the Apostle The Children s Memorial at St. John the Apostle They Are Being Cared for by a Loving Father Inside this issue FEBRUARY 2016

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1 FEBRUARY 2016 St. John the Apostle P A R I S H N E W S L E T T E R Inside this issue 2 Rediscover Jesus, Rediscover Stewardship 4 Embracing Stewardship in the Home with the Andersons 6 A History of Lent and Lenten Practices 7 Rediscovering Jesus During Lent They Are Being Cared for by a Loving Father The Children s Memorial at St. John the Apostle D ealing with the death of a child, regardless of his or her age, is an unfathomable, deeply difficult experience for parents, family and friends. Grief can be an isolating and frightening process. Our sense of identity, our very faith, may feel misplaced as we grapple with the reality of what has occurred. Pope Francis addressed this sense of loss at his general audience on June 17 this past summer. Our Holy Father said, It is heart-rending when a mother and father lose a child. It is as if time has stopped. An abyss seems to open that swallows up the past and the future. However, Pope Francis shared some words of hope: When a child dies, death is never able to appear to us as something natural. However, our loved ones have not disappeared into dark nothingness. Hope assures us that they are in God s good and strong hands. Love is stronger than death. Here at St. John the Apostle seven years ago, it was decided to develop a memorial to children who had died. That memorial has become a place of prayer and reflection for anyone who may have experienced this kind of loss, and who is seeking an understanding for what is sometimes impossible to understand a place of quiet reflection. continued on page 5 St. John the Apostle 2600 Central Avenue W. Minot, ND

2 A Letter from Our Pastor Rediscover Jesus, Rediscover Stewardship Dear Friends in Christ, We just barely finished singing, Joy to the World, the Lord is come when we changed our tune to These 40 days of Lent. Lent has come early. But any time is an opportunity to rediscover Jesus as the perfect time to know and celebrate God s mercy and grace. The Season of Lent is a perfect fit for a Jubilee Year of Mercy. Now almost three months old, the designated year of Grace and Mercy should be finding great momentum in the Church s prescribed season of mercy, grace and holiness. Matthew Kelly s new book, Rediscover Jesus An Invitation, will be a helpful companion to our Lenten season this year. Each registered family of St. John s should by now have received a copy of Kelly s book distributed by the members of the Stewardship Council and the Committee for the Jubilee Year. It is a stewardship gift for the members of a stewardship parish such as ours. Divided into 40 brief chapters, it will help make each of the 40 days of Lent a time to rediscover Jesus and rediscover stewardship. Both are important and essential to our spiritual lives. I am not so sure we can rediscover our stewardship without rediscovering the importance of our relationship with Jesus and vice versa. Stewardship will always be a fitting and inspiring expression of our discipleship. And of course, discipleship is a way of life in which our relationship with Jesus Christ is expressed in loving and grateful ways. The prologue of Matthew Kelly s book tells a simple but heartfelt story that could have happened to any of us. And so it should! A blind woman is helped by a man who made a decision to help her because it was not only the right thing to do, it was a stewardship response, perhaps natural to the man. A tearful blind woman appreciating how much the man had helped her, asked him, Are you Jesus? His immediate response, a negative, would be similar to ours. However, later the man had time to think about it and one question repeatedly surfaced. When was the last time someone confused you for Jesus? Are we not called to be Christ for others? Isn t living the stewardship way 2

