Made for Mission Podcast

Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Lord,

Welcome to Disciples Together on the Way. This is our third and final week focusing on the theme of praise. In our first week, we learned how praise puts us into right relationship with God and, as a result, also into right relationship with our brothers and sisters. In week two, we learned to pray the Blessed Virgin Mary’s great canticle of praise, the Magnificat, and realized that through such docility in prayer, God can make mighty that what is presently lowly. This week, we turn our song of praise to the Book of Psalms.
 
The Book of Psalms contains 150 songs. Seventy-three of the Psalms are attributed to King David. The majority were composed for liturgical worship. Many of them are songs of praise and thanksgiving. So why pray the psalms? In short, because Jesus himself prayed the psalms and he is our model of prayer.

Even while dying on the cross, the psalms remained on the lips of our Blessed Lord. In the words of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And then from Psalm 31: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

As with Christ, so too with his Church. In Chapter 4 of the Acts of the Apostles, what language do the persecuted Christians employ to express their joy at the release of Peter and John? The Psalms! And, in particularly, Psalm 2, which reads:

“Why do the nations protest and the peoples conspire in vain? Kings on earth rise up and princes plot together against the LORD and against His Anointed One.”

After they prayed this psalm, we are told that the place where these early disciples were meeting was shaken; that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit; and that they then spoke the word of God boldly.

That is why the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that: “The Psalms constitute the masterwork of prayer in the Old Testament…Prayed and fulfilled in Christ, the Psalms are an essential and permanent element of the prayer of the Church. They are suitable for men of every condition and time.” ((CCC 2596-7)

And so, to this week’s challenge: Over the next seven days, starting Sunday, I would like you to pray seven different psalms. Each of these seven psalms is a beautiful song of praise.

What is more, as you pray each psalm, I would like you to place yourself into the midst of the text. Place your own life, your own experiences, and those of the people around you, into those ancient yet timeless poems. Allow yourself to be inspired; to be helped; and to be healed, as you praise of God for all He has done, is doing, and will continue to do in your life. Here’s our list:

On Sunday, pray Psalm 19; Monday, Psalm 29; Tuesday, Psalm 33; Wednesday, Psalm 47; Thursday, Psalm 48; Friday, Psalm 65; and on Saturday conclude with Psalm 66. 

It has been rightly said that the Psalms are “a school of prayer.” If the public ministry of Christ was sustained by the Psalms and the evangelization efforts of the early Church was also fueled by the Psalms, then we too must pray the psalms if we are to be Christ’s disciples in contemporary society.   

So, enjoy this week’s challenge as we continue our pilgrimage as Disciples Together on The Way. And May God bless in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Yours in Christ,

+ Earl Boyea 
Bishop of Lansing 
 

Lansing, January 14, 2022
Feast of Saint Felix of Nola

Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Lord,

Welcome to Week Two of Disciples Together on the Way Challenge. How did you get on over the past seven days praising God and praising others? Well, I hope. If not, just pick yourself up, dust yourself down, and start all over again. The hallmark of the saints, after all, is that they never gave up!

This week we continue with the theme of praise, the form of prayer which “embraces all other forms of prayer and carries them toward him who is its source and goal” which is Almighty God. In the Fall of 1965, I entered Sacred Heart Seminary High School in Detroit. I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed my years at seminary. Sacred Heart in those days was a place of great learning and piety, of course, but also of great fun and friendships, many which persist to this day. One of the most enduring legacies of my years at seminary is this: praying Lauds (Morning Prayer) and Vespers (Evening Prayer).

In those years at the seminary, the Church was going through many changes and, as a result, we did not have use of the current four volumes of the Liturgy of the Hours. So, our daily morning and evening prayer was a bit haphazard. Still, we prayed the Psalms and, at morning prayer, we prayed the Benedictus of St. Simeon. At evening prayer, we prayed the Magnificat also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary.

