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We Are Family

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“My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”

Today’s Gospel is one of the ones that critics use to argue against Mary’s perpetual virginity (I’m talking about the “brothers” part but that’s a topic for another blog post). I believe that today’s Gospel offers us something else – a reminder about the universality of the Church, that all are welcomed into God’s family.

Jesus was surrounded by a large crowd, so much so that the ones whom Jesus loved – his mother and his “brothers” (also used for nephews, nieces, cousins, half-brothers and half-sisters) could not get to Him. Someone passed along the news that Jesus’ loved ones were waiting for Him and Jesus responded with the above.

With His response, Jesus said that all who were in the crowd were his mother and his brothers as they were the ones hearing His word and being moved to action. The crowd wasn’t taking the place of the Blessed Mother and His loved ones but, in essence, the crowd was becoming part of Jesus’ family.

God created each and every one of us to be a part of His heavenly family, and the entirety of salvation history, from Adam and Eve culminating all the way up to the New Covenant and the person of Jesus Christ, is the story of God working to bring us into His family fold.

Here, Jesus is saying that being a part of His family, God’s family, is more than just the physical bond of flesh and blood. Rather, it’s about obedience to God’s word.

This is a constant theme in the Gospels. Just a few chapters later in Luke, a woman calls out to Jesus, proclaiming blessedness on His mother Mary (11:28). Jesus responds here similarly, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in order to fully be a member of God’s family, we must take a hard look at ourselves. Have we heard the word of God and heeded it, obeyed it? Or are we hearing the word of the world and following that instead?

Dive deep into the Word of God in Scripture. Listen to the Word of God in prayer. Take it, internalize it and then proceed to action.

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Erin is a Cleveland native and graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville. Following graduation, she began volunteering in youth ministry at her home parish of Holy Family Church. Her first “big girl” job was in collegiate sports information where, after a busy two years in the profession on top of serving the youth, she took a leap of faith and followed the Lord’s call to full-time youth ministry at St. Peter Church. She still uses her communication arts degree as a freelance writer and statistician, though. You can catch her on old episodes of the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter @erinmadden2016.

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Sabbath Rest

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The Pharisees are at it again – trying so hard to catch Jesus “in the act,” committing some sort of crime for which they could bring Him down. This time (much like every time), they think they’ve got Jesus since He and his disciples are picking grain on the sabbath.

The sabbath is supposed to be a holy day, a day of rest where no work is done. Clearly, picking grain “goes against the rules” and so the Pharisees question Jesus yet again. And, yet again, Jesus has a response, rooted in the Old Testament and pointing back to David.

Today’s whole Gospel reading revolves around the Pharisees’ misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the sabbath, its rules and how to observe it. For me, today’s Gospel also raises the question about our personal understanding of the sabbath.

Most of us can probably name and recite the Fourth Commandment: “Remember to keep holy the sabbath day.” When translated to the modern day, most of us would probably explain that commandment as being, “Go to Mass every Sunday.” Whether or not we do, indeed, go to Mass every Sunday (outside of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, of course), is a topic for another blog post on another day.

Let’s dive a little deeper into this idea of sabbath, though, and head all the way back to the beginning of the Bible to do so. In the Book of Genesis, chapter 1, God created the world in six days and then rested on the seventh. Why? Not because God was tired from all the hard work of creation. No, the seventh day of rest was intentional. God could have created the entire world in six hours or six seconds but He didn’t. The Hebrew word for seven is “sheva” which is also the Hebrew word for covenant. God was creating a covenant with his creation and the sign of His covenant was the sabbath day, a day of rest.

Also in the story of creation, God created man on the sixth day. Man’s first full day on the newly created earth is a day of rest. Before work, before anything else, man rested. The end of the creation cycle, that seventh day of rest, is the same end for which God created man – to rest with Him and in Him, to live in that original state of holiness in the garden. We still have that same end today, to rest with God and in God and to live in a state of holiness in the eternal garden of heaven.

So the question is – how seriously are you taking the sabbath? Are you spending intentional time with the Lord? Are you slowing down and keeping Him at the center of your day, as the priority? If not, it’s not too late to begin.

