Category: Blog

It is hard to believe that the Eucharistic Congress is less than one month away!

Excitement is brewing, and Bishop Baker has been inviting everyone as he travels around the Diocese for Confirmations and other events. Fr. Douglas Vu has been Facebooking and Tweeting, and contacting the media. Donny Grundhoefer from the Chancery Staff has been in constant contact with the Mayor’s Office and ALDOT regarding safety, permits and construction. The Diaconate community have been particularly active in making arrangements for speakers and other details. So many volunteers have been preparing rosaries to be distributed, and many Bishops from surrounding Dioceses have been making plans to attend. So many preparations have been made and continue to be made for this momentous celebration of 50 years God’s goodness to the Diocese of Birmingham. Many parishes have conducted seminars and retreats to study Bishop’s “Called, Formed, Sent.” Pastoral Letter. The intensity is growing. Please, continue to talk about the congress, put it on your calendar, and invite anyone and everyone. Don’t miss a single chance to bring someone. As Jesus put it in the parable of the Great Feast in Luke Chapter 14, “Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled.”

In these columns over the last few months, we have been discussing the speakers who will present, and the themes that they will speak on.

This week, we “focus” on Curtis Martin, the founder and CEO of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). Curtis and his wife Michaelann live in Westminster, Colorado, with their eight children. After drifting away from the Catholic Church for a long while, Martin returned to the church invigorated by a new-found love for the Faith, and also armed with many tools and skills ha had honed for evangelization and outreach while involved in Christian ministries outside the Church. In 1998, He founded FOCUS as a national outreach to college students on campus. Starting with just two missionaries on one campus, FOCUS now has hundreds of full-time missionaries serving tens of thousands of college students on campuses throughout the United States.

In 2004, Curtis and Michaelann were awarded the Benemerenti Medal by Pope John Paul II for their outstanding service to the Church. In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Curtis as a Consultor to the Pontifical Council of the New Evangelization. Curtis holds a master’s degree in theology and is the author of the best-selling book, Made for More. He is likewise the co-author of The Real Story: Understanding the Big Picture of the Bible with Dr. Edward Sri, and Boys to Men: The Transforming Power of Virtue with Dr. Tim Gray. He is co-host of the ground-breaking show on EWTN, “Crossing the Goal.” Recently, FOCUS published Curtis’ most recent book, Making Missionary Disciples.

You may be familiar with FOCUS because of the presence of their missionaries at University of Alabama and St Francis University Parish in Tuscaloosa. There are also missionaries at St Stephen the Martyr in Birmingham primarily serving UAB. And for those who are in college in the Archdiocese of Mobile, Troy and Auburn both have very successful implementations of FOCUS’s model of evangelization. In many of these instances, the FOCUS missionaries act as a net to draw young people in to an active and effective campus ministry program. Without this “extern” support, it can be difficult for campus ministry staff to engage large numbers of students who aren’t already coming to events.

Many of our young people from UAH, Wallace, UNA, and other colleges have attended FOCUS’s biannual SEEK or SLS Conferences. This past January in Indianapolis, there was a special breakfast held for all students at the SEEK2019 Conference who came from Alabama colleges and Universities. The large banquet hall was bursting with hundreds of devout Catholic students who live their Catholic Faith daily. It was an inspiring sight. FOCUS has recently added what they call the “Lifelong Mission Track” at their conferences, and many alumni and parish personnel have had the privilege of attending those in order to learn how to apply the success of the FOCUS model in parish life.

In recent years, the presence of these FOCUS missionaries has led to Alabama natives entering FOCUS as missionaries as well. This is one of Curtis Martin’s favorite topics, and a theme that will play in to any talk he gives: Spiritual Multiplication. The premise here, is that when Jesus came to Earth, He did not personally try to evangelize the whole world. As Curtis often says, Jesus came and spent three years camping and fishing in the wilderness with his twelve best friends. And it was from these twelve that there came to be the seventy-two He sent out; and from them the whole World eventually came to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Another way Curtis’ often describes this is that Jesus preached to crowds of 5,000, He sent out seventy-two, He lived with twelve, but He only took three with Him to Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration. This method of investing deeply in a few people, and then sending them out to invest in a few, and so on… allowed the Church to multiply rapidly. Every Christian in the early Church followed a sense of duty to share the Gospel. Martin refers to this method of spiritual multiplication as “the method modeled by the Master.”

