Recently, a fellow parishioner and I were talking about living our Catholic Faith. This person asked me “exactly how are we to live our Faith?” I said, “St. Francis taught that we should live the Gospel” and I added, “follow the teaching of the Church and Holy Tradition”. I was told this does not clearly answer the question. My friend said, “When the Church (parish) says I should support them, they give me envelopes and pass the basket, when they need volunteers for an event they clearly say what type of help they need, but when they tell us that we need to follow our Faith there are no specifics”. Continuing, this person said “common everyday people in the pews don’t have the education in their Faith to know what to do, so they are left with going to Mass on Sunday and receiving the sacraments”. I responded by saying those things are very good advice but could see it did not help much. I began to think about the question. Blaming the lack of catechesis for the last couple of decades still would not answer the question. I realized the answer needed to be as much to the point as church envelopes and calls for volunteers. I knew I needed more research in order to clarify and explain how one truly lives the Faith.
After posing this question to another friend I was reminded that St. Therese had a similar question concerning what role God wanted her to play in her own life. She found the answer in 1 Cor 12:12-31. Researching further, I also found additional instruction in Rom.12:1-21. Similarly, in both of these examples Paul explains the role we are to play and what we are supposed to do as Christians. St. Paul’s letter satisfied this parishioner so much that he now had a starting place for further study.
Most of you might have had a better answer on the spot than I did. How do you think you
would have responded to this question? Any suggestions? POC. Bob, SFO (from the August "Canticle" of the St. Francis Fraternity, Easton, Pa.)
After posing this question to another friend I was reminded that St. Therese had a similar question concerning what role God wanted her to play in her own life. She found the answer in 1 Cor 12:12-31. Researching further, I also found additional instruction in Rom.12:1-21. Similarly, in both of these examples Paul explains the role we are to play and what we are supposed to do as Christians. St. Paul’s letter satisfied this parishioner so much that he now had a starting place for further study.
Most of you might have had a better answer on the spot than I did. How do you think you
would have responded to this question? Any suggestions? POC. Bob, SFO (from the August "Canticle" of the St. Francis Fraternity, Easton, Pa.)