The Sacrament of the Present Moment by Jean-Pierre de Caussade

I was excited to discover this book in the Spiritual Direction Institute (SDI) library since I read the full-length translation of Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence in college and absolutely loved it!  This quote from the text beautifully sums up the richness contained in this book: “How I long to be the missionary of your divine will, O God, to teach the world that there is nothing easier, more ordinary, more available to all than saintliness.”   

I found The Sacrament of the Present Moment very encouraging.  So often I have felt that I should conform to certain standards, methods of prayer, types of study and action, but Caussade describes how God’s grace and the inspiration which comes from the Holy Spirit don't look the same for every person.  It is important that we listen to and discern what God is calling us to each moment—a desire to do His will above all else and an openness and submission to His plan for our lives.  

I’m reminded of the song by Danielle Rose called “The Saint that Is Just Me.”  There have been many times in my life when I have seen how someone else is living and figure their path to holiness is one that I should follow or emulate, that their trials, tribulations, joys, and sorrows should also be mine.  I’ve been often reminded that isn’t true.  

God has a unique call in my life that is meant to be lived out in a way that is different from other people’s.  The beauty of it is that we are each called to grow closer to the Lord, develop faith, trust, and love on deeper levels as His grace, mercy, and providence permit.

Being resigned to the will of God is what souls tuned-in to the Holy Spirit share.  Their calls and even the specific ways they live out similar calls, ministries, and/or vocations bring to light the vastness of God love, blessings, inspiration, and nurturing for each one of us on the path to saintliness and eternal life.  Teresa of Avila's poem "Into the Hands of God" is a beautiful prayer for discernment.

What deeper layers and richness would I glean from reading Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence in its original French?  What do people think of me who know the many spiritual books I’ve read?  Do they wonder why the heck I don’t have a more disciplined prayer life and a better grasp of even some of the topics I've studied so fervently?  Does it matter what they think?  No, it matters how God sees me, though I can’t honestly say that I’m not affected or wonder about the opinions of others.

This is a prayer I wrote in one of my many prayer journals in March 2008:

     “Lord, so often we seek the approval of our family, our friends, our colleagues, and society and are easily swayed by their opinions.  Please help us have courage enough to turn to You when we need guidance, and put Your view of us, Your wishes for our future, and Your thoughts about our words and actions, above those of other people around us.

     You alone know our hearts completely.  You alone know what is ultimately best for us.  Inspire us to spend more time listening to You so it is easier for us to separate Your will from our own and those of the people closest to us.  Protect us from despair and disillusionment by arming us with the truth, the strength to do Your will, and the wisdom to submit everything we are and have to You.  Amen.”                   

Monsignor Chester Michael: Well done good and faithful servant

The funeral Mass was quite beautiful and not surprisingly very well attended for Monsignor Chester P. Michael this past Wednesday, August 6, 2014.  The celebration of his life took place on the Feast of the Transformation, a fitting God-incident since he was instrumental in inspiring change, transformation, and true conversion in countless people throughout our Diocese and around the world during his 72 years as a priest. 

    
Most Reverend Bishop Francis Xavier DiLorenzo presided at the funeral Mass held at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlottesville, Virginia.  As is customary for our leader and resident history buff, he gave a homily that compared and contrasted what life was like in the world when Monsignor Michael was first ordained a priest in 1942 and the myriad changes he witnessed from World War II until the present. 

       

The bishop posed three very poignant questions about the 97 years God gave Monsignor Chet on Earth. 

     1.Did his life mean anything at all?

     2.Was his life a waste?

     3.What was the meaning of his life and ministry?

    
Bishop DiLorenzo covered a smattering of the ministries and various levels of involvement and influence Fr. Chet had in them.  Basically, he responded to the above questions with this summation of answers: 1.Absolutely.  2. Not at all.  3.He did so much it would be hard to mention it all, estimate the number of lives he’s transformed, or how his work to spread the Good News will continue to inspire others.    

    
In closing, Bishop DiLorenzo said: “We thank God for his ministry, and we say well done good and faithful servant.” 

