Visi or. The Pastoral. Jim

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1 RCAB The Pastoral Visi or Volume 2 Issue 1 Winter 2014 I am always amazed at how wonderful our Lord and Savior is and how he touches our lives in so many different ways. I am sure you see it on a daily basis as you minster to those in need. We receive so much more than we give if we remain open to His loving embrace. As we enter into these winter months I am sure many of us struggle with the colder temps and the shorter days. I suffer from a mild form of seasonal depression and I miss the long warm sunny days of summer. This past week as I was putting up lights on the house I realized I needed to clean the gutters. I had been a bit lazy this fall. As I started to clean them I found out quickly that they were frozen. So I grabbed a screwdriver and started to chip away the frozen leaves and pine needles. Half way through I decided to take a break so I walked up to the highest point of the roof and sat down. It was a very peaceful place with a fantastic view. The temperature was in the 20s yet I was not cold. There was not a cloud in the clear blue sky. I felt such a sense of peace. I felt as if the Lord had wrapped his loving arms around me and was telling me He love me. I just sat there and enjoyed His loving embrace. A moment I will never forget. Now my gutters are clean, the lights are up and life continues. I pray that during this season of Christmas you and your families are touched in a very special way by the unconditional love of our Lord and Savior. Blessings, Jim

2 World Day of the Sick 2014 Dear Brothers and Sisters, 1. On the occasion of the XXII World Day of the Sick, which this year has the theme Faith and charity: " We too must give our lives for the brethren" ( 1 Jn 3:16), I turn especially to the sick and all those who provide their care and treatment. The Church sees in you, dear sick people, a special presence of the suffering Chris. It's so : next, indeed, in our suffering is that of Jesus, which brings us together in the weight and reveals its meaning. When the Son of God is gone up on the cross has destroyed the solitude of suffering and has illuminated the darkness. We are placed in this way before the mystery of God's love for us, that gives us hope and courage, hope, because in the loving plan of God even on the night of pain is open to the light of Easter, and courage to face each adversity in his company, united to Him 2. The Son of God made man has not taken away from human disease and suffering, but, taking them in itself, has transformed and downsized. Resized, because they no longer have the last word, but that is the new life in fullness ; transformed, because in union with Christ can become positive from negative. Jesus is the way, and with His Spirit, we can follow him. As the Father has given the Son out of love, and the Son gave himself up to the same love, we too can love others as God has loved us, giving their lives for our brothers. Faith in God becomes good goodness, faith in the Crucified Christ becomes strength to love till the end and even our enemies. The test of true faith in Christ is the gift of self to spread the love for one's neighbor, especially for those who do not deserve it, for those who suffer, for those who are marginalized. 3. By virtue of Baptism and Confirmation we are called to be conformed to Christ, the Good Samaritan of all the suffering. "In this we know love, in the fact that he gave his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 Jn 3:16). When we approach with tenderness to those who are in need of care, we bring hope and a smile of God in the contradictions of the world. When the dedication and generosity towards others becomes the style of our actions, we make space to the Heart of Christ and we are heated, thus offering our contribution to the advent of the Kingdom of God

3 4. To grow in tenderness, charity respectful and sensitive, we have a model Christian who manage safely away. She is the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, attentive to the voice of God and the needs and difficulties of his children. Mary, driven by the divine mercy that she gets meat, forgets herself and walks quickly from Galilee to Judea to see her cousin Elizabeth ; interceding with her Son at the wedding at Cana, when he sees that it lacks the wine of the feast, in his heart, along the pilgrimage of life, the words of the aged Simeon that herald a sword will pierce your soul, and with fortitude remains at the foot of the Cross of Jesus She knows how to do it this way and for this is the Mother of all the sick and suffering. We are confident recourse to her with filial devotion, sure that will assist us, support us and will not forsake us. She is the Mother of the Risen Christ: it remains next to crosses and accompanies us on our journey towards the resurrection and the life full. 5. St. John, the disciple who was with Mary at the foot of the Cross, takes us back to the sources of faith and charity, to the heart of God who " is love" ( 1 Jn 4:8,16 ), and reminds us that we cannot love God if you do not love the brethren. Who stands beneath the Cross with Mary, learn to love like Jesus The Cross "is the certainty of the faithful love of God for us. A love so great that enters our sin and forgives him, enters into our suffering and gives us the strength to carry it, also enters into death in order to win and save us... The Cross of Christ invites you to leave infected by this love, teaches us to always look at each other with mercy and love, especially those who suffer, those who need help "(Way of the Cross with young people, Rio de Janeiro, July 26, 2013). I commend this XXII World Day of the Sick to the intercession of Mary, so that helps sick people to live their own suffering in communion with Jesus Christ, and support those who care for them. In all patients, caregivers and volunteers, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing. From the Vatican, December 6, 2013 FRANCIS (Translated from Italian to English)

