Embedded Files
Next class session is on Sunday, December 14th, at 9:15!
Reference Material
Reference Material
Session 5 - February 23rd, 2025
Session 5 - February 23rd, 2025
1.Opening Prayer
1.Opening Prayer
2. Report
2. Report
Did you bring food?
Did you bring food?
Questions from last session?
Questions from last session?
3. Housekeeping
3. Housekeeping
4. REVIEW
4. REVIEW
a. The Sacraments
a. The Sacraments
Sacramentum - covenant oath swearing in God's Name
Covenant - I give myself to you, you give yourself to me --- God gives Himself to you and asks you to do the same in return
Different from contract
The Covenant establishes a Live-Giving Communion of Persons to build and increase the Family of God
b. Who is Jesus?
b. Who is Jesus?
Jesus is the Son of God, Messiah, Eternal Presence in the Blessed Sacrament.
Story of the Three Men asked to describe Jesus to get into Heaven.
How will you recognize Jesus?
c. The Bible
c. The Bible
The "Book of books"
One "leg" of the three "legs" of Sola Dei Verbum
- Scripture, Tradition, Magisterium.
- Example: Learning to play Baseball
14 Chronological Books
12 Historical Periods
7 Covenants
Bloodline of Jesus
d. The Church
d. The Church
Building
Society or group
"Denomination" like Nazarene or First Baptist
Family
Family of God
People of God
Body of Christ
Body of Christ
Founded by and founded on the Person of Jesus Christ
Why do we have to follow "the rules?"
Life-Giving Union by The Holy Spirit bringing forth New Life
Life-Giving Union by The Holy Spirit bringing forth New Life
5. Discerning Your Gifts
5. Discerning Your Gifts
When you get a new iphone, it comes with an instruction manual.
How many of us take the time to read the manual and figure out all that it can do?
Usually we just start using it and figure it out as we go, perhaps missing out on some great features.
Sometimes we forget as human beings that we have been masterfully designed by God.
If you want to understand exactly what God had in mind when He created you, you need to study the instruction manual.
God has given us His Son Jesus, the Bible, the Ten Commandments, the sacraments, and the teachings of the Church to help us understand that we have been designed for a specific purpose.
Every Sunday God holds a seminar at your parish to explain features that you didn’t even know you had---it’s called the Mass.
You have been designed by God with a purpose.
Part of God’s design is mission.
You have been placed on this earth at this time to fulfill a specific mission.
If you don’t fulfill your mission, it will be left undone.
Nobody else has that mission.
Only you.
Now is the time to start thinking about how you can make a difference.
What is your mission in life?
Our world has lot of problems: poverty, starvation, hatred, pollution, greed, bullying, crime, war, human trafficking, divorce, lying, cheating, stealing, loneliness, etc.
And these problems are not in some far off corner of the world.
They are right here.
The world needs changing.
But the real question is: What are you going to do about it?
God speaks to us in lots of ways, but there are three ordinary voices that he uses to speak to us every day.
The first ordinary voice of God is: legitimate needs.
The second ordinary voice of God is: talents and abilities
The third ordinary voice of God is: deepest desire
First: Be willing to hear the answer
Second: Ask the question
Prayer
Advice of Others
Third: Listen
Prayer
Your Passion
6. Life in the Community
6. Life in the Community
If your next door neighbor had a child who was starving, what would you do?
Are there actually starving people in Moscow?
Over 26,000 boxes of food went out of the Moscow Food Bank last year.
That was 5,000 more than the previous year.
22% of the children in America live in poverty…that’s more than 16 million children.
And that is just in America.
There are 2.2 billion children in the world, and one billion of them live in poverty.
Twenty one thousand children die from poverty around the world every day.
That’s one child every 4 seconds, fourteen children dying every minute…
That is almost unbelievable to us.
We don’t see that here in Moscow or even in the surrounding towns.
They are our neighbors, yes, but more than that they are our family, our brothers and sisters.
They are all God’s children.
As always, God has a plan for His children, but He needs your help to fulfill His plan.
