Discernment of spirits is as old as the church and as fresh as you and me, because anyone on the God-quest needs to know how to detect the divine fingerprint along the way. The question came up a lot in the early church: Saint Paul addresses it in letters to four different communities!

From Genesis forward the Bible contains stories of people confronting both good and evil spirits in many forms. Adam and Eve knew God and still bet wrong on the serpent. Abraham gambled more effectively when three strangers showed up at his tent. Jacob was never a God-centered chap and so had no clue what he was wrestling with that night he had his grip on an angel. Learning to tell good from evil isn’t enough, of course: King David knew better but chose poorly the night he laid eyes on Bathsheba.

Paul loves to talk about divine mysteries, but the discernment of spirits isn’t in that category for him. Discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit, clearly identified by the fruits it produces, just as Jesus once said: “Each tree is known by its own fruit.” Paul spells out which fruits come from which baskets in Galatians 5. If you’re pursuing the idea of religious life, say, and the experience fills you with “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,” Paul would call that a validated discernment. If on the other hand you wind up with a rotten bunch of fruit—immorality, idolatry, rivalry, jealousy, acts of selfishness, factions” and so on (it’s quite a list in Galatians 5!)—chances are the proposal is in error.

Paul’s also clear in 1 Corinthians 12 that discernment of spirits is a gift some enjoy as a specialty. It’s the “many parts, one body” idea: Not all are great at everything, which is why we must be church together. If you’re the Jacob-type wrestling with anonymous spirits in the dark, by all means seek spiritual direction from someone better at discerning spirits. Blessings on the journey!

Scripture
• Genesis 32:23-31; Romans 12:2-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; Galatians 5:16-26; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

Online
• Vocation Match: Fill out a short profile to find which of the more than 250 religious communities are compatible with you
• Biblical Catechesis on Vocations: Message of Pope John Paul II for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations (April 20, 1997)

Books
• The Discerning Heart: Exploring the Christian Path by Wilkie W. Au and Noreen Cannon Au (Paulist Press, 2006)
• Discernment: A Path to Spiritual Awakening by Rose Mary Dougherty (Paulist Press, 2009)

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

For as many people who are called to religious life (sisters, nuns, monks, brothers) or to ordained life (priests, deacons) there are as many reasons why they are called to that particular way of life! Ask a religious brother or a contemplative nun or a married deacon and you’ll get a variety of responses as to why she or he chose that specific vocation. Often, however, you’ll hear common threads in their responses:

• A desire to give oneself wholeheartedly to God
• A passion for ministry and outreach
• A love of the Catholic faith
• A sense of the movement of the Holy Spirit
• A commitment to a prayerful way of life

In addition to these you’d find that each particular way of life has additional attractions—women and men in religious life are often drawn to community living as celibate persons; deacons and priests have a passion for serving within parish communities and dioceses; hermits desire solitude with God, and so on.

So there are many reasons (and sometimes it may even seem as if there’s not even a whole lot of reason!) why people become priests or hermits or sisters. But just like people who are called to marriage or single life or lay ministry, it all comes down to how the Spirit is moving in a person’s life and inviting them into a lifelong commitment to relationship with God and service to the world.

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

In the current political climate, every serious issue is a blood sport aimed at reelection. But it’s also true that Catholicism has now gone officially green. Pope Benedict XVI entitled his first address of 2010 If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation. That was a spin on Pope Paul VI’s signature phrase, “If you want peace, work for justice.” When you compare the two statements, you realize the pope has elevated stewardship of the planet to a work of justice!

That makes sense. Global warming, or climate change, or whatever you want to call it, has affected and will continue to harm the poor more than the rich; natural disasters and man-made ones generally do. While million-dollar homes are occasionally lost to floods and fires (think coastal California), the vast majority of the ones affected by the earth’s volatile forces are those who can’t easily restore what’s lost (witness Haiti, crushed first by an earthquake and then by cholera, or the Gulf Coast, ravaged by Hurricane Katrina and then by a very preventable oil spill).

What the pope is saying is simple. If we treat creation as God’s gift and employ nature without greedily exploiting it, our stewardship will not only earn us our survival but also a global reality that’s sustainable in peace. If, however, we take what we can get from this planet and refuse to recognize the fragile ecosystem shared by soil, water, air, and life—including our own—then those on the short end of the benefit scale will rebel, and no one will have peace.

“The environment must be seen as God’s gift to all people, and the use we make of it entails a shared responsibility for all humanity, especially the poor and future generations,” the pope says. That widens our responsibility: not simply to our fellow inhabitants but to those who will inherit the earth from us. Will we offer them desertification, the pollution of rivers, the loss of biodiversity, deforestation, and other perils the pope lists?

The threat to our world is not simply an ecological but a moral crisis, says the pope. If we disregard the growing number of “environmental refugees,” we will mostly certainly reap the impact of their instability and displacement. We embrace a future of conflict if we ignore “the human right to life, food, health, and development.” For these reasons green remains a year-round color for Catholics.

