Why Am I a Catholic

Family, my First Christian Community

The Emmaus Young Adult Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group

Saturday 7.45pm-9.45pm, Room 2

Vision:
• A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord, and whose love
is reflected in their ordinary lives.

Mission:
• to be disciples of Christ according to His heart, through ongoing conversion, sanctification,
and mission.
• to journey with the young people and to encounter Christ in each other.
• to help the young people put the Eucharist as the source and summit of their Christian lives.
• to help the young people build their lives upon the rock which is Jesus, the Word of God, and
to live in the power of the Holy Spirit.
• to build community of believers who is charismatic and missionary in nature.
Family, My First Community

A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.
 Outline

Brief history from “the beginning” to today

•

Family and the Church

•

Fundamental mission of the family

•

Role of children in a family

•

Summary
•

A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.
Brief History from “the Beginning”
•
God instituted marriage and family
•
Fall of man
•
Sins disrupt family
•
Envy
•
Lust, etc etc

A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.
Christ Restores

The Holy Family

The reminder on “the
beginning”

Marriage as sacrament –
mirroring Christ and the Church

A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.
 Family and the Church

Family, the Domestic Church (CCC1655–1657)

In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith, believing
families are of primary importance as centers of living, radiant faith. For this
reason the Second Vatican Council, using an ancient expression, calls the
family the Ecclesia domestica. CCC 1656

Family participate in the mission of the Church (Familiaris
Consortio, PJP II, 1981)

A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.
 Fundamental Mission of the Family

Fundamental mission is … LOVE

“The family has the mission to become more and more what it is …
an intimate community of life and love” - FC, CCC 1603

"Where does love begin? It begins at home."
- Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Survey result: 39 out of 43 agree with her

A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.
 Fundamental Mission of the Family

It is here that the father of the family, the mother, children, and all
members of the family exercise the priesthood of the baptized in a
privileged way "by the reception of the sacraments, prayer and
thanksgiving, the witness of a holy life, and self-denial and
active charity."Thus the home is the first school of Christian life
and "a school for human enrichment." Here one learns endurance
and the joy of work, fraternal love, generous - even repeated -
forgiveness, and above all divine worship in prayer and the offering of
one's life. CCC 1657

A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.
 Fundamental Mission of the Family
 •
Actuation on the fundamental mission of LOVE School of

Community in the service of man humanity

• •
1. Family is school of humanity Nurturing
• Vocations
2. Family nurtures vocations

Community in dialog with God • School of
prayer
• 3. Family prays … together

A believing and evangelizing community• Evangeliz
ing
• 4. Family evangelizes

A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.
 School of Humanity

As the family goes, so goes the nation and so • School of
goes the whole world in which we live - Pope humanity
John Paul II

When Mother Teresa received the Nobel prize, • Nurturing
she was asked, "What can we do to promote Vocations
world peace?" Her answer was simple: "Go
home and love your family." • School of

The home is the natural environment for initiating prayer
a human being into solidarity and communal
responsibilities : Care for the poor, act justly,
• Evangeliz
perform tolerance, stand for LIFE ing

A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.
 School of Humanity
Question 8

tolerance/acceptance/understanding
• School of
supporting each other/ offering helping hands
humanity
sacrifice

God's love
• Nurturing
forgiveness Vocations
charity, especially to the poor
• School of
prayer
loving others

chastity and modesty

reconciliation • Evangelizin
value of life (pro-life) g
selflessness

loving God

importance of the Sacraments

purpose of life
A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
 Nurturing Vocation

Vocation – way to love • School of

Fatherhood / Motherhood / religious / single humanity
It is in the bosom of the family that parents are "by word and • Nurturing
example . . . the first heralds of the faith with regard to their
children. They should encourage them in the vocation which Vocations
is proper to each child, fostering with special care any
religious vocation." - CCC 1656 • School of

“My family is my first seminary experience” - prayer
Karol Wojtyla
• Evangeliz

Vocation is to be nurtured , not to be forced
ing

A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.
 School of Prayer and Holiness

“Family that prays together, stays together” • School of

Knowledge of God starts in the family humanity

Basic education of faith : God's love and loving • Nurturing
God, Sacraments, Christ redemption and Vocations
discipleship
• School of

A successful family is a saint-producer
prayer
• Evangeliz
ing

A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.
 Believing and Evangelizing Family

Don't hide Christ • School of

Be the light of the world and salt of the earth humanity
• Nurturing
Vocations
• School of
prayer
• Evangeliz
ing

A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.
 Role of Children
•
The fourth of the ten commandments (the first of those that
regulate the relationships amongst mankind)
•
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in
the land which the LORD your God gives you."
•
CCC 2197 – 2233 (Article 3 on the Fourth Commandment)
•
The fourth commandment reminds grown children of their
responsibilities toward their parents. As much as they can, they
must give them material and moral support in old age and in times
of illness, loneliness, or distress.

A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.
What to do next?

• Pray for your family

• Pray with your family

A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.
 Acknowledgment

Many thanks for all generous respondents

A community of Christ's disciples who are passionately in love with the Lord,
and whose love is reflected in their ordinary lives.