disciple – Madison Catholic Herald Archive (2001-2025)


	St. Thomas Aquinas parishioner Carol making a delivery of the home altar kit./Miembro parroquial de Santo Tomás de Aquino entregando el paquete del altar de la casa. (Photo by St. Thomas Aquinas Parish/Fotos por el Parroquia de Santo Tomás de Aquino)

MADISON — “If you want to drain Christianity of its power, drain Sunday of its meaning and practice.”

Recently Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison has urged us to reclaim Sundays as a day for us to spend time nurturing our relationships with God, family, and friends.

As the bishop says, they are meant to be “days free of servile work, dedicated to worship, prayer, time spent with family and friends, rest, study and works of charity.” (Go Make Disciples newsletter, September 2020)

Sunday is a gift to us from God. And in the midst of the many stressors and challenges of the last year, it is clear that we need that gift more than ever.

St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Madison has focused its evangelization efforts using the tagline of “Love God. Love Others. Make Disciples.”

Since launching the Make Sundays Special initiative at Advent, that tagline has been a useful way of introducing ways for households of all types to make Sundays special.

Here are some examples, included in a bilingual booklet that was mailed to all parish households.

Make Sundays special by loving God

Going to Mass is key to loving God and letting God love us.

The high point of our week as Catholics is the celebration of the Sunday Mass.

Seeing with Jesus' Eyes

On August 9, 2012

Fr. Donald Lange

Mary’s Assumption inspires us to imitate her discipleship

Fr. Mark Link shared an inspiring story of a Catholic teenager who felt that her mother rejected her. She transferred her anger for her mother to Mary.

The girl reluctantly went on a required Confirmation retreat. The director talked about Mary. As the girl listened, angry feelings towards her mother surfaced. She rejected everything good the speaker shared about Mary. After the talk, she went outside to walk off her anger. She wanted to cry but her tears froze. She felt bitter loneliness and rejection.

She wandered aimlessly until her curiosity attracted her to a small grotto-like building. She looked inside and discovered a large statue of Mary from whom she was trying to escape. She wanted to run, but she was drawn to the kneeler at Mary’s feet. She fell on her knees, weeping in the folds of Mary’s robes. When she stopped crying, she felt cleansed and renewed. Touched by Mary, she began to accept her as her spiritual mother.

Guest column

On April 5, 2012

Anonymous Sufferer in Training

I want to see Him suffer

Stop me if you’ve heard this one already. On one unfortunate day, the art teacher, the science teacher, and the development director of a prestigious Catholic high school all died and found themselves standing before the gates of heaven in front of a less than pleased St. Peter.

The frowning apostle said to them, “It is no secret up here that the three of you never got along on earth and constantly quarreled amongst yourselves. So, in order to get into heaven, you must complete one final test. You must all agree which moment in the life of Christ you would like to see first-hand, and it will be granted to you.”

Seeing with Jesus' Eyes

On August 11, 2011

Fr. Donald Lange

Mary’s Assumption inspires us to follow her example

On November 1, 1950, more than 500,000 joyful people packed St. Peter’s Square to hear Pope Pius XII proclaim the dogma of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven.

In Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XII proclaimed 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.”

In no. 59 of the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, the Second Vatican Council affirmed this dogma of the Church.

God’s children in need

Pope Pius XII proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption to counter the loss of reverence and respect for the God-given identity of every human being.

The Catholic Difference

On April 28, 2011

George Weigel

Remembering Pope John Paul II

Strange as it may seem, I’ve been vaguely worried about the beatification on May 1 of a man with whom I was in close conversation for over a decade and to the writing of whose biography I dedicated 15 years of my own life.

My worries don’t have to do with allegations of a “rushed” beatification process; the process has been a thorough one, and the official judgment is the same as the judgment of the people of the Church.

I’m also unconcerned about the fretting of ultra-traditionalists for whom John Paul II was a failure because he didn’t restore the French monarchy, impose the Tridentine Mass on the entire Church, and issue thundering anathemas against theologians and wayward politicians.

Cutting Edge

On December 23, 2010

Sr. Margie Lavonis

Christ bids us to come – and go

I have a ritual I practice on New Year’s Eve or day, depending on what is going on in my life. I take some quiet time to review how God has worked in my life over the past year.

Last year I recalled a journal entry that summarized a talk I still remember. It was given during a day of prayer. The presenter, a wonderful Holy Cross priest, made a simple but profound statement. He said that Christian discipleship can be summed up by two words — “Come” and “Go.”