    
After the celebration of the Eucharist, Andy Macfarlan offered some Words of Remembrance about Fr. Chester Michael.  He shared some of the stories, themes, passions, quirks, and characteristics of the beloved priest and popular spiritual director.  Looking around the church, I saw dozens of people Kevin and I know through Cursillo.  I found it a perfect Mass for our seminarians to attend even while on their yearly retreat.  What better testimony can you give than that of a good priest who served God’s people in many different ways over the 72 years since he was ordained to serve our Diocese?  He’s been an inspiration to priests, deacons, seminarians, consecrated religious, and laity for quite some time. 

    

Kevin and I never formally met Monsignor Michael, but we’ve heard a number of stories about “Fr. Chet” as many of his close friends and spiritual directees called him.  We are aware of only some of the countless ways this man has touched our lives.  In 1963, he brought the Cursillo Movement to the Diocese of Richmond where it has flourished as a tool for the new evangelization in place long before that term was popular.  Over 8,000 individuals have made Cursillo weekends in our Diocese since then.  That’s a lot of lives to touch and enflame with the Holy Spirit! 

    
But wait, there’s more.  Fr. Chet also created Open Door Ministries and the Spiritual Direction Institute (SDI) to encourage laypeople to grow closer to the Lord, learn about themselves, and how to live the Gospel in new ways through a more intimate walk with Christ.  There have been over 600 people who have gone through the SDI program he developed since it first began.  Kevin and I just began the SDI program this summer.  I read and highly recommend the three books to the left written by Monsignor Chester Michael, and used as some of the primary resources for his two-year course.  

    
It boggles my mind to think of how many souls he’s affected just through Cursillo and SDI.  He’s been involved in so many really powerful ministries over the years, ones I don’t know as much about but which are described in detail on his website.  Kevin and I have been fascinated to read about his life, humble beginnings, ongoing education, and the numerous ministries which he started and/or brought to the Diocese of Richmond over the years.  He has touched the lives of so many different groups of society, I’d venture that when it comes to ministry in Richmond, there could be a game that would probably only show two or three degrees of separation at most between Catholics currently active in our Diocese and their connection to Monsignor Chester Michael and the ministries he’s created and supported.  To read a more thorough biography of Monsignor Chet’s life at least up to 1992, click here.

   

Today is the five year anniversary of my father’s passing which has gotten me thinking about the influence one person’s life can have on so many others.  We don’t know how much time we have left to make a difference.  Fr. Chet had a lot of years to do all the work God intended for him. 

     
What is God calling us to be or do right now?  Are we taking ample time to listen to the whisper of His still small voice?  Are we grounded enough in prayer and edified through study so that we are filled with the love of Our Lord, ready to go out and proclaim the Gospel through our lives?

Discerning Our Charisms & How God Wants Us to Share Them

In May our parish gave out a booklet titled Discern Our Charisms as part of the Increased Commitment Campaign for 2014.  I’m glad they’ve provided one of these for each of us to fill out, because I can’t for the life of me locate the charisms survey I took some eight years ago in spiritual direction.  I’m sure it’s here somewhere, but I haven’t found it, yet.  Maybe that’s just as well, because discernment is an ongoing process and our gifts and what we’re called to do with them can certainly, and often do change over time.  I would be very interested to see the particular charisms I identified eight years ago which are still very much a part of who I am now as I know a number of them would overlap with the results I reached through examination and prayer this go-round.

    
During the month of June, each person is being asked to complete a Ministry Commitment Form for July 2014-June 2015.  All of the current ministry rosters are being considered null and void.  If you want to participate in a ministry that you have done in the past, you have to register to be part of it again.  If you’re ready to take on or at least learn about a new ministry, you’re encouraged to do so.  This is a big leap of faith, in my opinion.  There are so many different ministries to be involved with and through our parish that it takes more than a full page of legal-size paper just to list them all.

That was then, this is now

I realize it says a great deal about my personality and way of looking at things that reviewing the sheet of all the ministries at our church, I feel bad that I’m not involved in more of them rather than simply grateful that we have so many opportunities for outreach.  Processing and praying has helped me move from feeling I’m not doing enough to being grateful for the many gifts we have in our parish that we use to serve others, while being more aware of the specific ministries we’ve been called to focus on at this point in our lives. 

    
This has been a period of pretty intense discernment for Kevin and me as we have been praying about what ministries to be involved in and what God’s calling us to in terms of our work and careers.  I’m feeling greater peace now that the Lord has shown me the ministries we’re involved in are where He wants us to be devoting our time and energy right now. 