Scripture
• Genesis 1:28; 2:15; 3:17-19; Psalm 8:4-10; Proverbs 8:22-36; Isaiah 11:6-9; Romans 8:22-23; Colossians 1:15-17

Online
• If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation, message of Pope Benedict XVI for the celebration of the World Day of Peace, January 1, 2010

Books

• God, Grace, & Creation, edited by Philip J. Rossi (Orbis Books, 2009)
• Women Healing Earth, edited by Rosemary Radford Ruether (Orbis Books, 1996)

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

The phrase Immaculate Conception are not in the Bible, yet the teaching that Mary was conceived without sin carries the weight of dogma: a Greek term for “what seems right.” A dogma is considered an infallible teaching. According to the First Vatican Council (the "other" Vatican council rarely talked about), a dogma must be 1. Contained in scripture or part of post-biblical tradition; 2. Explicitly proposed as a divinely revealed belief; and 3. Issued as a solemn decree that can be later developed but not deliberately rejected without risk of heresy.

Wow. That means this teaching about Mary’s beginnings is essential to Catholic understanding. Yet none of the four gospels mentions Mary’s origins. Even her parents, Joachim and Anne, are not named. The genealogies of Jesus in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 trace Joseph’s line.

We get our early stories about Mary from that “post-biblical tradition” alluded to above, records of hazy origin like The Birth of Mary, the Protoevangelium of James, and The First Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus. While these documents didn’t make the cut when the canon of scripture was set, they remain valuable windows into the way early Christians expressed their beliefs. One thing they make clear: The early church had a powerful sense that the Incarnation-event bound Jesus and his mother in a singular, physical infusion of divine grace.

That helps us appreciate why the Immaculate Conception—celebrated as a feast in the 11th century and officially introduced as dogma in 1854—still represents a very early church understanding. Theologians point to scripture passages that validate the cosmic preparation of Mary for her role: Genesis 3:15 (sin will be conquered by a woman); Luke 1:28 (Mary is favored); Luke 1:42 (Mary is blessed among women).

The 12th-century theologians Anselm and Bernard of Clairvaux as well as Aquinas and Bonaventure in the 13th century voiced concern that a sinless Mary would put her outside of the need of Christ’s universal salvation. Do we really want to say she didn’t need saving? The Franciscan Duns Scotus resolved the objection by saying Christ could save in two ways: by lifting up the sinner or by preserving one from sin altogether. Mary remains the only person so far identified in the latter category.

Consider this: There was a time when your life and your mother’s were literally inseparable. For the sake of that time when Mary and Jesus shared life together in her body, why wouldn’t God prepare the way?

Scripture
• Genesis 3:15; Luke 1:28, 42

Online
• Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX’s Apostolic Constitution on the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1854
• The Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), chapter 8, “The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God in the Mystery of Christ and the Church”

Books
• The Virgin Mary and Theology of the Body edited by Donald H. Calloway, M.I.C. (Marian Press, 2005)
• Lost Scriptures: Books That Did Not Make It into the New Testament edited by Bart D. Ehrman (Oxford University Press, 2003)
• Tradition and Incarnation by William L. Portier (Paulist Press, 1994)

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

The necessity for established, well-defined parish boundaries was identified at the Council of Trent (1545-1563) as a way to protect pastors and their communities from the harm that evolved from uncertain lines of authority and property. The original trouble was grounded in the feudal system: In earlier times the church was by no means separate from the state, as it is in most countries today. The notion of a parish with canonically (that is, by church law) protected rights and responsibilities serves to clarify what you and I “get”—and have a right to—when we join up.

Parish boundaries aren’t always geographically defined. Most are designated by territory, but they can also be defined by language, rite, ethnicity, or other elements that serve the community. For example, in large U.S. cities a French or Korean parish might serve all who speak those languages primarily. There’s also a military diocese that encompasses U.S. service folk wherever they may be, creating parishes anywhere armed forces personnel are serving. Rites in communion with Rome, like Maronites, Melkites, Ukrainians, and others, establish parishes defined less by geography than by the particular liturgy customary for those communities.

As a Catholic you may worship freely in any of these parishes or all of them if you wish. But there are advantages to registering with a particular parish—whether or not you live inside its technical boundaries—that are worth considering. A parish is defined by four basic elements.

First, it stands to serve a certain segment of the People of God. Second, it’s administered by a priest specifically charged with its sacramental care (even a parish with a nonordained administrator on-site reports to a member of the clergy who holds the official title of pastor). Third, a parish is governed by church law which outlines reciprocal rights and duties of pastor and parishioners. Finally, a parish is guaranteed a suitable site containing all that’s necessary for the Catholic spiritual life: Eucharistic equipment, baptismal font, confessional, cemetery, and a place for sacramental records to be kept. Those who register with a particular parish will have full access to all that’s necessary for Catholic identity when the time comes. Trust a former parish secretary here: Get on the books. It makes your sacramental life easier!

Scripture
• 1 Corinthians 1:10-17; 12:1-31; Ephesians 2:19-22; 4:1-7, 11-16

Online resources

• See nos. 26-27 of Pope John Paul II's 1988 Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici
• Parishes Online lets you find websites, Mass times, and directory information for any parish or diocese in the U.S.

