By Chris Ruff

The following is adapted from an article that first appeared in the July-August 2010 issue of the Catechetical Leader Magazine.

I have been involved in and passionate about small-group faith-sharing for more than twenty years. It is a powerful means for drawing closer to Christ and deepening the bonds of community. More recently, it has taken on even greater significance.

About five years ago I was looking for a way to make the outreach of justice and charity in parishes less committee-centered and more “common.” I wanted to foster a deeper awareness that it is the mission of every disciple of Christ. Could Jesus have made it any clearer that he will judge each one of us – without exception – on what we have done, or not done, to him in “the least of these my brethren” (cf., Mt 25)?

It struck me that a properly focused faith-sharing program would make an ideal setting for fostering compassion and care for our neighbor in need. I began looking for resources that would embody this goal. Nothing I found quite matched what I had in mind. I wanted something that would engage people in a manageable way and not overwhelm their busy calendars, and I wanted it to speak to their hearts with Gospel simplicity. I also wanted to avoid any hint of particular social agendas, other than enkindling the flame of the great Commandment of Love. It seemed to me that in this way I could help bridge the gap that has too often existed between the contemplative spirit and zeal for social action. Is that not what Dorothy Day and, more recently, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, were all about?

I decided to write my own resources, a set of books I have called the Discipleship Series.  There are three of them so far—As I Have Loved You, (also in Spanish as Como Yo Los He Amado), The Greatest of These is Love, and Who Is My Neighbor?—and for the past four years they have been utilized fruitfully in the Diocese of La Crosse, several other dioceses around the U.S., and most recently in the Archdiocese of Vancouver. The books contain a blend of Scripture, brief commentary, snippets from the Catechism and modern papal writings, illustrative stories (Jean Vanier, St. Damien the Leper, Dorothy Day, etc.), discussion questions and prayer. A modest commitment to loving service – at least an hour or two a month – is woven into the program.

Thanks be to God, this faith-sharing experience has borne the fruit of love lived in service, and the palpable joy that overflows from it. Did Jesus not tell us to abide in his love, “that you may have joy, and have it to the full”? I believe joy in the Lord is the sure hallmark of faith-sharing done well, because it is a process not of academic learning, but of lived assimilation of the Gospel at the level of the heart. And because it is lived in companionship with others, it leads to deep and lasting bonds of friendship.

And why should this joyful assimilation not flower – always and by a kind of law of the Spirit – in a love that extends from the group and its members to the hungry and the poor, the sick and the aged, the lonely and the marginalized? Truly, I can no longer imagine doing small-group faith-sharing in any other way, in any way that fails to recognize the blessed calling expressed so beautifully in the words of St. Teresa of Avila:

Christ has no body now on earth but yours,

No hands but yours, no feet but yours,

Yours are the eyes through which

He looks with compassion on this world;

Yours the feet with which he walks to do good;

Yours the hands with which he blesses.

The Discipleship Series is published by Novo Millennio Press. Information, preview samples and testimonials regarding the series can be seen at www.novomill.com. A glimpse into what has been done in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, where a major Lenten launch is underway, can be found at www.rcav.org/discipleship. Two articles from the archdiocesan newspaper can also be viewed: one from August (click here) and one from early March (click here).

Christopher Ruff, S.T.L., has been director of the Office of Ministries and Social Concerns for the Diocese of La Crosse since 2001. He assists the bishop in matters of social justice and the outreach of charity, as well as directing programs for the formation of the laity and working as associate director of deacon formation.