Everyone is created for Marriage

Remember the Latin word we learned for "Sacrament?"

Sacramentum

And what does "Sacramentum" mean?

Covenant oath swearing in God's Name

And how did we define Covenant - especially related to Contracts?

An exchange of persons

I give myself to you, you give yourself to me

More importantly --- God gives Himself to you and asks you to do the same in return

The Covenant establishes a Live-Giving Communion of Persons through the Power & Presence of The Holy Spirit to build and increase the Family of God.

We are going to talk today about your Mission and what that means.

But we can't talk about your Mission without first talking about your Vocation.

The Sacramental Communion of Persons bringing forth new life is exemplified in the sacrament of Marriage.

It is also perfectly lived out in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, which is also a type of marriage, but a marriage directly to Jesus Christ through His Body, The Church.

Do you remember what Fr. Ben said about how many Sacraments different people can/do receive in their life?

Most receive six (6) which include Matrimony and Holy Orders.

Remember those who only receive five (5)?

Nuns / Sisters

Brothers

Consecrated Singles (Blessed Virgin Mary)

Everyone is created for Marriage.

God desires to marry us.

He says many times in Holy Bible that He will call us "espoused."

In Marriage, the primary union is with God and second with your spouse with new life being physically brought forth through children.

Everyone is created for Marriage.

In Holy Orders / Consecrated Religious & Single, the primary union is again with God and secondly with your parish, diocese, or community and new life is brought forth through spiritual children brought to God or closer to God through evangelization and teaching.  

New live is physically brought forth by priests on the Altar of Sacrifice in the Holy Eucharist.

MISSION

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Etymology

Noun, Verb, and Adjective

New Latin, Medieval Latin, Latin; New Latin

mission-, 

missio religious mission, 

from Medieval Latin, 

task assigned, 

from Latin, 

act of sending, 

from mittere to send

From <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mission>

Question:

What is the origin of the word "Mass" in the context of church?

Answer:

That’s an excellent question that has a simple, if puzzling, answer.

The name comes from the Latin word missa.

In Latin the Mass ended with Ite missa est which translated into English means “Go, it is sent,” the “it” being the Church.

Everyone is created for Marriage.

And everyone is made for Mission!

The Mass gets its name from the liturgical dismissal at its conclusion.

Missa was spoken at the end of the liturgy of the word (dismissal of catechumens) and at the end of Mass (dismissal after the Eucharist).

It was some time after Gregory the Great (d. 604) that the word was applied to the entire liturgy.

While there may be simple cultural reasons why this took place, there is an interesting theology to be gleamed from the entire liturgy taking its name from the dismissal.

The Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) was to go out to all the world and preach the Gospel. As Christians we are called to gather and worship but also to go out and proclaim the Gospel through our lives. It is not an either/or but a both/and situation.

From <https://www.catholic.com/qa/why-do-we-call-it-the-mass>

(Handbook for Today’s Catholic Teen)

Throughout life there are going to be times when you feel like there must be something more to life or that something is missing.  We all have the same kind of empty feeling from time to time.  We try to fill it up in lots of different ways…eating, drinking, video games, buying stuff.  The truth is … we have a God size hole in us.  Only God can fill the hole.  Try anything else you want and it just won’t work.

       The Catechism of our Church ways, “The desire for God is written in the human heart, because men and women are created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw human beings to Himself.  Only in God can human beings find the truth and happiness that we never stop searching for.”

       One of the most practical ways of growing spiritually is we get good at saying no.  Every day we find ourselves saying yes to things that we should be saying no to.  We do this because of peer pressure, fear of missing out on something, or just to stay busy so we can distract ourselves from what is really important.

       Matthew Kelly says there are two things that will help you discover your mission in life:

1)  Even if you do not know the specifics of your mission, in a broad sense we all have the same mission:  make the love of God known to the world.  We are to bring the love of God to every person who crosses our path.

2)  Simply do the next RIGHT thing – in whatever circumstance your may find yourself.

       We have been making this journey together towards Confirmation, and now we are almost there.  Say YES to Confirmation, but much more than that, decide today to say YES to Jesus and His Church.  Use everything we have talked about to become the best version of yourself.  Your YES can change the world!