The text is taken the Gospel of Luke’s account of an expectant Mary’s visitation to her similarly pregnant cousin Elizabeth. In the canticle’s first three verses, Mary proclaims to her kinswoman:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” (Luke 1:46-49)

What a beautiful hymn of praise to God. Mary recognizes she is lowly. So are we! And yet, through her perfect co-operation with God’s grace she will become loved and lauded until the end of time. There is the lesson for us. In praising God, we reflect, we magnify, we radiate, we share in the God’s great plan for his universe and all creation – you and I included. There lies the path to happiness as well as to Heaven. The popular 20th century evangelist, Bishop Fulton Sheen, liked to compare the radiance of Mary to the reflective light of the moon. He writes:

“God, who made the sun, also made the moon. The moon does not take away from the brilliance of the sun. All its light is reflected from the sun. [Thus] the Blessed Mother reflects her Divine Son; without Him, she is nothing. With Him, she is the Mother of Men.” As with Mary. So too with us.

Hence, my challenge this week: I want each of us to recite the Magnificat every evening for the next seven days, starting Sunday. Ave Maria!

See you next week as we continue our pilgrimage as Disciples Together on the Way. Until then, may God bless you throughout this coming week, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

+ Earl Boyea

Bishop of Lansing

Friday, January 7
Optional Memorial of Saint Raymond of Penafort 

My sisters and brothers in the Lord,

Welcome to Week One of Disciples Together on the Way.  In the Holy Gospels Our Blessed Lord identifies himself as “the way”. And, indeed, the early Christians often referred to their new life as disciples of Jesus Christ as “the Way” (e.g., Acts 9:2).

Last year, many of us spent time together reading through selected books of Sacred Scripture as part of our Year of the Bible. I really enjoyed doing that with all of you. As we read the Bible, we were encountering the Word of God, that is, Jesus Christ himself. He was making us his disciples. He wants us to become even better disciples. So, together, this coming year, we will be presented with weekly challenges. These, I hope, will help each of us live an ever more authentic, deeper and happier Christian life as disciples of Jesus Christ.

If we are on the way, however, where exactly are we going? Well, this life is a journey from God to God. He is our source and our destination. We are each a pilgrim on that narrow path. It’s not an easy journey. We all know that. However, if we co-operate with God’s grace we can make it and, even better, we can make it together. And, so, to the topic of our first weekly challenge: Praise.  

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God” adding that it “embraces the other forms of prayer and carries them toward him who is its source and goal” which is Almighty God (#2639).

Praise puts us into right relationship with God and, as a result, we also find ourselves in right relationship with our brothers and sisters. Hence praise is an ideal place to begin our pilgrimage because it’s also where, please God, we’ll end our earthly pilgrimage.

As a beautiful reminder of that, I’d recommend you find time to read or listen to the epic poem, the Dream of Gerontius. It was written by Saint John Henry Newman, and later set to music by the composer, Sir Edward Elgar. The poem follows the main character, Gerontius, as he nears death and then reawakens as a soul, preparing for judgment. As he approaches the throne of God, the heavenly angels can be heard singing in chorus: Praise. Praise. Praise. “Praise to the Holiest in the height; And in the depth be praise: In all His words most wonderful; Most sure in all His ways!” Heaven is a communion of praise of God. If we haven’t done so already, let us begin to join that communion of praise this week.

So, here’s my twofold challenge which starts on the first day of the coming week, Sunday. Ready? Okay:

First: Praise God every day this coming week. Every day. For example, pray the Divine Praises or the Glory Be upon waking each morning. Or do both!  

Second: Praise at least one person each day this coming week. And praise them for something specific. How quick we can be to criticize. How slow we can be to praise. Yet, to praise others is also to praise God for the goodness of his creation.

So, to recap: One: Praise God every day this week. Two, praise one of God’s creatures every day. Disciples of the Lord must seek out and thank God for all that is good. So, let us be good disciples together on the Way.

I’ll be back with another challenge next week. Until then, may God bless you throughout this coming week, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.​

+ Earl Boyea

Bishop of Lansing

The first-ever Michigan Catholic Women's Conference will take place in Lansing on Saturday, October 16. If you are a Catholic woman, why should you consider going? That's just one of the questions asked in this Diocese of Lansing Podcast to the MC of the conference, Erin Looby Carlson. Asking the questions is David Kerr, Director of Communications for the Diocese of Lansing. To find out more: https://michigancwc.org/

* Diocese of Lansing Podcast #30 / Recorded July 19, 2021

For many people across the United States, and beyond, the month of June denotes what's come to be known as "Pride Month". What, though, is Pride Month? What does it hope to achieve? And what is a Catholic perspective on all that?