It strikes a different tone than one we often experience or naturally default to. We often see Evangelization as the business of priests and professed religious, and to an extent that is true. But it is the duty of every baptized and confirmed Christian to also be disciples of Jesus and invite others to be disciples as well. In our modern world of instant mass-communication, it becomes easy to rely on one or two individuals to bear the responsibility of spreading the Good News of our Faith in Jesus to everyone else. We can attend church, assist at some church events, donate time and money, but many of us do not see ourselves as part of the way that Jesus called the Apostles to multiply the Church. In most of our cases, this is a new way of thinking. And it can be difficult to imagine and discern how each of us is called by God to do that. Not all of us will be priests, not all of us are preachers or deacons, not all of us are scholars. It requires some discernment and some training to know how best to participate in this method Jesus modeled.

And this leads us to another recurring theme that permeates FOCUS and all of Curtis’s work: Win, Build, Send. This is the three-phase method that all FOCUS missionaries are trained in for the process of making disciples. Win refers to the process of building trust, friendship, and credibility. This phase builds a relationship, by which you can win people over to the idea that our loving God is real, that Jesus came to save us, and that the Church is our home on Earth until we reach our Heavenly home. Unless you win the right to be heard, it is difficult to invite someone to believe the Gospel and change their life.

The next phase is Build. Build is about forming people in the faith. In this phase we teach them all Jesus commanded (see Matthew 28), answer questions, show people how to seek and find answers themselves, form a prayer life, strengthen and deepen understanding of the truths of the Church’s teaching… In other words, to build strong disciples who can stand the test of time and the challenges of life; to build them up and make them confident to share the truth.

The final phase is Send. If one is built up in the faith, and keeps it to themselves, then they have become like hidden lamps or tasteless salt, as Jesus says in Matthew 5:15. He goes on to say that our light should shine before others, and they should see and recognize the faith we profess in our lives. This means part of the process of discipleship is mentoring others in how they can be that salt and light for people in their lives. It can’t simply be a passive sending, “OK, you’ve been confirmed, no go off and get yourself sent.” Or is shouldn’t be, “Here is a task that needs doing, you’re on your own…” As a Church we can help to create opportunities for sharing the Gospel, and we can walk with others to help them find specific expressions and situations to witness to their Faith. We can make sure that they know being sent doesn’t mean going out alone.

It is remarkable that FOCUS’s “Win. Build. Send.” Is so similar to Bishop Baker’s own “Called. Formed. Sent.” The resemblance is significant. Curtis’s approach is very near to the heart of what Bishop Baker is asking of us. Curtis Martin’s specific theme at the Congress will be “The Eucharist and Evangelization.” Like Bishop Baker, Martin knows that the source of our winning, building, and sending (or calling, forming, and sending), is the relationship we have with Almighty God through worthy reception of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist into our very selves. The transformation that can happen through the grace of the Eucharist will enable us to be better evangelizers than we ever could be on our own. We eagerly look forward to Curtis Martin’s words at the BJCC when he speaks on Saturday, June 29.

The Holy Eucharist: Charisms and Gifts
Very Rev. Bryan W. Jerabek, J.C.L., Chairman, Eucharistic Congress

“Whether extraordinary or simple and humble, charisms are graces of the Holy Spirit which directly or indirectly benefit the Church, ordered as they are to her building up, to the good of men, and to the needs of the world” (Catechism, no. 799). What charism(s) do you have?

Many people, thinking charisms only to be about great and extraordinary things, would say they have not received any at all. But even the most quiet, unassuming, and/or introverted person may have received some spiritual grace that can help the Church to grow and can help lead others to Christ.

Indeed, St. Paul teaches us that “grace has been given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift… for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ” (Ephesians 4:7, 12-13).

The Catechism further teaches us that “through the Spirit and his action in the sacraments, above all the Eucharist, Christ, who once was dead and is now risen, establishes the community of believers as his own Body” (no. 805). Every worthy and devout holy communion helps us to become more fully what we are – the Body of Christ.

All of this to say, the charisms – special graces of the Spirit to help build up the Church – are connected with all the sacraments, but especially with the Holy Eucharist. We should pray that at the upcoming Eucharistic Congress, there will be a special outpouring of these graces, so that as we thank God for the Diocese of Birmingham’s first fifty years, we may enter into our next period of history with new vitality and dynamism.