4 Pastoral Visitors Resolutions...again??? Every year I find myself being faced with the daunting task of making new year resolutions. What will I do different this year that I did not do last year? The list is endless. Fortunately, we as Catholics, have Lent a few months after New Year to regroup and ponder once again, how can I be the person the Lord wants me to be? Visiting the sick and homebound continuously challenges us with each new encounter and these same questions. After leaving a visit, one may ask, like a new year resolution, what can I do next time differently so that I am that much more present and that much more the person the Lord wants me to be for the person before me? Inner reflection after a visit gives one the opportunity to see and to gain the insight to answer these questions. Below is an article that features Pope Francis insightfulness regarding the sick and how visiting and caring for them is an honor. -Karen Farrell Vatican City, Nov 11, 2013 / 05:32 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a meeting with an Italian organization dedicated to helping those in poor health go on pilgrimage, Pope Francis reminded the ill and infirm that they have a true role in the Church. Dear sisters and brothers who are unwell, don't consider yourselves only as objects of solidarity and charity, but feel integrated fully into the life and the mission of the Church, he told the members of U.N.I.T.A.L.S.I., the National Italian Union for Transporting the Sick to Lourdes and International Shrines, on Nov. 9. You have your place, a specific role in the parish and every ecclesial sphere. Your presence, silent but more eloquent than many words, your prayer, the daily offering of your suffering in union with that of Jesus crucified for the salvation of the world, patient and even joyous acceptance of your conditions these are a spiritual resource, a patrimony for every Christian community, the Pope explained.

5 The pontiff then went on to emphasize that work of Christians with the sick is not welfare aid or philanthropy, but a genuine announcement of the Gospel of love, and a ministry of consolation. You seek to be the look that welcomes, the hand that raises and accompanies, the word of comfort, the embrace of tenderness, he continued. Every sick and fragile person can see in your face the face of Jesus; and you also can recognize in the suffering person the body of Christ. Pope Francis underscored the need for this mutual understanding to affect not just the Church, but society at large. The poor, also the poor in health, are a richness for the Church: and you have received the gift and the responsibility to accept these riches, in order to help them be valued, not only for the Church herself but for all of society. This can be difficult in the modern world which is much more inclined to hide physical frailty, to consider it only as a problem which requires resignation and pietism or at times discards people. In fact, the Pope said, it is a matter of really valuing the presence and the testimony of weak and suffering persons, not merely as people to be served, but as active subjects of this same apostolic activity. The U.N.I.T.A.L.S.I. organization is particularly dedicated to bringing the sick to Marian shrines. Pope Francis focused on this aspect of their spirituality, reminding members to imitate the maternity of Mary, the maternal care that she has for each of us. He turned to the biblical account of the wedding at Cana, in which Mary finds that the newlywed couple has run out of wine for their guests, and tells the servants to do whatever Jesus orders. Christ then turns water into wine for everyone. This intervention of Mary with her son shows the care of Mary towards mankind. It is a careful attention to our most real needs: Mary knows what we need! the Pope exclaimed. She takes care of us, interceding with Jesus and asking for each of us the gift of 'new wine,' that is love, grace, that which saves us. Christians should see in Mary the model of a believer who always intercedes and prays for us, especially in the hour of difficulty and need, in the hour of distress and confusion, and above all in the hour of sin.