Books
• Excellent Catholic Parishes: The Guide to Best Places and Practices by Paul Wilkes (Paulist Press, 2001)
• The Church: The Evolution of Catholicism by Richard P. McBrien (HarperOne, 2008)

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

This is the post-Halloween question I was waiting for! It’s a good question, especially for those old enough to remember when the Trinity was defined as “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” First, the word ghost comes from the German Geist, which means “spirit.” So there is less difference between these terms than we normally ascribe. Our modern idea of ghosts, however, is so shaped by horror films and the occult that I can’t say simply: Yes, Catholicism admits the reality of ghosts. Let me take a longer route to the answer.

Catholicism teaches that we are both body and soul, or as Saint Paul says (using the Greek for these words), flesh and spirit. The soul is a “substantial and spiritual principle endowed with immortality” according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. It’s substantial because it has elements of being, such as potency, stability, and the capacity to be modified. It’s spiritual in that it is immaterial and has intelligence and free will—irrespective of its relationship to a physical body. When we die, the soul separates from the body, to be reunited “at the end of the ages.”

Jesuit John Hardon in his Modern Catholic Dictionary notes that God may and does permit the souls of the dead to appear before the living when it’s suitable for our salvation. The lives of the saints are full of such apparitions. Church teaching, based in biblical tradition, warns against trying to conjure or control such spirits as occult practices routinely do. That means just say no to Ouija boards, séances, mediums, automatic writing, tarot cards, or other supernatural methods for obtaining information.

Seeking the aid of powers other than God is a deterrent to faith, does not lead to good, and can lead to harm. That is the Catholic position on the supernatural in general. Note: It is not a refutation of the existence of supernatural things, angels, demons, and “ghosts” included. In fact, because exorcism is still on the books in Catholic teaching, it would confirm rather than deny the reality of the spiritual world.

But for heaven’s sake, none of this should make you scared! Catholics believe that God alone is sovereign, and there is no power or principality equal to divine authority—Satan included. Lost souls aren’t wandering around aimlessly or even purposefully to get you. All created things must answer to God, just like you and me. The Ghost you’re most likely to engage is a Holy one.

Scripture
• Deuteronomy 18:9-14; 1 Samuel 28:4-25; 2 Kings 21:6; Isaiah 3:1-3; Micah 5:11; Acts 7:51-53; 13:6-12; 16:16-24; 19:13-20

Online
• "I believe in life everlasting," Catechism of the Catholic Church

Books
• Our Lady of the Lost and Found: A Novel of Mary, Faith, and Friendship by Diane Schoemperlen (Penguin Books, 2001)
• Apparitions of Modern Saints by Patricia Treece (Charis Books, 2001)

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

“You made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” The man we know as Augustine of Hippo, bishop and church doctor, made this passionate declaration to God in his Confessions written in Africa in the 4th century. A prolific writer and even more famous orator, it’s no wonder he’s the patron saint of printers today: He practically kept book-makers in business in his day. Despite the fact that he wrote and talked so much, and knew everyone worth knowing in the Mediterranean world from Saints Ambrose to Jerome, some things aren’t known about Augustine. The color of his skin is debated, for example. That he was an impassioned thinker and Christian convert, however, is unquestioned.

Augustine is significant for so many reasons it’s hard to condense them. He wrote some of the earliest extended scripture commentaries and shaped our understanding of the Book Genesis, at least, irrevocably. He left an indelible mark on teachings concerning baptism, original sin, chastity, and doctrines about Jesus as well. He chased suspicious ideas around the church tirelessly—the 4th century had the lion’s share of these—and defined orthodoxy on many issues. His preaching style still affects the modern practice of this art, and his ideas about liturgy remain captivating and fresh. One begins to wonder: Is there anything about Catholicism that Augustine didn’t influence?

While Augustine has been called the most important thinker in Western Christianity and remains the elephant in the room in any modern theological debate, a lot of folks don’t remember him for his ideas at all. Augustine fascinates as a person: He was arguably a sexually promiscuous young man who contracted a bad case of religion and couldn’t get rid of it. Sexual desire and intellectual craving for knowledge were the twin demons of his life. His restless heart found repose in the mystery of God reluctantly—but not without a considerable struggle which he chose to document personally for us. “Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new!” he writes in his Confessions—sounding both rueful and relieved.

The man who would become Saint Augustine was once a faithless lover, an unreliable dad, a lousy prospect for a husband, and a guy who regularly broke his mother’s heart. That he also became an irreplaceable paving stone in church thought is wonderfully encouraging for all of us who currently fall short of who we might yet be.

Scripture
• Psalm 131; Jeremiah 20:7-9; 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Online resources
• Augustine in the Christian Classics Ethereal Library
• University of Notre Dame Satellite Theological Education Program online course: The Confessions of St. Augustine

Books
• Confessions by Saint Augustine (Penguin Classics, 2006)
• Augustine of Hippo: A Biography by Peter Brown (University of California Press, 2000)
• Augustine of Hippo: A Life by Henry Chadwick (Oxford University Press, 2010)

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

In most cases, yes, you can enter a religious order without a college degree. Many communities, however, will strongly encourage you to get a degree either before entering the community or while you are in formation.

