Lenten Series- Meet Jesus as a Church
Welcome to our second installment explaining our upcoming initiatives during the season of Lent. As a parish staff, we feel drawn to the theme of “Meet Jesus”. This theme serves to remind all of us that Jesus is really a person who not only was born, lived, died and rose as a historical figure but also is a person of the Trinity who can be experienced now in our current day and age. We can meet Jesus in 2019, we can experience His love and mercy and we can have a friendship with Him. We feel led to help everyone in our parish achieve that type of intimate relationship with Jesus.
At our parish, we will be hosting our second annual Lenten Series. The Lenten Series is a 4-week series to help parishioners grow in some aspect of their faith. It was introduced in our parish last year during Lent. We will be exploring how to meet Jesus in the context of prayer. Prayer is the way in which we develop and sustain our relationship with God on an everyday basis. The topics will focus on four key areas of prayer: praying in the Mass, praying in suffering, praying with Scripture, and praying in Silence.
If there is one logo you had to pick for the Catholic Church, you might be inclined to pick the Eucharist. It is one of the most recognizable teachings of our Catholic Faith. If we are honest though, I’d think we’d all admit a couple of things about the Mass. First, we’ve become so used to the Mass that many times we go through the motions, not experiencing the Mass to its fullness. That old saying of familiarity brings contempt can ring true here. Secondly, I think we can also admit that we don’t fully understand everything that is being said or done at Mass. This lack of understanding can limit our experience of the Mass. This first session of our Lenten Series called "praying at Mass" can help reinvigorate our appreciation for one of the most important experiences in our Christian life at Mass, communion with Jesus. We are confident this session will enhance your Sunday experience of the Lord’s Day in many ways.
Our next session will be on suffering. There is not one person who has lived, is living, or who will live that won’t experience suffering in some way during their lifetime. Suffering is hard. Suffering hurts us and the people who are closest to us. It comes in all shapes and sizes: disease, sickness, abuse, addiction, gossip, loss of job, etc. It can make us question God’s love and His very existence to the point of putting a barrier between us and God. But, it doesn’t have to create a barrier, suffering can help us deepen our relationship with God. In this pivotal session called "praying in suffering", we want to explore that very reality, how we can meet Jesus in the most difficult of situations.
Last, we want to explore the most common hardship of prayer, listening to God. Most of us have some idea of how we can talk to God, but a majority of us don’t understand how to hear God, how to listen to Him. Our last two sessions will explore this common hardship in the topics of "praying in Scripture" "praying in silence". Each of these topics will help us unlock God’s voice to provide direction for our lives and friendship with Him.
Please join us on Tuesdays March 12, 19, 26 and April 2 as we strive to "Meet Jesus as a Church". We are never alone so let's pack the parish! We meet in the church basement from 6-8 PM. We will start with dinner and fellowship followed by a talk by Fr. Royce and ending with Adoration. Not only will we talk about prayer, but we will actually pray. We will have childcare and a youth track so parents can participate without worrying about finding their own childcare. See you Tuesdays in Lent!
