Evangelisation?

"Evangel" means "good news" or "gospel." To evangelize means to share, 

or proclaim the good news of the gospel. 

This good news is contained in the core message of Jesus,

 "I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly.

" His mission was salvation for all through his life, death and resurrection.

 The good news is proclaimed at every liturgy,

 "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again." 

For us, this translates into the message of hope that in our daily "dying" with Christ, 

we too will rise again. Evangelization is a process of opening our hearts to God’s word,

 putting that message into practice in our daily lives, 

sharing the story of how God has touched us, 

and welcoming others to experience the good news.

 Our baptismal responsibility is to do all of these things as individuals 

and as a community of believers.

 The Role of Catholic Education

The prophetic words of Pope Paul VI ring as true today 

as they did more than thirty years ago:

 "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, 

and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.

" What educators do and how they act are more significant than what they say 

– inside and outside the classroom. 

This is how the Church evangelizes. 

"The more completely an educator can give concrete witness 

to the model of the ideal person [Christ] that is being presented to the students, 

the more this ideal will be believed and imitated."

 PRAYER OF PARENTS

God, our Father, I thank you for the gift of my children

 and for the privilege and responsibility of being a parent,

 for this is my way of holiness. 

May I regard each of my children as a sacred pledge of Your love

 and a beautiful sign of Your confidence in me.

 Help me to pass on to my children our greatest treasures

 - faith in Your truths, hope in Your goodness,

 love in Your name for all. I entrust my children to Your loving care.

 Banish from our home any bitterness or lack of forgiveness. 

Let us have time, deep concern, and a sense of sacrifice for one another. 

Teach us never to be ashamed that we are , in name and in fact,

 a Catholic family striving to live in the way of Jesus, 

Who is head of our home. 

Give us Your Holy Spirit to unite us throughout this life

 and let the circle of our family be unbroken

 in the Kingdom of Your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

Amen.

 Where is God when we suffer

How often we hear some misinterpreted or contrived theology which does not draw people to God in the worst moments of our lives. It alienates us. 

So here are some truths for our spiritual sanity when we are tempted, and we give into the temptation, to ask, ‘Where the hell is God?’  - based on the writings of R

ichard Leonard SJ

  • God does not directly send pain, suffering and disease. 
  • God does not punish us.
  • God does not send accidents to teach us things, though we can learn from them.
  • God does not will earthquakes, floods, droughts or other natural disasters. Prayer asks God to change us to change the world.
  • God’s will is more in the big picture than in the small.
  • God did not need the blood of Jesus. Jesus did not come ‘to die’ but God used his death to announce the end to death.
  • God has created a world of freedom and choice which is less than perfect - else it would be heaven, where suffering, disease and pain are realities  (indeed some of these we now create for ourselves and blame God). 
  • God does not kill us off.
  • God is not standing outside our pain, but is our companion within it, holding us up, walking with us, sharing in our grief and pain - remember how Jesus wept at the tomb of his best friend Lazarus.

 

Quote

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."   (Mother Teresa) 

Quote

"In a society where Christianity seems absent from social life and the faith relegated to the private sphere, access to religious values becomes more difficult, especially for the poor and the young.”

(Pope John Paul II, Address to Pontifical Commission for Culture, March 1997). 

 Quote

“It is not a matter of inventing a new programme. The programme already exists: it is the plan found in the Gospel and in the living Tradition, it is the same as ever.”

(Pope John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte 29)

Remember

                                     "Success is not one of the names of God." (Old proverb)