Church and fine art

Sacrosantum Concillium, Chapter VII

122. Very rightly the fine arts are considered to rank among the noblest activities of man's genius, and this applies especially to religious art and to its highest achievement, which is sacred art. These arts, by their very nature, are oriented toward the infinite beauty of God which they attempt in some way to portray by the work of human hands; they achieve their purpose of redounding to God's praise and glory in proportion as they are directed the more exclusively to the single aim of turning men's minds devoutly toward God.

I have had the opportunity to be in discussions where people have questioned the reasoning behind the beautiful ans expensive art in churches when there are starving children in the world. I would ask that also of government. 

We need to praise God however we are called to do so!

2012 Christmas Letter

 

Hello family and friends!

Our Christmas wish for you - peace, good health, and happiness!

This has been quite an eventful year for us, from building a lake house at Hilliard's Bay Estates to my getting a new job, to having a brand new grandbaby in the family, just last night. Let me tell you all about it.

A year ago in July, we poured the cement for the lake house and John and I, with the help of family, friends and a few paid trades people, built the lake house. John is just now painting the upstairs floor again after the dry-wall has been primed upstairs. The main floor, consisting of an attached garage, bathroom/laundry, master bedroom, living room, kitchen and large front deck, is basically finished and we've been using it quite regularly ever since we put in the flush toilet in the fall of 2011. It makes for a wonderful getaway on a Friday night. In addition, John's project as I like to call it, has kept us both busy and feeling accomplished.

This picture was taken in the spring of this year. Since then, we have added railing to both decks and finished the main floor inside. We are very happy at the way it turned out and are enjoying our time there immensely, even when it is work. We are truly grateful for the help our kids and their spouses gave us in the early stages and along the way, and we've told them already that this is their inheritance. We would also like to thank those family and friends that stopped by, picked up a hammer and stayed to help. They should know that they have a place to come vacation any time.

Here is what our main floor living room looked like right after we painted the walls and finished the floor. Since, we have put up trim. We are slowly getting furniture and making it a comfortable place to stay. We do plan eventually to move out to the lake, but right now we are busy working to pay for it all.

The upstairs is being readied to receive guests: Penny, Jamie and Jordan. We put the walls up about a month ago, and then when the hunters came, they hauled up the gyproc so we could put the walls up. The drywall is done and primed and today, John is painting the floor again.

We’ve had some fun with the grandkids this year, from going to Montreal in March for Cabane Sucre, ice fishing with Jordan,spending time at the lake watching Jordan running to the playground, beach or going boating; taking in the hot summer weather in Montreal by putting our feet in Noah and Evie's little pool and going to the beach,  watching Noah's soccer game, taking Evie and Noah to the Montreal Biodome on a field trip, taking in the Taber Pumpkin Festival with Jordan.

I've also started a new job this past September; I'm back at St. Andrew's in High Prairie, this time as vice-principal. I am loving it! I do miss the staff and students at Providence, but this is a much better move for me. I don't have to drive and I can be part of an administrative team at the school level again. I am enjoying working with high school and junior high school students again and hope I can be of service to them in their search for success at learning.

Sophie, James' partner went into labor yesterday and a grandson was born at 9:12pm, Montreal time. We did get to hear his first cries over the telephone. He sounds strong! More news as we get it!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!

 

 

Sacrosanctum Concilium

Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Vatican II) document summary of Chapter I.

Jesus, at the last supper, invited all the baptized to "Do this in memory of me." christ's real presence is in the Holy Eucharist at mass. Jesus Christ is not just for the baptized - He is for all, so that all may know the true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.

Active participation is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation by the Christian people, as "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people (1Peter 2:9, cf. 2-4-5) is their right and duty by reason of their baptism."

This chapter goes on to talk about the rites and language used.

Bible Study Tonight - the Patriarchs

When I have previously studied the Holy Bible, I've usually made it through Genesis and once I got to the begats, I'd run out of steam. This bible study, however takes us through the timeline, not necessarily from beginning to end, but following the lineage from the Early World to the Messianic fullfillment and the beginnings of church. One does not read the Bible from cover to cover, but for the purpose of following God's promise for all mankind.

We are given a color coordinated timeline chart and color coordinated bracelet that takes us through 12 periods in biblical history to today. First is the Early World, Creation to 2000 BC, turquoise (the color of the earth viewed from space), Genesis Chapters 1-11. In the Early World, God created the heavens and the earth and tested Adam and Eve in the garden. The five major events in this time period are:
1) the fall of Man
2) the murder of Abel by his brother, Cain
3) the flood
4) God's covenant with Noah, and
5) the Tower of Babel

The key people in this period are: Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, and we are introduced to Abram.