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Erin Madden is a Cleveland native and graduate of the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Following graduation, she began volunteering in youth ministry at her home parish of Holy Family Church. Her first “big girl” job was in collegiate sports information where, after a busy two years in the profession on top of serving the youth, she took a leap of faith and followed the Lord’s call to full-time youth ministry at St. Peter Church. She still hopes to use her communication arts degree as a freelance writer and statistician, though. You can catch her on the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter @erinmadden2016.

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Wake Up Your Faith

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Before you read any further, pause. Take a few minutes to evaluate your spiritual life.

How is your relationship with God? Are you on fire, full of zeal for the Lord? Are you keeping the Lord at arm’s length? Or are you just trudging through, day by day?

What about your prayer life? Are you committing to prayer and dialogue with God every day? Or just when it’s most convenient to you?

Have you followed the Ten Commandments and lived out the Beatitudes? Or is your life muddled by sin and shortcomings?

Well, consider this your wake-up call. I’m considering it to be mine.

Today’s Gospel reminds us of the need to be vigilant, “for you do not know on which day your Lord will come” and “for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Our faith teaches us that Jesus Christ will come again. In fact, we profess it each Sunday at Mass when we say “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.” Whether or not those words truly sink into our heads and hearts is a different story but it is true. There will be a second coming.

With this knowledge in mind, using the self-evaluation you just did, are you ready? Are you ready for the second coming? Or, in another sense, are you ready for your judgment day, when you meet your Creator? The life that we live right now, the decisions that we make, determine where we will spend life after death. If we have freely chosen God and loved Him, we are rewarded with eternal life in heaven. If we’ve done the COMPLETE opposite of that, well, we are subject to eternal separation from God in hell. If we’re somewhere in between, the state of purgatory will purify and prepare us for heaven.

The good news is that we have a chance to get ready. We have the chance to change our way of life, to repent of our sins and work hard for the eternal reward of heaven.

So, are you ready?

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Erin is a Cleveland native and graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville. Following graduation, she began volunteering in youth ministry at her home parish of Holy Family Church. Her first “big girl” job was in collegiate sports information where, after a busy two years in the profession on top of serving the youth, she took a leap of faith and followed the Lord’s call to full-time youth ministry at St. Peter Church. She still uses her communication arts degree as a freelance writer and statistician, though. You can catch her on old episodes of the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter @erinmadden2016.

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Faith Over Fear

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Ask any one of my friends – I’m a worrier. Maybe it’s a direct result of growing up with ever-changing Ohio weather and heartbreaking Cleveland sports that I tend to assume the worst in any given situation.

As a direct result of being a worrier, trust in God is always something I’m working on and something people (ex: the priests in my life) are always telling me to do.

Seriously, one recent Friday evening at the parish, I was lamenting a rainy weather forecast while inquiring about a backup plan for an outdoor First Communion group photo when both my pastor and my DRE told me, “Trust in the Lord, it won’t rain tomorrow morning.” And guess what? They were right. While it wasn’t exactly sunny, it did not rain on that beautiful, grace-filled morning.

Now, trusting in the Lord certainly applies in bigger situations than just a simple weather forecast (who can trust meteorologists anyways?), but since that one small instance, it’s been something particularly on my heart, in one way or another. Then I read this weekend’s Gospel passage and it all just hit me.

If we trust in the Lord, with Him working through us, we can do miraculous things. Peter calls out to Jesus who is walking on the water, Jesus tells him to come and so Peter walks on water too. It’s as simple as that.

One thing is key here, I believe – we must cry out to Jesus. Peter didn’t step out on the water on a whim, thinking he’d be able to walk over to Jesus. He called out to Jesus first and then trusted in Jesus’ answer, His command to “come.” And so Peter went – he succeeded in walking on water. I think we always forget about this part at the expense of what follows.

Peter’s trust in the Lord waned at the sight and strength of the fierce wind. That’s when he started sinking into the water, not because of the wind or the waves or the storm but because he stumbled in his trust. But what does Peter do when he’s in trouble? He cries out to the Lord for help and Jesus extends his hand to save him.

How many times do the storms in our lives overtake our life of faith and our trust in the Lord? My guess is far too many. Yet God is there in those dark moments, in the messiness and in the struggles. We can trust that He will be there and we can trust that He will answer our pleas, much like Jesus responded when Peter cried out to Him.

