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Do you think God only calls extraordinary people to do something special? Here you will find regular people, like you and me, who heard the invitation from God. They responded, and today walk with our people, faithful to God’s wishes. How will you respond?
A quick guide to the many different gifts and calls of priests and religious So you feel called to give your entire life to God and you don’t know where to turn? Sometimes it seems as if you need mapquest to navigate the variety of calls within a call to the religious life or the priesthood. There are so many ways to respond!The Spirit gives gifts to the church according to the needs of each time. What is the difference, then, between a diocesan priest and a religious priest? Religious men (who could be priests or brothers) and women gather in community life and are drawn together by a...
It is said that David, even as a small child, had great courage and was able to overcome the greatest giant of all the stories in the Bible: Goliath the Philistine. The story of the young shepherd David, who overcomes the soldier singlehanded with a slingshot, is one of the most famous stories in the Bible.He was only a young boy when he cared for his sheep and was the youngest of his siblings. Yet, he was the one chosen by God to be the king of his people. The story of David takes place in the time after Cana was conquered under the leadership of Joshua and later by the judges. The...
By Roger O’BrienWhat helps you develop spiritually often is dramatically different from what attracts the person in the next pew to a deeper spiritual life. Throughout history, spiritual directors have often warned against casting spiritual seekers into one mold. St. Ignatius of Loyola said there is “no greater mistake in spiritual matters than to force others to follow one’s own pattern.”How can you identify these different spiritual pathways and apply them to your own spiritual development? Through much of recorded history, many observers have noted that there are four distinct...
In the United States, education is required until the age of 16. Parents and guardians must obey to the law by enrolling their children to school. Failure to comply with this obligation can be punishable by law. Furthermore, in practice, to be able to advance in our society, it is necessary to have completed the final year of high school.Dropping out of school consists of abandoning one’s studies before finishing them. It is an alarming phenomenon among Hispanics. A young person who does not finish high school cannot continue to college and has great difficulties finding employment...
Near the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, in ancient Mesopotamia (now known as Iraq), one can find the ruins of Ur. In this city, more than 3800 years ago, there lived in a semi-nomadic population a man named Abram. He was the patriarch of a clan and married to Sarai. Both were advanced in age. They lived their lives like everyone else, until one day when Abram heard a voice. God asked him to leave his country, promising him a new land, to ennoble his name and to bless him.Abram, Sarai, and their clan abandoned their land, taking with them only what they could carry. In time they...
By Dennis Recio, S.J.I once heard a talk about the three tables at which Jesuits participate. The coffee table is where Jesuits congregate to discuss news, read newspapers, or chat informally. It is there that men comment on the events of the day and find conversation over mugs of coffee or bowls of cereal. From the coffee table, one can seek companionship for entertainment events. While there are elements in this first table that are social, one reads the newspaper to gather the events of the day which, in turn, inform our approach to the mission. At the second table, the dinner table,...
By Francisco Hernández“I am always nervous when I sing,” says Jackie Herrera, “but I know in my heart that God put me there and I cease to be me to allow God to use me in order to touch the hearts of others. When the music touches me and takes me to God, I feel that I can touch others.” Herrera is a young woman who has always enjoyed singing. Her parents, seeking the best for her, did not encourage her to enter into the music world, fearing it would not provide a stable future. But she began to encounter sign after sign that this was the vocation God was calling her to follow. These were...
By Carmen AguinacoFrom how to prepare rice to their philosophy of life, people from different cultures who live or work together have differences and even conflict.This is happening with growing frequency in religious communities, as they become increasingly more diverse. It can happen with something as simple as cooking to much more complicated issues, such as communication styles, which tend to be more direct in some cultures and much more symbolic and circular in others. It can also happen in devotional expressions. In some cultures, the expressions of others can seem extremely cold and...
By Cathy AdamkiewiczSome people love to talk about diversity. They throw around words like multiculturalism and inclusiveness. They spend much time pondering concepts and developing theories about what makes communities thrive. Then there are those who live it. PIME Missionary Father Ravi Marneni, is one of those people. Born and raised in India, educated in Italy and the Philippines, living now in the United States, his heart is never far from Hispanic culture and the people he began to love during the time he spent serving as a missionary in Mexico. Growing up in a small village in Andhra...
By Clemente NicadoAntonia Orozco’s eyes shine when she speaks of the progress her daughter Daniela has made, thanks to a catechetical program for children at the Archdiocese of Chicago. A decade ago, this mother of Mexican origin was desperately seeking an organization that would give new life to her daughter who suffered from microcephaly (abnormal growth of the brain), but luck had turned its back on them. One day Orozco learned about a parish program called SPRED. From that moment on this word became a blessing to her ears. “Before, my daughter had no friends outside of the family circle,...
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