February GOD IS LOVE By a staff member of the Theology of the Body Institute

Transcription

1 101.7 FM WLOF Buffalo, NY 92.9 FM/1460 AM WHIC Rochester, NY 1060 AM WQOM Boston, MA 88.1 FM WMTQ Elmira, NY 88.7 FM WTMI Syracuse, NY 88.3 FM WQHE Oil City, PA 92.1 FM/89.5 FM WMIH Erie, PA icatholicradio A friend of mine - I ll call him Joe - recently came to me in distress asking me to help him process the counsel he had been receiving from a Catholic therapist. You need to love God more, was his therapist s repeated advice. Sounds fine. Don t we all? But as Joe shared more, I began to understand why his stomach was in knots. Joe is a man profoundly in touch with that deep ache in his soul, that human desire for happiness, love, fulfillment. As the Catechism makes clear, this yearning is of divine origin: God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it (CCC 1718). Like most of us, though, Joe, at his own admission, has looked to fulfill that desire in wrong ways. One of his goals in going to a Catholic therapist was to learn how to direct his desire rightly. Over several sessions, the impression Joe got from the therapist was that his hunger, his need itself was the problem, and somehow it needed to be annihilated. His therapist said he was being self-centered; he shouldn t be thinking about his desire at all, but should focus on serving God more, on loving God more. Of course, we often are self-centered and need to focus more on God. Acknowledging that, Joe tried dutifully to put his therapist s counsel into practice. It didn t work. And the more his therapist insisted that he love God more, the more Joe felt like a failure, until one day Joe erupted: I can t love God more! I try and try but I don t have it in me. Joe is right. In and of ourselves, we aren t able to love God. Our loving God can only be a return of the love He pours out on us. This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us (1 Jn 4:10). As the Catechism states, God s initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is always a response (CCC 2567). My point here is not to pounce on Joe s therapist. There may well be more to the story. Rather, Joe s situation presents the opportunity to reflect on a widespread trap we re prone to in the spiritual life the trap of thinking it s up to us to be good to be holy to love God more. When we think this way we re actually forgetting our basic status as creatures. Proclaiming the fullness of Truth with clarity and charity. GOD IS LOVE By a staff member of the Theology of the Body Institute 1 February 2015 In his book, Faith, Hope, Love, Catholic philosopher Josef Pieper put it this way: Need-love, whose goal is its own fulfillment, is also the nucleus and the beginning in all our loving. It is... set in motion by the act that created us. Hence, it is fundamentally impossible for us to control it, let alone annul it. Pieper continues, The call for an utterly disinterested, unmotivated... love that wishes to receive nothing... simply rests upon a misunderstanding of man as he really is. The error, it must be noted, consists not so much in mistaking man s empirical imperfection as in failing to recognize that the human condition is that of a created being. In other words, this deep need that Joe experiences is not the result of some stubborn imperfection that he must strive to overcome. It s something God put there to lead Joe to heaven: that is, to invite Joe to open himself to divine love, the one and only thing that satisfies the ache. We have nothing to offer God (or anyone else for that matter) that we have not first received. This is why, in the biblical analogy of spousal love, we are always the bride (even men!) and God is always the Bridegroom. For, according to the theology of our bodies, the bride is the one who receives the gift of the bridegroom and conceives life within. As John Paul II put it, the husband is above all the one who loves and the wife... is the one who is loved (TOB 92:6). So, how can we love God more? By letting Him first love us more. How can we serve God more? By letting Him first serve us more. For Christ came not to be served, but to serve (see Mt 20:28). We must let him serve us. We must let Him wash our feet or we can have no part in Him (Jn 13:8). Mary is the one who shows us how to receive this kind of love, this kind of service. Mary, Mother of God, pray for my friend Joe that he would learn how to open his desire to the One alone who can satisfy it, just as you did. Amen. This article first appeared as a blog post on the Theology of the Body Institute website org/2009/09/04/god-love and is reprinted here with permission from the Executive Director, Damon Owens.

