WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT DISCIPLINE?
Freedom is one of our most cherished channels for happiness. Our preoccupation with freedom often leads us to believe that everything we have a taste for should be ours by right, and that everything we want should come to us easily. "Effort" and its companion "discipline" are falling out of use in our culture's vocabulary. However, life can be "a bowl of cherries," but, for the most part, only for those willing to pick them. To be physically fit, for instance, we have to work at it. To have a satisfying marriage or friendship will demand commitment, tact, flexibility, and endurance. Spiritual growth, also, requires discipline. Would you, or anyone you know, like to hear more about how to achieve spiritual growth through the "discipline" of the Catholic faith? We invite you to an RCIA Inquiry Session. For more info, call our RCIA contact at 732-764- 0264.

Glorious and sad simultaneously. You give me pause to drink in your beauty and your falling leaves give me reason to consider my losses in life. And the losses are always coming, inviting me to redefine who I am as a child of God. Who am I when I inherently know that for me physically, there may not always be a Spring to new life? Who am I when I know that intellectually I may not always have an answer and may spend my time in a winter of frozen questions? Who am I spiritually when I realize that each loss I suffer through has the potential to draw me closer to our Creator? With every loss comes an invitation to transformation as I struggle to redefine who I am today after facing a loss. Will I have a splendor, a way to show others, how much God loves, cares and nurtures all of us? Creator God, root me firmly in your love – affirm my value as your child so that one day I will have the courage to shake loose all of my false pretenses, all the things I desperately cling to that prevent me from reaching out to You in faith. During this season of Autumn, Lord, teach me how to “let go”, to humbly say “Amen” to your plan for me, and to walk with your people in faith and openness. Amen.

Growing in Our Relationship with Jesus ...from the desk of our staff member for Evangelization and Adult Faith Formation Darrin Nelson

“Into His Likeness”. This book that I have been reflecting on over the summer by Ed Sri has been a wonderful journey for my connection with Jesus and others. There is a section in the book where he speaks about the word ‘Haverim’. This is a Hebrew word that describes ‘a community of friends committed to helping each other grow in their faith.’ In fact, he uses the word immersed to really describe the deep meaning of Haverim. Whenever I hear that word, immersed, I think of my times at the beach. At first, I am the one on the edge of the water with my toe dipped into the cold water. I look out and see many others already swimming and having fun immersed in the water. Eventually, I found myself immersed as well. Where do you find yourself with your personal relationship with Jesus as his disciple? At the edge with your toe slightly dipped in, or immersed in the journey with Him? Haverim, a community of disciples who are encouraging each other to live out the teachings of their rabbi. We know that Jesus was much more than just a rabbi, he is the living God who has come to teach us His Good News for our salvation and to share it with others. But being his disciple can be challenging at times which is why Haverim is still very important for our lives. The author stated that in Haverim the disciples honored, supported, and encouraged each other in ways that made each of them stronger disciples. This coming year at St. Mary’s you will have opportunities to do the same. Through various Holy Hours, Bible Study, Advent and Lent gatherings and others, you will have the opportunity to grow in Christ with other disciples here at our parish. We will continue to discuss some of these opportunities in the next article..for now, think about your part in our ‘Haverim’.

In this book, “Into His Likeness”, Ed Sri teaches us a little about rabbis and discipleship. He said that students of the rabbi were so eager to learn from him they would follow so close that dust from his sandals would get on their own clothes. They were so eager to hear every word the rabbi said. If you haven’t noticed we have been working at intentionally tying together the reflection on Our Lady of Guadalupe and Discipleship. Are you aware that the church considers Mary as the first disciple? She is the first to say ‘yes’ to Jesus Christ. We don’t hear her speak too many times in the Gospels, however, when she does it is powerful. Take for instance what she says at the Wedding at Cana, “Do whatever he says” (John 2:5). Imagine how much stronger our relationship could be with Jesus by following Mary’s words? Because God himself knew we would fall short on this suggestion he provided us with grace to help us grow in our relationship with Him. They are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Those gifts provide for us the strength to follow and grow in our relationship with Jesus. But we will have to discuss those at another time. Today lets talk about increasing our relationship with Jesus. We all know that personal relationships do not grow without personal effort. A phone call to a friend, taking time to have lunch, visiting them in person, even small social gatherings. These are all the very same ‘actions’ I personally realized I needed to increase with Jesus Christ to strengthen my relationship with him. To be attentive to “whatever he says” I need to hear him daily in his words, not my words. Such as finding 10 minutes to read a Gospel passage and reflect on what he is saying. Maybe try doing this twice a week and then increase it over time. Two mornings of the week, you find 10 quiet minutes to sit and read one of the Gospels, such as Mark. This will begin the journey of following Jesus closer and soon his sandals will cast dust upon you. We will continue our journey in the next article…..

Often people will pick up a book to read during the summer. I really enjoy reading with my morning cup of coffee so I generally go through about three or four books in a summer. One that I am just finishing up is called “Into His Likeness”. It is written by Catholic author and speaker Edward Sri who works with the Augustine Institute and the Catholic online resource Formed. Ed Sri, in this book “Into His Likeness”, in a very simple way invites you to discover what it means to be a follower of Jesus. He helps us to experience the difference between ‘knowing about Jesus’ and ‘knowing Jesus personally’. He states that as Catholic’s “we must go deeper and consider what’s happening interiorly in our spiritual lives. Being a disciple of Jesus is not about merely going through the motions with our faith – attending Mass, saying some prayers, and avoiding bad things”. Something I have enjoyed about this book from the very beginning is how it continues to invite us to consider “Am I journeying with Jesus as a Catholic allowing him to transform my life?”. Are you familiar with paintings by Caravaggio? If not please look up his painting portraying the ‘Call of Matthew’. It might just help you experience Jesus anew in your life and his invitation for you to follow him a little more closely. Ed Sri uses this image to help us to consider we are all called by Jesus to get up from our ordinary perception as Catholics and follow him as his disciple. 

Ed Sri writes in his book “Into His Likeness”, that Jesus’ invitation for us to follow him is “life shaping”. I wonder if Matthew knew that kind of experience was about to happen for him when Jesus called him as a tax collector to follow him. In last week’s bulletin I suggested to look up the painting by Caravaggio where Jesus invites Matthew. I included it this week. Imagine sitting with Matthew right now and asking him, “How was it ‘life shaping’ for him to be called by Jesus?” As I stated last week this book really helps me to grow as a Catholic in terms of considering how my faith is strengthened by following Jesus. Ed Sri’s encouragement about answering Jesus to ‘Follow me’ should not be looked upon as ‘following the disciples in scripture’ just to see the different places and experiences. Ed Sri helps us to consider a different way of life for our lives in what we experience by following Jesus. The author is speaking about how Jesus’ words and deeds should be making an impact on our own words and deeds in our life as a Catholic. Reflecting daily on the gospels show us how the disciples noticed that Jesus wakes up early to spend time in prayer. The gospels show us how they witnessed the daily compassion of Jesus in helping others. The disciples listened intently to his teachings so their hearts were changed. Over time, the author writes, they began to absorb this way of life. As we know, Matthew’s life was dramatically transformed because of following Jesus. How has yours?

...from the desk of our staff member for Evangelization and Adult Faith Formation Darrin Nelson