This document provides an overview of a conference on faith, Mary, and the wedding at Cana. It includes: 1. An outline of the conference topics which will focus on the wedding at Cana story from the Bible and how it relates to the new evangelization. 2. Sections on reading the signs of the times through discernment, catechesis, and encountering Christ. It encourages moving from what is lacking towards abundance in life through friendship and community. 3. Interactive exercises are proposed to discuss where the Church and individuals see vitality and areas for growth, and how to discern the good from what needs changing. 4. The importance of discerning gifts and charisms is

1. Faith, Mary and the
Wedding Feast of Cana
Changing Water… into Wine

2. Roadmap
1. “They have no wine” (John 2:3)
2. “Do What He Tells You” (John 2:5)
Is something missing in your life?
Leading people out of the desert…
Where do I get the:
Reading the “Signs of the Times”
Through Discernment Answers?
Through Catechesis Strength?
Towards encounter with Christ Blessing? Examination
Sources: Grace?
Benedict XVI, Porta Fidei
Bible
Moving towards:
The Son who gives life in abundance!
Observation A good place in life.
Friendship and community.

3. Roadmap
3. “He tasted the water that had
been turned into wine.” (John 2:9) 4. New Evangelization
& Year of Faith
What is good in your life?
What can be better that is already good? New wine
Formation & Transformation … Church of the future
…vs. Education & Information
Signs of fruit:
In the Church
In your life

4. Conferences will be….
• Interactive
• Challenging
Warning !

5. Homework
1. Find a Bible
2. Read John 2 : 1-12
3. Write down ONE thought about it…
4. …before tomorrow!

6. Preamble
Reading the “Signs of the Times”

7. “Faith impels us to read and discern
the signs of the times
in the present history.”
Porta Fidei, Pope Benedict XVI, 2012

8. Preamble
(From Vatican II)
“The council yearns to explain to everyone
how it conceives of the presence and activity
of the Church in the world of today….

9. Preamble
(From Vatican II)
How does the Church do this ?
(scrutinize, interpret, explain)
…To carry out such a task, the Church has
always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of
the times and of interpreting them in the light
of the Gospel.”
(Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes – “The Church in the Modern World,” Para 2, , 1965 )

10. Preamble
“(The current times) should prove a stimulus to the Church:
To increase its ever growing vitality,
To take stock of itself,
And give careful consideration to the signs of the times,
Always and everywhere ‘proving all things and holding fast
that which is good.’"
(Ecclesiam Suam, Encyclical by Paul VI “On The Church,” 1964 )

11. Preamble
In other words, the Church asks:
Where were we? (Past)
Where are we? (Present)
Where are we going? (Future)
What’s good? (Keep or make better)
What’s not? (Change or discard)
And….how do we discern this? (next slide)

12. Reading the “Signs of the Times”
An Interactive Exercise

13. Reading the “Signs of the Times”
As a Church, where do we see:
An increase in vitality?
The Church taking stock of itself?
The Church giving careful consideration to the signs of the times?
“Holding fast that which is good"

14. Reading the “Signs of the Times”
As a Church, where do we NOT see:
An increase in vitality?
The Church taking stock of itself?
The Church giving careful consideration to the signs of the times?
“Holding fast that which is good"

15. Reading the “Signs of the Times”
As a believer:
Where do you see an increase in vitality in you life?
How are your taking stock of yourself?
Who helps you give careful consideration to the signs of the times?
What is good in your life to which you are, and should be, “holding fast?”

16. Reading the “Signs of the Times”
As a believer, where does there need to be
conversion/redemption:
In what areas of your life is vitality lacking?
What areas of your life have not been examined?
(“Taking stock of yourself”)
Whom do you still need to consult to give “careful consideration to the
signs of the times?”
What is NOT good in your life onto which you are still “holding fast?”

17. Questions:
What is this that we’re doing?
Why is this important?
What saint is famous for this process?
Extra Credit:
What religious order did he found?
What book did he write?

18. What secular examples do we
have of this process?

19. Reading the Signs of the Times,
An Example
Kate, Andy (not their real names)
and the “New Year’s Eve Party”

20. PART 1
“Do What He Tells You” (John 2:5)

21. Roadmap
1. “They have no wine” (John 2:3)
2. “Do What He Tells You” (John 2:5)
Is something missing in your life?
Where do I get the:
Leading people out of the desert… Answers?
Reading the “Signs of the Times” Strength?
Through Discernment Blessing?
Through Catechesis Grace?
Towards encounter with Christ Moving towards the Son who gives
OBSERVATION life in abundance!
Moving towards a good place in life.
Sources: Moving towards friendship and
community.
Benedict XVI, “Porta Fidei”
Bible

22. Catholic Church: Then
Parish of the past. Focus on:
Social,
Cultural,
Political, Educational
Example: ethnic neighborhood parishes and Catholic schools
Faith was “self-evident.”

