Another Miracle of Life

Dear families, rejoice in fatherhood and motherhood! Openness to life is a sign of openness to the future, confidence in the future, just as respect for the natural moral law frees people, rather than demeaning them! The good of the family is also the good of the Church.
 

-Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, June 5, 2011

As we journey into the month of October, Respect Life Month, my family awaits the arrival of another miracle of life: Julia Rose.  I find myself thinking about “life” as time draws near to meet my third daughter - I have embraced this exercise as I anticipated meeting all of my children.

 
Some of my reflection has focused on what will this world be like for Julia.  Will she grow up in a world that reflects a culture of death or a world that brings forth a culture of life?  Will she encounter a civilization of selfishness and a perverse understanding of freedom or a civilization of love, selfless love for the sake of the other?  Will she witness a disdain for life, especially  for the most vulnerable and innocent, or will she see the witness of those who have an “openness to life” and therefore an “openness to the future, confidence in the future?”

It seems to me, as I continue to be blessed to serve the Lord through my work in the Church, that so many people are unaware what or who they are created for. They lack an identity.  Pope Benedict XVI, in his “Message for World Youth Day (2011), sums up our purpose, “Men and women were created for something great, for infinity. … The desire for a more meaningful life is a sign that God created us and that we bear His ‘imprint.’ God is life, and that is why every creature reaches out towards life. Because human beings are made in the image of God, we do this in a unique and special way. We reach out for love, joy and peace.”

There are too many lost souls who do not know their true identity and this lack of knowledge leads to so much of the pain, suffering and misguided attempts at happiness seen in our world today.  Respect Life Month gives us an opportunity to refocus and become reenergized as Catholics to help the people who cross our paths to come to know their value - to come to know that the Creator of all is loving them into existence each and every moment of their lives.  This “education,” rather, this epiphany will help them to grow in respect of all life, to bring forth a culture of life, to embrace a civilization of love and be witnesses to the openness to life.

This is the world that I pray my Julia Rose will grow up in during the years ahead.  I pray that God will give me the grace to be an instrument in His hands to help build that world.  

Will you?

By Michael Lavigne

A New Revival

A 2008 Pew Forum study revealed that the fastest growing religious group in America is those who have no religion.  One in six are not affiliated with any religious institution. Approximately 25% of cradle Catholics have left their faith (many studies have indicated that the second largest "denomination", behind Catholicism, is ex-Catholics). Of those who are Catholic only 20 to 30 percent attend Mass on a regular basis.  The stats speak for themselves.

But they do not tell the whole story.

It would be convenient to hide behind such stats and adopt the mindset of some that there is no turning back.  That the secular onslaught we witness today will simply erode away the Church.  But to adopt such a thought process would be misguided to say the least.  Do we really believe that God has given up on His Church in the year 2011? 

Pope Benedict XVI (and his predecessors) have consistently said, "No" to such a hopeless mindset. They believed that there will be a new springtime of evangelization precisely because the world needs it in this post-modern era.  At the closing Mass of World Youth Day Pope Benedict challenged the almost 2 million who were gathered to be God's instruments for this new evangelization: "Friendship with Jesus will also lead you to bear witness to the faith wherever you are, even when it meets with rejection or indifference. We cannot encounter Christ and not want to make him known to others. So do not keep Christ to yourselves! Share with others the joy of your faith. The world needs the witness of your faith, it surely needs God."

Recently our office hosted a special edition of the Hour of Power that offered participants an opportunity to gather for praise & worship (led by Jackie Francois), a testimony on the Eucharist (shared by Patrick Coffin), reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (thank you to the priests who offered their whole evening to hear the confessions of many who were present), and Eucharistic Adoration.  On a beautiful late summer night over 175 people (of all ages) filled the Chapel at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for this evening of adoring the Real Presence of Jesus Christ and celebrating our Catholic faith. To say that the evening was inspirational is an understatement.

I couldn't help but be moved in the very core of my being at hearing the words of one of the songs Jackie sung during Adoration.  "I see a generation rising up to take their place. With selfless faith. With selfless faith.  I see a new revival stirring as we pray and seek. We're on our knees. We're on our knees." (Hosanna by Hillsong - click to see and hear Jackie leading us that evening).  All around me was a generation of young and old Catholics on their knees giving their lives over to the Risen Christ. A generation willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the Gospel message. A generation who want to "share with others the joy of their faith."

This weekend we celebrate Catechetical Sunday and ask God to bless all those who come forward to share their faith through the ministry of catechesis.  Let us pray that God uses all of our catechists - all those who teach and witness our Catholic faith to all ages - to share His truth, goodness and beauty in a profound way.  Let us trust that the God of life, who continues to nourish us through the Eucharist, will continue to guide all of us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to enkindle a new springtime of evangelization in our diocese and beyond. 

By Michael Lavigne