Path Through Catholicism

WordWorship

Witness

Every faith journey begins with God reaching out to us and inviting

us to journey together into the unknown.

Word: God reaches out to us (Revelation)

I said to the manWho stood at the gate of the year:“Give me a light that I may tread safelyInto the unknown.”

And he replied:

“Go out into the darknessAnd put your hand in the hand of God.That shall be to you better than lightAnd safer than a known way.”

Minnie Louise Haskins

Worship: We reach out to God. (Sacraments)

Athletes share “high fives”to celebrate a victory.Friends hug one another to share a special moment.They do this because in such situations,words alone can’t express their feelings.

This helps us to understand Why Jesus anointed the eyes of the blindTo heal them,Touched the tongue of the muteTo restore their speech,And placed his hands on childrenTo bless them.

This also explainsWhy Jesus taught his disciplesTo use similar actionsIn similar situations

Witness: We journey together. (Commandments)

One night,John Ruskin was seated by a window,staring into the distance,watching a lamplighterignite street lamp after street lamp.

Because it was dark,he couldn’t see the lamplighter-only the trail of the lights he lit.Turning to his friend, John said,

“That’s my image of a Christian.You may not have seen him, but you know he passed byfrom the trail of lighthe left behind.”

Beginning Reflections…

One important episode up to this point in my faith journey was…

One difficulty I have experienced up to this point in my faith journey is…

Light of Faith

Chapter 1

Tommy’s Faith Journey• “Tommy was Fr. Powell’s atheist in residence.”– Transitioning from childhood to adult faith

• “God Positions”– Atheist Denies there is a God– Agnostic Doesn’t deny/affirm God– Theist Affirms a personal God– Deist Affirms an impersonal God– Monotheist Affirms only one God– Polytheist Affirms many gods

“I don’t think you’ll ever find God. But I am certain God will find you.”

“I really began banging against the bronze doors of heaven. But nothing Happened. So I quit.”

“I turned around and God was there. You were right. God found me.”

Our Faith Journey• Every faith journey begins with a “knock on the door

of the heart”– Spiritual hunger– Call to love in the heart– Event that turns our works upside down

• If we open the door, God takes us by the hand and leads us.

Three Faith Stages• Childhood Stage: Cultural Faith• Adolescent Stage: Transitional Faith– It is the most critical because it involves making the

transition from receiving the “seed” of faith in baptism to “confirming” it by personal conviction. CCC168

• Adolescent Questioning– Constructive questioning: fosters faith clarity; widens faith

horizons; deepens faith commitment

• Adult Stage: Convictional Faith – This stage of faith is a very important one.

• Our journey begins when we put our hand in the hand of God and allow ourselves to be led by both the light of reason and the light of faith. (CCC 154-55)

• Our journey moves forward to that awesome faith encounter that brings us face to face with the mystery of the Holy Trinity. (CCC 253-56)

Father --- Who created usSon --- Who redeemed us

Holy Spirit --- Who graces us

Three Faith LevelsThe Holy Spirit graces and guides us every step of our faith journey:• Mind Level – Openness to Truth• Heart Level – Openness to Love• Soul Level – Openness to Grace

If our soul is open, the Holy Spirit will grace us abundantly, prepare us for faith, invite us to faith, and embrace us every step on the faith journey. (CCC 153-54)

Three Faith Realities• Loving Trust – Risk– Examples: Abraham, Genesis 12:1; marriage

• Ongoing Trust – Recommitment– Because we constantly evolve and change as persons,

we must constantly recommit ourselves to God in harmony with our change and evolvement. This process of recommitment is how faith grows and matures. (CCC 162)

• Suffering Darkness – Growth Times– This darkness is usually traceable to three sources:

Human NatureOurselves

God

Faith is a gift from God. It cannot be “merited” or “won.” Jesus made this clear.

Matthew 16:13-17

Chapter TestMatching1 – b2 – a 3 – e4 – d5 – c

Fill in the Blanks1 a. Human natureb. Ourselvesc. God2a. Mindb. Truthc. Heartd. Lovee. Soulf. Faith

Tue/False1 – T2 – F 3 – T4 – F5 – F6 – T7 – T8 – T9 – F10 – T11 – F

Divine Revelation

God and God’s Word

Ways of Knowing God

• Experiencing God• Reasoning to God• Believing Another– Experts say 90% of our knowledge comes from

reading (believing the word of another.)

Faith in God

• We are very limited in what we can know about God from experience and reason

• Only Jesus can give us a clear and certain knowledge of God.

• John 1:18

Divine Revelation• Refers to public revelation as opposed to private

revelation.• Ended with last apostle’s death• We continue to uncover deeper meanings in it

through study and prayer. (CCC 66-67)

What about “private revelations,” like Fatima?• After investigation, if the Church rules a specific

“private revelation” in not in conflict with public revelation, it may be believed

• The Church obliges no one to believe “private revelation”

Margaret Mehren

• Did she experience God, reason to God and/or believe another?

Testing the truth of the experience:• Did she grow more faith-filled?• Did she grow more hopeful?• Did she grow more loving?

(Faith, hope and love are theological virtues because they come from and lead to God.)

