By Lori and Robert Fontana

The day before we left Seattle I took a walk through my favorite green space, the Ravenna Ravine. I walked slowly, knowing that Lori and I were going to be living in El Paso, a city in the high desert, close to our southern border which is crowded with buildings and has very few trees. I breathed in the cool air, listened to the wind and the birds, and savored the moment. 

We then said our goodbyes to our children and grands, finished packing our car, and left early on the morning of May 29 for our four-day “grueling” drive to El Paso. First stop was Spokane, Washington, to see good friends Mike and Mary who served us a delicious homemade soup for lunch. We continued to Missoula, Montana, to spend the night with George and Mary. We laughed with their son Liam, engaged in world-saving conversations, enjoyed delicious home cooking and a good night’s sleep.  

Then it was off to El Paso, driving through southern Montana and Idaho listening to upbeat tunes from “The Chicks,” Abba, the Beatles and praying with Michael W. Smith, Taize, and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. We drove over the Continental Divide twice and saw magnificent scenery in the Rocky Mountains. We hit traffic passing through Salt Lake City just when we were feeling exhausted from driving. AGH!! Spent the night in Provo at a quaint Airbnb and then off again for another ten-hour day of driving (we had a few old bladder pit-stops), an overnight in Albuquerque, and then our final day, a short five hours to El Paso.

Of course, along the way, we had all the coffee, cold water, snacks – kettle-corn for when we were drowsy – and food necessary. We arrived in El Paso late Saturday afternoon and were welcomed with open arms by Ruben Garcia (director of Annunciation House), and other volunteers.

On Sunday we were given a short orientation as to what to expect at the A-House shelters and our forthcoming jobs. Then we were given the rest of the day off to recover from our travels. Whew, we needed that rest. Work began on Sunday.

In contrast, some of the guests we received just this week had very different travel experiences. They did not simply “leave” their homes, friends, and family members, they fled! They fled from Bolivia, and Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela. Ruben asked us, “Why would a person flee one’s homeland?” He provided the answer: “Fear and Food.” Fear of the local criminal organizations and gangs threatening them with violence, kidnapping their children, and extorting them for money to leave them alone. They also leave because of the poverty they experience and the inability to work and properly feed their children.

The guests who arrived this week came from Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico, and Guatemala. They arrived here via a combination of flying from their country to another one, e.g. Ecuador to El Salvador, and then boarding a crowded bus to Guatemala. Some must walk through Guatemala; others may take a bus or hire a driver to get to Mexico. Once in Mexico they still have 2,100 miles to travel to get to Juarez which is the sister city to El Paso. Several traveled through the treacherous Darien Gap – dense jungle that connects Colombia and Panama.

Once in Mexico they make their way north, walking, traveling in an open train car packed with dozens of other migrants, and some even in a freight container being pulled by an 18-wheeler truck.  By this time, our guests who are traveling with children have little money, food, or water. They are in hot, cramped quarters. One woman told me that it was so hot in the container in which they were placed, that an older person died from the heat. She told me that the entire trip was very scary, especially for her baby with severe medical challenges.

All of our guests reached the US – Mexico border at Ciudad Juarez. Some spent many days at a shelter in Juarez before presenting themselves at the border to US border patrol asking for asylum which is provided for by US law. Officers take the migrants into custody and do an initial interview to determine if they have a valid reason to seek asylum. If they do, they are given paperwork that gives them legal status for being in the United States.

THIS IS IMPORTANT: MIGRANTS WHO HAVE ASKED FOR ASYLUM AND HAVE BEEN GRANTED PERMISSION TO BE IN THE US AND HAVE TO REPORT AT A FUTURE DATE BEFORE AN IMMIGRATION JUDGE TO REVIEW THEIR CLAIM FOR ASYLUM, ARE HERE LEGALLY.  THEY ARE NOT “ILLEGAL ALIENS.”

Migrants who need assistance to get wherever they want to go in the US are brought to one of the Annunciation House shelter sites in El Paso by US immigration officers. This is not the end of their journey. Here we welcome them, give them cold water, coffee, and food and assist them in contacting their family members and friends in the States who are expected to purchase a ticket for bus, plane or train to get them to their final destinations. Most guests speak Spanish and very little English. Some speak a little Spanish because their primary language is an indigenous one. If necessary, they are welcome to sleep at the shelter until their travel arrangements are completed.

There are occasions when some migrants were injured in their crossing and need long-term medical care. These people stay at the house in which we are working, Casa Vides.

The guests we have received are all extremely grateful to be welcomed and assisted. The most moving time for us has been when they share their difficult journeys with us, and then when we join hands in prayer to bless them as they leave. Their journey has not ended until they have landed in Oakland, Nashville, Tallahassee, Arlington, etc. and are received into the arms of their loved ones.

Why do Ruben Garcia and the hundreds of volunteers who come here year after year do this work of hospitality? It is simple. They (and we) are guided by the words of Jesus who said that when we feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, etc. we feed, welcome and clothe Jesus himself. (Matthew 25: 31-46).

