Covenant of One: Week Two

As explained in earlier posts, our parish is in the midst of the five-week effort to help us all grow as disciples and stewards. Our "Covenant of One" initiative encourages a commitment of

ONE hour of prayer each week and above what you already offer.

ONE hour of time/talent each week to Christ’s work—of your choice.

ONE hour of income each week to God’s work in our church.

This week we focus on service, making a gift of time and talent....

Then I will make my covenant between me and you

and will greatly increase your numbers.

                                                                                    - Genesis 17

There are only three things that will last forever.  God, God’s word, and people.  Everything else is temporary, and this is most important to consider when we choose how we spend the time in our lives. 

Legendary American Preacher William Sloane Coffin of Riverside Church in New York City once observed, “In the Holy Land are two ancient bodies of water. Both are fed by the Jordan River. In one, fish play and roots find sustenance. In the other, there is no splash of fish, no sound of bird, no leaf around. The difference is not in the Jordan, for it empties into both, but in the Sea of Galilee: for every drop taken in one goes out. It gives and lives. The other gives nothing. And it is called the Dead Sea.”  As Christians we know that the gospel of Jesus gives us life through the Holy Spirit.  This one life we are given is to be shared with God’s beloved world, broken by Sin.

Could you take one hour every week, and let it be counted forever?  What can you do that will enrich the lives of those around you, and the life of our parish community?  Take a moment and consider what you enjoy doing, and what are your passions.  What gifts has God placed in you, and how can these gifts naturally flow out in service?  There is a reason you have a talent, let’s put it into action!

The Matt Fradd Effect

When I watched the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in August, I experienced what's meant by “hitting the ball out of the park.” Yesterday I saw it again when youthful evangelist and anti-pornography crusader Matt Fradd spoke first to priests and then to some 750 other men last night.

Matt’s talk at the Archdiocesan men’s conference MAN ALIVE! is just too rich to summarize here. He addressed the theme of Christian manhood with humour and intensity, holding the attention of his diverse audience from start to finish.

Particularly effective was the question he asked the evening crowd: “What kind of man do you want to be?” After giving the audience time to think, he pointed out that the answers of virtually every man in the church were no different than what God wants for men.

In his talk to the priests, Matt not only summarized just about everything I’d ever learned about sexual addiction, but also provided superb advice for confessors. I had to smile at this proof of the way we've learned to welcome the wisdom of the lay faithful (and the young lay faithful, at that).

Again, it’s not possible to summarize Matt's dynamic 90-minute presentation to priests. But I think I owe it to the blogosphere to highlight some of the resources he shared with us. One of them comes from his current employer, Covenant Eyes, an internet accountability and filtering service. It sounds like a particularly effective means of both limiting and monitoring children’s use of the internet, while providing an excellent resource for adults either to avoid entirely the problem of internet pornography or to deal with the dark places they may already have encountered therein.

The Covenant Eyes link cvnteyes.co/hardcoretruth offers both a free eBook and a free talk.

Matt’s own website The Porn Effect—recently redesigned by our own Vancouver Christian media gurus Glass Canvas—provides excellent tools for both men and women struggling with pornography addiction, educates their loved ones, and offers a ‘battle plan’ with five steps to removing pornography from one’s life.

Of particular interest to priests on The Porn Effect site is a podcast interview Matt conducts with an American priest, Father Sean Kilcawley.

He also endorsed Integrity Restored, the website of Dr. Peter Klepinos, a Catholic psychologist willing to work with clients by phone and by Skype.

Fortify is a video-based program offering information, motivation, and tools in the battle against pornography that Matt also described to the priests. It's inexpensive, and offers 52 short videos that can be watched on a smartphone or tablet, along with some other helpful tools.

A print resource that Matt recommended for priests and counsellors is the book "Treating Pornography Addiction," by Dr. Kevin Skinner. From the sounds of it, Dr. Skinner's explanation of the "activation sequence" would be helpful for everyone to know. You can download the book on Kindle for ten dollars.

I've been keeping track of addiction recovery resources ever since Father Emmerich Vogt's retreat to Vancouver priests introduced me to the Christian roots of the Twelve Steps. (See my posts on Candeo here and here.)  But Matt's brief visit has left me and countless others with a whole new toolkit, for which I'm deeply grateful.

