Thursday, May 19, 2011
smth tt rly struck me during parish recollection was how fr william kept going on abt e idea tt a group cannot be inward looking - "if u're inward looking, u will die!" the group must look outwards. there must be evangelism. evangelism not in the sense of increasing numbers and bringing more ppl to the faith (altho these are usually side effects). rather, evangelism in the sense of sharing our gifts, our knowledge, and above all, sharing God's word with others. a sharing not simply for the sake of sharing, but a sharing because we hv experienced smth so good and we want other ppl (esp our loved ones) to be part of tt experience.
smth tt rly struck me during parish recollection was how fr william kept going on abt e idea tt a group cannot be inward looking - "if u're inward looking, u will die!" the group must look outwards. there must be evangelism. evangelism not in the sense of increasing numbers and bringing more ppl to the faith (altho these are usually side effects). rather, evangelism in the sense of sharing our gifts, our knowledge, and above all, sharing God's word with others. a sharing not simply for the sake of sharing, but a sharing because we hv experienced smth so good and we want other ppl (esp our loved ones) to be part of tt experience.
fr william also said, "don't tell me about your vision; tell me about your mission." i think for most of e youth communities, our vision is community itself - a grp of brothers and sisters who love each other and are willing to give ourselves for one another. but what then is our mission?
it made me question the vision and mission of log. it made me question e entire concept of a community, in fact. if we as communities exist simply for being community, are we rly on e right path?
we floated an idea ard before: tt to reach out to others, we first hv to form ourselves. but i don't think tt's a wholly accurate structure. maybe in reaching outwards, we ourselves get formed internally. in giving, we receive. in doing, we grow.
my own ideas on these issues are not v coherent yet. i'm just bouncing them off here, because i think it's a gd time to think abt them since we're gonna discuss such matters on sunday.
mel