Maybe this all sounds a bit too charismatic – and for many, that is not their preferred spirituality. When we think of “charismatics”, we might think of a very effusive or animated style of prayer, perhaps even accompanied by particular phenomena, like speaking in tongues. Indeed, many not only do not “connect” with that sort of spiritual experience, but do not find it appealing.

In the Church there are many legitimate spiritualities. These are like facets on a diamond: all reflect the same source of light, but in different angles and aspects. Every spirituality, moreover, can have its excesses or shortcomings, since every spirituality is ultimately a human expression – and we are given to extremes.

St. Paul does not limit his teaching to just one spirituality, however. “Grace has been given to each of us”, he says. So, we go back to our opening question: What charism(s) do you have? This is for each of us to discern: taking into account temperament, spirituality, and state in life. The Lord knows how each one of us is “wired” and he works through that to build up his Church. He really does give gifts to all; our task is to put them to work not for our own benefit but for that of his Church.

Kathia and Andrés Arango, a married couple who will share their own gifts with us at the upcoming Eucharistic Congress, have worked for many years especially to help Hispanic Catholics identify and use their charisms. We look forward to having them as part of the Hispanic Track and to the ways they will help us grow into the full stature of Christ!

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La Sagrada Eucaristía: Carismas y Dones
Pbro. Lic. Bryan W. Jerabek, Presidente, Congreso Eucarístico

“Extraordinarios o sencillos y humildes, los carismas son gracias del Espíritu Santo, que tienen directa o indirectamente una utilidad eclesial; los carismas están ordenados a la edificación de la Iglesia, al bien de los hombres y a las necesidades del mundo” (Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica, no. 799). ¿Qué carismas tiene Usted?

Muchas personas, pensando que los carismas se traten sólo de cosas grandes y extraordinarias, dirían que no los tienen en absoluto. Pero aún la persona más callada, modesta y/o introvertida puede haber recibido algún gracia espiritual para ayudar la Iglesia a crecer, y así esa persona es capaz de guíar a los demás hacia Cristo.

En efecto, San Pablo nos enseña que “sin embargo, cada uno de nosotros ha recibido su propio don, en la medida que Cristo los ha distribuido…. en orden a la edificación del Cuerpo de Cristo, hasta que todos lleguemos a la unidad de la fe y del conocimiento del Hijo de Dios, al estado de hombre perfecto y a la madurez que corresponde a la plenitud de Cristo” (Efesios 4:7, 12-13).

El Catecismo nos enseña además que “por el Espíritu y su acción en los sacramentos, sobre todo en la Eucaristía, Cristo muerto y resucitado constituye la comunidad de los creyentes como cuerpo suyo” (no. 805). Cada santa comunión digna y devotamente recibida nos ayuda a hacernos más como somos – el Cuerpo de Cristo.

Todo lo arriba es para decir que los carismas – gracias particulares del Espíritu para asistir con la edificación de la Iglesia – son conectados con todos los sacramentos, pero en especial con la Sagrada Eucaristía. Nosotros deberíamos rezar para que, en el venidero Congreso Eucarístico, habrá una efusión especial de estas gracias para que, mientras le damos gracias a Dios por los primeros cincuenta años de la Diócesis de Birmingham, podamos dar inicio a la próxima etapa de nuestra historia con nuevos vigor y dinamismo.

Quizás todo esto parece un poco demasiado carismático – y para muchos, no es su espiritualidad preferida. Cuando pensamos en los “carismáticos”, podemos pensar en un estilo muy efusivo o animado de la oracion, tal vez acompañada hasta de fenómenos particulares, como el hablar en lenguas. Efectivamente, hay muchos que no sólo no se conectan con tal tipo de experiencia espiritual, sino no lo encuentran atrayente.

Pero en la Iglesia hay muchas espiritualidades legítimas. Éstas son como las caras diversas de un diamante: todas reflejan la misma fuente de luz, pero de diferentes ángulos y facetas. Cada espiritualidad, es más, puede tener sus excesos y defectos, ya que cada espiritualid es, a fin de cuentas, una expresión humana – y nosotros tendemos a extremos.

San Pablo, sin embargo, no delimita su enseñanza a una espiritualidad solamente. “Cada uno de nosotros ha recibido su propio don”, nos dice. Entonces, volvemos a la duda del inicio: ¿Qué carismas tiene Usted? Cada uno de nosotros lo debe discernir: tomando en cuenta nuestro carácter, nuestra espiritualidad y nuestro estado de vida. El Señor nos conoce a todos personalmente y sabe bien trabajar con nuestras particularidades para edificar su Iglesia. De veras, él da dones a todos; nuestra tarea es de ponerlos en uso no para ventajas propias sino para ventaja de su Iglesia.

