THE THREE THINGS...

3 things in life that in life that will never come back...

⌚Time...

Your watching is ticking whether you know it or not.

👅Words:

Like unfeathering a chicken then throwing them in air...you can’t return them back to the chicken.

💎Opportunity:

Every challenge is an moment of improvement.

3 things in life that should never be lost

✌Peace:

Nobody will never hand you peace, but your life how you keep your inner system thinking.

👌Hope:

The worst thought that can pass your mind is lack of hope.

👐Honesty:

Learn to tell your self that you have limits. Don’t allow people blow your trumpet of long live...you have limit and you need to know them. Don’t become a politician who promises to build a bridge where there is no river.

3 things in life that are most valuable:

💕Love:

You can’t give what you don’t have. If you need love say it, don’t assume the other knows and ought to respond. You will wait forever.

👫Faith:

Whatever God you conceive Him to be have a good constant touch.

🙏Prayer:

The time you spend with God is the time you will keep off the devil from your back.

3 things that make a person:

💪Hardwork:

The force and distance you put in your job will depend on how much kilo joules you will spend.

👼Sincerity:

Once you are told you are great, accept, don’t start giving reasons of how you are not

🙌Commitment:

Take your vows serious, remember words have powers

3 things that can destroy a person:

👀Lust:

Be content with what you have improve what you have...

🎎Pride:

To be proud is a personal weakness that come into as a result of not reading good books.

😖Anger:

You should never curse your stupidity by blaming others. The best thing you can do is to go to your room and start kicking your pillow for your thickness of not knowing how to talk to people.

3 things in life that are constant:

😃Change:

If you don’t change, change will change you

😱Death:

Meditate about death... take. Photo they will put on your coffin, let it remind you that you are never permanent on this earth.

☁God:

A power that gives you breathe everyday.

3 people who love you and will never leave you alone.

☝God:

However much you run away from God, you will always come to Him, either fine or tatters

🙇 Attitude:

A bad approach to life reality will take you nowhere

🙏 Prayer:

You either learn to pray or life experience will teach you to pray.

I also asked God for these three things:

 💵 To bless you: Mean it and once I’m successful don’t feel jealousy

 🚧- To guide you:

Pick my phone call even if we disagree on some issues in line with politics, debate, manifestos

 ☔ To ALWAYS protect you and give you good health.#thelastword

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A MEMBER OF PARISH COUNCIL?

The parish council is a group of people, chosen from various families, who come together with a Christian vision of a community of which we call ecclesial parish. The administration of the parish is based on effectiveness, efficiency and relevancy of the parish priest and his collaborators, working together, functioning well and with high sense of life quality assessments. The bishop is the main pastor and administrator of economic resources of the diocese.

They are elected members baptized and fully immersed within the community who have rights and obligations above all to live an authentic Christian life as a witness to the entire personal experience and maturity. The preoccupation should be to activate the role of parish council and to function as an ecclesial unit for the help of evangelization. They don’t assume posts, they assume a service that is specific for a Christian   community, they have to collaborate with the parish priest, not to form small groups pro or against the parish priests but a family around the table of the lord. The main task is towards helping the priests in different parishes of the diocese to be holy, faithful and true instruments and   temples of the Holy Spirit.

Above all the parish council ought to be a family of good listeners and interpreters of the needs of the Christians in a given parish set up. They are united, peaceful at heart and life, integrated, forgiving, bare suffering together as a council with their priest and the community, hearing the message of God with the capacity to converge, meet, in oneness, reflecting about the youths, old, young, solitude and charitable.

The parish council ought to talk among themselves first to forge a unity and in a relation that is solid before they talk in public. Whoever who talks in public on behalf of the other members doesn’t speak on his on his or her behalf but on behalf of the parish council with the sense of collegiality. There should be a clear channel of communication between the parish priest, the parish council and the Christian parish community.

