67.3 2008 Review for Religious

 

INTERACTIVE ARTICLES

Some of the articles in this issue of Review for Religious are interactive, having prayers, psalms, and points for personal prayer and reflection. You can find the full text of these articles and material for reflection and prayer by clicking on the GO icon next to the interactive articles. Readers are invited and encouraged to share their reflections and comments through letters or e-mails.

Topics

| Prisms |Living Spiritually |Being Mentored |Praying |Revisiting Religious Life | Scripture Scope | Canonical Counsel | Poetry | Book Reviews | Navigational Tools |

Prisms

 

Prisms: The editor of Review for Religious reflects on where we find our contact with the risen Christ.

Articles

Living Spiritually

Holy Spirit Spirituality

James W. Kinn draws upon the Gospel and Acts of St. Luke and the Gospel of St. John to show how these might lead to an effective spirituality of the Spirit in our lives. Fr. Kinn is a retired diocesan priest living in Salem, Wisconsin.

Excerpts: "Just as Luke's Gospel presents the Spirit as the energy present and active in Jesus, so in the Acts of the Aostles Luke showsthe Spirit as present in and emowering the early church. ... In John the teaching of Jesus contains all that the disciples need to know, all the revelation of God."

A Charity Spirituality for Educators

Judith Metz SC explores ways in which the special virtues of the Charity family (humility, simplicity, charity) offer educators guidelines to greater personal spiritual depth and an enriching way of being present in an educational environment. Sister Judith is the archivist and historian for the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati.

Excerpts: "The practice of the presence of God means openness to the "now" because God is present in it. ... Vincent de Paul was so convinced of the importance of simplicity that he called it 'my gospel.'"

 

Being Mentored

St Thérèse's Contribution to the Catechism

Joseph F. Schmidt FSC reflects on the citations of St. Thérè of Lisieux found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, particularly emphasizing her contribution to the understanding of prayer. He is a staff member of the Sangre de Cristo Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Excerpts: "St. John Damascene's full definition is retained in the Catechism, but is now placed after Thérèse's expression of prayer.... Thérèse shifts people's understanding of prayer away from 'saying Prayers' from a prayer book to the idea that prayer is a matter of 'prayerfulness.'"

DeSales' Vision of Ecclesial and Consecrated Life

Alexander T. Pocetto OSFS presents Francis de Sales' understanding of consecrated life, especially modeled in the Visitation, to give us a deeper appreciation of its relevance to the life and work of the church today. Alexander is currently the Salesian Scholar in the Salesian Center for Faith and Culture of DeSales University, he lives in Center Valley, Pennsylvania.

Excerpts: "The religious life encompasses more than the three traditional evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience. ... Marriage is the sign and image, the sacrament, of the relationship between Christ and his church. ... The name and the mystery of the Visitation is tied to its very nature and purose, that is, to the nature of the religious life as he conceived it."

 

Praying

Christian Prayer's Trinitarian Shape

John Carroll Futrell SJ weaves together many scripture passages to demonstrate how, conscously or not, Christian prayer has a Trinitarian shape to it. Father Futrell has contributed to this journal for fifty years, he lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

Excerpts: "In the four Gospels, Jesus teaches us to pray chiefly by modeling prayer rather than by giving lessons."

INTERACTIVE ARTICLE
Go to this article to find questions for reflection and discussion

Midnight Prayer in the Ignatian Exercises

Philip Shano SJ proposes that we take a fresh look at what benefits a "midnight meditation" can have for a person in retreat. Father Shano is novice director and superior at the Jesuit Novitiate in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Excerpts: "There is something about prayer and reflection in the late night or early morning that fosters the power of the imagination."

 

Revisiting Religious Life

The Social Matrix of Religious Obedience

Bernard J. Lee SM presents the importance of relational power, the power of the weak, and a meticulous dicernment in forming the social matrix of religious obedience. Father Lee is a proffessor of theology and vice president for mission and identity in St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas.

Excerpts: "We are in a different position in Western culture today because of a late-18th-century paradigm shift to a social matrix different from feudalism. ... It takes a strong and secure person to practice relational power, one willing to be influenced by others. ... Leadership and community are both there to serve the common good."

Of Tabernacles and Televisions

Patricia McCarthy CND challenges religious to reflect on the importance of the presence of the Blessed Sacrament in their home lives today. Sister Patricia is currentlythe associate provincial of her congregation's United States Province, inWilton, Connecticut.

Excerpts: "A search for housing is always a major stress event in a community. ... As people of flesh and blood, place matters to us, and actual presence also. ... History shows us the human longing to make places holy, and then to rest and pray in them."

Departments

Scripture Scope:St. Paul's Corinthian Correspondence
Eugene Hensell OSB continues his Scripture essays, a regular feature of each issue of Review for Religious.

Canonical Counsel:The Lacuna Canon: Equity and Practice
Elizabeth McDonough OP continues her on-going series of canonical information and reflection. She serves as canonical counsultant for many religious communities and for several dioceses. She is Bishop Griffin Professor of Canon Law at the Pontifical College Josephinum.

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Poetry

Farmer God by Irene Zimmerman OSF
Rose Window by Kate Martin OSC
The Scholar by Walter Bado SJ
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Book Reviews

Book Shelf Life
Mini reviews by Philip Fischer SJ

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