23. Catholic Church: Now
The previous stuff was good (for its time)
The previous stuff is still good,
But now, it’s drinking water at a wedding.
(AKA, “old wine skins”)
Need to change water into wine.

24. Catholic Church: Now
78/5 – 18/2
Lights hidden
US Catholics floundering (Europe is worse…)
And yet:
Inactives: Interest in the spiritual, “spirituality,”
transcendence, service. (Katrina, Haiti, Sandy)
Actives: Interest in Bible, catechesis, leadership

25. How do we change
Water into Wine ?
• Finding the good
• Making the “good” even better
THROUGH:
* Encounter
* Discernment
* Catechesis

26. “They asked him, „What must we do
to do the works of God?‟
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this:
to believe in the one he has sent.”
John 6:28-29 (NIV)

27. Christifideles Laici
Gifts, Charisms and the Dignity of the Lay Faithful.”

28. Gifts vs. Charisms
What’s the Difference?

29. Gifts vs. Charisms
Gifts :Difference? Charisms :
Supernatural Natural
Given by God TO you… Given by God TO you…
Given by God FOR you …for OTHERS!
For your sanctification For their consolation

30. Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Corresponding
Gifts: Virtues:
1. Wisdom (desire spiritual > temporal) ….. Charity
2. Understanding (know truths beyond faith).. Faith
3. Knowledge (circumstances) ………………. Faith
4. Counsel (right/wrong judgment) …………. Prudence
5. Fortitude (courage) ……………………………… Courage
6. Piety (reverence)…………………………………... Justice
7. Fear of the Lord (wonder and awe)……….. Hope

31. Sacrificial & Consecrating Charisms:
Silence Penance/Confession
Solitude Virtue
Prayer Obedience
Charity Martyrdom
Poverty

32. Speaking Charisms:
• Teaching Words of Knowledge
• Exhorting/Encouraging Words of Wisdom
• Pastoring/Shepherding Prophesy
• Apostleship Tongues
• Evangelization Interpretation

33. Ministering Charisms:
• Helping Faith
• Hospitality Discernment
• Giving Miracles
• Government/Ruling Healing
• Showing Mercy Exorcism

34. Why is this important?
Vatican II, Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes), para. 43
• “They are mistaken who, knowing that we
have here not abiding city but seek one which
is to come, think that they may therefore
shirk their earthly responsibilities…

35. Why is this important?
• Nor …are they any less wide of the mark who
think that religion consists in acts of worship alone
and in the discharge of certain moral obligations,
• …and who imagine they can plunge themselves
into earthly affairs in such a way as to imply that
these are altogether divorced from religious life.

36. Why is this important?
• This split between the faith, which many profess,
and their daily lives, deserves to be counted among
the most serious errors of our age.”
• (Benedict XVI, Porta fidei)

37. Charisms…
determining, and discerning
Discerning Ministries
and Charisms: Steps:
Explanation and inventory
Catherine of Siena Institute
First session (1 hour )
“Called and Gifted”
Going in Depth
“Spiritual Gifts Inventory”
Discern How to Apply in Life
Start to Apply / Experience
How could do you do this on your own ?
Re-Discern

38. End of PART 1
1. “They have no wine” (John 2:3)

39. PART 2
“DO WHAT HE TELLS YOU” (JOHN 2:5)

40. FAITH THEN “COMMITS EVERY ONE OF US TO
BECOME A LIVING SIGN OF THE PRESENCE OF
THE RISEN LORD IN THE WORLD."
F R O M P O R TA F I D E I , P O P E B E N E D I C T X V I

41. ROADMAP
1. “They have no wine” (John 2:3) 2. “Do What He Tells You”
(John 2:5)
• Is something missing in your life?
• Leading people out of the • Where do I get the:
• Answers?
desert…
• Strength?
• Reading the “Signs of the Times”
• Blessing?
• Through Discernment
• Grace?
• Through Catechesis
• Towards encounter with Christ • Moving towards the Son who
gives life in abundance!
• Sources:
• Benedict XVI, Porta Fidei • Moving towards a good
• Bible place in life.
• Moving towards friendship
and community.

