- What is the Supreme Chaplain's Monthly Challenge
- Instructions
- This Month's Challenge
- Previous Challenges
What is the Supreme Chaplain's Monthly Challenge
1. Archbishop Lori choses a line or two from scripture (in the upcoming month) from one of the readings at Sunday Mass.
2. There is a brief reflection on the reading from the Archbishop
3. The Archbishop gives them a challenge or 2 to live for the upcoming month
4. The next month, the council reconvenes and shares what it was like living the challenge (see enclosed directions)
5. Delivery vehicles:
a. Monthly email blast to Grand Knight and Chaplain
b. Social Media
c. KNIGHTLINE
d. Columbia
e. Chaplain's Report
f. BDC webpage
6. Monthly reflection during council meeting (options):
a. During Chaplain's Message (preferred)
b. During Grand Knight Report
Instructions
During the Chaplain's Message or the Grand Knight's Report:
1) Begin with a prayer of your choosing or use the following:
a. Make the Sign of the Cross
b. Prayer: Come Holy Spirit. We thank you for guiding our lives and pray that we may have the courage exemplified by Venerable Fr. McGivney to live our faith to the fullest through our council, our families and in society. May our words today give glory to your Sacred Heart and if we struggled this past month in living our faith, help us to never stop turning to you and always try again.
2) Re-read the Supreme Chaplain's Monthly Challenge from the previous month
3) Invite the men to talk about what it was like to try and live last month's challenge from the Supreme Chaplain.
a. Don't worry about what order the men speak in
b. If there is silence in between men speaking, it's ok
c. Try to make sure that when one man is speaking that the others are listening
d. If someone doesn't want to speak that's ok
4) The men are welcome to give (encouraging) comments to each other if they want
5) When finished, read Supreme Chaplain's Monthly Challenge the for next month
6) End with this prayer
a. Ask the men if there is anything they would like the group to pray for
b. Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time together with our brothers. We ask you to have mercy on all those people and intentions we prayed for. Give us the perseverance to live next month's challenge and to remember that we are united with our brother Knights around the world in doing so.
c. Make the Sign of the Cross
This Month's Challenge
August 2018
“Jesus then said to the Twelve, ‘Do you also want to leave?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.’” (Gospel for Aug. 30, Jn. 6:67-69)
I don’t know about you, but I can look back on moments in my life when Peter’s words have been personal and I have said to Jesus in prayer: ‘Master, to whom shall I go?’ I hope that you likewise have reached a point in your life where you know with certainty that there is nowhere to go but Jesus: not to power, to money, to sex, to alcohol, or anything else that can become a false “master” in our lives. My brothers, we have come to believe that Jesus is the Holy One of God, and our lives must bear evidence of this. Let us become men who, with Peter, can truly say, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Challenge by Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori:
This month I challenge you to make a daily examination of conscience, probing your heart to find the false “masters” (e.g., comfort, power, appearance) to whom you go. Take a few minutes before bed to review the day, including both your blessings and sins. Second, I challenge you to eliminate one of your vices and when you are tempted to participate in that vice pray, “Jesus I trust in you.”