Those are just some of the questions asked in this Diocese of Lansing Podcast to Father Philip Bochanski, Executive Director of Courage. Courage is a Catholic apostolate which aims "to assist men and women with same-sex attractions in living chaste lives in fellowship, truth and love".

Courage was founded in 1980 by Father John Harvey OSFS  under the patronage of Cardinal Terrance Cooke, Archbishop of New York. You can find out more about Courage at https://couragerc.org/

Courage also has resources for anyone seeking to accompany their brothers and sisters who experience same-sex attraction. Go to: https://truthandlove.com/

Asking the questions in this podcast is David Kerr, Director of Communications for the Diocese of Lansing. 

* Diocese of Lansing Podcast #29. Recorded Tuesday, June 22, 2021.

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The French writer Léon Bloy (1846 – 1917) once wrote: “The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint.” If that is true then "why is it true?" And, if so, "how do we become saints?" 

Those are just two of the questions put in this podcast to the popular Catholic speaker and writer, Matthew Leonard, who recently led a retreat for the staff of the Diocese of Lansing Curia on "the Science of Sainthood". Find out more: https://www.nextlevelcatholicacademy.com/

Asking the questions is David Kerr, Director of Communications for the Diocese of Lansing. Podcast recorded June 3, 2021. First broadcast June 4, 2021. Diocese of Lansing Podcast #28

This week saw the Diocese of Lansing launch a new weekly e-mail update charting the progress of the Realign Resources for Mission process in order to keep the people of the diocese both informed and, hopefully, involved too. To receive the weekly e-mail just click here and sign-up: https://dioceseoflansing.flocknote.com/NewsfromtheDioce

But what is Realign Resources for Mission? Why is it necessary? What stage has the process now reached? Where does it go from here? They are just some of the questions asked in this Diocese of Lansing to Father Chas Canoy, Pastor of Saint John the Evangelist in Jackson and a member of the Realign Resources for Mission committee. Asking the questions is the diocesan Director of Communications, David Kerr. 

Diocese of Lansing Podcast #27. Recorded May 4, 2021.

Saturday, May 1, is the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. This feast day was established in 1955 by Venerable Pope Pius XII who wanted to promote an authentically Christian understanding of labor as part of Catholic Social Teaching. But what is Catholic Social Teaching? 

That’s the topic addressed in this Diocese of Lansing Podcast by Kishore Jayabalan. Kishore is a native of the city of Flint, a convert to the Catholic faith, and former official at the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Asking the questions is David Kerr, Director of Communications at the Diocese of Lansing.

Diocese of Lansing Podcast #26. Recorded April 29, 2021.

Did you know that Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing has donated 45-acres of land near Howell in Livingston County in order to establish a new, internationally-renowned Catholic healthcare facility inspired by the great 20th century saint, Padre Pio?

The organization behind the ambitious project is Catholic Healthcare International, a Missouri-based nonprofit, who want to establish a network of facilities that will include a new pilgrimage chapel; a medical school; a public policy center; a hospital; and a rehabilitation center for the brain injured. The hospital will be a replica of Saint Pio’s House for the Relief of Suffering in Italy.

This Diocese of Lansing Podcast features Jere Palazzolo, President of Catholic Healthcare International, explaining both the principles and the practicalities involved in making the vision a reality.

Asking the questions is David Kerr, Director of Communications for the Diocese of Lansing. This podcast was recorded on Thursday, March 11. Diocese of Lansing Podcast #25. To know more about Catholic Healthcare International go to: https://www.chi-usa.com/

We are now getting deep into the season of Lent. These are days of prayer, fasting and alms-giving in preparation for the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ upon Easter Sunday. How, though, do we try to live our best Lent ever? 

That's just one of the questions posed to the Diocese of Lansing's General Consul, Will Bloomfield, in this podcast. A father-of-six, Will also discusses how to live out prayer, fasting and alms-giving within a busy family. 

This podcast was recorded on Friday, February 26. It is hosted by the Diocese of Lansing's Director of Communications, David Kerr. Diocese of Lansing Podcast #24.