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1% Challenge

Each day a different staff shares with you a way to pray with the Scripture!

Read: Mark 6:30-44

So many times in Scripture, we see Jesus being hospitable, feeding His followers.  He sets the standard for us.  I ask myself:

·       Why does He do this?

·       Is He trying to accomplish more than taking care of a physical hunger?

In Jesus never neglecting His followers’ needs, He relied on the Apostles to help Him.  I’m often surprised at their sometimes frivolous and idiotic questions!  Yet, Jesus remains calm and informs them to follow His instructions.

·       Would I have done what Jesus asked or would I have encouraged some to go on their way as there just was not enough food?

Thank goodness the Disciples did find five loaves and two fish but who among them would have ever thought these morsels would end up feeding 5,000.  Trust and obedience come into play in this passage. 

·       What other virtues/attributes can be applied here?

·       Do you resonate with any of my questions?

·       Is this season of Advent calling you to trust Scripture, God’s Word, God’s invitation?

Together, let’s make a commitment to do just that!

Joyce Clawson, Associate Director of Faith Formation, Grades 1-5

Your faith has saved you

Read: Mark 5:25-34

I have always liked this story because the woman was simple and didn’t make a big deal of facing Jesus.  She had faith that she would be healed by just touching Jesus’ clothes.  She also knew that there was a connection- that Jesus’ power had healed her.  I think she was surprised that Jesus wanted to find out who had touched him.

Jesus has touched my life.  A few weeks ago I was visiting a parishioner at Mercy Hospital.  As I was walking to his room I overheard a woman on the phone saying “ I just want to talk to her one more time.”  I could tell she was troubled about someone special.  I said a prayer for her as I walked to the person’s room.  After I had visited the person, I felt a need to see if that woman was in the family waiting room.  I went in she and her family were there.  I told her who I was and that I had heard her stressful conversation.  I asked her if she would like to pray for her sister’s procedure.  She was very grateful. 

I wouldn’t normally  seek out a stranger, but I could fee feel Jesus’ call to take a risk.      

Sr Susan Widdel, Pastoral Minister/RCIA

Jesus calms the storm

Read Mark 4:35-41 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

At first, setting aside fifteen minutes to pray with this short scripture passage seemed like too much time for too few words. What would I be able to accomplish in this time, was it even worth it, etc, etc?

Foolish man.

To experience this day’s text, I sat in our parish’s Eucharistic chapel. It was a sunny morning and the light played through the windows and lit the room with soft and bright colors. I read through the text above and hoped God would have time to say something to me.

I sat on the east side of the chapel, where I usually sit when I go there to pray.  This time, though, I noticed that I across from the window with the representation of Mary’s Immaculate Heart, and it caught my mind in a new way. My father-in-law had open-heart surgery last week, and so the heart has been on my mind. The heart window in this chapel captured my imagination and the Spirit opened me to pray for my father-in-law as he recovers.

Over the years I have done a few silent retreats, and I have noticed that no matter the length of time I have to spend in silence, there is often a certain trajectory. For part of the the time, I fuss. I have brought too many things with me. I wonder if it’s worth the time. Can God speak into all of this stuff?

Then, the Spirit opens me to be okay with where I am—maybe now I’m in the boat with Jesus, “just as he was.” But there is still no stillness—I have to be busy about the work of this time!

Finally, the Spirit leads me to prayer and to trust Jesus. Jesus stills me. In this passage he taught me that yes, he does respond to my needs when I ask in faith, when I trust that yes, God can and will speak into the chaos and storm. I am calmer and understand now that I actually had too little time and too many words of scripture—there is so much blessing and peace and teaching available to me in this passage. Just fifteen minutes?

At the end I pray, “Thanks be to God,” for the blessings of this time, and I pray for the grace to trust Christ’s presence amid tasks and commitments and distractions and desires that swirl around. I pray that God will lead me often to dedicate time and space for prayer, and that over these my spirit will become tethered more closely to the Spirit which binds all creation together.

“Peace! Be still!” Jesus says to us. If the wind and the sea obey him, can we, his people, do the same?

Kyle Lechtenberg, Director of Music and Liturgy

Read: Luke 7:36-50

Oh what a blessing sight is.  It’s a gift really, to see; but yet, so often, I see only with my eyes.  My eyes relay to my brain what is before me.  My brain then determines where to file this information, how to process it, what to do with it -  do I need to take action, do I need to ignore, is it worth my time?   My brain has been designed, it seems, to take me to judgement as quickly as possible.  Much like the “sinful woman” in today’s scripture, so easily judged and dismissed by Simon upon his first glance of her.  How does what he saw in front of him, with his own eyes, match Jesus’ vision of this woman? The scripture makes a point of saying she stayed behind Jesus, bathing his feet, anointing him; yet he “saw” her.  Without looking at her, it would seem, He SAW her…her pain, her sense of unworthiness, her faith. Our brain, just as the secular world around us, pushes us to make judgements.  Do I take the time to see with my faith, to understand more fully?  Do I see as God would have me see?  What a blessing sight is… how blessed am I to be seen by God.

