Conversion: One step at a time

		Living the Scriptures  with St. Paul University  Catholic Center  Fr. Randy J. Timmerman, D. Min

A recent visit to the dentist illustrates my lack of discipline. The hygienist notes my indolence. I don't brush twice a day. Flossing is an annual pilgrimage. I still own my first package of dental floss.

It's not that I mind brushing my teeth or flossing. It's not that it exhausts or intimidates me. But I have never been concerned with the consequences of my neglect.

First Sunday of Lent (Feb. 29, 2004) Dt 26:4-10 Ps 91:1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15 Rom 10:8-13 Lk 4:1-13

This semi-annual dental appointment nudged me into considering that my spiritual life, like my dental care, could use some discipline. My hygienist grilled me about reforming - a conversion of sorts - she said that if I didn't change my dental habits I could die of heart disease.

My bleeding gums are a signal that bacteria is having a rollicking good time breeding in my mouth while I tend to other things. She convinced me that bacterial build-up travels to the blood stream and eventually to the heart. It can cause heart disease.

My hygienist was not unreasonable. She wants me to purchase an electric toothbrush - arm myself for the battle!

She encouraged me to slowly work my way into a routine, building up my will power by slowly progressing toward the recommended care. She suggested a goal of three successful days for the first week, increasing it to four days the next week.

	Reflection questions • What message do I need to convince me that regular attention to prayer will keep me spiritually alive? • How do I build a routine where prayer is the most important time of my day?

Scriptural parallels beg to be drawn. "I have set before you life or death. Choose life then that you may live" (Deuteronomy 30:15).

Life offers choices and choices yield consequences. I can choose to care for my teeth and lower my risk of heart disease just as I can choose to care for my prayer life and lessen the risk of hardening my heart to the call of God's will.

Fr. Randy Timmerman is pastor of St. Paul University Catholic Center on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

St. Paul's Web site is www.stpaulscc.org

Faith Alive!

In a Nutshell Adults need information about Christ -- the Christian tradition's doctrinal wisdom. Their faith formation also should lead to a relationship with Christ that affects all of daily existence. Adult faith invites believers to ask, "What is the next level to which I'm being called?" Adult faith formation helps adults consciously to "grow in the life of Christ through experience, reflection, prayer and study." Catholic News Service 3211 Fourth St NE Washington DC 20017 202.541.3250 cns@catholicnews.com	Food for Thought   "We are adults for most of our lives." Furthermore, adulthood's challenges and demands "are not those of childhood," Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, Ohio, said in a late-2002 speech. He was discussing reasons why adult faith formation is important. People "need the wisdom of Christ and his church presented to us in ways that are appropriate" to adulthood's "needs and questions," said the archbishop, who also stressed the importance of teaching the faith to children. A second reason adult faith formation is important, Archbishop Pilarczyk said, is that the faith is for people "mature enough to make choices and mature commitments -- to each other, to their professions, to the Lord." He said, "a childish level of faith is not appropriate for an adult for the same reason that 10-year-old children are not permitted to marry. You have to be an adult in order to make long-term, meaningful commitments." Other reasons adult faith formation is important include the fact that most religious education in the church "is offered to children by adults," said Archbishop Pilarczyk. He commented, "If the educator does not have a constantly nourished adult faith, we have children educating children." full story   The Many, Sprouting Seeds of Adult Faith Formation By Dan Luby Catholic News Service Momentum is building for a more focused effort to help Catholic adults understand their faith more richly and practice it more fully. Seeds are sprouting and growing. They are still tender and vulnerable, and there are bare patches where nothing visible has broken the surface. But like green shoots in a spring wheat field, the signs are clear: full story  When Waters of Understanding Break Upon Us By Scott J. Rutan Catholic News Service In an unforgettable scene in the play "The Miracle Worker," the exasperated Annie Sullivan, trying to teach a young Helen Keller the word "water," begins pumping it over the unruly child's head instead of into her hands. In that instant, though, the "light" goes on for the child; she immediately understands the connection between the shapes of Annie's fingers (forming the letters w, a, t, e and r in sign language) and the stuff pouring over her head. From that moment, Helen Keller's world explodes into new, limitless possibilities. She cannot receive words and ideas fast enough from Annie. Her thirst to receive, and to give, becomes unquenchable. full story  My Faith's Continuity and Its Development By Frederic Flach, MD Catholic News Service Now, in my '70s, I can look back and see the circuitous route my own faith has traveled. I consider it to be pretty adult, though, remarkably -- having lived through all sorts of triumphs and travails -- it doesn't seem that different in its simplicity and wholeness from the faith I recall having as a child. I was brought up in a religious home and sent to religious schools. I attended Mass often. The idea that God might be a figment of human imagination or that Jesus might not really be present in the Eucharist never entered my mind. full story
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