- 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
September 2018
“Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.’ (Gospel for Sept. 22, Mk. 9:35)
When I was in seminary, I had a roommate who was an early riser. Every morning his loud alarm went off at 5:15, at which point he’d say the same thing: “Gladly, Jesus, gladly!” My comments went in a different direction. Let’s be honest. In a selfish, me-first world, it’s just as hard to hear Jesus say “the first shall be last” as it was to hear my roommate at 5:15. And yet, my brothers, Jesus calls us to be servants of all; to step out of our comfort zone and say “gladly!” as we go to serve others in our lives. ‘Gladly, Jesus, gladly!’
Challenge by Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori:
This month I challenge you to become even more like Jesus, the “servant of all,” by making an act of charity for someone in your life from whom you have been distant, or whom you have wronged. Secondly I challenge you to prayerfully reflect on these words from Scripture: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another” (I Jn. 4:11).