As we reflect on the many journeys that have brought each of us to Casa Vides in El Paso, we’re humbled. There is no comparison, really. We were traveling / journeying as a choice. We had resources: a car, food, money to buy whatever we needed; we knew exactly where we were headed and exactly how much time it would take us. Our migrant sisters and brothers have none of this certainty or security. They set out on a journey in desperation, and they hope they will survive. Our country’s immigration policies need great reform. But meanwhile, we also need those who will welcome the stranger at our door as Jesus commands.

By Robert Fontana

What’s Annunciation House or A-House and why are we volunteering there in El Paso, Texas, for the summer at the hottest time of the year?

In the winter of 1976, a small group of young adults first gathered to consider and discuss the possibility of undertaking a journey that would one day be known as Annunciation House. Their gathering was fostered by a desire to experience the Gospel more deeply. Especially strong was the realization that the Gospel calls us all to the poor and that the life and presence of Jesus in the Gospels is so completely in relation to the poor.

In the fall of 1977 the second floor of an old building owned by the Diocese of El Paso became vacant. With the help and blessing of then Bishop, Sidney M. Metzger, the diocese loaned the building. On February 3, 1978, five of those young adults moved into the building with no money or other resources, and only vague ideas about how the poor would be served. What was certain was that in making themselves available to the poor, the poor would show the way and do the teaching.

The beginning was difficult. After arriving it became clear that there was no real sense of who the poor were, and if a poor person were to come, there was a sense that the group would not know what to do with him or her. Fortunately for the volunteers, the building was in need of cleaning and repairs. This provided an initial agenda for the group while they waited to come to some understanding of what God was asking.

One day a call came asking the group to take in a teenager who had been living in the streets. In accepting this young man Annunciation House made the first of two basic decisions that would define the work it would do. In accepting this young man, it in effect said that Annunciation House would be a house of hospitality for the homeless poor. It was not long before a second guest was accepted, then a third, then a fourth and so on. There would come a time when there would be more than 100 guests at the house at one time.

The second basic decision about the work of the house came with the realization that in the El Paso community, there was an entire group of people who were unable to receive any of the social services that are ordinarily available to the poor.

When referred to an agency, they would return to the house saying, They say they cannot help me because “no tengo papeles,” because “I have no papers.” There was no place where the undocumented could receive such basic services as food, shelter, clothing, and medical attention. In the El Paso community the undocumented were among the poorest and the most in need. And thus the decision was made that the undocumented would be the ones whom Annunciation House would primarily serve.

And so it was that little by little the volunteers were taught about who the poor were, about welcoming them and about serving them. With time the life and work of the house evolved, as did the volunteers themselves. Some left and new ones came. There has never been but a small number of volunteers living and working in the house at any given time. So also has the work never been but a tiny effort in the face of great numbers and tremendous needs.

There is always more left to be done at the end of the day than there was when it started. There is always a never-ending flow of guests to be welcomed and assisted. There is always a new opportunity to discover the meaning of Johns words, Little children, let us love in deed and in truth and not merely talk about it. There is always a never-ending opportunity to serve and meet Christ among the poor and to little by little experience the Gospel more deeply and try to live it more fully. (from https://annunciationhouse.org/)

Why we are we volunteering at A-House?

We have a historical and emotional connection to Annunciation House. Two of our daughters, Mary and Colleen, following their graduations from college (Mary in 2004, Colleen in 2014), spent 15 months living and serving at A-House. They each had profoundly enriching experiences that shaped their futures. Mary remained   involved with A-House serving as a member of the advisory board and as a volunteer in-charge of volunteer applications. Colleen, a journalist major in college, has chosen to work professionally with non-profits that serve as advocates and trainers for low income workers employed as house-cleaners, yard workers, laborers, etc. Many of these are Spanish speaking migrants.

In 2021, when Covid broke out across the country, Mary reported to us that A-House was struggling recruiting  volunteers. We immediately thought, since I could continue my counseling work over telehealth from El Paso, there was no reason why we could not volunteer. We spent three weeks at an A-house shelter mostly doing laundry, mopping floors, and emptying trash. We were able to meet with one of the A-House founders and director, Ruben Garcia (pictured) below.

We are returning to A-House this summer for similar  reasons. A-House is having a hard time recruiting volunteers because they are being scared off by:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued Annunciation House, a nongovernmental organization (“NGO”), to revoke their registration to operate in Texas. The Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) reviewed significant public record information strongly suggesting Annunciation House is engaged in legal violations such as facilitating illegal entry to the United States, alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house. (https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov)

This is not true. Guests are brought to A-House by federal immigration officers who have processed the   person’s asylum claim and given him/her paperwork allowing entry into the country until the claim can be heard at a future court date.

By Robert Fontana

There was once an old farmer talking with a young farmer about the coming harvest when they noticed an old hound dog chasing a rabbit into a thick grove of trees and bushes. The rabbit would run in and out of the thicket with the old hound dog hot on his trail. Soon other dogs, seeing the old hound dog chasing something, joined in the chase. They too went in and out of the thicket of trees and bushes, following the old hound dog who was following the rabbit. But after some time, the other dogs tired of the chase. One after another quit. The old hound dog, still catching glimpses of the rabbit at this turn and that, continued.