Try to live in the light of Jesus, not in the darkness of fear. And, yes, I’ll try to listen to my own advice too.

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Erin is a Cleveland native and graduate of the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Following graduation, she began volunteering in youth ministry at her home parish of Holy Family Church. Her first “big girl” job was in collegiate sports information where, after a busy two years in the profession on top of serving the youth, she took a leap of faith and followed the Lord’s call to full-time youth ministry at St. Peter Church. She still hopes to use her communication arts degree as a freelance writer and statistician, though. You can catch her on the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter @erinmadden2016.

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Discipleship Has a Price

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What is our mission as Christians? You might respond by quoting Matthew 28:19-20, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” And you would be correct.

In other words, then, our goal, our mission is to make the Kingdom of Heaven present here on earth. But, in order to do that, it is helpful to first understand what the Kingdom of Heaven is.

But there is no possible way for us to understand what the Kingdom of Heaven is like, what with our tendency toward sin and our limited human minds. So what are we to do?

Listen to Jesus, of course! He would know better than anyone what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. He also knows better than anyone just how best to teach us – his followers – and so he employs the help of parables.

We’ve heard a number of parables over the past few Sundays, which taught us about a number of different things. Today, though, we hear about the Kingdom of Heaven being like buried treasure and also like a pearl of great price. How does that help our understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven and so help us on our mission?

The person who finds the treasure buried in a field and buries it again – he goes and sells all that he has in order to purchase the field with the treasure. Same goes for the merchant. Once he finds the pearl of great price, he sells all that he has in order to buy that particular pearl.

We, as humans, understand money and the value attached to items based on their price. Both the land containing the buried treasure and the pearl must have been very expensive – so much so that both the seekers had to sell everything that they had in order to obtain the treasure and the pearl.

This is a harsh reality, one we also understand. Could you imagine emptying your bank accounts and trading in all your assets to purchase one single, solitary item? It’s unthinkable in today’s world and probably just as crazy in ancient times too.

That’s how precious the Kingdom of Heaven is. It is worth more than anything we could ever own or ever imagine and, yet, it is a possession promised to each and every one of us through our Baptism and Jesus’ death on the cross. It is our reward and our end goal – eternal life with God in Heaven – and we must give up all that we have and all that we are in order to achieve the holiness necessary to get there, which involves following in the footsteps of Jesus, preaching His Gospel and performing works of mercy and love.

God never said it would be easy, just like I’m sure it wasn’t easy to sell everything to purchase the land with the treasure and the pearl of great price. Yet it was still done with joy because the beholder knew the true value of the gift he was seeking. May we strive to build the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth with the same joy!

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Erin is a Cleveland native and graduate of the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Following graduation, she began volunteering in youth ministry at her home parish of Holy Family Church. Her first “big girl” job was in collegiate sports information where, after a busy two years in the profession on top of serving the youth, she took a leap of faith and followed the Lord’s call to full-time youth ministry at St. Peter Church. She still hopes to use her communication arts degree as a freelance writer and statistician, though. You can catch her on the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter @erinmadden2016.

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Saintlike Courage

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“Take care you remain tranquil and do not fear; let not your courage fail.”

This line, from today’s first reading, perfectly sums up the saint whose memorial we celebrate today – Saint Kateri Tekakwitha – and also gives us a perfect attitude for the world we face today.

The first Native American to be canonized, Kateri displayed extraordinary courage throughout the whole of her life. Her parents and her little brother died of smallpox which also left Kateri disfigured and partially blind at four years old. Thanks to the presence of Jesuit missionaries in her community, she converted to Christianity at age 19. Although her uncle who was caring for Kateri did not formally oppose her conversion, it was met with disdain in her Native American community. Kateri also refused an arranged marriage, which was the norm for Native American women. Eventually, she left her village and began trekking on foot to Montreal, where she died of tuberculosis at the young age of 26. Finally, Kateri dedicated herself to virginity throughout her life and her virginity is recognized by the Church in today’s memorial.

What bold courage! No wonder Kateri made it all the way to the rank of a saint – overcoming great loss within her family, the obstacles she faced in her conversion, opposing her arranged marriage, dedicating herself to virginity, leaving her community and dying at a young age. Just one of those instances would require overwhelming fortitude, let alone all of them.

