This is the second part of a parish mission I gave in Richmond, TX, 2006.

1. St. John Fisher Lenten
Mission
April 5-6, 2006
Richmond, TX

3. Holy Thursday
Image: Jesus washes the feet of his
disciples
God’s mighty work of creation
Jesus washes your feet
You are created in God’s image (Gen
1:27)
You are created very good! (Gen 1:31)
Ps. 8:5-6

4. Holy Thursday
Ps. 139:13-15
Eph 2:10
Response
Faith in the God who created me (CCC
150 and 1814)
Almsgiving and works of mercy (CCC
2447 and Jn. 13:15)

6. Good Friday
Image: Jesus crucified
God’s mighty work of Redemption
You have been redeemed and your sins
forgiven
Is. 44:22-23
Gal. 4:4-5
Col 1:13-14

7. Good Friday
God loves you and gave his Son for you
(Jn. 3:16; Rom. 5:8)
Response
Love for the Bridegroom who loves you
(Mt. 22:37)
Fasting: learning to be free to give
myself in love

8. Good Friday
“I, N., take you, Jesus, to be [my Lord
and Saviour]. I promise to be true to
you in good times and in bad, in
sickness and in health. I will love you
[with all my heart, with all my soul,
with all mind, mind and with all my
strength.] I will honor you all the days
of my life.”

9. Prayer to the Holy Spirit
V - Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts
of your faithful.
R - And kindle in them the fire of
your love.
V - Send forth your spirit, Lord, and
they shall be created.
R - And thou shalt renew the face of
the earth.

10. Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Let us pray,
O God, who by the light of the Holy
Spirit did instruct the hearts of your
faithful; grant that in the same
Spirit we may be truly wise and ever
rejoice in his consolation. Through
the same Christ, our Lord. Amen.

12. Easter Sunday
Image: Jesus’ Resurrection from
the dead
Holy Thursday reminds us of
Creation and our dignity
Good Friday reminds of Redemption
and God’s love for sinners
Easter Sunday reminds us of . . .
Glorification!

13. Glorification
What do we mean by glorification?
The first sign of Jesus’ coming
glorification was the Transfiguration
“And he was transfigured before them;
his face shone like the sun and his
clothes became white as light.” (Mt.
17:2)
Jesus predicted his glorification

14. Glorification
“I glorified you on earth by
accomplishing the work that you gave
me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with
you, with the glory that I had with you
before the world began.” (Jn. 17:4-5)
Jesus gave glory to his Father by doing
his will
Now he will receive the glory he had
with the Father from all eternity

15. Glorification
What kind of glory awaits the
Christian?
“[Jesus] makes partners in his
heavenly glorification those who have
believed in him and remained faithful
to his will. Heaven is the blessed
community of all who are perfectly
incorporated into Christ.” (CCC 1026)

16. Glorification
“Believers who respond to God's word
and become members of Christ's
Body . . . are united in a hidden and
real way to Christ in his Passion and
glorification.” (CCC 790)
Especially in Baptism where you are
united to Jesus’ death and
Resurrection
And in the Eucharist which is a real
communion with the Risen Jesus

17. Your Response
Hope!
What is hope?
“Hope is virtue by which we desire the
kingdom of heaven and eternal life as
our happiness,
placing our trust in Christ's promises
relying not on our own strength, but
on the help of the grace of the Holy
Spirit.” (CCC 1817)

18. Your Response
What’s the practical benefit of
hope?
Hope keeps you from discouragement;
it sustains him during times of
abandonment;
it opens up your heart in expectation
of eternal beatitude
preserves you from selfishness
and leads you to the happiness that
flows from charity. (CCC 1818)

19. Your Response
2 Corinthians 4:16-17
“Therefore, we are not discouraged;
rather, although our outer self is
wasting away, our inner self is being
renewed day by day. For this
momentary light affliction is producing
for us an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison . . .”

