English
SAFCAM Communique #47 English
10-04-2021
SAFCAM Communique #47 10/04/2021
Dear Subscribers
We wish you a blessed feast of Divine Mercy!
The gospel of the second Sunday of Easter reports two encounters with the risen Jesus. The text lists several interesting details, such as the locked doors, the peace-greeting of Jesus, the joy of the disciples, and the offer of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
There is one detail that emphasizes “our journey of faith”. It is the first day of the week! Sunday then! The day the first Christians meet! The day when the living Jesus manifests himself! It is during their weekly meeting that the Risen Jesus comes, that he is there among them.
We would be wrong to consider faith as a strictly personal or individual matter. The presence of the Risen Christ is above all experienced in the context of a community gathering. They are “together”, “gathered”, “in community”, in Church!
The position of Thomas illustrates this well. The first time, Thomas was not with the other disciples. The second time, Thomas was with them. As long as Thomas was on his own, he misses the experience of the living Lord and so finds it hard to believe. But once he finds himself "among the community of believers," then he is moved and helped to believe!
None of us can be alone with our faith! I am educated in the faith! Faith is given to me; faith is transmitted to me. Others help me to believe. We cannot believe all alone, but we believe together with the Church! It happens through our education, our family, our home, our schools, our centres, our work environment, our parishes, our Sunday assemblies.
And still on the subject of “faith”, there are phrases that certainly impact us: “My Lord and my God!"; “Blessed are those who believe without seeing."; “these signs have been given so that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that, by your faith, you might have life in his name."
How can we respond other than with a multitude of ALLELUIAS!
Notice:
SAFCAM will present four sessions on the subject of sexual and affective education in English and in French. The four x 1hour sessions themes will focus on:
- Understanding ourselves as male and female – our sexual bodies
- What has love got to do with it? – our hearts and emotions
- Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder – our spirits and values
- Not going with the flow – resisting harmful liberal trends
The sessions will consist of some input but also of shared understandings. Thus, before each session, participants will receive a worksheet and some reflection materials to prepare in advance. This will help our exchanges to be all the more fruitful. And after each session some further resources for use with young people will be emailed.
The sessions in English will take place every Tuesday, and those in French will be held every Wednesday. In English, on Tuesdays 20/04; 27/04; 04/05; 11/05
And the time zones will be as follows:
|
Dakar, Lomé, Accra, … |
15.30 – 16.30 |
|
Kinshasa, Luanda, Yaoundé, Lagos, … |
16.30 – 17.30 |
|
Maputo, Kigali, Lusaka, Lubumbashi, … |
17.30 – 18.30 |
|
Antananarivo, Addis Ababa, Nairobi, … |
18.30 – 19.30 |
The zoom link to join the zoom sessions will be sent shortly before due date to all who indicate their interest in participating by simply sending us a message – their name and preferred language.
Recommended:
Join the initiative of the General Councillor for Youth Ministry, Fr Miguel-Angel García, together with the Salesian Youth Movement around the world, to pray for Myanmar, tomorrow, 11 April @ 15h00 Myanmar time (=12.30 Rome time). Participate on social media, using the hashtag #SYMPRAYSFORMYANMAR.
A prayer composed by a citizen of Myanmar will be recited, a beautiful moment of spiritual union on the 11th of the month in which we remember the Salesian missions. For the text of the prayer click here:
https://mcusercontent.com/b92702ef96a2271c3fcdf96fb/images/03a88687-a006-4b3e-b3b2-6435c717b400.png
If you want a 15-minute summary of the bible from the perspective of the Theology of the Body watch this powerful talk by Christopher West:
And click here for the 1-minute message on the theme of Respect by Cagliero-11: (Click LIKE!)
Christus Vivit! Alleluia!
Camiel and François
