Gospel Living
Intentional Daily Life Catholicism
  • Home
  • About
    • Overview
    • Our Perspective
    • What We Offer
    • Our Stewardship
    • Our Team
    • Contact
  • Principles
    • Overview
    • Mission of the Church
    • Evangelization >
      • Overview
      • Conversion
      • Witness
      • Sharing Our Faith
      • The New Evangelization
    • Discipleship >
      • Overview
      • Personal Relationship With God
      • Way of Life
      • The Cost of Discipleship
    • The Challenge >
      • Overview
      • The Challenge In Society
      • The Challenge of Inactive Catholics
      • The Challenge of Active Catholics
    • Role of the Parish >
      • Overview
      • Formation
      • Creative and Coordinated Approach
      • Targeting Your Audience
      • Reorienting the Parish
  • Gospel Values
    • Overview
    • Call & Vocation
    • Covenant (vs. Idolatry)
    • Prayer
    • Sabbath & Jubilee
    • Social Justice
    • Stewardship >
      • Overview
      • All Is Gift
      • First Fruits
      • Giving & Relationship
      • Grace & Receiving
      • Developing Our Gifts
      • Sharing Our Gifts
    • Voluntary Simplicity
  • Tools
    • Overview
    • Daily Examen
    • Discernment
    • Rule of Life
    • Scriptural Literacy
    • Spiritual Direction
    • Spiritual Exercises
    • Talents & Personality
    • Virtue & Morality
  • Daily Life
    • Overview
    • Christmas
    • Citizenship
    • Environment
    • Food
    • Money
    • Possessions
    • Technology
    • Time
    • Work & Occupation
  • Parish Life
    • Overview
    • Church Year >
      • Overview
      • 2012-2013 Calendar
      • 2013-2014 Calendar
    • Getting Started
    • Hospitality & Community
    • Parish Bulletin
    • Parish Finances >
      • Overview
      • Parish Financial Philosophy
      • Reverse Collections
    • Vacation Bible School
    • Worship & Liturgy >
      • Overview
      • Announcements
      • Commentator
      • Eucharistic Elements
      • Lectionary
      • Preaching
      • Special Liturgies >
        • Mission Launch Liturgy
        • Work/Occupation Liturgy
    • More to come...
  • Blog
  • Links

You Love Jesus, Too?

5/23/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
0 Comments

Pope Francis: Cult of Money Hurts the Common Good, Poor

5/19/2013

0 Comments

 
PicturePhoto: Pixabay, Creative Commons CC0
Pope Francis forcefully denounced an idolatrous culture based on money, highlighting consumption, a "culture of disposal," the rich-poor gap, and lack of financial ethics.  The Catholic News Service reports:

Pope Francis called for global financial reform that respects human dignity, helps the poor, promotes the common good and allows states to regulate markets.

"Money has to serve, not to rule," he said in his strongest remarks yet as pope concerning the world's economic and financial crises.

A major reason behind the increase in social and economic woes worldwide "is in our relationship with money and our acceptance of its power over ourselves and our society," he told a group of diplomats May 16.

"We have created new idols" where the "golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal."

...
In his 10-minute scripted speech to new ambassadors, the pope highlighted the root causes of today's economic and social troubles, pointing to policies and actions that stem from a "gravely deficient human perspective, which reduces man to one of his needs alone, namely, consumption."

"We have begun this culture of disposal," he said, where "human beings themselves are nowadays considered as consumer goods which can be used and thrown away."

The wealth of a minority "is increasing exponentially," while the income of the majority "is crumbling," he said.

This economic inequality is caused by "ideologies which uphold the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation, and thus deny the right of control to states, which are themselves charged with providing for the common good."

The lack of adequate economic regulation or oversight means "a new, invisible and at times virtual, tyranny is established, one which unilaterally and irremediably imposes its own laws and rules," he said.

Ethical principles and policies of solidarity are "often considered counterproductive, opposed to the logic of finance and economy," he said.

"Ethics, like solidarity, is a nuisance" and so they are rejected along with God, he added.

"These financiers, economists and politicians consider God to be unmanageable, even dangerous, because he calls man to his full realization and to independence from any kind of slavery."

Pope Francis called on the world's political and financial leaders to consider the words of St. John Chrysostom: "Not to share one's goods with the poor is to rob them and to deprive them of life. It is not our goods that we possess, but theirs."

The pope said he "loves everyone, rich and poor alike," but that as pope he "has the duty, in Christ's name, to remind the rich to help the poor, to respect them, to promote them."