The secular concurrent events occurred as the Egyptian dynasties.

Tonight, we learned about the Patriarchs, 2000 - 1700 BC, Burgundy, for God's blood covenant with Abram (Abraham), Genesis Chapters 12-50 and in secular history, Stonehenge was built.

We learned of the three promises God made to Abram: land, a royal dynasty, and generations would be blessed through him. I had a huge Aha! Moment: if we were given promises like these by God and we truly believed that our lives would have such impact on future generations, we would be praying from morning to night that we would do the right thing.

Just a minute, God made us a promise of everlasting life through His son Jesus Christ! We should be praying morning to night to our God for His help in attaining this everlasting life.

Why should we go to church?

In the first document mentioned in my last blog,
(http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/v2litur.htm) the Second Vatican Council explains why we should go to church:

While the liturgy daily builds up those who are within into a holy temple of the Lord, into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit (3), to the mature measure of the fullness of Christ (4), at the same time it marvelously strengthens their power to preach Christ, and thus shows forth the Church to those who are outside as a sign lifted up among the nations (5) under which the scattered children of God may be gathered together (6), until there is one sheepfold and one shepherd (7).

Makes sense to me: the liturgy builds us up and strengthens our power to preach Christ, showing the Church to others, so that they may also be gathered together.

This must be why every time I go to mass and receive the Holy Eucharist, I feel better, more alive, energized.

Vatican II - want to know more?

Hello all.

I had the privilege of listening to Archbishop Pettipas last night after parent/teacher interviews. He was delivering a message with regards to how we can enrich our faith and get to know the Catholic Church better.

The highlights of his talk centered on the Second Vatican Council. Did you know that this council was the only one in history that was not called in response to a crisis? Pope John XXIII called this council in order to reflect upon the church and what the church should be to the people. It certainly was a surprise to his cardinals and to the rest of the world.

Our Archbishop encourages us to enrich our faith by beginning to read the documents written by the Second Vatican Council. He highlighted some of the points brought out by the following four documents. There are more, but this is a beginning, says Archbishop Pettipas.

We are often challenged on the changes brought about by Vatican II, either by fellow Catholics or others, either in support or negating what went on. I am challenging you to get to know the Vatican II yourself by reading these documents. I plan to. :-)

The links to those documents are:

Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/v2litur.htm

Dogmatic Constitution on the Church

http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/v2church.htm

Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation

http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/v2revel.htm

Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World

http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/v2modwor.htm


Let's have some fun with this! :-)

How will you teach your children about God?

Will do as I did - take them to church, send them to Catholic School, pray with them each night?

Or, will you talk to them about God? Will you tell them each day that they are wonderfully made? That God created them out of His love for all mankind? That He asks only that we love Him in return? Will you take them to church so that they can sit on you knee, wrapped by your arms as a sign of His love? Will you pray with them each night so they can begin to have an understanding that they have someone they can turn to when they feel alone? Will you sing them songs like Jesus loves me? Will you read them Bible stories so they can learn how to live a good life, to be a good person?

You have a huge job, but in the teaching, learning also occurs.

Love,
Mom

Catholic Women's League

The CWL is a great organization, national with some 1300 councils at the local parish level. I have been a member for over 25 years and have always felt the love and support from my sisters in the league as well as enjoyed the spiritual development in my own life as a member.

Today is Day 1 CWL National Convention in Edmonton and I am privileged to be a part of it. Last night, the convention opened with mass at St. Joseph's Basilica, packed to the rafters and hot enough to boil eggs. The choir was amazing and even though I was seated at the rear of a side section behind a pillar, I had a view of the bread and wine during the consecration. After mass, the opening remarks and introductions were brief, thank goodness. We were then invited downstairs to O'Leary Hall for a splendid reception. I met up with dear friends, Lynne Oye, Mary Antonio, and Lucille Partington. We chatted and caught up briefly and as we were in the last few remaining, they gave me a ride back to my hotel.

I am looking forward to a great day!

