So as part of our Evangelization Certificate program and eventual Masters of Theology we have Saturday sessions and this past weekend we talked about what our Spiritual gifts are and what ministries we might be suited for. As a part of this we took a spiritual inventory and took a look at the answers. Oddly I wasn't surprised by my answers, well order of gifts and when I read the ministries that are afflicted with my top three (five as three of them tied) I was pleasantly surprised to see me described to a tee.
Here are how my Spiritual gifts ranked:
Serving
Faith
Craftsmanship/Pastor/Teacher
Apostle/Giving/Deeds of Power
Evangelization/Exhortation, Encouragement/Hospitality/Knowledge/Prophet
Discernment/Musician/
Intercession
Mercy
Tongues
Caregiver
Healing/Wisdom
Administration
Missionary
I found it interesting that serving ended up on top, but I'm not surprised by it as I do tend to lean towards serving people and the Church. I was sort of surprised to see faith up there as high as it was because I haven't felt like my faith was strong at least not as strong as it was in college. The ministries that use my tops gifts also fit me, I do volunteer with social ministries, I have no problem doing mundane tasks. I am a lector, greeter, and Eucharistic minister and I would totally run and participate in Bible studies and take pictures of the events in the parish. CCD teacher, youth leader and teaching are stuff I do already and I've often said I would love to teach the teachers, so it was nice to have my gifts and ministries reaffirmed. I would love to find a way to get paid to do all this stuff, but that will come I guess.
Hopefully there will be more to come on this later but for now I am off to read for class ;)
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Go to your room!
"But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you."
So this week's reading is from Matthew's Gospel. What comes to mind is the idea of praying in "secret" or alone giving the fact that the highest form of Catholic prayer is public it amuses me that we are told to pray alone. The word prayer jumps out too as in I need to pray more. Oddly or not oddly I do tend to pray alone either in the car or in a room away from my family so that I don't get any questions about what I am doing.
My favorite form of prayer is and has been Eucharistic Adoration mainly as I can be by myself. I've always been the leave me alone type of person not because I don't like people but I just like being by myself. So I guess I have always found a way to go to my room and pray. We were given an assignment of doing an Examen prayer in the style of St. Ignatius Loyola. We're supposed to do it daily at the end of the day so we can look over our day. I don't mind doing it, I just don't want to look at my life that way as I'll see how imperfect I am. I mean really who wants to see what they are really made of.
So this week's reading is from Matthew's Gospel. What comes to mind is the idea of praying in "secret" or alone giving the fact that the highest form of Catholic prayer is public it amuses me that we are told to pray alone. The word prayer jumps out too as in I need to pray more. Oddly or not oddly I do tend to pray alone either in the car or in a room away from my family so that I don't get any questions about what I am doing.
My favorite form of prayer is and has been Eucharistic Adoration mainly as I can be by myself. I've always been the leave me alone type of person not because I don't like people but I just like being by myself. So I guess I have always found a way to go to my room and pray. We were given an assignment of doing an Examen prayer in the style of St. Ignatius Loyola. We're supposed to do it daily at the end of the day so we can look over our day. I don't mind doing it, I just don't want to look at my life that way as I'll see how imperfect I am. I mean really who wants to see what they are really made of.
Grad School and Scripture
I have to spend time with Scripture passages for grad school so why not blog about them. Hey why not right.
So our first reading assignment was Luke 5:1-11
"While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him."
We were asked to spend time with the scripture passage so of course my mind went straight to doing Lectio Divina with the passage. You know read it, think about it, read it again, think about it again and pray with it. Yeah, easier said than done. I read it and attempted to do Lectio but it wasn't the best effort. My thoughts alway turn to how human St. Peter is. Of course we discussed it in class and each person thought of something different. As I was reading the passage I thought of my past trip to Ireland specifically our tour of Donegal, especially the fishing village of Killybegs because when I saw the picture that is below, I thought of this Scripture passage. What, I am a theology major it makes sense. What came to mind as I read the passage was the stench of the net; it was nasty. So I went on to think well ministry can be smelly as it's not always easy and well dealing with teenagers does mean getting dirty literally and figuratively when you discuss the heavy hitting issues.
I always think of the USCCB Vocations video when I read this passage as well, it is called Fishers of Men after all.
We had a session on spiritual gifts and charisms trying to figure out what our individual gifts are. It was an interesting session which I will get into in another blog but the session ended with us getting an assignment of spending time in prayer so the next Scripture passage is quite appropriate.
Our second reading assignment is Matthew 6:6
"But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you."
More to come on this later after I sleep and after I actually spend time with it in prayer.
