​In the Gospel today, we hear Jesus call his first disciples. “Come after me”, Jesus says to Peter and Andrew, “and I will make you fishers of men”. The thing I’ve always found interesting about Jesus’ call to his first disciples is that they didn’t stop and think about the offer. They didn’t counter Jesus’ offer. They didn’t check with their family members. They didn’t ask for more time. They followed “at once” and “immediately”.
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I’ve always tried to internalize this by accepting Christ’s call without questioning.  Four and a half years ago, I heard a call; and I followed. I ended up here at the Catholic Community of the Holy Spirit; 6 months pregnant, having left the only job I had in my adult life … but Jesus calls on his time, not ours. In the past four and a half years, I’ve tried my hardest to follow Christ and make disciples of the children and youth to which I minster. I sincerely hope I’ve been successful. My time here has marked some of the best moments of my life (bringing both of my sons into this world) and the worst moment of my life (losing my brother far too young). Through it all, I’ve been cloaked in love and support from the clergy, the staff, and each of you, my parish community.

As many of you know by now, my husband has accepted a promotion and he’s relocated to Vermont. Our sons and I will be joining him at the end of March. I feel strongly that Jesus is calling us to live more simply and intentionally and that Jesus is calling me to be more attentive to our children… to make intentional disciples of our children. And so, we will follow this call and see where it takes us! Please pray for me and my family as we embark on this new journey. 

This week is the second of the Advent season. The word Advent comes from the Latin word adventus which means "coming" or "arrival."  During Advent, we are anticipating the coming or arrival of Jesus Christ much as the Jewish people anticipated the coming of their promised Messiah. On the second Sunday of Advent, we light the second purple candle. This candle is sometimes called the Candle of Preparation and it represents the love that God has shared with us in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ who he promised to us. Jesus showed us this love through his sacrifice and death on the cross.
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The second Sunday of Advent also reminds many of us that Christmas is almost here! I’m sure, everyone is excited that Christmas is just three weeks away. Many of us have begun to shop for gifts (if we aren’t already done!), decorate our homes, and maybe even attend a Christmas party or two. But, behind all of the hustle and bustle of the season, there is a much bigger picture; one that John the Baptist reminds us of in Matthew’s Gospel, today.
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In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist advises to “Prepare the way of the Lord”. The Advent season gives us the opportunity to do just that; but sometimes we find ourselves looking passed the Advent season; laser focused on Christmas day. Why do we find the need to rush through this beautiful season of preparation? It is not likely that we would rush through the Christmas holiday in the same way. We spend so much of our time decorating our homes for Christmas, shopping for gifts, and baking cookies; our eye always ahead to the celebration of Christmas. Can we slow down and take a minute to think about what we are really preparing for? Should we be putting more of our anticipation and preparation into how we will receive Jesus on the feast of His birth? Maybe, this Advent season we can all take a minute to reflect on how we are preparing our hearts for God’s greatest gift: his son Jesus Christ. 

I don’t remember ever being taught how to pray. I remember memorizing specific prayers like the “Our Father” and the “Hail Mary”. But, let’s be real, memorizing something is very different from understanding how something works. When I was younger, if I woke, startled, in the middle of the night, I would close my eyes and pray the “Hail Mary” over and over again in my head until I fell asleep. It always calmed my nerves and settled my fears.

I can’t pinpoint when my prayer life changed from reciting memorized prayers to having a relational conversation with God, but I can tell you when I became aware of the shift… when I began writing the opening and closing prayers for the children to recite during Bible Adventures. This is super embarrassing to admit, but I’ll put it out there… the first time I sat down to write these prayers, I drew a complete blank, I had no idea where to start; so I googled “how to write prayers for kids”. What I found were three words: Praise, Thank, and Ask.

In the Gospel today, Jesus cleansed ten leapers. Of those ten leapers only one took the time to return to Jesus; to thank him and glorify him.

“And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.”

​When we pray, it is easy to have the “Ask” part down… “God, please keep my family safe”, “Jesus, help me pass this test”, or “Lord, please let me win the lottery”, but sometimes we leave out the “Praise” and “Thanks”.

​However, the “Praise” and the “Thanks” are really the heart of the relationship; without them, our relationship with Jesus is completely one sided. Would you want to be in a relationship with someone who does nothing but ask you for favors but never once takes time to thank you? When God does answer our prayers, do we want to be of the nine who walked away or the one who returned to thank and glorify Jesus? 

