Speak the Faith, Live the Faith - Catechetical Day

“Catechism must be Catechism!” Our founders St. John Bosco and St. Mary Mazzarello gave great importance to this foundation of our faith. We the novitiate community celebrated the Catechetical Day with merriment and joy on the 26^th of February, 2015. “Speak the Faith, Live the Faith” was the theme chosen for the day, extracted from the words of our Holy Father Francis. 

Catechetical Day at SHTC

Catechetical Day at SHTC

We commenced the day with a meaningful morning prayer, followed by the Holy Eucharist. Fr. Cletus D’Souza sdb, the celebrant, spelt out in a creative manner the above theme, helping us focus on the purpose of this celebration. He challenged us to have the starting power to begin the long-distance race towards our goal with zeal and vigour, and to have the staying power to sustain us in our prayer life. These spiritual moments of togetherness set the tone for the entire day.

The morning hours were fruitfully spent in different activities of poster preparation, Catechism lessons and Catechism of the Catholic Church presentations in groups by the novices, based on the theme of the day. These initiatives helped us to deepen our faith and challenged us to be effective in bringing the faith, in a creative manner, to the young whom we meet. We were fortunate to have our speaker in the person of Fr. Cletus D’Souza sdb, who in a lively and vibrant way presented us two types of faith: Surrendering and Searching Faith. He also explained to us the three levels of faith: Awakening, Keeping and Deepening the Faith. The afternoon session was followed by viewing of the film “The Woodcarver” and a fruitful discussion on it. The film brought home the message of the great role Jesus plays in our life, and highlighted the phrase WWJD, which means, What Would Jesus Do?

Catechetical Day at SHTC

The climax of the day was the Catholic Catechism Quiz time, which put our Faith to the test. It involved all the sections of the CCC presented through paper games and many quiz sessions.

Faith is a journey from the womb to the tomb, to be nourished and sustained through the Word of God and prayer. This day invited us to grow in our faith and impart it to others. May we be faith-filled and faith-full FMA, this is our wish and prayer.