2 PRESIDENT S MESSAGE: MAKE YOUR LENTEN JOURNEY WITH CATHOLIC RADIO by Jim Wright Dear Friends, With the season of Lent drawing near, now is a good time to start reflecting on the ways we will prepare for our Lord s passion and resurrection. In addition to traditional Lenten practices, there are many ways to renew and reinvigorate our faith during this holy time of year. One way is by consistently listening to Catholic radio and encouraging others to do the same. Preparation is an important theme throughout the Scriptures. The Israelites prepared for battle through prayer and fasting. God sent prophets to prepare Israel for the unfolding of His plans. St. John the Baptist prepared the way of the Lord. Let us then prepare our hearts and minds in anticipation of Christ s sacrifice on the cross and the joy of Easter Sunday. It all starts with prayer, our channel of communication with God. Prayer is the cornerstone of our relationship with Christ. Along with prayer, we are called to give alms and fast and abstain in accordance with the Church s guidelines. We are also encouraged to perform other acts of love and sacrifice that extend charity to others, enrich our own faith and ongoing conversion, and help spread the gospel message. One action we can take is to set aside at least 15 minutes each day to listen to The Station of the Cross Catholic Radio. If you are already doing this, perhaps Lent can be a time to increase the amount of time you are listening each day. Another option is to become a volunteer for Catholic radio. Please call or us if you are interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities. You can also encourage others to listen to The Station of the Cross during this holy time. Any effort you make to help spread the gospel is pleasing to God. Lent is an ideal opportunity to draw closer to Christ and continue to grow in sanctity. May the Holy Spirit counsel us in identifying the practices that will help us better follow and imitate Jesus. The more we resemble Christ, the more our faith spreads to others. May God bless you and your family this Lenten season. Jim Wright President and General Manager TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR OLD CLUNKER? WANT TO HELP THE STATION OF THE CROSS WHILE DOING YOUR SHOPPING ON AMAZON?...LET US TAKE IT OFF YOUR HANDS We get 70% of the proceeds and you may qualify for a tax deduction $$$ Vehicles for Charity will pick up your vehicle and arrange for towing, all at no charge to you. Just provide the keys and official U.S. title it s that easy and convenient. And, you ll be helping The Station of the Cross. Call or go to thestationofthecross.com and search car donation. Thank you. 2 MAKE YOUR PURCHASE THROUGH THE SMILE PROGRAM and we ll receive half a percent of the proceeds. Just go to thestationofthecross.com and click on the Amazon Smile icon. Select Holy Family Communications as your charity, and shop as you normally would. You ll have access to all products and services and pay the same low Amazon price. It is a quick and easy way to help The Station of the Cross.

3 THE PROMISE OF CATHOLIC RADIO COMBINED WITH SOCIAL MEDIA TO GROW THE CHURCH by Scot Landry Pope Francis has been encouraging us as a Church to go to the peripheries and margins of human existence to find those who are far from Christ and to invite them home to Christ and the Church. This is a new way to express what Jesus called us to do not once or twice, but three times in Luke 15 presumably in order to make sure we understood. The way Jesus ends each of the three parables (Prodigal Son, Lost Coin, Lost Sheep) is significant: we are told that there will be a huge party when ONE that was lost returns to the family of Christ, which is the Church. Most parishioners, if prompted, could quickly list ten or more Catholics close to them relatives, neighbors, friends, coworkers, fellow students who would fit the definition of lost from the Church. Many parishes in the Northeast and Upper Midwest of the country, in fact, might be able to say something like