Pope Francis has spoken many times of the value and power of intercessory prayer in Christian life. “When evangelizers rise from prayer, their hearts are more open; freed of self-absorption, they are desirous of doing good and sharing their lives with others.” (The Joy of the Gospel #28) Have you ever run into someone who asked you to pray for him or her? Did you take the time at that moment to stop what you […]
This is the seventh and final post in a series about discipleship. We have explored the following keys of discipleship—desire, discernment, decision-making, discipline, dwelling in the Word, and dependence on the Holy Spirit. With this article, we will conclude our series by focusing on a key element of discipleship: doing. Essential to our growth in discipleship is our disposition (being) in relationship to God and how to put our faith at the service of others […]
This is part six of a seven-part series on discipleship. Cultivating a dependence on the Holy Spirit is especially important for our continued intimacy with Jesus Christ. A good friend of mine often calls the Holy Spirit “the forgotten Person of the Holy Trinity.” When I asked him why, he remarked, “When Christians live as if their lives are not transfigured by the love and joy of the Gospel, then they have forgotten the Holy […]
This is part five of a seven-part series on discipleship. So far in this series, we have covered desire, discernment, decision-making, and discipline. In this article, we will talk about an essential and critical key to discipleship: Dwelling in the Word of God. A couple of years ago, I spoke with a group of students about the importance of remaining connected to God through prayerful reading of the Scriptures at home. After the class, a […]
This is part four of a seven-part series on discipleship. In my last article, we discussed the importance of making decisions to say “no” to the things of the world so that we could say “yes” to Jesus Christ. Closely related to the key of decision-making for Christ is the key of discipline, which reminds me of a story about when I first immigrated to the United States. A couple of months after my arrival […]
This prayer originally appeared as part of the post The Power of Prayer: Three Ways to Model Discipleship. Download a PDF version of the prayer here. Take a moment and ask yourself: does every activity in my parish point more deeply to Jesus? Julianne Stanz wants to help you and your parish community make sure the answer to this question is a resounding, “Yes!” Preorder Julianne’s new book, Start with Jesus: How Everyday Disciples Will […]
Finding catechists who are evangelizers and see themselves as such is the key to a faith formation process that forms disciples. The below video highlights five aspects of the process using the word GIFTS. Read the complete article that inspired this video: Recruiting and Retaining Catechists Who Evangelize with GIFTS. Take a moment and ask yourself: does every activity in my parish point more deeply to Jesus? Julianne Stanz wants to help you and your […]
This is part three of a seven-part series on discipleship. “Just make a decision,” I said to my two children as they were vacillating between two very simple options for dinner. If only all decisions could be so trivial! While some decisions in our life can be very simple, others will be pretty complex. This is especially true when making decisions in relation to our faith. In the last two parts of this series, we […]
This is part two of a seven-part series on discipleship. In my last blog post, we discussed desire as a key to discipleship and reviewed a number of ways that we can keep the flame of our faith burning. We will now look at a critical spiritual skill to help us to grow as disciples: discernment. Being a disciple means that we must make the time to reflect upon our lives. Just as Jesus went […]
This is part one of a seven-part series on discipleship. In the past few years, the terms “discipleship” and “missionary discipleship” have become very familiar to those in ministry. But the concept of discipleship and mission is not new and has been a part of our Catholic faith for 2,000 years. The word disciple comes from the Greek word mathetes, meaning “pupil or student of the master.” The Master is, of course, Jesus Christ. Your […]
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