Came to my mind that in the session that Ben gave on the Mass, I am not sure if I downplayed the importance of the Eucharist. Vatican II states that it is the source and summit the life and the mission of the church. Such is the importance of the Eucharist.
I want to bring to your mind again that the celebration of the eucharist is the re-presentation of the life and more importantly the death and sacrifice of Christ, and also his resurrection.
The priest, in the preparation of the gifts, will put a drop of water in to the wine. This is to signify the mingling of our humanity with the divinity of Christ and that we are one with him.
When the priest places his hands over the gifts and invokes the Holy Spirit to come down and make them into the body and blood of Our Lord, it is the celebration of his incarnation when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and she conceived the Lord.
The separate consecration of the bread, and then the wine signifies the celebration of his death as the body and blood is separated.
After the 'Lamb of God', when the priest breaks the bread, it represents the body of Christ broken for us and this is when he redeemed our sins as the sacrificial Lamb of God.
After that, the priest will break off a piece of the bread and drop it into the chalice. This represents the uniting of the body with the blood and we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord.
So you can see, the Eucharist is a celebration of the whole paschal mystery of the Lord Jesus.
Saying this, I also do not want to downplay the importance of the other sacraments as well. Baptism, Reconciliation, Confirmation, Holy Orders, Matrimony and the Anointing of the Sick are important as well. We should not 'grade' the sacraments but see these as signs that the Lord has left for us to signify that he is still here with us.
Please forward this mail to your members and whoever else you think can benefit from this and feel free to email me of you or they should have any more queries or need any more clarification.
I remain with you Always in Christ
Cornelius Vianney Ching
Friday, September 19, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Amplify Friday in the City!
Man it was good! Leonard (the very anointed speaker), God bless you!
I'll share with you what I learnt from there. I encourage the rest to share how they felt too =)
There is so much insight to the 'woman at the well' story, which I never knew before!here goes..
Jn 4:1-30 (careful its not letter of Jn, its Gospel of Jn)
1.When Jesus heard the Pharisees had found out that he was making and baptising more disciples than John
2. though in fact it was his disciples who baptised, not Jesus himself
3. he left Judea and went back to Galilee.
So here we begin with Church politics...very common in our lives..imagine pple comparing the JCFC(Jesus Christ Fan Club) who is holding a huge party at sentosa and getting more members than the JBYM (John the Baptist youth ministry) who only have a small NTUC chalet party.
We totally miss the point sometimes, that we are all one, all Christians.
4.Jesus had to pass through Samaria.
Jesus made it sound like he had an appointment..of caz from Judea to Galilee, Samaria is the shortest route..but who every takes that route?! It's filled with disgusting Samaritans.
5. On the way he came to the Samaritan town called Sychar near the land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6. Jacob's well was there and Jesus, tired by the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the 6th hour. (in our terms..its 12 noon)
7. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water,
Now isn't this odd...y would one want to draw water at 12 noon when it was hottest?! Everyone tries to go when there's no sun, in the morning or evening. Either this woman is trying to beat the ERP charges and the mad rush, OR she is out to avoid meeting anyone. Why avoid? Maybe she is ashamed of herself or she is outcasted...we'll find out later.
7. Jesus said to her, " Give me something to drink."
8. His disciples had gone into town to buy food.
9. The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew. How is it that you ask me, a Samaritan for something to drink?" Jews, of course, do not associate with Samaritans.
The background of why Jews do not associate with Samaritans is because Jews are considered the pure race, while Samaritans were Jews who intermarried with other people who entered the country. The Jews hated the Samaritans also bcoz they had other gods. So she was considered the lowest of the low since she was not only a Samaritan but also a woman (the lesser of the two sexes) so she was very shocked how come Jesus even talked to her..and even asked her for a favour.
10. Jesus replied "If you only knew what God is offering and who it is that is saying to you: 'Give me a drink', you would have been the one to ask, and he would have given tou living water."
11. "You have no bucket, sir", she answered " and the well is deep, how could you get this living water?
12.Are you a greater man than our father Jacob who gave is this well and drank from it himself with his sons and his cattle?"
Over here, Jesus is telling her, if you knew I was the Son of God, and what eternal life God wants to grant you, you would not care about this water, you would ask me to give u that eternal life!
