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Taking StockThe Easter season is over. Pentecost has been celebrated and summer is upon us once again. We re-enter the liturgical season of ordinary time, our time to live out the call of Pentecost in our everyday lives. Ordinary time -- especially during the summer -- is the perfect opportunity to take stock of our relationship with God. This summer's readings highlight the cost of being Christ's disciple. Realize that both the costs and benefits have been around for a long time. The early Christians were so filled with faith in Jesus that they willingly risked their lives to gather and pray. We are fortunate that we do not have such a risk in our society (although in many areas of the world it is still dangerous to be a Christian). Our greatest risk is complacency, taking faith for granted. May we continue to work as individuals, as families, as parishes, and as both local and global communities to proclaim and live the Christian message we hold dear.Weekly during the summer and throughout the year, CELEBRATING THE LECTIONARY provides a tool to help families integrate faith and life. Our Family Handouts list the readings for the Sunday. The Reflections section focuses on a theme from those readings. Faith Sharing suggests some activities that will help integrate the theme into a lived faith. Family Discussion offers three personal reflection questions. It is hoped that after family members have individually reflected on the questions, they will share their reflections in a family discussion sometime during the following week. The following is the text of the Family Handout for June 21, 1998, the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The theme for the week is the inheritance of the cross. The readings are Zechariah 12:10-11; Psalm 63; Galatians 3:26-29; Luke 9:18- 24. ReflectionsA wise mother always told her children, "God doesn't burden us with crosses we can't bear." No doubt one of her daughters later questioned this sage advice. After becoming a mother herself, she watched one son die of leukemia, a daughter turn to life on the streets, another son enter a rehab facility, a family member lose a job, and then she found her own health at risk. Yet she never lost the faith (nurtured by her mother), never gave in to the "poor me" syndrome, never turned to destructive behavior. Why? Because she believed that accepting Jesus means not just accepting the cross but embracing it as her way to God. Neither a masochist nor a pessimist, she had a faith that promised that Jesus walked with her and that some day she might understand her crosses when she could see with God's vision.At the rite of acceptance, those seeking entrance into the Catholic church are signed with the cross as a mark of their commitment and for strength. One new catechumen, reflecting on the blessing act, said that at that moment the cross had become a shield protecting him, not a burden. Our crosses are custom-made to our abilities. We know that often we ourselves create our crosses -- yet God's presence, promised in baptism, will remain. The wood of our crosses can become the tree of life. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Gal 3:27). Faith Sharing
Family Discussion
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