    
For a while, we’ve been serving as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion.  We served regularly at the Sunday 5:30pm Mass and have been filling in as substitutes as needed more recently when our Cursillo commitments have had us at different Masses and sometimes even different parishes from one week to the next.  We do miss taking up most of a row at Mass with the three silly sisters and their parents, but fortunately, we got to be together for Mass and dinner afterward on Father’s Day.

Christ Renews His Parish

Kevin and I have both made a Christ Renews His Parish (CRHP) weekend and served on the teams for the next weekends put on at our parish.  I still gather pretty regularly with my CRHP sisters, both as a group and individually. I first met a friend who introduced me to a couple of other ministries I hadn’t known about before: the Charismatic Prayer Group and Theophostic Prayer Ministry.  This friend has since moved to Chicago to attend pharmacy school, but the connections she created before leaving remain strong.    

 

Theophostic Prayer Ministry

Through that prayer group and because of that friend, I learned about a very powerful type of healing ministry called Theophostic Prayer Ministry (TPM).  She invited me to attend a session with her in Chesapeake, Virginia, and that’s how I met the people at our parish and at New Creation Renewal Center who would journey with me as I witnessed and experienced the healing that the Holy Spirit does through this ministry. 

When they began a group in Richmond that would study Theophostic Prayer, I eagerly joined.  Over the past few years, I’ve been studying and learning everything I can about Theophostic Prayer Ministry through books, workbooks, DVDs, live demonstrations, and by practicing doing the ministry with people who have been doing this for over ten years now.  Over this next year, I will be completing the live practicum portion of my training as a TPM facilitator with the hope that in the summer of 2015, I’ll be ready to take part in a three-day intensive workshop with Dr. Edward Smith, the pastor and counselor who developed this ministry and has been teaching it around the world.  

Spiritual Direction Institute

Kevin and I have begun a two-year course modeled after Monsignor Chester Michael’s Spiritual Direction Institute (SDI) program.  We had our first class last Saturday.  As part of the program, we commit to spending one hour in prayer in addition to doing one hour of study (faith formation) five days each week for the duration of the program. We have two retreats each year.  We have to read at least one book a month and write a one page book report on it.  Obviously this is a big chunk of time and a major commitment which we took time to discern carefully and prayerfully.

    
Anyone who knows me knows that I devour books, often ones that are spiritual and/or religious in nature, so reading a book each month and doing a book report isn’t intimidating for me at all.  The possible challenges posed to me through prayer and when it comes to applying to what I’ve learned from the books is likely to be the most difficult aspect of the process for me.  I knew it would be the prompting of the Holy Spirit if Kevin, who doesn’t usually read books and rarely sits down to write much of anything, discerned now is the time for him to go through this program as well.

Cursillo

We learned about the SDI program from active members in another ministry which we have been very involved in over the past eight years: Cursillo.  Kevin and I attended our first Ultreya  at St. Edward’s the spring of 2006.  We walk into the school hall where the Ultreya was being held, and the first two people we meet are Mary, who was pregnant, and Joseph.  I kid you not.  The married couple who greeted us that evening are actually named Mary and the husband goes by Joey for short.  Their son’s name is Isaiah.  They are still a wonderful, joyful part of our Cursillo family.       

    
We have been members of the Cursillo community since June 2006 when I made my weekend at Mary Mother of the Church Abbey and sat at the table Sea of Conviction, but we renamed ourselves the Spiritual Divas, and that’s how we’re known in the community.  Kevin made his in September 2006.  We’ve each served on team before and were asked to do so again this year.  I served on team for the Women’s Cursillo Weekend that took place April 2014.      

    
Kevin is currently in team formation for the Men’s Cursillo Weekend being held July 24-27, 2014.  I have been a contributor and the editor of the Cursillo newsletter, The Rooster Review, for the past seven plus years.  I’ve lost track of the number of candidates Kevin and I have sponsored and/or co-sponsored to go on Cursillo weekends, but I’m certain it’s over ten. 

    
Through our involvement in Cursillo, we have met some of the most faithful, dynamic, and dedicated Christians we know.  Our close friends, many of whom are already strong people of faith, have been reenergized by making a Cursillo.  The Cursillo Movement is an international, proven method of evangelization designed to bring people closer to Christ in all areas of their lives.