this: The majority of our parish and region is Catholic but most of these Catholics do not come to Church. They do not know much about us and we do not know much about them. That statement is sad, but it is an unfortunate reality today in many neighborhoods that were once known for being strongly Catholic. In those same communities sixty years ago, the percentage of lost Catholics would have been much closer to the scriptural 1 of 100. Parishioners would know if someone missed Mass and there would be visits to see if they were sick. Now, Catholics that are away from Jesus the Good Shepherd in the sacraments outnumber those that are present for the Mass, the Shepherd s meal. Matthew Kelly, in his 2012 book, The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic, shared research that only seven percent of Catholics are highly engaged in living their faith in their parishes through prayer, study, generosity, and evangelization. This seven percent is doing most of the work for the parish s ministries and providing most of the financial support. Kelly looks at this sobering statistic in an optimistic way, asking us to imagine the additional good we could do as a Catholic family if we could double the number of active parishioners to 14 percent over the course of the next several years. The purpose of Catholic radio is to reach those who are lost and connect them to Christ and His Church and to help everyone become growing disciples. When this happens, Christ transforms lives. Don t we want that for everyone we care about? Catholic radio is available on demand every minute of every day, every day of every year. A suggestion to a friend to tune into Catholic radio may be an easier first step to them than joining you for Sunday Mass. We want to help people take a first step and then accompany them on their journey. We are going to be expanding our efforts to utilize social media at The Station of the Cross to share our podcasts and invite people to listen to Catholic radio. Please consider signing up for Facebook and Twitter and then sharing messages from good Catholic organizations like The Station of the Cross every now and then with your social media friends. One simple retweet or share on Facebook could be the thing that encourages someone to call you and take that first step. Stay tuned for more about our 2015 social media initiatives. Thank you for all your support of Catholic radio and for all you do to build up the Catholic Church. [Note: If you d like to read more about how social media, you may want to pick up a copy of Transforming Parish Communications by Our Sunday Visitor which I wrote this past Fall]. Scot Landry is an Advisory Board Member of 1060 AM, The Station of the Cross, in Boston, MA. He can be reached at slandry@1060catholic.org. 3 GUIDE FOR LOCAL PROGRAMMING SUNDAY 5:30 am 6:00 am: Holy Rosary with Mother Angelica / Liturgy of the Hours (WQHE) 7:00 am 7:30 am: Celtic Connections / Fr. Justin Rosary Hour (WLOF Buffalo) 7:30 am 8:00 am: Celtic Connections (cont d) / Czestochowa Novena (WLOF Buffalo) 12:00 pm 1:00 pm: Sunday Mass from EWTN Chapel (encore) / Sunday Mass in Polish from St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Buffalo (WLOF Buffalo) 1:00 pm 1:30 pm: Defending Life / Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (WLOF Buffalo) 1:30 pm 2:00 pm: Vatican Radio Weekend / American Catholic Radio (WLOF Buffalo) 3:00 pm 4:00 pm: Quiet Waters Holy Hour / Carol Fisher Hour of Prayer & Praise (WTMI Syracuse) 4:00 pm 3:00 pm: Register Radio & Blessed 2 Play / Bajo el Manto de Maria (WLOF Buffalo) 9:00 pm 9:30 pm: Truth & Life Dramatized Audio Bible / Liturgy of the Hours (WQHE Oil City) MONDAY FRIDAY 5:30 am 6:00 am: Holy Rosary with Mother Angelica / Liturgy of the Hours (WQHE) 3:00 pm 4:00 pm: Quiet Waters Holy Hour / Carol Fisher Hour of Prayer & Praise (WTMI Syracuse) 9:00 pm 9:30 pm: EWTN News Nightly / Daily Mass from St. Joseph Cathedral (WLOF Buffalo) / Family Rosary (WHIC Rochester) / Liturgy of the Hours (WQHE) 9:30 pm 10:00 pm: Holy Rosary with Fr. Kevin Scallon and Dana / Holy Rosary with Bishop Richard Malone & Food for the Journey with Sr. Ann Shields (WLOF Buffalo) / Food for the Journey & Fire on the Earth (WHIC Rochester) SATURDAY 5:30 am 6:00 am: Holy Rosary with Mother Angelica / Liturgy of the Hours (WQHE) 3:00 pm 4:00 pm: Quiet Waters Holy Hour / Mercy Times (WLOF Buffalo) / Carol Fisher Hour of Prayer & Praise (WTMI Syracuse) 9:00 pm 9:30 pm: Vatican Insider / Liturgy of the Hours (WQHE)