There are a couple of significant reasons why religious communities often prefer persons entering to have a college degree. First, education and college life are significant experiences that expand the doorways of one’s mind and one’s life experience. We discover new ideas and ways of relating with other people, God, and the world around us. We also learn a lot about ourselves. All of that is key to being in a good space to make a life commitment in a religious community.

Second, a college education is essential to discovering and becoming skilled in our talents and gifts. As a religious you will use this training well in whatever you do in your ministry and community life. Your education can help you in a particular ministry (e.g., social work, medicine, education, pastoral care) and it can help you with community responsibilities (e.g., administration, facilitation, interpersonal relationships, and so on).

Religious communities also recognize that a college education is not always possible due to personal finances or life circumstances. There is often room to work things out, especially if a person entering has had other life experience such as a full-time job.

Get to know the religious community you hope to join and talk with their vocation director to see what the possibilities are.

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

Sanctuary is a biblical tradition with a noble past; let’s hope the concept has a future. Rooted in the word sancta, it means "holy space." The original idea was to offer a place of asylum for people guilty of accidental homicide. Remember, ancient culture was governed by eye-for-an-eye justice and then some. When blood was shed in one family, it was expected the perpetrator’s family would soon be in mourning, too. Nomadic life was isolated and dangerous, and justice had to come swiftly to keep predators at bay.

When the Israelites stopped wandering and went urban, however, the new congested lifestyle made that sort of retribution problematic. Killing a fellow from the next tribe over was efficient when clans lived apart and moved on regularly. But you couldn’t kill your next-door neighbor’s son and not begin an escalating spiral of murders that would consume the town. Folks living in close proximity couldn’t abide that kind of communal conflict.

So six cities of asylum were established to correspond with up-and-running shrines in Israel. (This was before the time of the Temple in Jerusalem.) Now, if your ox gored a neighbor, you could run to the nearest shrine and stay there until the case could be heard and judged by the leadership. In this way, sanctuary provided a stopgap for instinctive violence until cooler heads prevailed.

In Catholic tradition, “the right of sanctuary is rooted in the reverence for places of worship and an abhorrence of any violation of sacred space,” writes theologian Richard McBrien in his Encyclopedia of Catholicism. That implies that our modern employment of sanctuary depends on an ancient understanding of sacred space. We have to believe there are places where God’s presence is uniquely manifest or honored. In congregations that view contemporary churches more as polite gathering rooms for the morally convinced, the sense of God-space the ancients had is lost. If a place isn’t “God-haunted” in a primal way, what’s to violate, and why not cross the line?

Catholicism maintains the notion of holy ground in churches, monasteries, retreat centers, even cemeteries. Once consecrated for sacred purposes, our holy places take on a character that sets them apart from the ordinary sphere of activity. For a church leader to offer sanctuary to an endangered community is to suggest there are still lines we can’t cross, places where God’s justice remains higher than our passion for legal solutions.

Scripture
• Numbers 35:9-15; Deuteronomy 19:1-13

Online
• A TIME magazine article on churches and the “new sanctuary movement”

Books
• This Ground Is Holy: Church Sanctuary and Central American Refugees by Ignatius Bau (Paulist Press, 1985)
• Journey of Dreams by Marge Pellegrino (Frances Lincoln Books, 2009)

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

Like all parts of creation, time can be harnessed for a sacramental purpose: to direct us to the holy. The Liturgy of the Hours is a ritual that engages the sacred character of time and helps us participate in the sanctification of each day to God’s purposes. Time is holy. We’re more mindful of that as we pray the Liturgy of the Hours.

Praying throughout the day has a long history in the church. The practice is rooted in the synagogue prayer which Jesus attended regularly. Jesus teaches his followers to pray and models frequent habits of prayer. In Acts the apostles gather for daily prayer with other believers. Saint Paul urges us to pray “unceasingly.” According to the early church theologian Tertullian, by the early 200s A.D. Christians were trying to do just that. They gathered for morning and evening prayer. They supplemented these communal moments with private prayer at rising and upon retiring and in between at the third, sixth, and ninth hours. They even interrupted their sleep to pray once during the night. These hours were identified with events in the life of Jesus. The midnight prayer, for instance, reminded them that Jesus would return one day “like a thief in the night.”

That was a tiresome schedule for most people with day jobs! Eventually two forms developed: monastic prayer and cathedral prayer. Monks and cloistered nuns might continue to keep the hours described above. Most Christians gathered for morning and evening prayer (matins and vespers) daily. Other hours were optional and private as time permitted. Yet even the people’s cathedral prayer became more formalized and gradually came to be viewed as the property of clergy. Lay folk abandoned it in favor of simpler prayer styles like the rosary.

The Second Vatican Council sought to reclaim this ancient and valuable prayer for the whole church. The council reaffirmed that clergy need not be present for the faithful to gather to celebrate the Hours. Simplified (and less expensive) versions of the Liturgy of the Hours in single-volume format have made this prayer style even more inviting. Personally I consider the years I’ve spent praying the Hours the most fruitful season of my life as a person of faith. This prayer reminds me that every day is a gift from God, every hour an opportunity for grace.