He called for ethical financial reform that would "benefit everyone" and for the world of finance and economics to make people a priority and take into account the importance of ethics and solidarity.

Why shouldn't world leaders "turn to God to draw inspiration," the pope asked.

Looking to God and "his designs" would help create "a new political and economic mindset" that would bring economics and social concerns back together in a healthy and harmonious relationship, he said.
0 Comments

Barber Give Haircuts To Homeless for Hugs

5/19/2013

1 Comment

 
Picture
A retired 82-year-old barber has been offering free haircuts to the homeless at a Connecticut park for the past 25 years.  All he asks for is a hug in return.  He was originally motivated to start by a church sermon.

The Huffington Post reports:

His clients line up on park benches, some of them also turning out for free meals provided on Wednesdays by a local church. One by one they take a seat in a folding lawn chair above a car battery Cymerys uses to power his clippers.

As he finished a trim on one customer recently, a loud squeal came from the battery. He gathered the mobile shop, connected the clippers to his car and picked up where he left off.

"It really is love. I love these guys," Cymerys said. He paused and turned to his client in the chair, "You know I love you, right?"

"That's what it's all about," Cymerys said.
1 Comment

Secret Agent L: Anonymous Acts of Kindness

5/17/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Laura Miller writes about how God led her to create a movement of 2,000 agents performing anonymous acts of kindness across nine countries.  She reports on "missions" at the Secret Agent L blog.

And did I see any of this coming? Not at all. But it has become so very clear to me that this is my calling.

When I was in my teens, struggling with, well, those teen things, I did manage somehow to remember to pray. And my prayer was this: God, please use me for goodness. I’d grown up in a home with a family member who lives with a severe mental illness, and so I’d seen, experienced, and known quite deeply my fair sure of pain, of deep suffering, of suffering individuals. And it took a toll on my heart. But God, doing the slow, steady work He’d been doing for years, heard that daily—sometimes hourly—prayer. I simply wanted to be a force of good, to be a facilitator of peace and love and non-suffering.

And with the Secret Agent L Project, I am just that. God absolutely, 100% answered my prayer. And what’s equally amazing is that I see God in the Secret Agent L Project so clearly. When I receive emails from individuals who want to become Affiliated Agents, I see God working in their hearts, calling them to extend kindness to people they don’t know and will probably never even meet. When I am the featured speaker at events around the city, I see God in the attentive faces of the members of the audience who want to listen and experience kindness. When people approach me after speaking engagements and tell me how inspired they are by the Project, I see God moving through them and turning their hearts toward continued goodness and love and service to others.
0 Comments

Pope Francis: We Need Evangelizers, not "couch potato" Catholics

5/17/2013

0 Comments

 
Christians need to move beyond comfort zones with apostolic zeal and a "healthy craziness", even risk becoming an annoyance as Paul did, according to Pope Francis.  The Catholic News Service reports:
The church doesn't need couch-potato Catholics, it needs believers with "apostolic zeal," willing to preach the uncomfortable words of Christ, Pope Francis said.  "And if we annoy people" with this zeal for Christ, then "blessed be the Lord," he said in his daily morning Mass homily May 16.
...
"Paul is a nuisance" in his preaching, his work and his attitude, the pope said, "because he proclaims Jesus Christ."  Evangelization "makes us uncomfortable; many times our comfort zones, even Christian comfort zones, are bothered" by it, he said.  God wants people to always move forward, even despite the trials and obstacles, and to not "take refuge in an easy life or in a cozy world."
...
Though apostolic zeal happens with love, there is "something crazy" about it, "a spiritual craziness, a healthy craziness."  Apostolic zeal is not just for missionaries, it is for everyone, the pope said, and he asked that people pray to the Holy Spirit for this gift.

There are "lukewarm Christians" in the church who "don't feel like going forward," he said.  "There are even couch-potato Christians, right? Those who are well-mannered, all perfect, but they don't know how to bring people to the church" with evangelization and zeal.

"Today let us ask the Holy Spirit to give this apostolic fervor to all of us and also the grace to be a nuisance to the things that are too quiet in the church" and go to the "outskirts" of life, he said.
0 Comments

Get Satisfied: Becoming a Postconsumer

5/17/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Postconsumers.com offers articles and other resources for living simpler, more satisfied lives.  They are also promoting their new book, Get Satisfied.

