There’s something very special about the first Sunday of Advent — singing the familiar Advent hymns and lighting the first Advent candle. I always feel a thrill of anticipation that Christmas is just around the corner.

This year, I’ll be celebrating Christmas in The Gambia, a small west African country, where I’m spending the winter helping my husband run his tourist lodge. So, my prep had to start a little earlier than in previous years, and I actually found it hard to get into the Christmas spirit.

In the end, this extra time gave me the opportunity to concentrate on the true meaning of Advent, a time of waiting and preparation and a time to consider more deeply the miracle of the Incarnation.

So, this year, I’m going to focus on celebrating this season of preparation with patience and attention. I hope these ideas will help you experience Advent to its fullest.

Read to feed your soul
I’m being very intentional about what I’m reading this Advent and taking a break from my usual fare of novels and biographies to concentrate on books that feed my soul. A book of Advent meditations like Paula Gooder’s “The Meaning Is in the Waiting” opens my mind to new and broader ideas about Advent. There are plenty of other options to choose from: “The Advent of Christ: Scripture Reflections to Prepare for Christmas” or “Sacred Reading for Advent and Christmas 2017-2018,” by the Apostleship of Prayer, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

And instead of following your favorite source for news and entertainment, turn to more spiritual inspiration online like Busted Halo, Creighton University’s Praying Advent website, or this blog post from the Rev. Dr. James A. Kowalski of the Church of St. John the Divine in New York City.

Meditate on being patient
This year, I want to focus more on the spiritual meaning of Advent, on the significance of waiting actively in anticipation of Christ’s birth. I’ve found it’s easy to get caught up with the endless preparations for Christmas, so I want to slow down, devote time to meditation, and deepen my understanding of the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation.

Each morning, I’ll be spending time with a series of Advent meditations. There are many Advent meditation books available, including “Waiting for Christmas” by Fr. Richard Rohr or “Watch for the Light” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and others. You could also use a YouTube meditation like this one from Pope Francis. Follow a mini-study course like Stephen Cottrell’s “Do Nothing Christmas Is Coming” or use Busted Halo’s Advent Surprise Calendar with daily inspiration and challenges for a more spiritual Advent season.

Pray daily
I know I need God’s help to slow down and wait with patience — I’m not naturally a patient person! Using the thoughts and ideas I’ve read as a basis for my prayers, I can ask for God’s help to see how he is breaking into my life, and pray for others who need his help and healing at this time of year. I also like to use this “Prayer for Embracing the Wait and Patience of Advent” to help express my thoughts.

Reach out to others
While Advent is a time for inner reflection, focusing solely on ourselves tempts us to neglect our call to be good neighbors. St. James spoke very directly about how our faith must ultimately result in action: “Faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Turning our inward Advent reflections into outward actions shows that God is truly working in our lives.

This Advent, I’m planning to show God’s love to others in a practical way by donating to Send a Cow, a charity that provides farm animals and tools to families in Africa and Lend With Care, another that offers microloans to people in developing countries. Other ways to reach out include sending gifts to those serving overseas, volunteering at a homeless shelter, or inviting a student who’s away from home to share Christmas with you.

Plan with intention
Sometimes, the endless tasks on our to-do list can end up consuming our time and attention, making it all but impossible to focus on our spiritual life. With a little intention, we can learn to focus on God as we do these necessary tasks by praying for the recipients of each gift we wrap, mulling over something we’ve read as we stir the cookie batter, or making a mental list of the things we’re grateful for while standing in a long line. I’m hoping that by cultivating a spirit of patience while anticipating the celebration of Christ’s coming, I’ll rediscover the true meaning of Advent this year.

Elizabeth Manneh is a freelance writer, sharing her time between the UK and The Gambia, West Africa. This article is used with permission from Busted Halo and can be found here: https://bit.ly/2zhfZ4l

I am sitting down to write this on Tuesday morning of the past week. It is exactly three weeks until Christmas Day; are you ready? By the time you actually read this it will be just over two weeks until Christmas Day; are you ready? The secular world is working itself into its yearly frenzy of pre-Christmas hysteria while the Church in this holy season of Advent is inviting us to keep our focus on that which is most important: that the Lord Jesus will come again in glory with salvation for his people. Are you ready?

