What Do You Have in Your House?

What do you have in your house? This is a question that I didn’t think about much before I came to Pontotoc, Mississippi. It did not even cross my mind when I signed up to go on the trip with Charis. I thought I was going to be volunteering to help build houses.

Well, in just three days my life has been transformed, and my spirit has come alive in so many ways. I am now getting in touch with the very gifts I already have inside of me and learning how to use them for good. I am learning that it does not take a whole lot to be a servant for God.

Living in Chicago, I am used to being surrounded by noise, staying connected to Internet, cell phones, and, of course, finding ways to keep busy. I didn’t remember how important it is to receive the gifts of warmth and comfort. I am in the country now where life is quiet and simple. This is the life. I am sure the 13 participants of this group can all agree that this is the way life should be.

This morning was the first day of work. We watched a video to introduce us to the mission of Habitat for Humanity. In the video, the speaker talked about the story in the Bible from 2 Kings: 4. A woman who had lost her husband was about to lose everything, and her two sons were about to become slaves in order to pay off her husband’s debt. She thought she had nothing to offer, but The prophet Elisha showed her how she could use what she already had in her home to pay the debt and supply her families needs for years to come.

The passage stayed with me throughout the day. I am learning how to use the fruits of the Spirit. I am soul searching, but I was looking for the gifts somewhere out there. We are in the South to help build a home for someone in need, but I am finding that many of my own needs are being met on this trip. The new friends I have met on this trip and here in this town have melted my heart. They have helped me find what service really means.

I think I am seeing how God can be found just in a simple smile, a wonderful home cooked meal prepared by the town’s people, or His love could be found just in an honest and encouraging conversation that uplifts someone in a time of a tough life decision. These are gifts we already have. This week we are tapping into them. I am looking forward to the rest of the week. After all, this is only the beginning of our mission.

I believe we are all learning what it means to be a Christian who walks in the spirit. Being around other young people who love God and want to do his work is a beautiful thing. I am witnessing what it means to be blessed and how I can be a blessing to others just by being myself. I am learning what it means to feel God’s love and give love.

-Anita B

A huge thank you for everything you do!

Last night, the Charis Ministries staff was honored to be joined by some of the many volunteers, retreat team members, benefactors and other leaders who have helped make Charis programs possible in the last year at the annual Recognition Dinner.

We are so grateful to have such a wonderful group of young adults involved in the ministry and who give of their time and energy to serve their peers. Some have been musicians on retreats or at Masses or served on a team for one of our retreats. Others have helped with logistics and hospitality for one of our evening speakers or Masses.

After dinner, we were honored to have Patrick Curran tell us a bit about his experiences with Charis over the last several years and what that has meant in his life. Then Jenene Francis shared some of the fruits of Charis both in Chicago and around the country at national retreats. If you'd like to hear what Patrick and Jenene had to say, check out the Charis Ministries podcast on iTunes.

To all who have been involved in the various programs of Charis Ministries, we want to say a big THANK YOU! We couldn't do any of this without you!

~Lauren G

Where is God in my prayer?

Last night at Holy Name Cathedral, Charis concluded the speaker series within the Living Ignatian series. Beth Knobbe spoke about different types of Ignatian prayer and ways we can incorporate them into our own lives. She also lead us through a prayer of our imaginations.

If you missed the talk, check it out on YouTube, or download the podcast on iTunes.













~Lauren G

Charis podcasts on iTunes-check them out!

Want to find out what you missed at recent Charis Ministries events? Podcasts of some of our speakers and retreat talks are now available on iTunes. Just search "Charis Ministries" in the podcast section and then subscribe to the podcasts.

Right now, check out some of our recent Living Ignatian speakers and talks from the For the Least retreat.

Don't want to use iTunes? No problem. You can subscribe directly to the RSS feed and listen online by clicking here.

Happy podcasting!
Lauren G.

For the Least: We Mean Business

If you are like me, you fear retreats. It's not a deep fear. Just a little part of you scared stiff that your weekend might entail sitting around the campfire singing "Kumbaya."

Fear not. The social justice...err, I mean For the Least retreat just might be for you.

Like any retreat, the weekend revolved around a number of talks. These aren't Catholics speculating about the meaning of their faith; they are living it. A professor of Ecology building green spaces on the tops of roofs and making diesel fuel out of french fry grease(!); A woman working to overturn destructive laws that target refugees and immigrants; Catholics lending a helping hand overseas (or in their own country) who are victims of war, genocide or grueling working conditions.