4 NETWORK PROGRAMMING THE STATION OF THE CROSS FEBRUARY 2015 * Local Programming see page 4 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 12 MIDNIGHT Threshold of Hope The Best of The Journey Home EWTN Live 12:30 AM 1:00 AM The Journey Home Right Here Right Now 1:30 AM 2:00 AM The Great Sunday Night Prime Mornings with Mother 2:30 AM Adventure 3:00 AM 3:30 AM Quiet Waters Holy Hour 4:00 AM The World Over Life on the Rock Catholic Answers Live (Encore of previous day s Hour 1) 4:30 AM 5:00 AM Defending Life Chaplet of Divine Mercy in Song / Fire on the Earth (Peter Herbeck) The Choices We Face 5:30 AM * Local Programming 6:00 AM Vatican Radio Weekend 6:30 AM Crossing the Goal Catholic Answers Live (encore of previous day s Hour 2) Threshold of Hope 7:00 AM * Local The Journey Home 7:30 AM 8:00 AM 8:30 AM Programming 9:00 AM Truth & Life Audio Bible The Great Adventure with Teresa Tomeo info@teresatomeo.com Bible Study 9:30 AM EWTN Bookmark Mast (Jeff Appeal Cavins) with 10:00 AM Christ is the Answer Coleen Truth to Kelly Inspire Mast Mornings with Mother 10:30 AM with Fr. John Riccardo Vatican Insider 11:00 AM Divine Mercy in Right Here Right My Soul ( ) 11:30 AM Now 12 NOON * Local 12:30 PM Programming Right Here Right Now (encore) Love Good Epic Music 1:00 PM * Local Programming The Doctor with Dr. is In Ray with Guarendi Dr. Ray and Guarendi Dr. Coleen Mast The Doctor Is is In 1:30 PM * Local Programming :00 PM The World Over Register Radio Called to Communion Catholic Answers 2:30 PM (encore) Blessed 2 Play Live 3:00 PM 3:30 PM * Local Programming 4:00 PM * Local 4:30 PM Programming Kresta in the Afternoon ( ) Conference Talks 5:00 PM The Journey Home Vocation Boom Calling All Catholics : :30 PM Radio 6:00 PM Where Truth God to Inspire Weeps Choices We Face 6:30 PM Catholics Crossing Come the Goal Home Defending Life 7:00 PM Web of Faith 2.0 Register Radio 7:30 PM Truth Where & Life God Audio Weeps Bible 8:00 PM Divine Mercy Sunday Night Prime in My Soul 8:30 PM (encore) Life on the Rock Celtic Connections 9:00 PM * Local Programming 9:30 PM Holy Rosary * Local Programming Holy Rosary 10:00 PM Father Top of the Week Open Line (Encore of today s program) Open Line Love (Encore Good of Music today s program) Open Line (Encore of today s program) 10:30 PM Larry Richards 11:00 PM Super Saints EWTN News Nightly with Colleen Carroll Campbell (encore) St. Joseph Radio 11:30 PM Family Theater Classic Radio Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen programs are subject to change : call toll free: : 45 bold = live program

5 DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR STATION CALL LETTERS STAND FOR? At first a single station in Western New York, The Station of the Cross Catholic Radio Network has blossomed into a radio network comprising numerous stations across the northeastern United States, each dedicated to our Blessed Mother: FM Buffalo, NY August 15,1999 WLOF Our Lady of Fatima 1460 AM/92.9 FM Rochester, NY July 1, 2003 and October 3, 2012 (FM) WHIC Holy and Immaculate Conception 1060 AM Boston, MA November 1, 2010 WQOM Queen of Martyrs 88.1 FM Elmira/Corning, NY February 7, 2011 WMTQ Mary the Queen 88.7 FM Syracuse, NY April 30, 2012 WTMI Mary Immaculate 88.3 FM Oil City, PA January 1, 2013 WQHE Queen of Heaven and Earth 89.5 FM/92.1 FM Geneva OH/Erie, PA February 1, 2014 and December 30, 2014 WMIH Mary s Immaculate Heart People outside of these listening areas can listen on our free mobile app, icatholicradio, accessible anywhere in the world. We welcome our newest addition to the family: 92.1 FM