The young farmer mused out loud, “I wonder why those other dogs dropped out?”

The old farmer replied, “I guess they never saw the rabbit.”

As true for many mainline churches, the Catholic Church has a membership crisis. People, young and old, who have been raised Catholic, received the Sacraments, attended Catholic schools and/or some form of religious education, have left /are leaving the faith of their childhood. Many are leaving religion all together. They claim to be “spiritual but not religious.” Like the dogs in the story above, they never “saw” the rabbit, never encountered Jesus as truly alive and present, and never had the Holy Spirit stirred up in their hearts.

The reasons for this are many, but one primary reason is this: American culture offers an alluring vision for the good life that is simply contrary to the Gospel and hard to resist – play, pleasure, power, possessions, privilege, and position, all made possible by money. Fr. Richard Rohr calls these the “Poison P’s.”  

What makes it very challenging to recognize how I am hooked into the “Poison P’s” is that they easily get embedded in the families, friendships, jobs, politics, entertainment, social media, etc. in which we participate. The Christian faith invites us to a disciplined life that is, in fact, a challenge to the “Poison P’s” rooted in American culture. As Christians, we are challenged…

• To use our privileges (e.g. education, good health, family upbringing, job opportunities, etc.) to reach out to the under-privileged.
• To live simply, minimize our possessions, and care for the earth and its resources.
• To wait until marriage to be sexually intimate (and to remain celibate if one is unmarried).
• To use our power to act justly towards one another and be a power for good in all circumstances.
• To welcome the stranger and the immigrant.
• To care for the elderly, the sick, and those with physical, mental, emotional challenges.
• To love one’s enemies and pray for one’s persecutors.
• To be faithful in marriage and open to welcoming children into the world.
• To forgive all who have hurt us.
• To be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
• And most importantly, to find our fundamental identity as persons not in what we do or possess, but in our relationship to God as God’s precious children.

It is the living relationship with God that enables a person to step into the modern world of the “Poison P’s” and reorganize them so that being a disciple of Jesus and following the lead of the Holy Spirit transforms how we play, seek pleasure, enjoy privilege, obtain possessions, and use power.

When I have “seen the rabbit,” and I’m not just one of the other dogs chasing a dog for the fun of it,” then I will be motivated to “stay in the chase.” When I know God’s love deeply and personally, when I can feel the risen Jesus close to me, and when I am filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, then I am ready to begin the spiritual journey as God’s beloved daughter or son by:

1. Inviting Jesus to shape my character.

2. Asking Jesus to show me God’s will for my life.

3. Asking Jesus to show me the specific gifts of the Holy Spirit given to me to be a power for good in the world.

Besides the allurement of the world’s “Poison P’s,” there are other reasons why people young and old are leaving the Catholic Church. For some the Church is too liberal, with too much focus on social justice issues. For others, it’s too conservative, with too much rigidity around the sacraments or sexual issues. And for others, it’s the criminal and sinful behavior of Catholic leaders involved in clergy sex abuse and cover-up. These issues need to be addressed. However, in my opinion, the greatest need we have is to find effective ways to help one another, especially our youth and children, encounter God and embrace a life-giving relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Having just celebrated the great Church feast of Pentecost, let’s remember to pray to the Holy Spirit for strength, guidance, and wisdom to help us move forward together as a faith community.

Photo 24356482 © Sabphoto | Dreamstime.com

By Robert Fontana

The Scriptures are clear: heaven begins this side of heaven. Paul writes, “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Cor 5:17) John writes, “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are.” (1 John 3:1)

This is not simply meant as a theological truth while we toil in this “valley of tears.” We should experience the fruits of being a “New Creation,” a “Child of God” this side of heaven, through how we love one another. This is especially true for couples who marry in Christ Jesus. As a pattern, Christian married life ought to bring us “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Gal 5:22-23)

Sadly, for too many Christian couples, marriage is a foretaste of hell rather than heaven. The current data on divorce rates among Christian couples is 28% for Catholics, 33% for Protestants. UGH! Furthermore, from my experience as a marriage therapist, many long-term Christian marriages are unhappy.

There are a variety of reasons for this, but a primary one is that couples do not work on their marriage. By not giving their marriage attention, couples begin to take one another for granted, other things become more important, and couples grow apart. They may go to Church and look like the “Holy Family” on the outside, but on the inside, they are lonely, hurt, and disillusioned. This does not have to be. There is a    solution!

Work on your marriage!

It’s not just working on learning better communication skills, doing relationship inventories, reading self-improvement books, and going on retreats – although these are all good and important.  Working on your marriage especially involves maintaining friendship and having fun together. Marital friendship, according to the research, is the key ingredient to sustaining happiness in love over a lifetime.

Marital friendship means turning to one another as the primary person to give and receive affection, trust and openness, fun, admiration, sexual intimacy, acceptance, and, of course, forgiveness. With marital friendship fosters a “holy communion” between spouses with the fruits of the Holy Spirit being present as a pattern in the couple’s life: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Gal 5:22-23) Now wouldn’t that be a taste of heaven before heaven?

