Author Archives: Karla Luke

Pray for us … intercessions powerful tools

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By Karla Luke
Intercessory prayer, to pray and seek good for others, is a powerful form of prayer and evangelization. It involves pleading with and thanking God on behalf of another person or persons. God loves a heart that is generous for others and we can find many examples of this in Scripture.
Consider St. Paul’s letter to Timothy, “First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.  This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
Jesus Christ is our ultimate intercessor, as he stands between us and God, leading and modeling for us the way to the Father. Jesus himself said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Jesus’ life is an example of interceding for us to the Father.
He interceded for the bride and groom at the wedding in Cana, for Mary and Martha when he raised Lazarus, and for countless sick and suffering people through healing miracles. Because Jesus is our holy model, He is showing us that He wants us to plead to our heavenly Father on behalf of others as well. This month, we honor the great intercessors of our faith, the saints. In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis highlights the graces realized from intercessory prayer.
“At the same time, it is the gratitude which flows from a heart attentive to others. When evangelizers rise from prayer, their hearts are more open; freed of self-absorption, they are desirous of doing good and sharing their lives with others.
“The great men and women of God were great intercessors. Intercession is like a “leaven” in the heart of the Trinity. It is a way of penetrating the Father’s heart and discovering new dimensions which can shed light on concrete situations and change them. We can say that God’s heart is touched by our intercession, yet in reality he is always there first. What our intercession achieves is that his power, his love and his faithfulness are shown ever more clearly in the midst of the people.” (282-283 Evangelii Gaudium)
Just as a mother prays for her children, so Mary, the mother of God and our mother too, prays for us! Just as we pray for our brothers and sisters, so the saints and angels pray and intercede for us. As we follow the model of Mary and the saints, let us also pray in thanksgiving to Jesus and to the holy men and women of God who are constantly praying, watching, guiding, pleading and thanking Him on our behalf until we are able to be with them in heaven.
(Karla Luke is the coordinator of operations and support services for the Office of Catholic Education.)

Family life an opportunity to embrace joy

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By Karla Luke
The family is experiencing a profound cultural crisis, as are all communities and social bonds. In the case of the family, the weakening of these bonds is particularly serious because the family is the fundamental cell of society, where we learn to live with others despite our differences and to belong to one another; it is also the place where parents pass on the faith to their children. Marriage now tends to be viewed as a form of mere emotional satisfaction that can be constructed in any way or modified at will. But the indispensible contribution of marriage to society transcends the feelings and momentary needs of the couple. As the French bishops have taught, it is not born “of loving sentiment, ephemeral by definition, but from the depth of the obligation assumed by the spouses who accept to enter a total communion of life”. [Evangelii Gaudium 60]
The above passage speaks directly to some of the proceedings at the third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family. The theme of the Synod, “the pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization” recognizes the urgent need of the church to address the social and spiritual concerns of the family today. In paragraph 66 of Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis called the family the fundamental cell of society. Our families are the places where we learn about ourselves, our faith and how to relate to each other as human beings with human dignity.
The family dynamic is rich with spiritual symbolism. The love that unites the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is likened to the love that unites father, mother and child. God consecrated this holy union by allowing His only Son to be born to Joseph and Mary, establishing the “domestic church.” (CCC, 1655). It is our primary family relationships that form the basis for how we will relate to others as our personal world begins to grow.
Strong families build strong societies and faithful followers build strong churches; therefore, it is incumbent upon us as a Catholic Christian family to insure the future of our church by thoughtfully resolving the issues that families face today. Our bishops attended the Synod in an attempt to address these issues. What can we do to help?
Live the Gospel – These words are attributed to St. Francis of Assisi “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” Remember that each encounter with another person is an opportunity to encounter Christ. Just as we show members of our families how much we love them, we must also be aware of those who have broken families or no families at all.
Be merciful and forgiving – Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32). We must be tolerant and forgiving of grievances against ourselves and demonstrate forgiveness to our human brothers and sisters.
Pray and faithfully go forth in joy – We must accept God’s challenge to go forth and make disciples of all nations. We stand firmly on the shoulders of the great prophets and saints who have lovingly made a path for us. We pray for peace and justice for all of creation
The human family, is a visible, earthly expression of God’s own intense love for us. It is where we learn our Gospel values of love, mercy, and forgiveness or in the absence of family, we fail to learn them. We are obliged to continue to build up and strengthen our families as one of God’s greatest gifts to humankind.
(Karla Luke is the coordinator of operations and support services for the Office of Catholic Education in the Jackson diocese. She will continue this series on the Joy of the Gospel on in future editions of Mississippi Catholic.)

