Journeymen

The

 
                                                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

 

 

 


                                                                              

                                                                       

                                                                                     St Luke the Evangelist

                                                                                  Catholic Church

                                                                             12333 Bayleaf Church Road

                                                                                       Raleigh, NC

                                                                              www.jmja.com/journeymen/

 

 

                       “...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.

 

 

Mission

 

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.

 

Objective

 

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.

Works of Faith

"For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead."

Jas. 2, 26

 
Saturday morning Reflection Sessions

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.

 

The Journeymen Day- Retreat

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.

 

Fellowship Breakfasts

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.

 

A Day with Dad

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.

 

Apologetics Discussion Sessions

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

 

 

                  Guiding Principles

 

Faith

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. 

Catechism of the Catholic Church   #165

 

“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

Eucharist

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.

Worship of the Eucharist

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

Awareness of Jesus’ Presence

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.

Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1373

 

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.

Catechism of the Catholic Church #1374

 

 

 

 

Sacred Scripture

“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.

Prayer

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.

Catechism of the Catholic Church  # 2565

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.

Catechism of the Catholic Church   # 2685

“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.

Catechism of the Catholic Church  # 971

Christian Community Ministry

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.

Catechism of the Catholic Church # 2472

Discipleship

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.    

Evangelization

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.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church #  1816.