Prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola

What's Happening Now:

A new conversation with Bishop Michael O. Jackels

This time of year is traditionally identified with back to school. And for those of us who are out of school and aren’t going back to school and don’t want to go back to school, it reminds us – that if in no other part of our lives – learning is ongoing in the practice of our Catholic faith.

Some people consider the sacrament of confirmation the completion of their religious education. But there is only one thing that completes religious education, and that’s when Jesus calls you home.

All of us are called to give some time and energy to further education, especially in the areas of knowing who Jesus was, what He did, what He taught and what He expects of his followers in the Catholic Church.

This understanding ties in well with the goals of the TOGETHER vision. Two of the beneficiaries of the TOGETHER appeal are the St. Katharine Drexel Catholic School Fund and the St. Maria De Mattias Endowment. Both help further this whole venture of faith formation and ongoing faith formation.

It doesn’t matter whether we have school-age children. I don’t have school-age children, but I’m still concerned that other people’s children receive a good education in the faith, whether it comes in a Catholic school or in a Parish School of Religion or an RCIA program or a Bible study, any kind of adult education program or even just private study.

One way or the other we have to be concerned for ourselves and for the sake of others. If there’s a rationale needed we can say, "You can’t love what you don’t know." Teaching others about Jesus creates the potential that they are going to love Jesus, and loving Jesus is what’s going to lead people to be inspired to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, teach the ignorant, visit the sick, console the sorrowing and all the different corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

I want to do something, and we all should want to do something to provide that in the future there will be people who will respect the sacredness of human life and the dignity of the human person. When I get older and sicker and more feeble, I want to know that they won’t just cast me aside as some kind of human waste but will care about me and so care for me.

I’m not just thinking of me here and now. I’m thinking of others all over the place in the future. I want to be able to help provide that in the future

Find out more about the St. Katharine Drexel Catholic School Fund and the St. Maria De Mattias Endowment at TOGETHERvision.org.

 Learn more about the TOGETHER vision.