Australian is a language in which I'm not fluent, but I think the best way to close is something like "Good going, mate.. er, I mean Matt!"

"What Can I Give?"

Last week, our parish launched a five-week initiative to promote spiritual growth. We called it "The Covenant of One" because everyone's being asked to offer God each week an hour of prayer, an hour of service, and one hour's wages.

I will post the hand-outs (developed by parishioners) on my blog each week .

One wonderful part of the initiative is a hymn with lyrics written by a parishioner just for the Covenant of One. Each verse develops an aspect of this new approach to stewardship. Our choirs introduced the hymn this week, and for the next month the congregation will sing it each Sunday using cards we're placing in the pews.

Take a look! The tune will be familiar to many as "Tell Out My Soul." (Click on the music for a full view.)

The Covenant of ONE

Today our parish launched a new stewardship initiative, conceived and planned by parishioners. It will unfold over the next four weeks.

Here is the overview--stay tuned for more!

“I will establish my covenant with you…” -  Genesis 6: 18

The fall is here, and families and people are back into the routine of the school and work year.  It’s a time of year when it is important to consider the daily and weekly rhythm of life.  Why not ask yourself two simple questions:

“How can I live my ‘Sunday morning faith’ every day of the week?”

“How can I enrich my spiritual life and go deeper with God?"

Figuring out the answers to these soulful questions requires a sanctified curiosity.  Figuring how to live them out and “practice what we preach” requires a selfless commitment.  In the Bible this special kind of commitment between human beings and God is called a Covenant.

The Bible speaks of covenants between God and Noah (Genesis 9); God and Abraham (Genesis 12); as well as God and the people of Israel through Moses in (Exodus 19).  The gospels remind us that at the Last Supper (Matthew 26) Jesus proclaimed a new covenant in his blood between sinful humanity and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

A covenant with God is far more than a contract.  It is a prayerful willingness to enter deeper into relationship with the Almighty and to practice the self-giving love of the gospel.  We all want our lives to be meaningful in so many ways—work, family, our relationship with God.  Is there a simple way to do this?

One approach that we can all consider is to make a covenant with God, a covenant that is exercised through the parish but is between you and our loving Creator.  There is a way to do this that will be outlined in more detail over the next four weeks of the fall.  It is called the “Covenant of One.”

The Covenant of One is a very simple and meaningful concept to bring a taste of the eternal into your everyday life.  It means that you make a commitment in three areas of spiritual life every week, to push you forward in embracing God’s work in your life and in our parish.

The Covenant of One asks that you decide to pray for one hour every week, volunteer your time for one hour per week, and give one hour’s wages.

Pray

As in all relationships, communication is the foundation to growth and joy.   Do you speak to God in prayer, and can you hear the Holy Spirit guiding you in your daily life?  This can be a real challenge, but there is no more wonderful thing than to walk within the will of God and experience his grace palpably through prayer. 

Volunteer

Do you look back on your week and wonder what you accomplished?  Commit to give just ONE hour every week, dedicated to the work of the eternal, to be the hands and feet of Christ.  Live every day with an “expectation of revelation” and experience the wonder of knowing it is “more blessed to give than receive.” 

Give 
We live in an age of incredible luxury and each of us has moments when our conscience asks us whether we really need that new gadget when there is so much need in the world, indeed on our front doorstep.  Are we collecting trinkets or gaining treasures?  One concrete way to share our gifts more is to resolve to give ONE hour of our weekly wages to God’s work.

Hence: we are all invited to make our own “Covenant of One” with Our Lord.  Let us all join together in this endeavor!

	ONE hour of prayer each week over and above what you already offer. ONE hour of time/talent each week to Christ’s work—of your choice. ONE hour of income each week to God’s work in our church.

 

Father Benedict: A Man Who Shaped My Life

Most of you know something about Father Benedict Joseph Groeschel, but there is much to know, so I thought I'd begin with some details taken from his official obituary, with  a few additional comments of my own.

