A Vocation Essay by Kaitlin O., 8th Grade

How do priest, deacons and religious brothers and sisters by their life and ministry invite others to come and see Christ and discover their own vocations?

Anyone can help us hear God’s call…But, people who have totally devoted their lives to God encourage me to live my life more holy. They show that they only need God in their life, and that they know that he is always watching over them. They are the ones who inspire me to love God and devote my life to Him.

Everyone is important to the church, but without priest we wouldn’t be able to receive our daily body of Christ. Priests give everything they have to God, they teach people that you don’t need anything else in life but to know, love and serve God and his people.

It is also good to follow in the footsteps of religious women. Nuns aren’t allowed to lead the liturgy but they teach us that God has given us everything we have like family and friends, and most of all how His son, Jesus, died for us so we could live our life following His footsteps.
I think many people spend their entire life trying to find that one special gift that God has given them. We just have to pray every day hoping that we find it. He is calling everyone in a different way, but we also have to work to find what God is calling us to do.

Priest, deacons and religious brothers and sisters have helped me realize that God is the most important person in my life. They have inspired me to fully devote my life to God and to hear His call to me. But the truth is anyone can help us hear God’s call. But we have to do a little searching ourselves.

Spring at the Monastery

Divine Mercy Sunday

Today I had the opportunity to attend a Divine Mercy celebration at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Indianapolis. What a powerful prayer experience! The presider was Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel the vicar general of the Archdiocese. The service included Adoration, Divine Mercy Chaplet, a sermon on the Divine Mercy, a solemn procession of the Blessed Sacrament, St. Faustina's praises of the Divine Mercy, Prayers of Entrustment to Divine Mercy by Servant of God, John Paul II and a closing Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. I was blessed to celebrate with good friends and many faithful followers.

You can find a plethora of information on St. Faustina as well as prayers and devotions to the Divine Mercy on the Internet. I've included the Divine Mercy Chaplet in this post. May God continue to bless us with His Divine Mercy, and may we in turn show mercy to all those in need.

Using a Rosary pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet as follows:

1. Begin with the Sign of the Cross, 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.

2. Then on the Our Father Beads say the following:
Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following:
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

(Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).

4. Conclude with (three times):
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Fr. Matthias Neuman's Homily for the 2nd Week of Easter

Readings: Acts 5:12-16; Rev 1:9-19; John 20:19-31

When we listen to these readings this second Sunday of Easter, we have to be amazed at the remarkable reversal from the Holy Week readings. There for an entire week, except for that moment of special intimacy at the Last Supper, everything was hostility and conflict, anger and rage, passion and sorrow, betrayal, crucifixion and death. Then we come to all the readings of this past Easter week and they just bubble with joy, enthusiasm, hope, happiness and peace. The change, of course, comes because of the Resurrection of Jesus and its reversal of almost everything.

Without doubt the followers of Jesus underwent a tremendous, life-changing experience that completely transformed the fear and despair that followed Jesus’ capture, crucifixion and death. And it was not just the ones who said they saw or "experienced" the Risen Jesus, but those were able to convince others of the same thing as well—that Jesus is risen and this gives a whole new meaning to human life and a whole new relationship with God. Perhaps the most amazing aspect about early Christianity is how quickly it spread throughout the Roman Empire, basically its whole extent in about seventy years. And all this was accomplished by word of mouth. Those early Christians were "on fire," and they gathered many other believers by the power of their convictions and their way of life. This new Christian message held both a promise of eternal life, but also a very practical, loving way of life here and now. Sometimes that last was just as important as the promise of eternal life.

The Christian church in the 2000 years since then has gone through many evolutions and changes from those first little groups of believers who gathered in private homes "to hear the teaching of the apostles" and partake in the "breaking of the bread." In 2010 we live now in a world-wide, incredibly complex institution that is the "Roman Catholic Church." The very breadth of its institutional parts is mind-blowing to anyone who sets about to study them. (You just have to look at the Annuario Pontificio) The complexity of its historical beliefs defies the efforts of any single individual to master them. Sometimes just the size itself of the church overwhelms believers. As a two-millenia old institution it carries not only its basic faith and its many institutional appendages, but also a lot of its personal and institutional failures, as we are all too well aware of in these days. Today we have to live with something that those early Christians did not—the accumulated sins and offenses of believers. Those are trumpeted in the news media almost everyday.