6 Bereavement Psychological You Are Not Alone When your child has died, suddenly it seems like all meaning has been drained from your life. When you wake in the morning, it s difficult to get out of bed, much less live a normal life. All that was right with the world now seems wrong and you re wondering when, or if, you ll ever feel better. We ve been there ourselves and understand some of the pain you are feeling right now. We are truly glad that you have found us but profoundly saddened by the reason. We know that you are trying to find your way in a bewildering experience for which no one can truly be prepared. When you re newly bereaved, suddenly you find yourself on an emotional roller-coaster where you have no idea what to expect next. Here are thoughts on some of what you may be experiencing or feeling (many of these will apply to bereaved siblings and grandparents): Your memory has suddenly become clouded. You're shrouded in forgetfulness. You'll be driving down the road and not know where you are or remember where you're going. As you walk, you may find yourself involved in "little accidents" because you're in a haze. You fear that you are going crazy. You find there's a videotape that constantly plays in an endless loop in your mind, running through what happened. You find your belief system is shaken and you try to sort out what this means to your faith. Placing impossible deadlines on yourself, you go back to work, but find that your mind wanders and it's difficult to function efficiently or, some days, at all. Others wonder when you'll be over "it," not understanding that you'll never be the same person you were before your child died and the passage of time will not make you so. You find yourself reading the same paragraph over and over again trying to understand what someone else has written. Emotional You rail against the injustice of not being allowed the choice to die instead of your child. You find yourself filled with anger, whether it be at your partner, a person you believe is responsible for your child's death, God, yourself, and even your child for dying. You yearn to have five minutes, an hour, a day back with your child so you can tell your child of your love or thoughts left unsaid. Guilt becomes a powerful companion as you blame yourself for the death of your child. Rationally you know that you were not to blame you most certainly would have saved your child if you'd been given the chance. You feel great sadness and depression as you wrestle with the idea that everything important to you has been taken from you. Your future has been ruined and nothing can ever make it right. Read more at

7 O ften times when people have been away from the Catholic faith they have a reintroduction to its beauty through the liturgy of a funeral. Catholics Come Home is a wonderful resource for those questioning what does being Catholic mean. Here are five reasons to encourage others to come home to the Catholic Church: 5. We hunger for meaning and purpose in our lives. 4. We need God s forgiveness and healing for our failings and God s mercy to help us become better people. 3. Our families need to be built on a strong foundation of faith and we need to live in community with others. 2. The Catholic Church has the Sacraments and we especially long for the Eucharist. 1. Catholicism is TRUE! Visit Catholics Come Home at e.org/ for more information on how to invite others back to the Catholic faith and to say, Welcome home! INTERNET RESOURCES Being Catholic Default.aspx Cardinal Sean Default.aspx Events Default.aspx Faith Essentials Mass Participation Story.aspx?id=22302 Parishes Default.aspx -see/francis/index.cfm Pope Francis USCCB Vatican For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 6:23

8 To all who are passionately dedicated to the search for new epiphanies of beauty so that through their creative work as artists they may offer these as gifts to the world. -Blessed John Paul II 1999 Letter to Artists Prison Ministry Prison Art Lester Smith, a former prison inmate who converted to Catholicism during his incarceration, spent many hour painting religious art. Please find below an article pertaining to his work (2011) and a more recent YouTube (2013) that describes the ongoing conservation of his paintings. July 21, 2011 Penitentiary Restores Prisoner s Biblical Murals By EVE M. KAHN In 1955 a remorseful prisoner at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia started expressing his newfound Roman Catholic faith on the jailhouse walls. The inmate, Lester Smith, had been convicted of a string of armed robberies. At first, while in his prison cell, he painted portraits of saints. Then the Eastern State staff noticed his talent and invited him to line the Catholic chaplain s office suite with biblical murals. Under skylights in the chaplain s vaulted rooms, Mr. Smith depicted souls in purgatory and saints aloft. In one scene he also seems to have portrayed himself, in a uniform with the number printed across the shoulder blades, covering his face and kneeling before Jesus. (That was not his real number, scholars at Eastern State have determined.)