Beginning again

Have you ever heard the phrase, too busy to write? Sure you have. And you will again. This grandmother has been working on getting the cottage ready for grandchildren to come visit, visiting with friends, resting up out at the lake, fishing, painting (both watercolor and painting at the cottage), reading, managing Facebook and twitter accounts, .... Oh, and I have a new job in the fall. I have been relaxing and getting in touch with family and friends again. I've also been making new friends out at the Estates. This last month has been wonderful for me! I am slowly beginning to think about how I want to re-organize my life. When I feel like this, I usually get out my goals card and have a new look. The last time I set goals, I was at a different time in my life. However, the same values apply. I still think that being healthy and fit is critical to a good life. One of my short term goals still remains to design and maintain a fitness regimen that doesn't bore me. Walking and/or running is great when you have company or a great place to do it in. The Estates is a great place to do it in, but I so far lack in the company. My fitness support system is flawed in that I need to establish one. Many of my friends are fit and love to be outdoors. Even my husband is happiest outside, doing. We just need to coordinate time together. Since it's my life, I guess I need to be the coordinator! My new job will require me to be more organized in my social and professional networks. So far I've been playing at Blogging, Twitter, and FaceBook. I would also like to school myself more thoroughly in Web 2.0 resources. Rather than being a spectator that shares once in a while, I think I would like to be more of a designer and creator, linking my colleagues and students to each other and to the world. This will require some professional reading and researching, as well as decision-making on my part to make my blogs, tweets, and possibly web page attractive, interactive and engaging. The two blogs I currently post to are this one and a reflection on my practice on my job as small school principal. As of the end of June, that no longer applies. So, I will have to create one that is more appropriate to my new position as vice-principal of a larger school or a page more devoted to teaching, learning and leadership. Finally, I am a writer by nature, but I have not made a formal beginning to a book. This is a priority for me this year. The many journals I have kept over the years will provide me with many ideas and fodder for the actual material. Again, organization is the key. I will need to ask for help from my colleagues and contacts as I begin this process and I need to keep writing. So, watch for more reflections in this blog, links to other writings of mine and requests for feedback.

Happy Spring Cleaning!

I was thinking about spring cleaning my house this weekend and did manage to tidy up somewhat. My plan for this afternoon was to do the windows. However, it's only about 7 degrees to the good. So, my next plan was to sit down and blog something related to spring cleaning.

This time of year, during the Easter season, I relate spring cleaning a house to spring cleaning my life. What is it that gets us in this frame of mind? My theory is that we see the snow melt, the buds on the pussy willows come out and the grass begin to green up and we look forward to new life.

Jesus is alive! He is with us! Not again, but still! We are reminded of the wonderful news of the Resurrection and it brings hope of new life. Not just the spring time new life, but a new beginning for our souls and hearts. I know that I feel like smiling more; my attitude is more positive; and it's easier to let go of the negative.

Happy Spring Cleaning to all!

Faith Formation

This last Tuesday, I was privileged to be invited to a faith formation professional development at our central office. Although it was another travel day and a day out of the office and away from my school, I felt it important to represent my staff at this professional development. Besides, a colleague had requested that I and other faith formation coordinators at the school level be there to try out a session that could be offered to new staff in our school division and/or to any staff as a refresher on what Catholics believe.

The first task we were given was to think about our experiences of The Eucharist or mass when we were 5 or 6 years old and share those as a round table exercise. My thoughts went back to my childhood and the one thing that stood out for me was that during mass was the only time all week that I was able to sit beside my dad for a full hour without him having to rush off to work somewhere. I felt warm and wonderful in that place of prayer and singing. As I continue to think back, I see my mom and my brothers and sisters in the same pew - we practically filled it. Then as my gaze goes around the church, I can see my grandma and grandpa on my dad's side sitting up closer to the front on the right hand side of the church. To the left of them sit my Uncle Frank and Aunt Agnes and their kids. Friends of the family sit across the aisle from us and towards the back, some more cousins - the Fosters I think. Then just in front of us was another large Rosenberger family, my Uncle Joe and Auntie Cecile and their family. Later on, when I was a teenager, I would babysit some of those kids.

As we shared our experiences, we found that although we were from different parts of the world, cradle Catholics all experienced practically the same thing. Going to mass with family and gathering together for brunch or a meal afterwards. There were also those who had not had those experiences and we talked about how it would feel coming into a school division that had a common culture if it were a foreign thing and the necessity of being compassionate and welcoming at the same time. We also discussed how it might feel to be in a position of teaching religious studies classes if we were not familiar with the religion and its traditions. We decided that it was critical that we prepare those coming in to the school division, to keep our high expectations, but realize that not everyone is at the same place in their faith journey.

Although new staff is asked if they will live the Catholic life style, they sometimes don't really understand what we are asking them to do and by having at least an introductory faith formation course, we could provide some education as to what it might mean.