Catholic school identity rooted in joy of gospel

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Forming our future
By Karla Luke
The word “joy,” when considered in a spiritual sense,  is a lasting contentment that is strongly rooted in our faith, God’s grace and inner peace. Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel, is the first apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis written in 2013. It is a practical outline or roadmap to lead the church on the path for a new evangelization. Pope Francis intends for us to purposefully examine our vocation as missionary disciples and more importantly, to embrace that mission with joy.
It is for this reason that our schools have chosen to study The Joy of the Gospel as part of our Annual Catholic Identity Study for the ongoing religious formation of our educators.
Pope Francis is known for his humility and straightforwardness in speaking about the mission of our church. In many of his talks we often hear “encounter, mercy, unity and go forth.” These words govern how we should be in relationship with others. It is through our encounter with others that we are able to encounter Christ. He explains how important it is for our church to seek others as Christ sought us, to show mercy to others as Christ has shown us, to live joyfully in community and to go out and spread the good news of the Gospel to everyone we meet.
Sometimes these concepts stand in direct conflict with what society represents. He calls the Catholic Church to contradict the polarized world view and to represent the true joy of being a follower of Christ. We used Pope Francis’ choice words to develop our four Catholic Identity Units this year: Joy in: Encounter, Joy in Mercy, Joy in Solidarity and Joy in Going Forth.
Joy in Encounter – Every day when we meet others, we encounter the person of Jesus Christ. Whether it is a student, parent, or colleague, we have an opportunity to demonstrate our love for Christ by our interactions with others. We show students that we are not meant to travel this Christian journey alone. We were created to be in community with each other. Sure, we often confront challenges but we cannot let those challenges be obstacles to our salvation. Our Catholic schools are “mini societies” where challenges are faced every day. However they are also ideal communities where we can teach/model love, joy, kindness, acceptance and self-control. We demonstrate daily in our schools, “We love others because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)
Joy in Mercy – As God showed mercy to us by sending Jesus His Only Son, we must show mercy to each other. In Matthew 5:7 we are told, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.” Christ, Himself, is telling us to show mercy to one another. Again, in the Pope’s exhortation, he acknowledges there are worldly temptations that may serve as obstacles to our salvation; but he urges us, as the church, to resist those temptations.
We must show mercy and compassion for those who have fallen victim to the economy and unbalanced financial system, to those who are culturally marginalized. The students in our Catholic schools eagerly welcome opportunities to help the poor. Our students from Pre-K through high school, live out the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy.
Solidarity – The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that solidarity is a “direct demand of human brotherhood.” With varying demographics of gender, culture, race, religion and economic status, we must work harder than ever to achieve solidarity.
It is fitting that solidarity is encouraged in our Catholic schools because we are able to learn more from our differences than our similarities. Our need to be unified as one human family is beautifully illustrated in St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.” Our church models, by our existence, the beautiful, diverse Body of Christ.
Joy in Going Forth – A memorable quote from Pope Francis is “Jesus teaches us another way: Go out. Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers, go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit.” Pope Francis advises us to venture out, not only into our communities, but also past the invisible walls of our own insecurities, prejudices and intolerance. He wants us to find the lasting contentment and peace in being with others for this is how we express our love for God.
“The Joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ, joy is constantly born anew.
When we allow ourselves to encounter Christ in others, show mercy and compassion, be unified with each other and go forth and make disciples of all nations, we insure our salvation and experience a lasting contentment, God’s unfailing grace and inner peace which is true, unending joy!
(Karla Luke is the Coordinator of Operations and Support Services for the Office of Catholic Education in the Jackson Diocese. She will continue this series on the Joy of the Gospel on page 3 in future editions of Mississippi Catholic.)