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Continued on Page 3
Volume 1, Issue 1: Lent / Easter 2012 www.StAngelaBreaChurch.org
TOGETHER
We Make A
Difference
Ste
wa
rds
hip
- A
Wa
y O
f L
ife
At
St.
An
ge
la M
eri
ci
Ch
urc
h -
Bre
a,
Ca
lifo
rnia
INSIDE
THIS
ISSUE
Visions & Images
Page 1
Traditions & Culture: Lent & Easter
Page 2
Based upon Psalm 91, Michael Joncas’ On
Eagle’s Wings will be our common Lenten
Psalm this year. It is filled with great im-
agery and visions of comfort, including:
shelter, shadow, refuge, rock, snare, cap-
ture, famine, wings, shield, eagle’s wings,
breath of dawn, sun, palm of his hands.
The scriptures for the Sundays of Lent are
filled with examples of God’s covenants
and mercy, desire to save His people even
though they/we are not often faithful, as
well as the promises He has kept through-
out the ages.
The Gospels relay common Lenten themes
and stories: Jesus spending 40 days in the
desert being tempted by Satan, and then
Jesus says “now is the time of fulfillment ,
the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and
believe,” (1st week, Mark 1:12-15); the
Transfiguration of
Christ (2nd week,
Mark 9:2-10); Jesus
driving out the money
changers and vendors
from the temple (3rd
week, John 2:13-25);
“God so loved the
world that he gave his
only Son, so that eve-
ryone who believes in
him might not perish
but might have eternal
life” thereby keeping His promise of salva-
tion to Adam and Eve after He drove them
from the Garden, (4th week, John 3:14-21);
and finally Jesus says that “unless a grain
of wheat falls to the ground and die, it re-
mains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it
will yield a rich harvest”, (5th week, John
12:20-33). A study of the first and second
readings this year will reveal a few of the
covenants between God and His people
and further illustrate how God has kept his
promises, been merciful to the Israelites
and Gentiles (including us), and how He
wanted His people in the Old Testament
and us now to reconcile ourselves to Him
whenever we are at odds with Him.
While most of the covenants we’ll hear in
the 1st readings are between God and the
Israelites, it’s interesting to note that God’s
covenant after the flood is
not just with Noah and
his family, but with
the whole of creation
for all time. “I set
my bow in the clouds
to serve as a sign of the
covenant between me
and the earth. When I
bring clouds over the
earth and the bow ap-
pears in the clouds, I
You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord,
who abide in his shadow for life,
say to the Lord, “My refuge, my rock in whom I trust.”
The snare of the fowler will never capture you,
and famine will bring you no fear,
under his wings your refuge, his faithfulness your shield.
And he will raise you up on eagle’s wings
and bear you on the breath of dawn
make you to shine like the sun
and hold you in the palm of his hands. ♪
P a g e 2
We all know that when the Church found it difficult to keep the flock from participating in deeply en-grained, usually pagan customs, She Christianized them. And then She created experiential exercises to bring meaning to doctrine, teach-ings, and holy days. Here are a few for Lent and Easter. For centuries, many Catholics ab-stained from most or all animal products for the entire 40 days of Lent, not just Fridays. The depriva-tion of Lent is a symbolic way to visit the desert for 40 days to fast, pray and be tempted, just as Jesus did so many years ago. In fact, throughout the scriptures, prophets and other biblical figures spent time in the desert to center themselves, find clarity and/or prepare for minis-try. Fasting from the regulars of our busy lives helps us put things into perspective and find that which keep us from nurturing our relation-ship with Christ. However, sometimes our traditional practices are lost in translation and doing them just because our family does them generally have no mean-ing. As M. Scott Peck of The Road Less Traveled says, “there’s no such thing as a good hand-me-down [spirituality]”. Sometimes this means we need to cease and desist and create our own rituals or exer-cises individually, within the family or the parish community that do have meaning and effectively point us towards conversion. Now, for an intriguing question: Is the Easter Bunny a rabbit or a hare? Ask the Germans. No, really. German immigrants brought their tradition of the Osterhas or Oschter Haws to the U.S. “Hase” means hare. The Easter Hare from North-west European folklore brought gifts of colored eggs, candy, and toys to good children the night before Easter. These items would be laid into nests that children made in their Easter caps or bonnets. Some lore says the Easter Hare hatched from an egg. Prolific breeders, “hares can conceive a second litter of off-
A great way to celebrate the Easter Season with children is to make Res-urrection Eggs to share the Easter Story. All you need are 12 plastic eggs, strips of paper and pen, and some miscellaneous items as de-scribed below. One idea is to send you children or grandchildren on a scavenger hunt to find the required items.