We had the change to look at an amazing resource, Becoming One Body One Spirit in Christ, a DVD full of video clips, time lines, Vatican documents, and live links to other resources. We only skimmed the surface during our time together and left us wanting more. We were told that this resource was given to each priest in the diocese and our question, as a group, was how can we get our hands on it for our schools.

The presenters, John Kuran (colleague), Sister Louise, and Deacon Gerald Mendoza showed their passion for the subject and kept us on task with discussion, readings, and video clips of experts talking about the Eucharist and its meaning. All in all, it was well worth the drive and the time away.

I kept thinking how will I present some of what I experienced that afternoon to my family and my friends.

Goal Setting 2012

The last time I set goals I narrowed it down to three:
Short term: Get organized to include balance: mental, spiritual, physical, social.
Mid range: Get healthy: eat right and exercise.
Long term: Have a book ready to go to publisher.

I would still like to achieve these goals, but I also think I need to simplify as I do not have all this time to spend tracking time, planning, and re-evaluating every few weeks.

Taking a leaf out of a friend's book: do something each day that will get you where you want to go and will have some meaning in your life.

So, looking at what brings meaning to my life: family and friends, being creative, living healthily, teaching and learning. If I were to spend time in each area of meaning, I should be balanced and happy, n'est ce pas? :-)

Spending Time Part 2

Last Sunday, I decided to track how I spend my time in hopes that I would be able to determine where I need to re-organize, if I need to re-organize to become more the person I want to be. This need to see how much time I spend on certain things came about as a result of a personal reflection on making New Year's resolutions. I decided that making New Year's resolutions is important, but only if it leads to a lasting change for the better.

So, in tracking my time for one week, I noticed that I do get about 7 hours sleep each night on the average; that I spend almost 10% of my waking hours either planning meals, cooking, and/or eating. I spend almost as much time getting ready for something, and driving.

My biggest areas of concern or the areas in which I feel I need to make changes are: TV watching, personal time, including exercise, and time I spend with parents. TV watching is what I consider my down time and this is the area in which I spend the biggest percentage of my awake time at once - 12%. I don't think I should spend this much time in front of the TV. I could use some of this time for exercising. Currently, I spend approximately .4% of my time exercising. I realize that this last week was one where I wasn't feeling that great and therefore didn't go to Zumba class or walk on my tread mill. Also, it was too icy outside to walk, etc. etc. Looking at all of the areas in which I spend my time, I do realize that I need some balance.

Therefore, I am going to plan for Zumba on Monday and walk on the treadmill two other days this week. Because of a parent meeting on Wednesday, I will miss that one. I am also going to try to use some of the TV watching time to spend reading for myself and talking to family and friends.

I will track my time again this week to see what works and what doesn't work. Hopefully, I will be able to work towards a more balanced week. Once I get closer to balance, I hope to have a plan that will keep me more in balance. Wish me luck!

Scott Hahn, author

I've read three of Hahn's books: Rome Sweet Home, Hail, Holy Queen, and now A Father Who Keeps His Promises: God's Covenant Love in Scripture. I find his writing to be illuminating, connected, challenging, and yet conversational.

The latest is the story of God's covenant with us, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Hahn takes us from the master plan in the first family to Jesus, all the while referring to Scripture and connecting us to Jesus. I found this book to be an easy read, yet challenging in thought. I highly recommend it to anyone. Such understanding of why God created us and how we got to now helps me to see my place in God's master plan. The Holy Bible continues to be Hahn's primary text and he would challenge anyone to use another. After reading this book, I promptly began re-reading the Holy Bible. I found myself wanting to read the whole book of Genesis (previously found I could not get much past the Creation story), Deuteronomy, and Kings, just to start with.

Hahn is interesting and his style is conversational, using every day language with a few explanations of a Greek word or two that he needs to use for authenticity's sake. His books are hard to put down just because of how he pulls you in by connecting what he is writing about to the individual and to real life. For example, he compares Israel in the wilderness to a toddler who learns the word "no" for the first time. He also shows how we can connect with this, speaking of his own son,

He wouldn't eat his food, and parental urgings fell upon deaf ears. The wrong words suddenly slipped out of my mouth. "Would you like some applesauce?" He didn't hesitate. Looking up, he bellowed his new favorite word. "NO!"

But this time I was ready. "Would you say No for Daddy?" In a split second his second "NO!" came back. "Good boy. Can you say No for Daddy again?" This time he hesitated, but said it again. His face told me that he knew something had changed. The tables were turned. After repeating the procedure five more times, he had mellowed. The thrill was gone.

