in this issue - - Dear Sisters and Brothers, When I read the Gospels and reflect on Jesus’ encounters with individuals, I am deeply moved in the knowledge that these seemingly random meetings were God the Son's intended appointments with a particular person that he loved and was going to suffer and die for. Take his encounter with the “wealthy IRS executive” who had climbed up in a tree to get a look at Jesus in downtown Jericho: “Jesus…looked up, directly into the eyes of Zacchaeus and spoke to him, ‘Zach, come on down; because I want to be with you!’”(cf. Luke 19:5) Or how about blind, homeless Bartimaeus, who also was located in downtown Jericho: “Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ And Bartimaeus said to him, ‘Master, let me receive my sight.’ …And immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.” (Mark 10:51,52b)
We here at ChristLife have been spending a lot of our time serving in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. It's a privilege to offer courses like Discovering Christ at the University of Maryland (Baltimore County) and in parishes in our Archdiocese. We will begin one in the near future at OLPH parish. We love being involved with evangelizing like this ourselves. Seeing lives changed by the grace of God is what it is all about! We are honored to have the opportunity to serve with Fr.'s Gray and Arnold. Our intention is to have the first version of the Discovering Christ resources available by the end of this year! We will then begin training others to use the course in small groups, parishes and on campuses. How exciting! Will you please pray for the Lords provisions and power to complete it? We are also developing and teaching another course that continues the process of discipleship after Discovering Christ, entitled, Following Christ. We are presenting it at UMBC presently. Please pray for the students who are attending. Thanks so much for all of your love, support and prayers. We cannot do it without you. Together in Him, we can contribute to the new evangelization in service to the Church! Your brother in Jesus our Lord, Dave Nodar ***************** 4 Steps to Making Missionary Parishes Vatican Aide: Evangelization Not a Choice, But a Mandate By Gisèle Plantec ROME, JAN. 30, 2008 (Zenit.org).- If a parish does not evangelize, it is nothing more than a building, said a Vatican official, who offered four practical steps for transforming a parish into a missionary center. Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, affirmed this today at a conference under way in Rome on "The Parish and the New Evangelization."
He offered the example of an Irish parish that organized "Eucharistic adoration in all the parishes. As a result, there are more vocations now. The Eucharist attracts -- the Lord attracts people." "The Eucharist is at the center of evangelization," the archbishop affirmed. "The Eucharist must generate faith. In some parishes it is celebrated in such a manner that it does not generate faith." The 60-year-old prelate also focused on the role of parish priests. He said that priests should understand their role by saying, "'I am useless by myself but useful in his hands.'" Archbishop Ranjith also contended that parishes should not focus on their community alone, but "make a determined effort to reach the lost ones." Hints He offered some "practical steps" for giving parishes a missionary character. "The parish community must move away from a maintenance model to a missionary model -- if the only thing we do is repair the buildings, this will kill us spiritually," the archbishop said. Secondly, he continued, parishes need "to move away from a spirit of pessimism to a spirit of optimism." And he noted the danger of becoming the Gospel's example of a "lazy servant." The third practical step dealt with the role of laypeople. Archbishop Ranjith encouraged priests who still think the “mission is the sole responsibility of clerics," and that "priests should decide everything by themselves" to "share with the laity." “Each layperson is a potential missionary," he affirmed. The fourth step was related to the third. The archbishop encouraged involving as many people as possible: "associations, groups, men, women, youth and even children -- and be courageous to go into uncharted areas, look for new methods and means." [ Abbreviated article. Reprinted with permission from ZENIT news agency. www.zenit.org. ************ Building Evangelizing Communities in Corpus Christi By Dave Nodar On February 2, I had the opportunity to present our Building Evangelizing Eucharistic Communities (BEEC) seminar for the Diocese of Corpus Christi. Fr. Eduardo Montemayor, SOLT, Director of the Diocesan Office of Evangelization had previously invited ChristLife to come to speak to their priests about practical help for parish evangelization and now asked me to come speak at a diocesan-wide seminar.
The BEEC seminar went extremely well - as was expressed in the evaluations of those who participated. BEEC gives people the vision of the Lord and his Church's call to make disciples; additionally, it covers practical elements to help parishes be engaged in the mission of our Redeemer! I am personally encouraged every time we present the seminar with the way it helps communicate the mission of the Church and how we can personally and as parishes do it! Several participants commented on the impact of this seminar—
Thanks for all the prayer support for this seminar! If you think your parish or diocese would like to sponsor the seminar, please contact us for information: http://christlife.org/aboutus/BEEC.html *********** By Pete Ascosi In Fall 2007 Fr. Richard Gray, UMBC chaplain, invited ChristLife on campus to come along side of the Newman Club and help evangelize college students through the Discovering Christ course. Little did we know the impact the Holy Spirit was going to make on the lives of a core group of 25 young adults.
The retreat was a huge, tremendous life changer for me, and strengthened my relationship with the Lord.” Seeing the change in the lives of these young adults was an incredible privilege! As the new semester kicks off we are beginning a follow-up course to Discovering Christ called Following Christ. The focus of Following Christ is Christian discipleship, living as full-time followers of Jesus Christ. Its purpose is holiness, transformation of life, and fostering a deep personal and communal relationship with Jesus as Lord. ********
******
Evenings, exact time TBA Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