3 St. John the Apostle of life a good, practical and fine way of doing so? So, maybe the Lenten season is the opportunity on the horizon for each of us to rediscover Jesus and rediscover stewardship. How do they fit together? you might ask, thinking this pastor is at it again promoting stewardship as a way of life and connecting it to our Catholic Faith. Perhaps Matthew Kelly has helped us put it together with a Point to Ponder at the end of his story. That point is: Jesus wants you to carry on his work. It is followed by a Verse to Live. That verse comes from Matthew 6:33: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And a question to consider by Kelly is: How much is the sheer busyness of your life preventing you from living the life God is calling you to live? Good question, especially for Lent! Understanding the stewardship way of life is to better understand how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. And to be that disciple, we need to work on improving our relationship with Jesus. Isn t that what Lent is all about? Isn t that what Pope Francis call for a Jubilee Year of Mercy is all about? And isn t that a first and most important step in becoming Christ for others? Matthew Kelly is inviting us to rediscover Jesus through his gift of writing and the Catholic Faith, which he lives. Pope Francis will continue to invite us to discover and practice the Mercy our Heavenly Father shows to us. The Church is inviting us to a call of repentance and holiness this Lenten season. And I suppose as long as I am pastor of St. John s, I will continue to invite us to embrace the stewardship way of life. We have lots of invitations and all are interrelated to help us live our calling to be Christ for others. Therefore, let us continue our journey together as a parish family and choose to rediscover Jesus and rediscover stewardship. Since the beginning of time, it has been a winning combination on the path to holiness. It still is! Sincerely yours in Christ, Fr. Dave Zimmer Stewardship Pastor 3

4 St. John the Apostle Embracing Stewardship in the Home with THE ANDERSONS 4 The Anderson family (from left) Erin, Hope, Nora, Milo, Clay, and Vivy There s one family friend that the Andersons make sure they talk to every morning, and that s Jesus. Every morning on our way to school, the kids and I pray together, Erin Anderson says. It is a great way to start our day. We ask for God s protection every day, and acknowledge how thankful we are for all that we have. We are very blessed and it is our job to share all of our gifts and to pray for all those in the world in need. Each morning, we ask God to help us be kind and generous all throughout the day. This prayerful friendship that the Andersons have with Our Lord shows forth in many beautiful ways in their family life and beyond. Clay and Erin Anderson have four children Milo, 8; Nora, 6; Vivy 2; and Hope, 1. Clay and Erin have been members of our parish for about seven years. As a family, they strive to live out the stewardship vision the best that they can, taking the message of God s mercy to heart in a living way. As much as possible, we try to get our kids involved in giving to others, such as by buying gifts for the Angel Tree or the Salvation Army, or picking out things for the Food Pantry, Erin says. We also sponsor children monthly through World Vision, which is something my children really enjoy. They have learned a lot from it, and it helps us to talk about what it means to give. Our future goal is to let each of our children pick one child to sponsor. We also give to other organizations regularly, and our children are aware of what we are giving as a family. Over time, Clay and Erin have noticed the remarkable effect that such a witness of stewardship has had on their children. It has a huge impact on our children, Erin says. Any time they see a need, it is on their mind that we should try to meet it. When we help the poor together, we have great discussions, such as about why someone may be struggling in a certain life situation. Furthermore, they also embrace the gift of the sacraments, as well as faith formation at the parish and in the home, which lay at the root of a stewardship way of life. As parents, we emphasize how important it is to go to Mass and we let our children see us going to confession, continued on next page