Egg #1 Message: Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people waived palm branches. Passage: Matthew 21:1-11 Item: A small plastic or silk leaf or piece of palm or blade of grass
Egg #2 Message: Mary poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. Passage: John 12:2-8 Item: Cotton ball with perfume on it.
Egg #3 Message: Jesus ate the Last Supper with His disciples. Passage: Matthew 26:17-19 Item: A small piece of cracker or Matzah to represent the Passover bread.
Egg #4 Message: Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Passage: Matthew 27:3 Item: Three dimes
Egg #5 Message: Jesus carried His cross. Passage: John 19:17 Item: A cross made from a toothpicks or twigs.
Egg #6 Message: Solders placed a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head. Passage: John 19:2 Item: A small thorny branch or a sin-gle thorn from a plant. A toothpick would work fine as well.
Egg #7 Message: Soldiers parted Jesus’ gar-ments and cast lots for His coat. Passage: John 19:23 Item: Miniature dice.
Continued to page 4
spring while still pregnant with the first”
1. And therefore, bunnies, not
surprisingly, have been symbols of fertility and spring for centuries. So, that brings us to the next ques-tion. What came first, the bunny or the egg? Science says the egg, since the dinosaurs that preceded Easter bunnies, and chickens for that matter, hatched from eggs. Is there any wonder why eggs would be considered symbols of spring, new life, rebirth, and yes, fertility for many cultures? They even grace the Seder dish at the Jewish Pass-over as such. And they were part of the list of foods forbidden during the season of Lent. The Christianization of the egg as a symbol of Easter likened the egg “to the tomb from which Christ arose.”
2
It’s unknown how coloring eggs came about, but many cultures have had the tradition. Eastern Or-thodox Christians still die their eggs blood red to represent the blood of the Lamb, Christ Jesus shed on the cross for our sins. Egg decorating as a fine art has been popular for quite some time throughout the world. People most commonly use goose, duck and chicken eggs. Art-ist poke a small hole on either end of the egg and blow out the con-tents. The egg can then be carved, dyed, painted, and/or appliquéd. Some eggs are covered with tissue paper, clay, or fabric. Russian jew-eler Peter Carl Fabergé was famous for his elegant eggs of gold and pre-cious stones. Some Persian families decorate eggs to celebrate the spring equinox marking the Persian New Year. “Cascorones” or confetti eggs are festive, hallowed-out chicken eggs filled with confetti or small toys, originating from China. Confetti-filled eggs are thrown or crushed over one’s head during many popu-lar Mexican feasts including Easter and Los Días de Los Muertos. Wed-ding cascorones are often filled with bird seed.
P a g e 3
will recall the covenant I have
made between me and you and all
living beings, so that the waters
shall never again become a flood
to destroy all mortal beings,” (Gen.
9:8-15). While rainbows are not as
common in sunny California, I saw
a great abundance of them on my
Arizona and Maui trips. When I
visited Arizona in November some
years ago, it drizzled every day in
the face of the sun peering out of
the clouds and shining through the
fine mist dappling my windshield,
camera lens or me. And thus, this
created rainbows joined by mirror-
image rainbows practically every-
where I ventured. And there was a
rainbow arching over the hills
every day in Maui. How blessed
are the residents of these places to
see God’s sign of comfort and
promise so often. Rainbows are
also a reminder to us that, as custo-
dians of the earth, we should be
good stewards of its resources
whenever possible.
