Most Blessed Sacrament Church
Emerging Adults
LENT 2017: "Take Up Your Cross"
Good Morning Emerging Adult Students & Parents,
In an effort to reach beyond our weekly Sunday gatherings, I would like to share a little bit of our class with our full Emerging Adult community. On this past Sunday, the Emerging Adults engaged in a powerful and thought-provoking discussion about what it means to "Take Up Your Cross." As many know, the cross is central to the Christian theme and identity. Countless Christians all over the world wear crosses on their neck, or hang up images of the cross in their homes. The cross is carried down the center aisle of our Mass each Week at the beginning, and at the end of Mass as a centralized part of our worship.
Our Emerging Adults read Matthew 16:24-25 so as to understand what Jesus meant when he commanded his followers to "take up their cross and follow me." The question then became for our Emerging Adults, "How can I take up my own cross?" "How can I sacrifice and obey God in my daily life as an Emerging Adult?" "How can I, as a Teenager, follow Christ and embody the essence of the Christian life?"
These are all complex and very personal questions that, together, we wrestled with and reflected upon. To aid in the process, we watched a short dramatization from the movie "The Passion" where Jesus is taking up His cross. This visual communicates to our Emerging Adults that Jesus' command to "Take Up Your Cross" is not necessarily meant to be an easy, warm, and delightful process. Jesus' cross to bear was one of great sacrifice, anguish, and pain.
I also created a short worksheet that our Emerging Adults filled out in order to help them visualize their own daily walk with Christ. My hope is that all of our Emerging Adult community will participate by watching the video, and downloading the worksheet in order to complete this short exercise . Please feel free to contact me if any of our Emerging Adult students or families have any questions, or concerns regarding this exercise, or any other matter.
(Please download the worksheet on the link below)
"TAKE UP YOUR CROSS" WORKSHEET
“If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!”
-St. Catherine of Sienna
Thank You,
Lyndon Batiste
Emerging Adults Ministry Leader
Most Blessed Sacrament Church
(404) 271-0740
For more information, email Lyndon Batiste @ lbatiste@mbschurch.com