CFCA Queensland - Pastoral Formation Teaching (The Imitation of Christ)

CFCA QLD was so blessed to have Fr. Ray Sanchez as our guest speaker to talk about The Imitation of Christ. The PFT was held at St. Catherine’s (Upper Mt Gravatt-Wishart Parish) and attended by CFCA and non-CFCA members on Saturday, 4th October 2025.

The talk was divided into 3 parts, namely:

1. Jesus as our example for daily choices

2. How to grow to be more Christ-like

3. Be inspired to live the Gospel in every situation.

Fr. Ray reminded us that in order to imitate Christ in our day-to-day existence, it involves working on the 3 areas below.

1. The Head - our intellect

2. The Heart - our emotions

3. The Gut - our will (Actions).

Each of the area needs to be fed in order to function properly. One must regularly read and study the Gospel so as to put Jesus in our hearts and minds. Our faith needs to be expressed at the level of the heart. Fr Ray gave us a new acronym, A.I.T.H, which stood for "all in the head." However, if you add “F” for feelings, we end up with FAITH! As said in James 2:17, faith without good works is dead! Therefore, church-going and Christian living must be interlinked.

To imitate Christ, the cycle of Study - Prayer - Action should be our daily life.

We broke into 5 groups to reflect on 5 different Scripture readings that demonstrate the different ways we can look to Jesus as our role model. From these group discussions, we heard some powerful and relatable testimonies. Finally, our Parish Priest, Fr Rony, gave a short but inspiring closing remarks that further encouraged us to be more like Jesus.

Let us be strong and steadfast in faith. May God be praised!