Scripture
• Matthew 5:44; 6:9-13; Luke 4:16; 6:28; 11:2-4; 18:1; Acts of the Apostles 2:42; 3:1; 20:36; 21:5; Ephesians 6:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Online resource
• Universalis offers the Liturgy of the Hours online

Books
• Christian Prayer: The Liturgy of the Hours (Catholic Book Publishing, 1999)
• Practical Guide for the Liturgy of the Hours by Shirley Darcus Sullivan (Catholic Book Publishing)
• A Companion to the Liturgy of the Hours: Morning and Evening Prayer by Shirley Darcus Sullivan (Catholic Book Publishing, 2004)

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

Some of us know and respond instantly to a calling from God. Others, like you and me, hear God’s call gradually and sometimes over the course of many years. These “in between” times are always worthwhile as God’s call deepens within us and we grow in our understanding of ourselves and God.

You seem to be at a crossroads and ready to explore God’s call more intentionally. A first step is to get to know priests and brothers and their way of life. That can be done casually or formally, whatever works best for you at first. See how it feels to imagine yourself in their way of life and involved in their mission. It may help to learn more about the particular vocations to become a diocesan priest, a religious priest, or a religious brother. You’ll find more information about these vocations on the FAQ page of this website.

While you actively explore what it’s like to be a brother or priest, be sure to take all of these experiences to prayer. Check in with God daily, telling God of your desires, feelings, and thoughts. And don’t forget to listen! Spend time in silence, opening your heart to God. For some guidance, read through the article ”Four steps to hearing your call” by Benedictine Sister Anita Louise Lowe. You might also consider working with a spiritual director, someone who is skilled in helping people discern God’s calling in their lives.

Another avenue for discerning God’s call is to engage in some form of ministry. Become a catechist at your parish, volunteer as at a hospice, advocate for those in need as a board member or in your job, spend your vacation time on a service trip.

And if you are doing these things, and still feel drawn to become a priest or brother, then get in touch with the vocation director of your local diocese (for diocesan priesthood) or in the religious community with whom you feel most at home. It may simply be time to go for it!

My prayers are with you as you move more deeply into God’s calling to you.

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

Some people ask this question less diplomatically: What good is prayer? What does prayer do? One thing I’ve found helpful to consider is what prayer is not: It’s not the coin you put in the celestial gumball machine that gives you a return on your investment in kind. Prayer is neither payment in advance for services rendered nor is it divine bribery. God will not say: OK, already—25 rosaries is enough! You get the vintage muscle car!

Yet Jesus does use the image of a harried judge entreated by a widow about her cause so long and earnestly that he gives in for fear she might get violent. If even the hard-hearted judge caves in to just demands, won’t God be even more likely to attend to ours? This sounds good in a parable. Still, most of us can remember having prayed quite hard for things we didn’t get.

The 6th-century mystic John Climacus was no stranger to this problem. “When requests are made to God and are not immediately answered, the reason may be one of the following: either that the petition is premature, or because it has been made unworthily . . . or because, if granted, it would lead to conceit, or because negligence and carelessness would result.”

Bede the Venerable, 7th-century Doctor of the Church, agrees at least that timing is a factor: “It also sometimes happens that we seek things entirely related to salvation with our eager petitions and devoted actions, yet . . . the result of our petition is postponed to some future time.” He notes that we’ve all been praying “Thy kingdom come” for quite a while, yet no one has yet to have the kingdom delivered at the end of the prayer. It will come “at the proper time,” he concludes

In the 12th-century the Cistercian abbot Bernard of Clairvaux probably offered the most popular answer: “[God] will give either what we ask, or what he knows to be more profitable to us.” This echoes the prayer of Jesus in the garden: “If it be your will, let this cup pass; still, not my will, but yours be done.”

I’ve been praying for 35 years for a reconciling of hearts between two people I love very much. One of them died two years ago without the healing ever taking place. Yet I haven’t stopped praying for their reconciliation. Because I believe they both need it, now more than ever. I leave it to God to work out the details.

Scripture
• Matthew 6:5-13; 7:7–11; Luke 11:1-13; 18:1-14; 22:39-46; John 11:41-42; 15:7; 16:26 (see also 2 Maccabees 12:38-46)

Website
• From Saint Augustine's commentary on the Sermon on the Mount

Books
• Prayer by Joyce Rupp (Orbis Books, 2007)
• Dakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris (Mariner Books, 2001)
• Beginning to Pray by Anthony Bloom (Paulist Press, 1970)

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

I love sports, in particular running. As a sister, would I have to give that up? –Rachel W.

I adore sports as well and am dying to find a local roller derby club that will take on a nun with questionable skating skills! Many of we religious enjoy sports whether as players or spectators. In my IHM congregation, for example, we have a sister who is in a basketball league, another who runs weekly, and many who are cyclists at all levels. In addition we have annual Michigan vs. Ohio State tailgating parties where being a spectator can become a full contact sport!