The parish council has to work efficiently, effectively and should be relevant to the signs of the time, as indicated in Gaudium et Spes #4

4. To carry out such a task, the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel. Thus, in language intelligible to each generation, she can respond to the perennial questions which men ask about this present life and the life to come, and about the relationship of the one to the other. We must therefore recognize and understand the world in which we live, its explanations, its longings, and its often-dramatic characteristics. Some of the main features of the modern world can be sketched as follows.Today, the human race is involved in a new stage of history. Profound and rapid changes are spreading by degrees around the whole world. Triggered by the intelligence and creative energies of man, these changes recoil upon him, upon his decisions and desires, both individual and collective, and upon his manner of thinking and acting with respect to things and to people. Hence, we can already speak of a true cultural and social transformation, one which has repercussions on man's religious life as well.As happens in any crisis of growth, this transformation has brought serious difficulties in its wake. Thus, while man extends his power in every direction, he does not always succeed in subjecting it to his own welfare. Striving to probe more profoundly into the deeper recesses of his own mind, he frequently appears more unsure of himself. Gradually and more precisely he lays bare the laws of society, only to be paralyzed by uncertainty about the direction to give it.Never has the human race enjoyed such an abundance of wealth, resources and economic power, and yet a huge proportion of the worlds citizens are still tormented by hunger and poverty, while countless numbers suffer from total illiteracy. Never before has man had so keen an understanding of freedom, yet at the same time new forms of social and psychological slavery make their appearance. Although the world of today has a very vivid awareness of its unity and of how one man depends on another in needful solidarity, it is most grievously torn into opposing camps by conflicting forces. For political, social, economic, racial and ideological disputes still continue bitterly, and with them the peril of a war which would reduce everything to ashes. True, there is a growing exchange of ideas, but the very words by which key concepts are expressed take on quite different meanings in diverse ideological systems. Finally, man painstakingly searches for a better world, without a corresponding spiritual advancement. Influenced by such a variety of complexities, many of our contemporaries are kept from accurately identifying permanent values and adjusting them properly to fresh discoveries. As a result, buffeted between hope and anxiety and pressing one another with questions about the present course of events, they are burdened down with uneasiness. This same course of events leads men to look for answers; indeed, it forces them to do so.

The priests working in the parish ought to be sustained well, that is the work of the economic committee of the parish in coordination with the bishop’s office of economic and welfare Sacco. The priests should be unhooked from the extra ordinary activities that have nothing to do with priesthood but prayer, sacraments and formation.

Every Mass celebrated a percentage should be given to the priest and the remaining percentage goes to the parish. The parish economist has to be very good at the care of parish resources. There is no need to use lightings for 5 people as if there are 30 persons living in the parish, cutting down on electricity bills. The work of the priest is no to ask for money on Sunday, that is up to the work of the parish council.

 The priest has to make sure that he preoccupies himself with spiritual matters, formation of the parish communities, unity of the parish communities, sacraments and personal formation. Once a priest start running around with things that don’t pertain to his ministry as a priest, it causes pain and scandal to the Christian community.

The question for each member of the parish council should be…For me who teaches me? How do I come to self-knowledge of what I am doing? What does the Christian community need from my services? How is my personal Christian growth and development in human, spiritual, apostolate formation, why am I in this service? Why do I open my mouth and what do I say once I open it? Is it a word that purifies, edifies, unifies? does it console? is it a corporal word? The pastoral council members have to get in touch with the gospel, it is not an attention of pride, but to form oneself to be a good Christian. As a pastoral council member, you can’t do your own thing, but a permanent Christian formation.

The way we celebrate Mass should be the same way the community needs to be united. A community of charity, prayer and making a parish a community of prayer, a school of prayer, not a supermarket of managers out for profit and shoddy dealings. 

As a priest, your advice, revoke, discipline but as a father corrects his son on the right truck. Being a parish council member is not to be proud, or privileged place but a service, not a boss of the parish priest, that each parish council has to be know from the time go.

Its all about ingredients of life, experience, a permanent place for evangelization, continuity, unity or else each one goes his way, and causing disorder in the community. In the first place we are friends of Jesus, who converge in prayer and formation. This unity is seen in the eucharist and prayer. The identity of the church is seen in the way we walk together, in the spirit of truth.