Unfortunately, all of us... like the woman, do not get it that quickly. She thinks of material things...does not get the drift of what Jesus is offering her. "So without the bucket you can get water?! how? Oh i know...ur from PUB right?!"
13. Jesus replied "Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again;
14. but anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again. The water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life."
15. "Sir," said the woman "give me some of that water, so that I may never get thristy and never have to come here again to draw water."
Yea...this woman sorta half half gets it but not quite...she is thinking...I dun wana be thirsty again...So you mean you have pipes that lead to my house and I can get water by just turning the tap?! Way cool and convenient! I want! Help me install!
16. "Go and call your husband" said Jesus to her " and come back here."
Jesus knows she yearns for salvation, but He needs to heal her first before she can accept this salvation. To heal her, he has to touch her wound...a very deep wound...
17. The woman answered, "I have no husband".
18. He said to her, "You are right to say that you have no husband for although u had 5, the one you have now is not your husband. You spoke the truth there".
Ouch. (guess she is avoiding pple caz of this) Jesus sure poked her open wound really hard. However he acknowledges her honesty.
19. "I see that you are a prophet, sir" said the woman.
20. "Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, while you say that Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship"
21-24. Jesus said: "Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know; for salvation comes from the Jews. But the hour will come- in fact it is here already- when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; that is the kind of worshipper the Father wants. God is spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth"
Now the woman understands better, that he sure is some1 great, how else could this stranger know my dirty background so well! Then she admits that they have not been following the right paths. Jesus tells her, no matter, if u start now to worship the right God with truth and in spirit, you will be saved. Jesus looks past the sin n sees us for what we really are. He comes at any hour, He doesn't wait for us to get our act together..He comes to heal us.
The Spirit is the one who makes a new creature of man.
Worship "In truth" because that is the only worship that meets the conditions of God revealed by Jesus.
25. The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah-that is, Christ- is coming; and when he comes he will tell us everything".
26. "I who am speaking to you," said Jesus, "I am he."
This woman dares not trusts all he says... so she tells him that Christ is coming and when he comes he will tell us everything. implying that there is no need to tell me so much now for I dun even know you.
To her surprise...The Son of God is speaking to her now! So she better believe it!
27. At this point the disciples returned, and were surprised to find him speaking to a woman, though none of them asked "what do u want from her?" or "why are u toking to her?!"
28. The woman put down her water jar and hurried back to the town to tell the people
29. "Come and see a man who has told me everything i ever did; I wonder if he is the Christ?"
30. This brought pple out of town and the started walking towards Him.
Wonderful news is that the woman has been healed. Remember that she was trying her best to avoid everyone...but now, she runs towards the town where there are many people! And she is even so brave to tell everyone that she has met Christ! urges them to go c 4 themselves!
More wonderful news is that if u read on, many more pple believed in Jesus because of this woman =)
There is more to this story than just that...Leonard tells us that this story shows us what sin is...to fill the hole in your heart, the yearning of your soul with pleasures and satisfaction..but not God =( and sin...is addictive, worse still it kills you without you even knowing it.
I hope this sharing has helped you =)
Love,
Fran
I'll share with you what I learnt from there. I encourage the rest to share how they felt too =)
There is so much insight to the 'woman at the well' story, which I never knew before!here goes..
Jn 4:1-30 (careful its not letter of Jn, its Gospel of Jn)
1.When Jesus heard the Pharisees had found out that he was making and baptising more disciples than John
2. though in fact it was his disciples who baptised, not Jesus himself
3. he left Judea and went back to Galilee.
So here we begin with Church politics...very common in our lives..imagine pple comparing the JCFC(Jesus Christ Fan Club) who is holding a huge party at sentosa and getting more members than the JBYM (John the Baptist youth ministry) who only have a small NTUC chalet party.
We totally miss the point sometimes, that we are all one, all Christians.
4.Jesus had to pass through Samaria.
Jesus made it sound like he had an appointment..of caz from Judea to Galilee, Samaria is the shortest route..but who every takes that route?! It's filled with disgusting Samaritans.
5. On the way he came to the Samaritan town called Sychar near the land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6. Jacob's well was there and Jesus, tired by the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the 6th hour. (in our terms..its 12 noon)
7. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water,
Now isn't this odd...y would one want to draw water at 12 noon when it was hottest?! Everyone tries to go when there's no sun, in the morning or evening. Either this woman is trying to beat the ERP charges and the mad rush, OR she is out to avoid meeting anyone. Why avoid? Maybe she is ashamed of herself or she is outcasted...we'll find out later.