In many if not all religious communities, there is a place for sports and exercise. The degree to which that is possible varies across communities depending on their mission and customs. Engaging in most kinds of sport is not only good for one’s health but for one’s spirit as well. We recognize that God speaks to us in a variety of ways, including the “languages” that are most native to us—for you it sounds as if running may be that kind of language (check out a blog post I wrote on cycling and meditation).

So there is a very real way that a sport like running can be incorporated into your life of prayer as a sister. There’s also the possibility that it can be a form of ministry, too. Some of the sisters belonging to the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Healing Love have turned running into a way to help children deal with behavioral issues and improve their school work.

I encourage you to keep running and explore how this gift can help you in your own spiritual journey, as well as help others.

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

Salvation is the one big idea in the Bible. Without it you’ve got just another large dusty book from antiquity. Salvation history traces the pattern of events in human history that reveal God’s saving plan. The “Reader’s Digest” version would be something like this: God’s covenant with Abraham; Israel’s deliverance from Egypt; the giving of the Law to Moses; Israel's entry into the Promised Land; the monarchy of King David; and the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Salvation history culminates in the New Creation awaiting us at the end of time.

What we mean by salvation is another matter. The Hebrew term for it denotes “to make wide or sufficient.” Unrestricted passage is the result: liberation from obstacle or impediment. Sin constricts human possibilities and God makes them wide and free again. When we say “our God is the God who saves,” we’re saying human liberation in a sinful world is only possible through divine intervention.

Early saving events in scripture are mostly military or political. Above all they’re physical: God saves folks from tangible dangers. That sets up the expectation that the God who delivered us yesterday will rescue us tomorrow, if need be. Salvation is not a dead fact but a living proposition. In time, biblical salvation takes on a spiritual aspect as well. We need saving not only from national enemies and seraph serpents but from the consequences of our own choices. Salvation comes to imply the rescue of the whole person, body and spirit. Ultimately, what we need is to be ransomed from death—so God extends the divine rescue all the way to the tomb.

Theologians say salvation is from something and for something. We’re saved from sin and death and for eternal life with God. The opposite of being rescued, of course, is drowning, perishing, being lost. In the wilderness of human choices leading in all directions, we can appreciate how we might wander so far that the only hope of rescue is a helicopter from above dangling its rope ladder over our heads. God’s saving power arrives in human history not unlike that helicopter. Once we understand that, it’s easy to see that all of human history is salvation history—even the parts that never made it into the Bible.

Scripture
• Psalm 51; Isaiah 65:17-25; Jeremiah 17:14; 31:31-34; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Luke 1:68-79; 9:24; John 3:16-21; Acts. 16:30-31; 1 Thessalonians 5:8-10

Online resources
• Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), November 21, 1964
• “The Nature of Our Salvation in Christ: Salvation as Participation and Divinisation” by Damien Casey

Books
• What Are They Saying About the Universal Salvific Will of God? by Josephine Lombardi (Paulist Press, 2008)
• Salvation Is from the Jews (John 4:22): Saving Grace in Judaism and Messianic Hope in Christianity by Aaron Milavec (Liturgical Press, 2007)

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

In this question we put two dogmas together: belief in the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Assumption and in the virgin birth of Jesus. We might add the Immaculate Conception of Mary, because a discussion of one of these touches on them all. Theologian Sister Elizabeth Johnson, C.S.J. calls these dogmas “prophecy in the midst of the history of suffering.” Prophetic statements are matters of faith and not available for scientific validation.

Nor do these dogmas necessarily spring from the record of scripture. Chapter-and-verse proof-texts for the Assumption and the Immaculate Conception in particular are unsatisfying because neither event is covered in the New Testament. The Assumption was formally declared (“promulgated”) as dogma in 1950 by Pope Pius XII, but that doesn’t mean the church has only recently taught it.

The early church fathers don’t address the matter of Mary’s departure from this world, but possibly as early as the 3rd century the tradition of Mary’s “transitus” recounted her bodily reception into heaven. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and even some Anglicans hold some version of the Assumption in their traditions; Roman Catholicism does not define whether Mary “fell asleep” or “died” before her body was taken up.

The theological argument for the Assumption is one of “fittingness.” Mary is the Ark of God’s new covenant in Christ. She was preserved from sin for this end (her Immaculate Conception) and should not undergo the corruption of death (see Romans 6:23 on the wages of sin). Her body, given over to God’s purposes in the divine plan of salvation, became a vessel too sacred to be discarded or forgotten afterwards. Scholastic thinkers like Aquinas and Bonaventure used the Latin phrase “potuit, voluit, fecit” to sum up the idea: God “could do it, willed it, and did it.”

Perhaps a more humanly compelling argument arose in the wake of the 20th century’s two brutal world wars. Pius XII surveyed the ghastly indignities suffered by the human body in recent memory and saw an opportunity to teach emphatically that God cares what happens to our mortal flesh. Mary’s exalted destiny may bring “clearly to the notice of all persons” the destiny of our bodies and souls. You and I are also vessels of divine life too precious to God to forget.

