Monday Message, February 12, 2024
KNOW
Thank you to all those who participated in the Personal Consecration. More than 12,000 families stuck with it and participated all the way through until today, consecration day. Let us continue to pray for one another.
Rite of Election is on Sunday. Adult Confirmation formation is live online. Lenten resources are here. We are hosting a special showing of the new movie, Cabrini, get your tickets here. We gather with the bishop on March 13 to discuss the Directory for Catechesis. Please also save the date of April 13 – an email will come out today regarding this meeting.
Our friends at St Mary Parish, Ridgefield asked us to share this flyer with you about an exciting upcoming event. Mental health is a topic I think we can all agree upon.
Season Eighteen of the Family Bible Challenge launches on Sunday. Please share this link with your families and encourage them to sign up.
There are two job openings at the Catholic Center.
The Office of Safe Environments is looking to fill an 8-hour/week position. This program assistant will work in conjunction with the Safe Environment Training and Compliance Supervisor answering phone calls and assisting callers with their online registration and re-certification and assisting local Safe Environment coordinators with processing and logging criminal background check dates into the VIRTUS system for annual audit reports.
The Office Administrator for the Institute helps run the office. He/she will do this by managing the office of The Institute for Catholic Formation and supporting the day-to-day operation: Events are appropriately coordinated; communication is accurate, effective and timely; budget is well-managed and balanced; and outside vendors feel valued and heard. This is a full time job and, until Friday, was filled by Carmela Williams.
Worry not. Carmela begins today as the Content Specialist, in charge of managing LEAD full time, creating content for the platform, and training parish personnel how to get the most from LEAD. Congratulations Carmela on the promotion. Carmela is out today, but will continue to serve as Office Administrator until the position is filled.
If you know of anyone who could help fill these two postings, please email Mayte for the Safe Environment post and see this page for the Institute post.
REFLECT
As we move into Lent, let us remember the challenge of St. Benedict: He calls us to devote ourselves to prayer. He also tells us to add to the usual measure of our serving by way of private prayer.
To pray is to stand like Moses before the burning bush,
to strip ourselves of all that binds us,
to awaken and experience all things as fresh and new,
to recognize that we are standing on holy ground
and God is present before us and within us.
That sounds nice, but how do we prepare for Lent? Benedict tells us that too:
By refusing to indulge evil habits
By devoting ourselves to prayer
By devoting ourselves to reading
To compunction of heart and self-denial
To abstain from food or drink.
To avoid needless talking…. with more silence.
As we move into Lent, let us take a few moments to slow down and give more time to prayer. Let us try to live in a state of continuous prayer. Let us live the healthier life that we always talk about and show mercy to others – mercy that will be coming from a pure place of prayer and union with God.
Some would say that it is not possible to live in a state of continuous prayer. Let’s try anyway.
LAUGH
