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Catholic Education Week will be held this year from May 5-12, 2013. This year, the theme for Catholic Education week for the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board is “Growing Together in Faith”, which is a nice alignment with the Church’s theme of the Year of Faith.  

Education Week is a great opportunity to show our appreciation to all involved in our Catholic schools.

+Jean-Louis Plouffe – Bishop of Sault Ste. Marie

For more information:

Ask for the light of the Holy Spirit to see through God’s eyes

1. What gifts I have received during the day that I can be thankful for.
2. Where God has been working during the day in my life; where I am cooperating with God today; where I am cooperating with the sinful element within me and not doing what I want to do in the Lord (Rom. 7:15-20).
3. The forgiveness God offers for the times when I have not been attentive and responsive to God’s presence and love in my life.
4. How God’s help will guide me through tomorrow, and that God´s Spirit will be with me.

-John Veltri SJ (adapted)

Prayer for Humility

Let me have too deep a sense of humor ever to be proud.
Let me know my absurdity before I act absurdly.
Let me realize that when I am humble I am most human,
most truthful,
and most worthy of your serious consideration.

-Daniel A. Lord SJ

Daniel lord (1888-1955) was an indefatigable pamphleteer who was also
well known for his work with youth.

I beg of you, my Lord,
to remove anything which separates
me from you, and you from me.

Remove anything that makes me unworthy
of your sight, your control, your reprehension;
of your speech and conversation,
of your benevolence and love.

Cast from me every evil
that stands in the way of my seeing you,
hearing, tasting, savoring, and touching you;
fearing and being mindful of you;
knowing, trusting, loving, and possessing you; I
being conscious of your presence
and, as far as may be, enjoying you.

This is what I ask for myself
and earnestly desire from you. Amen.

-Blessed Peter Faber S]

Peter Faber (1506-46) was one of the original companions of St. Ignatius.
Ignatius considered Faber most gifted in directing the spiritual exercises.

My God, I love you above all things
and I hate and detest with my whole soul
the sins by which I have offended you,
because they are displeasing in your sight,
who are supremely good and worthy to be loved.
I acknowledge that I should love you
with a love beyond all others,
and that I should try to prove this love to you.
I consider you in my mind as infinitely greater
than everything in the World,
no matter how precious or beautiful.
I therefore firmly and irrevocably resolve
never to consent to offend you
or do anything that may displease your sovereign goodness
and place me in danger of falling from your holy grace,
in which I am fully determined
to persevere to my dying breath. Amen.
-St. Francis Xavier S]

Francis Xavier (1506-52) was one of the original companions of St. Ignatius. He spent his life as a missionary in India and Japan.

From: Jean-Louis Plouffe
Bishop’s Office Bishop of Sault Ste. Marie

In his opening address to the Fathers of Vatican II Council in 1962, Pope John XXIII said: “Not only must we keep the faith as though we were preoccupied by the past, but we must joyfully and without fear undertake the task required of us by the times. We must welcome the Council as a call to enter into a renewed experience of the  presence of Christ in the heart of humanity.” Fifty years later, these words have not lost their meaning. They are still challenging for us. They help us discern what could be for us personally, and “as Church,” a good Lenten season in this Year of Faith.

Vatican II was meant to be an update of the Church in order to better pass on its message to the women and men of that time. Again we are invited to an update to accept the challenge of a “new” evangelization. This evangelization will truly be “new” if, for the love of Church, we dare venture off the beaten track and think outside the box, allowing for new pastoral practices. For this, we have to take a new look at the world and the Church, and risk new ways and means. When all is said and done, we need to speak and act with a renewed heart.

Faced with the new challenge required by the spreading of today’s Gospel and the somber reality of a Church in decline for many reasons, one can indeed feel overwhelmed. Lent is the prime time to be open to the inspiration of the Spirit so that we can welcome the reassuring presence of the Risen One.

We can always dream of ideal circumstances to evangelize, yet the human heart will always be divided. One side resists the proclamation of the Gospel, the other longs for it. We must find the words to reach out to the side of the heart that awaits Christ. To do this, our best guide is our faith in Him which gives meaning to our life and permits us to envisage the future with confidence. God will always be, both disturbing and reassuring. This lent, will we allow ourselves to be disturbed, to recognize with courage and humility that we may very well be the first obstacle for evangelization of our time and for the rejuvenation of our Church? “The work of new evangelization” declares Benedict XVI, “consists in presenting once more the beauty and perennial newness of the encounter with Christ to the often distracted and confused heart and mind of the men and women of our time, above all to ourselves.”

Lent, in this Year of Faith, invites us to a moment of honest truth in our lives. Above all, let us acknowledge that we, laity and clergy, are the first who are in need of conversion! We are in need of conversion in how we engage in dialogue with those who have left our  parishes. We are in need of conversion in how we welcome those returning after having been away for a period of time. We are in need of conversion to take on the goodness and generosity, the patience and respect of “the mere servants who have done no more than their duty” (Luke 17.10).

Let us take advantage of the “acceptable time” (2 Cor. 6.2) given to us to turn toward Christ allowing us to once again be fascinated by God. It is from our relationship with the One who dwells within us that we become the evangelizers of a new day. May our hearts be awakened on our journey toward Easter!

Fraternally yours in Christ,
February 6, 2013  

Jean-Louis Plouffe
Bishop’s Office Bishop of Sault Ste. Marie

From Jesuits.ca, IgNation Blog:

igNation

Some 400 years ago, the Jesuits working in Canada sent letters back to France recounting their daily life and mission. The Jesuit Relations (Relations des jésuites) cover a period of 200 years.

The Jesuit Relations were avidly and widely read along with the works of Cartier and Champlain. If twitter, email, facebook and blogs had been around at that time, no doubt the Jesuits would have used them.

Today we continue the tradition with igNation – our Jesuit Relations 2.0 – which speaks of our life and mission along with lives and works of our collaborators in today’s world.

Visit  igNation Blog

http://blog.jesuits.ca/