At both Masses next Sunday, we will celebrate Catechetical Sunday. This is a time to recognize the many everyday heroes in our parish who help to form and strengthen the faith of others through their witness and teaching.
Sometimes, when we hear the word “catechist”, we picture an elderly volunteer at the front of a classroom telling third graders about the saints, or another similar image, perhaps from our own upbringing. However, the Greek origin of the word “catechist” simply means “to echo”. A catechist is anyone who echoes the words of Christ (whether those words are found in Scripture, in the Catechism, or in their own life of prayer) for others to hear.
The High School Core Team members at Vacation Bible Camp are catechists. Married couples who mentor newly engaged couples as they prepare for the Sacrament of Marriage are catechists. Teachers and support staff at our school are catechists. Volunteers who serve on middle and high school ministry teams are catechists. All parents desiring to help their children follow Jesus are catechists.
In fact, parents are the very first catechists of their own children. Before a baby is baptized or even enters a church for the first time, his or her parents have begun catechizing them in the way they show the face of God to their child through their love. To learn more about how parents are catechists, check out Archbishop Hebda’s recent Letter to Families: Only One Thing is Necessary. You can find the letter here.
In the Second Reading this weekend, St. Paul tells us that “none of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s”. A great way to remind ourselves this week that no matter what happens, we are indeed the Lord’s, is to practice living our lives as an echo of Him. When you leave Mass, share with your family one thing that stood out to you in the readings or the homily. When you experience a small moment of gratitude at the goodness of creation or the kindness of another, share this reminder of God’s love with someone else. We’re all called to be catechists, laboring in the vineyard of the Lord together and echoing His words to others.
Jocelyn Johnson
Director of Youth Ministry