Scripture
• Genesis 3:15; Luke 1:41-45; 1 Corinthians 15:21-26, 53-57; Revelation 12:1-17

Online
• Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, Defining the Dogma of the Assumption

Books
• Truly Our Sister: A Theology of Mary in the Communion of Saints by Elizabeth A. Johnson (Continuum, 2003)
• Mary: A History of Doctrine and Devotion by Hilda Graef and Thomas A. Thompson (Christian Classics, 2009)
• Mary: Images of the Mother of Jesus in Jewish and Christian Perspective by Jaroslav Pelikan, David Flusser, and Justin Lang (Fortress Press, 2005).
• Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture by Jaroslav Pelikan (Yale University Press, 1996)
• Mother of God: A History of the Virgin Mary by Miri Rubin (Yale University Press, 2010)

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

Music is a wonderful gift whether you are a composer or performer or listener. Let me first encourage you to think about your music. What kind of messages does it send? Are the lyrics gospel-affirming? In what ways does your music build you up into a person of God or allow you to speak a word of encouragement to others? Music does not have to be “religious” to do that; it just has to be real and touch the soul.

Second, as you think about beginning the process of entering a religious community or seminary, know that you will have to make some sacrifices. Some formation programs may have greater limits than others which will affect how you can express yourself musically. But that does not mean abandoning things completely. The process of formation can be an opportunity to come to a new appreciation of your music and perhaps even a new or enhanced expression of your music. As you grow in your vocation, you may find a ministry or form of prayer that incorporates music.

And you may find others in your community who share your love of music. Speaking to the vocation director or other members of the community will help you with specifics about how music is a part of the life and mission of the community.

Finally, remember that the God who fostered your love of music is the same God who calls you to pursue your vocation.

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

I admit, being let loose in a sacristy the first time can be like wandering through a costume department in Hollywood. Vestments can be ornate, fabulous, regal—not to mention incredibly heavy, depending on the period they were designed. But what’s most important to recognize is that when first adopted they were a costlier form of the same basic garb worn by the general population.

Ancient Hebrews wore a tunic, gathered with a sash, and a turban. Wool was the primary fabric, but priestly garments were mostly woven of linen and decorated with gold thread and yarns of violet, purple, and scarlet. In addition, high priests wore an overlying robe, squarish, with a hole in the middle to drape over the head, trimmed at the hem in bells and yarn pomegranates. On his head he wore a miter (pointed hat).

When the first Jewish Christians gathered for worship, they assembled in homes and wore no distinguishing clothing. But in the 4th century, after the legalization of Christianity, formal public worship raised the visibility of the presider and so, too, his vesture. Still, the clothing worn by the presider resembled secular apparel.

First came the alb, a white tunic worn as an undergarment in all social classes. A ropelike cincture held the alb in place around the hips. Next was the chasuble, a more colorful poncho-like covering. Over that was the scarf known as the stole, which may have been a symbol of authoritative office. Then came the dalmatic, a more formal alb worn in the imperial court and reserved for the use of bishops and the deacons who served with them. To the bishop was also reserved the wearing of the miter.

After the 7th century secular fashions advanced, strangely enough, as a result of barbarian invasions which brought down the Empire in the West. But church vesture remained the same, now oddly out of step with what everyone else was wearing. The Second Vatican Council in the 1960’s inaugurated a return to simplicity in vestments, recommending that their beauty derive from “material and design” rather than “lavish ornamentation” (say good-bye to bells and pomegranates!). The continued use of vestments links our celebrations with those of previous generations and enhances the dignity of our assembly—as dressing in “our Sunday best” always has.

Scripture
• Exodus 28, 29, and 39; Leviticus 8; Ezekiel 44:15-19

Online resource
• General Instruction of the Roman Missal, nos. 335-347

Books
• The Symbols of the Church by Maurice Dilasser (Liturgical Press, 1999)
• The Mass and Vestments of the Catholic Church, Liturgical, Doctrinal, Historical, and Archaeological by John Walsh (General Books LLC, 2010; pay-to-download site)

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

I love this question. It reminds me of TIME magazine’s famous 1966 cover: “Is God dead?” It’s a hopeful question because it doesn’t presume the answer—which is a good way to approach the realm of mystery.

Some people say they can’t embrace biblical faith because miracles seem so irrational. Others believe precisely because of the “proof” miracles provide. Neither position would make sense to biblical people, who viewed all natural phenomena as God’s personal activity. “Supernatural” events had no place in their understanding. Hebrew scripture doesn’t use the word miracle but speaks of signs, wonders, and mighty deeds that demonstrate God’s authority in the universe. The New Testament uses Greek words for these same concepts, as well as “works”: the particular activity of God and Jesus.

Three major clusters of what we call miracles are found in scripture. First, there’s the deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt. Second, the stories about Elijah and Elisha describe a dynamic duo of wonderworkers. Finally, the power demonstrated by Jesus and the apostles in the early church compose the Christian miracles. The pattern in all these stories is the same: A problem emerges, a miracle solves it, the miracle is confirmed.

Theologians handle the subject of miracles a little differently. They view the miraculous as an aspect of divine revelation and name three foundational miracles by which all other claims must be tested: Creation, Exodus, and Resurrection. Creation provides the original “Wow!” of wonder. That anything exists at all is because God chooses it to be. Exodus communicates God’s desire to save us come hell or, literally, high water. Resurrection is the final transformation of Creation, confirming that God loves us and has the authority to “renew the face of the earth.”