42. THE “GREAT QUESTIONS”
• Suffering
• My Family
• What Should Lay People Do?
• (vs priests & nuns)
• Women
• Human Sexuality

43. WHERE DO WE GET ANSWERS?
THE WORD !

44. THE WORD
(REFORMATION THEOLOGY)
• The Word = The Bible
• Whole of Christian truth found within the Bible’s pages.
• Contains all material one needs for understanding about:
• Who is God
• Who am I
• My relationship with God
• My relationships with others

45. THE WORD
(REFORMATION THEOLOGY)
• Material is sufficiently clear
• Thus one does not need any other teaching authority
to help one understand it.
• (Like “apostolic tradition” or the Church’s “Magisterium”)
• Anything extraneous to the Bible is unnecessary, non-
authoritative or wrong - and may well hinder one in
coming to God.
• (ibid)

46. THE “WORD”
(CATHOLIC TRADITION)
• Sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture form
one sacred deposit of the word of God
• (Vatican II, Dei Verbum para. 10)
• …there exists a close connection and
communication between sacred tradition
and Sacred Scripture.
• Both of them, flowing from the same divine
wellspring, merge into a unity.

47. THE “WORD”
(CATHOLIC TRADITION)
• Sacred Scripture is the word of God inasmuch as it is
consigned to writing under the inspiration of the
divine Spirit, …
• …while sacred tradition takes the word of God
entrusted by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit to
the Apostles, and hands it on to their successors in
its full purity …

48. THE “WORD”
(CATHOLIC TRADITION)
• ….so that led by the light of the Spirit of truth, they
may - in proclaiming it - preserve this word of God
faithfully, explain it, and make it more widely known.
i.e. … applying the Scriptures,
in practical ways, to everyday
situations in our lives.

49. THE “WORD”
(CATHOLIC TRADITION)
• Consequently it is not from Sacred Scripture alone
that the Church draws her certainty about everything
which has been revealed.
• Both sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture are to be
accepted and venerated with the same sense of
loyalty and reverence.

50. NEW WINE – NEW WINESKINS
As Catholics, how do we
begin applying the
• Mark 2:22 … “Word” to everyday life?
• “No one puts new wine into old wineskins;
• or else the new wine bursts the wineskins,
• the wine is spilled,
• and the wineskins are ruined.
• New wine must be put into new wineskins.”

51. AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE “WORD”
IS AN ENCOUNTER WITH CHRIST
REAL WORLD EXAMPLES

52. AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE “WORD”
IS AN ENCOUNTER WITH CHRIST
“WORD” = SCRIPTURE & TRADITION

53. THE WORD AND
THE “GREAT QUESTIONS”
• Alone:
• For edification
• Spiritual nourishment
• Catechesis
• When discerning:
• Don’t read the “Word” alone
• Lose opportunity for support, communio
• Lose perspective and additional information

54. TIMING
• This takes time (“Waiting on the Lord”)
• Give it a year…
• Thoughts
• Word
• Posture
• Prophetic prayer
• Might mean taking away; NOT adding on.

55. FRUIT
• “Search for the beauty of faith…
• …until the heart finds rest”
• Or other feelings like:
• Conviction
• Courage
• Confidence
• Hope
We need to pay attention to feelings.
We cannot be governed by our
emotions, but the Holy Spirit does live
within them. (St. Francis de Sales).

56. END OF PART 2
“DO WHAT HE TELLS YOU” (JOHN 2:5)

57. Porta Fidei, Pope Benedict XVI

59.  4. New Evangelization
& Year of Faith
 New wine
 Church of the future
 Signs of fruit in the Church
 Signs of fruit in your life
 3. “He tasted the water that
had been turned into wine.”
(John 2:9)
 What is good in your life?
 What can be better that is already good?
 Formation & Transformation …
 vs. Education & Information

60.  ….Your thoughts

61.  “Reading the context is not
enough…
 Unless the heart is opened by
grace” (Benedict XVI, Porta fidei.)

62.  “Word” = Scripture, Church Fathers,
theological masters, saints…
 Reading the text,
 Understanding the
interpretation/explanation.
 Finding “something” there, and…
 Discovering a meaning within the
context of your life.

63.  It’s not academic. It’s not about the mind,
 …it’s about the “heart.”
 Its not about information,
 …it’s about formation and trans-formation.

