Faith Reflection: Mercy—The Beauty of Our Young
Last month, when talking to a community of Jesuits in Columbia, Pope Francis was asked about motivating the young with the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. His response was that we first need to understand the people we are guiding, we need to immerse ourselves in them, getting them active. “We are often tempted,” he said, “to evangelize for the people, toward the people but without the people of God. Everything for the people, but nothing with the people...The Church is the holy people of God. So, if we want to hear the Church, we have to hear the people of God.”
These essays from our 7th graders do what the Pope says we should do first. These essays immerse us in their lives and let us hear them as they clearly articulate to us what their faith life is like and what would help to strengthen it. I have noted these needs as I read through the essays and will make adjustments to address what they have brought out. I know the bishops around the country are doing the same with the information gathered from the online survey this past summer.
Religion Essay
by Chris Michel
I have been part of the Church community since I was a little kid. Because of this, faith has been a big part of me. Other factors of why my faith is a big part of me is because of school and family. So what do I do to keep my faith living and active? Some examples of keeping my faith active are praying everyday, going to mass, reading the Bible, and loving my friends and family.
I pray everyday: I pray whenever someone needs prayers, I pray in the morning when I wake up, during lunch at school, and at night when I am about to go to sleep. Second, I go to mass: on Wednesdays I go to mass at school, and on Sundays I go to mass with my family. Third, I read the Bible: everyday at school I read the Bible for Bible study, and again at night before going to sleep. Finally, I love my friends and family: I do this by being kind to my classmates at school, being kind to my siblings, and by obeying my parents and teachers.
What could help me and other children make our faith stronger? Some ways to strengthen our faith is to make the Scriptures at mass more understandable for children. Most of the time I can understand and relate to Scripture at mass, but sometimes I can get confused when listening to a verse. Another way to make my faith stronger is to teach more about different events other than the life of Jesus Christ. Most of the time I hear about Jesus Christ at mass, but I already know a lot about Jesus' life and want to know about other events of our faith. Finally, I want to do more service projects for our faith. There are not enough projects to build up our faith. I hope that in the future there can be more faith projects.
All in all, being part of a Catholic school and family has really strengthened my faith. I will continue to strengthen my faith no matter what happens in my life. I also hope to see the things I have written about here become a reality one day.
Cinema for the Soul will take on a different flavor this month as it joins with the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (EOHSJ) in presenting Open Bethlehem, a documentary about the exodus of Christians from the Holy Land. The usual after movie reflection/discussion time will be a question/answer about the plight of Christians in Bethlehem with film director Leila Sansour. Please plan on joining us Wed, October 25, 2017, 7:00 pm in the Olive Ave. hall. You can register for this event at EventBrite.com (search for: “Open Bethlehem” City: Redlands, CA”).
Thank you. Mrs. Alhadef