Understanding and trusting Jesus

	Word to Life  By Jean Denton

I was discussing God's attitude toward sin and forgiveness with two teenagers preparing for the sacraments. Kim struggled with the idea that God could forgive someone who had committed a sin such as a crime that caused enormous pain to the victim. It was a normal human response.

But Jack thought otherwise. "I've found out that it's not as hard to forgive as you might think," he said. "I've had people do some bad things to me that have really hurt me. But I saw that the bad stuff is really about them, not me, and not forgiving only makes it worse.

July 6, 2008 Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Zechariah 9:9-10 Psalm 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-14 Romans 8:9, 11-13 Matthew 11:25-30

"That was what Jesus showed in the resurrection, right? That what happens here that hurts you goes away, and what's important is loving people and forgiving them like he did, so you can go to heaven with him."

I was amazed at the depth of Jack's understanding - and the certainty of his faith.

Although I'd worked with Kim and Jack for a year, I thought their growth in formation was meager because we'd met infrequently. Besides, Jack was very restless, and it was difficult to tell if he actually was comprehending the fundamentals of Catholic faith I'd been trying to teach him.

I knew that Jack had never been taught even the basics of any faith. Also, he has had a strikingly difficult life in his 17 years. So I was astounded in this session to hear him speaking about the faith with great knowledge and conviction.

Jack had been faithfully attending Mass with his teenage friend who first invited him to church. He'd told me about conversations he'd had with her parents about Catholicism. But I realized the depth of spirituality and understanding in this young man was more than what had been placed there by any of us.

	For reflection: • What burdens and difficulties in your own life can help you see some ease in the life to which Jesus calls you? • What "hidden things" has God revealed to you in your moments of humility?

No, while some of us, though given faith at an early age, struggle to understand and trust God, Jack is one of the "little ones" to whom God will reveal himself, as Jesus says in this week's Gospel.

And for Jack, suffering much in his young life, faith wasn't hard. In Jesus he's found the yoke easy and the burden light.

This column is offered in cooperation with the North Texas Catholic of Fort Worth, Texas.

Preparing for God's coming with joy

	Word to Life  By Sharon K. Perkins

Any mother who has given birth, especially for the first time, will tell you that the onset of labor brings some ambivalence. When my first child was born, I was both excited that she was finally coming into the world (and out of my belly!) and terrified of the unknown - not only the birthing process, but adding a new person to our household.

I also knew that healthy deliveries aren't guaranteed, even with good prenatal care, so I was a little unsure of the outcome. When the intensity of pain signaled that birth was imminent, I was unprepared for the way that my body automatically knew what to do, and how my partnering with the inevitable, age-old rhythms of life brought forth a result that I couldn't have imagined. I could not have stopped the birth, even if I had tried.

July 13, 2008 Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Isaiah 55:10-11 Psalm 65:10-14 Romans 8:18-23 Matthew 13:1-23

The readings for this Sunday address that same kind of inevitability - the inexorable advance of the reign of God - that has been the eager expectation of both the prophet and the psalmist. Described as an abundant flowering of life throughout the earth, the fruitful pressing forward of God's word to achieve its result is nonetheless a project which invites our participation.

Jesus' parable teaches that with fruitfulness comes conversion and healing, and thus the Gospel also captures the ambivalence, the stubbornness and, to use St. Paul's language, the "futility" that is inherent when human beings are involved. The "groaning" of creation is not only one of anticipation, but one of pain as the work of God's word is done despite our unwillingness to endure the necessary suffering.

	For reflection: • In what way are you ambivalent about letting God's word come to fruition in your life? • What signs of God's fruitfulness have you seen lately?

The good news is that, like the birth of a child, the coming of God's reign is inevitable. We can be ambivalent about its arrival, what it will mean, and how it will change us, but it comes nonetheless. We can harden our hearts against God's work of conversion, we can deafen our ears to God's life-giving word, we can choose to cloud our eyes with poor substitutes for God's vision for creation - and still, it comes. And as all of today's readings proclaim, this is cause for great joy.

This column is offered in cooperation with the North Texas Catholic of Fort Worth, Texas.

Prayer to St. Raphael Glorious Archangel St. Raphael, great prince of the heavenly court, you are illustrious for your gifts of wisdom and grace. You are a guide of those who journey by land or sea or air, consoler of the afflicted, and refuge of sinners. We beg you, assist us in all our needs and in all the sufferings of this life, as once you helped the young Tobias on his travels. Because you are the "medicine of God" we humbly pray you to heal the many infirmities of our souls and the ills that afflict our bodies. We especially ask your guidance of our diocese as we journey toward the rebuilding of a cathedral bearing your name, and the great grace of purity to prepare us to be temples of the Holy Spirit. As our intercessor, beg the Blessed Trinity to prosper the work of our hands and, above all, to bring us, face-to-face, into their Holy presence. Amen.