This Issue

• Rosary and Life Issues
• For Principals and School Boards
• For Educators
• For Parents
• Forming Adult Faith
• Compendium Corner

Rosary and Life Issues

“In Baptism, the Holy Spirit moves us to answer Christ’s call to holiness. In Baptism, we are asked to walk by the light of Christ and to trust in his wisdom. We are invited to submit our hearts to Christ with ever deeper love. What is this light, this wisdom, this holiness? Jesus is clear about the high ideals to which he invites us:

The Lord Jesus, our divine teacher and model of all virtue, preached holiness of life to everyone without exception. Through Baptism, we are cleansed of all sin, are made partakers of the divine nature, and are truly sanctified. Our goal now is to hold onto this gracious act of sanctification that we have received from Christ. St. Paul lays out a practical plan for holiness:

Put on, then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another. If one has a grievance against another, as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. [Col 3:12-13]

This is a strong challenge that we cannot meet by human strength alone. ‘Accordingly, all Christians in the conditions, duties and circumstances of their life and through all these, will sanctify themselves more and more if they receive all things with faith from the hand of the heavenly Father and cooperate with the divine will, thus showing forth in the temporal service the love with which God has loved the world’ [LG, no. 41]. The baptized are called to transform the world with the light and the power of the Gospel.

Living out one’s Baptism is a lifelong responsibility. Growing in holiness and discipleship involves a willingness to continue to learn throughout one’s whole life about the faith and how to live it. It also involves a willingness to support and encourage others who share the faith and who have committed themselves to the ongoing process of conversion of heart and mind to God, which results in the holiness to which we are called.”

United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, pg 196-197

 “The saint is the person who is so fascinated by the beauty of God and by his perfect truth as to be progressively transformed by it.”

Benedict XVI Spiritual Thoughts In The First Year of His Papacy, #61

 “What the Christian faith confesses, the Christian sacraments celebrate and the Christian life animates. Christ calls his disciples in every age to live lives ‘worthy of the gospel.’ We are enabled to do so by the Father’s love, the grace of Christ, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are diffused through the Church. The Christian moral life is living the call to holiness through transformation in Christ.

Through Baptism we have become ‘children of God’ and ‘share[rs] in the divine nature’ and are incorporated into Christ; and so we participate in the life of the Risen Lord. United with Christ, conformed to him, we follow his example in word and deed. The actions of our lives reflect ‘the fruit of the Spirit . . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.’ We have been ‘justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.’ We ‘have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy’. Christ has invited us to ‘be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ And he has given us the Holy Spirit to enlighten and strengthen us to achieve ‘every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.’ The life of holiness in Christ proceeds from him, is guided by him, and leads to him.”

National Directory for Catechesis, pg 157-158

G O D

Of love and mercy, you call us to be your people,

You gift us with your abundant grace.

Make us a holy people, radiating the fullness of your love.

Form us into a community, a people who care,

Expressing your compassion.

Remind us day after day of our baptismal call to serve,

With joy and courage.

Teach us how to grow in wisdom and grace and joy

In your presence.

Through Jesus and in your Spirit, we make this prayer.

Called and Gifted For the Third Millennium

Back to Top

For Principals and School Boards

• During the month of November, begin each board meeting and staff meeting with the Millennium Prayer from Called and Gifted for the Third Millennium.
• Provide copies of Called and Gifted for the Third Millennium for board and staff and utilize the discussion questions at the end of each chapter as an opportunity to discuss our call to holiness in our daily lives.
• As a leader in Catholic education in your community, reflect on the passages listed above and make it a priority to reflect on your personal call to holiness in your own life, both professionally and personally.
• During this time of year when we traditionally celebrate the things for which we are thankful, spend some time reflecting in thanksgiving on those people in your life who have modeled holiness and called you in specific ways to a life of holiness.
• Review Pope Benedict XVI’s April 17, 2008 Address to U.S. Catholic Educators as an opportunity to reflect on how your school and the leadership board members and educators contribute to the common good of your community.

Back to Top

For Educators

• Read the U.S. Bishops document, Called and Gifted for the Third Millennium, and take time to reflect on the discussion questions at the end of each chapter. How can these same questions be posed to students in your classes so that they have more opportunities to reflect on God’s call in their life?
• During this time of year when we traditionally celebrate the things for which we are thankful, spend some time reflecting in thanksgiving on those people in your life who have modeled holiness and called you in specific ways to a life of holiness.
• Schedule two or three times during the month of November to share stories with your students about people in your life who modeled love, gentleness, compassion, joy, forgiveness and humility.
• Invite the family of one of your students to make an Advent Wreath for your classroom and invite them to participate in the blessing of the wreath, utilizing the Blessing of the Advent Wreath prayer, found in Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers.

Back to Top

For Parents

• Read the U.S. Bishops document, Called and Gifted for the Third Millennium, using the discussion questions at the end of each chapter as an opportunity to reflect on your own call to holiness, community, mission and ministry, and Christian maturity.
• In commemoration of All Saints Day (Nov. 1) and All Souls Day (Nov. 2), plan a family meal and share stories with your children and grandchildren about family members who answered God’s call to holiness.
• As a family, plan a family picnic to gather the materials for an advent wreath. Let your children take the lead in making the wreath and then utilize the Blessing of the Advent Wreath prayer, found in Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers.
• Have a conversation with your children about teachers and other adults in your parish and school and the ways you see them living out God’s call to holiness in their life. Discuss the qualities that make these men and women special and how your children can learn from them through their commitment to the Catholic faith.

Back to Top

Forming Adult Faith

“Forming Adult Faith” includes suggestions from the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults (USCCA) on how to promote ongoing faith formation among the adults in your school community.

There are several sections in the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults that address life issues.

Part I: The Creed: The Faith Professed

Chapter 7. The Good News: God Has Sent His Son

Part II: The Sacraments: The Faith Celebrated

Chapter 15. Baptism: Becoming a Christian

Part III: Christian Morality: The Faith Lived

Chapter 23. Life in Christ—Part One

Ideas and suggestions on how to use this chapter for your individual and group reflections can be found online and in the Reader's Journal for the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults.

Back to Top

Compendium Corner

• Review the questions and answers in preparation for your class.
• Consider how to use appropriate questions and answers as part of your lesson plan.
• Develop learning activities that help youth and young adults learn this information by heart

Section One: "I Believe" "We Believe"

Part One: The Profession of Faith

Chapter Three. Man’s Response To God

25. How does man respond to God who reveals himself?

26. Who are the principal witnesses of the obedience of faith in the Sacred Scriptures?

27. What does it mean in practice for a person to believe in God?

28. What are the characteristics of faith?

Section Two: The Profession of Christian Faith

Chapter Two: I Believe in Jesus Christ the Only Son of God

79. What is the Good News for humanity?

80. How is the Good News spread?

Chapter Three: I Believe in the Holy Spirit

The Church: People of God, Body of Christ, Temple of the Spirit

153. Why is the Church “the people of God?”

154. What are the characteristics of the people of God?

155. In what way does the people of God share in the three functions of Christ as Priest, Prophet and King?

The Church is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic

To obtain a copy of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, visit www.usccbpublishing.org or call 800-235-8722.

Back to Top

Past Issues