Our pastoral project to develop our 3 Churches as communities that reach out moves into its next phase this week. On Monday we hold the first of five sessions called “Pass It On”.

As we read and hear the Gospels, we cannot but sense the dynamic way in which Jesus inspires the disciples. He invites them to journey with him, to watch and learn. Then he sends them out for practical experience of what they have learned. He was always on the move, developing in them the conviction that his message and the power of his ministry were to be all for all peoples. After three years of this ministry Jesus would bring them to the extraordinary series of events that begin with the Last Supper, that we call the Passion. They would be asked by him to absorb even the Cross and Resurrection into their “formation”.

The Gospels tell us that after these astonishing events, and before he ascended into heaven, he formally sends them out into the whole world, to teach what they have been taught, and to baptise people into his family, even into his body. This is what we call the Great Commission.

Finally, with God the Father, he pours out his Holy Spirit upon them at Pentecost, so that filled with that same Spirit which drove him through his ministry, they might continue that same ministry to the ends of the earth. Now began the great project to pass it on…

We are the successors of those same early Christians. We are still charged with passing it on, with sharing and proclaiming the message of Jesus with the world. No pressure, as they say! It can seem such a big ask, can’t it? But that is no reason to give up on our great task. This Monday at 7.30pm in St Brigid’s we have the opportunity to equip ourselves a little more in a friendly way. We will be helped by members of the Evangelisation Team attached to the Cornerstone at St David’s Cathedral. All are welcome.