Christ Crucified

While the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, we are preaching a Crucified Christ: to the Jews an obstacle they cannot get over, to the gentiles foolishness, but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ Who is both the power of God and the Wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:23-24)

Devotion to Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, the supreme Lord of all visible and invisible creation, animates all our activities. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ Crucified. (Colossians 2:2-3)

He is the image of the Unseen God, the firstborn of all creation, for in Him were created all things in heaven and on earth; everything visible and everything invisible, thrones, ruling forces, sovereignties, powers – all things were created through Him and for Him. (Colossians 1:15-16)  

The inner longing of all created things is to find a place at the feet of the Crucified Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:2)

Without the Crucified Christ, creatures feel empty, devoid of life and salvation. From His pierced heart flow the Blood and Water that cleanses them and fills them with life. (John 19:35-38)

The Cross reveals the mystery of God’s Love. It is through the Cross that our Lord Jesus won over the whole human race to God. (Galatians 6:14; John 12:32-33)

Through His death, Jesus transformed the Cross, the symbol of shame and death into the greatest sign of power and salvation. (1 Corinthians 1:18; Hebrews 12:2)

Knowing that our sufferings too have redemptive value, we give great importance to joyfully taking our Cross daily in following Jesus. (Luke 9:23; Colossians 1:24)

Daily Holy Hour

Fix your gaze on the Lord and your face will grow bright, you will never hang your head in shame. (Psalms 34:5)

Spending an hour before the Blessed Sacrament, keeping company with Jesus in prayer, obtains for us the strength to resist every temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Just as with Moses in front of the burning bush, God empowers us to do His Will while we adore Him in front of the Blessed Sacrament, which is His living presence in our midst. (Exodus 3:1-6)

It is during adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament, that we receive many graces – healing for the wounds in our soul (Malachi 3:20), Divine Light (Psalms 34:5), and awareness of sin (Psalms 90:8). His presence inflames our hearts (Luke 24:30-32), and once again we are strengthened with the light of His presence. (2 Corinthians 3:14-18)

Devotion to Mary

“Seeing his Mother and the disciple whom He loved standing near Her, Jesus said to His Mother, ‘Woman, this is Your Son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is Your Mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.” (John 19:26-27)

Near the Cross of Jesus stood His Mother and His Mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his Mother and the disciple whom He loved standing near Her, Jesus said to His Mother, ‘Woman, this is Your Son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is Your Mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After this, Jesus knew that everything had now been completed and, so that the Scripture should be completely fulfilled, He said: I am thirsty. (John 19:25-28)

Mary is the final gift of Christ to His beloved disciple. It is only an intimate disciple of Christ who can receive Mary. We love Mary and esteem her with the greatest devotion and respect as the Mother of God and our own Mother, whom Jesus has specially given to us to help us in our spiritual life.

God has blessed our Community with the special gift that Mother Mary had: to treasure the Scriptures in the heart (Luke 2:19). As the first disciples prayed in company of Mary, we too, join her in prayer and entrust ourselves totally to her maternal intercession. (Acts 1:14)

Faith of St. Peter

“Then Simon Peter spoke up and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’” (Matthew 16:16)

‘But you,’ He said, ‘Who do you say I am?’ then Simon Peter spoke up and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a blessed man! Because it was no human agency that revealed this to you but My Father in Heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build My Community. And the gates of the underworld will can never overpower it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.’ (Matthew 16:15-19)

Peter’s proclamation of faith, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’ forms the foundation of our spiritual life. It is on the faith of Peter that we base all our apostolic work. Many deviate from the true faith because they ignore the teachings of Saint Peter. Therefore, we take great care to remain in his teachings.

That is why I will always go on recalling the same truths to you, even though you already know them and are firmly fixed in these truths. I am sure that it is my duty, as long as I am in this tent, to keep stirring you up with reminders, since I know the time for me to lay aside this tent is coming soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I shall take great care that after my own departure you will still have a means to recall these things to mind. (2 Peter 1:12-15)

We are called to have a clear and mature faith, based on the creed of the Apostles – a faith which constantly strives to reach perfection in the Love of God. (2Peter 1:5-7)

Wisdom of St. Paul

“The purpose of this was, that now, through the Church, the principalities and ruling forces should learn how many-sided God's wisdom is, according to the plan which he had formed from all eternity in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ephesians 3:10-11)

How rich and deep are the wisdom and the knowledge of God! We cannot reach to the root of His decisions or His ways. Who has ever known the mind of the Lord? Who has ever been His adviser? Who has ever given anything to Him, so that His presents come only as a debt returned? Everything there is comes from Him and is caused by Him and exists for Him. To Him be glory for ever! Amen. (Romans 11:33-36)

The Apostle Paul is ‘the Çhosen Instrument’ specially called and chosen by God to bring the Name of Jesus Christ to the nations. (Acts 9:15-16; Galatians 1:1)

Whatever he spoke and taught was in the mind of Christ. (1Corinthians 2:16)

By the grace of God which was given to me, I laid the foundations like a trained master-builder, and someone else is building on them. Now each one must be careful how he does the building. (1 Corinthians 3:10)

We give great importance to the Letters of Paul, his counsels and admonitions and these form a great foundation for our spirituality. (Galatians 1:11-12)

His letters are the source for the deep and many-sided wisdom of God through which many of God’s hidden mysteries are revealed. (Ephesians 3:10)

We have the teachings of Saint Paul as our guide for identifying and refuting false doctrines and for holding on to the sound doctrine that is in accordance with the true faith. (1 Timothy 6:20-21)

Revelation of St. John

For this is how God loved the world: He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Filled with the Love of God, St. John received the greatest of all revelations – that the Word of God is Jesus and that God is Love. (John 1:1-3; Revelation 19:13; 1 John 4:7-8)

We are called to love Jesus with all our heart and it is by our Love of God and love for one another that everyone will be able to recognise us as the true disciples of Jesus. (John 13:34-35)  

Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have recognised for ourselves, and put our faith in, the love God has for us. God is love and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. (1John 4:15-16)
 

Reading and meditating on the Gospel and the Letters of John fills us with the Spirit of Love. They are a great help for us to remain in the Love of God. (John 14:23; John 15:9-10)

Devotion to Saints

Take me as your pattern, just as I take Christ for mine. (1 Corinthians 11:1)

All the saints walked along the same path that Jesus walked – they led a life of love and truth. (1 John 2:6)

We are called to imitate the saints – their life, their faith and their teachings. (Hebrews 13:7)

We are to have a great devotion to our patron saint and to have at least three saints to be our models and intercessors. The patron saints of our Community are:
 

• Saint Anthony of Padua for zeal for the Word of God

• Saint Francis Xavier and St Therese of Lisieux for zeal for souls

• Saint Francis of Assisi for accepting suffering

• Saint Joseph for purity of heart 

• Saint Pope John XXIII as an intercessor for our charism of opening the Scriptures to the world