9 The site became a museum in 1994, after two decades of devastating abandonment, and the staff has long been researching and protecting the Smith paintings. This year they became part of the public tour, and restoration is under way. The staff has tracked down descendants of Mr. Smith, who died in The family reports that he did not speak about his incarceration or the murals, and never backslid into a life of crime. (He did keep a few souvenir photographs of his paintings, hidden under his bed.) Eastern State has installed new flooring and skylight panes in the chaplain s office, and staff from Milner & Carr Conservation in Philadelphia is figuring out which sections of the murals can be saved and which will have to be recreated. Much of the paint has flaked away or is loose beneath milky sheets of tissue paper and wax that were applied for emergency stabilization in The museum has set out to raise $165,000 to complete the project. We re not trying to make these look brand-new or 100 percent whole, said John Carr, the firm s principal conservator. The paintings have spent decades exposed to the elements. In 1971 the state government emptied and stopped maintaining Eastern State. Roofs collapsed throughout the 11-acre site, where a dozen cellblocks emanate from a central observation point. Long swaths of the building remain ruined, with iron bedsteads and mattresses moldering behind bars. Two years ago the museum restored a synagogue tucked between cellblocks. Photos and artifacts displayed there document men who led and participated in Jewish rituals, some while serving time for appalling crimes. Eastern State is eager to document the biographies of past inmates. A cell is already done up as it might have looked when Al Capone spent a few months there, surrounded by patterned rugs and plush upholstery. Mr. Smith, the staff has learned, spent about a year at the prison; the courts kept his sentence short, since his religious faith had become so fervent. Because of his conversion, the judge was more lenient with him, said Sara Jane Elk, the museum s president. The chaplain s office, she added, is one of our few places where there s an actual remnant of an actual prisoner. New York Times -philadelphia.html?_r=0

10 Parish Nursing Exercise, Sports and Spirituality: Celebrating Body and Soul BY: B. G. KELLEY Why d you do that? I asked my wife, Ellie. In a five-mile race, she d slowed in the last mile, allowing a friend to beat her to the finish. It meant more to her to get there first, she said. Ellie s response brought to mind a saying of Trappist monk Matthew Kelty: To see God in all things you have only to play...with an unselfish heart. Wholesome spirituality must include the body to help us move toward a holistic union with God. Physical play, whether running, playing basketball, biking, rock climbing, swimming or dancing, is tied to the human spirit. If we put physical play and exercise in a spiritual dimension, it will help us accept absolute concepts winning and losing, discipline, hard work and understand life better. It will reveal character and grace; enlist intelligence and challenge; and teach respect for limits and laws. Author and philosopher Albert Camus said, Sport is where I had my only lessons in ethics. Play nourishes the soul, making time wonderfully irrelevant, allowing us to escape from temporal and secular struggles bills, workplace stress, desecration of the environment and crime. Play allows us to escape into our souls, reflect and awaken innocence that often gets lost in becoming adults. It helps us keep our lives from becoming merely about pleasure, power, glory and wealth. My running is a celebration of body and soul. I run in sacramental environments, where tall timbers, vast rivers, geese or the sun dropping like a gold coin bring both physical and spiritual poetry to my surroundings.

11 Embracing the journey The physical-spiritual journey is intentional and purposeful from start to finish. It will not go adrift, subject to the whims of luck or chance. One autumn day long ago, I looked for my name on the locker room door at my high school. It wasn t there. I d failed to make the basketball team. Father Walter Conway noticed my dejected look when I shuffled into Latin class. What s wrong, son? he asked. I got cut from the basketball team, I said. He pulled me aside, saying, Son, you re going to have to accept suffering and challenge as part of the search for fulfillment. Accept the suffering, then accept the challenge and pray that God will show you the way to do something that will earn you a spot on the team next year. Those words stuck in my psyche like a first kiss sticks to your lips. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us * and persevere in running the race that lies before us. -Hebrews 12:1 I came to a decision: I would fuse the physical and the spiritual. While running four miles a day, I prayed to be as prepared as possible, so that by the following fall, when basketball tryouts came around, I d be both in superior physical condition and in good shape spiritually. I worked on my ball-handling and shooting as well. I ran in Fairmount Park, a piece of paradise in the city of Philadelphia. The autumn leaves along the Schuylkill River had turned to carrot orange, saffron gold and scarlet red. The sun shimmered on the water. The air was crisp as celery. God provided this refuge for me. I even ran in the winter there, when it was so cold that icicles formed on my eyebrows. (I guess that was part of the suffering!) Continued on next page