This Sunday’s first reading from the Prophet Baruch gives us a wonderful vision of the full establishment of the Kingdom of God. Yes, the language is vivid and the imagery is mystical and, if we are not careful, we may find ourselves saying “isn’t that nice” with either a tongue-in-cheek cynicism or ultimately dismissing the vision as romanticized and something that is out of reach. Baruch was preaching to a people in exile, a people who were not where they wanted to be, a people who were not where God ultimately wanted them to be. Baruch wanted to remind the people of Israel that God was not done with them. Is it not the same for us? Honestly, are we really where we think we should be, where God wants us to be as a people, as a society? In the midst of our struggles, God wants us to know that greater things are still coming and that he is not done with us.

Being that this is the Second Sunday of Advent, enter John the Baptist. He always makes his appearance on this Sunday each year, whether we are hearing from Matthew, Mark, or Luke. This Sunday’s Gospel account from Luke does not give us the fire of John’s message, at least not yet this Advent season, but rather Luke presents John as the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Prophet Isaiah. The message is one that we know: fill in the valleys, bring the mountains low, make the rough plane smooth, and prepare a highway for the Lord. We know it. Do we own it? The work that needs to be done within, the conversion that Isaiah and John proclaim, is not easy but God will do his part if we let him. Are you ready and willing?

As we hear from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, Paul wants to remind us that God is at work in us and that his own divine life is still being made manifest in each of us. This is how the vision of Baruch and the other prophets will be fulfilled. The Kingdom of God will only be made fully manifest once it has fully arrived in each and every heart. The valleys, hills, and planes of Isaiah are wonderful reminders of the work that needs to be done in my life and in yours. May this Advent season shake us out of our complacency and renew our trust in the fact that, yes, the grace of God is seeking to work in each of us and that same grace can do great things, even the impossible, if we fully surrender ourselves to God’s power to save. If we are waiting to see the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God, each of us must make sure that we are first allowing God to establish it in our own lives.

Does your GPS act up like mine? Sometimes I wonder if the GPS has a mind of it’s own and is playing tricks on me. From avoiding certain intersections to unforeseen construction, my GPS is not always the most reliable. However, it always points to my destination!

Think about a Stewardship GPS (Give, Pray, Serve) with me for a minute. We are all pointed in the right direction, yet somehow we run into roadblocks along the way. Missing Mass one Sunday, arguing with a loved one, or any of the sins that cross our paths, provide roadblocks to our destination. As much as we try, the destination often seems too far away or inconvenient to get to. As we prepare to enter into the Advent Season, I would first like to turn your attention to an upcoming day of giving, Giving Tuesday. Think of Giving Tuesday like a rest area along the highway, a quick stop to stretch and rejuvenate. We can utilize our Stewardship GPS to get us back on course, rejuvenated and ready! By giving, praying, and serving we can navigate to a deeper relationship with Jesus and become intentional disciples.

Giving Tuesday is celebrated on November 27, 2018 and is promoted as a global day of giving. While the day has increased in awareness and popularity since its inception in 2012. Last year, all types of nonprofits received over 2.5 million gifts which totaled more than 300 million dollars all raised in ONE day! Those numbers are a tremendous example of generosity in a world that sometimes seems to emphasize individualism and consumerism over philanthropy.

So, how can we as Catholics participate in Giving Tuesday? How about responding as a Catholic Steward? Think about your Stewardship GPS. Just as a GPS navigates us to our destination, stewardship helps us navigate our faith life. Here at Cathedral, we will be posting opportunities to use our Stewardship GPS to Give, Pray, and Serve. We invite you to join us.

On November 27th:

• Join us for Mass at 7AM or 5:15PM
• Come in for Confession from 4:15PM- 5:00PM • Take time reading the Scriptures for the day, easily found on USCCB’s website (http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112718.cfm)
• Pray for those listed on the online prayer wall or listed as a Mass Intention for the week Consider serving at your favorite organization that day or contacting an organization about volunteering • Call a friend and invite them to an upcoming faith formation event or next Sunday’s Mass
• Share with us how you use your Stewardship GPS on Giving Tuesday by engaging in the conversation on Facebook or with your peers. We are all blessed in abundance by God. Let us lead the way (GPS!) by our example on Giving Tuesday!

