As Catholics, we profess a universal church; encountering Christ brings with it the responsibility of reaching out to those on the peripheries. This service and need to bring with us the joy of the Gospel to all starts with those around us who are overlooked and reaches to the furthest ends of the globe. As missionary disciples, we must make the Universal Church a presence at the peripheries; for example, we help persecuted Christians in Egypt, homeless and displaced civilians in Ukraine, child refugees from North Korea, typhoon survivors in the Philippines, flood victims in Mexico and people with physical disabilities in Vietnam, Cuba, and Haiti.
Throughout history, Christians have been going to other countries sharing God’s Good News and converting people. An example of this can be found in Saint Patrick, who converted most of Ireland during his living years.
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His father was a Christian deacon, he took the role due to tax incentives. When he was sixteen, he was captured by Irish raiders who were attacking his family estate. They took him to Ireland, where he spent six years there as a slave. During that time, he worked as a shepherd or did out yard work.
After those six years, he escaped, and in his writings, he claimed to have heard a voice-which he believed to be God's- telling him it was time to leave Ireland. For him to escape, he walked 200 miles from County Mayo to the Irish coast. Once he returned to Britain he had a second revelation, in his dreams, an angel appeared to him telling him that he needed to return to Ireland as a missionary. Patrick began his religious training and after 15 years, he was ordained. He returned to Ireland with two missions: to minister the Christians already living there and to convert the
St. Patrick, as he would be called, after revelation from God, escapes from slavery and returns to his home in Britain for a short time. On return to Ireland, St. Patrick dedicates the remainder of his life to spreading Christianity through the land. He transformed original Celtic warrior values into new Christian ones. Not only did St. Patrick love the Irish people, but the Irish people loved St. Patrick. Cahill notes: "as the Roman lands went from peace to chaos, the land of Ireland was rushing even more rapidly from chaos to peace" (124). The Irish, then, in their new fervor for Christianity, began setting up centers of spiritual learning. It is here in these monasteries, we learn, that monks and scribes of Ireland begin their preservation of any and every bit of literature and knowledge that they come into contact with.
Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers and children, is one of the most popular yet mysterious saints of the Catholic Church. Though considered a saint. Saint Christopher is not in the official canon of the saints, and not much is really known about him. It is theorized that Saint Christopher was actually a martyr named Reprobus who was beheaded in the third century.
Not much is known about his early life, except that he worked for a while as a hostler, groom/stable boy, at Bishops Castle, before he went to study under his uncle Erasmus Powell, vicar of Clun, Shropshire. He was then sent to Jesus College, Oxford apparently leaving without attaining a degree, whereupon he moved back to Clun, and worked as a teacher. After reading Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reede and listening to the sermons of Walter Cradoc, he became a Puritan, and joined the Free Baptist movement. He was arrested in 1640 and 1642, in Prestatyn for disturbing the peace by preaching ‘Inconformity’, but was found not guilty.
Not much is known about his early life, however, it is said that he was abandoned by his parents at the age of five in Virginia during 1965 and later given shelter and minimal education from Judge Anthony Winston. Later, at fifteen years old, he became an apprentice blacksmith before soon enlisting in the continental army.
The missionary expansion and their work within different nations is a dilemma of well intentions versus prosperity and power. Many missionaries remained out of politics and out of local culture and only served the communities for the better. They increased educational opportunities and provided medical care; most importantly they served to ensure the communities could actively participate in the international community. While the government and businesses reaped the rewards of increased prosperity and power, these rewards were in many ways not the purpose of missionary expansion but merely an outcome.
the son of former slaves . As a 15-year-old he left home to work in a traveling
When he was about six or seven years old his mothers old master died which lead to all the saves being divided between the children. He was sent to his father’s wife’s brother-in-law; this separated him from his mother. The way they were divided was that different names of the slave’s were written on a piece of paper and put into a box. Then the children would all draw from the box and see whom they get.
At the time he was born, a slave child was not allowed to stay with their mother more than a couple months. He spent his childhood under the care of an older woman, who was kept as a slave just to raise the children. "I never saw my mother, to know her as such, more than four or five times in my life; and each of these times was a very short duration, and at night. " After that, the mother was sent off to another location so that the child would not have any ties to her.
...ess fortunate in their time and assist with having good practices with their neighbors. As today’s Christians, we can think of one of the great commandments in the New Testament, “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”. (Matthew 22:39). When we care for our neighbor and help provide for the less fortunate, we display holiness as well as show our faith to the world. Matthew 25:37-40 states, “Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, and fed thee? or thirst, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, verily I say unto you. In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these ye brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots She became queen when she was only 6 days old. She was sent to France at age six to get married. She is the cousin of Queen Elizabeth I. Who is this elegant, yet struggling woman?
work on his family farm. His mother then sent him back to school so that he could
Catholicism. He stayed at Hodder for two years, where he was partially happy, then the
If you've been wondering where all the cool kids are they're are Wink & Nod. Even the name exudes cool! This prohibition era bar and restaurant has a wine & cocktail menu that can put a smile on anyone’s face but the real diamond in my eye is their scotch club. I could kiss Michael Boughton for developing such a badass scotches list. They also have a scotch club that meets every Tuesday to try new and interesting Scotches.
In Matthew 28:19-20, Matthew records Jesus’ last words to His disciples these verses have become known as “The Great Commission.”Since, the giving of the Great Commission followers of Christ has left their own culture in order to engage another with the saving message of the Gospel. Numerous books, articles and blogs have been written on the subject of World Evangelization or Missions. One such book on missions is called, “The Changing Face of World Missions: Engaging Contemporary Issues and Trends” this book was written by Michael Pocock, Gailyn Van Rheenen, and Douglas McConnell. All three men are experts in the field of missions; the writers have served overseas and are now currently engaged in equipping the next generation through teaching at Dallas and Fuller Theological Seminary. The authors bring a wealth of personal and academic excellence to their particular chapters as well as a passion to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The balance between academia and real world application make “The Changing Face of World Missions”, an informative and exciting read.
One of the most basic teachings in the Catholic Church is to ?Love one another as I have loved you.? This can be implied towards people living in poverty as we can follow the steps that Jesus had undertaken to love other people even if they are your enemies. By showing love and compassion we can create a world that is aware of poverty issues and help the declination of poverty. Countless organisations are heavily involved in carrying missions to help ultimately eradicate poverty. These charities and organisations include CARITAS, World Vision, Oxfam, St Vincent de Paul and many other non profitable organisations which help carry out work to help those who are in need.