Shelley Tegels, Director of Our Lady’s Little Learners Preschool

Jesus forgives and heals

Read: Mark 2:1-12

Read the scripture. Who are you? Are you the paralytic or one of the friends? Are you a scribe, or are you in the crowd? Are you Jesus?

Read it again and imagine yourself in the story.  Use all of your senses – sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste.  Notice any feelings that come up – frightened or excited, happy or angry – feelings are an important indicator of what is happening inside of us. Explore your feelings and see where they take you.  Immerse yourself into the storyline, allowing the spirit to guide you. 

Some of my own examples:

  • Through my divorce I was often the paralytic, carried to Jesus by many.

  • Sometimes I’m a grumbling scribe. Jesus knows my heart even if I don’t say anything out loud.

Who are you in the story today?  What is Jesus trying to tell you? What do you want to talk with Jesus about?

Patty Mayer, Director of Adult Faith Formation

Read: Mark 1:21-39

Purpose.jpg

We all lead busy lives. Work, family, faith, volunteer work. Jesus also had a busy schedule. He was always preaching, teaching and healing. Jesus tell us that this was his purpose for being here. Lately I have been contemplating my purpose for being here. What has God sent me to do? In my prayer time, I use art to help me think through this question. Read today’s scripture along with looking at this artwork and contemplate your purpose. What were you sent to do in our life

Mary Reichter, Bookkeeper

Put out into the deep

Read: Luke 5:1-11

After teaching the crowds, Jesus asked Peter to go out to deeper waters and cast the nets, and the nets filled with fish to the breaking point!   How does Peter respond?

Peter doesn’t respond, “Cool, we should start a fishing company!”   For all the times we talk about Peter “not understanding”, Peter’s words in this first encounter are honest and self-aware:  “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

Like you and I, Peter is a sinner.  In my imagination, I watch Jesus smile at him and in four powerful words, “Do not be afraid…,” Jesus invites Peter, all of us, to realize that we’re ready to follow Him, that our sinfulness will not prevent Him from seeking and bringing us to Himself.

In this story, we’re asked to join Peter, to put out “into the deep.” I think this scripture presents us with a great question for prayer and reflection, “What do we fear and what’s holding us back from putting out into the deep?”    

Randy Hendersen, Director of Youth Ministry

Jesus offers us living water

Read: John 4:1-42

I struggle to “find time” to quiet myself enough to invest in a relationship between myself and an “unseen” God, a God I can “only read about” in Scripture.” Why do I struggle? Perhaps it is because I, like many others in our culture, want “physical proofs.” But do I really?

“What if I did encounter someone who challenged my understanding of the world, the way Jesus challenged the understanding of the Samaritan woman’s world?” I would most likely write them off and go about my life, especially if they were claiming to be God.

And yet, one lesson to be learned, I think, from today’s reading is this, “be honest with Jesus.” The Samaritan woman was honest. Jesus acknowledged her honesty, didn’t condemn her, yet challenged her to go beyond what she thought she “knew,” and then gave her the freedom to choose her next steps. When we choose wisely we can draw others closer to Jesus too, just like the Samaritan woman.

Tom Primmer, Director of Faith Formation Grades 9-12

The Baptism of Jesus

Read: Matthew 3:13-17

The first time we meet John is in Luke’s Gospel when Mary goes to visit Elizabeth. John leaps in Elizabeth’s womb in the presence of Jesus.  In this Gospel John again recognizes Jesus. 

Do I recognize Jesus? 

I often wonder, was Mary there? Was his mom there to witness this moment in his faith journey? I imagine she was and that she may have even felt the presence of the spirit and heard the spoken words of God. 

When have I witnessed the faith of another and felt the presence of God?

Many artists have tried to capture the image of Jesus’ baptism – the holy spirit as a dove and a parting of the clouds.  Close your eyes and imagine yourself in that moment, a moment of conversion or renewal or revelation.  Imagine the spirit coming upon you and God speaking “This is my beloved child, with whom I am well pleased.”

How does it feel to know that you are beloved?

Patty Mayer, Director of Adult Faith Formation

Who do you say that I am?

Read: Matthew 16:13-17

Over the years I have found that the best teachers are the ones who know the right questions to ask. Questions that make you think, make you go deeper within yourself, make you want more. Oh yes, questions can be challenging and it would often be easier to just get the “right answer”, no work, no fuss, and probably no growth! Jesus is a great teacher because he knows the right questions to ask. Have you ever sat down and just looked for all the questions Jesus asked to make his listeners think? I find that a great way to pray. To allow Jesus to ask me the question he asked his Apostles and disciples. The question posed today is a great example. “Who do you say that I am?” As I have taken this question to prayer at various times, I have been challenged to do more than just repeat the “facts” I know about Jesus, but to have to wrestle with who do I believe he really is in my life. Is he truly “my” Lord, “my” Savior? And if I answer positively to that, what does that mean for my life that particular day. Sit with this question or sit with any question Jesus asks and allow it to be his question to you.

Fr Steve Orr, Retired

You have been challenged! Do you accept the challenge?

Watch this video to learn more about the 1% challenge!