Learn Your Faith– Bulletin 3

Higher, Hotter, Brighter
Turn Up The Flame For Fall – And Beyond

We are six months into Turn Up the Flame, our three year “capital campaign” to make new and significant headway in the spiritual life.  Pledges have been made.  E-flames are going out monthly.  Fiery, red-hot wrist bands remind and give witness.  Person after person reports improvements in the quality of their prayer and the number of their good deeds.

 

 

Each year has a special point of emphasis.  Year One is time to better Learn Our Faith.  Year Two we want to better Practice Our Faith.  And once we are doing better with what we are doing ourselves, Year Three would be a natural time to Share Our Faith.

We can get our flames to go higher, burn hotter, and shine brighter if we will learn more about our faith.  This fall there are four pillars to Learn Our Faith: 

 

BIBLE STUDY, FAITH FORMATION, RCIA, and SPIRITUAL READING.  Select one or more for yourself.  Don’t miss this opportunity.  Please, give your faith the priority it deserves!

 

BIBLE STUDY.  Don’t put off Bible Study any longer.  Now is the time to delve more deeply into the Word of God.  To better know the gospels is to better know Jesus.  To study the Scripture texts before the upcoming Sunday’s Mass is to worship better and understand more. 

 

FAITH FORMATION.  It’s not just for children anymore; it’s for the whole family, for people of all ages, toddlers to seniors.  The first and most important place that formation occurs is at Sunday Mass.  Our faith is formed by the liturgy, both by how we pray together and how we listen to the Word and then have it broken open in the homily.  Please, recommit to Sunday Mass attendance each and every week, without fail, and to speak about what you learned at Mass with your family and friends.  The second place that formation occurs is in the home.  Parents, please continue to learn more about your faith and pass on our most sacred treasure with your children.  Another place that faith formation happens at church and school.  Please, enroll your children in the formation and sacramental programs appropriate to their ages.

RCIA is the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults.  If you are an adult Catholic who has not completed your Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation), there is no better time to do so than now.  If you are unbaptized and want to accept Jesus and the Catholic faith, make the move.  If you belong to another faith tradition and would like to become Catholic, don’t delay.  Pick up the phone.  Call Pam Havel (763) 712-7437.

 

SPIRITUAL READING.  Reading is a great way to learn more about our faith.  Reserve some time for yourself.  Pick up a book, a periodical, or Catholic newspaper.

Spiritual Reading To Turn Up The Flame

CEUs.  On-going education is critical in the professional world.  Even after a person has gone to college and earned an advanced degree, teachers, health care workers, and many others are required to earn “Continuing Education Units” to review, refresh, or update what they have learned to stay sharp in their field.

 

An Alive and Growing Faith.  If continuing education is important in the professional world, it is even more important in the spiritual world.  Unfortunately, for many Catholics, formal religious education ends with their last Confirmation class, and other than the Sunday homily, sadly, ongoing learning and faith formation often does not get much attention.  Spiritual reading is a key ingredient to keeping one’s faith alive and growing.

 

Sacred Scripture.  The most important book ever written, the one book that should get the most attention in our spiritual reading, is the Bible.  Scripture reading is the way to learn more about God and stay close to God.  Ideally, we should spend at least a few minutes every day reading the Bible.  Every Catholic should have a Bible in their home, and the recommended edition is The New American Bible (NAB).  The NAB has an excellent introduction to each book, plus many footnotes and cross references.  For further explanation, another excellent option is the Catholic Study Bible.

 

Bible Resources.  The meaning of the Bible is not self-evident, so it is useful to have a Bible commentary which provides additional explanation.  Also, there are a number of books available on Lectio divina, how to pray with the Bible.

 

Catholic Doctrine.  The single best compendium of Church teaching is the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  It is an indispensable reference book.

 

Periodicals.  There are many Catholic newspapers and magazines intended to inform and strengthen our faith.  The Catholic Spirit is our archdiocesan newspaper, twice in the last three years honored as the best diocesan newspaper in the country.  Family-friendly magazines include The St. Anthony Messenger, Ligourian, U. S. Catholic, and Our Sunday Visitor.

Inspiration for Christian Living.  The saints hold a special place of honor in our Catholic tradition, and when we read about how they lived good and holy lives, we are inspired to greater holiness ourselves.  The old favorite is Butler’s Lives of the Saints; the most concise and accurate summary is Father Richard McBrien’s Lives of the Saints; and an excellent book on the feasts of the saints throughout the liturgical year is Enzo Lodi’s Saints of the Roman Calendar.  Also, there are numerous biographies on individual saints.

 

Endless Options.  There are many, many other spiritual books available.  Pope Benedict XVI has two best selling, highly-recommended books, Jesus of Nazareth and The Apostles.  Pope John Paul II also published a number of books, including the highly acclaimed Gift and Mystery and Rise, Let Us Be on Our Way.  Over the coming months, additional recommendations will be provided in the bulletin, and a wider selection will be available in the Stephen’s Marketplace.  Please, set aside some time for spiritual reading.  It does much