So our first reading assignment was Luke 5:1-11
"While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him."
We were asked to spend time with the scripture passage so of course my mind went straight to doing Lectio Divina with the passage. You know read it, think about it, read it again, think about it again and pray with it. Yeah, easier said than done. I read it and attempted to do Lectio but it wasn't the best effort. My thoughts alway turn to how human St. Peter is. Of course we discussed it in class and each person thought of something different. As I was reading the passage I thought of my past trip to Ireland specifically our tour of Donegal, especially the fishing village of Killybegs because when I saw the picture that is below, I thought of this Scripture passage. What, I am a theology major it makes sense. What came to mind as I read the passage was the stench of the net; it was nasty. So I went on to think well ministry can be smelly as it's not always easy and well dealing with teenagers does mean getting dirty literally and figuratively when you discuss the heavy hitting issues.
I always think of the USCCB Vocations video when I read this passage as well, it is called Fishers of Men after all.
The beginning of the film is pretty much this scene from Luke's gospel or is at least meant to make you think of it. While the video is strictly for priestly vocations it doesn't mean that they are the only ones who can catch the fish.
In class we discussed Peter's progression of seeing Jesus, listening to Jesus, stopping what he was doing, getting in the boat, which Jesus was already in, listening to Jesus again and finally acting on Jesus' words and asking for help from others. I wonder how Andrew, James and John feel being in the backseat to Peter. We know they become Apostles and followers of Jesus, but while they are always around they often take a backseat to Peter. Maybe it's because we can so easily relate to St. Peter in his ways of really getting it one day and the next falling flat on his face. However Jesus doesn't care how long it takes us to get it or how often He has to speak to us to get it.
Ministry is something I have been doing for the majority of my life and so often I wonder am I doing what God wants me to do. Peter, Andrew, James and John literally drop everything and leave it all behind to follow Jesus. Do I trust God enough to leave what is comfortable and a pay check behind to do His will? I honestly don't know and that's been the question on and in my mind since I returned from the Defending the Faith Conference at the end of July.
We had a session on spiritual gifts and charisms trying to figure out what our individual gifts are. It was an interesting session which I will get into in another blog but the session ended with us getting an assignment of spending time in prayer so the next Scripture passage is quite appropriate.
Our second reading assignment is Matthew 6:6
"But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you."
More to come on this later after I sleep and after I actually spend time with it in prayer.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Confirmation and part of why I heart my Bishop
Confirmation was about a month ago at the parish and yes as I do with most of the blogs, I type the highlights of what I want to talk about and then step away from the computer.
I've known my bishop for awhile. I still remember my first encounter with Fr. Serratelli on that March for Life Bus in January of 1998. I remember when he became Msgr. Serratelli and I certainly remember taking a summer session week long course with him my junior year so I could have enough credits to be a senior and get the hell out of Seton Hall. Yes, I was insane enough as an undergraduate to take a graduate level course with a man who knows Scripture like the back of his hand. Wonderfully for me, I was naive enough to not realize what I was really doing and when it came down to it, then Msgr. Serratelli was very nice, and kind and maybe it was because I was an undergraduate but I enjoyed that class and was not one bit scared of the oral exam he gave as a final. I remember sitting in the Seminary dinning room and hearing him say "It's like Daniel entering the lion's den. Imagine we're over in Campus Ministry having a conversation." Thus began my personal interaction with the man who is currently my bishop.
I take great joy in saying I know the Bishop of Paterson and I take even more joy in knowing that he knows my name and hasn't forgotten it like he usually blames his miter for. Fr. Geno's comments at his Mass of Thanksgiving about our Bishop, well it's a sort of lack of comments, because FG didn't say much, but his reaction while mentioning Bishop Serratelli showed his love and passion for the man he calls "boss" (for a few more weeks) and the man I call "Pappa Arty, I mean Bishop" This action reminded me of how much I love my bishop and how much it pains me to hear people talk disparagingly about him. I know Bishop moves the priests around a lot and that my parish seems to get the brunt of it, but that doesn't mean he doesn't like us. I'm tired of people complaining that this one doesn't do this and this one doesn't do that. Own up to your actions and thoughts, get to know the person, attempt to get to know the person before you just say he doesn't like us so I don't like him.
I know my personal connection makes it for a lack of better terms, personal, when someone attacks Bishop. I know it's that time of year and we're bound to have yet another change in staff at the parish, but we just have to deal with it. Maybe Bishop only wants the guys to have a year or two at a bitchy parish and then move them on, I mean really nothing can be worse than a place that complains about everything.