Work on your marriage and your marriage will work! If you need help, attend a workshop or retreat together. Lori and I are presenting a retreat for couples at the Bon Secours Conference Center, Marriottsville, Maryland. (Details are below; join us if you can!) There are many good workbooks for couples. A favorite of mine is John Gottman’s The Seven Principles for Making Marriage work. Lori and I also have a workbook for couples that you might consider using. It’s called “Hidden Treasure: Discover the Amazing Gift of Your Marriage.” You can get it on Amazon or Barnes and Nobles.

Of course, if you are really in conflict, go to couples counseling. I’m seeing couples who are preparing for marriage, recently married, married for a dozen years, and married for over 30 or 40 years. Conflict that turns into fighting happens at all stages of married life. Do not hesitate to get help if you are stuck in a rut and are unhappy in your marriage regardless of how short or long you have been married. God and a good marriage therapist can help bring joy back to your marriage.

Christian Marriage Is Beautiful…and Hard

Friday, August 23 (4 pm) – Sunday, August 25 (11:30 am) at the Bon Secours Retreat and Conference Center, Marriottsville, MD

Join us for a marriage/relationship enrichment retreat for all marriages and committed couple relationships: those strong or struggling; recently married or married for years; divorced and remarried with blended families; and couples who are not married but want relationship help. This retreat is guided by Robert & Lori Fontana.

Presentations will include a mixture of prayer and reflection, music, skits, stories, and excellent information based on Scripture, Catholic teaching, and clinical experience. You will reflect on the beauty of Christian marriage, the social evidence on why it is hard to live out, and the ingredients of a successful marriage. This is a participatory retreat with opportunities during each session for spouses/partners to separately complete relationship inventories related to the topic, share their answers with each other, and dialogue. You may gain new skills in self-awareness, communication, and conflict resolution or strengthen these skills that you already have.

The price of $500 is per couple. Please place both names within the name field (i.e First Name: John&Jane, Last Name: Doe/Smith). For single rooms or commuter options, please email Doris.Gallagher@BonSecoursRCC.org.

Check-in begins at 4pm and an orientation session will be held at 5:30pm. Mass will be available on Sunday. Please note that lunch is not included on Sunday before departure.

To register: https://bonsecoursrcc.org/event/christian-marriage-is-beautifuland-hard

By a friend of the Fontanas who wishes to remain anonymous

I’d like to briefly share my struggles with drug addiction and the road that led to my recovery in the hope of inspiring anyone who may be struggling or knows someone who is struggling.

I am middle age and a software engineer by trade. My childhood was a tale of two cities. On one hand, I was blessed to belong to a very large, supportive, and loving extended family. But on the other hand, at home, in a low-income neighborhood, my immediate family was very dysfunctional. My mom and biological father separated when I was a baby. My mom remarried and my stepdad became my dad. My parents divorced when I was 5 years old, and my siblings and I were left living with our single mother who struggled financially with a minimum wage job and four young kids to support. She then married a physically and emotionally abusive man, got hooked on cocaine and crack.  From there our home life was filled with chaos, violence, and pain. Mom died from a drug overdose when I was 13 years old.

After she died, my siblings and I went to live with our father who had remarried a woman who drove a wedge between him and our family. I wasn’t fond of her, and began to act out. I was putting a strain on his marriage, so he told me it was best that I leave. I called up my grandparents and moved out at 16. He and I are still estranged to this day.

I started to smoke pot. My weed use led me though different social circles, where eventually I met a girlfriend who introduced me to meth. I immediately loved the euphoric feeling it gave me. It suppressed all negative emotions and only amplified positive ones. There were no more feelings of worthlessness and self-loathing.  This revelation then inspired me to try anything and everything else I could get my hands on; crack, cocaine, heroin, LSD, mushrooms – you name it, I consumed it in abundance. My late teens and 20s were a complete blur, oscillating between addiction and sobriety, my grandma’s house and slapdash living arrangements, unemployment and various odd jobs like a delivery driver, auto mechanic, and bus boy.

Miraculously, during one of my sober stretches (imposed by a very bad DUI conviction), I graduated from the university with a degree in mathematics. Shortly thereafter, I landed my first professional job as a business intelligence developer.  I was dating someone again, but a week before my first day at the company, the perfect storm happened. My girlfriend and I broke up, and while in despair I bumped into an old acquaintance with whom I used to do drugs, and we smoked some meth. From that day forward, every day for the next 5 years, I was a full-blown meth addict.

For a while I was a high functioning meth addict. I would crush it up and mix it with some juice or coffee that I’d keep at my desk and just sip all day long. I used it every day – before work, during work and after. While everyone around me was moving forward in life, getting married, having kids, getting promoted, going places – I was content just standing still, hunched over a computer screen in a corner, getting high and writing software. At the end of the day when all my colleagues returned home to their families, I returned to a drug den to get high with very bad people. I was under the illusion that they were the people I belonged with, the unwanted, the outcast. That’s the narrative I force-fed myself, and eventually believed.

