2024-01-24-eEdition

PAGE 4 THE CATHOLIC WEEK JANUARY 24, 2025 e have just begun Ordinary Time. I am quite sure that most readers are familiar with the concept of a “Liturgical Calendar.” We have ordinary time, Advent, Lent and a myriad of festival times (ie. Easter, Christmas, feast days and “solemnities”—which is just a fancy name for a really significant feast day. Why is this the way we operate as Catholics? Well, I’m glad you asked the question. I love to celebrate. I love having family and friends gather. I love to eat the deli- cious, special food that appears at big family celebrations. I love the lights at Christmas and the chocolate at Easter, but honestly we can’t always feast. As much as we love those special times, they are not how we typically live. I love my fam- ily and hate to see the holidays end and folks return to ordinary life, or Ordinary Time, but I just can’t “holiday eat” all year round. I would be very unhealthy. We have been in a time of feasting and that has been great. Now it is time for us to return to the ordinary, the mundane real- ity of our daily life. This is not a bad thing, though, it is precisely during the ordinary days that we do most of our living. It is pretty easy to be a disci- ple during times of celebration and levity. It is quite another thing to follow Jesus through fasting and being persecuted. It is precisely in the times of difficulty and struggle that we grow the most. It is true that there are often growing pains, but those pains we endure are the fuel for our growth. May God bless you over the (still) New Year. May you find growth in faith, hope and love! This season of Ordinary Time is a rich soil for growing. Have a great Ordinary Time. — Pat Arensberg is the Direc- tor of the Office for Evangeliza- tion and Family Life. Email him at parensberg@mobarch.org. For more information concerning the events of this office, visit us at mobilefaithformation.org Pat Arensberg This season of Ordinary Time is a rich soil for growing id you make a New Year’s resolution? Are your res- olutions addressing true needs in your life? Sure, diet and exercise can help us be a better steward. Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Good health enables us to use our gifts and talents to serve the Lord.That takes care of stewardship of talent, but what about time and treasure? There is no better time than a fresh new year to examine our prayer life and charitable generosity. Developing a deeper relationship with God and answering his call to be a good steward with the gifts He has given us is a resolution with eternal benefits. “Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus” (1Thessalonians 5:17-18). Technology makes it easy to make time for prayer. Arch- angel Radio or Catholic apps like Laudate and Hallow are excellent tools to help us enrich our prayer life. Fr.Mike Schmitz offers a Bible-in-a-Year podcast where he reads and reflects on the Bible in just 20 minutes a day for a year. He also offers a Catechism-in-a-Year podcast that explains the Catechism of the Catholic Church with daily reflections over a year.These are all excellent ways to spend a morning or afternoon commute. Taking time out of each day to pause and listen to God’s voice, seek His guidance, and thank Him are the first steps to a deeper relationship with Christ. We are all called to give sacrificially.While that looks different for everyone, only we can evaluate our capacity to give. How long has it been since we increased our weekly con- tribution to our parish or our pledge to the Catholic Charities Appeal? As good stewards, we are all called to give sacrificially, proportionate to our income. “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, and see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!” (Malachi 3:10). With God’s grace, we can accomplish all of our New Year’s resolutions and with resolutions to be good stewards, we will be graced with a deeper relationship with God. — Shannon Roh is the Ex- ecutive Director of the Office of Development and Stewardship for the Archdiocese of Mobile. STEWARDSHIP IS ... Stewardship is a New Year's resolution with eternal benefits Custom designed jewelry DESIGN IN JEWELRY 4503 Old Shell Road Mobile, Alabama Hours 9:30 - 5:00, Mon. - Sat. PAT, DANNYAND TONY CLARKE PH. (251)342-6303 Gold Art Shannon Roh Pray for Vocations D W