About That Third Person of the Trinity....

Over the years, I haven't had much inclination to pray to the Holy Spirit or particular awareness of the Spirit's presence. I have generally favored prayer to the Father, or to the Son because he seems more accessible. The Spirit was just kind of out there for me. Real, yet abstract, distant. Lately, however, it's been different.

Last fall, I experienced the Called & Gifted process from Siena Institute, and my relationship with the Spirit changed dramatically. I became acutely aware of where the Spirit has been active in my life. In the discernment of my charisms and what they mean, I have learned that the Spirit has been actively calling me to the various ways in which I serve through those gifts. There are, as I had always suspected, no coincidences.

Unsurprisingly, when I took the Spiritual Gifts Inventory, I learned my dominant charisms are Music, Teaching and Writing. However, in the weeks after my interview, some things opened up for me. It became clear that the moments when I heard an unmistakable voice leading me toward change and growth were of the Spirit.

Yes, I have heard the Spirit speak. Twice. Let me tell you about these moments, as evidence that the Spirit can communicate to position us where we are called to use our charisms.

The first incident was when I found myself, a Catholic for less than three years, at a national meeting of the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions. Looking around the room at the professional liturgists and bishops present, I asked myself,  "What am I doing here?"  Immediately, the response came: "Because you can do this."  I responded by entering a degree program to learn more about what "this" was and to equip myself to do it. The "this" was ministry...

The second time occurred after I had been searching unsuccessfully for several years for a full-time position in ministry. At that point, I had been serving as part-time liturgy coordinator at my parish, while my day job was mostly clerical. I also had a writing job on the side for the local paper. I was restless with the patchwork of putting together three jobs to make a living - and not fully using my talents.

Over the summer, I began hearing a distinct voice in my head: "Bloom where you're planted." I was puzzled as to why this thought kept coming to me. In the fall, I made my Cursillo and during the communal penance service, on the way back to my seat after my confession I once again heard that annoying mantra: "Bloom where you're planted." This time I pushed back: "I can't bloom where I'm planted.Lord. I HATE where I'm planted!"The response was immediate and surprising: "Then, plant yourself where you can bloom!" I had never thought about leaving town. The job search led to a dual position as director of religious education and liturgy in a parish where I was a total stranger.

Over the years since those events, my progress in ministry has been more event-driven, but I learned to see the workings of God in occurrences that forced me to change or grow. I have been recently much more aware that recent requests for me to write and teach are part of the Spirit's plan for use of those charisms. (I have always shared my singing in parish and diocesan settings, because I have known for a long time that since I was born on St. Cecilia's day, the gift of my voice was God's plan and needed to be shared for God's glory and the good of his people, not to elevate me.)

Looking back, I now know that the voice I heard was that of the Spirit, because these events were clearly connected with my vocation to use my charisms to serve others. Called & Gifted made that very clear to me. As to writing and teaching, the C & G experience changed things for me in ways I never expected. I now have a greater clarity about why I have been given these gifts - and as to why, of late, writing and teaching opportunities have come to me without me looking for them. I also find a great renewal of energy to write and teach.  The Spirit gave these charisms and the Spirit continues to lead me in using them to build up the Church.

I pray that others whose charisms have not been activated may come to understand where the Spirit is directing them. The Holy Spirit is indeed "the giver of life" - a life filled with abundance of joy in using one's charisms to serve.

Come, Holy Spirit! Fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love!

Apologies and an Update

I have to apologize for my absence from this space of late. I have so many other projects afoot... but I honestly think it's all part of God's plan for me and the ways I am privileged to serve the Church.

A few months ago, I participated in an abbreviated version of the Siena Institute's "Called and Gifted" process. Unsurprisingly, my top charisms include music, writing and teaching. However, it has been in the discernment it has become clear there is a reason that writing (and teaching) projects seem to be finding me. God wants me to write for the good of the church, which is the purpose, of course, of having been given a charism. All of this is not about me, or about pointless busyness but about the action of the Holy Spirit.

If you find my lack of blogging disturbing, here is where else to find me... all evidence that God has a purpose for me.

• My column. You may know that since the first of the year, I have had the privilege of serving as the regular catechetical columnist for Ministry & Liturgy magazine. I certainly did not seek this. The editor came to me. In the most recently published issue, I co-wrote an article on technology for children's faith formation, with Dan Gonzalez, a fellow M&L author and Catholic app developer. (see below)
• Mass booklet. Picked up another project just this week: a booklet on the Mass for children, also from LTP. Again, they called me.
• Blog contribution. Ongoing: my work as a partner blogger on Loyola Press's DRE Connect migrated over to Joe Paprocki's "Catechists' Journey" blog, which has now become an group project.
• More blog contribution. I also continue to contribute occasionally to Sister Caroline Cerveny's group blog, "Catechesis 2.0"
• (Another possible book project. In the proposal stage, it's been lurking for months... more later, if it comes to fruition.)