This went on for 3 years. A day came when I was barely functioning at all. I would go days without sleep and show up to the office with pupils so dilated my eyes were black, barely able to string together complete sentences. My personal hygiene had gone down the drain, not showering or washing my clothes. I started to skip important meetings with executives, missed critical presentations, and disregarded important deadlines. And my attendance started to slip.

During all this time, my manager, who was a very empathetic person, had tried his best to reach out to me, as he obviously sensed something was profoundly wrong. He repeatedly made efforts to help me – vacation time to rest, flexible scheduling, new projects to work on. But it finally came to the point when one day he took me into his office and gently fired me.

My addiction had fully metastasized and taken over my life. I hung out at dope spots, getting high and going nowhere. Within 6 months I was completely broke. I had burned through my savings and was 80k dollars in debt from maxed out credit cards. My car was repossessed. I was borrowing money from as many people as possible and not paying them back, burning bridges left and right, flaking out on anyone who still bothered to be in my life. I had reached a point of total desperation, as I had an insatiable drug addiction, and no money to buy drugs. The only vestige of stability left in my life was living at my grandmother’s house, but I managed to screw that up too when I stole from her to buy drugs and was kicked out onto the streets.

My life was a living hell surrounded by the walking dead. I was homeless for an entire year and ran around with addicts, dealers, felons, thieves, and convicted murderers. I slept in green belts, gutted RVs, backyards, front yards, cars, tents. I did whatever I could to get dope. I had multiple encounters with the police. I knew people who died from gun violence, suicide, and fentanyl overdose. My entire life revolved around one sole purpose which was to acquire meth.

For a while I had accepted my fate because I truly believed I possessed no inherent value as a human. In a way it was all a penance, a restitution for being unworthy of love, and for bringing shame upon my family. But from time to time, I would reach out to certain family members with a borrowed cell phone just to maintain a tether to the land of the living. Sometimes I’d talk to my brother, other times my cousin. Late one night as I was walking aimlessly through the streets, I had the epiphany that I had hit rock bottom, and it wouldn’t be long before I was either in jail or dead. I realized I wanted to live and so the next day I called my cousin, and he helped set up an intervention with my extended family. This intervention included my biological father who was a big part of my recovery.

After the intervention, my family generously put their money together and sent me to Mexico to receive an experimental treatment known as Ibogaine, which is one of the world’s most powerful hallucinogens, derived from a tree bark indigenous to Africa. It’s an intense therapy where you are administered a large dose and then monitored by nurses in a controlled hospital setting as you hallucinate for 24 hours straight. It was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. At first, I relived the most painful events of my life, but later in the trip the fear slowly faded away into acceptance, forgiveness, and finally a deep peace that I’ve carried with me to this day. Ibogaine was nothing short of a miracle drug for me. I’m happy to see that its applications to not only addiction, but also depression and PTSD, are becoming more well known.

When I returned to my family my lovely aunt and uncle graciously allowed me to stay with them.  They housed me, fed me, helped set up outpatient treatment, treated me like their own child. After 4 months there, I moved into a halfway house where I lived with other recovering addicts, gradually easing my way into independent responsible living. Within 2 months I landed a job as a data engineer and had my own apartment.

Fast forward 8 years and I am still sober. I’ve paid off 100k in debt, got another car, gone through numerous promotions at work, and recently bought a house. I was able to reconnect with one of the guys I knew on the streets and started sponsoring him. He’s been sober for 3 years now and has completely transformed his life. Most importantly, I repaired my familial relationships, including my grandmother whose heart I once broke.

It’s a wonderful feeling to be loved by so many people. Rather than having 2 parents, it’s like I have dozens, which is pretty special. In the end I realized that love is the one redemptive force in the world, and family is its purest form. From love extends all good things in life: forgiveness, redemption, peace, sobriety. All it takes is for one person to love someone else, to show that person they are worthy of love and in doing so, perhaps most importantly, teach that person to love themself. Luckily for myself, I had dozens of beautiful people to teach me: brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents, nieces and nephews. 

I am also especially grateful for my siblings, who, having gone through the same painful experiences I had, were much stronger than I, and managed to process and overcome their pain without succumbing to the pitfalls that befell me. Their strength is an inspiration to me.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

God Bless.

By Robert Fontana

Jesus is not content to have his followers remain in the upper room, in Greek, “Cenacle.” The Cenacle is that warm place of close friendships, Eucharist, foot-washing, and drawing near to the Father’s love in the Son and through the Holy Spirit. The entire purpose of the Cenacle experience is to prepare its participants to leave its safety and security and enter the graced and broken world to be a power for good. It is into the “world” that God so loves that he sent his only Son, not to condemn it, but to save it. John 3:16 

The “world” does not mean secular society and culture as opposed to life in the Church with its focus on faith and religious practice. “The world” in Scripture refers to the collective power of sin that shows itself in selfishness, self-centeredness, and violence; the abuse of human rights, break up of families, and the denial of dignity to so many: the unborn, migrants, the elderly, the imprisoned, the disabled, the ill in body and mind.