Fr. Benedict was a founder of the Community of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFR), a
reforming religious community started in 1987 by eight Capuchin Friars based in New York City.

He had been ordained for the Capuchins, a Franciscan order, and trained as a psychologist at Columbia University. He put his remarkable gifts and multiple skills to work as director of spiritual development for the Archdiocese of New York, director of a retreat house for priests in suburban Larchmont, New York, and taught Pastoral Psychology for many years at St. Joseph’s Seminary.

He was particular noted for the compassionate and professional help he provided to bishops and priests experiencing personal difficulty.

Alongside these enduring commitments, Fr. Benedict was a renowned writer, preacher, retreat master, and evangelist on Catholic television. But his greatest joy was serving the poor and underprivileged. Founder of St. Francis House and Good Counsel Homes, he served for fourteen years as chaplain at Children’s Village, a residential facility for troubled children.

Always deeply concerned with the welfare of others, he tirelessly provided food, clothing, and assistance to people in need—people he always considered his friends

The night after Father Benedict died, I was called to anoint a women at the emergency room of the local hospital. The patient was conscious and devout, so we had a nice chat, about confession among other things.

During our conversation, the sick woman quoted "the friar from EWTN."  Realizing that she was speaking about Father Benedict, I told her that he had just died. We then talked about her memories of his teaching and his engaging style; it comforted both of us--I in my sadness, she in her illness.

It struck me forcefully that I'd just glimpsed something of the influence of this tireless preacher of the Gospel. Less than 24 hours after his death, and thousands of miles away, Father Benedict's influence lived on.

And live on it will, not least in the books that capture some of his countless words. My own stack, made up of gifts received over more than a quarter century of his kindness, is almost a foot high and would be higher still if my parishioners and friends were better at returning books they borrow!

Of his many books, there's no question which was the author's favourite: I Am With You Always, a study of personal devotion to Jesus Christ among Protestants, Orthodox and Catholic Christians, was Father Benedict's magnum opus, and he was justly proud of it.

My own favourite was Stumbling Block and Stepping Stones. In this 2002 book, Father Groeschel provided spiritual answers to psychological questions, combining his deep knowledge of Christian spirituality with his early training as a psychologist.

But the book that comes first to mind on the day of his funeral is Travelers Along the Way: Men and Women Who Shaped My Life. The obvious reason is that Father Benedict was a man who certainly shaped my life over many years. The other reason is that the table of contents of that book could form the outline for a biography of this remarkable man.

In the 28 chapters of Travelers Along the Way, we meet Mother Teresa, no fewer than three cardinals, and some very distinguished theologians. But we are also introduced to Mr. Graff, an Orthodox Jewish dry cleaner he knew in childhood, and Sister Teresa Maria, who taught young Peter Groeschel--as he then was--in grade school.

Without doubt, Father Benedict was no respecter of persons. He moved easily with the famous and indeed with the rich, on whom he relied to help the poor of New York City, his greatest love. He told me once that I could reach him in California, where he was giving a retreat at The Gallows, which I thought was a terrible name for a retreat house.  I was much relieved to discover that he was actually giving a retreat on the estate of the wine-making Gallo family!

Perhaps because of his health problems, but more likely because of his perspective on life, Father Benedict often spoke of the life to come.  He was very attached to the doctrine of Purgatory, reassuring many of us by his fondness for the place. He often remarked that he'd be quite satisfied to land there when his time came, because everyone in Purgatory knows they will end up in Heaven.

Somehow I don't think he will be given the experience; his sufferings in later life were more than enough to prepare him for an express trip to the Kingdom.

Although Travelers Along the Way was written four years before he died, it looked ahead to his ultimate destination. "Even though many of these fellow travelers have gone home to God long ago," Father Benedict wrote, "their influence persists as I continue my journey along life's way. I look forward to encountering them once again in the life that infinitely transcends this one, the eternal life we have been granted through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the life that is the ultimate goal of all journeys."

I'm confident that Father Benedict's influence on me will persist for the rest of my journey; I am equally confident that he has not only encountered his friends again but that he has now met face to face the one Friend he served so tirelessly and so well as priest, preacher, and shepherd of the poor.

May he rest in peace.