The Season of Lent is a time for us
to refocus on what really matters in
our walk with the Lord. Psalm 91
sings that if we remain in His
shadow, we will be protected by
His angels. A study of Job, the
lives of the apostles, and I dare say
many saints, canonized or not, will
demonstrate that this protection
isn’t always what we clearly de-
sire. For instance, in return for our
devotion and faith, most of us wish
for God to save us from bills, dis-
asters, embarrassments, layoffs,
persecution and such. Christ never
promised us an easy life just be-
cause we say yes to His invitation.
He does, however, promise that if
we remain in Him we will have
spiritual peace and bare much fruit
as members of His everlasting
vine. But most fruit-bearing plants
need pruning in order to bare abun-
dance. Amy Grant sings in one of
her songs, “In a little while we’ll
be with the Father...we’re just here
to learn to love Him.” This learning
often entails a lot of growing pains,
as we eventually find out that the
love of God isn’t that noun we all
envision in romance or the feeling
of love the world teaches. On the
contrary, God’s love is an action
verb. M. Scott Peck defines love as
“the will to extend oneself for the
purpose of nurturing one’s own or
another’s spiritual growth”.2 While
part of this definition sounds a little
self-centered, learning to love one-
self is an important part of learning
to love others and God, as per His
commandments: “To love your God
with all your heart, all your soul, all
your mind and all your strength and
to love your neighbor as yourself.”
God extends Himself to nurture us
spiritually in many ways, not lim-
ited to becoming one of us, walking
the earth with us, and dying for us.
This extension of God’s love in-
cludes bestowing upon us grace,
mercy and salvation, all of which
we cannot earn on our own by na-
ture of our humanity, as St. Paul
wrote to the Romans (5:1-2, 5-8):
Since we have been justified by
faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained
access by faith to this grace in
which we stand, and we boast
in hope of the glory of God.
And hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has
been poured out into our
hearts through the Holy Spirit
who has been given to us. For
Christ, while we were still
helpless, died at the appointed
time for the ungodly. Indeed,
only with difficulty does one
die for a just person, though
perhaps for a good person one
might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sin-
ners Christ died for us. Continued on Page 4
Cont. from Page 1 And to the Ephesians (2:4-10), St.
Paul wrote:
God who is rich in mercy, be-
cause of the great love he had
for us, even when we were dead
in our transgressions, brought
us to life with Christ—by grace
you have been saved—, raised
us up with him...For by grace
you have been saved through
faith, and this is not from you; it
is the gift of God; it is not from
works, so no one may boast. For
we are his handiwork, created in
Christ Jesus for the good works
that God has prepared in ad-
vance, that we should live in
them.
We tend to run around feeling the
need to justify our actions, or non-
actions. Christian author Dallas
Willard says to stop doing and pay
attention, stop talking and listen.
Part of our problem is our vision of
God, which often bares no resem-
blance to Who God really is. Only a
study of the scriptures, and yes,
Catholic doctrine, writings of the
Church Fathers and the saints reveal
to us who God really is. Our experi-
ence of His mercy as He “bares us
on the breath of dawn” of each new
day should show us that if we be-
lieve and trust in Him, we will be
justified by that faith.
Since Christ clearly illustrates in his
meeting with the sheep and goats
that loving and tending to Him
means loving and tending to those
around us, we are reminded of our
Stewardship Prayer we’ve been re-
citing at Mass during the Prayers of
the Faithful. This reminds me of a
plaque I saw at the Catholic Worker
shelter in Santa Ana: “Spread the
Good News, use words only when
necessary.”As the “handiwork of
God created in Christ Jesus for the
good works God has prepared,” we
are as Christ is, the grains of wheat
that must die to our own desires in
order to yield the rich harvest God
managers in your organization
is a good way to give your
newsletter a personal touch. If
your organization is small, you
may want to list the names of
all employees.