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege and pleasure of teaching 7th grade at our Summer and Beyond religious education program. One of our lessons was focused on the Beatitudes and we spent a lot of time talking about one specific beatitude: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth”. We discussed how being meek was a good thing; many of the kids had previously thought it meant being weak or shy. Meek, however, in the context of the Beatitudes is much more closely related to “humble”.

That night for homework, the kids used the Lectio Divina style of prayer to reflect on Matthew 5:3-10 and then wrote a paragraph about which Beatitude resonated the most with them. The following morning, as the kids shared their answers, it became clear that they overwhelmingly related most to “Blessed are the meek”. I was surprised and pleased to hear each of the kids speak about their need to be more or remain humble.

In the Gospel today, Jesus, again, emphasizes the importance of being humble. In the story, He tells a parable meant to caution his listeners about being overly prideful. He says: “For every one who exalts himself will be humbled but the one who humbles himself will be exalted”. Jesus is clear in making his point that it is always better to lower yourself so that others can raise you up than to place yourself above others just to be brought back down.

There is a lot of talk these days about being humble. I’m sure we’ve all heard, at this point, the summer mega hit by Tim McGraw “Humble and Kind”. If you haven’t, here’s one of my favorite lines:

“When those dreams you're dreamin' come to you, When the work you put in is realized, Let yourself feel the pride, But always stay humble and kind”
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In a world with so many boastful and selfish messages, constantly in our faces and in the faces of our youth, it is refreshing to see a group of young people really hear and really embrace a positive message of humility and kindness. 

I recently read a biography of Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin. They were the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux. Beatified, just this past October, they are the first spouses to be made saints together. Though they lived in the mid-late eighteen hundreds, it is so amazing how relevant their lives are for busy families today. Here are just a few of the things they dealt with as a couple:  both parents working full time, running small businesses, caring for their elderly parents, raising a child with (what, today, would likely be consider) autism, loss of pregnancy/child, battling cancer, and the loss of a spouse. 

We lead such busy lives today. So much is expected of us parents. Work full time, clean the house, make all the meals, get the kids to all of the activities… ALL OF THE ACTIVITIES. And that’s just for the lucky ones. For many, other challenges are thrown in… care for elderly parents, care for a special needs child, work a second job, deal with personal loss, battle a disease or mental illness, the list could go on and on. My boys are only 2 and 3 years old and our calendar is full, daily; almost too full. When does it all slow down?
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In the Gospel today, we meet sisters, Mary and Martha. Martha served the Lord while Mary sat at His side and listened to Him.  Martha was upset that Mary was not helping her and asked Jesus to rebuke her. In a surprising twist, Jesus told Martha that Mary was in the right.

This story has a powerful message for all of us over-busy parents, even today. In this story, Jesus tells us to s l o w down; to stop and listen. The errands, the cooking, the sports… they can wait. When we are running around doing all of the things that seem so right; sometimes, we miss out on the most important and beautiful moments. Sometimes, we miss out on listening to Jesus… or listening to our children.

When things get too busy and I feel like I can’t keep up with our family schedule, I’ve now begun to look to Sts. Louis and Zelie as an example. In all of the craziness of their lives, they always found time to pray together as a family and as a couple. So much can be gained by praying together as a family and by being present to each other and to Jesus. And that’s what I really want to teach my kids… how to be present to those most important to them, not how to be busy.

I wrote this in September of 2013... but it says a lot about the lessons my mom continues to teach me  :)

​In today’s Gospel we hear three parables: the Lost Sheep, the Ten Coins, and the Prodigal Son. Jesus often taught by using parables; simple stories used to teach a moral or a lesson. The lesson of these three parables is that God loves each of us regardless of our mistakes. To Him, no one is of more or lesser value than another.
 As a seventh grade teacher at a Catholic school, each year we came to a unit on parables. The major assignment for my students during this time was to write a “Modern Day Parable”. For some of my natural creative writers, this task came easily; for others, there was great struggle involved. In the end, however, it was always evident that the students learned the lesson at hand: that the moral lessons Jesus taught are universal over time and culture.
What I’d like to share with you today, is my own “Modern Day Parable”. Every day when I was growing up, as my mom would drop me off at school she would say to me “I love you, be good”. As I got older, before I would go out with friends, as I was walking out the back door, my mom would say “I love you, be good”. To me this meant, “stay out of trouble”. She said this to me every day, sometimes more than once; it was something that I expected, but rarely thought about.
As many of you may know, my husband and I welcomed our first child, Luke, in December. I am very lucky that my mom is available and able to watch Luke while I go to work. Every morning, my mom comes over, we go over feeding and napping schedules, and just before I walk out the front door, she says “I love you, be good”. After a couple of months of this, one morning I stopped and said to her “I’m just going to work.  What kind of trouble do you think I’m going to get in?” She responded by saying “Is that what you thought I meant all these years? No, I mean do good things, be a good person, be a positive influence; but I can’t say all of that as you’re running out the door”.
These are the types of lessons that I hope, with the help of Jesus’ parables, to pass on to my children: to love everyone, to forgive as God does, to stop and truly listen to what people are saying, and to be a positive force in the world. 