Kathia y Andrés Arango, un matrimonio que compartirán sus dones con nosotros durante el inminente Congreso Eucarístico, han laborado por muchos años especialmente para ayudar a los católicos latinos a identificar y poner en uso sus carismas. ¡No vemos la hora de recibirlos como parte del “Hilo Hispano” del Congreso, y de ver cómo nos ayudarán a crecer hacia la plenitud de Cristo!

Several weeks back in the One Voice, there was an article highlighting Damon and Melanie Owens, a couple who will be leading one of our breakout sessions at the Eucharistic Congress. Many people have asked about them, because in our Diocese they haven’t become a household name… yet. Damon has been on the Catholic speaker circuit for years. Anyone who has been through or taught the Theology of the Body for Teens: Middle School program in our Catholic schools or in confirmation programs has had the opportunity to witness Damon’s tremendous knowledge of Pope St John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, as well as his tremendous energy, passion, and obvious love for Christ and His Church.

Damon has also been featured in many of the largest conferences, congresses and convocations around the country. He and Melanie have taught Natural Family Planning for many of the twenty-five years they have been married and have founded many organizations and Diocesan offices which promote and support marriages and families. An impressive speaker in her own right, Melanie holds a master’s in social work from the University of California at Berkley and has spoken together with Damon at many events which are focused on marriages and families. They have a lot of experience dealing with raising children, too; they have eight!

But the question we keep asking as we look at our speakers and our themes for the Eucharistic Congress is: what does this have to do with the Eucharist?

Much of Pope St John Paul II’s meditations on marriage and on the Theology of the Body centered around the theme of “sincere gift of self.” This is the idea that someone can, possessing a certain sense of self-mastery and self-control or ownership, freely choose to give themselves as a complete and total gift to (and for) someone else without holding anything back. This is the kind of gift that we see within the persons of the Blessed Trinity: Eternal Father, co-eternal and begotten-not-created Son, in a relationship of such perfect and powerful self-giving, the union with the Life-giving Spirit. In the perfect essence of God, the distinct persons of the Trinity perfectly give themselves without reserve, but because God is perfect, He completely gives himself without losing or sacrificing anything.

This self-gift is evident also in Jesus sacrificial love on the Cross. As John 10:18 tells us, Jesus freely gives up His life out of Love. As the second person of the Trinity, He gives totally of himself to the Father and sacrifices nothing. In His perfect humanity, Jesus gives Himself for us as a perfect and total sacrifice of Love. Less dramatic-looking but perhaps even more profound, is the way Jesus makes a total gift of Himself in the Eucharist.

It is somehow believable that within God’s One Divine being, the Three persons of the Trinity would be able to give themselves totally in a perfect, eternal and mysterious union. God is perfect and worthy of this kind of gift; and because He is infinite and perfect, He loses nothing from this donation of Self. It also seems somehow reasonable that out of obedience to the Father and out of His own perfect love for all human-kind that Jesus would offer himself up on the cross. But for us, we know that our marriages, families, and vocations are not perfect. We cannot perfectly give, and when we give ourselves totally to one another we will experience loss and sacrifice, like on the Cross. As individuals, it can sometimes be more difficult to believe that God – ineffable, inconceivable, incomprehensible, ever-existing and eternally the same – would present His total gift of self to us under the accidents of a simple piece of bread and a meager cup of wine. Not only under species which are simple, humble, defenseless, and unable to speak, but allowing himself to be consumed into our bodies. It is from the Eucharist that we “recuperate” what our imperfect gifts of self lose, and strengthens us with grace to continue in the imitation of God’s Love.

St Francis of Assisi, in “A Letter to the Whole Order,” puts it so beautifully:

“O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! The Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles Himself for our salvation [that] He hides Himself under an ordinary piece of bread! Brothers, look at the humility of God, and pour your hearts before him… Hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves, [so] that He who gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally!”