We find ourselves in the midst of unprecedented times, which demands great courage from us as well. COVID-19 does not seem to be going anywhere; instead, appears to be surging again in many of our states. The sin of racism continues to stain our country. Our political parties are violently opposed to each other in this election year, and so much more that I’m probably missing.

The first part of the Bible verse quoted at the beginning of this blog also says, “do not fear.” Fear, I believe, is just as prevalent as the issues stated above and, in the face of fear, we need courage. Courage to press forward. Courage to make change. Courage to love one another.

Today, how can we exemplify the courage shown by Saint Kateri Tekakwitha? Pray through this great saint, for an increase in this tremendous virtue of courage/fortitude.

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Erin is a Cleveland native and graduate of the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Following graduation, she began volunteering in youth ministry at her home parish of Holy Family Church. Her first “big girl” job was in collegiate sports information where, after a busy two years in the profession on top of serving the youth, she took a leap of faith and followed the Lord’s call to full-time youth ministry at St. Peter Church. She still hopes to use her communication arts degree as a freelance writer and statistician, though. You can catch her on the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter @erinmadden2016.

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You Are Not the Judge

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We are so quick to judge. Sometimes we are a harsh judge of ourselves but, more often than not, our gaze is turned outward as we choose to judge others instead. We try to offer up explanations as to why they (whoever they are) aren’t good enough or successful enough or worthy enough – using ourselves as the measuring stick. We can all admit instances where we’ve done this in the past.

For example, I used to serve as a room host at Franciscan so that prospective students could spend a night in my dorm room and get a taste of residence hall life. When I got my first-ever room-hosting assignment, you better believe that I wanted to know who this girl was so I looked her up on Facebook. What I found (a post that supported beliefs that contradict the Catholic faith) shaped my whole view of this student’s impending visit and I began to dread her arrival and also anticipate her departure from campus. I clearly thought that I was better than her since I upheld Catholic teaching and I also struggled to see how she would fit in on this holy hill if she did not embrace this particular teaching. That weekend ended up being one of the most notably fun weekends of the entire school year and, after this girl left, I broke down in tears. You see, I recognized the harm that was done in having judged someone. This moment has since stuck with me and will continue to be remembered for the rest of my life.

I share that example because of the “after effect,” that sorrow and remorse I felt in my heart for realizing that I was wrong in having judged that girl. Not to say that I am perfect – I am still human and, therefore, I still struggle with the desire to judge others – but this experience has helped me to stop and think about the consequences of my thoughts and actions. Unfortunately, though, I think that many people have never experienced the “after effects” of their judgments and, overall, I believe this tendency of ours to judge has led to a lot of trouble in our current culture. Society has become conditioned to judge based on skin color, tone of voice, gender, and many other things when it is not our place to judge anyone, ever, at all. We still need to learn to see each other as made in God’s image and likeness, to see each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, first and foremost.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us to look inwardly, to not see the splinter in another’s eye but to actually (finally) notice the wooden beam sticking out of our own eye. In my case, the splinter was this girl’s stance on a particular Church teaching but the wooden beam in my eye is how I looked at her because of that teaching and the judgments I formed in my own heart. It may be a challenge but I would encourage you to start identifying the wooden beams in your life and work hard to remove them. True change cannot happen without interior work, a conversion of our own heart.

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Erin is a Cleveland native and graduate of the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Following graduation, she began volunteering in youth ministry at her home parish of Holy Family Church. Her first “big girl” job was in collegiate sports information where, after a busy two years in the profession on top of serving the youth, she took a leap of faith and followed the Lord’s call to full-time youth ministry at St. Peter Church. She still hopes to use her communication arts degree as a freelance writer and statistician, though. You can catch her on the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter @erinmadden2016.

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The Greatest of These is Love

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“Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”

In hearing the conclusion of today’s Gospel, I cannot help but think about the events taking place in our country over the past couple of weeks. Between the horrific killing of George Floyd and those protests that devolved into violence, it appears that we have forgotten the greatest commandment to “love one another; even as I have loved you.”

If we truly loved one another as Christ has loved us, we would see each human being as our brother or sister in Christ, regardless of race, ethnicity, social status, and the many other labels that society tries to slap on us. If we truly loved one another as Christ has loved us, we would recognize the inviolable human dignity that each person has, being made in the image and likeness of God.

