Category: Seeing with Jesus’ Eyes

In 1978 President Jimmy Carter proclaimed that National Grandparents Day would be observed on the first Sunday after Labor Day. This year we observe Grandparents Day on September 12. We remember and thank those who helped to make this special day possible.

We thankfully remember Hermine Beckett Hanna, for her contributions to Grandparents Day. On February 21, 1990, New York Congressman James T. Walsh officially recognized her efforts on behalf of grandparents

On August 15, we celebrate the feast of the Assumption of Mary, body and soul, into heaven. Mary’s Assumption is God’s response to her committed discipleship, expressed through her motherhood of Jesus, and other graced ways that she did God’s will.

The feast of the Assumption is the oldest Marian feast in the liturgy. On November 1, 1950, in Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XII declared Mary’s Assumption “to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”

Mrs. Sonora Louise Smart Dodd is generally credited with organizing the first modern Father’s Day. It was celebrated on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Wash. The idea of Father’s Day originated in Sonora’s mind as she listened to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909.

Sonora’s mother died while giving birth when Sonora was 16. William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran, raised the newborn and five other children with caring love. Sonora, the eldest child, admired the endless sacrifices her dad made so his children could live better. Consequently she wanted a Father’s Day to honor her father and other fathers. We celebrate Father’s Day this year on June 20.

The scheduled Mass server became sick. I quickly recruited a partially trained petite little girl from the pews. As I fumbled around, trying to figure out the microphone and other mysteries, I asked her to light the candles.

She didn’t respond. This seemed strange because she was a very obedient person. I thought that she probably didn’t hear me. So I asked her again. She replied innocently, “Father, I can’t. My mom won’t let me light matches.”

On April 22, we celebrate Earth Day. Earth Day was founded in 1970 by Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. senator from Wisconsin. On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans crowded streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. Earth Day’s time had come.

Earth Day offers us Catholics opportunities to reflect upon statements by recent popes and bishops regarding our moral responsibility towards creation. In his address on the World Day of Peace 2010, Pope Benedict XVI focused upon the theme “If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation.”

A great conductor rehearsed a choir for a performance of the Messiah. The chorus sang through to the part where the soprano sings, “I Know That My Redeemer Lives.”

Her singing was flawless: perfect phrasing, pitch, enunciation, and all of the singing qualities that I wish I had. When she finished, the choir waited eagerly for the applause that would surely follow.

Instead, the conductor glared at the soloist and growled, “My dear, you do not really believe that your Redeemer lives, do you?”

A company organized a salvage operation off Ireland’s coast in order to recover treasure from a sunken Spanish treasure ship.

Day after day, diver after diver plunged into the cold waters and came up with nothing much. Then a diver discovered treasure that excited the entire crew. It was a wedding ring that a nobleman gave to his wife. On the ring was a heart accompanied by the words “I have nothing more to give.”

Lent is a 40-day season of prayer, fasting, good works, and penance. Lent prepares us to renew our baptismal promises with deep faith at Easter when we celebrate the paschal mystery, the heart of our faith.

In the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy it says “Lent disposes the faithful, who more diligently hear the Word of God and devote themselves to prayer, to celebrate the Paschal mystery.”

Catholic Schools Week is the annual national celebration of the important role of Catholic grade and high schools which emphasize not only academics but also spiritual, moral, and social values. This year Catholic Schools Week is observed from January 31 to February 6.

Its theme is “Dividends for Life.” Parents, teachers, administrators, students, and others invest valuable time, talent, and resources in Catholic schools. The dividends of their investment last for a lifetime and into eternity. According to Karen Ristau, National Catholic Educators Association president, there is no better way to invest in a child’s future or the future of the world.