What can we do to help?
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”
Mother Teresa said you don’t have to do big things…”Do small things with great love”.
You and me…we can make a difference.
Follow the Apostle's example.
The world says that if you are great, everyone will serve you. But God says that if you are great, you will serve everyone. Discover simple ways to serve others.
c. Works of Mercy (Repeat)
c. Works of Mercy (Repeat)
The traditional enumeration of the corporal works of mercy is as follows:
(I) To feed the hungry;
(2) To give drink to the thirsty;
(3) To clothe the naked;
(4) To harbor the harborless;
(Shelter the homeless)
(5) To visit the sick;
(6) To ransom the captive;
(7) To bury the dead.
The spiritual works of mercy are:
(I) To instruct the ignorant;
(2) To counsel the doubtful;
(3) To admonish sinners;
(4) To bear wrongs patiently;
(5) To forgive offenses willingly;
(6) To comfort the afflicted;
(7) To pray for the living and the dead.
34 Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? 38 And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? 39 And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025%3A%2034-40&version=RSVCE>
7. Superheroes of the Week
7. Superheroes of the Week
St. Maximilian Kolbe was born in Poland in 1894 and at about the age of 10 had a vision of the Virgin Mary. She offered him a white crown and a red crown, representing purity and martyrdom. He chose both, a foreshadowing of his life to come. In 1910, he joined the Conventual Franciscan Order. He was sent to study in Rome where founded the M.I. on October 16, 1917. Ordained a priest in 1918, Father Maximilian returned to Poland and began his untiring missionary activity, starting a monthly magazine and establishing two evangelization centers dedicated to the Immaculate Virgin: Niepokalanów, the “City of the Immaculata,” in Poland, and Mugenzai no Sono in Japan, and envisioned missionary centers worldwide. To better “win the world for Christ through the Immaculata,” the friars utilized the most modern techniques. St. Maximilian used short-wave radio and planned to build a motion picture studio. In 1939, during WWII, at Niepokalanów he welcomed thousands of refugees, especially Jews.
In 1941, St. Maximilian was arrested by the Nazis and taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp. There he offered his life for another prisoner and was condemned to slow death in a starvation bunker.
He died on August 14, 1941, with an injection of carbolic acid. Pope John Paul II canonized him as a Saint and Martyr of Charity on October 10, 1982.
St. Maximilian Kolbe is considered a patron of journalists, families, prisoners, the pro-life movement, the chemically addicted and those with eating disorders.
From <http://catholicsaints.mobi/calendar/14-august.htm#saint-maximilian-kolbe>
8. Spiritual & Corporal Works of Mercy
8. Spiritual & Corporal Works of Mercy
a. Matthew 25: 31-46
a. Matthew 25: 31-46
34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35h For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me,
36 naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.
b. This week's Work of Mercy
b. This week's Work of Mercy
Go to the Moscow Food Bank after class.
9. Weekly Prayer
9. Weekly Prayer
St. Ignatius Prayer
St. Ignatius Prayer
Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labor and not to ask for reward
save that of knowing that I do your will.
Amen.
From <https://aleteia.org/daily_catholic/st-ignatius-prayer-for-being-more-generous>
11. Videos for this week
11. Videos for this week
What is your mission?
God has created each one of us for a mission. He wants to do incredible things through us. What is God calling you to do in your life? Will you fulfill your mission?
Are you ready to live your mission?
Everyone can agree that the world is a bit of a mess and that the mess causes lots of suffering for lots of people.
Now is the perfect time to think about how you can help.
Who are your neighbors, and how do you treat them?
Will you embrace God’s plan to truly love your neighbors?
Get ready, your life is about to change.
Discover the incredible ways your life will change when you follow your God-given mission.
Follow the Apostle's example.
The world says that if you are great, everyone will serve you. But God says that if you are great, you will serve everyone. Discover simple ways to serve others.
God has created a unique journey just for you, and you can find incredible happiness if you pursue it.
What path will you decide to follow?
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