Welcome to this week’s Living Word!
Our Word of the Week is Missionary Disciplship.
Missionary Discipleship is the call to share our faith with others. Missionary Discipleship reminds us that we must go out and share the love of Christ with others, to make the world a better place. Missionary Discipleship is a way of life that is full of joy and hope and in living our life in this way we can bring others to encounter Christ through us.
Day 1 – Called by Name: The Personal Encounter
We invite you to start with the Sign of the Cross.
Response: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen
A reading from the Gospel of Matthew.
R./ Glory to you, O Lord. +
The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, …proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.
The Gospel of the Lord
R./ Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ
This is Bishop Patrick. He is our bishop here in the Diocese of Nottingham. He has given our diocese three priorities: encounter, discipleship and missionary discipleship.
This year, until the end of Ordinary Time, our focus is on missionary discipleship. Bishop Patrick describes a missionary disciples as, “faith-filled, joyful and outward-looking Christians who… bear witness to His love through the service of their brothers and sisters, especially those most in need.”
Discussion Points:
- When Jesus gathered his first disciples he chose a real mix of characters: fishermen, tax collectors, loud personalities and quiet thinkers. Why do you think Jesus chose a diverse team instead of people who were all exactly the same?
- If discipleship is about listening to and learning from Jesus and missionary discipleship is about putting what we’ve learnt into action, what practical ways can you come up with as a form group through which we could show that we are following in his footsteps within our day-to-day lives? Think about how we do this in school, as a parish and as part of the local community.
Click below to “Add Comment” and capture some of what has been said in your form for others to see or add them to your form scrapbook if you have one!
Lord Jesus, you look upon us with eyes of compassion. You know our names, our strengths, and our worries. Help us to hear your call today and give us the courage to follow you as missionary disciples. Amen.
Day 2 – “For I was hungry and you gave me food.”
We invite you to start with the Sign of the Cross.
Response: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Bishop Patrick constantly reminds us of our responsibility as Catholics to care for the poor and vulnerable in the Diocese of Nottingham. We receive so many blessings (free education, somewhere to call home, our friendships) that we are called to share freely with those who have less. At SSPP, you live out the Catholic Social Teaching principle of Preferential Option for the Poor in many ways, such as when you bring in donations for the foodbank, when you support charity bake sales and when you look out for those around you who might be in need of additional support.
Later this term, the Year 7 Chaplaincy Team members are planning on running a bake sale to raise money for a charity called Mary’s Meals. When we organise events to support charities such as CAFOD and Mary’s Meals, and when you support these, we are living as missionary disciples of Jesus who said, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
Watch this video to find out more about the work of Mary’s Meals and look out for posters around school in the coming weeks to give you details about when this will be and how you can support this worthwhile charity.
How many subscriptions do you have to things like Spotify or Netflix? How many times a week do you pop over to the Co-Op after school for a treat? How many times in a month do you get a takeaway? How much do you spend on make up, sports equipment or computer games?
In reality, £19.15 isn’t that much money for most of us today, but to these children it is the difference between eating every day and literally starving. That money doesn’t just feed them for one day or one week, but that enables a child to be fed on every day that they are at school for a whole year! How amazing is that?
Heavenly Father, Everything we have is a gift from your generous hand. Teach us to be generous in return. Remove any selfishness from our hearts, so we can freely share our joy, our time, and our support with those in need. Amen.
Day 3 – A Dash of Hope
We invite you to start with the Sign of the Cross.
Response: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen
When you think of the word ‘missionary’ it might make you think of people who travel to the other side of the world to help people in need, but a missionary is actually anyone sent by Christ to bring His love and justice into the local environment whether that be in our classrooms, our homes, in our local streets or throughout the wider world.
Part of being a missionary discipleship is about spreading hope and joy. Sometimes simply offering somebody a smile or a kind word is enough. Do you remember Bishop Patrick’s definition of a missionary discicple from earlier this week?
Missionary Disciples are, “faith-filled, joyful and outward-looking Christians who… bear witness to His love through the service of their brothers and sisters, especially those most in need.”
– Bishop Patrick McKinney (Bishop of Nottingham)
Next Friday, as part of our celebrations for the Feast Day of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, we will be taking part in a colour dash to help raise money for the local charity Raising Children’s Hopes. Loads of schools, many of which are within our Academy Trust, have been doing their colour dashes over the last few weeks to give back to a charity that supports the most vulnerable pupils and families. The charity offers support with costs for school trips and prom, it supplies school uniform and warm winter coats and it offers toiletries to people most in need. But in order to be able to do this, they need our help! When you joyfully throw yourself into the colour dash next week, you will literally be becoming the colourful, joyful missionary disciple which Bishop Patrick speaks about.
Remember that it costs just £2 to get involved in the colour dash next Friday and you will need to bring a change of clothes (and shoes) which you do not mind getting covered in powder paint!
Your mission this week is to use the felt pens and/or colourful sticky notes in your form resource box to write down your own hopes for young people in need both within our local area and throughout the world. Add these into your form scrapbook. You could even add in some photos or feedback following the colour dash too!
Lord God, you call us to be a vibrant, colourful lights in the world. Bless our school community as we prepare for the colour dash next week. Open our hearts to the mission of the charity Raising Children’s Hopes so that we might raise as much money as possible for the most vulnerable children and families in our communities. Amen.
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