64.  Done within the context of a (“holy”) hour.
 Done within the time of the “Holy Hour.”
 Then it’s water -> wine
 Mind thing -> encounter with Christ

65. Confession as “spiritual direction”

66. From a treatise against the heresy of Noetus
by Saint Hippolytus, priest (A.D. 170-235)

67.  There is only one God, brethren, and we learn
about him only from sacred Scripture.
 It is therefore our duty to become acquainted
with what Scripture proclaims and to investigate
its teachings (aka, “sacred tradition”) thoroughly…

68.  Sacred Scripture is God’s gift to us and it should
be understood in the way that he intends…
 ….we should not do violence to it by interpreting
it according to our own preconceived ideas.

69.  Two questions:
 Question #1: Why is this important?
› (Hold that thought…)

74. Redeem = “change” and “exchange”
 Undue the damage
 Fill the lacuna
 Renew you physically, emotionally
 Renew you within the Church
 “Redeeming” internally and externally

75.  Internally: thoughts, affections, mentality, conduct:
› Need to be purified
› Need to be transformed
 Externally:
› Venture capitalist and “entrepreneurial prison ministry”

76.  Gabe Lyons’ idea of
“restorers” (redeeming)

77.  In the past Mass was sufficient; today Sunday is
not enough.
 A heart is shaped by transforming grace needs:
› Contact with the Word
› Contact with people of the Word

78.  Remember this ………………....
 Practical activity insufficient unless:
› Expands love for man
› Nourished by encounter with Christ
 “Charitable activities at all levels must avoid risk
of becoming just another form of organized
social assistance.” (Benedict XVI, Deus caritas est)
 Caution (again): pelagianism

80. PART 4
The New Evangelization
and The Year of Faith

81. Roadmap:
3. “He tasted the water that had been 4. New Evangelization & Year of Faith
turned into wine.” (John 2:9)
• What is good in your life? • New wine
• What can be better that is
• Church of the future
already good?
• Formation & Transformation • Signs of fruit in the Church
• vs. Education & Information
• Signs of fruit in your life

82. The “New Evangelization”
Definition and Context

83. Type of “Callings”
The New Evangelization
and The Year of Faith

84. What the Church Does
(Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est)
• Kerygma – Proclaim the Word
• Leitourgia – Sacraments
• Diakonia - Charity

85. Calling - Disciples
• From Greek, “ ”
▫ Pupil
▫ Learner
▫ Apprentice
▫ Might have a mission (smaller)
(Example: Luke 10:1-24 and the “70 disciples”)

86. Calling – Martyrs
• From Greek, “ ”
Types: Examples:
• Blood • Poverty (simple life)
• Public witness • Chastity
• Obedience
• Action for Justice
• Charity

87. Calling and Faith
• What the world needs: Why both mind
AND heart?
▫ Credible witnesses
▫ People able to open the hearts of others (“Charity”)
▫ But also people “enlightened” in mind and heart.

88. A Time For Witnesses
• 1 Peter 1:6-7 “Now for a little while you may have to
suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
• These have come so that your faith - of greater worth
than gold - which perishes even though refined by fire …
• …may be proved genuine …
• …and result in praise, glory and honor
• …when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

89. A Time For Witnesses
• Is our current suffering a prelude to joy ?)
• “That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses,
insults, hardships, persecutions, difficulties.
• For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
• (1 Corinthians 12:10)

90. What the Church Still
Needs to Do (Benedict XVI)
• Remember …………………… 
• Practical activity insufficient unless:
▫ Expands love for man…
▫ Nourished by encounter with Christ
▫ “Charitable activities at all levels must avoid risk
of becoming just another form of organized social
assistance.”

91. Faith in Action
Mary as the Model

92. Faith Applied in Action:
• Discern for yourself what the Lord is telling you
during your retreat this year.
• Discuss this three times with at least one person
over the course of the next year.

93. Faith Applied in Action:
• There are 18 Marian celebrations and feast days…
• Celebrate just one of these days that honor Mary
this year.

94. Faith Applied in Action:
• Commit to saying the Rosary (or Divine Chaplet)
daily during October, the month dedicated to
Our Lady of the Rosary.

95. Faith Applied in Action:
• Mary is mentioned close to 50 times in the New
Testament. …
• Over the next year, chose and read just one
Marian story or passage. Sit with and pray with
this passage for one week from one Saturday to
the next.

96. Mary as the Model
What to do:
• Treasuring Memories
▫ “Pondering” What you might experience:
• Joy
• Meditation
• Trepidation
▫ “Reflecting”
• Trust
• Confusion
• Tasting
▫ The fruits • Wonder

97. End Presentation…
The New Evangelization
and The Year of Faith

98. Calling and Faith
• Faith without charity
bears no fruit…
• Charity without faith is mere
sentiment at the mercy of doubt.
Church’s role in
moral teaching
Relationship between
faith and reason