The community is formed in the mentality the members treat each other, the parish priest and collaborate with the ordinary.  The parish council have always to construct the model of the parish. You just can’t create a scandal in the way you treat each other. Its never a problem of conflict in a given parish but the indifference in the way Christians live.

The families have to be included in the running of the parish, we can’t be members who are closed in to ourselves in our mentality and thoughts, but open minded to the signs of the times and proper system thinking. We have to disturb our consciences in the way we challenge ourselves to live as unified community that is geared towards building Christ’s Church. 

The unity of the parish is in groups formed in the parish communities, but the experience of each family and members united by the message of the Gospel of Christ. In the church, we don't make a community of political party but a family of God. 

We hope in the lord in the way we touch people’s hearts. If we dare to walk, then we have to walk together, forging the way forward. How do we bring the christian message to the christians in the modern man. It's not about God's word that is not powerful but the method we use may be wrong.

Areopagus...You convince me or I confuse You...stay focused!!!

Parameters of the Church's Mission Ad Gentes

37. By virtue of Christ's universal mandate, the mission ad gentes knows no boundaries. Still, it is possible to determine certain parameters within which that mission is exercised, in order to gain a real grasp of the situation.

(a) Territorial limits.

Missionary activity has normally been defined in terms of specific territories. The Second Vatican Council acknowledged the territorial dimension of the mission ad gentes,⁵⁹ a dimension which even today remains important for determining responsibilities, competencies and the geographical limits of missionary activity. 

Certainly, a universal mission implies a universal perspective. Indeed, the Church refuses to allow her missionary presence to be hindered by geographical boundaries or political barriers. 

But it is also true that missionary activity ad gentes, being different from the pastoral care of the faithful and the new evangelization of the non-practicing, is exercised within well-defined territories and groups of people.

The growth in the number of new churches in recent times should not deceive us. Within the territories entrusted to these churches - particularly in Asia, but also in Africa, Latin America and Oceania - there remain vast regions still to be evangelized. 

In many nations entire peoples and cultural areas of great importance have not yet been reached by the proclamation of the Gospel and the presence of the local church.⁶⁰ Even in traditionally Christian countries there are regions that are under the special structures of the mission ad gentes, with groups and areas not yet evangelized. 

Thus, in these countries too there is a need not only for a new evangelization, but also, in some cases, for an initial evangelization.⁶¹

Situations are not, however, the same everywhere. While acknowledging that statements about the missionary responsibility of the Church are not credible unless they are backed up by a serious commitment to a new evangelization in the traditionally Christian countries, it does not seem justified to regard as identical the situation of a people which has never known Jesus Christ and that of a people which has known him, accepted him and then rejected him, while continuing to live in a culture which in large part has absorbed gospel principles and values. 

These are two basically different situations with regard to the faith.

Thus the criterion of geography, although somewhat imprecise and always provisional, is still a valid indicator of the frontiers toward which missionary activity must be directed. There are countries and geographical and cultural areas which lack indigenous Christian communities. 

In other places, these communities are so small as not to be a clear sign of a Christian presence; or they lack the dynamism to evangelize their societies, or belong to a minority population not integrated into the dominant culture of the nation. 

Particularly in Asia, toward which the Church's mission ad gentes ought to be chiefly directed, Christians are a small minority, even though sometimes there are significant numbers of converts and outstanding examples of Christian presence.

(b) New worlds and new social phenomena.

The rapid and profound transformations which characterize today's world, especially in the southern hemisphere, are having a powerful effect on the overall missionary picture. 

Where before there were stable human and social situations, today everything is in flux. One thinks, for example, of urbanization and the massive growth of cities, especially where demographic pressure is greatest. 

In not a few countries, over half the population already lives in a few "megalopolises," where human problems are often aggravated by the feeling of anonymity experienced by masses of people.

In the modern age, missionary activity has been carried out especially in isolated regions which are far from centers of civilization and which are hard to penetrate because of difficulties of communication, language or climate. Today the image of mission ad gentes is perhaps changing: efforts should be concentrated on the big cities, where new customs and styles of living arise together with new forms of culture and communication, which then influence the wider population. 

