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02.14.06  Tuesdays Reflection

I'm just back from the VMM board meeting. Reading the Spirit and Lifestyle

in its entirety for Saturday morning's opening reflection gave me the

impulse to do this again for the weekly VMM reflection. It will be a great

preparation for our Assembly in Colorado in June. This time we'll do it with

a difference! We'll welcome short comments from the VMM membership. If you

are on this email group you may simply add your comment, delete the original

reflection and "reply all" If it's forwarded to you, ask your forwarder if

he/she would do it for you.

"At a time in the history of the Church when passive obedience and reception

of the sacraments was generally accepted by the laity as what being Church

was all about, the VMM emerged as a new and challenging movement calling

Christian men and women to respond to Vatican II's call for full and active

involvement in the Church's life and mission. This involvement has a double

thrust to witness to God's action through Jesus Christ in our world today,

to respond to the material and human needs of the marginalized and the

dispossessed of our world.

"We are first called and moved by the very Love that lives within us:

The love of Christ overwhelms us . . ." 2 Cor 5:14

For those of you who are younger or not of the Catholic tradition, I must

reaffirm Edwina's enthusiasm for the breath of Spirit that came from the

second Vatican Council. It was a very exciting time!

One of the most important documents that followed was Pope Paul VI's On

Evangelization in the Modern World. I'll just quote a passage on the primary

importance of witness of life:

Above all the Gospel must be proclaimed by witness. Take a Christian or a

handful of Christians who in the midst of their own community, show their

capacity for understanding and acceptance, their sharing of life and destiny

with other people, their solidarity with the efforts of all for whatever is

noble and good. Let us suppose that, in addition, they radiate in an

altogether simple and unaffected way their faith in values that go beyond

current values, and their hope in something that is not seen and that one

would not dare to imagine. Throught this wordless witness these Christians

stir up irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how they live.

Why are they like this? Why do they live in this way? What or who is it that

inspires them? Why are they in our midst? Such a witness is already a

silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one.

A couple of years ago, a large missionary congress of the Americas met in

Guatemala city. It included many, many lay persons and many, many young

people. "We are all missionaries" was their rallying cry! We learned that

Jesus calls us to be missionaries as part of our christian calling, our

church membership. The call of the Lord is for each one, for all of us.

Cecily