The
St
Luke the Evangelist
Catholic Church
12333
Bayleaf Church Road
“...if
we walk in the light, then we have fellowship with one another and
the blood of his
Son, Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1, 7
As brothers in Christ, we are all on a
journey through life. Although we are each on our own portion of that journey,
Christ is walking beside each and everyone of us. All the men of St Luke’s, and those outside our Christian
community, are invited to join The Journeymen as we seek to gain a greater
understanding of the teachings of Christ and how to apply them to our daily
lives, bringing us closer together as one with him.
To foster in men,
awareness of Christ Jesus’ presence among us and to foster through this
awareness spiritual growth and a strengthening of faith, encouraging a
participation in all manner of worship in the Sacraments, the use of the Sacred
Scripture as part of an active prayer life, involvement in Christian community
ministry, discipleship, and evangelization on our journey in faith with Christ.
To encourage in
family and others, greater devotion in prayer and worship by setting an example
personally, of that to which we are called by Jesus and his Blessed Mother.
Provide a forum
for men to come together to discuss issues and identify how Catholic
principles and
practices can be applied to daily life activities.
Put into practice
the principles outlined in the mission statement:
Participation
in the sacraments, the use of Sacred Scripture in an active prayer life,
involvement in Christian community ministries, discipleship, and
evangelization.
"For just as
a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead."
Jas. 2, 26
The
Journeymen meet the third Saturday morning of each month before Mass at
the
St
Luke the Evangelist Church from 7:30 to 8:45 am. These sessions provide an
opportunity to discuss issues in our daily lives, how to apply scriptural
teachings and Catholic principles as we journey through life with Christ by our
side. The men are encouraged to participate in the Holy Mass that follows the
meeting.
Once
a year in November the Journeymen sponsor a daylong retreat at the church as a
time to come together to give testimony, participate in discussion, and spend
time in personal reflection.
A
number of fellowship breakfasts are sponsored by The Journeymen throughout the
year to foster a greater sense of community among the men of St. Luke’s Parish.
The breakfasts are held at St. Luke’s and announced in the church bulletin 1-2
weeks prior to the event.
Each
year around Father’s Day, the Journeymen sponsor a daylong outing for dads and
children to enjoy time together and in fellowship with other dads and children
of St. Luke’s Parish.
The
Journeymen sponsor apologetics discussion sessions on the third Tuesday of each
month from 7:45 to 9:00 pm in the St. Luke’s Faith Formations Center. These
sessions follow Tuesday night mass and all are encouraged to attend mass prior
to the sessions. The sessions are designed to discuss a different topic each
month. The objective of these sessions is to focus on the scriptural and
tradition basis of Catholic beliefs and gain knowledge that helps us to discuss
our beliefs with greater confidence and understanding.
The
2002 schedule:
April 16 Belief in God
May 21 Mary the Mother of God, part I
June 18 Purgatory
July 16 The Papacy
Aug 20 Scripture Alone
Sept 17 Communion of Saints
Oct 15 Mary the Mother of God, part II
By faith,” man
freely commits his entire self to God”
For this reason,
the believer seeks to know and do God’s will.
“The righteous
shall live by faith. Rom. 1, 17 ; Gal. 5, 5
It is then we must
turn to the witness of faith: to
Abraham, who “in hope”...believed against hope”, to the Virgin Mary, who in
“her pilgrimage of faith, “walked into the “night of faith.” In sharing the darkness of her son’s
suffering and death; and to so many others.
“Therefore, since
we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every
weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the
race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our
faith.” Heb. 12, 1-2
The unity of the Mystical Body: the
Eucharist makes the Church.
Those who receive
the Eucharist are united more closely to Christ. Through it Christ unites them to all the faithful in one body –
the Church. Communion renews,
strengthens, and deepens this incorporation into the Church, already achieved
by Baptism. “ In Baptism we have been called to form but one body.” 1
Cor. 12, 13 The Eucharist fulfills
this call.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church # 1396.
In the liturgy of
the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species
of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign
of adoration of the Lord.
Catechism of the
Catholic Church # 1378
Christ Jesus who
died, yes who was raised from the dead, who is at the right had of God, who
indeed intercedes for us, “is present in many ways his Church; in his word, in
His Church’s prayer, “where two or three are gathered in my name,” in the poor,
the sick, and the imprisoned, in the sacraments of which He is the author, in
the sacrifice of the Mass, and in the person of the minister. But “He is present most especially in the Eucharistic
species.
The mode of
Christ’s presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. ... This presence is
called “real”... because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say,
it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man make Himself wholly
and entirely present.
“And such is the
force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church as her support
and vigor and the children of the Church strength for their faith, food for the
soul, and a pure and lasting font of spiritual life” Hence “ access to Sacred
Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful”
“Therefore, the
study of the sacred page’ should be the very soul of sacred theology.
The Church
“forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful...to learn’ the
surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ,” by frequent reading of the divine
Scripture. “Ignorance of the Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church # 131, 132, 133.
In the New
Covenant, prayer is the living relationship of the children of God with their
Father who is good beyond measure with his Son Jesus Christ and with the Holy
Spirit. The life of prayer is the habit of being in the presence of the
thrice-holy God and in communion with him.
The Christian
family is the first place of education in prayer. Based on the sacrament of marriage, the family is the “domestic
church” where God’s children learn to pray “as the church” and to persevere in
prayer.
“The Church’s
devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.” The Church rightly honors “the Blessed
Virgin with special devotions”. The
liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the
rosary, an “epitome of the whole Gospel,” express this devotion to the Virgin
Mary.
The duty of
Christians to take part in the life of the Church impels them to act as witnesses of the Gospel and of the
obligations that flow from it. This witness is a transmission of the faith in
words and deeds. Witness is an act of
justice that establishes the truth or makes it known.
The disciple of
Christ consents to “live in the truth”.
“If we say we have
fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according
to the truth.” 1 Jn. 1, 6
In situations that
require witness to the faith, the Christian must profess it without
equivocation, after the example of St. Paul before his judges.
All must be
prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the
cross.
The Christian is
not to “be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord.” 2 Tim. 1, 8
Before Pilate,
Christ proclaims that he “has come into the world to bear witness to the
truth.”
Jn. 18, 37
The disciple of
Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it
confidently bear witness to it, and spread
it.”