The announcement of the Resurrection and the celebration of the feast is therefore a call for each of us to purify our own living and practice of our Christian faith. It reminds us to make sure that our own faith is rich and vibrant. The Church has a lot of institutional baggage; some of it is needed to carry on the basic message; a lot of it isn’t. It’s very easy to get caught up in endless argument about the baggage. The Easter season is a call to return to a living faith that burns in our hearts. That means going back to the essentials—the essentials we heard in today’s gospel passage: peace, the gift of the Spirit and forgiveness.

It seems there are times when we have to go through some of the "fear and despair" that the disciples of Jesus did. We can get awfully discouraged at times by things that happen in the Church and under the guise of religion. (Consider NBC’s series, "Twisted Faith") It is comforting to go back to Jesus’ wish and offer of Peace for his disciples. He repeated it a second time: "Peace be with you." Peace is Jesus’ gift to us, but we have to open our hearts to receive it. We do so by allowing the Spirit to work in and through us—through mercy, service and forgiveness. Then we shall know the peace of Jesus. We should always remember that in the midst of this incredibly convoluted religious situation of the world today, Christ’s first gift to us is Peace. "He said to them again: ‘Peace be with you.’"

A Vocation Essay by Taylor O'Neil, 7th Grade

Priests, deacons, religious brothers, and sisters are very important. Everyday these people build God's Kingdom. They teach us God’s ways. God created us and this Earth because He has never ending love for us; God will always be with us even when we think we're alone. To me it’s very important because by them teaching us we grow closer to God and closer to living an Eternal life with Him in Heaven.

Priests are very good people to learn about God. Priests introduce God to his people and his people to God. A great way to learn about God is going to Mass and listening to the priest preach about God. Everyday priests set wonderful examples that make us closer to God. They dress appropriate, do not engage in sexual intercourse, do not do crime, or anything else unholy. Most of us would like to follow their example and do nothing unholy.

Deacons cannot do as much as a priest can, but, they help spread the word of God. Deacons serve in many ministries. Deacons do not get paid for their ministry to the church; they do this out of their love of God and for the Church.

Religious Brothers are not priests and cannot do as much as a priest can either, but they can make us closer to God and His Kingdom. Religious Sisters also cannot become priests because of their gender, but they still help out with building God's Kingdom. Brothers and sisters preach the word of God and guide us in our lives. How they can preach to God's people is by helping out in organizations or getting jobs as religion teachers.

God gave us free will to make our own choices. It is our choice to choose the right path: Will you choose to follow God or live without Him? We must take him into our hearts and love him endlessly and with the help of the Priests, Deacons, and Religious Brothers and Sisters, they can help us.

Easter Homily by Fr. Matthias Neuman, OSB

This Easter Sunday we celebrate with great splendor the Resurrection of Jesus. After his ignominious and cruel crucifixion and death, God the Father raised (transformed) him to a new and glorified life with God. Indeed in that very action Jesus was clearly shown to be the Son of God who has redeemed us. Such is the ancient creed of the Christian faith.

But a further question then intrudes into the mix: what is the exact practical significance of this action of Jesus’ Resurrection for us, for those who believe in him? That seems to be shown in "the human image of Jesus" that is revered by his many followers; in other words how we see Jesus in his human life tells us a great deal about what we believe the significance of the Resurrection to be. Here the situation becomes very complicated. For, as religious historian Jeff Sharlett tells us, "There are many different (Jesus) Christs believed in by Americans. There’s a Jesus in Miami’s Cuban churches who seems to do nothing but wrestle Castro; a Jesus in Heartland, Kansas, who dances around a fire with witches who also consider themselves Christians; a Jesus in Manhattan who dresses in drag; a baby Jesus in New Mexico who pulls cow tails and heals the lame by giving them dirt to eat; a muscle-bound Jesus in South Central L.A. emblazoned across the chest of a man with a gun in his hand; a Jesus in an Orlando megachurch who wants you to own a black Beamer (BMW)." (The Family, p. 5) So, the question for us is this: what is our (my) image of Jesus in his human life and what does that say about the significance of his Resurrection to me? It’s a very alive question!