7. Jesus said to her, " Give me something to drink."
8. His disciples had gone into town to buy food.
9. The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew. How is it that you ask me, a Samaritan for something to drink?" Jews, of course, do not associate with Samaritans.
The background of why Jews do not associate with Samaritans is because Jews are considered the pure race, while Samaritans were Jews who intermarried with other people who entered the country. The Jews hated the Samaritans also bcoz they had other gods. So she was considered the lowest of the low since she was not only a Samaritan but also a woman (the lesser of the two sexes) so she was very shocked how come Jesus even talked to her..and even asked her for a favour.
10. Jesus replied "If you only knew what God is offering and who it is that is saying to you: 'Give me a drink', you would have been the one to ask, and he would have given tou living water."
11. "You have no bucket, sir", she answered " and the well is deep, how could you get this living water?
12.Are you a greater man than our father Jacob who gave is this well and drank from it himself with his sons and his cattle?"
Over here, Jesus is telling her, if you knew I was the Son of God, and what eternal life God wants to grant you, you would not care about this water, you would ask me to give u that eternal life!
Unfortunately, all of us... like the woman, do not get it that quickly. She thinks of material things...does not get the drift of what Jesus is offering her. "So without the bucket you can get water?! how? Oh i know...ur from PUB right?!"
13. Jesus replied "Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again;
14. but anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again. The water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life."
15. "Sir," said the woman "give me some of that water, so that I may never get thristy and never have to come here again to draw water."
Yea...this woman sorta half half gets it but not quite...she is thinking...I dun wana be thirsty again...So you mean you have pipes that lead to my house and I can get water by just turning the tap?! Way cool and convenient! I want! Help me install!
16. "Go and call your husband" said Jesus to her " and come back here."
Jesus knows she yearns for salvation, but He needs to heal her first before she can accept this salvation. To heal her, he has to touch her wound...a very deep wound...
17. The woman answered, "I have no husband".
18. He said to her, "You are right to say that you have no husband for although u had 5, the one you have now is not your husband. You spoke the truth there".
Ouch. (guess she is avoiding pple caz of this) Jesus sure poked her open wound really hard. However he acknowledges her honesty.
19. "I see that you are a prophet, sir" said the woman.
20. "Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, while you say that Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship"
21-24. Jesus said: "Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know; for salvation comes from the Jews. But the hour will come- in fact it is here already- when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; that is the kind of worshipper the Father wants. God is spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth"
Now the woman understands better, that he sure is some1 great, how else could this stranger know my dirty background so well! Then she admits that they have not been following the right paths. Jesus tells her, no matter, if u start now to worship the right God with truth and in spirit, you will be saved. Jesus looks past the sin n sees us for what we really are. He comes at any hour, He doesn't wait for us to get our act together..He comes to heal us.
The Spirit is the one who makes a new creature of man.
Worship "In truth" because that is the only worship that meets the conditions of God revealed by Jesus.
25. The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah-that is, Christ- is coming; and when he comes he will tell us everything".
26. "I who am speaking to you," said Jesus, "I am he."
This woman dares not trusts all he says... so she tells him that Christ is coming and when he comes he will tell us everything. implying that there is no need to tell me so much now for I dun even know you.
To her surprise...The Son of God is speaking to her now! So she better believe it!
27. At this point the disciples returned, and were surprised to find him speaking to a woman, though none of them asked "what do u want from her?" or "why are u toking to her?!"
28. The woman put down her water jar and hurried back to the town to tell the people
29. "Come and see a man who has told me everything i ever did; I wonder if he is the Christ?"
30. This brought pple out of town and the started walking towards Him.
Wonderful news is that the woman has been healed. Remember that she was trying her best to avoid everyone...but now, she runs towards the town where there are many people! And she is even so brave to tell everyone that she has met Christ! urges them to go c 4 themselves!
More wonderful news is that if u read on, many more pple believed in Jesus because of this woman =)
There is more to this story than just that...Leonard tells us that this story shows us what sin is...to fill the hole in your heart, the yearning of your soul with pleasures and satisfaction..but not God =( and sin...is addictive, worse still it kills you without you even knowing it.
I hope this sharing has helped you =)
Love,
Fran
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