Other projects that have "found" me recently:

• Beta testing. I have, over the past 6 months or so, been beta-testing and assisting with liturgical definitions for the marvelous new Catholic Words & Games, recently released by Dan Gonzalez of Agnus, LLC. That spawned the additional M&L article mentioned above, which in turn, led to
• Pinterest boards.  I have created and curated considerable content (how's that for alliteration?) for a new group of liturgical catechesis boards. One on resources for teaching the Mass to children (co-curated by Dan Gonzalez to accompany the article we co-wrote) and several on liturgical seasons. These boards and their pins seem to have generated quite a bit of interest. 
• A webinar. I am preparing for an August webinar for Liturgy Training Publications on getting families to Mass. The webinar coordinator came to me with this suggestion.  Again, not my idea.
• Website assistance. I am now occasionally assisting with the  21st Century Catholic Evangelization website, a project of the NCCL Evangelization Committee, finding and posting content.
• Website management. I have updated and continue to expand my personal website: The Liturgical Catechist to interface with the new Pinterest boards and to keep content up to date for seasons, symbols, sacraments and other topics.
• Observing: lurking  and watching the latest session of Digital Disciple Boot Camp - occasionally participating, as I observe what participants are learning. 

Ongoing:

• Social networking.  my personal Facebook and Google+ pages, along with The Liturgical Catechist and pages for my office and the diocese. There may be a new page on its way for another organization I am involved with. Stay tuned. 
• Semi-work-related presentations. one for catechists in November on Advent, one in February for the Chicago Catechetical Conference, some local deanery presentations for leaders.
• My Real Job. And, of course, full-time work for the Diocese of Joliet Religious Education Office - a privilege that certainly keeps me occupied!
• Volunteering at the parish.  Teaching Confirmation and helping with music and liturgy ministries... always.

I'm sure there is more I am forgetting. The only thing I have been sitting back on a bit of late is facilitating online classes for University of Dayton VLCFF, from which I am taking a short hiatus due to low enrollment in my section this cycle. That, too, was not my doing, but I look at it as clearing space for other priorities. 

Yes, I am busy. Yes, it's good. So is God. All the time. 

Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream: Unleashing Charisms for Catechesis

This morning I woke up laughing. Yes, really. I had just had the wildest most off-the-wall dream about catechesis.

I dreamed I was teaching my Confirmation class at my parish, and my classroom aide was none other than Andy Warhol. (He WAS Catholic, by the way - and a regular daily Mass attendee.)  He was very quiet and did not do more than observe through most of the session. At one point in the lesson, I turned to him and asked if he had anything to add to what I had just said to the teens, and he simply pulled out heavy paper and art supplies and began to create a small painting, explaining how it related to the faith concept at hand as he went. He quickly finished the work, which fascinated the kids (and me!).  Then, as class was getting over, I asked if I could have what he had just made.  He seemed surprised, and possibly mildly annoyed, but he quickly signed the little artistic gem, and somehow it miraculously ended up in a frame. Then everyone else disappeared. I wanted to go show my DRE what I had, but somehow that was when it got weird, as most dreams do... I had to get to where she was by climbing out a window and navigating several slanted roofs, but other catechists were there to help... and then I woke up!

What if some of the quiet people in our lives have amazing gifts?  What if those gifts were unleashed and used for catechesis in our parishes?  Amazing things might happen!

I can't help but think that somehow thoughts about our diocesan day on Thursday with Keith Strohm of the Catherine of Siena Institute discussing how parishes can use Forming Intentional Disciples and the Called and Gifted   process of discernment of charisms, is somehow tangled up in what happened in my head early this morning.

Andy Warhol obviously had a charism for teaching - through art - but to look at him, you would not have suspected such depth. What Warhol "taught" was the significance of ordinary things. He turned soup cans, cars, bananas and more into art. Although he never really said it, he showed the inherent value and sacramentality of everyday life, which is a very Catholic outlook. Although he never used his gift for the good of the Church, he could have.

How many people in our pews are "hiding" their gifts - or not sharing them with their faith community?  What if the charisms in our parishes were unleashed for catechesis?  That's a possibility I can't help but think would produced amazing results in forming young intentional disciples. Who in your community is a potential creative catechist?  What would it take to help them discover that Christ is calling them to use their gifts in his Church? Do we have the courage to find out? Now THAT's a dream!