But, what happens when we fail to love? When we fail to see every person as a brother or sister in Christ? When we fail to see their dignity as a human person? When we fail to follow the greatest commandment? Well, it is then that we struggle to follow even the least of the commandments that Jesus has given to us. That’s when sin becomes as prevalent as it is in the world today, when it takes root in our hearts when we struggle to follow Jesus’ commands.

Paragraphs 1868-1869 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church help us to see the connection between personal sin and social structures of sin. “Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them:

-By participating directly and voluntarily in them;
-By ordering, advising, praising or approving them;
-By not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so;
-By protecting evil-doers.

Thus sin makes men accomplices of one another and causes concupiscence, violence, and injustice to reign among them. Sin gives rise to social situations and institutions that are contrary to the divine goodness. ‘Structures of sin’ are the expression and effect of personal sins. They lead their victims to do evil in their turn. In an analogous sense, they constitute a ‘social sin.’”

What is there to do, then? How can we uproot the sin in our own hearts to help bring about change in our lives and in our society? We must pray for the conversion of hearts – our own hearts and the hearts of others. We must look interiorly, identifying those areas of our own life where we struggle with sin and put in the conscious effort to fix those areas. But, most of all, we must love. Through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, love conquered sin and death. Now, when we love, we will conquer hate as well.

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Erin is a Cleveland native and graduate of the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Following graduation, she began volunteering in youth ministry at her home parish of Holy Family Church. Her first “big girl” job was in collegiate sports information where, after a busy two years in the profession on top of serving the youth, she took a leap of faith and followed the Lord’s call to full-time youth ministry at St. Peter Church. She still hopes to use her communication arts degree as a freelance writer and statistician, though. You can catch her on the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter @erinmadden2016.

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To Trust, To Pray

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In preparing for this blog post, I was struck by many things in both the first reading and the Gospel – so much so that I could probably write two different blogs for today – but ultimately felt drawn to comment on the Gospel, “the Prayer of Jesus.”

The entire 17th chapter of John’s Gospel, from which today’s Gospel is taken, is an intercessory prayer spoken by Jesus directly to the Father. Although not speaking to the disciples, He is interceding for them and for those disciples still to come (you and me).

When Jesus prays, something big is about to happen. In Matthew 14:23, Jesus goes up on a mountain to pray, and then what follows? He walks on water. In Luke 6:12, He again goes up a mountain again to pray overnight, and, when day breaks, He chooses His 12 apostles. In the same spirit, Jesus offers this prayer in today’s Gospel and then is arrested and on His way to the cross. When Jesus prays, something big is about to happen.

Why don’t we have that same faith, that same confidence, when it comes to our prayer? I’m not talking about saying the Our Father and then, boom, being able to walk on water but, rather, the act of bringing Him our needs and then trusting that something big will happen in our own lives. This trust is three-fold, I believe.

1. We have to trust that God truly cares about us and loves us. The misconception is that if God doesn’t love us or if He is a vengeful and vindictive God who is hurt by the humanity that betrayed Him, then He won’t even listen to our prayers. Accepting the truth of God’s unending love and mercy deep in our own hearts is key to being able to surrender our wishes, desires, and intentions to Him in prayer.

2. We have to trust in the power of our prayer. Our prayer is powerful because our God is powerful. Nothing is ever too big to ask and God never ignores the smallest of our requests either. All we have to do is bring our needs before Him and He will take care of the rest.

3. We have to trust that our prayers will be heard and answered. What is the point of praying if we believe either that God doesn’t hear us or that He won’t answer our prayers? Or maybe we are afraid of God’s answer not being the answer that we want? In that case…

4. (Bonus one) We have to trust that God’s plan is better than our own, that He will always work for our good. God will answer our prayers in His way. Sometimes His way lines up with our way but that is not often the case. There is always good in His answer because He loves us and desires our good.

Looking at this “Prayer of Jesus,” Jesus knows and trusts His Father’s love, trusts in the power of prayer, trusts that the Father heard what He asked and will answer and always, always trusts in the Father’s plan. Here in Jesus, we have a beautiful model for our own prayer. May we continue to trust in the Lord, placing our needs before Him.

