SESSION CONTENTS

Our Awareness: God wants us to become more aware of the role we play in forming the habits and attitudes, which so fundamentally affect our lives. What we sow in our self-talk, in our thoughts and in our feelings is what we're going to reap. We're called to repent, which means to change our minds, and to have the attitude of Christ.

Our Handling of Fear and Anxiety: Scripture advises us continually to not be afraid, yet fear cripples many of us in our endeavors to live lives filled with the peace and joy promised to us by our Lord. Jesus came as the solution to our pain, suffering and death - the very causes of most of our fears. We need to nurture the attitude of Christ within us in order to more joyfully follow Him. He wants us to experience His peace and joy right in the middle of the negative situations in our lives. 

Our Humility and Obedience: It is very important for us to know and to believe that humility is the mother of all virtue, since we cannot even have the proper faith, hope or charity without humility. And the first fruit of humility is obedience- a word that is not much in favor in our culture. In order for us to continue developing these virtues, our pride and arrogance must experience a lifelong death process. 

Our Serving, Either God or Mammon: The measure of our service can usually be determined by where we spend the majority of our mind and our time. Another way of perceiving this is to have someone look at our checkbook. What would they perceive there from as to what was important or paramount in our lives? Mammon is generally understood to mean things in our world, which can be bought, sold, stored and stockpiled. Jesus advises us that we can only be devoted to one and despise the other!! In serving God, mammon is to be used to lead ourselves and others to Him. 

Our Needs, Suffering, and Prayer: God desires for us to continue to grow in order to be able to see His divine plan and the foundation for our obedience and sanctification in the pain as well as in the joy of our lives. We all need to find a reason and meaning for the pain in our world, personally and collectively, and to discover that all of our adversities in life can have an eternal value for us. It's in our suffering that we learn obedience just as our Lord Jesus did. 

Our Peace and Joy in the Lord: Most people including Christians don't really believe that living the spirituality of our Lord is good news--it's good news that He died for us but not to do Him. If we're not living His way, we're experiencing some of hell right here on earth. It's easier being yoked to Jesus than to the world--still a challenge, of course, but much easier when walking in step and yoked with Him. And it's in this way of living that we can continue to thrill in the peace and joy that He promises us here and in all of eternal life.

Our Call to Evangelize:  Pope John Paul 11 has made clear that evangelization underlies all activities of the parish. Each parish is an effective instrument of evangelization. Catholics need to be evangelized! We the baptized constitute the Church. Pope Paul VI asserted that the presentation of the Gospel message in word and deed is not an optional contribution for the Church. It is the duty incumbent on us by the command of the Lord Jesus. It is a question of people's salvation. The task of evangelizing constitutes the essential mission of the Church. Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church. She exists in order to evangelize. 

Our Simplicity and Detachment; In order for us to become more surrendered to our Lord and be able to walk in His footsteps more often than not, we need to become more detached from this world and embrace simplicity of life. As the 1.2 billion Christians of the world, representing 20% of our planet, begin to more readily accept this reality, then more of our brothers and sisters under the one Father will be able to have their basic human needs met. Then we can elevate our standard of living beyond our basic human needs - after theirs have been met. 

Our Strength in the Cross: Our Lord calls all of us as His disciples to take up our cross daily and to walk in His footsteps. Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we can get to heaven. We are joint heirs with Christ if only we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him. Jesus came to transform our own crosses in life into events of eternal redemptive value. We need to be able to perceive the crosses in our lives through spiritual eyesight - to see them as our Lord sees them - and through His grace we can. 

Our Power in the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit is the Lord and giver of life. It is the Holy Spirit that is the very soul of the Church and who explains to all the faithful the deep meaning of the teachings of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the heat and the kinetic energy so to speak of the Trinity - that Person in the Trinity enabling us to incarnate and live out the Good News of our Lord Jesus through grace. It is only in our recognized powerlessness -in the surrender of our will to Divine Providence - that this power of God is fanned into flame in our lives. 

Our Love, Mercy and Forgiveness: Herein lies the very essence of our faith...what it means to be a Christian and a follower of our Lord Jesus. Most of us need to truly begin to discover what Jesus means when He uses the word love in scripture...such as to "love one another as I have loved you". Our extending mercy would seem to be the very litmus test of what is needed for us to be a disciple of our Lord. We need also to understand how we are to accomplish forgiveness in the various situations in our lives. In this context, it is necessary for us to comprehend that forgiveness is not a feeling...but a decision supported totally by the grace of God...to forgive when it is the very last thing that we feel like doing.

Our Becoming Like Children: Our Lord Jesus has told us that unless we turn and become like children, we will not enter His kingdom. This means that we are to have attitudes and beliefs that are the opposite of those held in our world. Children have no power, no prestige, and no money. Yet they are trusting and dependent, playful and joyful, unself-conscious and still sensitive to others feelings. They are sincere and innocent, fully open yet still living in the present, willing to live simply while placing no labels on anyone, and happy to experience all of life without competing with or comparing themselves to another human being. We need to return to all of this.