5 Erin says. Each week, we go over the children s bulletin from Mass, as well, and we pray with our children and read Bible stories to them. Overflowing from their practice of stewardship in the home, the Andersons are active in the parish in many ways together, such as by being part of CCD. I believe that if we parents are not setting a good example at home, it doesn t really matter what our children learn in church, Erin says. It s not that the church can t make an impact on its own. However, parents are the primary teachers of the faith to their children, and we have to try not to be hypocrites. Even though I mess up so much as a mom, I try to show my kids through my own mistakes that we are all sinners in need of God s help. I am continually working on my faith, and they see that. The Andersons give a fantastic testimony of what it means to have stewardship education in the home. At our parish, we continue to be blessed by the presence of so many families who exemplify stewardship in their homes, as well. At the heart of their efforts lies one thing union with Christ. May all families strive to keep a prayerful, sacrificial union with Our Lord as they live out the stewardship vision with all of their souls. [Stewardship] has a huge impact on our children. Any time they see a need, it is on their mind that we should try to meet it. When we help the poor together, we have great discussions, such as about why someone may be struggling in a certain life situation. Erin Anderson The Children s Memorial continued from front cover Our children are so important to us and to our Church, Deacon Chuck Kramer says. I have been touched by visiting the Children s Memorial myself, but I also appreciate what I have seen there. People come there to pray, often the Rosary. The memorial is a great tribute to children and how the Lord loved them. It is in a garden with benches. People often come and decorate the monuments with flowers. The Lord had such love for children. Included in the memorial is a plaque, which bears one of Jesus more important comments about children. In Mark 10:14-15, as Jesus witnessed His apostles try to keep children from bothering Him When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it. Then he embraced the children and blessed them, placing his hands on them. This passage is exemplified by one of the statues in the Children s Memorial. Deacon Kramer echoes Pope Francis words. Our Children s Memorial gives families and parents a sense that their departed children are not lost or alone, he says. They are being cared for by a loving Father. I invite and urge anyone struggling with the loss of child, even an adult child, to visit the Memorial and to spend time. It cannot answer all the questions, but it can provide a place of rest in the midst of troubling emotions. 5

6 When we approach the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday, we look toward a season of preparation, sacrifice and penance, culminating in Holy Week and the joyous celebrations of Easter. And while the liturgical season of Lent offers us a time for solemn reflection, it is also widely welcomed each year as an opportunity to be drawn ever closer to our faith. But just how did this penitential season come to be? And how did the reverent hallmarks of Lent such as fasting and prayer become so deeply ingrained in our observance of this season? To understand the Lenten season, it is important to understand the word Lent itself, which is derived from two Anglo-Saxon terms: lencten, meaning spring, and lenctentid, which is the term for both springtide and March of course, Lent often falls throughout most of the month of March, and during the transition into (and renewal of) the spring season. In Latin, the corresponding term for Lent, quadragesima, refers to its dating from the 40th day before Easter. This brings us to another hallmark of the Lenten season its length of 40 days. However, Lent was not originally observed for this length of time. During the first three centuries of the Christian era, Easter preparations consisted of A History of Lent and Lenten Practices three days of fasting and prayer. In some places, this preparation was extended into the entire week prior to Easter which we now observe as Holy Week. There is also some evidence that, in Rome, Easter preparation was as long as three weeks. In its early form, Lent was an intense period of spiritual and liturgical preparation for catechumens who were to be baptized at Easter. At the time, many members of the community observed this period of preparation alongside the catechumens. But, as time passed and more people were baptized as infants, the connection between catechumens and Lenten preparation gave way to a focus on the themes of repentance and fasting during Lent for all Christians. It was not until the fourth century upon the legalization of Christianity that Lent developed into its current length of 40 days, which mirrored the length of Jesus fast and temptation in the desert, as chronicled in Luke 4:1-13. Yet, interestingly, the Lenten observations of fasting and prayer did not always take place for 40 consecutive days. For instance, in Jerusalem, fasting was observed for 40 days, Monday through Friday, but not on Saturday or Sunday thus, Lent lasted for a total of eight weeks. In Rome and the West, fasting took place for six weeks, Monday through Saturday, with Lent being observed over six weeks. The practice of fasting for six days over the course of six weeks eventually prevailed, with Ash Wednesday being instituted to account for 40 fasting days prior to Easter. And as the length of Lenten observance developed over time, so did the observance of fasting itself. At first, some areas of the Church abstained from all meat and animal products, while others made exceptions for certain foods, like fish. And while a person was to only have one meal a day, a smaller repast would be allowed so that manual laborers could maintain their strength throughout the day. Eventually, eating meat was allowed throughout the week, save for Ash Wednesday and on Fridays. In fact, two of our most common and beloved Lenten and Easter traditions the Shrove Tuesday meal and Easter eggs developed from these early Lenten observations. Initially, abstinence from dairy products was observed during Lent, with dispensations given if pious works had taken place. Eventually, this particular rule of abstinence was relaxed entirely. Today, pre-lenten pancake breakfasts, Easter egg decoration and egg hunts remain as enjoyable seasonal opportunities for fellowship and fun within our parish families! 6

