Spiritual Development Communique #2
Terri Scott, Chairperson
January 15, 2009

Greetings
“The appointed time has come; God has sent His son into the world” (Galatians 4.4). Sincere best wishes and a very happy New Year! I’m sure that you are looking forward to the promise of a new year.

Jubilee Year of St. Paul the Apostle: June 28, 2008, to June 29, 2009
The Ontario Provincial Spiritual Development Standing Committee has compiled a package on The Pauline Year. The file includes a comprehensive overview of the life and mission journeys of St. Paul, ways to celebrate the Pauline Year, hymns and prayers. In short, if there is anything you wish to know about St. Paul, it is there. If you would like more information, please check the Ontario website. Thank you to the committee for its outstanding contribution on a project that was surely done with St. Paul’s blessing.

49th International Eucharistic Congress
The Congress, which was held in June 2008 in Quebec City, was experienced by most as, “a great moment of faith and fellowship.” From its website, you may read about highlights of the week, or order a souvenir album or DVD. I look forward to hearing about your faith adventures in your annual reports.

Catholic Missions In Canada (CMIC)
The League has been supporting the CMIC since 2001 through a national voluntary fund. In 2003, at national convention, delegates voted to make the fund permanent. In over seven years, $150,000 was generated to help the missions. At a recent national executive meeting, it was agreed that the following six missions supported by CMIC would receive funding from the CWL:
1) Office of Catechetics: Youth Ministry (Diocese of Grand Falls)
2) Catechetical/Youth Ministry Office (Diocese of Corner Brook and Labrador)
3) First Nations Lay Ministry Formation Program (Diocese of Thunder Bay)
4) Rural Catechetical Program (Diocese of Prince Albert)
5) Native Catechetical Ministry Team (Diocese of Nelson)
6) Religious Education and Youth Ministry (Diocese of Keewatin-Le Pas)

Prayer for All Vocations
Someone sent me this lovely prayer that includes all vocations. You may wish to keep it handy and say it often.

Prayer for All Vocations
God, our Father, in baptism You called us by name, making us members of Your people, the church. We praise You for Your goodness, we thank You for Your gifts. We ask You to strengthen us to live in love and service to others after the example of Your son, Jesus. Father, look upon Your church with love and bless Your people with generous single men and women, with loving husbands and wives, with understanding parents, with trusting children, with dedicated priests, sisters, deacons and brothers. Help us to see our vocations as a journey toward You. You have called us, not to set us apart, but to bring us together with others who need our love. Make us faithful signs of Your presence in their midst. We ask You through Christ, our Lord. Amen

Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada (WICC)
The March 6th World Day of Prayer service was written by the women of Papua, New Guinea, with the theme, In Christ there are many members, yet one body. If you would like more information, visit the WICC website.

WICC is celebrating its 90th anniversary between October 2008 and May 2009, and invites you to be a part of the celebrations. A special liturgy, DVD, pin and bookmark have been prepared to commemorate this anniversary. If you would like to order these resources or find more information, visit the WICC website.

Shorter Christian Prayer
For pray-ers of Shorter Christian Prayer, the four-week Psalter of the Liturgy of the Hours contains Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, with selections for the entire year. This official prayer of the Catholic church will bring blessings and comfort to you. Week 1 began on January 12th.

One in the Spirit
This program provides an opportunity for members to become more aware of their individual spiritual preferences and may enrich their relationship with God and others. It can be done in three hours, however, allowing more time makes it a much more fruitful experience.

More on the theme: Women of Peace and Hope
By now members are preparing for diocesan conventions and have been studying the new theme that will be in effect for the next two years. A hymn you may want to consider to compliment the theme is “Peace” (Weston Priory), with text and music by Gregory Norbet, OSB. It may be found on page 478 of Breaking Bread. Before any hymn is copied and circulated for use, please ensure that permission is sought from the publisher.

The Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel, celebrated annually on April 26th, has been newly declared CWL Day of Peace and Hope. Each national standing committee chairperson submitted concrete ideas to form a kit to help members pray for peace and hope with two main areas, 1) palliative care and 2) “Welcome, Friend!” with which to promote this special day. National office is compiling the kit to be released by mid-February to help councils prepare for April 26th. It is a call for action that will make members more visible in their parishes as women who are working for peace and hope.

A church bulletin I recently read included comments about becoming a “New Age” Catholic. The author talked about how sometimes we hear why people leave the church, citing “too many hypocrites” as their main complaint, noting that in the 1960s and ’70s, 1,000s of Christians cited hypocrisy as the reason they left their traditional churches to explore other religions. Eventually they came to be called “New Age.” The author went on to explain that this is not a religion, but a title for “seekers” of spiritual truth and fulfillment. The bottom line cautions about condemning anyone who is a seeker of God.

May Our Lady of Good Counsel be your guide as you live the new theme for the next two years; may your face reflect the love Jesus has for you and may you live 2009 richly.