Here is the text of the reflection I shared with those who came to pray with us today: some thoughts about whether or not we truly rejoice in the fact that we have been given the gift of faith.
The third Sunday of the Advent season is traditionally referred to as Gaudete Sunday: the day of great rejoicing. On this day, the prophet Zephaniah urges us to sing aloud and to shout ... to rejoice and exult with all our hearts (Zeph 3:14). These are words that speak of joy and excitement about sharing some wonderful news. They make me wonder whether I am excited about my faith, about whether I think of my faith as wonderful news worth sharing with others.
Roman Catholics have not been traditionally very good at getting excited about our faith. Many of us prefer to think of faith as something private, something to be cherished between God and me. However this would be the furthest thing from the image that is portrayed in the words of the prophet Zephaniah.
Saint Luke's gospel also points out the fact that the crowds who were gathering to be baptized by John were excited about something new that was happening in their midst. Tax collectors, soldiers and other people who met him were all filled with expectation and were questioning in their hearts (Lk 3:15). If the words of the prophets are true, and if John the Baptist was successful in preparing the ground so that we too might receive the great gift of faith, the next question that we need to ask is: What is this great gift of faith that has been given to us and what are we expected to do with it?
The church defines the process of sharing our faith as something called evangelization. Pope Saint Paul VI was the first to speak about the new evangelization in his Apostolic Exhortation entitled Evangelli Nuntiandi and all other popes after him have continued their encouragement for us to go out of our own comfort zones in order to share the good news of the gospel with those we meet.
If we want to teach others about our faith, we must first understand it ourselves. We need to be evangelized before we can evangelize anyone else. Many efforts have been put forward, and many programs have been tried in an effort to evangelize, but none of them so far have continued to awaken desires to learn about faith once they have drawn to a close. A few years ago, I heard about an adult faith enrichment programme called ChristLife. Although I was sceptical at first, the approach that is used has proven to be very effective at evangelization among adults of all ages.
ChristLife is different from other evangelization programs. Whereas other approaches to evangelization have seemed only to dwell at the surface level of our faith development, my experience with ChristLife is that it goes a little bit deeper. There are three components beginning with seven weeks focussed on discovering the person of Jesus. Once we have discovered the person of Jesus, the second set of sessions leads us to make a choice to follow Him. Finally, having chosen to follow Him we learn how to share our faith with others. I believe that this is what truly makes this program attractive: it actually teaches us how to let our gentleness be known to everyone, how to make our requests known to God, and how to rejoice in peace which is the gift of our God (cf Phil 4:5-7).
We are making plans at the moment for the first seven-week session of Discovering Christ to be offered in Elliot Lake beginning in February 2019. More details will be coming very soon, but even now we can begin to ask ourselves: Is there anything that excites me about my faith? Do I truly believe my faith is wonderful news worth sharing with others?
Rejoice
The third Sunday of the Advent season is traditionally referred to as Gaudete Sunday: the day of great rejoicing. On this day, the prophet Zephaniah urges us to sing aloud and to shout ... to rejoice and exult with all our hearts (Zeph 3:14). These are words that speak of joy and excitement about sharing some wonderful news. They make me wonder whether I am excited about my faith, about whether I think of my faith as wonderful news worth sharing with others.
Roman Catholics have not been traditionally very good at getting excited about our faith. Many of us prefer to think of faith as something private, something to be cherished between God and me. However this would be the furthest thing from the image that is portrayed in the words of the prophet Zephaniah.
Saint Luke's gospel also points out the fact that the crowds who were gathering to be baptized by John were excited about something new that was happening in their midst. Tax collectors, soldiers and other people who met him were all filled with expectation and were questioning in their hearts (Lk 3:15). If the words of the prophets are true, and if John the Baptist was successful in preparing the ground so that we too might receive the great gift of faith, the next question that we need to ask is: What is this great gift of faith that has been given to us and what are we expected to do with it?
The church defines the process of sharing our faith as something called evangelization. Pope Saint Paul VI was the first to speak about the new evangelization in his Apostolic Exhortation entitled Evangelli Nuntiandi and all other popes after him have continued their encouragement for us to go out of our own comfort zones in order to share the good news of the gospel with those we meet.
If we want to teach others about our faith, we must first understand it ourselves. We need to be evangelized before we can evangelize anyone else. Many efforts have been put forward, and many programs have been tried in an effort to evangelize, but none of them so far have continued to awaken desires to learn about faith once they have drawn to a close. A few years ago, I heard about an adult faith enrichment programme called ChristLife. Although I was sceptical at first, the approach that is used has proven to be very effective at evangelization among adults of all ages.
