Dreams Children?

from The Catholic Telegraph January 2023

VISIT A MODEL OF THE EucharisticRevival

BY DOMINICK ALBANO

It’s hard to imagine a heartbreak worse than losing a child.

When a young Catholic speaker gave a Lenten parish mission, he shared with the audience his dreams for his children. “I pray that they will be happy, healthy and, most importantly, holy.”

After the talk, a gentleman with the gray hair and lined-face signaling hard-won wisdom approached the young speaker, thanked him for the presentation, and shared some of his own wisdom.

“When I was a young man, I too prayed that my children would be happy and healthy. But now that I am older, I know that holiness is the only thing that matters. My children all think they’re happy. They’re all healthy. But all of them have left the faith. Please, will you pray for them?”

In fact, this was the prayer request the speaker heard most often: Parents seeking prayers for their fallen-away children. There is unspeakable pain in losing a child, but these parents’ desperation is also something none of us wish to experience.

An old proverb says: Your children are your only gift you can take with you to heaven. But what if you were afraid your children weren’t going to join you?

People are drifting away from the Catholic faith. Countless national surveys from reputable institutions validate this, but none of those are more convincing than our own experience. Each of us knows someone—and probably a handful of people—who left Catholicism, or at least stopped practicing it.

Some stop attending Mass because they are angry—a personal experience or news story drives them away—but many simply drift away. Family obligations and 9 a.m.

Sunday morning out-of-town sports tournaments turn weekly attendees into every-now-and-then attendees. Before you know it, families who finally find a rare weekend with a little bit of breathing room just want to sleep in on Sunday mornings rather than get up and go to Mass. Covid sure didn’t help, but it’s not the root of the problem.

Jesus tells us in John 10:10, “I came that you might have life and have it to the fullest,” but let’s be honest: many of those who drift away don’t find the fullness of life when they attend Mass. They’re more likely to say something like, “I just don’t get anything out of Mass.”

It’s a tragedy, and—thinking of all those heartbroken parents—I mean this quite literally. Something has to turn the tide.

Responding to this need, Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr is calling on all Catholics across the archdiocese to join him in a special study of The Mass, an inspiring and beautiful video series from Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire Ministries. Each Sunday, from January 8 through February 12, Archbishop Schnurr will email a 25-minute episode from the series along with his own brief insights. Why? Because he deeply desires that every Catholic would come to know the Mass as God’s great gift to us, the source of the fullness of life that Jesus promised.

It’s a new year—the time we think about doing new things and living life a little differently, a little better. Visit catholicAOC.org/theMass, sign up for this special study, and spend 25 minutes a week to see how it can help invigorate your Mass experience. Encourage your spouse to join you and maybe watch it with your kids or talk with them about the videos during dinner. It costs only a little time, but that’s not much when you think of what Jesus promised in return: The fullness of life.

Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr invites you to join him in exploring the wonder of the Mass through a special video series featuring Bishop Robert Barron. Each Sunday from January 8 through February 12, Archbishop Schnurr will email you his own brief insights along with a 25-minute episode from Word on Fire’s The Mass . Series available in English and Spanish.

Join Archbishop Schnurr and fellow Catholics across the archdiocese and Sign up for free at CatholicAOC.org/theMass experience the Mass in a whole new way.

Thomas was born in a castle to parents who were wealthy and important. Although his brothers went into the military, Thomas’ family planned for him to follow his uncle’s path and enter the Benedictine monastery. While in school, however, Thomas was influenced by the Dominicans and resolved to join them. Because this was against his family’s wishes, they held him as a prisoner in their castle for a year to prevent him from joining the Dominicans. His mother eventually helped him escape.

After joining the Dominicans, Thomas studied philosophy and theology and worked as a professor. He wrote many important documents, including liturgies and documents for the Pope and the famous Summa Theologiae for beginning students. The Dominicans moved Thomas to many places— including from Paris to Naples—in order to teach.

He wrote constantly on many faith topics, especially the Eucharist. Not only did he discuss the Real Presence in his famous Summa Theologiae, Thomas also wrote several hymns for Eucharistic Adoration. In 1264, Pope Urban IV had Thomas compose a celebratory Mass for the new feast of Corpus Christi.

Near the end of his life, his fellow friars witnessed something miraculous while Thomas prayed in their Naples friary chapel. He was lifted into the air, and they heard a voice from the crucifix say, “Thou has written well of me, Thomas. What reward will thou have?” He said, “Nothing but you, Lord.”

St. Thomas Aquinas’ feast day is January 28. He is the patron saint of schools and students.