Parents and Friends of Cardinal Ritter High School,

My name is Melisa Wilzbacher, and I am currently serving as the Director of Advancement.  Although I have only been in this role for a short four months, I have been a part of the Cardinal Ritter High School community for many years.  So while the Raider Nation O’Celebration was not the first one of its kind that I have attended, it is the first one that I have helped facilitate.  It is with great pleasure that I can announce our fundraising efforts paid off.  Under the guidance of Mrs. Hoy and Katie Waggoner, and with the help of Amy Baker, we raised over $50,000 on Saturday night.  With an $18,000 increase from the previous years, this event was a great success thanks to the participation, volunteering, and advertisement by our parents, friends, and families. 

While this role continues to offer many challenges, it is with great appreciation for the Cardinal Ritter community that we are able to conquer each one.  If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

Thank you,
Melisa Wilzbacher

This week we turn our attention from the themes of Lent, repentance and conversion, to the first of the three pillars of Lent, which together provide a solid base foundation for turning away from sin and setting our hearts on God.

The first pillar of Lent is prayer. If you were to ask a stranger to explain what prayer to you, most of us are going to hear some variation of “talking to God.” And indeed, talking to God is an important part of prayer, but by itself, talking to God does not make for a healthy prayer life. Instead, we should think of prayer as a “Conversation with God,” which implies a deeper and fuller understanding of what prayer is really all about. Like in our regular conversations, in prayer we need to listen as much as we speak. A one-sided conversation is often awkward, even uncomfortable; it feels forced. We aren’t likely to develop close relationships with people that we have one-sided conversations with. In that same way, when our prayer is only talking to God it feels awkward, and perhaps that keeps us from doing it very often. Certainly, traditional devotions like the Rosary and Stations of the Cross are pious ways of praying, but try to make Lenten prayer, then, a time of Listening to the Lord.

Listening to God may sound like a strange suggestion, for we don’t hear his voice the way we hear those of our co-workers, friends, or family. But God speaks to us by way of His Word. There are two ways one can be attentive to the Word of God during Lent: The first, is of course, through Sacred Scripture – the Bible. This is God’s word to the Church for all time, and it is perhaps the best way to hear God reveal Himself to us. Many people find reading the Bible to be an intimidating or confusing experience, but it doesn’t have to be. While there are several “one-year Bibles” or daily reading plans, the Church has been using its own daily reading plan, called the lectionary, for centuries. The lectionary is simply the daily mass readings, and they take only a few minutes to read each day. You can find the Daily Readings at the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ website. Just click on today’s date on the calendar and it will take you directly to the readings for the day. If you already attend daily mass and hear the Scriptures proclaimed it may be good to try out the Liturgy of the Hours – the “official, universal prayer of the Church”. The liturgy of the hours is a set of scripture readings and prayers used by every deacon, priest, bishop, sister, and brother in the Church. Countless laypeople share in this prayer as well. You can find several versions online including the one at www.ibreviary.com. Finally, if one wants to be attentive to the Word of God, consider spending time with the Word Made Flesh, that is, Jesus Christ, in the Blessed Sacrament. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, even for 10 or 15 minutes, is a way to withdraw from the commotion of the day, consecrate that time to God, and to listen to our Lord speak to us through the loving sacrifice that is the Body and Blood of His Son. The St. Francis Center, next to Cardinal Ritter High School, hosts the Divine Mercy Chapel, the first perpetual adoration chapel in the archdiocese. This chapel is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and serves as a spiritual oasis in a world that is often spiritually barren and void. You can also join the theology classes at Cardinal Ritter – they participate in Eucharistic Adoration throughout the entire school day every Friday in Lent in our Mother of Sorrows Chapel.

Next week we will continue looking at prayer, particularly the four reasons we offer prayer and sacrifice to God, namely Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving, and Sacrifice. Until then, “Encourage each other daily while it is still ‘today.’” (Hebrews 3:13).