serving Metropolitan Erie, PA. Praise be to God and His holy Mother, along with all of our supporters for helping to make this possible! BECOME A PART OF OUR STATION OF THE CROSS PSALM 91 CLUB! PSALM 91 During a portion of our recent on-air fall fund drive, we asked listeners to become part of the Psalm 91 Club as a way to help build the Communion of Saints. The Psalm 91 Club is a growing group of people who have committed themselves to praying Psalm 91 daily (or as routinely as possible) for one year. As a follow up, we sent this Psalm 91 prayer card to individuals who had indicated they would make this commitment. The Psalm 91 Club is modeled on the practices of St. Padre Pio, who frequently asked for the intercession of guardian angels. Aside from prayer, there is nothing else involved in being part of the Psalm 91 Club. You can pray the psalm for your own intentions, your family or friends, for the intentions of all Psalm 91 Club members, or the intintions of The Station of the Cross. It is a beautiful prayer that will help to instill trust in God and inner peace and security in your daily life. If you would like to be a part of the Psalm 91 Club, simply call or indicate your request with your donation. We will send you this inspirational prayer card as a token of our appreciation for your listenership and generosity. Thank you for listening to The Station of the Cross and for praying Psalm You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust. For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day, or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. Because you have made the Receive this card (Front)

6 101.7 FM 92.9 FM /1460 AM 88.1 FM 1060 AM Buffalo Rochester Elmira Boston 88.7 FM 88.3 FM 92.1FM/89.5 FM Syracuse Oil City ERIE, PA/Geneva, OH icatholicradio THE STATION OF THE CROSS CATHOLIC RADIO NETWORK 6325 SHERIDAN DRIVE WILLIAMSVILLE, NY IN FEBRUARY S ISSUE: God is Love Lenten Journey with Catholic Radio Are you a part of Amazon Smile? Catholic Radio and Social Media Program Grid Station Call Letters Psalm 91 Club OVERVIEW FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY The month of February is dedicated to the HOLY FAMILY The month of February is dedicated to the Holy Family. The special devotion that proposes the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as the model of virtue of all Christian households began in the 17th century. This devotion soon spread and in 1893 Leo XIII expressed his approval of a feast under this title. The feast was welcomed by succeeding Pontiffs as an efficacious means for bringing home to the Christian people the example of the Holy Family at Nazareth, and by the restoration of the true spirit of family life, stemming, in some measure, the evils of present-day society. In the words of His Holiness, Pope Leo XIII: Nothing truly can be more salutary or efficacious for Christian families to meditate upon than the example of this Holy Family, which embraces the perfection and completeness of all domestic virtues. FEBRUARY 2015 HOLY FATHER S INTENTIONS: General: That prisoners, especially the young, may be able to rebuild lives of dignity. Missionary: That married people who are separated may find welcome and support in the Christian community. FEBRUARY FEAST DAYS The Feast of the Presentation (February 2) or Candlemas forms a fitting transition from Christmas to Easter. The small Christ Child is still in His Mother s arms, but already she is offering Him in sacrifice. The saints that we will focus on this month and try to imitate are St. Blaise (February 3), St. Agatha (February 5), St. Paul Miki & Companions (February 6), St. Scholastica (February 10), Our Lady of Lourdes (February 11), Sts. Cyril and Methodius (February 14), Seven Founders of the Orders of Servites (February 17), Peter Damian (February 21), and St. Polycarp (February 23). The feasts of St. Jerome Emiliani and St. Josephine Bakhita (February 8) and the Chair of St. Peter (February 22) are superseded by the Sunday liturgy. Excerpts from CatholicCulture.org