Tag: column

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Bishop Donald J. Hying, Bishop of Madison

If you had five minutes to speak about your love of Christ, what would you say about your belief?

Bishop Donald J. Hying's column

The kerygma also reminds us of other key Scriptural figures — Peter standing up in the streets of Jerusalem on the feast of Pentecost to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus for the first time; Paul preaching the meaning of faith in Jesus as Lord and Messiah, and his letters as thoughtfully theological follow-ups to the kerygma.

Proclaiming the Gospel

The task of every vocation in the Church, from those in Holy Orders to the Religious to the lay faithful, is to proclaim the Gospel. This mission is the fundamental purpose of the Body of Christ.

Advent is a significant moment for us to go back to the basics of our faith. Who is Jesus for us? How have we experienced him? How do I grow in my relationship with the Lord? How do I better proclaim the love, mercy, and forgiveness that I have experienced flowing from his merciful heart?

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Bishop Donald J. Hying, Bishop of Madison

Thanksgiving: A reminder that all received is a gift meant to be cherished, celebrated, and shared

Thanksgiving Day has remained a simple holiday. No gifts, candy, decorations, or seasons are attached to it. Family and friends simply gather for a meal on the fourth Thursday of November to give thanks to God and one another, rejoicing in the many graces and blessings that we have received from the hands of the provident and loving Lord of the feast.

For us, as Christians, thanksgiving is not simply a day on the calendar but rather a whole way of life.

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Bishop Donald J. Hying, Bishop of Madison

Time is ticking away: thoughts on life and death

Bishop Donald J. Hying's column

If you knew the date of your death, how would you live differently?

Such a question may seem strange, but it is one I think about once in a while. Perhaps, I would live fearlessly; knowing how much time I have left would enable me to take risks and face danger more boldly.

If I was facing a premature death, would that knowledge painfully shadow my thoughts and feelings every day? If I was blessed with a long life, maybe I would be tempted to put off conversion, foolishly thinking I have so much time to pull things together.

Obviously, all of these questions and thoughts are moot, since we know neither the day nor the hour of our passing from this life.

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Bishop Donald J. Hying, Bishop of Madison

Humility is the basis of the spiritual life

Bishop Donald J. Hying's column

“Though He was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at. Rather, He emptied Himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. He was known to be of human estate, and it was thus that He humbled Himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a cross!”

Paul quotes these lines of the Kenotic Hymn in the second chapter of his letter to the Philippians, citing Christ’s example of humility as a model for the community to emulate.

Two leaders of the Christian community in Philippi were fighting with each other, causing dissension and conflict, so Paul, from his prison cell, seeks to heal the division. The Kenotic Hymn is probably the earliest Scriptural articulation of the Paschal Mystery, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The Greek word “kenosis” means “self-emptying,” a pouring out, a radical gift of self.

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Bishop Donald J. Hying, Bishop of Madison

Reflections on Dominus Iesus, part two

Bishop Donald J. Hying's column

In my last column, I began speaking about the Declaration Dominus Iesus (“the Lord Jesus”), which recalls for us “certain indispensable elements of Christian doctrine” that we all need to keep in mind as we think about one of the big questions confronting the Amazon Synod in Rome, which is simply this: how are we called to relate to followers of non-Christian religions, many of whom have never heard the proclamation of the saving truth of the Gospel?

What are these “indispensable elements of Christian doctrine”? The Declaration mentions more things than we have space to discuss here, but I want to highlight the first one in particular, which has to do with the fullness and definitiveness of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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Bishop Donald J. Hying, Bishop of Madison

We’re called to build civilization of love and life

We congratulate and rejoice with Deacons Timothy Mergen and Enan Zelinski, who were ordained last week in St. Peter’s Basilica and will be ordained priests here next June for the Diocese of Madison.

These men, so representative of all our seminarians, are prayerful, holy, committed, and zealous in living out the Gospel of Christ and shepherding His holy people. Our prayers and gratitude go to these inspiring servants of the Lord, as well as to their parents, families, and friends.

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Bishop Donald J. Hying, Bishop of Madison

Go forth and make disciples!

Bishop Donald J. Hying's column

When I became a bishop back in 2011, I attended a nine-day conference in Rome for new bishops from all over the world, put on by the Vatican.

The best part of the experience was meeting the other participants, 16 other Americans, 25 from Brazil, and one bishop from Iraq whose predecessor had been murdered by terrorists. The informal conversations were often more interesting than the scheduled talks.

Dealing with declining Church

At lunch on the third day, I sat with a newly appointed bishop from a diocese in the southern Netherlands. He told me that Mass attendance there hovered at about two percent, mostly elderly people; he had no seminarians, so there was no future for the priesthood. It wasn’t so much that the Church had collapsed as that it had evaporated!

I asked him where he was going to start in such a daunting situation. How do you begin when everything seems so hopeless? What he said did not surprise me, but it has stuck with me.

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Bishop Donald J. Hying, Bishop of Madison

We are called to build a monastery in our hearts

Bishop Donald J. Hying's column

The center point of my spiritual geography is New Melleray Trappist Abbey, just west of Dubuque, Iowa. I have returned there often for retreats ever since I first visited at the age of 19.

Founded in 1849 as a daughter house of Melleray Abbey in Ireland, this monastic community rises at 3:30 a.m. every morning for Vigils, the first liturgical hour of the day. The monks’ days are filled with prayer, meditation, work, and silence.

From the first time I entered their beautiful stone chapel, I have felt profoundly embraced by God at New Melleray; some of my deepest prayer experiences have occurred there. If I could have ever convinced God that the Trappist life was my vocation, I would be peeling potatoes and scrubbing floors there as I write now!

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Bishop Donald J. Hying

Jesus urges us to cast away fear

Bishop Donald J. Hying's column

The Storm at Sea occurs in each of the Gospels, that perilous moment when the apostles are terrified by the wind and the waves on the Sea of Galilee until Jesus calms the tempest and encourages them to not be afraid.

In the Gospels, the apostles’ boat always symbolizes the Church. And so we think of all the times in the history of the Church that there have been storms, difficulties, and challenges, including persecutions, betrayals from within, epic struggles with political powers, global wars, theological divisions, and terrible instances of clergy sexual abuse.

We think of our own lives, the suffering we have gone through, the challenges we have faced, the changes that perhaps have intruded into our lives in an unwelcome way — all the things that frighten, overwhelm, or disturb us.

‘Do not be afraid’

The constant message of the Storm at Sea is Jesus’ refrain, “Do not be afraid. It is I. I am with you.” Throughout the Scriptures, this urging to cast away fear is God’s constant message to us.

Somebody went through all the hard work of counting how many times in the Bible God says, “Do not be afraid!” and it’s 366 — one for every day of the year plus Leap Year.

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