There is an official answer of the Catholic Church to that question about the significance of the Resurrection; it’s a two-fold answer. The first and long-range part of the answer is that in the Resurrection Jesus won for us the promise of an everlasting life with God. Jesus won for us the promise of an eternal happiness. That hope is expressed so clearly in many of the New Testament writings. The reading from the Letter to Colossians that we just heard states: "When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with Him in glory." My own favorite is: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it ever entered into the human heart what God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Cor 2:9) The Resurrection is for us a promise of a life with God forever. But there’s a second and more immediate dimension of its significance: the Resurrection of Jesus shows us the way to that long-distant hope—what we must do here and now, attitudes and relationships with each other that point us toward that great hope. St. Paul reminded us of that in describing the Spirit that Jesus poured out on us in the Resurrection: "Live by the Spirit.... The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (Gal 5:16, 22-23 ) All of that is the practical day-to-day significance of the Resurrection in our lives.

Having said all that, I would hasten to add that none of us ever lives exactly the Church’s belief. It’s something we are always struggling toward. That’s because the message of faith always gets embedded into our concrete human situations, the lives we are born into and subsequently live. Faith is but one factor in the mix, and it’s a factor that we often distort. That’s how we can get a Jesus who wrestles with Castro or a muscle-bound Jesus with a gun. The meaning of Jesus’ Resurrection is always, always a goal we are struggling toward, always trying to purify its meaning for us.

Ultimately there are two issues to consider this Easter Sunday. First, what is my image of the human life of Jesus? That tells me something of what I believe to be the practical, day-to-day result of the Resurrection. Second, we are to remember and reaffirm the great hope of this feast: that "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it ever entered into the human heart what God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Cor 2:9) Jesus is risen! Alleluia!!

Jesus' April Message

Each month, Anne, a lay apostle, receives a message from Jesus. This is the message for April. To read more about the locutions Anne receives from Jesus and His Blessed Mother click on this link: Direction For Our Times.

My dear apostles, I am with you. I am present in every challenge you experience. I see your struggle and I provide everything you need to serve Me in each day. If you have given Me your day, then the day belongs to Me. Your self-will has been offered to heaven and heaven exchanges it for My will. How do you experience this? On most days your experience of serving Me is a mystery to you. How could it be otherwise when you are seeing with eyes that have not yet been exposed to the divine vision? Day after day, you offer your will to Me and day after day, I use your offering to gently push Myself through you to others. Do you feel successful? Or do you feel, at times, that you are unsuccessful? Poor little apostles, I understand your questions and I understand your doubts. I assure you, in My human experience, I did not feel successful at every moment. My experience was often much to the contrary. I often experienced the temptation to believe that I was failing the Father. I sometimes, in moments of human temptation, wondered if, in fact, love was enough. Could love succeed in turning hearts to goodness? Could love succeed in persuading God’s children to accept the Father’s beautiful plan for humanity? Yes, please believe that I suffered temptation. And now, you suffer temptation. Together, our temptations suffered for the Father, bring soothing graces to others. You, My beautiful apostle, serve despite temptations to abandon Me. Where others leave, you endure. You endure for Me, as I endured for you. From My perspective, all is well, despite your suffering. My plan is perfect and if you are serving Me, listening to My voice, there are no problems. If you are not serving Me and you are not listening to My voice, then there are many problems for you and there will continue to be many problems for you. ‘Ah’, you say, ‘Jesus, I am listening to you and still I have these problems’. We must differentiate small problems from big problems. Small problems are the sufferings you bear for the sake of the divine will. Big problems are the problems you face when you abandon My will and insert your own will. Are you praying? Are you in steady communication with Me? Do you ask Me what I want you to do in situations where you are unsure? Do you spend time in silence, considering heaven and heaven’s plan for you in the day? Answer yes to these questions and I assure you, your problems will be manageable. Do not believe I ignore your sighs or turn away from your fears. I am with you. I will never abandon you. My plan will be realised through your perseverance and through the perseverance of many apostles like you. I am so pleased when you pray for each other because this is how you experience, in advance, My gratitude. You see My gratitude in the graces received by others through your intercession. Rejoice. I am responding to your pain and answering your prayers. Truly, I am with you.