 Katie Price is the Coordinator for Stewardship at the Cathedral. She can be reached at [email protected].

This weekend the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, popularly referred to simply as “Christ the King.” This Sunday is also the last Sunday in Ordinary Time and the last summer of the Church year. The Church year begins anew next Sunday, the First Sunday of Advent. Pope Pius XI established the Solemnity of Christ the King in 1925 in response to an increasing rise in secularism and extreme nationalism. The purpose of this solemnity is to remind us of the Lord Jesus’s sovereignty over everything: society, government, nations, families, and individuals.

The Gospel for the feast this year is taken from the eighteenth chapter of St. John’s Gospel with Pilate’s interrogation of Jesus. The encounter between the Lord and the Roman Procurator juxtaposes two opposing views of kingship: earthly and heavenly. First, Pilates hows contempt for the Jewish people in answer to Jesus’s question about how Pilate knows about him. Pilate knows what he knows about Jesus primarily by being informed by the chief priests who have brought Jesus to Pilate. Pilate is a poor governor who sees no need to be involved in the details of the lives of the people he is responsible for. The opposite is true of Jesus who, while Lord of heaven and earth, is intimately concerned about each and every one of us.

Next, the two continue their interchange about the Lord’s kingship, focusing on the Lord’s kingdom. Jesus is clear to Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world, but this is a concept that is beyond Pilate who is only concerned with the cares of the world and its allurements. The same was true for Herod when Jesus was born. The newborn king had neither designs on Herod’s throne nor any design on Roman power some thirty-plus years later. The Kingdom of God must first be established in the hearts and minds of people before it takes any temporal form. When the Kingdom is firmly established in our lives then it will naturally occur in the world at large.

Finally, the two arrive at the question of truth. Jesus states: “for this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” There is no way to unpack the richness of the Lord’s statement in this small space. The truth that Jesus speaks of is the Father’s desire for all creation to live in peace and right relationship with him, totally free from sin and death. In fact, Jesus is the embodiment of the Father’s desire in that he is the ultimate sacrifice that makes this right relationship possible, thus Jesus is rightly called “the Truth” itself (see John 14:6).

The interchange between Jesus and Pilate shows us that Jesus is ultimately an inconvenient truth for Pilate. He is not prepared to accept the Truth that Jesus proclaims because, to be able to do so, Pilate must accept the fact that life is not about him, his desires, or his whims. The same is true for us. For Christ to truly reign in our lives, we must be prepared to accept him and what he asks completely: not “mostly, ”not“ everything but a small portion,” but 100% and nothing less. Only when we accept Jesus and his Kingship completely into our lives will his reign be established in us and then in the world.

Father Christopher House is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in various leadership roles within the diocesan curia, namely Chancellor and Vicar Judicial.

Thanksgiving is upon us and then we fall very quickly into all of the busyness of the Christmas season. Since Advent begins on December 2, this is a very good week to prayerfully consider what sort of Advent reading will best feed our spirits and help us—amid all the tight schedules—to remain connected to this season of expectation, discovery, and enduring, mysterious love. Particularly at a time when the world feels volatile and dark, we need Advent’s promise of an ever-burning Light, and to stay in touch with it.

With that in mind, here are some suggestions for Advent reading, offered by members of the Word on Fire team.

Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives by Pope Benedict XVI. Published in 2012, Benedict’s focus on Jesus’ birth and what the Gospel tells us about childhood and Mary and Joseph makes for compelling and instructive reading:

 Jesus’ origin, his provenance, is the true “beginning”—the primordial source from which all things come, the “light” that makes the world into the cosmos. He comes from God. He is God. This “beginning” that has come to us opens up—as a beginning— a new manner of human existence. “For to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (Jn 1:12f).

The Life of Christ and The World’s First Love: Mary, Mother of God, both by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen are twin Advent suggestions that show this great evangelist—who reminds us that “If Christmas were just the birthday of a great teacher, like Socrates or Buddha, it would never have split time into two, so that all history before the advent of Christ is called B.C. and all history after, A.D.”—at his teaching best.

 “Love burdens itself with the wants and woes and losses and even the wrongs of others,” Sheen says in the Life of Christ. And then, of The World’s First Love, he writes: “The mystery of the Incarnation is very simply that of God’s asking a woman freely to give Him a human nature.”