As the Psalmist says, it is too wonderful, too great, too much to understand! Most of us do not have enough sense of self-worth to believe that God would really wish to be consumed by us, and yet He does. And so, the Eucharist shows us the love of the Triune Persons for one another, and the love of the Eternal God for each of us and the union He desires with us. But there is more…

When we receive Holy Communion, all of us who receive are brought into this union with God. We are all united to the Body of Christ. And as St Paul tells us, the mystical Body of Christ is His Church! It is interesting that when St Paul talks about the Body of Christ and its many parts and members as in 1 Corinthians 12 or Romans 12, we do not see much of a distinction between those passages and the way He speaks about the Body of Christ as the Eucharist. He seems to move between the two ideas seamlessly. In 1 Corinthians 10, St Paul says we all partake of the One Bread, which remains one though we are many parts. Through the Eucharist, the mystical Body of Christ is united.

The nuclear human family is the most evident example of this love that we see in our humanity. Evidence of the love of the Holy Trinity can be seen in the love of mother and father, husband and wife, whose love profoundly expresses itself in the life-given person of their child. In this participation in procreation, and also in the decision to remain celibate for the sake of the Kingdom, we become imitators of the Life-giving Trinity. It isn’t a perfect image, though. Father and mother are not un-created, and their child is not co-eternal. What we see in the family is something fashioned after God but limited by our physical world and human nature. But families in this way, build up the Church and society in the “shape” of God. The love of the Trinity is expressed in the family, as is the Eucharistic self-gift of Jesus. Christ’s love for the Church, as he lays down His life for her, gives the image of the sacrificial love we see both in marriage, and in priestly and religious celibacy. And the Mystical Body of Jesus joins, blesses, feeds, and forms families and communities who in turn build up the Church.

The limits of this page and of the knowledge of this author can only express so much of these great mysteries. But we look forward in anticipation to see what Damon and Melanie Owens have to say about The Eucharist and the Family, the Domestic Church during the Eucharistic Congress at the BJCC on June 28-29, 2019!

People in parishes all across the Diocese have been working hard to be ready and to make sure everyone feels welcome. Many parishes have appointed a specific Parish Preparation Rep. If you don’t know who your parish’s rep is, contact your parish office. If your parish doesn’t have one, consider volunteering! Ask your pastor and then contact the Office of Discipleship and Mission.

We can’t possibly mention every parish and their work to prepare, but here are a few highlights:

St Francis University Parish in Tuscaloosa contacted their bulletin provider, Diocesan Publications, and had them design and print a banner to display in their vestibule. Diocesan has made the banner available for any parish in the diocese to order. You can find it using this web address: bhmcatholic.com/orderbanner/ which will take you straight to their site.

Our Lady of Fatima in Birmingham brought many parishioners on a parish retreat at the retreat center at St Bernard’s in Cullman. During the overnight retreat, they studied Bishop Baker’s Called, Formed, Sent letter and received an update on the congress from a member of the EC2019 Planning Committee.

Holy Spirit in Tuscaloosa had an event to launch bible studies and small groups and invited Dr. Steven Ray to come give a talk at it. Several other parishes have had the Office of Discipleship and Mission come and present a small group leader workshop in an effort to start or support such groups as well.

St Stephen the Martyr Campus Ministry Chapel in Birmingham has launched a couple of new events centered around Eucharistic Adoration. One of them, called BHM Catholic Underground, has brought in people of all ages from many different parishes.

Our Lady of the Valley Ft Payne has been coordinating a donation to provide a bus to bring those who cannot or prefer not to drive down.

Students, Scouts, Legion of Mary members, and many others have been volunteering to make rosaries for all Congress attendees. Our Lady of the Lake in Pell City has sent well over 500 with more to come!

Students form John Carroll Catholic High School’s Students Modeling Christ Club donated money they had raised to help support the Congress’s Youth Track!

We’d love to hear about how your parish is preparing for the Eucharistic Congress! Most especially, we’d like to hear about how you are spreading the word and inviting people to be present with us. The EC2019 Planning Committee has been sending out posters, prayer cards, invitation postcards, and lots of other materials… How have you been using those? Contact the Diocesan Office of Discipleship and Mission if you’d like to share, or send your info to the One Voice or Diocesan Social Media pages.

For the Eucharistic Congress, we have reserved facilities at the BJCC, Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center. For those looking to stay overnight from Friday to Saturday, the Sheraton Hotel has sustained damage to many rooms and is now full, but there are still rooms available at the Westin Downtown. The Redmont is also a short walk away from the BJCC. There are now group rates or reserved blocks, so simply book through your favorite travel provider or through the hotel directly. For those who don’t mind driving a few minutes to save a few dollars, there are several hotel options in Fultondale right off Route 65, with lots of breakfast options.