Handing on Revelation• Revelation– Public (Bible/Tradition)– Private (e.g. visions)

• Immediate (deeds Ps 78:52, dreams Mt 1:20, visions Is 6:1-8)– To Prophets– To Apostles

• Mediate (handing on immediate revelation)– To Future Generations– Under Holy Spirit’s Guidance

Sacred Tradition:• Teachings passed orally and unerringly from

generation to generation• Example: Mary was a virgin all her life

Sacred Scripture• Gospels developed through three stages (CCC 126):– Life: what Jesus said and did– Oral: what apostles preached– Written: what evangelists wrote

Divine Inspiration• Holy Spirit and human writer act as a team

Inerrancy of Scripture• “free from religious error in matters related to salvation”• Bible is not free from scientific or historical error

Interpretation of Scripture• The Church is the mother of the New Testament and thus the

interpreter.• “You must go back, as it were, in spirit to those remote

centuries of the East. With the aid of history, archaeology, ethnology, and other sciences, you must determine accurately what modes of writing the ancient writers would likely use, and in fact did use.” Pope Pius XII to biblical scholars.

Canon of Scripture• Testament comes from the Greek meaning of “sacred

agreement” (covenant)• Old Testament: God’s covenant with Israel mediated by

Moses.• New Testament: God’s covenant with all people

mediated by Jesus• Dead Sea Scrolls importance:– ~1000 yrs. older than oldest biblical manuscripts known to

us– Non-biblical scrolls fill in gap of little-known Jewish history

between 200 BC and 50 AD, and they help clarify biblical writings from this period

Chapter TestMatching1 – f: 2 – h 3 – c4 – d5 – a 6 – e7 – b8 – g

Fill in the Blanks1 a. Experiencingb. Reasoningc. Believing2a. Lifeb. Oralc. Written3. Dead Sea Scrolls

Tue/False1 – F2 – T 3 – T4 – T5 – F6 – T7 – F8 – T9 – T10 – F

Old Testament

Act One: Creation – God CreatesAct Two: De-creation – Sin Destroys

Act Three: Re-creation – God Saves Us

Interpreting the Bible

• Literalists– Interpret with the text alone – Adam lived 930 yrs.– Genealogies were never intended to be taken literally –

they build a literary bridge between Adam (father of all people) and Abraham (father of all Hebrews)• Declining age spans symbolize the tragic impact that sin is having

on the human family.

• Contextualists– Interpret with text and context– Early chapters deal with pre-history

Bible At a Glance• Old Testament (46 books) has 4 parts– Pentateuch (5 books + 3 special books)– Wisdom (7 books)– Historical (13 books)– Prophetic (18 books)

• New Testament (27 books) has 4 parts– Gospels (4 books)– Acts (1 book)– Letters (21 books)– Revelation (1 book)

Creation• Creation story, like Jesus’ parables, convey religious

truths and not historical facts• Four Religious Truths of the Creation Story:– God is One– God planned creation– God created everything good– God made the Sabbath holy

• Second Creation Story– It is suggested the image of God “breathing” life in to clay

was inspired by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, which ancients were familiar with (e.g. 2 Kings 4:32-34)

De-Creation• Misuse of environment• Misuse of free willSin:• Personal Sin: the free act of a single individual(CCC

1868)

• Social Sin: involves the collective behavior of a group of people, like a nation (CCC 1869)

• Two forms:– Commission – doing bad– Omission – not doing good

Origin of Sin• First “sin story” is the snake tempting Adam and Eve• Symbolic Story - Symbolic Meaning• Three major tragic effects of the first sin

– Introduces evil into world– Flawed human race– Doomed human race

• God’s response explained “origin” of disturbing realities– The pain involved in childbirth– The pain involved in hard labor – The ongoing struggle between good and evil in the world

• Ray of Hope– God’s remark to the snake (CCC 410-11; 1 John 3:8)

“Her offspring (Jesus)Will crush your head (devil).

In the process, however,Jesus will suffer (snake will bite his heel.)”

Act 1: God creates us

Act 2: Sin destroys us

Act 3: God re-creates us

Re-creation• Covenant with Abraham– New identity – God’s chosen person– New destiny – Father of nations

• Covenant with Israel– New identity – Chosen people– New destiny – Priestly people

• Covenant with David– New identity – Chosen king– New destiny – Ancestor of the Messiah

God’s covenant moved from Abraham to Israel to David (CCC 702-709)

• God’s people sin– After Solomon’s death: kingdom divided– Beginning of personal and social sins against God– God raised prophets

• Israel did not reform• Judah did not listen to prophets

• God’s people suffer– People exiled to Babylon– Babylon conquered by Cyrus of Persia – Hebrew scriptures end “unfinished” – Faithful Jews await the Messiah (CCC 716)

After David…

Chapter TestMatching1 – k2 – a 3 – e4 – g5 – d 6 – h7 – l8 – c9 – f10 – b11 – I12 – j

Fill in the Blanks1 a. Introduced evil into the worldb. Flawed the human racec. Doomed the human race

Tue/False1 – F2 – T 3 – T4 – T5 – F6 – T7 – F8 – T9 – F10 – T