Jesus leads us out of the Cenacle into the world, a journey that always leads to the cross: 

So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them…

A few women from the Cenacle, including Jesus’ mother, and the “Beloved Disciple,” remained with him at the cross. They remained because of love, because they knew that Jesus, who was condemned as a criminal, was just the opposite. But they did not understand, could not understand until after the resurrection, the full meaning of this death: it was a life-giving death, a world-saving death for every human being that had ever lived and would ever live, and for creation itself. For Jesus’ death reconciled the world to God and paved the way to eternal life:

…now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life, but each one in proper order: Christ the first fruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ… (1 Cor 15:20-23)

But Jesus’ death means more than simply opening the doors to heaven. Jesus leads his followers to the cross because in his dying Jesus embraces suffering humanity and invites his followers to do the same. Some of his followers could not bear to be with Jesus in his suffering, and they fled. But others who were more stout-hearted, mostly women including his mother, stood with him in painful solidarity:

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home…

Good Friday reminds us that we too can stand with the suffering Jesus today, not merely liturgically but personally, by risking to step into the lives of suffering people and assist them in bearing the burden of their suffering. Clearly that is the meaning of Simon of Cyrene who helped Jesus carry his cross. Can we help children, the sick, the mentally ill, the immigrant and refugee, the unemployed and underemployed, the elderly and lonely, know the love of God through sharing our care and compassion?

Fr. Thomas Judge, the founder of the Missionary Cenacle Family to which Lori and I belong, understood this as well. He insisted that the abandoned Christ on the cross, “the naked, crucified Jesus on Calvary,” is the Christ of the Cenacle (Meditations, p. 327); and Christ crucified can only be truly loved and comforted by loving and comforting the poor and spiritually abandoned in the world, those individuals and groups of people who do not know God’s love or the love of their neighbor. The Cenacle that stands at the cross in solidarity with the suffering Jesus is the Cenacle that stands in solidarity with suffering humanity. 

On Good Friday we are reminded of the salvific death of Jesus, a death that bore the sins of the world and opened for all of humanity and creation itself, life everlasting. With this truth is a corresponding truth: we disciples of Jesus most effectively remember Jesus’ death by our personal solidarity and service to the suffering people we meet within the providence of our everyday lives.

By Robert Fontana

For all of you observing Lent, reading and praying through the Bible is a no-brainer. I can see your raised eyebrows with my suggestion that you also read the National Geographic magazine. First let me comment on reading and praying the Bible.

When I was in graduate school, a professor posed this question to the class: Is the Bible prescriptive for the life of believers today or descriptive of life of believers of the past?  What do you say to that question?

Biblical fundamentalists lean towards the “prescription” side of the question, believing that the Bible prescribes in specifics how we must live today. We dare not veer from its direction less we incur the wrath of God. Of course, there are real problems with this view. The Hebrew and Christian Bibles support slavery, a non-scientific view of the origins of the known universe, strict male dominance in the family and church, and religious domination of the nation. Christian nationalism is an outgrowth of this view of the Bible.

There are also real problems with saying that the Bible is only “descriptive” of how the people in biblical times lived and does not have serious guidelines for us today. Radical proponents of this view reject anything unique in the Bible.  For them, Jesus is another figure in history like Moses, Buddha, and Mohammed. The goal of the spiritual life is self-actualization. “Sin” consists fundamentally of the social structures that sustain racism, consumerism, and power.

As so often happens in the spiritual life, the truth lies in a “both/and” approach to the issue. There are teachings and insights in the Bible that we need to insist are prescriptive for us today, e.g. belief in Jesus as the Beloved Son of God, and the ethical standards of the 10 Commandments and the Beatitudes. But clearly, not everything is prescriptive. We are not going to blame all mental health problems and disease on the devil and depend solely on praying with greater faith for healing.

When you read and pray the Bible this Lent, remember this: before there was ever one written word of the Bible, there was a community of faith, the Hebrew people from the time of Abraham to Jesus, and, after the Resurrection, a Jewish-Christian people. Until the time of King David, the Hebrews lived their lives of faith without any written “Word of God.” Furthermore, the Hebrew Bible as we know it did not reach its full form until the time of Jesus. Without a  written “Word of God,” how did they pass on the     revelations they had received from God? The answer lies in the living faith of the  people – their music, stories, laws, rituals, and symbols.

The same is true for the early followers of Jesus. There was no written New Testament as we know it until the end of the fourth century. How did the early Christians pass on and interpret the revelation of Jesus without a written Bible? Again, – through storytelling, music, laws, rituals, and symbols.

Clearly the “Word of God” is not fully contained in a book, the Bible. For Christians the “Word of God” is the Risen Jesus who is present to His people in the written word which gives testimony to how the first   followers of Jesus understood who he is and how they were to live as his disciples. Jesus is also present in the lives of holy men and women in history who teach how to follow Jesus in their particular time and place. And we know the presence of Jesus through the lived experience of God’s people today. Each generation of believers gets to pray through the Scriptures and discern what the risen Jesus is saying through his word in Scripture, through his word in Church history, and through his word to the living Church today.

