Inspiring You To Dream april 2015

INSPIRING THE CATHOLIC GUY MAGAZINE Volume 3 | APRIL 2015

MAINTAING SPIRITUAL FITNESS | Feature

HOW HE LOVES US: UNDERSTANDING THE LOVE OF THE SON

HELP! MY KIDS DON’T WANT TO GO TO CHURCH

YOU TO DREAM

Inspire, among its various meanings, means to breathe.

In the fast paced world of today many of us hold our breath and keep pushing on. When I was at school back in the seventies, I remember one of our teachers telling us that by the end of the century we would be working a 22 hour work week. He also told us that the rest of our time would be devoted to recreation and other activities of leisure.

As a boy I thought, ‘How lucky are we? I don’t want to work all the long hours Mum and Dad work.’

Every study shows that today, fifteen years into the new century, we are working longer hours than we did in the seventies. Life is busy.

Trying to fit time in for ourselves, families, others and even God is very difficult.

Maintaining our spiritual life is essential, but having the time, and especially the energy can seem demanding. I have found that creating a system for prayer and a little bit of spiritual reading is an essential way to move forward in our relationship with God. I pray that what you read in these pages encourages you, breathes life into you, and draws you closer to God.

Bruce Downes The Catholic Guy Ministry

Publisher: The Catholic Guy Ministry Executive Editors: Sandra Purcell Hannah Teape-Davis Graphic Design & Production Coordinator: Hannah Teape-Davis

FEATURE STORY | page 6

Editorial Proofreaders: Scott Gee Greta Moraes Sandra Purcell Hannah Teape-Davis All Scripture references are from the New Revised Standard Version or New International Version unless otherwise stated.

fitness

Inspiring You To Dream is published by The Catholic Guy Ministry Ltd. a not for profit organisation © The Catholic Guy Ministry Ltd. All rights reserved.

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MAINTAINING SPIRITUAL

6.

MAINTAINING SPIRITUAL FITNESS

By Bruce Downes

We all know about maintaining our physical health, but what does it mean to be spiritually fit? Read as Bruce Downes explores how to build and maintain a healthy spiritual life.

10.

JOTTINGS FROM MY JOURNAL

By Rosemary Downes Rosemary Downes shares her wisdom and reflections on the ways God draws us to be closer to Him.

12.

HOW HE LOVES US: UNDERSTANDING THE LOVE OF THE SON

By Karl Brown

14.

HELP! MY KIDS DON’T WANT TO GO TO CHURCH!

By Tara Peters

An article which reflects specifically on the different and unique ways in which Jesus Christ loves us.

A mother of four explores a concern many parents may face, or have already faced: the times when our children no longer want to go to church.

18.

THE CALL TO CATECHISTS

By Jude Hennessy

of Christian Doctrine for the Wollongong Diocese responds to the call to evangelise.

22.

S.O.A.P. - Scripture Study

By Bruce Downes

After attending an event by The Catholic Guy Ministry, Jude Hennessy, Director of the Confraternity

Exploring the Scriptures can be tricky to begin with. This study is based around a popular method for Scripture Study, and will help deepen your faith and understanding of God’s Word.

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Maintaining

SPIRITUAL FITNESS

At meal times when we were young, my mum and dad would often tell my four brothers and I, “You are not leaving the table until you have eaten your vegetables, because they are good for you and will help you grow up strong and healthy.”

Although I like them now, when I was young I disliked vegetables with a passion. However, mum and dad knew what was good for me and they insisted and persisted even when I protested.

Today ‘healthy living’ campaigns are a part of our life. Medical professionals and government bodies

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promote diet and exercise as a way to live well and avoid unnecessary illness.

Each of us also has a spiritual life. Our connection to God is essential for a fulfilling, meaningful and productive life that ultimately leads us to an eternal life with God. Just like keeping our bodies fit and healthy, we need to do the same with our own spiritual health.

For our bodies we need a good diet, consistent exercise, productive activity, and rest. The phrase so

is that as we age, our bodies decline no matter how well we look after them. Our spiritual life on the other hand becomes richer and deeper the more we work on our spiritual fitness.

BY BRUCE DOWNES

I have never liked the word discipline. I associate it with having to do things I do not like. This obviously is a negative interpretation, because discipline is what causes us to achieve and protects us from harm as we travel through life.

I once spoke at a Church, and at the end of the meeting a young adult came up to me and asked if I would pray for him right there and then. I asked what he would like prayer for. The young adult said that he had significant plans for his life and then added that he thought these plans were what God wanted him to do.

Just like we can never ease up with our physical health, it is the same with our spiritual life. We need to work at it our whole life. The difference is that as we age, our bodies decline no matter how well we look after them. Our spiritual life on the other hand becomes richer and deeper the more we work on our spiritual fitness. often associated with this is ‘living a balanced lifestyle’.

This is where many Christian people fall down in their spiritual life. Their ‘spiritual balance’ is off centre. They are strong in one area and not in another, or they lack some of the basic components of what leads to a healthy and constantly growing spiritual life.

Just like we can never ease up with our physical health, it is the same with our spiritual life. We need to work at it our whole life. The difference

This young adult then said, “I have a problem however, and it is that I keep changing my mind, and lack the discipline to do what I know I have to do to achieve these things in my future.”

After listening I closed my eyes and started to pray out loud with the person but I felt unpeaceful so after a few sentences I stopped.

I asked the young person had he written down what his dream was and had he made a list of what needed to be done to achieve his objective.

He said he knew what had to be done but had not

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written it down.

I said to the young man, “I do not believe God will do for us what we can do for ourselves. If you know what has to be done and do not do it, no amount of prayer is going to help you.”

tell me that I will tell you what you have to do achieve your goals.” Our goal as Christian people is to be in an intimate relationship with God and to recognise that we were made for God. God pours out His grace, that is divine assistance, to help us live with God as the centre of our lives.

Write your plans down and review them often and then systematically work at achieving your goal. In other words, discipline yourself.

When we realise this and are convicted of it then there are certain actions that we need to make a part of our life.

Over the years, no amount of prayer has seen me lose weight automatically. I have had to make the effort and discipline myself and then combine this with prayer asking God for His assistance.

1.

If we are doing our best and ask God for His help and blessing it is only then that God can work in us.

THE KEY TO SPIRITUAL HEALTH I once joined a gym. I got dressed in the right gear and got my water bottle and headed to meeting the gym instructor for the first time.

His first question to me was, “What do you want to achieve by coming to the gym? When you

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Daily Personal Prayer

It is impossible to be in an intimate personal relationship with someone if you do not spend any time with him or her. Prayer is spending time with God. It is a deliberate daily decision and action.

Make a decision as to how much time you will pray each day. I would suggest between 10 and 15 minutes if you have not been in the discipline of daily prayer before.

Because I get easily distracted, I always write my prayers down in a journal.

2.

Scripture Reading

The Bible or Scriptures are not a novel but a letter from God to us. Make a decision to read a chapter a day or the daily Mass reading or the Gospel reading from Mass each day.

Make a place to share life and in particular, your spiritual journey.

4. Spiritual Reading

Hearing and reading the stories of other Christians both now and throughout history builds our faith. So many people from the Scriptures are 3. Attend Church inspiring and therefore we lift our gaze from our I do not write this because it is politically correct, circumstances to what we could be and this helps us grow spiritually. but because I truly believe it is essential.

Church is where we are filled spiritually through the celebration of the Mass in particular where Jesus is made fully present and where we come together with others and pray. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Wherever two or three gather in my name I am there in the midst of them.”

Besides attending Church, consider the various activities in your parish where you can meet and share your life with others. If there is nothing that appeals to you, start your own small group.

Reading some of the documents of the Church, while at times being a little technical, can help enrich our understanding of our faith.

Spiritual fitness requires that we constantly work at our relationship with God. Prayer, reading the Bible, attending Church, and spiritual reading keeps us focussed on God and takes us to richer places in our relationship with Him.

Jottings

from my

journal

BY ROSEMARY DOWNES

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I read an article the other day on why flowers turn towards the sun. They are physically made so that when the sun shines and is absorbed at a certain wavelength, a chemical reaction occurs where the cells absorb more water and elongate and so the face of the flower turns towards the sun. Also one reason for the buds tracking the sun is that insects are attracted to the warmth of the sun and are needed for pollination. The plant has the ability to propagate itself by producing fertile seeds which can disperse and so grow more plants.

This plant is now fruitful- whatever its “fruit” might be!

Wow, reflecting on this, it is the same for us; we are physically and spiritually and mentally made to turn towards THE SON. In Ecclesiastes 3:11 it states that God has ‘set eternity into our hearts.’

We are made with this hole within us that ONLY GOD can fill with His eternity. His FOREVERNESS is placed there, available to everyone; we just have to acknowledge it/recognise it and so live by it. If we are to be fruitful – whatever our ‘fruit’ is, we must turn ourselves towards what sustains us, that which allows us to grow and bear seed and so propagate – pass onto others what we have learned, pass on our DNA. Do you notice that when there is NO sun the flowers often look limp and droop over? We are like that when we do not absorb CHRIST into our lives. We often live a life limping and drooped over. No wonder I don’t cope with life as much when I have taken my sight off God and have been doing life by myself.

What a reminder this was for me! Hopefully it will encourage you to follow HIM more diligently and if you don’t know the Father, Son and Spirit – give them a go – ask them into your life. YOU WILL DEFINITELY NOTICE A HUGE DIFFERENCE, SO MAGNIFICENT THAT YOU WILL NOT LOOK BACK. Our God WILL supply all your needs. HE is the ONLY one who can sustain you . John 3:15 says ‘Everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that WHOEVER (it is available to everyone) believes in him shall NOT PERISH (I need this so often in my life - I feel like I’m drowning ) but have ETERNAL life.

(Emphasis mine).

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How HE lovesus

Understanding the love of The Son

BY KARL BROWN

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There is a popular Christian hymn that has for its refrain, “Yes, Jesus loves me…” While sung regularly in churches of many denominations all over the world, we may ask ourselves ‘What does the love of Jesus look like?’ We often hear about the love of the Father, but what about the love of the Son? To answer this fully would take more time (and ink) than we have here; but three short reflections will allow us to begin exploring the idea, and help us discover why this amazing love is the key characteristic of God’s greatest revelation – His only Son.

1. Christ loves us in our weakness – right where we are.

In the Gospels, we see regular people encountering Jesus in and around the towns and villages he visited. These stories often involved Jesus healing those whom he met, and welcoming them into new life with him in the Kingdom of God1. This provides us with a wonderful insight into the love of Christ: He loves people where they are. Jesus doesn’t wait until we are pretty, strong, thin, rich, holy, or clean to love us. He knows all people intimately, and in the midst of our brokenness He sits with us, bringing comfort, healing and wholeness.

2. Christ loves us sacrificially unto death – and beyond.

More than just loving, comforting, and healing those who come before him, Jesus loves with a sacrificial, eternal love – a love that opens the gates of the Kingdom to all. Christians describe the final sufferings of Jesus as His ‘Passion’ (from the Greek paschein – ‘to suffer’), and rightly so! Christ loves us in a way that costs Him. St. Paul speaks beautifully about this sacrificial love. Writing to the church in Philippi, Paul reminds them that, “He emptied himself…(and loved) to the point of death - even death on a cross”.2 In his letter to the Romans3, he reminds them that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord – even our own eventual death. Indeed, even heaven itself is nothing more than ‘being with Christ’, sharing in the communion of life and love with the Trinity.4 The sacrificial love of Christ provides an open invitation to share in this divine love forever.

3. Christ loves us as friends – even as brothers and sisters.

In spite of all our faults and failings, Christ doesn’t relate to us as worthless creatures, but instead he calls us His own brothers and sisters5. All who belong to the Kingdom of Heaven are given the privilege of being called ‘children of God’6, and therefore to call Jesus our brother; He who is the firstborn of all creation7. Since we are made in the image and likeness of God8, and Christ has loved us back to life9 (and life to the full10), we can rejoice in being part of the eternal family of God, thanks to the love of our Saviour-brother.

Jesus doesn’t wait until we are pretty, strong, thin, rich, holy, or clean to love us.

He knows all people intimately, and in the midst of our brokenness he sits with us, bringing comfort, healing and wholeness.

When we talk about the love of Christ, we talk about a reality that has neither a beginning nor an end. His love existed before anything else, and when time itself has ceased, it will shine on forever, undiminished. How wonderful and humbling it is that we are all invited to share in such a thing!

Cf. Mk 1:21-28, 40-45, 3:1-6, etc.

Phil 2:8 3 Rom 8:37-39 4 Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1024, 1025.

5 Matt 12:49-50.

6 Gal 3:26.

7 Col 1:15.

8 Gen 1:27 9 cf. Jn 3:16 10 Jn 10:10 1 2

Karl Brown is an educator and theologian, and has been working with Bruce and The Catholic Guy team for many years.

He has been part of the academic staff in philosophy and theology at universities in Western Australia, and is currently completing a Masters by research in Applied Theology. You can reach him by email at karl.brown@thecatholicguy.com TheCatholicGuy.com | INSPIRING YOU TO DREAM | APRIL 2015 | 13

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my k

C

Help! kids don’t want to go to

CHURCH!

BY TARA PETERS

There very quickly comes a time in every parent’s life when you realise, despite every good effort, your children have minds of their own and they are prepared to use them!

Often it seems the most important values we try to instil in our children are the ones they question, rebut, and even reject. One of the most valuable parenting lessons to be learnt is that our focus is not solely on how the kids “turn out” rather it is much more important to focus on what kind of parents we are being. It’s much easier to emphasise a child whining about having to go to church on Sunday than it is to ask how I as a parent have “been” the Church during the week and this modelled an experience of Christianity that my children may actually want to be a part of.

Church is more than what happens for an hour on Sunday. It is argued by many priests that in days gone by, we had a better understanding of what it mean to be Catholic. It was a lifestyle, it was social, it was prayerful, it was relationships, it was community, it was Eucharistic and Sacramental.

Children especially need to see faith modelled and interwoven into the fabric of everyday life.

BUILD COMMUNITY Our eldest child was six years old when he came home from school and told us there was only one other family in his class that went to Mass. He felt different and in his own way questioned why we were so odd. For years since then, our family has decided to meet fortnightly with a few other Catholic families for the sake of community for our children and support of each other. While this is far from the structure of Mass on a Sunday, it is just as much an integral part of our children’s faith experience. It shows them that there are others who hold the same beliefs as them. The community God Himself shares in the Trinity is the community we should share as members of His body, the Church.

If you can’t find community in the Church, make it.

MENTORS To the young men who kicked footballs with our TheCatholicGuy.com | INSPIRING YOU TO DREAM | APRIL 2015 | 15

sons after Mass, to the young women who watched our girls do cartwheel after cartwheel in the car park – I am eternally grateful. For children to see the generation just above them engaged in Church and engaging with them speaks much louder about the life-giving experience of Christianity than anything I can say as a parent. Psalm 45:17 tells about faith being passed down from one generation to the next. I don’t think this is just talking about parents to children. I think this passage is painting a picture of a multi-generational Church encouraging one another. If there is any way to have your children engage with people slightly older than them in Church, do it!

MAKE SUNDAY SPECIAL Since having children, my husband and I have tried to make going to Church on Sunday special for our family. After Mass we will take the children out for a milkshake or make pancakes for breakfast to make sure the experience is special, enjoyable, and something to look forward to, as opposed to rushing everyone out the door and making church a chore. Spending time together gives us the chance to chat about the homily (and try to retell any jokes Father made!) the reason we go to Mass on the weekend is to honour the command of God to keep holy the Sabbath. Really, it is not a command, but a gift. The Sabbath is a gift, a time to celebrate what God has done just as at the first Sabbath when God rested and celebrated the creation of the world and everything in it. Make the Sabbath special, all day.

PRAY One Sunday morning during Mass, our youngest daughter declared “God is back!”, referring to the priest who had just returned from holidays. The reality is that God is never on holidays even in those times when our children seem to have taken a holiday from Him. I am forever grateful to my mother for raising our family with faith. In times when any of her five children were pushing the boundaries, she would go ‘round and round the Rosary’ petitioning the perspective and power of God in each circumstance.

Never underestimate the power of prayer. Pray for the faith of your children EVERY DAY.

Tara Peters has worked with Bruce and The Catholic Guy team for over 20 years and has a passion for seeing people grow in their faith and experience life-giving connection with the Church. Tara is married to Deacon Aaron Peters and they have four wonderful children.

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The Call to Catechists

BY JUDE HENNESSY

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Jude He Confrate Diocese enthusia Guy tea importan

Recently I attended The Catholic Guy Ministry’s mission at Albion Park in Southern New South Wales.

It was a fantastic event that reinvigorated the faith of many members of the Parish and brought others on the fringes of faith and Parish life, to reengage with faith and nurture their relationship with Jesus through prayer, sacrament, and action.

A month later I returned to the Parish to speak at masses to promote the work of Catechists and ask for more people to get involved. We were overwhelmed with the enthusiastic response. I couldn’t help but be grateful for the obvious openness and enthusiasm of these Parishioners to be involved in one of the biggest Catechetical and Evangelising initiatives in our Australian Church. It was obvious that the work of The Catholic Guy Ministry had stoked the fire of faith in many of these new keen recruits who responded with a big ‘yes’ to being involved in the work of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

Catechists in Parishes right around Australia eagerly put their hand up to share their most precious gift, their faith, with young people. For Catechists, their faith and the Good News of the Gospel as taught TheCatholicGuy.com | INSPIRING YOU TO DREAM | APRIL 2015 | 20

by our Church, is so good, it just has to be shared.

Catechists can get involved in a myriad of initiatives to help form kids in the Catholic Faith. They are variously involved in teaching Catholic kids in state schools, perhaps running sacramental programs, bringing young people to relationship with Jesus through Children’s Liturgy of the Word, running after-school Catechetical programs and even involvement in youth group initiatives. At each of these encounters, Catechists are drawing kids into relationship with Christ and His Church, and the fullness of life it promises. It is an incredibly rewarding ministry.

In my own experience in NSW and ACT, there are over 5,000 Catechists who help form around 100,000 Catholic kids in special religious education lessons in state schools every week. The National Confraternity of Christian Doctrine conference (NCCD) held in Brisbane, highlighted the contribution made to both public education and the evangelising mission of the Church by Catechists. It affirmed the vibrant witness to the Good News provided by approximately 8,000 volunteers associated with the ministry. It is certainly the biggest volunteer evangelising arm of the Church in Australia, with Catechists seeing in the vicinity of

ennessy is the Director of the ernity of Christian Doctrine in the of Wollongong. He has worked astically with Bruce and The Catholic am since 2012, whilst continuing his nt work in the Diocese.

250,000 kids a week.

The Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge in addressing the NCCD conference, affirmed and encouraged the Church to “enliven the laity to draw young people into an encounter with the risen Jesus” through their work in the Apostolate of CCD which is the “fundamental but often least glamorised of ministries”. The point of my writing of this article for The Catholic Guy Ministry is to do just that. No doubt many of you are reading this because of the contact you have had with The Catholic Guy Ministry at a parish event. Hopefully you too have had the fire of your faith stoked and are eager to share your faith. If so, I would strongly encourage getting involved with the work of Catechists in your own Parish or Diocese. Really pray about it, and see where the Spirit leads you, as this work is at the heart of the mission of the Church.

volved in this sort of work are nervous. They question whether or not they have the skills to communicate effectively. Trust me, the leaders of this ministry in Dioceses are old hands at giving people the skills and the materials they need to share faith effectively with kids. What we need, are people convinced of their faith., prayerful people who love Jesus and His Church. It is these sorts of people who are the “authentic witnesses” our Church needs to form kids in faith and effectively evangelise. So, if you are committed to your faith and have around an hour each week to contribute to the ministry, then you are well on the way to being able to be involved. Our numbers are made up of professionals, retirees, mums and dads, high school and university students, shy people and the brave alike – The only thing common amongst our Catechists across Australia is a commitment to share God’s love.

For more information, visit www.ccress.com

Of course people when first considering getting inTheCatholicGuy.com | INSPIRING YOU TO DREAM | APRIL 2015 | 21

S.O.A.P.

SCRIPTURE STUDY BY BRUCE DOWNES

People often say to me “How do you get so much out of The Scriptures?” and it’s not so much a matter of what you read, but how you read them.

The reading of Scripture is transformative, but you’ve got to take the time to think about what do you see, how do you apply it, and how to pray on it.

People often say to me “How do you get so much out of The Scriptures?” and it’s not so much a matter of what you read, but how you read them.

There are many ways to study and read the Bible, in order to gain a greater understanding of God’s Word. One of the most common things I do, is I put myself in the Scripture.

What would it have been like if I’d been with David, when he said to Joab to put Uriah the Hittite on the front line. What would it have been like in the war, standing off to the side, when all of a sudden there’s some signal, and I watch them all pull back. What would it have been like if I’d been in the room when Gabriel came to this little girl Mary, and said “Mary, you’re the one.” What would it have been like to be standing among the disciples, with a crowd of over 5,000 waiting for a meal, and with only two loaves and five fish to share.

Wayne Cordeiro, a pastor who started New Hope church in Hawaii in the United States, developed a way of praying that is similar to Lectio Divina, and although Wayne Cordeiro isn’t a Catholic, many Catholics have adopted this method of Scripture study.

The method is called S.O.A.P.

Scripture When you commence your time of Scripture study, take a piece of paper, a journal, a notebook, or whatever you use to pray, and start by writing the word Scripture at the top. Under this you will write the verse of Scripture you will read.

Observation After deciding on, and reading the verses you have chosen, begin to answer the following questions.

What is every conceivable thing you can see in this Scripture? Who’s in the story? How does it make you feel? Who are the characters, where have they come from? What are they saying? You might even go and look a little farther back to see the context of what is happening. What’s happening after it? Observation is everything you see about the Scripture, it’s about what the actual story is.

Application After you have studied the Scripture and observed and made notes on each aspect of it, the time has come to decide, how do I apply this to my life? Ask yourself, what does this mean for my career, my relationships, my lifestyle? Now that I’ve observed all that there is to see, how do I apply this in my life?

What could I do today and tomorrow in response to

this Scripture?

Prayer After observing the full context of the Scripture, and deciding how best it can be applied to your life, write a prayer about it. Ask of God, “Lord, how do I cement this in my life?”

So often we may attend church and take no responsibility for the Scripture at all, we just expect our parish priest to make it good for us.

Then we leave church, go about our week, and wonder why we get little out of it! We have to actually step in, and do something about it.

My prayer for you as you take these four points and go forth and reflect more deeply on the Scriptures, is that you may observe and see with The Lord’s eyes, may He show how you can apply it to your life, and how you can worship The Lord and invite Him into you.

Take a moment now to reflect on some Scripture

S O A P

CAMPBELLTOWN PREPARES

FOR THE CATHOLIC GUY Almost every Catholic person in our country knows of people who are not actively engaged with the Church any longer. Many parents and grandparents are particularly saddened by the disconnection of family members from Church and from God. Recent Popes have spoken of the need for a new evangelisation and finding a new way of sharing the message of Jesus and His Church in a world where people are finding it harder to hear.

IMPACT CENTRES The Catholic Guy Impact Centres, led by myself and my team, are one response to the urging of the Popes.

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Centres seek to present the Gospel in new and compelling ways that lead people over time to a place of personal encounter with Christ.

Bishop Peter Ingham invited The Catholic Guy Ministry to establish the first of these Impact Centres in the Diocese of Wollongong and Campbelltown Catholic Club have committed significant resources to working with Bishop Ingham and his team in this work.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN? Later this year, people will attend specifically designed weekly Prayer and Teaching Services. These Prayer and Teaching Services do not replace the parish but are a beginning and nurturing place and link for people to priests, the parish, and sacramental life of the parish.

There will be a specially designed weekly children’s program conducted alongside one for parents and adults. One of the largest unchurched groups of Catholic people in Australia is children under the age of 12. Many former Catholics, who make up nearly 50% of some other Christian churches in Australia, attend these churches because of the children’s programs that are offered. A youth program will also be conducted each week.

The style of outreach will be modern in feel, life application in focus, prayerful in character, and rooted

deeply in the teaching and tradition of the Catholic Church under the direction of the local Bishop.

If in the end people do not connect with our priests and the sacramental life of the Church then this initiative will have been a failure.

This ministry for our loved ones and friends requires your prayer and support. There are many ways to be involved including prayer, business, administration, pastoral care, production, children, youth, greeting, catering teams, and in music as vocalists and instrumentalists.

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