LEAVES Website for May-June 2006 Issue

 

Excerpted from "Leaflets" column
       In this delightful time of the year, the fresh green leaves and grass blend with the vibrant colors of the springtime flowers to lift our spirits. As the earth moves to renew itself, so too should we evaluate the ways in which we need to revitalize ourselves.

       Have we become stagnant in our devotions? Try something new and different in your devotional practices. Add to your prayer list petitions for good stewardship of the vital resources of the world. As you spring clean, add a quick prayer for those who will use again the clothing or furniture you donate to charity.

When you hear the songbirds sing, add a prayer of thanksgiving for their delightful melodies. Sing, whistle or hum a favorite hymn you remember from Mass, lifting your praise up to the Lord.

With the return of pleasant weather, this is an ideal time to combine prayer and exercise. Praying the Rosary while you walk tones up your spiritual and physical muscles. As you ride around town on your bicycle, go through a mental list of all those you think may be in need of a prayerful boost. As you peddle, pray: "God bless ________" to the rhythm of the revolutions of the tires.

Many children will be making their First Communions this time of year. Watch how eagerly they partake of the Holy Eucharist. Pray for the First Communicants in your parish and throughout the Church. Ask God to continue to be with them, to guide them and to nurture their enthusiasm for the Faith. In your own silent meditation after Communion, offer a special prayer for these precious little ones.

Whatever you do, try to make your celebration of the Faith vibrant. Sprinkle some new prayers and practices among your current favorites. Let the freshness of springtime enter your heart and soul.

 

… God grant you abundant blessings always - Father Thomas Heier, C.M.M.

 

Excerpted from "Our Family Album"

Return to the Church

       With deep gratitude, I report that my middle daughter returned to our Faith after 33 years away from it. The family could not understand what would compel her to miss her niece's UCLA graduation. She promised to tell us the following day at a family celebration.

She had visited a church on the occasion of the death of Pope John Paul II and picked up a brochure saying, "Have you been away from the Church?" Without telling anyone but her devout younger sister, she had joined a group of young adults who, like her, had neglected their faith.

It still brings tears of gratitude to me that this worldly daughter had her marriage blessed, volunteers now at her parish and sponsors a non-Catholic for baptism. Thanks be to God who generously answers prayers when we least expect it - Name Withheld.



Spanish Table Blessing

Connects to Eucharist

The following is a Spanish table blessing that I learned long ago. The English translation is my own:

Lord, give bread to those who are hungry
And hunger of You to us who have bread.
Lord, giver of all that is good, bless this table. Amen.

I have always loved the subtle connection to the Eucharist in this prayer (hunger of You) - Mike Drabik.



Prison Volunteers

Greatly Appreciated

I eagerly await each new issue of LEAVES. When I initially asked for the magazine, I had just enrolled in the RCIA classes we are blessed to have at my unit of the Texas prison system. Many of the units have no Catholic presence at all.

At this unit we are blessed with weekly Communion services and Mass on the average of once a month. In addition we have study classes and the RCIA class one night each week. We also have a Rosary service on Wednesday afternoons.

We have many volunteers who make all this possible. These men come on their own time to bring us the word of God. I ask all LEAVES readers for special prayers for all men and women such as these volunteers who set the mark for what it means to be Catholic.

This year at Easter I was confirmed. Not only am I blessed to receive all the sacraments, but I am one with the Body of Christ in the Catholic Church that is so very well represented by men such as those who volunteer here. Jesus Christ charged us all to do this in Matt 25:31-46. Do we?

God bless the Mariannhill Missionaries, as they carry out the mission Christ himself gave us - T.W.



Excerpted from Father Engelmar Testimonies

There is now available a booklet of the life of Fr. Engelmar Unzeitig, C.M.M. You may receive a free copy of it by sending a stamped (postage for one ounce, currently 39 cents), self-addressed envelope to us at:

LEAVES
  P.O. Box 87
Dearborn, MI 48121-0087

I have been praying for my brother's heart condition. He had a lung and neck artery test done that came back successful. He still has three valves in his heart that will need to be replaced so I will continue to pray to Fr. Engelmar for my brother - R.R.

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My husband is employed after four months of not working, thanks to the intercession of Fr. Engelmar - K.W.

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Through the intercession of Fr. Engelmar prayer for my son was answered. Through Father's loving messages of faith, love and compassion, I have felt a closeness to Our Lord that was missing in my life. Fr. Engelmar is a true inspiration. Hopefully by his prayers and example, I too can be an instrument of God's never ending love for His children. I will continue to pray through Father's intercession for the petitions in the novena and for favors that I humbly ask - C.L.




Triangles of Communication

By Janet Collins


Human nature is like a musical instrument. The triangle, a steel rod bent into a three-sided shape, has one angle open, allowing for sound to be emitted. If we hold on to the triangle with our hand, without freeing it to hang suspended by a string or wire, there will be no sonorous tone. Similarly if we hold on to ourselves too tightly, our being will not vibrate with our song and we will stagnate in our own monotone world. But if we open ourselves to others by sharing the melody of our being with them, our lives will have meaning and beauty.

Life is somewhat like the geometric figure of the triangle in the sense that all parts are connected: with the beginning as the end and the end as the beginning. We receive life, we use it and we give it back. Our existence begins at point A. It grows through point B and at point C it starts to flow back. The route we take to get back to point A varies with each person, and how we proceed from one angle to the other depends on the circumstances of our lives.

We begin our trip in time when we are born. Pre-born babies never leave point A, but go right to their Creator. Some will spend more time getting from one angle to another, and the distance between points may differ in length, but eventually we all end up where we began: as dust in the hand of the Lord, with our immortal souls waiting for the last day when through God's grace we will be reunited with our transformed bodies.

 


For a Short Time

A Poem in Memory of
Pope John Paul II

For a short time
we see him not,
we hear him not,
we touch him not.

He is in heaven,
and would not have us grieve for him.

For his soul separated from his body,
and reborn, he emerged into a new light …
we have never seen,
we have never heard,
we have never felt.

He stood at the passage,
he walked the path,
he found the light of all our seeking,
he would give us hope to stop our tears,
for he in glory sees our love.

He has only gone before us, he would say;
he knows the way,
he opens his hands.

By Lily Fidelis

[Editor's Note: Pope John Paul II went on to his eternal reward on April 2, 2005.]