12 Parish Nursing When springtime arrived, so did blossoming cherry trees, gentle breezes coming off the water, and the rhythmic slicing of scullers oars, keeping time with my rhythms of prayer. Summer came with its intense heat. (Again, the suffering!) But I kept reflecting on my Latin teacher s words: Accept suffering and challenge as part of the search for fulfillment. In autumn, I once again stood before the locker room door, reading the names of those who d made the basketball team. My name was there! I d arrived at my physical and spiritual destination, and the journey was as important as the arrival. My physical-spiritual journey continued: I became a starter and exceeded my dreams by earning All-League honors and leading our division in scoring. More importantly at least to my pop basketball led to a college scholarship. Making a spiritual connection It s not easy to sit down and write. Or perhaps the sitting down is easy, and the writing is hard. I was having trouble coming up with ideas for this essay writer s block. I needed to free myself, feel a sense of abandonment and do something physical to unlock myself mentally. So I headed for Valley Green, an outdoor monastery that can silence the ticking of the clock and block out the irrelevant things that spin around us. It s where I came when my parents died, to release my sorrow, talk to them, commune with God and ask God to brace me for life without them. The sacramental solitude and peace I find there is a physical prayer. This day I wanted to be released from the curse of the blank page.

13 I ran and was able to work out ideas that pounded life into words for this essay. I sprinted back to my car, where I keep a pad and pen for just such revelations, and scrawled down my ideas. Becoming complete Know this: Physical exercise is not simply an investment in one s health. Sure, it enriches muscle strength, bone density and brain stimulus those parts of the body that steadily tend to decline as we age. But also know this: Physical play and exercise can help us stay connected to God and the world. This can lead to a physical and spiritual ripening rather than a rotting. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. -2 Timothy 4:7 What Murray Bodo, O.F.M., wrote in The Way of St. Francis: The Challenge of Franciscan Spirituality for Everyone rings true: I am a whole person, and until I love my body as much as my soul, I will not be a truly complete human being. Imprimatur was granted for this article, Exercise, Sports and Spirituality Celebrating Body and Soul, by B.G. Kelley, from Auxiliary Bishop Joseph R. Binzer, Vicar General, Archdiocese of Cincinnati, B. G. Kelley has written magazine articles, a book of poetry and a network TV film. A longer version of this article appeared in the July 2011 issue of St. Anthony Messenger. preview.aspx?id=248

14 The Pastoral Visitor is published by the Office of Health Care Ministry for the Pastoral Visitor Project Executive Committee Deacon James F. Greer, Director Karen Murray, Coordinator Health Care Ministry, RCAB Ministry to Persons with Disabilities, RCAB Karen Farrell, Administrative Assistant Lorna DesRoses, Coordinator Health Care Ministry, RCAB Office of Outreach and Cultural Diversity Mary Ann McLaughlin, Co- Director Nan Rafter, RN, Pastoral Associate, Parish Nurse Office of Worship and Spiritual Life, RCAB St. Mary Parish, Franklin Sr. Anne D Arcy, Associate Director Sr. Christine Smith, SBS, Pastoral Associate Office of Worship and Spiritual Life, RCAB St. Katharine Drexel Parish, Roxbury sister_anne_d arcy@rcab.org chrissmithsbs@yahoo.com Catholic Faith Essentials for the New Evangelization Begins January 6, 2014 Season 5 Living the Cathol i c Fai th How do I establish a spiritual routine and keep it vibrant? (January 6, 2014) How can I grow closer to Christ each day? (January 13, 2014) How can I deepen my knowledge of the faith each day? (January 27, 2014) How can I evangelize in simple terms and steps? (February 3, 2014) How can I defend the faith in simple terms and steps? (February 10, 2014) How do I rejoice when a person I have prayed for or invited returns to the Church? (February 24, 2014) Evangelization as Witness: Young Priests of the Archdiocese (March 3, 2014) Health Care Ministry Archdiocese of Boston 66 Brooks Drive Braintree, MA Phone Fax