About
The Community of Nazareth is a lay Catholic charismatic, covenant community in south Co Dublin, Ireland. We have joined together to support one another in living out God’s call to be disciples of Jesus. Welcome to our website and thank you for taking the time to browse through it. The site contains information about who we are, our history, our events, testimonies from our members, and links to various resources that we hope will help you grow in knowledge, love and service of God.
The mission of the Community of Nazareth may be best summed up as a Christian community whose members are open to the action of the Holy Spirit through the charismatic gifts and who are committed to loving and serving Jesus Christ, one another and those around them. The life of community members has four main aspects: life with God; life with one another; life of witness/evangelisation, and life of service in society. While not living in common, the community aims to establish a way of life where individuals are not isolated, where marriage and family life are strengthened, where young men and women grow in brotherhood and sisterhood, and are helped in living the single life or in preparing for marriage, where children can grow up among people who are striving to live Christ’s commandment of love.
Disciples
All Christians are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ. To be a disciple of Jesus is no trivial call. Jesus made it clear that a disciple must love God with everything he has (Mt22:37), must sell everything (Mk10:21), must love his enemies (Mt5:44), must be willing to lay down his life (Jn15:13).
In the early days of Christianity persecution was a likely consequence of giving your life to God and living by the teachings of Christ. Even today, the Christian teachings on gossip, sexuality, material possessions, Sunday as a Holy Day, are very contrary to the accepted norms of secular society. To be a disciple of Jesus is today once again a radical choice.
But even in the early days of the Church it was not possible to life the faithful life of a disciple on your own energy. A disciple knows his reliance on God’s strength. Members of the Community of Nazareth seek to respond to the teaching of Jesus in a radical way, knowing that this is only possible by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
The term ‘disciple’ implies a person who wants to learn, a person who wants to be changed by the teachings of Jesus. This involves a change of behaviour as well as a change of attitude (Rom12:2, Eph4:22).
The members of the Community of Nazareth have heard an invitation from God to live as radical disciples of Christ. We try to respond to this invitation but we know we cannot do this on our own strength. We rely on the strength of God through receiving Jesus and the Holy Spirit in Word and in Sacrament.