A Christian is someone who follows Jesus Christ by trying to be good, as Jesus was – loving and serving God, being kind and helpful to people. There are many Christians and they pray in different Churches, but they all want to be like Jesus. There are Catholics and Anglicans and Baptists and Methodists, and others. To understand them it is best to talk with them.

St. Joseph’s Church and School are called Catholic. The name “Catholic” means being part of a Church that is in every part of the world, but united together under the leadership of the Pope in Rome. We come together at church on Sundays and special days (called “holydays”), we pray together at home and at school, always asking God to look after us and those we love – and even the whole world!

The journey through life for a Catholic girl and boy is marked by special moments of God’s blessing that we call Sacraments. We speak of seven Sacraments – Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Communion, Confession, Anointing, Marriage, Holy Orders.

Baptism is the gift of sharing God’s life. Just as a baby shares the life of the mother and father and is born of their love, so a baby shares the life of God by being baptised – blessed with water and with holy oils. Many of you will have seen a baby being baptised and heard the parents and the godparents saying they wanted to help the baby to grow up knowing God’s love.

Confirmation is the gift of God’s Holy Spirit, giving us the blessing to be like God. Just as people can say of a boy or girl “You are so like your family – the way you look, the way you speak, the way you do things,” so we want to be like God in being loving and strong for other people. Usually, boys and girls choose when they are ready to be confirmed – when they know they truly want to love God.

Jesus had a last meal with his disciples and friends a few days before he died on the cross. This meal is called the Last Supper. During the meal Jesus blessed bread and wine and gave it to the people to eat and drink, saying “This is my body . . . This is my blood.” We do this every time we are at mass. We eat the bread and drink the wine, the Body and Blood of Christ. We call it Holy Communion – meaning being close to Jesus and to each other.

Whenever we do anything wrong we say we are sorry and we are forgiven. When we know we have hurt God, we tell God we are sorry – usually in our prayers, but sometimes by going to Confession where we tell the priest what we have done wrong. He helps us if he can and then he blesses and forgives us.

When people are ill they are blessed with holy oil and we pray for them that they will be well again. St. James, one of Jesus’ friends, was the first person to talk about this blessing and prayer. The priest often gives this blessing at the hospital or when he is called to people who are ill at home.

Most men and women hope to be happy with their own home and family. When they find someone they truly want to love and be with they talk about getting married. They ask God’s to bless them on their wedding day, that they will be loving and happy always – with each other and with their children.

A priest serves God by saying mass for the people and being there to help them. He spends a lot of time in prayer because he wants to live his life for God and to be good. The priest is blessed on a special day called his “Ordination Day” when the Bishop asks him to be good and loving to everyone. A deacon helps the priest and the priests and deacons help the bishop, and all three are blessed in “Holy Orders”.