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Erin is a Cleveland native and graduate of the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Following graduation, she began volunteering in youth ministry at her home parish of Holy Family Church. Her first “big girl” job was in collegiate sports information where, after a busy two years in the profession on top of serving the youth, she took a leap of faith and followed the Lord’s call to full-time youth ministry at St. Peter Church. She still hopes to use her communication arts degree as a freelance writer and statistician, though. You can catch her on the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter @erinmadden2016.

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For Love, For Others

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Remain in my love. That’s all we can do (or try to do) right now, right?

At the time of writing and time of publication, we are coming up now on two months of quarantine. That’s two months of working from home, two months of online distance learning for our children, and two months of not being able to see our family and friends, among other things.

Looking at it in other words, that’s two months of solitude, pain, and heartache – let alone two months without the sacraments. Personal prayer feels like the least we can do – not the most we can do – during this time, but even that is a struggle. Remaining in God’s love feels like a chore, but, hey, in this crisis, that’s about all we can try to do.

There needs to be a shift in thinking, though. Remaining in God’s love is not the only thing that we can do but, rather, it’s everything that we GET to do through the freedom we have in Jesus Christ. In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us of the great privilege and joy we get to have in following His commandments, particularly His commandment to “love one another.”

Jesus simply lays it out at first, “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,” and uses Himself as an example – that He has kept the Father’s commandments and so remains in His love. Jesus tells us about these commandments, what they are so that we can share in His joy when we choose to follow them (and Him) in freedom.

But then Jesus gets specific: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” If the way that Jesus loved us was to get up on the cross and die for our sins so that we can live forever in love with Him and the Father in heaven, how can we possibly love as Jesus loves? Seems impossible, right?

Jesus’ love was self-sacrificial and still is. Meanwhile, I believe that the way we’ve loved the best during this time of quarantine is through a self-sacrificial lens. We’ve stayed in our houses to protect the elderly, those with pre-existing conditions, and the frontline healthcare workers (to name a few) – showing them love as well as support through self-sacrifice. In the same spirit, that’s why we haven’t visited our family and friends as we show them love, by protecting them and their health by not putting them at risk. Parents have been self-sacrificing out of love for their children by having to play an integral role in their education and so much more.

Having to abstain from the Eucharist, though, is a self-sacrifice as well, one that ultimately is increasing our love and longing for the Lord, which will have ramifications for the rest of our lives.

As we (hopefully) come to the close of this time of quarantine, let us remember the call to love one another as Christ has loved us so that we may remain in His love both now and forever.

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Erin is a Cleveland native and graduate of the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Following graduation, she began volunteering in youth ministry at her home parish of Holy Family Church. Her first “big girl” job was in collegiate sports information where, after a busy two years in the profession on top of serving the youth, she took a leap of faith and followed the Lord’s call to full-time youth ministry at St. Peter Church. She still hopes to use her communication arts degree as a freelance writer and statistician, though. You can catch her on the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter @erinmadden2016.

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Focus on the Eternal

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I am grieving.

Eight days ago, our governor extended online distance learning for the rest of the school year, so I am grieving for all of my teens who were clinging on to the hope that they would return to school this year. Yesterday, my parish was supposed to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation, so I am grieving for my 8th graders who have worked so hard to prepare for the sacrament and had yet another event in their 8th-grade year canceled or postponed. Today, I was supposed to be on a flight to visit one of my dear college friends, so I am grieving my lost vacation.

I am grieving bigger losses, too – the loss of human contact, like simply being able to hug my family and friends. I am grieving in-person, face-to-face connection, which has been relegated to screens for the time being. And I am still grieving the loss of my grandmother, who passed away 38 long days ago in the midst of this pandemic.

It is good, natural even, to grieve these things. But, you see, the things that I am grieving are all temporal. They’re all of this crazy, twisted world we’re living in right now. Yes, we are of this world, but we were made for something more, something deeper.

Jesus gives us this reminder in today’s Gospel. The crowd asks Jesus for a sign, reminding Him their ancestors wandering in the desert were given manna to eat. Jesus proceeds to explain the sign, saying that it was the Father who provided the bread from heaven, not Moses, but the crowd just continues to focus on the physical aspect of food. They think that Jesus will make it rain with sourdough (too soon?), and then they will physically live forever.