The large conferences on Friday evening and Saturday, the Spanish language track, as well as the Closing Mass, will be in the North Exhibit hall, the largest exhibit hall. A portion of that room will also be reserved for our Vendor Exhibit Hall. There will be booths from local apostolates and religious communities, as well as organizations and vendors form around the country. The adjacent large convention room, the South Exhibit Hall, will host our Youth Track. The BJCC Concert Hall, arguably the most beautiful space in the complex, will host the Apostolic Nuncio’s address to the English-speaking crowd, as well as Dr Scott Hahn’s breakout session. Breakout sessions and the Children’s Track will be just a short trip up the escalators in the North Meeting Rooms. All this is to say, we have room for A LOT OF PEOPLE!

Which brings us to the next point: we need to go out into the highways and byways, as Jesus says, as invite people in to the celebration! Flyers have been emailed out to your parishes and are available on BHMCatholic.com. Posters and prayer cards are being distributed among all the parishes as well. A stack of snappy, attractive blank postcards will be delivered to your church for you to mail to friends, neighbors, relatives, fallen-away Catholics, or anyone you’d like to invite. The Eucharistic Congress is supposed to be a public gathering which demonstrates our love for Jesus truly present in the Eucharist; but it can only be public if we invite people to be present! Wonderful talks, beautiful music, and the opportunity to be together with thousands for a special Holy Mass are very nice ideas, but they will only provide the maximum impact if we all share them together. So please, let’s all mark our calendars, and start inviting!

Perhaps, you might be someone who is still struggling to understand what “Eucharistic Congress” means and don’t know what to expect. Bishop Baker is encouraging you to, “Come and see!” Aside from the beautiful tradition of venerating and learning about the Eucharist, and the impressive candlelight procession Friday night, this Congress also falls on the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of our Diocese. And in the words of Fr Joe Culotta of St Mark’s, “Everyone knows that a 50th anniversary is something to celebrate!”

Many of us in this Diocese receive postcards, mailers, and personal invitations to events at the local churches of other Christian denominations. They want to make sure we know we are welcome. It is time for us to do the same!

My heart was consoled upon hearing these words of St Paul as I recently watched the movie, Paul: Apostle of Christ. For what amazing grace! The fact that we cannot “out-sin” the grace of God is the essence of the good news of the Gospel that Jesus demonstrated through His Passion and Resurrection. But I was struck too, by how often I have forgotten this reality, and have been oblivious to the grace of God around me.

For when we are surrounded by sound and fury, and knowledge of evil and suffering, we tend to lose sight of all that is good and true and beautiful. This is especially true when we personally experience suffering—the loss of a spouse, a friend’s betrayal, or a natural disaster.

But it is in the face of suffering that these words from St Paul’s letter to the Romans (5:20) truly take on new meaning, especially as we consider that, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (8:28) This is not some platitude, but reflects the firm hope we have in the power of the Resurrection. Yet we must be awake to God’s presence as we go through our daily lives. So how can we do that?
Through prayer and meditation on His Word. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. It can be “Good morning, Lord!” as you get out of bed. Listening to a reflection on the Sunday readings. Offering a decade of the rosary when in line at the store. Giving thanks before a meal. Praying a prayer with your children at bedtime. Saying “Thank you, Lord, for another day, and please help me love better tomorrow.” before you fall asleep.

Whenever we intentionally stop, look, and listen to the stillness and silence, we will find that our awareness of the extraordinary goodness and beauty around us increases. But we need to choose it. Being prayerful begins with the choice to make one small change to “wake up.”

So what might the extraordinary look like in our lives? Honestly, it’s going to be different for each of us. Why? Because the sins that enslave us are as different as each of us, but the healing and freeing graces of the Resurrection are the same. The same graces found when we receive our Lord in the Eucharist. Where the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Savior breaks our bonds of sin and death and transforms us into His signs of love and mercy and light.

So are you awake? Are you ready for the extraordinary graces of this Easter season? I will be praying that each of us receives our Lord in Holy Communion as much as possible during this Easter season, so that we continue to be prepared to receive the extraordinary graces He has in store for us at the Eucharistic Congress in June, 2019. For truly, “where sin abounds, grace abounds more.” Happy Easter!