiet time with the Lord--even if it is just a few minutes a day--will make all the difference.

Celebrating Pentecost

Yesterday, the Church celebrated among its biggest feasts of the year: Pentecost. Marking the fiftieth day after the resurrection of Christ, Pentecost is the birth of the Church empowered by the descent of the Holy Spirit.

After Jesus ascended into Heaven, Jesus' Mother Mary, the twelve apostles and many other disciples gathered together in Jerusalem to pray indoors. While they were praying, suddenly "there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind...Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire...and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim." (Act of the Apostles 2:1-11) Blessed by the Holy Spirit, the disciples were able to speak in different languages to testify the gospel of the risen Christ, especially Jesus' apostle Peter, who preached to the crowd about Jesus' death and His forgiveness of the world's sins. On that day, three thousand people were converted to Christianity.

Honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary

In honor of Mother's Day, I want to honor The Blessed Virgin Mary with prayer:

O Holy Mary,

The Queen of Hearts,

The Queen of Angels,

The Queen of Divine Grace.

O Holy Mary,

The Mother of All Mothers,

The Mother of All Creation,

The Mother of Our Lord God...

Thank you for all of your sacrifices,

Especially for bearing the pain to bring our Lord God into this world.

Keep us safe in your heart

So that we may share your nurturing love and beauty with others.

AMEN

Accepting God's Will

I used to want everything to go my way. I wanted everything to run according to my plan at my convenience. When things didn't go my way, I became angry at God.

Now I realize that my life is not about what I want...it is about what God wants.

God is not Santa Claus or a genie that grants us our wishes. He does not guarantee us everything we want nor does He guarantee us easy lives. God, however, guarantees us His presence...that He is always with us especially during our times of strife. With God in the center of our lives, everything will be alright.

I ask God why do bad things happen to good people? What did they do to deserve their sufferings? Only God knows this answer. We just have to trust in God to know that everything happens according to His will. We must accept His will in faith, knowing that it is for the better. The faithful may suffer today, but God promises the faithful Eternal Life where pain, sadness, and evil do not exist.

Each person is born into this world with a purpose. With God's blessing of our gifts and talents, every life has a meaning--to share God's gifts with others! As a Christian, I know my will is God's. Everyday I pray that I will have the strength and courage to do what He has planned for me. With my trust in God, I shall not be afraid.

"Christ's Call to Be Courageous"

Here is an excerpt from Magnificat's Meditation of the Day,

"Christ's Call to Be Courageous"

(Friday, May 2, 2008):

"It takes courage simply to believe, and to go on believing, in a world that accepts only material, tangible, purely human values, and that has become allergic to the spiritual and the supernatural. To make the leap of faith, to throw oneself somehow wholly into the Word of the Lord, is the greatest risk and takes the greatest courage possible. It is no easier today than it was in the former times...It is an adventure like no other, to plunge into the mystery of faith, into the desert of interior solitude where only God sees us, and where he draws us in order to speak with us, when so many human voices deafen our ears, trying to hold us back.

It takes courage to build one's life on the unknown territory of God and to put one's hope in "things above, where the Risen Christ is seated," when so many interests, values, tasks, and needs compete for our attention here below...

It takes courage to articulate to others the truth of the faith that enlightens us, to profess the Credo which has been confided to us and to transmit it, whatever the divergent opinions raised up around us. Does it not take courage even to talk about the Lord in our daily conversations?

It takes courage to meet the small needs of every day, to carry out our simple and monotonous work, in a spirit of faith, and to be naive enough to believe that the light of the Lord penetrates even there, just as the light of the sun shines in our kitchen, our office.

It takes courage to carry on firmly and to persevere when storms arise and shake us up interiorly and exteriorly, when fidelity is shattered by the very ones who were consituted its guardians, and God seems to be silent, to the point where we perceive that the courage that remains to us unaccountably comes from his hand, discreetly sustaining us and preparing, in the midst of our trial, the flash of new light."

-Father Servais Pinckaers, O.P.

(Father Pinckaers is a professor emeritus of moral

theology at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland)