Bouquets and Flowers For Every Event...
This information is intended for parents of school-age children and teachers who are imparting Religious Education within a Catholic school environment.
PASTORAL NOTES FOR SEPTEMBER
The contents of these documents are related to the present day teaching of the Catholic Church in relation to Doctrine, Liturgy and Catholic practices. There are also special sections on Catholic Marriage and arranging a funeral in the Catholic Church.
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Jesus preaches in such a way that we either get on board or abandon ship. Either we will follow Christ or forsake him. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He is making his way to the cross. He is on his way to betrayal, flogging, mocking, scourging, and beating. His own people have rejected him. He is on his way to Jerusalem to die for the very people who will murder him. They have called him Beelzebub. They have accused him of breaking the law.
They have numbered him with the publicans and sinners. Jesus knows his disciples will suffer the same fate and only a true disciple can endure such persecution.
Before you decide to buy that new home cinema system you have to sit down and work out whether you have enough money to pay for it, whether in cash or instalments. And it's the same thing when it comes to being a disciple of Christ. There is a cost involved.
Jesus never tried to get big crowds. In fact, he said things that would put the faint-hearted off. To follow him, he said, you must love your family but never let them get in the way of your responding fully to God's call. Those who appreciate the wisdom of God's plan are prepared to give up wealth, reputation, security and even their own lives if it is demanded. This does not come cheap. It's easy to say that we would do all this for God, but how well are we faring in the ordinary things of life, the little demands that are put upon us? This is a good guide to how much we are being true to our calling as disciples.
Being a Christian means accepting all our family and social responsibilities but giving Christ top priority. There can be no part-time Christians.
3rd September: St. Gregory the Great
8th September: Birthday of the Virgin Mary
Mary's birth lies at the confluence of the two Testaments, bringing to an end the stage of expectation and the promises and inaugurating the new times of grace and salvation in Jesus Christ. Mary, the Daughter of Zion and ideal personification of Israel, is the last and most worthy representative of the People of the Old Covenant but at the same time she is "the hope and the dawn of the whole world". With her, the elevated Daughter of Zion, after a long expectation of the promises, the times are fulfilled and a new economy is established. (Lumen Gentium 55)
14th September: Exaltation of the Holy Cross
The cross could have become a symbol of shame for Christians: it brought about the death of Jesus Christ. However, faith in the resurrection made the cross a symbol of pride. The worst weapon of Jesus' enemies could not overpower him. Through the cross, Jesus triumphs over death. Pride in the cross soon turned to veneration of the cross.
Legend has it that in 322, Helena, the mother of Constantine, uncovered three crosses in the excavations for the new basilicas in Jerusalem. She assumed them to be the crosses of Jesus and the two wrongdoers. Macarius, the bishop of Jerusalem, brought in a dying woman and had her touch the crosses. The third one cured her, and that cross was proclaimed the cross of Christ. It became an object of veneration in Jerusalem until it was stolen in the seventh century, but Heraclius of Constantinople captured and returned it in 629, bringing it into the city, where it was lifted up for all to venerate again. This exaltation of the holy cross gave us a feast day on September 14th every year.
15th September: Our Lady of Sorrows
21st September: St. Matthew
Matthew was originally called "Levi" (maybe because he was from the tribe of Levi) but Jesus calls him "Matthew" a name which means "gift of the Lord". We know he was a tax collector and was called to be an apostle. He is traditionally hailed as one of the four evangelists.
We thank you, Lord of heaven and earth, for the witness of your apostle and evangelist Matthew to the gospel of your Son, our Saviour. We pray that, following his example, we may with ready minds and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him by proclaiming the power of God in our lives. May those who at present do not know Jesus be drawn by our witness to the truth of God's word and promises. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
23rd September: Padre Pio
Padre Pio was born in Pietrelcina, Italy, in 1887. He became a Capuchin monk and in 1918 famously received the marks of Christ's passion on his body (the stigmata) which remained until his death. He founded a hospital, started many prayer groups and was a renowned confessor. When Pope John Paul II canonised him in 2002 he had this to say about him:
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23rd September: Padre Pio
Padre Pio was born in Pietrelcina, Italy, in 1887. He became a Capuchin monk and in 1918 famously received the marks of Christ's passion on his body (the stigmata) which remained until his death. He founded a hospital, started many prayer groups and was a renowned confessor. When Pope John Paul II canonised him in 2002 he had this to say about him:
"The evangelical image of the "yoke" recalls the many trials that the humble Capuchin of San Giovanni Rotondo had to face. Today we contemplate in him how gentle the "yoke" of Christ is, and how truly light is his burden when it is borne with faithful love. The life and mission of Padre Pio prove that difficulties and sorrows, if accepted out of love, are transformed into a privileged way of holiness, which opens to prospects of a greater good, known only to the Lord."
21st September: St. Matthew
Matthew was originally called "Levi" (maybe because he was from the tribe of Levi) but Jesus calls him "Matthew" a name which means "gift of the Lord". We know he was a tax collector and was called to be an apostle. He is traditionally hailed as one of the four evangelists.
We thank you, Lord of heaven and earth, for the witness of your apostle and evangelist Matthew to the gospel of your Son, our Saviour. We pray that, following his example, we may with ready minds and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him by proclaiming the power of God in our lives. May those who at present do not know Jesus be drawn by our witness to the truth of God's word and promises. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
27th September: St Vincent de Paul
Great concern for the sick, poor and the lonely. With Frederick Ozanam was the founder of the St Vincent de Paul Society which exists in most Catholic parishes throughout the world. It helps those who are destitute or in financial crisis, visit the elderly, sick and housebound. The great law of charity is seen in action through the St Vincent de Paul Society.
29th September: The Archangels
MICHAEL, GABRIEL AND RAPHAEL
The bible tells us that there are seven angels privileged to stand before God in heaven. Today's feast celebrates three of them.
Michael is called the leader of the heavenly armies (Apocalypse 12: 7) and St Jude speaks about him as rebuking the devil.
Gabriel is well known as the angel sent by God to John the Baptist's father, Zechariah, and to Our Lady (Luke 1: 26). He is called the angel of the Annunciation.
Raphael, whose name means "God's healer", is usually identified with the angel that periodically stirred the waters of the sheep-pool of Bethzatha in Jerusalem that cured the sick (John 5: 4).
NEW SCHOOL TERM
Distinctive?
"Catholic religious education is distinctive in that it takes place within the context of faith. Faith can be understood in two ways - faith as content (a body of knowledge) and faith as a personal act (a process of developing personal belief and trust in God). Both these aspects are central in Catholic religious education, which attempts to introduce young people to a knowledge and understanding of Christianity and of aspects of other world religions in a way that relates to their own life experience."
(Scottish Catholic Education Service)
Teacher's Prayer
I want to teach my students how to live this life on earth, to face its struggles and its strife and improve their worth.
Not just the lesson in a book or how the rivers flow, but how to choose the proper path wherever they may go.
To understand eternal truth and know the right from wrong and gather all the beauty of a flower and a song.
For if I help the world to grow in wisdom and grace then I shall feel that I have won and I have filled my place.
And so I ask your guidance, God, that I may do my part for character and confidence and happiness of heart.
