Being a Christian disciple means devoting your life to imitating Jesus and learning from Him.
Jesus chose 12 men to be the Apostles who would lead his Church but the Bible refers to many other disciples, all of the men and women who were his followers.
Today’s disciples are Baptized Christians who believe in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and share the Gospel with others. They seek to do the will of God and fulfill the mission of Jesus. They actively participate in the sacramental life of his Church, including reception of the Eucharist.
True discipleship is necessary for salvation and eternal life in Heaven with God.
Called to a great adventure:
Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in Him, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8: 31-32
Being a disciple is more than believing:
Become like the master:
The four Gospels therefore bear witness to a certain pluralism within the fundamental unity of the same mission, a pluralism which reflects different experiences and situations within the first Christian communities. It is also the result of the driving force of the Spirit himself; it encourages us to pay heed to the variety or missionary charisms and to the diversity of circumstances and peoples. Nevertheless, all the Evangelists stress that the mission of the disciples is to cooperate in the mission of Christ; “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age”. Mission, then, is based not on human abilities but on the power of the risen Lord.
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, December 7, 1990
Finding our own path to loving God and loving neighbor:
Practical steps to discipleship:
The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: “All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow Him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks.” Service of and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation: “So every one who acknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in Heaven; but whoever denies Me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in Heaven.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1816
Being open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit:
The Christian goes to others:
Putting others first:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
The Beauty of the Catholic Church:
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