Oh well before I get totally off topic the original intent of the blog was about the homily Bishop Serratelli gave at Confirmation. I only remember portions of it, but Bishop does not preach for long but he gets his point across. Bishop started his homily out with the legend of Quo Vadis, where Peter while leaving Rome meets Jesus and asks "Lord, where are you going?" to which Jesus replies, "To Rome to be crucified again." Of course Peter gains his confidence and returns to Rome to where he faces his eventual martyrdom. This story always reminds me of Seton Hall and my Latin class, so Bishop had hooked me in. The basis of his homily is that we should always be living our lives as a follower of Jesus, meaning that the sacrament doesn't end at the ceremony but that it continues on. The comment live your life as a follower of Jesus struck me as yes Bishop was preaching to teens who face far more issues than I did at their age, but it's true for all of us. It reminds me of the question "Is there enough evidence to convict me of being Christian, or in my case Catholic?"
That is what stayed with me from Bishop's homily. It's not in his preaching, though it is good, that Bishop excels, but at his questions and answers session. In the question and answer session you get to see Bishop's passion for teaching come out, you get to see the personable side of him come out. It always leads to the vocations speech, but hey he's the bishop, he's got to talk about vocations. This time it wasn't the vocation to priesthood or religious life that he spend his time on, but the vocation of marriage. Bishop spoke about how one is called to marriage in the same way that one is called to religious life and how each vocation comes with it's ups and downs. He spoke of how no vocation is easy, but that there is joy in the vocation. I remember thinking this is what he was talking about at the Chrism Mass of how if the priests are on fire and are full of joy that the lay people will follow suite. I sat there as he said the vocation will not be easy, you'll have to do things you don't like, give things up, but there will be joy.
Joy seems to be a buzz word right now. Fr. Geno mentioned it, Bishop has mentioned it and our Holy Father speaks of how there is a poverty of joy in the world. As I type this I keep looking down and seeing the memorial card for Fr. Jim Sheehan, who passed away last August after a battle with cancer. The picture on the card shows the joy in which Fr. Jim served the Archdiocese of Newark. Looking back on all the priests I have meet in my life, the ones that I have come to know and love have much joy in what they do and in life. Bishop Serratelli may not always enjoy his job, but he is a joyful person, same goes for the pastor of the parish.
I can't help but think that some day soon I'll be doing work for and in the Church. I know it won't be easy but it is joyful work.
May God continue to bless and watch over my wonderful Bishop, priests and of course the Holy Father.
I've known my bishop for awhile. I still remember my first encounter with Fr. Serratelli on that March for Life Bus in January of 1998. I remember when he became Msgr. Serratelli and I certainly remember taking a summer session week long course with him my junior year so I could have enough credits to be a senior and get the hell out of Seton Hall. Yes, I was insane enough as an undergraduate to take a graduate level course with a man who knows Scripture like the back of his hand. Wonderfully for me, I was naive enough to not realize what I was really doing and when it came down to it, then Msgr. Serratelli was very nice, and kind and maybe it was because I was an undergraduate but I enjoyed that class and was not one bit scared of the oral exam he gave as a final. I remember sitting in the Seminary dinning room and hearing him say "It's like Daniel entering the lion's den. Imagine we're over in Campus Ministry having a conversation." Thus began my personal interaction with the man who is currently my bishop.
I take great joy in saying I know the Bishop of Paterson and I take even more joy in knowing that he knows my name and hasn't forgotten it like he usually blames his miter for. Fr. Geno's comments at his Mass of Thanksgiving about our Bishop, well it's a sort of lack of comments, because FG didn't say much, but his reaction while mentioning Bishop Serratelli showed his love and passion for the man he calls "boss" (for a few more weeks) and the man I call "Pappa Arty, I mean Bishop" This action reminded me of how much I love my bishop and how much it pains me to hear people talk disparagingly about him. I know Bishop moves the priests around a lot and that my parish seems to get the brunt of it, but that doesn't mean he doesn't like us. I'm tired of people complaining that this one doesn't do this and this one doesn't do that. Own up to your actions and thoughts, get to know the person, attempt to get to know the person before you just say he doesn't like us so I don't like him.
I know my personal connection makes it for a lack of better terms, personal, when someone attacks Bishop. I know it's that time of year and we're bound to have yet another change in staff at the parish, but we just have to deal with it. Maybe Bishop only wants the guys to have a year or two at a bitchy parish and then move them on, I mean really nothing can be worse than a place that complains about everything.
