Having referred to the three stages of faith formation and in the light of those three stages, questions left to be explored include: how do we go about helping parishioners to deepen their understanding of the faith, and how do we help those who are on the periphery to recognise that expressing the faith is not just a ‘by-the-way’ part of life.
There are different ways of tackling that but just as a starting point today I refer briefly to a few of the things that are mentioned in this bulletin: Confessions are heard on Saturdays between Noon and 1pm — that sacrament is one that can prove very important for someone to come to terms with difficulties they have in relation to living the faith; Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament can be a quiet place to enter into reflection on the place Jesus has in our lives; Lectio Divina — is a way of linking the Sunday Gospel with our prayer life and can help us focus on the Word of God; and there is the upcoming programme for secondary school students beginning in January might help a young person at the second stage of faith formation grow in faith and lead to an increase in faith and hope in their lives.