We take the Scriptures seriously but not literally. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture, firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures.” (Art. 107) We discern with the Church, the community of faith, what is descriptive of the life of believers from the past and is not binding for us today, and what is still prescriptive from the past and must be adhered to. An example of the first (descriptive) is the biblical acceptance of slavery. A prescriptive biblical passage is Jesus’ teaching:

“But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you…Do to others as you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.” (Luke 6:27-28, 31-32)

The Bible is not a science book. It does teach that God created the world, and we build on that with the scientific evidence gathered over centuries, from dinosaur bones to pulsars.

The Bible teaches that created things can manifest the presence of God. St. Paul makes this clear in his  letter to the Christians in Rome: “Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made.” 

(Romans 1:20) Many sources illuminate and illustrate the unfolding of God’s creative power in the vastness of the universe and in our tiny universe of planet Earth.

National Geographic helps me to better understand God’s creative power, active in the world. I am humbled and amazed with every issue as its writers and photographers reveal the beauty, complexity, and even fragility of the Earth, God’s creation, which we share with flora and fauna great and small. 

For example, in a recent NG magazine on whales, the writer tells the story of a researcher who observed a   baby beluga whale through the glass of an aquarium tank. As the two stared at one another, the researcher, smoking a cigarette, blew a cloud of smoke towards the baby Beluga. The baby swam off, returning a  few  seconds later with its mother who proceeded to release her mother’s milk, creating a cloudlike display which resembled the puff of cigarette smoke. WOW!! What is going on here? A Beluga watching a  human. A baby whale communicating with its mother. Mother whale mimicking the human. I’m in awe.

The Holy Spirit inspires the Bible, but we must discern what in the Bible is “prescriptive,” as we prayerfully distinguish what we hold on to for our lives today.

The Holy Spirit is the creative power that brings forth life on our planet. Through different sources, such as scientific journals, we can learn more about the Spirit’s creative power and how to cooperate with it so that life continues on our planet.

Along with the Bible, National Geographic can be great spiritual reading for Lent.

By Robert Fontana

Lent is fast approaching. And in Providential irony, Ash Wednesday is also St. Valentine’s Day (February 14). How about that for a divine challenge! Ash Wednesday invites us to fast, pray, and give alms. St. Valentine’s Day invites us to splurge on dinner, show love to those we love, and give flowers and lots of chocolate. And it follows that other day of great splurging – Fat Tuesday aka Mardi Gras. The last big “let the good times roll” before the disciplines of Lent take hold (with exceptions, of course, for St. Patrick and St. Joseph feast days).

However you resolve the dilemma of Ash Wednesday’s coinciding with St. Valentine’s Day, prepare yourself now for the spiritual journey you want to take during the great 40 days of Lent. On this retreat we followers of Jesus are invited to encounter the Lord with all the honesty and authenticity that we can muster. If we do this, if we sincerely prepare ourselves to encounter Jesus anew, it can be a wild and crazy ride because Jesus does not fit neatly into our liberal – conservative categories.

We don’t get the Jesus we want. We get the Jesus we need.

Keep in mind, the Jesus who said,

“Come to me all you who are weary, and I will give you rest,” (Mt 11:28)

is the same Jesus who said,

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man ‘against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.’” (Mt 10:34)

At first glance it might seem Jesus is being schizophrenic, a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. However, most parents, teachers and anyone who cares for children and youth know that we must do this delicate balancing act of “comforting and afflicting (or challenging) our children all the time.

For example, your son, trying to impress a girl with his driving skills, backs into a car. The other car has very little damage but the rear of your car is crushed. Your son, with tears in his eyes, comes to tell you what happened. You, of course, are glad that no one was hurt and feel bad for your son who clearly shows remorse. You hold him in your arms, tell him you love him, remind him that cars can be fixed and that you are glad he is alright. He feels consoled, cared for, and comforted. The “afflicted is comforted.” He is reminded that he is absolutely loved no matter what!

But wait, that’s not the end of it. You look your son in the eyes and say, “Of course, you will have to pay for the repair out of your work money.”

He looks at you with horror in his eyes. Six months later, after making his last payment to you for the repair of the rear hatchback, he says, “I sure hate making money at my job and handing it directly to you.” 

The “comfortable” has been “afflicted.” He needed to be held accountable for his behavior and accept the appropriate consequences so that he could mature and grow into a wise, thoughtful, and healthy contributor to society.

Something similar happens when we encounter Jesus in an honest authentic way. We do not simply get the Jesus we want, the One who consoles and comforts us, we get the Jesus we need, who wants us to learn from our mistakes, hurt, conflict. For example:

Charlie goes to see Fr. John because he is having marital problems. Fr. John greets him with great compassion, listens to his pain, and offers him a safe place to unload. The “afflicted” has been “comforted.“

Fr. John, being a wise spiritual director, also invites Charlie to examine his role in the conflict. Charlie admits that he’s been under a lot of pressure at work, has been drinking too much at home, and that his wife complains of being hurt and neglected. Now Fr. John gets to ask Charlie, who’s an active Catholic, “Are you the person you want to be in this marriage? Are you being the husband and father that you want to be in Christ?” The comforter has now become the afflicter (in a loving and kind way).