If you have any prices of stan-
dard products or services, you
can include a listing of those
here. You may want to refer
your readers to any other forms
of communication that you’ve
created for your organization.
You can also use this space to
remind readers to mark their
calendars for a regular event,
such as a breakfast meeting for
vendors every third Tuesday of
This story can fit 175-225
words.
If your newsletter is folded and
mailed, this story will appear
on the back. So, it’s a good
idea to make it easy to read at a
glance.
A question and answer session
is a good way to quickly cap-
ture the attention of readers.
You can either compile ques-
tions that you’ve received
since the last edition or you
can summarize some generic
questions that are frequently
asked about your organization.
A listing of names and titles of
Back Page Story Headline
Caption describing picture or
graphic.
S p i r i t u a l R h y t h m s ~ L e n t & E a s t e r 2 0 1 2
Continued. from Page 3
STEWARDSHIP PRAYER
God, my Creator,
you made me all that I am
and gave me all that I have.
Help me to show my gratitude
by using these gifts to serve others
in your name.
Jesus, my Redeemer,
you taught me the way to eternal life
by your example of loving service to others.
Grant me the courage to respond
to your call to Discipleship
by following in your footsteps.
Holy Spirit of God,
be with me as I choose each day
to put you first in my life.
Let me be a model
of Christian Stewardship
so others will come
to know you through my actions.
I pray, dear Lord,
that you open the minds and hearts
of all men and women and
young people in our parish,
that we may joyfully accept
your challenge to be good stewards.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen!
Cont. from Page 2
S T E W A R D S H I P ~ W h a t W e D o A f t e r W e S a y “ I B e l i e v e ”
Egg #8 Message: Jesus was nailed to the cross and pierced in His side. Passage: John 19:18, 37 and John 20:25-29 Item: A nail or push pin
Egg #9 Message: They gave Jesus vinegar mixed with gall on a sponge to drink. Passage: Matthew 27:34 Item: A piece of a sponge or a cotton swab (Q-tip) dipped in vinegar.
Egg #10 Message: Spices to prepare Jesus for burial.
Passage: John 19:40 Item: A few whole cloves or other whole spices.
Egg #11 Message: The stone covering Jesus’ tomb was
rolled away. Passage: John 20:1 Item: A small rock or pebble.
Egg #12 Message: The tomb is empty. Rejoice!
Jesus has risen! Passage: Luke 24:6
Item: Nothing (empty egg).
References & Footnotes: 1-2www.wikipedia.org Resurrection Eggs from www.teachkidsthebible.com
has planned for the world. With-
out death, we remain just single
grains with no life. Our first
death is the symbolic drown-
ing of baptism, followed by each
time we renew our acceptance of
Christ into our lives through sacraments, prayer and
reconciliation. But the Lord knows we’re not good at
dying. We often want to spare those parts of our lives
that are unhealthful and/or have become idols of wor-
ship, separating us from our Lord. We always need to
take time to re-examine the choices we make ~
whether they are ones that lead us to build a solid life
in Christ with Him as the Cornerstone or not. And if
they are not, to die to them and be reborn in Christ
again and again, as many
times as it takes until we
can love as easily and as
fully as He does. There is
a certain peace we come
to know when we are in
Christ. We submit our-
selves to His molding and
pruning, nurture and
growth as He continues to
hold us in the palm of His hands.
~ Marybeth Bergström
References & Footnotes: ♪On Eagle’s Wings. Michael Joncas with text based on Psalm 91 (90).
1979, 2003. OCP. 2The Road Less Traveled. M. Scott Peck, M.D. Simon & Schuster. 1978. Today’s Liturgy, A Quarterly Publication for Liturgy Preparation.
Lent~Easter Triduum~Easter / February 22 to June 2, 2012 / Year B.
OCP.
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