Postconsumers is an educational company helping to move society beyond addictive consumerism. We are consuming mindfully with an eye toward the satisfaction of enough. In other words, we advocate mindful consumption based on every person’s core values, rather than an endless quest for stuff driven by society. It’s up to each person to decide what’s right for him or her at any particular time. Whether postconsumers choose to be satisfied with a little or a lot, they are all wealthy in their contentment.

There’s nothing like celebrating the centrality of family, community, nature and meaning in all our lives, while reducing the pressures of materialism. It casts a whole new light on current economic upheavals and stress levels, to say the least. To say the most, it contributes not only to healthier people, but also to a healthier planet. It just doesn’t get any more mainstream than that.
0 Comments

Gratitude: How It Can Backfire; At Work; During Hard Times; With Entitled Kids

5/16/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Greater Good Science Center at U.C. Berkeley offers these articles on gratitude:
  • Five Ways Giving Thanks Can Backfire: Most of the time, gratitude is good. But research finds that there are situations when "thank you" may be the wrong response.
  • Five Ways To Cultivate Gratitude At Work: Americans are less likely to say "thanks" on the job than anywhere else, which hurts productivity and happiness. That needs to change.
  • How Gratitude Can Help You Through Hard Times: It's easy to feel grateful when life is good, says Robert Emmons. But when disaster strikes, gratitude is worth the effort.

0 Comments

Atheist Sunday Gatherings: A Call to Action?

5/16/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Sunday gathering held by atheist groups may provoke some interesting questions to Catholic and Christians.  The Religion News Service reports on Houston Oasis and other similar non-worship services.

What questions might we ask?

  • What makes our gatherings Christian?  Is our Christian identity making a fundamental difference, or are we just a social club (that may provide some charitable services)?
  • Are the atheists "out-discipling" us by their focus on making a difference in daily life?

From the article:
Houston Oasis is part of a growing trend. Atheists and other nonbelievers have long gathered for events with meaning and music, but in the last year, a number of nontheistic groups have initiated Sunday morning events that include elements of a standard church service.

...

Chris Stedman, author of “Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious,” said the Harvard Humanist Community, where he is an assistant chaplain, has begun to incorporate more churchlike elements in its Sunday gatherings at the request of attendees, including reflections and inspirational readings.

“There is a lot to be gained by looking at the forms of religion and in the ways that people make meaning and assemble a community,” Stedman said. “As a movement, I think we will struggle to appeal to people who are leaving religion if we cannot offer them the structures that religion has offered them. People need to come together and talk about meaning and value.”

0 Comments

American Girl Dolls: From Transformative Justice To Comfy Charity

5/14/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
BoingBoing.net passes on an article: "Writing in The Atlantic, Amy Schiller documents how Mattel has spent the past 15 years transforming the expensive, highly detailed American Girl dolls from a source of radical inspiration that signposted moments in the history of the struggles for justice and equality in the US, into posh upper-middle-class girls who raise money for bake sales. As Lenore Skenazy points out, the original American Girls were children who had wild adventures without adult oversight; the new crop are helicopter-parented and sheltered, and their idea of high adventure is a closely supervised day in the snow."

... the original dolls confronted some of the most heated issues of their respective times. In the book A Lesson for Samantha, she wins an essay contest at her elite academy with a pro-manufacturing message, but after conversations with Nellie, her best friend from a destitute background who has younger siblings working in brutal factory jobs, Samantha reverses course and ends us giving a speech against child labor in factories at the award ceremony. Given the class divide, Samantha's speech presumably takes place in front of the very industrial barons responsible for those factory conditions. The book is a bravura effort at teaching young girls about class privilege, speaking truth to power, and engaging with controversial social policy, all based on empathetic encounters with people whose life experiences differ from her own.
0 Comments

Top Five Regrets of the Dying

5/12/2013

0 Comments

 
The prospect of death has a way of clarifying our values and priorities.  The Guardian reports on the book The Top Five Regrets of Dying, written by Australian nurse Bronnie Ware who gathered reflections from patients in their last twelve years of life.
Ware writes of the phenomenal clarity of vision that people gain at the end of their lives, and how we might learn from their wisdom. "When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently," she says, "common themes surfaced again and again."
The number one regret: "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me."
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Blog Archives

    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012

    Blog Categories

    All
    Discipleship
    Evangelization
    Money
    Occupation
    Poverty
    Prayer
    Sabbath Economics
    Stewardship
    Time
    Voluntary Simplicity
    Worship

    RSS Feed