When the Lord created His covenant with Abraham and his tribe, the Hebrews did not automatically know what it meant to be a people chosen by God. Nor did they know how to act as the chosen people.
I believe this is one of the reasons why our first reading today has a lot of future tense language in it. I will do this. I will do that. You will be this. The Hebrews had to go through a formation, of sorts, to become the chosen people to which they were being called.
In a similar vein, Archbishop Lori challenges us to take part in a Catholic faith formation course. It could be something offered by Incarnate Word or the Archdiocese. It could be something that you find online, such as the Augustine Institute (just make sure the resource is truly Catholic).
In issuing this challenge, Archbishop Lori asks the following questions: “Looking at the development of your own faith, how have you ‘come to believe’ truths about Christ and/or the Catholic faith? What teachings do you still have questions about? What areas of your faith would you like to develop further? Where can you find resources — or whom can you ask for resources — to help you deepen your faith and understanding?”
In the shadow of this challenge and as a follow-up the questions I received related to the comments I made a couple months ago about reaching out to others, I’d like to take the opportunity to issue a corollary challenge. In the spirit of the New Evangelization and specifically the renewed call for Missionary Discipleship in the wake of All Things New, I encourage you to answer the challenge of Archbishop Lori by taking one or more formation courses that would help you grow in Missionary Discipleship.
The Archdiocese offers several evangelization workshops throughout the area. These workshops are free and are constructed very well. They begin with a very fundamental approach to help us see what evangelization really is and more importantly, what it is not. And begins to expand on the topic from there.
One of the more effective parts of being a missionary disciple is learning how to tell your story in a more impactful way. Another formation opportunity related to this is to attend a speaker workshop at the Catholic Renewal Center.
The speaker workshops offer a very supportive environment to learn how to more effectively tell your story. Even if you never speak at an event for the Renewal Center, the skills you would pick up would enable you to tell your story to your family, your friends, and others in your circle of influence in such a way that may help someone start their journey to Christ.
Another opportunity is to attend pro life sidewalk counseling training. In a supportive environment you learn the fundamentals of sidewalk counseling and have the opportunity to role play. Again, even if you never actually volunteer to provide sidewalk counseling in front of an abortion mill, the skills would be easily translatable to situations where you are having individual faith conversations with family and friends, particularly those that have fallen away from the faith and/or have issues with the faith.
You can also find some good resources on Formed. Formed is a website and media platform owned by the Augustine Institute. Each of us have the opportunity to obtain a free subscription to Formed through Incarnate Word. A couple of series of interest include “Formed for Mission” and the other is simply called “Missionary Discipleship”.
The Archdiocese also has several online resources through the Office of Evangelization and Discipleship, including a podcast called “Go & Make”.
Brothers and sisters, we have the opportunity to answer the challenge of Archbishop Lori in a very profound way. By answering this challenge, we have the opportunity to be formed into the people that can reach out to others that they may be converted into children of God, as we discussed a couple months ago. We have the opportunity to answer the challenge in a way that truly brings forth everything God intended the Church to be when He made His covenant with Abraham.
As we enter into this brave challenge, there will be moments of fear and anxiety. But, be not afraid. The promises made to Abraham are also the promises made to us. So, look to the Lord in his strength; seek to serve him constantly through missionary discipleship.
Thanks be to God!
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