I love to teach. In fact, before I worked here, I was a seventh grade teacher. Jesus also loved to teach. Every chance he had, he taught others. Sometimes, he told parables to help him teach. A parable is a short story that explains a lesson to us.

In the Gospel today, Jesus used a parable to teach the people about how much he loved them. He told them about a vineyard owner who was growing a fig tree, but the tree wasn’t producing any figs. In the story, the vineyard owner was like God the Father. The vineyard owner talked to the gardener who tended to the fig tree. In the story, the gardener is like God’s Son, Jesus. The gardener wanted to fertilize the tree; he wanted to try even harder to get it to produce the figs. Who do you think the fig tree represents? That’s right, all of us! Jesus loves us, tends to our needs, and wants us to be fruitful in all that we do.

That reminds me of Odette and her daughter Olga. They live in a country in Africa called Rwanda. Many new babies born in Rwanda don’t receive all of the nutrients they need to grow big and strong. This is called “malnutrition”.

Well, thanks to your generous donations in the CRS Rice Bowls, Odette was able to work with the Catholic Relief Services to make sure that her new baby is both strong and healthy! Just like the gardener in the Gospel and Jesus in our lives; Odette loves, cares for, and nourishes her child.

​This Lent, let us try to care for the needs of others just like Odette cares for the needs of her daughter Olga and just like Jesus cares for all of our needs.

When I began working here, in the summer of 2012 as the part time Sacramental Coordinator, I had no idea where God was leading me. The past 3 and a half years have been filled with many ups and downs for my family, the birth of our two sons and the recent loss of my brother. I feel like we have shared in both our joy and our sorrow with each of you, our parish family. When I walk in the doors and I’m greeted by fellow parishioners who ask me how my babies are doing, how my parents are doing, and who have consoled me on some of my toughest days, my heart is filled. I have never felt more at home in a parish.
I am also so moved by the amount of faith and confidence Fr. Tony and the parish staff have put in me; to see in me things that I don’t always see in myself. The fact that they have entrusted to me, in my new position as Director of Children, Youth, & Family Ministries, one of our parish priorities, is both overwhelming and uplifting.
I am so excited to be taking on this new position and ministry. This ministry encompasses three main areas: children who we have identified at 3-10 year olds, youth who we have identified as 5th-12th graders, and families which really are all of us!
Over the past few years, we have spent time revamping many of our children’s programs. We’ve revamped our sacramental preparation for First Reconciliation and First Eucharist, we’ve debuted our new Sunday worship program for kids at the 9am and 10:30 am masses called Bible Adventures, and we’ve grown our summer Bible Adventure Camp to more than double the size and began offering this program for free. Our work to grow and improve Children’s Ministry is never done; ideas and programs are constantly emerging and we are always looking for new volunteers, both adult and teen, to help out!
Family Ministry is an area we are currently working to build. One of our first steps is to debut a new Family Baptism Workshop. We hope to offer a welcoming and informative workshop for families who are at the beginning of their involvement in parish life. We recently brought on 6 families to mentor in this exciting new ministry and we are still looking for a few more families to mentor. We have also begun working on presenting more parish wide family events that will appeal to multiple generations. Examples of these types of events are the Thankful Family event held in November and our Fossils and Faith event coming up in March.
The most immediate priority of our new ministry is launching our newly developed youth ministry programs. This will be happening in March and you can find information about what to expect in the handout in your pew. Our first step is to expand our adult leadership team. We will be holding an interest meeting for adults, any one over the age of 18, who would like to get involved in Youth Ministry. A meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 9th at 7pm at the Woodstown Parish Center. If there is any part of you that feels like the Spirit is guiding you to work with the youth of our parish please, PLEASE come to this meeting.
Our first Youth Ministry program, Endurance, will begin on Sunday, March 13th from 6-8PM and will be held the second Sunday of every month from 6-8pm at the Woodstown Parish Center. We are encouraging all 5th-12th graders to attend. They will be in separate rooms and groups by grade. Everyone who attends is invited and encouraged to bring friends! Endurance events will be packed full of fun and positive energy. There will be ice breakers, games, and snacks, as well as time for prayer, reflection, discussion, and service.
Through the spring and summer, we will be looking to building our Summit Team. We are looking for teens in 9th-12th grade to serve on this teen leadership council. Summit Team will meet once a month to share ideas and plan events. Members will earn leadership hours and will need to apply to be a member of this team.
If anyone would like more information on what to expect from our Youth Ministry over the course of the next year, please feel free to call or e-mail me, my contact information can be found on the handout.
On the back of the handout, you will find a list of each area of our Children, Youth, and Family Ministries where we can use more volunteers. There are many great ministries in the parish that can also use more volunteers and you can find more information about each on our parish website or in the “Share the Spirit” pamphlet, available at the information desk.
We are all called to serve; we have each been gifted with strengths and talents and we are called to share those for the greater good of the church. Sometimes it is hard to recognize our own strengths and to feel confident enough to share them with others; but I promise you, it will be so rewarding. Please spend some time considering if you are being called to serve and share in any of our parish ministries; we would be honored to have you on our team. Thank you.