This retreat could have just as easily been called For the Least: We Mean Business. I found myself challenged to think about my own actions on the grandest scale: how my tiny behaviors, when multiplied, contributed to the burden of social injustice in the world. If your idea of focusing on your faith means "thinking about your faith in action," then you've found your place.

I wasn't sure what to expect over this past weekend, but what I got were: 1) A lot of questions and 2) A lot of inspiration. The issues of social justice will always be difficult. The gray areas are many, and the solutions are never easy to come by. But there is empowerment in education and the hope that one small difference, when multiplied, fulfills the will of God.

- Vincent L.

So how do we make the tough decisions in life?

Last Thursday, a group of 30 young adults gathered at Holy Name to hear Fr. Pat McGrath, SJ speak at the Living Ignatian evening titled "Finding God in the Hard Questions."

He gave a fantastic overview of how we should be making our decisions based on what we would do if Jesus was standing next to us.

Check out his talk on YouTube.
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-Lauren G

The Paschal Mystery Alive Today

Lord, as this bread was formed
From many different stalks of wheat
Which were picked, crushed, ground and baked
That it might be one loaf,

As this wine was fashioned from many grapes
Picked in different parts of the field,
Crushed, fermented in darkness and aged
That it might be one sweet drink,

So we pray that we who are many and different
By the joy we share and the sorrow we endure
Might be formed into a people of praise
For the glory of Your name.

Our Lenten and Easter observances are meant to remind us of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit at work in Jesus’ life. And they are meant to stir our faith in the great hope that the same will be true for us. St. Paul wrote in Galatians 2, “I have been crucified with Christ, yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me.”

These words sound so beautiful, don’t they? Yet the process of this truth is no less than the dying and rising of Christ within us. God is at work fashioning and forming us, like the bread and wine at Mass, into a more perfect representation of the Body of Christ. It is one thing to affirm this in the abstract. It is quite another to live this through the suffering of our lives.

Nowhere have I seen this Paschal Mystery more perfectly realized than in the death of my dear brother priest, Fr. Jim Willig. Fr. Jim and I were best friends, and for years we led pilgrimages around the world to holy sites. Ten years ago this summer, we returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to discover that Jim had developed renal cell cancer, a particularly deadly strain because it usually shows no symptoms until it is too late. In the operation, they discovered a football size tumor that had metastasized and traveled to his lungs.

Jim wanted to live. He didn’t want “early retirement” as he put it. But as Fr. Jim’s body grew weaker and weaker, his faith grew stronger and stronger. His voice became more and more frail, but his parish became larger and larger. Daily Fr. Jim would pray St. Ignatius’ famous prayer: “Take, Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, my will, my entire self. All I have you have given to me. Now I return it to be used only according to your will. Give me only your love and your grace. With these I am rich enough and desire nothing more.”

For the first year of the cancer journey, Fr. Jim could only pray these words and half mean them. He wanted a physical healing, and he continued to beg God for this grace. But a year and a half into his sickness, Fr. Jim’s heart surrendered more completely to the transformation that God was working in him. He started to pray: "I don’t know what my future holds, but I know who holds my future."

With this change in attitude came a profound change in Fr. Jim’s spirit. He went from being a good priest to an extraordinarily holy priest. He went from being a very good preacher to an extraordinarily powerful man of God. We began to see so clearly Christ at work in Fr. Jim’s life.

When he died, just about two years after his diagnosis, there was no one who knew him who doubted that Fr. Jim was taking his place among God’s saints. Fr. Jim had chronicled this remarked transformation in a book entitled Lessons from the School of Suffering.

All of us want to grow into the image and likeness of Christ. That is the goal of our faith. We are called to this transformation not just as individuals but also as Church, as the people of God. And the surest way to allow this transformation to occur is to walk the path of suffering in faith as Jesus did. This Paschal Mystery is not just about what occurred to Jesus two thousand years ago. It is the pattern of every Christian who embraces Jesus call to “Pick up your cross and follow.” (Mt 16:24)

During this Holy Week and into the Easter season, with every Mass we attend and every communion we receive, let us pray for a deeper surrender to God’s will in our lives that “in the joy we share and the sorrow we endure, we might be formed into a people of praise for the glory of your name.”

-Fr J. Michael Sparough, SJ

Lessons from the School of Suffering is available through Heart to Heart.