The crowd couldn’t move past the temporal that they were thinking about to the eternal that Jesus was talking about. With the food that He will give, the Bread of Life, we will always be satisfied. When we consume that spiritual food that is the Eucharist, we become united with Jesus – Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity – in anticipation of the union that we will enjoy with the Father in heaven one day.

We were made for this union. We were created by a God who placed deeper desires on our hearts than being able to attend school or to hug my parents. We long for Him and the happiness that only He can provide.

Instead of grieving a postponed Confirmation, I will pray for a deeper longing for the Holy Spirit in the candidates’ hearts. Instead of grieving my lost beach vacation, I will seek rest in the Lord, who desires to flood my heart and my soul with peace and comfort. And I will remind myself that my grandma now enjoys the hope of the Resurrection and that we will reunite in heaven again someday instead of focusing too much on my grief.

In light of today’s Gospel, I would encourage you all to identify what you have lost and are grieving due to this COVID-19 crisis. Ask the Lord to help you put those things in perspective, to see the eternal past the temporal, and remember that He gives us the greatest, most perfect things that our hearts desire and fills those things Himself.

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Erin is a Cleveland native and graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville. Following graduation, she began volunteering in youth ministry at her home parish of Holy Family Church. Her first “big girl” job was in collegiate sports information where, after a busy two years in the profession on top of serving the youth, she took a leap of faith and followed the Lord’s call to full-time youth ministry at St. Peter Church. She still uses her communication arts degree as a freelance writer and statistician, though. You can catch her on old episodes of the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter @erinmadden2016.

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Christ Overcame

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Holy Saturday. A day filled with so much anticipation. In just a mere few hours, Easter Vigils will begin all across the country. The waiting is over. The tomb is empty. Christ is risen; let us rejoice … although our celebrations will be more muted this year, due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

There are those out there who assume that, because there is no public celebration of the Mass, that Easter just won’t happen this year. Others may think that Easter is less significant this year, less important, less meaningful. Still, others will wonder if their churches will “push back” the celebration of Easter to the first available Sunday that parishioners are welcome through the doors.

Easter isn’t canceled. Just because we can’t physically gather in our Church buildings and receive the Body of Christ – the same Body of Christ that hung on the cross and the same Body of Christ that rose from the dead – doesn’t mean that this great celebration won’t take place. In fact, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered on Easter might be more profound this year. Yes, priests offer up the sacrifice on our behalf at every single Mass but, this year, being the sole persons able to participate in (let alone offer up) the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that celebrates the reward of that very same sacrifice of Jesus is just … kind of mind-blowing. The priests will celebrate the Mass on our behalf, just like they’ve been doing for the past, “I don’t know how many” weeks. And they will continue to celebrate Mass on our behalf for the weeks to come.

Easter isn’t any less meaningful this year. Jesus still rose from the dead. Jesus still saved us from the consequences of sin and death, reconciled us with God the Father, and gave us the promise of eternal life. All of these things and more are still important and still present to us, even in the midst of chaos.

And, unfortunately, Easter won’t (and can’t) be pushed back. Easter Sunday is an immovable feast day, which can’t just be celebrated at a later time. Hopefully, we will still be in the midst of the Easter season when our local dioceses will resume public celebration of Masses. You may see some aspects of Easter incorporated in your church whenever that moment comes. Maybe there will be a Renewal of Baptismal Promises with a sprinkling rite during Masses like there would have been on Easter Sunday. Maybe all of the Easter lilies and other flowers will linger on the altar a little longer than normal.

I can assure you, though, that whenever the moment is – the church will be abuzz with unbridled Easter joy. That’s what we have to hold on to during this crisis. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Just like we have hope in the Resurrection, we will have our Easter morning.

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Erin is a Cleveland native and graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville. Following graduation, she began volunteering in youth ministry at her home parish of Holy Family Church. Her first “big girl” job was in collegiate sports information where, after a busy two years in the profession on top of serving the youth, she took a leap of faith and followed the Lord’s call to full-time youth ministry at St. Peter Church. She still uses her communication arts degree as a freelance writer and statistician, though. You can catch her on old episodes of the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter @erinmadden2016.