ChristLife is different from other evangelization programs. Whereas other approaches to evangelization have seemed only to dwell at the surface level of our faith development, my experience with ChristLife is that it goes a little bit deeper. There are three components beginning with seven weeks focussed on discovering the person of Jesus. Once we have discovered the person of Jesus, the second set of sessions leads us to make a choice to follow Him. Finally, having chosen to follow Him we learn how to share our faith with others. I believe that this is what truly makes this program attractive: it actually teaches us how to let our gentleness be known to everyone, how to make our requests known to God, and how to rejoice in peace which is the gift of our God (cf Phil 4:5-7).
We are making plans at the moment for the first seven-week session of Discovering Christ to be offered in Elliot Lake beginning in February 2019. More details will be coming very soon, but even now we can begin to ask ourselves: Is there anything that excites me about my faith? Do I truly believe my faith is wonderful news worth sharing with others?
Réjouir
Le troisième dimanche du temps de l’Avent est traditionnellement connu sous le nom de Gaudete: le jour des grandes réjouissances. En ce jour, le prophète Sophonie nous invite à chanter à haute voix et à crier ... et de nous réjouir de tout notre cœur (Zeph 3:14). Ce sont des mots qui parlent de la joie et d’enthousiasme à propos de partager de merveilleuses nouvelles. Ces images me font me demander si ma foi me passionne, si je considère ma foi comme une merveilleuse nouvelle qui mérite d’être partagée avec les autres.
Les catholiques romains n’ont pas toujours été très doués pour se passionner à propos de leur foi. Beaucoup d’entre nous préfèrent considérer la foi comme une affaire privée, une chose à conserver entre Dieu et moi-même. Cependant, ce serait la réalité la plus éloignée de l’image qui est décrite dans les paroles du prophète Sophonie.
L’évangile selon saint Luc souligne également le fait que les foules qui se rassemblaient pour se faire baptiser par Jean étaient excitées par quelque chose de nouveau qui se passait parmi elles. Les percepteurs d’impôts, les soldats et les autres personnes qui l’ont rencontrée étaient tous remplis d’attentes et s’interrogeaient dans leur cœur (Lc 3, 15). Si les paroles des prophètes sont vraies et si Jean-Baptiste réussit à préparer le terrain pour que nous puissions aussi recevoir le grand don de la foi, la question suivante que nous devons nous poser est celle-ci: quel est ce grand don de la foi qui nous a été donné et qu’attendons-nous de faire avec ce don?
L’église définit le processus de partage de notre foi sous le nom d’évangélisation. Le pape saint Paul VI a été le premier à parler de la nouvelle évangélisation dans son Exhortation apostolique intitulée Evangelli Nuntiandi et tous les autres papes qui l’ont suivi ont continué à nous encourager à sortir de nos propres zones de confort pour partager la bonne nouvelle de l’évangile avec ceux et celles que nous rencontrons.
Si nous voulons enseigner notre foi aux autres, nous devons d’abord la comprendre nous-mêmes. Nous devons être évangélisés avant de pouvoir évangéliser quelqu’un d’autre. De nombreux efforts ont été déployés et de nombreux programmes ont été mis au point dans le but d’évangéliser, mais jusqu’à présent, aucun d’entre eux n’a continué à susciter le désir d’apprendre sur la foi lorsqu'ils sont terminés. Il y a quelques années, j’ai entendu parler d’un programme d’enrichissement de la foi chez les adultes connu sous le nom de ChristLife. Même si j’étais sceptique au début, l’approche utilisée s’est révélée très efficace pour évangéliser les adultes de tous les âges.
ChristLife est différente des autres programmes d’évangélisation. Alors que d’autres approches de l’évangélisation n’ont semblé s’étendre qu’au niveau superficiel du développement de la foi, mon expérience avec ChristLife est qu’elle va un peu plus loin. Il y a trois volets qui commencent par sept semaines qui sont consacrées à la découverte de la personne de Jésus Christ. Une fois que nous avons découvert la personne de Jésus, la deuxième série de sessions nous amène à choisir de le suivre. Enfin, après avoir choisi de le suivre, nous apprenons à partager notre foi avec d’autres personnes. Je crois que c’est ce qui rend ce programme vraiment attirant: il nous enseigne en fait à faire connaître notre douceur à tous, à faire connaître nos demandes à Dieu et à nous réjouir de la paix qui est le don de notre Seigneur (cf Phil 4: 5-7).
Nous préparons actuellement la première session de sept semaines de Découvrez le Christ à Elliot Lake; celle-ci débutera en février 2019. De plus amples renseignements vous seront fournis très bientôt, mais des maintenant, nous pouvons commencer à nous demander: Est-ce que je me passionne pour ma foi? Est-ce que je crois vraiment que ma foi est une merveilleuse nouvelle qui mérite d’être partagée avec d’autres personnes?
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