Advent trust

by OSV News  (OSV News) — Grace Stecker of the Diocese of Helena, Mont., pulled out her cell phone and called her dad, right in the middle of a talk during the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC). In fact, teens all around her were talking on their phones, even as the speaker stood on the stage. But they had his permission. “I want you right now, in one minute, to just make a call to somebody in your life whom you love, who’s pretty special, whom you appreciate,” Scripture scholar and astrophysicist Father John Kartje asked of the more than 12,000 NCYC participants. The request came as part of his talk on the oneness of God and the universe — faith and science — that served as the topic of the opening session of NCYC in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Nov. 16. He began the talk echoing words spoken by Archbishop Charles C. Thompson just moments before. “The line that really struck me amongst everything he said is this,” Father Kartje noted: “You’re not a problem to be solved, but you are a mystery to be encountered.”

by Katie Yoder Joseph Julián and Monique González still remember the moment they decided to write a book shedding new light on Our Lady of Guadalupe: May 10, 2016, the month of Mary and the date of Mexico’s Mother’s Day. “After years of initial research, we were sitting in a coffee shop and looked at each other and made a formal commitment to see the book’s writing through to the end, no matter what that meant,” the husband-and-wife team told Our Sunday Visitor. Today, that book presents a new interpretation of Our Lady of Guadalupe by delving into the past ahead of her feast day on Dec. 12. “ Guadalupe and the Flower World Prophecy: How God Prepared the Americas for Conversion Before the Lady Appeared ,” published on Nov. 21, explores how Our Lady’s encounters with Juan Diego at Tepeyac Hill in Mexico in 1531 marked the culmination of thousands of years of evangelical preparation of the people of Mesoamerica.

Faith Focus for the Week What are my priorities? Do they reflect Jesus’ intertwined commandments of loving God and loving neighbor as self? What would our lives look like if we really took to heart the two intertwined commandments that Jesus succinctly places before us, to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves? (See Matthew 22:34-40) Would we reorder our time so that Sunday Mass, daily prayer and regular participation in the Sacrament of Penance are always on our calendar? Would we carve out time for serving others? Might we recognize our talents as gifts from God and discern the ways we might give the gifts back, with increase, at home, in our parish, in the workplace and in the world? Would we consider that the ways we spend time, money and attention are signs of our priorities? It is likely that most of us considering the list above would say “yes” to each question. As we hear and reflect on the Gospels, let us take Jesus’ challenge to heart and act accordingly: love God, love neighbor. This article comes to you from Our Sunday Visitor courtesy of your parish or diocese.