Would theologians say miracles have occurred since the time of Jesus? Emphatically yes. The signs of God’s power to save and transform us and our world are all around us—for those with eyes to see. And if we’re having trouble seeing the wow!—well, as Jesus once suggested, we might not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead (Luke 16: 31).

Scripture
• Genesis 1; Exodus 3-15; 1 Kings 17-2 Kings 13; Matthew 12:-22-28; 16:1-4; Luke 16:19-31; John 6:25-40; Romans 15:18-21; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 2 Corinthians 12:12

Online resource
• “Miracles: Signs of God’s Presence” by Daniel J. Harrington, S.J.

Books
• Miracles by C. S. Lewis (HarperSanFrancisco, 2001)
• The Healing Touch of Mary: Real-Life Stories from Those Touched by Mary by Cheri Lomonte (ACTA/Divine Impressions, 2006)
• God’s Doorkeepers: Padre Pio, Solanus Casey, and André Bessette by Joel Schorn (Servant Books, 2006)

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

A spiritual director is a wonderful companion on your life’s journey. Whether you are discerning your vocation or want to tune in to how God is moving in your life, a spiritual director can help you along the way. There are a number of things to consider when looking for a spiritual director.

First, think about the reasons why you are drawn to spiritual direction. What are some of the spiritual or life questions that are on your mind and in your heart? What are some of the significant landmarks of your faith journey?

Second, what are important characteristics of a spiritual director that attract you? Do you prefer a female or male director, someone from your own faith tradition, someone with a sense of humor or familiarity with a particular spirituality or culture?

Third, check out the spiritual directors in your area. Start by asking around and seeing if a leader at your parish or a school chaplain can recommend any spiritual directors. You can also contact local retreat centers. Most will have certified spiritual directors on staff. Attending a retreat led by a spiritual director can be a good way to see if you are comfortable with a person before making a one-on-one appointment. You might also check with local theology schools or religious communities to see if they have a list of spiritual directors. A good resource is Spiritual Directors International which has a “Seek and Find” guide as well as a number of resources on spiritual direction and discernment.

Fourth, meet with a few different spiritual directors. Spiritual directors expect that you will need time to decide if the relationship is a good “fit.” Feel free to ask them questions about how they do spiritual direction, what they think about prayer, and what they find helpful when in discernment. Pay attention to how you feel when talking with the spiritual director and listen to how the Spirit is leading you.

For more suggestions on finding a spiritual director, see Finding a Spiritual Director on the Spiritual Directors International website.

Recently Sister Julie was asked about suggestions for a meaningful gift to someone making their final vows as a member of religious community. She actually gets asked this question a lot and has a page on her website devoted to this topic.

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.

Ministry comes in two parts, according to Saint Paul: gifts (charismata, which originate with the Holy Spirit) and service (diakonia, the service we offer to God and others). Obviously we can’t control who gets the gifts, which include prophecy, teaching, healing, and leadership, among others. But who gets to serve is easy: We all do, each according to our station in life and in the church.

Deacons have been serving in their unique way since the generation after Jesus. Their originally independent office faded after the first few centuries as the role of priests and bishops expanded and became more formalized. After that period and until the Second Vatican Council, the diaconate was simply one of four transitional stepping stones to priesthood: acolyte, lector, deacon, priest. The permanent diaconate, as an independent office, was restored to the church by Pope Paul VI in 1967. That makes it seem like a “new” position and it’s why a lot of us are unsure what deacons do.

So first, an outline of deacons and their territory. The distinction between transitional and permanent diaconate remains: One is a stage toward priesthood, the other an arrival at a final position. Those training for the permanent diaconate may be celibate or married men over the age of 35—if married, the wife must agree to her husband’s ordination and participate in his training. After the proper theological and pastoral training, one is ordained a deacon. This makes him a sharer in the teaching authority of the church. If the local bishop allows, he may preach. His liturgical responsibilities include baptizing, distributing Holy Communion (including and especially to the dying), presiding at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, officiating at marriages, presiding at funerals and burials, and leading worship (but not the Mass, which is reserved to the priesthood).

In addition, deacons have led the community especially in ministry to the disadvantaged. Theological arguments have been advanced in favor of expanding their ministry to the sick to include anointing and hearing confessions. The precedent of history has also been used to argue for expanding candidacy to include women. At present no action has been taken on these recommendations.

Scripture
• Isaiah 42:1-7; Matthew 20:25-28; 25:31-46; Luke 22:27; John 13:1-17; Acts 6:1-6; Romans 16:1-2; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; Ephesians 4:11-12; 1 Timothy 3:8-10, 13

Online resources
• Answers to FAQs on the permanent diaconate, from the Archdiocese of Newark
• “The deacon has many pastoral functions” by Pope John Paul II, General Audience, October 13, 1993

Books
• The Emerging Diaconate: Servant Leaders in a Servant Church by William T. Ditewig (Paulist Press, 2007)
• Deacons and the Church by Owen F. Cummings (Paulist Press, 2004)

Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.