Charlie thinks about it.  “No, I’m not being the person I want to be.”

“Well, who is that person you want to be in this marriage and family? And what are you doing that’s getting in the way of your being the husband and father you want to be and can be?

There’s silence. Fr. John lets it sit there for a while then says, “Tell me about your relationship with alcohol.” And for the first time in his life Charlie admits that he can’t manage his drinking. It’s out of  control.

If Fr. John had offered only comfort, it would have allowed Charlie to hide behind Fr. John’s kindness and care. He would not have been challenged to mature, to grow up and take responsibility for his part in the conflict at home nor to make a realistic assessment of his drinking habits. This is not uncommon. Many active Catholics, Protestants, and Evangelicals use religious practices and friends to hide from the difficult and complex issues that keep them from maturing into healthy adults. They turn to Jesus for comfort but do not stick around for the “affliction/challenge” that they need to grow and mature in faith.

The beautiful thing is that when Jesus does “afflict” us, he walks with us every step of the way as we take a hard look at ourselves, address the issues within that are keeping us from growing in faith, and find the courage to mature.

Whatever your Lenten plan is, draw close to Jesus, receiving both his comfort and his “affliction.” In your prayer, at worship, with a spiritual companion or director, bring your struggles, your questions, your fears to Jesus. Allow Jesus to bless you with tender love and guide you along a path of life in the Trinity.

By Robert Fontana   

(reprint from 1/31/2016)

Faith can be fun for kids and adults alike.  In fact, if it is not fun some of the time, even for us older folks, faith will lose its power to touch our imaginations and enrich our lives.  One way to keep faith fun in the home is to select a few of your favorite saints – perhaps those saints with whom your children share a name or with whom your family has a cultural connection – and plan to celebrate their feast days in your home with good food, a children’s version of the saint’s story, and some sort of prayer ritual.

We Fontanas like to observe the Feasts of St. Joseph (March 19) who is the  patron saint of Italy, St. Clare (August 11) and St. Francis (Oct 5), and of course, our Irish patrons (Lori’s side of the family) saints Patrick (March 17) and Brigid (Feb 1). 

St. Brigid’s feast day is Thursday, February 1, which, in Ireland, also marks the first day of Spring.  So on St. Brigid’s Day we are going to gather with family for some good Irish stew and some good Irish faith-fun, including the  following prayer service:

Begin with this Prayer to St. Brigid

Saint Brigid, daughter of Ireland and lover of Jesus, draw us by your prayers into the living flame of God’s love.  Help us to clean our hearts and homes of all that is selfish and sinful.  Pray that we will be attentive to the poor and spiritually abandoned, that we will practice the Beatitudes in good times and bad, and that the warmth of God’s love will animate all that we say and do.

Each member of the home then takes a bandanna, handkerchief, or even a cloth napkin in hand and walks through the house, dusting the furniture, TV, books, and lamps, etc. singing “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.”

When the house has been thoroughly dusted, all go outside and tie the cloths on the branches of a shrub or tree (or porch railing).  Then together, pray this prayer:

All:  St. Brigid, come this day to our home and hearts; come by the power of God and be our guest.  And help us, dear Brigid, to wipe away the dust of too much “me, and my, and mine” that we might love others with a selfless heart.  We pray this in the name of Jesus.  Amen. 

Our Father…

Return to the house for dessert (Irish mint ice cream!)

By Robert Fontana

Every human being is a child of God, endowed with gifts to enable him or her to be a power for good in the world. At this time in history of great polarization, tribalism, and war, it is essential that we resolve to be the change in the world that will truly contribute to the common good. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Pray to the Holy Spirit every day for the grace to be alert to how you can be a power for good within the  relationships, commitments ,and circumstances of your life, especially in the home and at work.

2. Cultivate silence in your day, 10-20 minutes of silence, to slowly learn to grow in self-awareness and to learn to listen with the ears of the heart.

3. Pray with and befriend a faith community different from your own. If you are an active Christian, consider meeting with a local Muslim, Hindu, or Jewish community. Be curious about what they believe and how this impacts how they live. As appropriate, share your own story of faith, and look for what you hold in common.

4. Make a commitment to be in nature 2-3 times (at least!) a month. Psychotherapists are increasingly urging clients to spend time in nature as a method for calming one’s anxieties and as an anecdote to depression. Nature has an enormous healing capacity for those open to it. This means time in nature (it could be your garden) to listen, feel the breezes and wind, and simply gaze at its beauty, rather than always doing the more active pursuits of hiking, skiing, and biking. Most people are “nature starved.” For Catholics, nature is a sacrament capable of revealing the hidden presence of God.

5. Strengthen the bonds with the primary people in your life. If you are married, work on your      marriage. If you have children, have family meals throughout the week, and family time without electronics.  Single or married, be intentional in spending time with those people who help you be your best self.

6. Lastly, during this election year, commit yourself to protecting democracy at home and abroad. This is not a partisan resolution. Whatever your politics, protecting democracy is essential for protecting religious freedom, freedom of the press, freedom to gather, and other freedoms outlined in the U. S. Constitution. To quote Winston Churchill: ‘Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…’