Are you at peace with yourself? If not, spend some time considering where you need that inner ‘hug’ to help you become more peaceful

Ever feel like you are going around in circles or that there is some kind of tornado churning inside you so that you cannot ever be really calm no matter what you do to distract yourself? Take time to try to understand what is at the root of this ‘storm system’ and what inner walls and resistances you may need to drop in order to find peace. It may mean needing to forgive someone, or it may mean needing to forgive or accept something in yourself. Have a conversation with God about whatever is troubling you and not only picture Jesus giving you a hug, but try to really feel that hug and rest in his arms.

Family Discussion:
Set aside some time to sit down with your family and talk about this month’s beatitude.

Pope John Paul II wrote in his 2001 World Day of Peace Message:

Prayer for peace is not an afterthought to the work of peace. It is of the very essence of building the peace of order, justice, and freedom. To pray for peace is to open the human heart to the inroads of God’s power to renew all things … To pray for peace is to pray for justice, for a right ordering of relations within and among nations and people. …No peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness.

Discuss the message and how peace, justice and forgiveness are intertwined. Does this dynamic ring true for you? Could new light be shed on any family disputes by placing them in this framework? How about any internal personal challenges?

Sometimes we don’t recognize what or who is right in front of us! This month, make a conscious effort to see God at work in your life and in the world.

One way of doing this is to do an awareness examen every day. Click here for help with this exercise.

Family Discussion:
Set aside some time to sit down with your family and talk about this month’s beatitude.

A family / home spring-cleaning. What do you spend the most time on as a family? Do you have dedicated family time? What is the central focus in your rooms and what is the heart of your home? For example, do your rooms get decorated around your TV? What can this tell you about priorities and the importance of one’s environment? How much space do you make in your family/home for God? Do you make the time? Do you have a prayer corner set up in the house or in your room? Do you have lots of ‘stuff’ that rarely gets used? Consider giving away extra things that are in good condition and useful to a local shelter or clothing bank.

March 2008 Challenges

Reflection

If you haven’t already done so, experience the sacrament of reconciliation.

Reflecting on our sins reminds us where we need mercy or where we should have shown mercy. You may have heard the saying, “You can’t give what you don’t have.” How does receiving mercy help you be more merciful?

Family Discussion:
Set aside some time to sit down with your family and talk about this month’s beatitude.

We tend to forgive those we care about. However, the possibility of mercy and forgiveness does not mean that established ‘rules’ don’t need to be followed. For example, although there is always the possibility of reconciliation, we are still expected to act as disciples of Christ should. Consider talking about what prompts one to show mercy and how this relates to discipline in a home. How does mercy help promote right relationships within a family?

Pay attention to the media you are exposed to day in and day out such as advertising, newspapers, music, TV and internet. What forms of injustice are they either spreading or revealing?

Be aware of the messages you are being exposed to. What types of injustice are being packaged and ‘sold’ to you in an attractive way so that instead of recognizing them as something to be avoided or confronted, you are tempted to be a part of them? How can you resist this attraction?

Family Discussion:
Set aside some time (over dinner, perhaps!) to sit down with your family and talk about this month’s beatitude.

When we hunger and thirst, we eat and drink. What would you ‘eat’ and ‘drink’ if you were to create a meal plan for righteousness? Although it could mean eliminating bottled water from your routine or ensuring your coffee is free trade certified, this also can mean helping at a shelter once a month or having ‘a serving of the rosary three times a week.’ Are there things you can do together as a family?

January 2008 Challenges

Reflection

Flip through the New Testament and see if you can find any references to patience, gentleness and meekness (e.g.: Mt. 5:38-41, 1 Cor. 13:4). Pray with these passages.

What does your prayer reveal? Use the lectio divina resource to help you with this. Do some research about the customs of Jesus’ time. For example, turning the other cheek isn’t a sign if submission but is a way of forcing the person to treat you as an equal. Normally, when you physically turn the other cheek, it would require the person to give you a backhanded slap – a challenge given to an equal. After doing some research, pray with the passages again.

Family Discussion:
Set aside some time to sit down with your family and talk about this month’s beatitude.

We all have ‘buttons’ that can be pushed so that we respond negatively instantly. What are the buttons that you push with family (or friends)? When you tend to do this? What strategies can you develop to overcome these urges – both individually and as a family? Make one of your resolutions this year to be more patient by not pushing others’ buttons and not allowing yourself to be provoked.

December 2007 Challenges

Reflection

Reflect on John 11:25-26: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

In the passage, Jesus asks Martha if she believes this statement. What do you think it means? Do you believe it? Do you resist it in some way? How can the statement change the way you think about and respond to death? How are those who have gone before us remain ‘alive’ for us?

Family Discussion:
Set aside some time to sit down with your family and talk about this month’s beatitude.

Christmas comes just when leaves have finally fallen off their trees, plants and animals have gone into hibernation, and after the shortest day of the year. In the midst of such death, we celebrate life. What does this timing suggest? Have you ever experienced a similar ‘birth’ or ‘light’ in the midst of darkness at some point in your life? What role can getting together as a community (as family or beyond) play at such times?

November 2007 Challenges

Reflection

Read the story about the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).

How are poverty and riches depicted in the story? In what way is Lazarus truly rich and the rich man poor? How is it that people are not convinced by the teachings of Moses, the prophets or even Jesus?

Family Discussion:
Set aside some time to sit down with your family and talk about this month’s beatitude.

Image is everything in a consumer world. How does the beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” challenge us to look beyond ourselves and personal gain? How difficult is this when faced with current financial and social illusions that more is better? What one thing can you do that is a choice for what you really need instead of what you want?

October 2007 Challenges

Reflection

Make an extra effort to start a conversation and take a genuine interest in the undertakings of someone you come across occasionally (such as a classmate or work colleague) but generally ignore or prefer not to deal with.

Extra effort is required if you are not on friendly terms with someone. Yet everyone is special and is a gift from god. We do not have to be ‘best friends’ with everyone, but we should try to respect and understand another person’s personality and/or beliefs. Consider why you normally avoid the person and how difficult it was to talk to them. What does that reveal to you about yourself?

Visit or spend time with someone who could really use or enjoy the company. Remember that the visit is about them, not you!

Have you ever felt like no one notices you or thinks of you? Have you ever felt like a ‘stranger in a strange land’? What was this like? Who do you think feels like this in your community? How can you help?

Do you feel worthy of love? Make a list of reasons why you are loveable. Do you find it difficult to love? Make a list of the reasons one should love.

One of the hardest things we ever have to learn is how to love and to accept love. Sometimes it’s hard because we feel that we are in some basic way unlovable. Sometimes it’s because we think there is a ‘catch,’ even though love that is conditional isn’t really love. Look at the lists that you have created. What are your stumbling blocks? What stories from Scripture can help you look at these challenges in a different way? Ask your pastor or someone else familiar with the Bible to help you with this if you need to.

Read John 21: 15-19.

What stood out for you when you read the passage? Did you notice something about it that you didn’t before? In the original Greek version of the text the first two times the word Jesus uses for love is agape (God’s love, unselfish, typical of the biblical notion of love in 1 Cor 13), the final time he uses philia (brotherly love or friendship). Does this change your reading of the text? What is the significance of the “follow me” at the end?