Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Director | St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church | Jackson, Michigan
Read discipleship reflections and spiritual guidance from Todd Gale at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Jackson, MI.
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THEOTOKOS IS US
Do you know the word THEOTOKOS? It’s an ancient Eastern title for Our Lady, Mary the Mother of God. It means God Bearer; the one who brings God into the world. Mary is not the ONLY Theotokos. As Christians, we are all called to be God bearers. The name Christian implies something similar; it means
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Director, 9/14/25
EXALTATION OF THE CROSS AND OCIA Do you have the feeling that God is looking for YOU? He IS seeking you and is calling you to Himself. Wherever you are in this walk of life: a full-on believer or a turned off doubter, He wants to find YOU. And when you respond to his insistent
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator/Spiritual Director, 7/13/25
SURRENDER When we see the English word SURRENDER we probably assume it means to give up, throw down our arms, admit defeat, and become prisoner of the enemy. Surrender seems like something not good for us. The word comes from an Old French word with the same definition. But surrender, in the spiritual sense, is
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Director – 3/9/25
THE BEST LENTEN PENANCE What are you giving up this year for Lent? In previous years I’ve denied myself ice cream, chocolate, coffee… the “usual.” This year, I’m feeling that it’s time for a real challenge. How about giving up smack-talk, even when people deserve it? How about giving up being impatient with idiot drivers?
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Director – 1/5/25
GIFTS OF GREAT WORTH Matthew is the only Gospel writer to tell us about the Magi seeking the King of the Jews. When they come to Jesus, they did not arrive empty-handed. Their gifts to the young boy are royal, expensive, and mysterious. This makes me think about the gifts and offerings we make to
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Director – 12/8/24
ADVENT ATTITUDE One of the first images that comes to us when we think of Advent and Christmas is surely (or at least hopefully?!) baby Jesus adored by shepherds, angels, wise guys, and holy parents. It’s that simplicity, that smallness, the poverty of the whole scene that I’m led to focus on. St. Paul tells
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From the Desks of Shayne & Todd – 11/03/24
Walk With One… and more! Our core purpose statement for St. John the Evangelist is “To fulfill the Great Commission and form a community of missionary disciples in Jackson, Michigan”. This is our parish CULTURE, our environment and ecosystem. It’s who we are as a parish. We have been immersed in the basic training of
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Director – 10/13/24
Go! Go! Go! JOSEPH! Throughout the Bible there is hardly any character as rich and inspiring as Joseph. I don’t mean Joseph of the Holy Family; yes, the foster father of Jesus is very inspiring. But for this article, I’m thinking of the Old Testament man that Joseph the carpenter of Nazareth was probably named
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator and Spiritual Director, 9/15/24
FALL START-UPS, TUNE-UPS, AND LAUNCHES Even though most adults are not tied to an academic school year calendar, we seem to maintain that pattern of start-ups in the fall. In just a week or so we will kick off this year’s Catholicism 101. A gathering of folks who are thinking about becoming Catholic, exploring the
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Director, 8/11/24
STEUBY AND THE PSALMS For a few decades now, my summers have often included a visit to the beautiful, holy Campus of the Franciscan University of Steubenville (commonly referred to as Steuby). This year Angel Koerkel, Kathy Blanchard, and I joined peers from neighboring parishes to attend the Applied Biblical Studies Conference, ABS. Usually highlighted
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator – 7/7/24
STATIONS OF THE EUCHARIST The traditional 14 Stations of the Cross have been a stronghold in Catholic Culture. Begun by St. Francis of Assisi, for those who could not make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the Stations are 14 stops along the way to the cross. It’s literally walking the way of Jesus to
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Direction – 5/5/24
GEMS OF GENESIS I’d like to invite you to see a few of the great gems of Genesis that we have been uncovering in our Tuesday afternoon Bible Study. First Gem: In Genesis 2, God is trying to find a “suitable helper” or “partner” for the newly created Adam. Adam realizes there is something very
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Director – 3/17/24
TWO PATHS In praying about our responsibility to each other in life, I’d like to share true stories about two women from the 1900’s who walked very opposite paths. One was born in 1879. Another girl, halfway around the world, was born in 1910. The first was the middle child of 11. The second was
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Direction
A FEW PRE-LENTEN THOUGHTS Scanning the secular news headlines about escalating war, looming financial “correction”, the collapsing American infrastructures, unrelenting waves of crime and chaos, and the abject failure of politics to solve any social dysfunctions… there is no doubt we are in troubling times. From a Catholic perspective: if we know what Scripture and
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator and Spiritual Direction – 12/10/23
PRAYING THE PARISH FORWARD The current rallying cry for St. John Parish is prayer: “Discipleship Deeply Rooted inPrayer.” Prayer is the essential conversation with God, and prayer is intimately tied tothe four powerful “themes” of the four weeks of Advent; the virtues of hope, peace, joy,and love. We’ve started presenting a series called Praying the
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Coordinator of Discipleship & Spiritual Direction, 9/24/23
WHY ALL THE CHANGES? THE DOMESTIC CHURCH AND SACRAMENTS In the last few years parishioners (especially parents who have children preparing for sacraments) have asked: “Why do you have to change everything? Why don’t we do things the way it was done before?” To answer that in detail would be an entire semester lecture. In
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Director
SOURCE AND SUMMIT Have you ever heard the account of St. Teresa of Calcutta, the war in Lebanon, and the rescue of 60 children after a miraculous ceasefire? I want to start this breath-taking story with the Source of Mother Teresa’s supernatural faith and amazing trust in God’s providence. Her work was miraculously fruitful and
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Director
IN HIM ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER “What in the world is going on with the world?! Things can’t get any crazier!” I’ve heard those words and SAID those words multiple times in the last couple of years. Diabolical disorder, anarchy, increasing violence, mass confusion, corruption, and an unbelievable absence of Truth bombard us daily. Even
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Director
LENT & FASTING Fasting during Lent is so much a part of our Catholic culture that many of us step into it without much thought. This year I plan to be much more intentional about the Lenten journey. Why do we fast? What does it accomplish? And why is it called a FAST? The word
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Director
THE WISE GUYS, THE STAR, AND THE STUDY Matthew is the only Gospel writer that tells us about the Magi. These travelers were called wise men, which in the ancient Greek is MAGOI. They were the doctors, scientists, and prophets of their time. Well-studied men interested in dreams, astrology, magic, apothecary, and medicine. They were
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Director, 9/4/22
THE DOMESTIC CHURCH In the eight years that I have been on staff at St. John with Faith Formation, we’ve cast vision and set goals for each year, making minor changes, tweaks, and attempts from one year to the next. In our work last year with kids and families, we dramatically shifted away from grade-level
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Director of Faith Formation
THE ONE THING NECESSARY Most of us are probably familiar with the story in Luke’s Gospel about Martha and Mary. Some of us feel like Martha gets a bum rap—it seems she is trying to serve Jesus with hospitality while her sister gets away with loafing around. But if we were to read the story
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Director of Faith Formation
Rosary Come To Life I did not become Catholic until I was 30 years old, and I did not pray the Rosary with much enthusiasm until “Praying with the Padres” during the Covid pandemic shut-downs. Praying with Fr. Brian, Fr. Chas, and their frequent guests helped me understand how to finally get the hang of
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Director of Faith Formation
EPIPHANY OF VARIOUS SORTS We’ve written about the Feast of the Epiphany before in these pages; the arrival of the wise guys to visit Jesus and worship the King of the Jews. This time around, I’d like to share three personal epiphanies I have had recently. In general, the word epiphany is from the Greek