Racism: The sin of judging and treating people as innately less in value than members of one’s own race. Jesus reached out to and valued everyone as children of God. Zacchaeus climbed a tree high above the crowd to witness the healing power of Jesus. After seeing Zacchaeus’ determination, Jesus went to his home. Zacchaeus, a tax collector, was viewed as an oppressor of his own people. Surely, if salvation could come to the home of a tax collector, then God was inviting all people to share in his saving love. Who is invited to Salvation?

St. Augustine argued against the Donatists, who were teaching that only ‘saints’ could belong to the Church and that there was no room for sinners. Jesus revealed that he is the Savior and Redeemer of all people. God’s saving love extends to everyone —saints and sinners. What can we do to reach out to people who seem lost and lonely? What can we do to let them know they are ‘welcome’?

The Church: salt of the earth and Good News for all people True and honest words are building blocks of our life-giving relationships. Mean and false words can weaken and destroy relationships. WE NEED TO SHARE AND HEAR GOOD WORDS : words of love and support, words of truth and honesty, words of compassion and justice. The main work of the Church is to proclaim the Good Word of Salvation and Redemption in Christ by her words and works.

Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition pass on the Good News of Salvation in Christ. The Church proclaims Scripture during the celebration of every Sacrament. God has entrusted to the Church the authentic passing on of this Good Word. Through participation in the Sacraments, the faithful are made sharers in the saving work of Jesus. What is your favorite Gospel story? Identify the words in that Gospel passage that strike you the most. What do those words say to you? The Church: salt of the earth and Good News for all people

Jesus used the image of salt to help his followers understand his invitation to them to be his disciples. The people in Judea in Jesus’ time used salt for cooking, as a preservative, as a disinfectant, and as a commodity of value in trading and commerce. Salt was highly valued. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus challenged his disciples to be the ‘salt of the earth’. The disciples would be ‘salt of the earth’ by proclaiming the Gospel of Christ, both by their words and by living the Beatitudes.

The Church: light in the world ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’ — John 8:12 In Jesus we see how we, his disciples, are to join with Christ and the Holy Spirit and preach the Gospel. When have you seen How might your the members of your school let its light school community shine more brightly? bringing the light of Christ to one another? Jesus invites all people to keep his light burning in the world until he comes again in glory at the end of time.

Encountering the Light of Christ Luke tells us that after the Crucifixion, burial and Resurrection of Jesus, two dejected disciples were returning home to Emmaus. The risen Jesus joined the disciples, but they did not recognize him. The disciples expressed their disappointment over Jesus’ death. When they arrived at Emmaus, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened and they recognized him. The Lord is always with us on the road of our life. Imagine recognizing the face of Christ wherever you go today.

Encountering the Light of Christ The Eucharist is the heart and summit of the Church’s life. (CCC, no. 1407) At every celebration of the Eucharist, Christ is present… in the assembly, in the proclamation of the Word, and in the person of the priest, who acts in Christ’s name and person. But Christ is present especially in the Eucharistic species, in his Body and Blood, the Eucharist.

Encountering the Light of Christ The Eucharist gives us... the wisdom to see Christ in the poor and to reach out to them as he did; the grace to overcome temptations to sin; forgiveness for venial sins; the strength to avoid mortal sin. We receive the Bread of Life so we can live in the world as faithful disciples of him who is the ‘Light of the world’. In which situations or people have you encountered Christ?

Henriette Delille was born in She was a ‘woman of color’ who lived during the time of slavery and the Civil War in the United States. (‘Woman of color’ was used for a person of African-American descent who was not a slave and whose parents were of mixed races. This often resulted in ‘women of color’ being marginalized from the life of society, and sometimes from full life in the Church.) After the death of her second child, Henriette chose to ‘live and die for God’. In 1842 Henriette and two other ‘women of color’ founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family. The story of Venerable Mother Henriette Delille

The Story of Venerable Mother Henriette Delille Together, the Sisters of the Holy Family illegally educated slaves and freed Blacks in New Orleans. They faced the possibility of life imprisonment or death for their actions. Today, the Sisters of the Holy Family is an African-American Congregation that continues the ministries begun in the 1840s in New Orleans. The Sisters bring healing and comfort to children, the elderly, the poor and the powerless. They confront racism, all forms of injustice, discrimination and economic oppression through evangelization and education. The Sisters are ‘salt of the earth’ and ‘light to the world’.