Little did he know that this piece of paternal wisdom was brought to me by studying the fatherly ways of God with sinful Israel, and how he wrote straight with their crooked lines. This was particularly true after Moses' death, from the time of Joshua and the Judges until the establishment of the Davidic kingdom.

Hahn goes on to show how God gave the Israelites many chances to say "NO!" Finally, they realized that getting their own way was not what they really wanted - they finally developed Judaism, a strict regimen and code to live by, based on the laws of Abraham and Moses.

Where do I find these books? This one and the other I picked up, My Life with the Saints by James Martin, SJ, were at the entrance of the cathedral in McLennan. The parish was giving out these two books and two others for donations in an effort to get the parishioners to read more and learn more about the Catholic faith. What a great idea!

If you've read this book or any other on my list and want to comment or discuss any or part, I'd welcome the discourse! :-)

Spending Time

When reflecting in my Mothers' writing journal, I saw a poem by Julia Fletcher Carney,

Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean,
And the pleasant land.
Thus the little minutes,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of Eternity.

When asking myself where to begin, I decided the following:
1) I need to categorize my time-spending according to the characteristics that I feel are important to me. In that way, I will find myself looking at the effectiveness and efficiency of how my time is spent. I will also be able to reflect on what is important and what is not and perhaps refine the list of characteristics I deem important to time-spending.
2) I will need to track my time-spending for a period of time in order to see where the time is spent, and if there are trends or motivations behind the time-spending.
3) After tracking for a period of time, I will then determine what to do next.

For now, I will begin tracking my time-spending in my notebook on my IPhone as it is something I carry with me most of the time. It also has a notebook feature that will allow me quickly to track my time.

I am counting on the categories to emerge as I track. For example, this morning I spent 2 hours now on my computer. During that time, I spent approximately an hour reading the tweets on my twitter (learning), and re-tweeting (sharing learning). The rest of the time, I spent on my own blogs (sharing),(reflecting) and (creating).

I realize that tracking is also time consuming, but I'm also hopeful that the tracking will also lead to a streamlining of categories and a motivation to waste less time.

Going Deep!

New Year's Resolutions, part 2.

I've been thinking about jumping in with both feet! And, I realize that I do that a lot. I do live in the moment for the most part, the rest of the time I spend either reflecting on the past or planning for the future. This got me thinking even further about how I spend my time.

Some of the questions I ask myself are: how do I spend my time? What do I spend my time on? Am I doing what fulfills me as a person and keeps me connected? Why am I here? What am I really supposed to do? You get the picture. I could come up with at least a dozen more questions about "time". But I think that would be wasting it. So, let's pick on one of the deeper questions -

Why am I here? Not just here in this space, but here on earth? Why was I created? And not just me, but the whole human race? Wow! That's deep.

In a nutshell, not to waste time, I believe that God created (hu)man because we were a delight to Him. (Gen 2) The Catholic Church teaches that God created us to love Him and love our neighbour. He created us to procreate and collaborate. He created us to look after ourselves and the Earth. He created us to make meaning for ourselves and others. God also created us to evangelize or teach others to do the same. God's covenant with (hu)man helps us to be at one with Him on earth and in the hereafter. So, if we do this, we will be fully human.

If I really believe this, then my goal also is to become fully human. I know it's definitely not as easy as it sounds and it is definitely not the material that New Year's Resolutions are made of. However, if one does not want to waste time, if one wants to make confident choices based on what really matters to you, and jump in with both feet, one must go deep!

New Year's Resolutions

I've been thinking. New Year's Resolutions - are they all they are made out to be? I just googled "New Year's Resolutions" and had 12,500,000 hits. Then I googled "New Year's Resolutions that fail" and had 78,600,000 hits. Wow!

It seems that making New Year's Resolutions is important to a lot of people, and that they more than not, often fail. Why is that? Are we not going deep enough? Are we setting goals that we have no hope of achieving? Are we setting goals without taking the time to really go deep into our souls, or psyche if you will, to discover what it is we really want or need? Are we afraid to achieve? Do we have the time? What is it exactly that keeps us from achieving our goals?

There are lots of people in the professional field and on a personal level that will tell you why New Year's resolutions don't work. One of my favorite's is my Steve Errey, his January 1 blog entry at http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/new-years-resolutions-dont-work-heres-why.html. He gives four reasons why they don't work and also hints at a solution -

Instead, make confident choices based on what really matters to you, and jump in with both feet.