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2020 challenge

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In this 2020 we invite all families to join us in a challenge. For the whole year we should practice….

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Benedicence

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Benedicence invites us to silence the faults of others and encourages us to weigh their qualities and virtues.

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The word Benedicence is the great absentee of the dictionary. If you try to write it to your computer in a text document, it will immediately correct you by changing it to charity. If you insist, it will be underlined in red as a mistake. But the real mistake is that there is the term indicating the vice, curse, that the term indicating virtue does not appear.

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The Benedicence lies fundamentally in speaking well of others. However, it is not limited to just that. On the one hand, this virtue invites us to silence the mistakes and flaws of others, on the other hand, it encourages us to weigh its qualities and virtues.

Jesus Christ exhorted us to the experience of this virtue when He said to his disciples, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who defame you" (Lk 6:27-28). The teaching of Christianity is not about not hating, not cursing, not harming. On the contrary, the Master invites us to work positively: Love, bless, and pray.

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To live the Benedicence it is necessary to promote positive comments within the family. Several of the conflicts within the family arise from some hurtful word, from ironic phrases or negative comments, etc.

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A very positive environment can be created if when they arrive from school the children, instead of criticizing their teachers at the school, comment on what they have learned that day from them. If the wife receives her husband, not with a complaint about being late for lunch, but with a loving greeting. If the husband comes back from his commitments, he will review the projects he has in his work and not the defects that his boss or his employees have. Talking well does not mean lying, it does not mean flattering, rather it involves recognizing the qualities and virtues of others.

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It is important to mute the defects of others. In some environments gossip is the daily talk. This is the influence we receive daily thanks to the "magazines of the heart" and certain television programs that only seek to air the intimacies of others. The man who masters his tongue is a perfect man, the Apostle James tells us. At the same time, he warns us that the tongue, even though it is a very small member, can be fire that ignites the environment or a deadly poison. And he ends by saying that we cannot with the same mouth bless God and curse men. (cf. St 3,1-12).

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If one day dinner burned or was not in time, we can silence this defect and thank the person who prepared it. If my brother failed 2 subjects at school, I don't have to go around touting everybody, rather I could comment on the subjects he's done well. And if I don't have anything good to say, it's best to shut up. Silencing mistakes doesn't mean turning the "fat eye," rather it stipulates that something should be discussed only with whom it can solve the problem. It does not mean approving mistakes and defects: it is in the sought to combat the error, but at the same time retain the good reputation of the one who makes it.

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On one occasion a penitent accused himself of having defamed a person. The priest asked him to go to the church with a feather pillow before giving him acquittal. That day they both went up to the bell tower and the priest asked him to destroy the pillow. At the moment the feathers spread throughout the city. The priest made him see that this was happening with malice and defamation, it was not known how far they could go and there was no way to stop or compensate them. From that moment on, after absolution, he pledged to try to live every day the virtue of benedicence.

Faith Formation Weekly Bulletin

Family Bible Challenge

                                  

The Leadership Institute of the Diocese of Bridgeport has invited the families in the Diocese of Dallas to join in the Family Bible Challenge. The Family Bible Challenge began on Catechetical Sunday, Sept. 15, but families can join at any time.

Each Sunday, families will receive an email identifying a new passage that they are asked to read together as a family, reflect upon, and discuss. We will provide the passage and the questions. You just have to make the time.

The “challenge” is to engage your family with Sacred Scripture. There is no contest. There are no rules. There is, however, the great benefit of falling in love with Jesus through the power of the Good News found in the Bible.

Parishes are asked to share this Family Bible Challenge with their families. There is no cost to participate.


Family Bible Challenge Flyer

Register Here for the Family Bible Challenge
 

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