It is true that the "option for the neediest" means that we should not overlook the most abandoned and isolated human groups, but it is also true that individual or small groups cannot be evangelized if we neglect the centers where a new humanity, so to speak, is emerging, and where new models of development are taking shape. 

The future of the younger nations is being shaped in the cities.

Speaking of the future, we cannot forget the young, who in many countries comprise more than half the population.

How do we bring the message of Christ to non-Christian young people who represent the future of entire continents? Clearly, the ordinary means of pastoral work are not sufficient: what are needed are associations, institutions, special centers and groups, and cultural and social initiatives for young people. 

This is a field where modern ecclesial movements have ample room for involvement.

Among the great changes taking place in the contemporary world, migration has produced a new phenomenon: non-Christians are becoming very numerous in traditionally Christian countries, creating fresh opportunities for contacts and cultural exchanges, and calling the Church to hospitality, dialogue, assistance and, in a word, fraternity. 

Among migrants, refugees occupy a very special place and deserve the greatest attention. 

Today there are many millions of refugees in the world and their number is constantly increasing. 

They have fled from conditions of political oppression and inhuman misery, from famine and drought of catastrophic proportions. 

The Church must make them part of her overall apostolic concern.

Finally, we may mention the situations of poverty - often on an intolerable scale - which have been created in not a few countries, and which are often the cause of mass migration. 

The community of believers in Christ is challenged by these inhuman situations: the proclamation of Christ and the kingdom of God must become the means for restoring the human dignity of these people.

(c) Cultural sectors: the modern equivalents of the Areopagus.

After preaching in a number of places, St. Paul arrived in Athens, where he went to the Areopagus and proclaimed the Gospel in language appropriate to and understandable in those surroundings (cf. Acts 17:22-31). 

At that time the Areopagus represented the cultural center of the learned people of Athens, and today it can be taken as a symbol of the new sectors in which the Gospel must be proclaimed.

The first Areopagus of the modern age is the world of communications, which is unifying humanity and turning it into what is known as a "global village." The means of social communication have become so important as to be for many the chief means of information and education, of guidance and inspiration in their behavior as individuals, families and within society at large. 

In particular, the younger generation is growing up in a world conditioned by the mass media. 

To some degree perhaps this Areopagus has been neglected. Generally, preference has been given to other means of preaching the Gospel and of Christian education, while the mass media are left to the initiative of individuals or small groups and enter into pastoral planning only in a secondary way. 

Involvement in the mass media, however, is not meant merely to strengthen the preaching of the Gospel. There is a deeper reality involved here: since the very evangelization of modern culture depends to a great extent on the influence of the media, it is not enough to use the media simply to spread the Christian message and the Church's authentic teaching. 

It is also necessary to integrate that message into the "new culture" created by modern communications. 

This is a complex issue, since the "new culture" originates not just from whatever content is eventually expressed, but from the very fact that there exist new ways of communicating, with new languages, new techniques and a new psychology. 

Pope Paul VI said that "the split between the Gospel and culture is undoubtedly the tragedy of our time,"⁶²and the field of communications fully confirms this judgment.

There are many other forms of the "Areopagus" in the modern world toward which the Church's missionary activity ought to be directed; for example, commitment to peace, development and the liberation of peoples; the rights of individuals and peoples, especially those of minorities; the advancement of women and children; safeguarding the created world. 

These too are areas which need to be illuminated with the light of the Gospel.

We must also mention the immense "Areopagus" of culture, scientific research, and international relations which promote dialogue and open up new possibilities. We would do well to be attentive to these modern areas of activity and to be involved in them. 

People sense that they are, as it were, traveling together across life's sea, and that they are called to ever greater unity and solidarity. 

Solutions to pressing problems must be studied, discussed and worked out with the involvement of all. 

That is why international organizations and meetings are proving increasingly important in many sectors of human life, from culture to politics, from the economy to research. 

Christians who live and work in this international sphere must always remember their duty to bear witness to the Gospel.