Oh well before I get totally off topic the original intent of the blog was about the homily Bishop Serratelli gave at Confirmation. I only remember portions of it, but Bishop does not preach for long but he gets his point across. Bishop started his homily out with the legend of Quo Vadis, where Peter while leaving Rome meets Jesus and asks "Lord, where are you going?" to which Jesus replies, "To Rome to be crucified again." Of course Peter gains his confidence and returns to Rome to where he faces his eventual martyrdom. This story always reminds me of Seton Hall and my Latin class, so Bishop had hooked me in. The basis of his homily is that we should always be living our lives as a follower of Jesus, meaning that the sacrament doesn't end at the ceremony but that it continues on. The comment live your life as a follower of Jesus struck me as yes Bishop was preaching to teens who face far more issues than I did at their age, but it's true for all of us. It reminds me of the question "Is there enough evidence to convict me of being Christian, or in my case Catholic?"
That is what stayed with me from Bishop's homily. It's not in his preaching, though it is good, that Bishop excels, but at his questions and answers session. In the question and answer session you get to see Bishop's passion for teaching come out, you get to see the personable side of him come out. It always leads to the vocations speech, but hey he's the bishop, he's got to talk about vocations. This time it wasn't the vocation to priesthood or religious life that he spend his time on, but the vocation of marriage. Bishop spoke about how one is called to marriage in the same way that one is called to religious life and how each vocation comes with it's ups and downs. He spoke of how no vocation is easy, but that there is joy in the vocation. I remember thinking this is what he was talking about at the Chrism Mass of how if the priests are on fire and are full of joy that the lay people will follow suite. I sat there as he said the vocation will not be easy, you'll have to do things you don't like, give things up, but there will be joy.
Joy seems to be a buzz word right now. Fr. Geno mentioned it, Bishop has mentioned it and our Holy Father speaks of how there is a poverty of joy in the world. As I type this I keep looking down and seeing the memorial card for Fr. Jim Sheehan, who passed away last August after a battle with cancer. The picture on the card shows the joy in which Fr. Jim served the Archdiocese of Newark. Looking back on all the priests I have meet in my life, the ones that I have come to know and love have much joy in what they do and in life. Bishop Serratelli may not always enjoy his job, but he is a joyful person, same goes for the pastor of the parish.
I can't help but think that some day soon I'll be doing work for and in the Church. I know it won't be easy but it is joyful work.
May God continue to bless and watch over my wonderful Bishop, priests and of course the Holy Father.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Did you give up yet?
So it's officially Lent '08, and it started in the typical fashion; me along with many others getting ashes put on our foreheads. Typical of myself I went to Mass tonight, and was amazed with how many people were at Mass and second Fr. George's request to see Mass this full "the whole way through." Mass was an interesting experience for me because I wasn't on the EM schedule and wasn't expecting to serve, even though I had a feeling I would be needed. Now I chose to sit literally in the middle of the pew because I wasn't on, so I had 3 old ladies on one side of me, and what I assume is a mother and 2 young daughters on the other side, so hopping out to serve wouldn't have been easy.
Typical of myself I counted the EMs as they walked up, and said oh they need one, and saw someone go up, I kept counting but for some reason I kept thinking they were covered, and I thought Fr. Brian might have been hiding in the back, alas he wasn't and they were actually still short. So I couldn't just run the people over who were sitting next to me, and Fr. George had a plan; he was the only one distributing Communion in the front and the Deacons covered the back. So I went up to receive and asked Fr. George if he wanted me to take the other ciborium that was sitting on the altar, he said. "if you could," so that's what I did and I distributed to the front with Fr. George. Now that I think about it, we were still short 1 EM, because all 4 chalices were out via 3 EMs and 1 ordinary (priest or deacon) so that left one deacon in the back and Fr. George in the front. What really should have been done was give all four ciboria (my Latin and spelling skills are failing me right now) out and let the chalices just sit there (covered of course), but what was done was done.
So Lent for me began with me doing something that I don't really like to do which is distribute the hosts aka the "Body of Christ." I don't know if I've gotten used to it from being the choir minister, but it didn't bother me tonight. My usual comment is, "eww, Communion someone is going to lick me." It's silly, but true. I've gotten over it, but I still people watch while distributing Communion, especially when I am standing there with a chalice watching people walk back. It's interesting to watch how people receive, how people don't respond or just give you a look. I hold the Host up to the person's eyes (or down if it's a child) and sort of force them to look at what they are receiving, if there's no response, I tend to hold the Host a little longer than I normally would. Maybe one of these days I'll be brave enough to wait longer than a nanosecond with that one.