7 St. John the Apostle Rediscovering Jesus During Lent This Lent, it s time to do something fantastic for both yourself and others. It s time to grow as a person, and get to know your King of Kings and Lord of Lords just a little bit better. My husband, Jon, and I are part of a committee at our parish that is planning events for the Year of Mercy, and one of the things we are doing is incorporating a faith formation program based on the reading of the book, Rediscover Jesus, by Matthew Kelly, Emily Schroeder says. It is great to do spiritual reading because it gets you out of your norm, and helps you think about things you don t think about every day. It is easy to sit back and forget about growing as a person, but reading this book will help you rediscover your friendship with Jesus and grow as a person and in your faith. It will change your heart. Rediscover Jesus is an invitation to seek answers to our most personal questions in life. Its words reach into every aspect of our lives, providing spiritual wisdom and practical insights that help us to know both Jesus and ourselves in a new way. The book has 40 short chapters, which are easy to synchronize with the 40 days of Lent. The parish will be providing a book for each family so that all will be able to participate. Each day you can read a page or two and really reflect on Lent, the Year of Mercy and anything that comes to mind, Emily says. It is an easy read and it encourages you to dig a little deeper into your faith. Matthew Kelly writes regarding his book, The best time to rediscover Jesus is right now. You are holding this book in your hand at this very moment for a reason. I don t know what God has in store for you, but I am excited for you. There are some questions that we all ask ourselves in different ways: Who am I? Who is God? What am I here for? What matters most? What matters least? What are my unique talents and abilities? What will my contribution be? We discover the answers to these questions most completely by encountering Jesus. He longs to help us discover deeply personal answers to our deeply personal questions. Every Thursday during Lent, our parish will offer a soup and sandwich supper which is open to all parishioners. During it, a reflection on key questions and points in Rediscover Jesus will be offered. continued on back cover Matthew Kelly has dedicated his life to helping people and organizations become the-best-version-of-themselves! Born in Sydney, Australia, he began speaking and writing in his late teens while he was attending business school. Since that time, four million people have attended his seminars and presentations in more than fifty countries... Today Kelly is an international acclaimed speaker, author, and business consultant. His books have been published in more than twenty-five languages, have appeared on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller lists, and have sold more than 15 million copies. matthewkelly.com 7

8 St. John the Apostle 2600 Central Ave. West Minot, ND Sacrament of Reconciliation Wednesday - Friday: 8:30 AM - 8:50 AM Saturday: 3:45 PM - 4:45 PM Sunday: 9:30 AM - 10:15 AM Weekend Liturgies Saturday: 5:00 PM Mass Sunday: 8:00 AM and 10:30 AM Mass NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID MAILED FROM ZIP CODE PERMIT NO. 3 Change Service Requested Rediscovering Jesus continued from page 7 We are trying to get everyone in the parish involved as much as possible, Emily says. Families are encouraged to reflect on the book together. I hope this program will help people get further involved with their adult faith formation and grow in their prayer life. Both of these things are important to the stewardship way of life. Even children and young adults will enjoy going outside of the box to learn about their faith along with their family members. I hope that the program helps married couples and families to have good discussions about their faith, as well. Furthermore, after the program is over, participants will be encouraged to pass on the great news about Rediscover Jesus by giving their book to another family or purchasing extra copies. Families are encouraged to reflect on the book together. I hope this program will help people get further involved with their adult faith formation and grow in their prayer life. Both of these things are important to the stewardship way of life. Even children and young adults will enjoy going outside of the box to learn about their faith along with their family members. Emily Schroeder For more information, or if you would like to help put on this program, please contact the parish office at