Good heavens, just two lines and there’s a week’s worth of Advent lectio!

Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, T.S. Eliot, Edith Stein, Alfred Delp, S.J., Thomas Merton, Madeleine L’Engle, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Kathleen Norris, Philip Yancey, and many others. A tremendous anthology of inspiring, illuminating Advent and Christmas meditations delivered through prose and poems. Some readings are suitably brief and others a bit lengthier—Alfred Delp’s reading is thirteen pages long and worth every line!

The Story of Holly and Ivy, by Rumer Godden, Artwork by Barbara Cooney. One to read aloud with the kids over the course of a few evenings, it is a suspense builder. An orphan named Ivy dreams of having a real home and sets out in search of the grandmother she thinks she can find. Meanwhile, Holly, a doll, wishes for a child to bring her to life. And then there is the Jones family. It’s a delightful read. Older children might enjoy reading The Kitchen Madonna in Advent, as well.

The Life of Mary, as Seen by the Mystics, by Raphael Brown. Completely in line with the Gospel narratives, this book nevertheless reads like a novel as it relates what various recognized mystics have seen and heard from Mary and her holy and altogether unique standing within humanity.

To Know Christ Jesus, by Frank Sheed. “When someone tells me they want to ‘deepen their personal relationship with Jesus,’ this is the book I give them,” says our team member. “From a devotional standpoint, this is simply the best life of Christ I’ve read. Sheed writes about Jesus with remarkable clarity, charm, and enchantment.” An intensely personal look at Jesus Christ, and very suitable for Advent.

The Everlasting Man, by G.K. Chesterton. Recommended by two separate members of the Word on Fire crew, one of whom specifically recommends reading the first chapter of the second part, entitled “The God in the Cave.” Coming in at less than twenty pages, it explores “the joyful paradox of the birth of Christ, a paradox that turned the whole cosmos inside out and made humanity’s good dreams come true.”

On the Incarnation, by Saint Athanasius. One of our team members calls this his “favorite book on Christianity’s most ‘distinctive’ doctrine (CCC 463). He adds, “St. Athanasius presents a beautiful exploration of who and what the God-man is and what the Incarnation means for the world.”

If you’re afraid reading something so ancient may be too daunting, this recommendation comes with two further suggestions. The first: a bit of “Do not be afraid” bit of encouragement. “Many Christians hesitate to read the Church Fathers because they’re afraid they’ll be smothered with dusty complexity. But that’s not Athanasius. His writing is deep and ancient but also clear and accessible. Even sixteen centuries later, it’s still lucid and remains the most important book on the Incarnation.”

Secondly, we are urged to, if possible, try to get our hands on an edition that includes an introduction by C.S. Lewis, who also encourages the reader to put away all fear of such a classic.

Finally, because sometimes it’s nice to be quiet and let the subconscious mind work on what we’ve read while we are otherwised engaged, Daniel Mitsui’s The Mysteries of the Rosary: An Adult Coloring Book might be just the thing for those evenings when the wind is howling, and a little quiet is all we really want or need.

 Elizabeth Scalia is a Benedictine Oblate. Her work can be found on the Word on Fire Blog and is used with permission.

In an episode of Call the Midwife, young nurse Jenny Lee works with a teenage-girl who has lived a life of poverty. A Catholic priest, who oversees the home where the girl has been sent to escape an abuser, tells an angry and distraught Jenny: “Poverty isn’t bad housing or dirty clothing. It’s never having been loved, or even respected. It’s not knowing the difference between love and abuse.”

This description of poverty was particularly striking to me as a Catholic and because at the time I was trying to devise a health education session specifically for people who have high blood pressure and are homeless. It’s well known that people who live in poverty often don’t do what they are “supposed” to – whether it’s take their medicine or hold down a job. Why is that and what can we do about it?

As I went through the various behavior change models, trying to convince my homeless clients to take even small steps to improve their lives, I found that traditional approaches for behavior change make two key assumptions that weren’t applicable to the people I was working with: first, traditional methods assume the sole responsibility for changing is on the individual. Secondly, they assume all people view themselves as worthy of good health and a good life. But these faulty assumptions create a disconnect that can harm the very people we are trying to help – and it ties back to the description of poverty given by Father Joe on Call the Midwife.