20. Your Response
There is a close connection between
hope and glorification
We can therefore hope in the glory of
heaven promised by God to those who
love him and do his will. The Church
longs to be united with Christ, her
Bridegroom, in the glory of heaven.
(CCC 1821)

21. Your Response
Holy Thursday called us to works of
mercy
Good Friday called us to fasting
Easter Sunday calls us to prayer
Pope John Paul II, Novo Millennio
Ineunte (At the beginning of the 3rd
Millenium):

22. Your Response
Only the experience of silence and
prayer offers the proper setting for the
growth and development of a true,
faithful and consistent knowledge of
the Word made flesh. (NMI 20)
Prayer develops that conversation with
Christ which makes us his intimate
friends: "Abide in me and I in you" (Jn
15:4). (NMI 32)

23. Your Response
But it would be wrong to think that
ordinary Christians can be content
with a shallow prayer that is unable to
fill their whole life. Especially in the
face of the many trials to which today's
world subjects faith, they would be not
only mediocre Christians but
"Christians at risk". (NMI 34)
Does your prayer life keep you in
mediocrity?

24. Learn to pray from the Catechism
Part Four is about prayer and the Our
Father
Use the Our Father as your outline
Stop after each line and pray
“Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.”

25. Your Response
Stop here and take time to praise God
for who he is and thank him for all
he’s done
“Your kingdom come your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.”
Pray for his will in your life, your
marriage, the Church, the world, etc.
Surrender yourself and all you have to
God’s will for you

27. Pentecost
Image: the Holy Spirit falling like
tongues of fire on Mary and the
disciples
Which of God’s mighty works?
Sanctification!
The Holy Spirit has come to make us
holy

28. Sanctification
This is the completion of the Easter
mystery
Jesus gives us his Holy Spirit
God created us and redeemed us
from our sin
He has given of the hope of glory in
heaven

29. Sanctification
What happens to us while we wait
for heaven?
We surrender to the work of the Holy
Spirit in our lives
Both the Old and New Testament
call us to holiness

30. Sanctification
“Speak to the whole Israelite
community and tell them: Be holy, for
I, the LORD your God, am holy.” (Lev.
19:2)
“So be perfect, just as your heavenly
Father is perfect.” (Mt. 5:48)

31. Sanctification
“You should put away the old self of
your former way of life, corrupted
through deceitful desires, and be
renewed in the spirit of your minds,
and put on the new self, created in
God’s way in righteousness and
holiness of truth.” (Eph. 4:22-24)
What is holiness really?
Are regular people called to holiness?

32. Your Response
Pope John Paul II again,
Holiness, a message that convinces
without the need for words, is the
living reflection of the face of Christ.
Whether it’s from Popes well-know to
history or humble lay and religious
figures (NMI 7)
Wherever you are, whoever you are, it
is possible to be a reflection of Christ

33. Your Response
Our response to Creation was faith
To Redemption was love
To Glorification was hope
Our response to Sanctification
Is our commitment to live a holy life
According to our vocation

34. Your Response
Holy Thursday called us to works of
mercy
Good Friday to fasting
Easter Sunday to prayer
Pentecost calls us to evangelization
Why is a commitment holiness
important?

35. Your Response
Like those pilgrims of two thousand
years ago, the men and women of our
own day — often perhaps
unconsciously — ask believers not
only to "speak" of Christ, but in a
certain sense to "show" him to them.
(NMI 16)
Is evangelization simply one of the
Church’s ministries?

36. Your Response
“Evangelizing is in fact the grace and
vocation proper to the Church, her
deepest identity. She exists in order to
evangelize, that is to say, in order to
preach and teach, to be the channel of
the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners
with God, and to perpetuate Christ's
sacrifice in the Mass, which is the
memorial of His death and glorious
resurrection.” Pope Paul VI, Evangelii
Nuntiandi, 14

37. Your Response
Do I have to evangelize?
“Finally, the person who has been
evangelized goes on to evangelize
others. Here lies the test of truth, the
touchstone of evangelization: it is
unthinkable that a person should
accept the Word and give himself to
the kingdom without becoming a
person who bears witness to it and
proclaims it in his turn.” (EN 24)

38. Your Response
“No believer in Christ, no institution of
the Church can avoid this supreme
duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples.”
(Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris
Missio)
You only have to evangelize if you
are a believe yourself
If you have yourself been evangelized

39. Your Response
I don’t know how to evangelize!
Two simple things you can do:
Tell your story! What has God done
for you?
Tell others of the mighty works that
God has done for them
“God created you in his image.
He has redeemed you from sin because
of his love for you.

40. Your Response
He wants you to be in heaven with him
forever.
Turn from sin, put your faith in Jesus
and surrender to the Holy Spirit in
your life.”