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How to get the most out of Bearing the Beams of Love

Saint Joseph Catholic Church offers a number of ways for you to experience Bearing the Beams of Love. Whether you choose to read the letters as part of a personal journey, discuss them with your own family or small group community, or join one of our church-led programs, you will find a rich set of resources on this website to help you.

Current Church-Led Programs

Faith Forged – An ongoing group for men that meets Wednesdays at 6:00 a.m. 

Syllabus 

Bearing the Beams of Love is divided into four main focus areas::

  • Part I – Foundation
  • Part II – Vocations
  • Part III – Cultural Challenges
  • Part IV – Conclusion and Call to Action

In the Foundation section, we set forth the frame of reference from which we can begin to tackle the difficult moral issues that face us today. Namely, we must have the mind of Jesus, the compassion of Jesus, and the obedience of Jesus. This is a theme we will continue throughout all of the focus areas.

While we may recognize that this is a good place to start, it’s one thing to say it and another to put it into practice. How do we even begin to develop the mind, compassion and obedience of Jesus?

We begin by getting to know Jesus as He is revealed in Scripture and through Sacred Tradition taught by the Catholic Church. Each of the letters includes five sections of additional material that will take us deeper into the topic, provide us with both real-life examples of and ideas for how to practice having the mind, compassion, and obedience of Jesus in our own lives, as well as the source of moral authority which serves as the basis for each letter. The five sections are:

Hungry for More

The Hungry for More section for each letter goes deeper into the letter’s topic providing us with more information that will expound on the points raised in that letter.

Making the Connection

This section provides a real-life example of someone who is living (or has lived) out the topic in each letter. The intention is to encourage us to align ourselves with the mind, compassion and obedience of Jesus, by showing us that it is humanly possible to do so.

Moral Authority

This section points to the three legitimate sources of Catholic teaching that provide the basis for the topic:

  • Scripture
  • Sacred Tradition
  • Magisterium 

Further Reading

This section will provide a selection of books or other readings that will give you even more information and insight into each letter’s topic.

 

Next Steps

This section gives us concrete examples of things we can do to develop our own minds, compassion and obedience of Jesus. They are marked with the symbols of:

📖  Mind of Christ

💖  Compassion of Christ

✝️  Obedience of Christ