I then happened to attend a trauma-informed care training. Trauma-informed care is based on research that has been around for 20 years, and it changed how I saw and did everything as I interacted with people living in poverty. Most importantly, it gave me tools to connect with my homeless clients as we talked about their health and lives.

The idea is that emotional trauma – abuse, neglect, living in poverty – alters a person’s brain and body, and leaves them much more likely to suffer poor health and social outcomes. And while trauma affects all demographics, its effects are most severe in vulnerable populations, such as those who live in rough households, or distressed neighborhoods. There is hope, though. With trauma-informed schools, churches, hospitals, and social services, we can help people and communities build resilience and heal.

We are called to serve the poor and vulnerable among us; we must see that poverty is more than a lack of material resources. Therefore, our first step is to become trauma-informed and build our services upon this foundation. As we encounter the homeless, the incarcerated, the addicted, and those living in poverty or abuse, we then will open ourselves to a greater empathy and compassion in a productive, respectful manner.

Trauma-informed care is a tool that helps us be better servants to those who need us most.

 Erica Smith is the executive director of Helping Hands of Springfield, a non-profit organization in Springfield that serves people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. She is also a SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)-certified Trauma-Informed Care educator.

 If you are interested in helping our parish discern how to better care for those in need, please come on Monday, December 10, at 6 p.m. to the Atrium for a 45-minute presentation called “Healthy Spaces for Helping.” This is a session about the effects of trauma (abuse, neglect, living in poverty) on children and adults. We’ll learn about why being trauma-aware is essential to responding to the needs of our community, particularly people and populations who are homeless or who live in poverty. If you are interested, please contact Vicki Compton at [email protected] or by calling 522-3342. All parishioners and friends of the Cathedral are welcome!

Many of us will celebrate the annual tradition of this coming Thursday as Thanksgiving Day. Our national tradition goes back to 1621 to the giving of thanks by pilgrims and their Native American neighbor s at Plymouth (although history argues that many of the details of the first Thanksgiving are more myth than anything else). The tradition continued through the years, finally being fixed by President Lincoln by decree in 1863 that a national day of thanksgiving should occur on the last Thursday of November. The date was fixed again in 1941 by an act of Congress declaring that the fourth Thursday of November would be the date for Thanksgiving each year. This was a compromise between Republicans and Democrats. President Roosevelt had wanted Thanksgiving on the second to the last Thursday of November to provide for a longer Christmas shopping season to help the American economy. Republicans wanted to keep Thanksgiving on last Thursday of November, as Lincoln had declared, as an honor to the former president. The compromise allowed for both sides to get what they wanted, depending on how many Thursdays were in November in a given year.

No matter what Thursday the holiday is celebrated on, what is important is the reason why the day is celebrated. This is the one federal holiday that is designated as a day of offering thanks to God for the gifts and blessings that he has bestowed on the nation. While many of us will gather with family and friends to give thanks in the afternoon or evening, I invite you to first come to Mass at the Cathedral at 9:00AM, as there is no better way to celebrate Thanksgiving Day than with thanksgiving at Mass. The word Eucharist in Greek means “thanksgiving.” Every time we gather for the Mass, we are gathering to offer thanksgiving to God for his goodness, his mercy, and his love.

Long before the pilgrims at Plymouth gathered for the “first” Thanksgiving, thanksgiving had already been offered on these American shores in the Mass, but no one can be exactly sure when that happened. If you ask the Irish they will tell you it was by St. Brendan all the way back around the year 512 (one of the windows on the south side of the Cathedral commemorates this tradition). We know that Mass was offered on Epiphany on the island of Hispaniola as a part of Columbus’s second voyage in 1494. Finally, most likely by 1498, Henry Cabot’s expedition was exploring Newfoundland and Augustinian friars were among those in his party so Mass was most likely offered on the continent by then.

It is important for our lives to be marked by thanksgiving. Thanksgiving must be a way of life for the Christian, not simply a day on the calendar. Acknowledging that God is the giver of all good gifts, and that our talents and resourcefulness emanate from him, keeps us humble and open to receiving the continued graces that he wants to bestow on us. On behalf of Bishop Paprocki, Father Stock, Father Friedel, Deacon Smith, Deacon Keen, and all of the Cathedral Parish staff, I wish you and yours a blessed and happy Thanksgiving. God bless you!