When you come to church, do you sometimes hear stories told that you already know? Maybe you’ve heard the story before, here at church or maybe your parents have read you the story from your bible at home. Now, I’ve been coming to church and reading from the Bible for many years so I know most of the stories at we hear… and of all of these stories, today’s Gospel reading is one of my favorites!

​In the Gospel today, Jesus read to the people gathered at the synagogue from the book of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah is found in the old testament of our Bible. This passage was very familiar to the people who were gathered that day, in fact, many of them had it memorized. This passage was so special because it predicted the coming of the Messiah, the one they were waiting for to save them. The one God had promised to send.
 
God’s promised Messiah was Jesus and he was sent to help everyone: the poor, the imprisoned, the disabled, and all those who suffer. But, it is not just up to Jesus to help others; God wants all of us to help those in need. I know, you are probably thinking… I’m just a kid! How can I help others?... well, you can help to collect clothes for the poor, visit the sick or elderly,  help to collect food for the hungry, and try to make life just a little bit nicer for everyone you meet.

Pope Francis has declared this year the year of Mercy. It is important that we be loving and understanding of all during this year of mercy. Our God forgives, comforts, and gives hope…. We should all try to do the same for our friends, family, and everyone we meet.  When we help others, Jesus will fill our hearts with warmth and love. 

​There are so many gifts in my house right now. My boys are three years old and almost two years old. My three year old had his birthday less than two weeks before Christmas. He got so many gifts: toys, and books, and clothes, and puzzles. Then came Christmas… and they both got toys, and books, and clothes, and puzzles (and puzzle pieces end up EVERYWHERE). There are so many new gifts, I think I could hide some until the summer and my boys wouldn’t even realize it!
Now, it’s not that I don’t appreciate each gift that is brought to my children, I do. And I do know that each gift was picked for my children to show them that they are special. But, when there is are so many, sometimes it is hard to explain to the little ones that each gift is special. It just ends up seeming like stuff and they don’t even remember (or maybe even know) who picked that special gift just for them, anyway.
In today’s Gospel, the magi visited the baby Jesus and showered him with lovely gifts. They brought him gold, frankincense and myrrh. Each gift was picked for this special child for a very special reason. The gifts were to represent his kingly status. Gold was the prize of rulers, frankincense was very expensive and had a wonderful fragrance, and myrrh as used to anoint and perfume. Giving the baby Jesus these gifts was symbolic, it showed that the magi knew and recognized Jesus as a king.
My kids are so blessed to have so many people who care about them and who think they are special… special enough to shower them with gifts just as the magi showered the baby Jesus with gifts. I can’t help, though, but to think about the kids who aren’t as fortunate. During this Year of Mercy, I hope to take some time to begin to teach my small children about the value of gifts, how and why we give to others, and those who could really benefit from some of the things we take for granted. And I hope that next Christmas, as I am planning to give gifts to others and to my own kids, that I can be a “Wiser Woman” in my giving.