Beloved-In-Christ!, we had gone to one of our Archdiocesan Prayer Centres for our usual annual Major Seminarians Session after vacation from school when during one of the talks, the Speaker said: “Unfortunately, a good number of our Priests and Religious in our Parishes sacramentalise a good number of our Catholic Youth and never evangelise to them!”
As a young and staunch Catholic brought up in a Catholic home, this comment nearly put me off and I want to believe that, even though the speaker was only trying to zero in on a pastoral care that is neither a mechanism nor a laid down formality of preparation for the Sacraments but one the candidate is fully aware and conscious of what it means and its spiritual significance and enhances not just a communal relation with God but a more personal one as a child of God.
Later on, I realised that, the speaker’s statement meant no harm but was only challenging us as seminarians at that time to make the sacrament penetrate the hearts of our Parishners as the witness of God’s mysterious love for humanity that fills us with the Holy Spirit and empowers us to be evangelisers of our fellow Youth or Parishner, having received the current of grace and redemption and not just receive the sacrament “mechanically” or “passively” if one likes.
Beloved-in-Christ! How many of us have relatives who left the true Church formed by Christ Himself to join other faith denominations to receive new baptisms and, worst, only to say: “Now, have I encountered and known Jesus!”.
The question is, who had he or she known initially, before when he or she was in the Church?
Did this faithful really understand the depth of the spiritual riches of the sacraments he or she received? Or understood it but not fully and well internalized and mentored as well?
Or was the syllabus of the Catechetical formation not enough, or, if enough, was rushed through the formation process without the formation passing through him or her to help develop a personal relationship with Christ?!
1. That is the reason why Pastors who are entrusted with the care of souls must take Life in the Spirit Seminar(LSS) Post Life, Maturity, Growth, Course Paul, the Joshua Conference extremely seriously after the Parish Catechism Class is over and the sacrament has been received.
The LSS is made up of six series of talks and it is designed purposely and purposefully for one to appreciate and experience how God the Father loves each one of us personally, how Christ is and must become the Lord of one’s life, Christ being the Saviour of one’s life, being true disciple of Christ and being sent forth to bear witness of the Father’s love.
It is so beautiful and designed in such a way that the individual Catholic is accompanied spiritually and pastorally and led step by step to be a fully matured Christian who knows what Christian life is about and how to be a true son in the Son, Jesus.
Interestingly, having realised what needs to be done, we ask ourselves, like the new convert, Nathaniel, posed to Jesus, so Lord, what should I do having opened my eyes to the Scriptures?
Similar questions do we also ask ourselves!
2. As a Church, let’s encourage the Catholic practice of regular Spiritual Direction and spiritual reading not only in the Seminaries but also among the lay faithful in our Parishes, Chaplaincies where each Catholic faithful is highly encouraged and guided to select a Priest or religious or sometimes a matured lay faithful as the Spiritual Director/ess to journey together, help discern the path and ways of God, share spiritual battles and spiritual experiences in life and feed on good spiritual Catholic books like the lives of the Saints,
the Interior Castle, the Priest Not His Own by Archbishop Fulton Sheen, the Priest of the third Millennium by Cardinal Timothy Dolan etc…to nurture the faith and strengthen the weakened ones in moments of crisis and spiritual burn-out. These days, one can read the Scripture and most Christian materials easily because most of them are in audio forms now.
3. As a Church, let’s encourage daily Masses, even if not possible for a good reason, at least twice in the week before Sunday Mass.
At Mass, one is filled with the richness of God’s Word spoken and preached to the individual and the spiritual strength and inner joy the reception of the Holy Communion brings to the poor soul.
By the constancy of this practice, one grows into maturity as a child of God. It’s very sad how majority of Catholics in the urban cities attend Mass only on Sundays for several reasons. Even though it is sometimes understandable where there is a will, there is always a way!
4. Gone are the days when Bible studying groups like The Catholic Messenger, etc…were very active in our Parishes, Institutions and Christian Communities; Bible Sharing was predominant, and believers shared their testimonies and Christian faith docket to enlighten, encourage one another and shared prayers as well!.
5. In wanting to build a solid personal spiritual life by the faithful, let’s encourage ourselves with consistent
the practice of daily meditation, using God’s Word, One Bread, One Bread, to go through the daily readings, have a brief reflection beneath, and quietly ponder on the theme for the day, concluding with a prayer.
The Protestants call it Quiet Time. This is an ancient Catholic practice that has been preserved so well and cherished by the Monks: the Moses of the Church!
6. In wanting to strive after holiness, how beautiful will it be if one makes Sacramental Confession regular, at least once every two weeks or a month.
At the Confession, one is not only pardoned of his sins but receives graces to overcome the challenges of life and avoid the nearby occasion of sin. Let’s not follow the Protestants who only have counselling and think one could go directly to God to ask for pardon. Yes, no doubt about that, where is the certainty that God has pardoned you of the sin?
That’s one of the things the absolution of the Priest does!: the full and perfect conviction that having felt sorry for the sin, confessed it and made the penance, we are reconciled and embraced once again by our Father.
Beloved-in-Christ! From our discussion, it is obvious that one of the Church’s major ways of evangelising her faithful is through the Sacraments because they are channels of grace that connect the new Christian (convert) to Christ.
But having received the Sacrament, as Pastors, let’s make good use of these six tools not only to solidify the Communal relationship of the faithful with Christ but also to give special and particular attention to helping the individual faithful build a personal relationship with Christ, accompanying them from a general knowledge of Christ to that of a personal one, maturing in the Catholic faith to endure, withstand and persevere in trying moments of the faith journey as a child of God.
Thanks so much.
The writer, Rev. Fr Albert Kyei Danso is Chaplain of the Holy Family Ghanaian Catholic Community in Italy.