 Father Christopher House is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in various leadership roles within the diocesan curia, namely Chancellor and Vicar Judicial.

I enjoy working out. After my second child, a switch flipped in my brain and I started lifting weights and changing my eating habits. I think we hear about those kind of transformations all of the time but I’ve learned that training my body and mastering my eating habits also had a profound affect on my spiritual life.

We suffer from a grave disembodiment. We tend to believe that our hearts, our souls, our minds are somehow altogether separate from our bodies. I would argue that they are altogether the same. Our inner life is often reflected from without, and the same can be said in reverse. When we are heavy of heart, we may expound this externally—binging on food (hello, pint/gallon of ice cream) or listening to sad music. When our heart is light, we do the opposite. There is a sense of incredulity when you see someone urging others to give all that they have to holiness when they cannot apply that discipline to how they care for their bodies.

What care are we called to? As with all things, we must operate in “reality as given,” and Christ rarely asks contrary of us. For instance, I have four children under the age of seven and a profound love for writing/theology. I rarely make time for more than an hour in the gym. Even that can be scarce at times. I won’t be training for Olympia or the NYC marathon anytime soon. That’s my “reality as given,” and I’m sure yours is different.

When St. Paul wrote “I beat my body into my slave,” I’m sure he wasn’t speaking of hitting the local gym as much as the spiritual asceticism that even Pope St. John Paul II frequently spoke of as self-mastery.

I remember speaking with my doctor about all of this—fitness and the like. He told me that he struggled with the eating part. He didn’t like the idea of “depriving” himself or the monotony of repetitive meals. I invited him to change his hermeneutic. There’s really no deprivation or monotony if we view it all as simplicity and discipline. Simplicity of life without beckons us into deepening our inner life.

Now, the flipping of my switch that I spoke of didn’t come without suffering—cravings that I chose not to fulfill, painful soreness after moving up in weight on squats, etc. Great love requires suffering. That suffering begets humanity. Even the science behind muscle building requires a breakdown of muscle fibers. And that “breaking down” makes something stronger, just like suffering actually restores our harden hearts with “natural” hearts. Suffering makes way for love.

Ratzinger wrote, “When we know that the way of love—this exodus, this going out of oneself—is the true way by which man becomes human, then we also understand that suffering is the process through which we mature. Anyone who has inwardly accepted suffering becomes more mature and more understanding of others, becomes more human.”

Suffering over a spin class and suffering of spirit may seem vastly different, but taming my flesh has taught me a lot about taming my soul, and it has given me the greater gift of praxis that otherwise I have not. All things point to Christ, and all things that we give credit to the world for are meant to be redeemed for him —even what we eat and even more so how we treat this body that was made to worship him. All for Christ! Everything.

 Rachel Bulman is a wife, mother of 4, speaker, and blogger. This post is found on the Word on Fire website and used with permission. Find more of her work at RachelBulman.com.

  In his apostolic letter to close the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis suggested the Catholic Church set aside one day each year when communities can “reflect on how poverty is at the very heart of the Gospel.” He designated this day as the “World Day of the Poor.” It will be celebrated on the thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary time (two Sundays before the season of Advent each year.) The second World Day of the Poor is Sunday, November 18, 2018.

 “It would be a day to help communities and each of the baptized to reflect on how poverty is at the very heart of the Gospel and that, as long as Lazarus lies at the door of our homes (cf. Lk 16:19-21), there can be no justice or social peace. This Day will also represent a genuine form of new evangelization (cf. Mt 11:5) which can renew the face of the Church as She perseveres in her perennial activity of pastoral conversion and witness to mercy.”

 – Pope Francis

 Here are 5 Ways you can observe the World Day of the Poor:

1. Pray for the poor. There are so many people who need our prayers. If you’re overwhelmed and not sure where to start, try praying with your newsfeed. As you see headlines about what’s happening around the world, pause and pray for the people affected by those stories.
2. Learn about the causes of poverty and work to change them. There are many reasons why people around the world are trapped in poverty: lack of jobs, war and climate change that affects what farmers can grow are only a few examples. We can raise our voices together to ask our government to support policies that help address these causes of poverty. Advocate on behalf of people who are hungry and living in poverty by sending a letter to your Representatives and Senators in Congress at support.crs.org/act/nourish-change-13.
3. Support the church’s outreach to the poor. One way to care for the poor around the world is to support the work of Catholic Relief Services, the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS is motivated by the example of Jesus Christ to assist poor and suffering people in more than 100 countries. Go to crs.org/ways-to-give to help our brothers and sisters in need. Cathedral parish is looking to deepen our involvement in caring for the poor locally. Contact Vicki Compton at [email protected] or call 522-3342 to be part of this effort.
4. Make caring for the poor part of your routine. Do you buy coffee, chocolate or Christmas gifts? One way to support lowincome workers around the world is by buying things you use on a regular basis from organizations that pay a fair wage. If you drink coffee or tea, look for a fair trade label, which means that the farmers who harvest the coffee or tea are paid fairly and work in safe conditions. As you begin your Christmas shopping, consider buying gifts from around the world that are produced and traded ethically. Locally you can shop at Simply Fair, 2367 W Monroe and you can find a list of ethical online companies at ethicaltrade.crs.org/guide.
5. Practice the corporal works of mercy. The Corporal Works of Mercy are drawn from Jesus’ life and teachings. They call us to: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and imprisoned, bury the dead and give alms to the poor. Pope Francis added a new work of mercy: to care for God’s creation. The Corporal Works of Mercy offer a clear model and starting point for how to care for our neighbors in need.

 For more information, please contact Vicki Compton at [email protected].

I am not sure your family tradition the night of Thanksgiving, but much to my chagrin I have a few family members that hit the big sales starting that evening. While I am not opposed to snatching a good sale, I always feel uncomfortable thinking about the workers who leave their families to prepare for the mad rush of eager shoppers. I am sure the deals on that evening make it worth it for that special item someone has been asking for all year, but I wish we could just give it one day. In fact, the next day, known as “Black Friday,” is one of the biggest shopping days in the US. Did you known the most popular requested gift card this year is an Amazon gift card? Anyone surprised? The shopping weekend doesn’t end here! We continue onto “Small Business Saturday” and then “Cyber Monday.”

The upcoming weekend is a shopper’s delight! But, something seems to be missing in all of this commotion. Thanksgiving is an opportunity to recognize your blessings! The gift of family, friends, a warm meal; we receive an abundance of blessings! I hate to say it to my fellow shoppers reading this, but wouldn’t it be better to have “giving days” rather than “shopping days” ahead of us?

Good news, “Giving Tuesday” is right around the corner! Giving Tuesday is celebrated on November 27, 2018 and is promoted as a global day of giving. While the day has increased in awareness and popularity since its inception in 2012, it is still unknown to many. Giving Tuesday was created by a team at the Belfer Center for Innovation and Social Impact and an organization called 92nd Street Y. They wanted to create one day when individuals and communities could celebrate and encourage giving. The day juxtaposes the consumerism culture prominent in days prior. Last year, all types of nonprofits received over 2.5 million gifts which totaled more than 300 million dollars all raised in ONE day! Those numbers are a tremendous example of generosity in a world that sometimes seems to emphasize individualism and consumerism over philanthropy.

So, how can we as Catholics participate in Giving Tuesday? How about responding in the spirit of stewardship? Think about your GPS for a minute. Yes, the GPS that you may have used to navigate you to a store or an event recently. Just as a GPS navigates us to our destination, stewardship helps us navigate our faith life. Ultimately, the destination is being in full communion with Jesus. Here at Cathedral, we will be posting opportunities to use our Stewardship GPS to Give, Pray, and Serve. We invite you to join us.

On November 27th:

• Join us for Mass at 7AM or 5:15PM
• Come in for Confession from 4:15PM- 5:00PM
• Take time reading the Scriptures for the day, easily found on USCCB’s website (http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112718.cfm)
• Pray for those listed on the online prayer wall or listed as a Mass Intention for the week Consider serving at your favorite organization that day or contacting an organization about volunteering
• Call a friend and invite them to an upcoming faith formation event or next Sunday’s Mass

Share with us how you use your Stewardship GPS on Giving Tuesday by engaging in the conversation on Facebook or with your peers. We are all blessed in abundance by God. Let us lead the way (GPS!) by our example on Giving Tuesday!

Katie Price is the Coordinator for Stewardship at the Cathedral. She can be reached at [email protected].