Consecration / Renewal of the Church
The liturgical year of the Maronite Church opens with commemorations in honor of the Church of Christ. For these two Sundays teach us that the entire salvific mission of Christ today takes place through his Church. Through the outpouring of the Spirit of Christ, the Church has come into being and continues the mission of Christ in the world. It is now the Church which proclaims to mankind God’s saving love for the world. The Sunday of the Consecration of the Church invites individual Christians to renew their personal consecration to the Lord and his Church, and to strive to realize God’s kingdom on earth. (excerpt from the Maronite Synaxarion)
Theme
Focus events on allowing the youth to reflect on their own lives and renew/re-consecrate themselves to God.
Event Idea
Plan a walk-through demonstration of the Divine Liturgy (a catechetical Liturgy), allowing the priest to explain what is taking place at each part.
Insight From Catechism
“The Greek word for Church is ekklesia, meaning those who are called forth. All of us who are baptized and believe in God are called forth by the Lord. together we are the Church. Christ is, as Paul says, the Head of the Church. We are his body. [...] The Church is God’s presence among us men, that is why we must love her.” (YOUCAT 121).
Wisdom From Scripture
“As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit. Now the body is not a single part, but many. If a foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. [...] But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.” (1 Cor. 12: 1-26)
Reference from the Divine Liturgy
“In your Church, O Lord our God, love and mercy flow from you, and your peace protects the Church, from division keeps her free.” (Qurbono, 8)
“I was amazed at the feast that Christ prepared for the blessed Church, his bride. As I entered, I saw there: prophets, martyrs, and the just, the apostles with the priests; then Baptism and the cross; on the altar there was placed Christ’s own Body and his Blood for the pardon of all sins.” (Qurbono, 13)