Tonight's Mass while typical for me, meaning I end up serving as EM because someone didn't show up, yet it was atypical, probably because of the circumstances in which I ended up serving, but i was all good. I don't remember much of Fr. George's homily, actually I remember what he said of Fr. Brian's homily, that Lent is a wake up call for us spirituality. I guess I remember that comment more because that's how I look at Lent, as a time for me to re-start something that I've done before or to try something new. Of course the topic of fasting, almsgiving and praying came up as the 3 principal ways to do something for Lent. Typically Catholics will ask, "So what did you give up for Lent?" For the past few years I have tried not to give up something but to add something in to my spiritual life. This year I plan to give up laziness, especially in terms of exercise. I have yet to actually start my "running" program, but that will change in the coming weeks.
My plans for Lent are to add Daily Mass when I can, which means St. A's at 7:30am or 12:05pm when I'm not babysitting at those times, or a 5:30 or 7:30pm Mass at a local parish on the days I am babysitting. I could bring the 2 year old I babysit to church, but as his mom said, "Michael in church is well, you know," typical of a 2 year old not knowing how loud their voice actually is. I have also decided that if my Lent is not perfect, it's not that big of a deal. Usually I'm disappointed because I haven't said Morning, Evening, or Night prayer everyday, or something like that or done all that I wanted to do. Maybe I should want to do so much but it just works out that way. If I make it to daily Mass I make it, if not I can say a Rosary or extra Chaplet or Stations or something. My hope to do a Rosary Run on Good Friday, so we'll see how well the whole running thing goes.
So the bulleted version of what I am doing for Lent:
Typical of myself I counted the EMs as they walked up, and said oh they need one, and saw someone go up, I kept counting but for some reason I kept thinking they were covered, and I thought Fr. Brian might have been hiding in the back, alas he wasn't and they were actually still short. So I couldn't just run the people over who were sitting next to me, and Fr. George had a plan; he was the only one distributing Communion in the front and the Deacons covered the back. So I went up to receive and asked Fr. George if he wanted me to take the other ciborium that was sitting on the altar, he said. "if you could," so that's what I did and I distributed to the front with Fr. George. Now that I think about it, we were still short 1 EM, because all 4 chalices were out via 3 EMs and 1 ordinary (priest or deacon) so that left one deacon in the back and Fr. George in the front. What really should have been done was give all four ciboria (my Latin and spelling skills are failing me right now) out and let the chalices just sit there (covered of course), but what was done was done.
So Lent for me began with me doing something that I don't really like to do which is distribute the hosts aka the "Body of Christ." I don't know if I've gotten used to it from being the choir minister, but it didn't bother me tonight. My usual comment is, "eww, Communion someone is going to lick me." It's silly, but true. I've gotten over it, but I still people watch while distributing Communion, especially when I am standing there with a chalice watching people walk back. It's interesting to watch how people receive, how people don't respond or just give you a look. I hold the Host up to the person's eyes (or down if it's a child) and sort of force them to look at what they are receiving, if there's no response, I tend to hold the Host a little longer than I normally would. Maybe one of these days I'll be brave enough to wait longer than a nanosecond with that one.
Tonight's Mass while typical for me, meaning I end up serving as EM because someone didn't show up, yet it was atypical, probably because of the circumstances in which I ended up serving, but i was all good. I don't remember much of Fr. George's homily, actually I remember what he said of Fr. Brian's homily, that Lent is a wake up call for us spirituality. I guess I remember that comment more because that's how I look at Lent, as a time for me to re-start something that I've done before or to try something new. Of course the topic of fasting, almsgiving and praying came up as the 3 principal ways to do something for Lent. Typically Catholics will ask, "So what did you give up for Lent?" For the past few years I have tried not to give up something but to add something in to my spiritual life. This year I plan to give up laziness, especially in terms of exercise. I have yet to actually start my "running" program, but that will change in the coming weeks.
My plans for Lent are to add Daily Mass when I can, which means St. A's at 7:30am or 12:05pm when I'm not babysitting at those times, or a 5:30 or 7:30pm Mass at a local parish on the days I am babysitting. I could bring the 2 year old I babysit to church, but as his mom said, "Michael in church is well, you know," typical of a 2 year old not knowing how loud their voice actually is. I have also decided that if my Lent is not perfect, it's not that big of a deal. Usually I'm disappointed because I haven't said Morning, Evening, or Night prayer everyday, or something like that or done all that I wanted to do. Maybe I should want to do so much but it just works out that way. If I make it to daily Mass I make it, if not I can say a Rosary or extra Chaplet or Stations or something. My hope to do a Rosary Run on Good Friday, so we'll see how well the whole running thing goes.
So the bulleted version of what I am doing for Lent:
- Daily Mass
- pray more
- give up/fast from laziness
- running/walking program
- eat healthier
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