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Called to be another christ

Called to be another christ. Assignment. Open Workbook Study Questions 12-16 Read Practical Exercise #1 (p. 231). Thought Experiment.

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Called to be another christ

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  1. Called to be another christ

  2. Assignment • Open Workbook • Study Questions 12-16 • Read Practical Exercise #1 (p. 231)

  3. Thought Experiment • When you were baptized, you became a member of the Body of Christ. Members of Christ’s Body are called Christians. The word “Christian” implies that you are to be “another Christ.” • Why is it impossible to “be another Christ”? Nevertheless, how can you “be another Christ”? • Write two short paragraphs. In the first paragraph, answer the first question. In the second paragraph, answer the second question.

  4. Sharing • Why is it impossible to “be another Christ”? • How can you “be another Christ”?

  5. Keys to Being Another Christ • Made in Christ’s image and likeness • Christ’s redemption • Objective redemption • Importance of Rosary (Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious) • Subjective redemption • Baptism & Sacraments (grace) • Gifts of the Spirit (faith & love) • Example of Christ • “Be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect” • Example of the Saints

  6. Being Another Christ • Why is the last question “How did you treat others”? • How we treat others reveals what we believe about God’s love for us and our faith in Him • Where do we find the guidelines for faith and love? • What is “The Law of Christ”? • Who empowers us to fulfill the “Law of Christ”? • What does He give? • And why we need so much grace?

  7. Being Another Christ • Is any Christian exempt from the call to holiness? • What three “musts” must the faithful fulfill to reach the perfection of charity? • Use their strength accordingly as they have received it, as a gift from Christ, • Follow in Christ’s footsteps and conform themselves to his image seeking the will of the Father in all things, and • Devote themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of their neighbor. • In other words, they must cooperate with God with their own efforts to imitate Christ in serving God and neighbor

  8. The universal call to holiness

  9. Thought Experiment • Read carefully these words: • The Cross reveals that we find ourselves only by giving our lives away, receiving God’s love as an unmerited gift and working todraw all men and women into the beauty of that love and the light of the truth which alone brings salvation to the world. • It is in this truth – this mystery of faith – that we have been “consecrated” (cf. Jn 17:17-19), and it is in this truth that we are called to grow, with the help of God’s grace, in daily fidelity to his word, within the life-giving communion of the Church. Yet how difficult is this path of consecration! It demands continual “conversion”, a sacrificial death to self which is the condition for belonging fully to God, a change of mind and heart which brings true freedom and a new breadth of vision. • Pope Benedict XVI (2008)

  10. Thought Experiment • What is holiness, according to those words? • Holiness is a change of heart and mind so that • I am consecrated to God • I sacrifice my thoughts, desires, hopes, dreams • sacrificial death to self • Sacrificing what I think matters most • I willingly live not for myself, BUT by living for others • give away my life to others • I draw others to Christ • Grow in His Word, within His Church

  11. Saints • What is a saint? • Sanctus = holy • Holy living by loving • Who are the saints? • Not fame, but holiness of life • Humility, faith, love • Is a saint free? • “…being delivered out of the hand of our enemies [so that we] might serve Him [the Lord] without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life” (Luke 1) • God forces no one to be holy

  12. Saints • Can we be saints? • What “parts” of our life can be oriented toward God? • “oriented” = turned to the East • Why does a Christian turn to the East • A traditional church • A traditional cemetery • Does your life really have “parts”? • Can one “part” be consecrated to God, and another “part” not?

  13. Review/Reminders • What is objective redemption? • What is subjective redemption? • What does it mean to be created in God’s image? • Why is this important to “be another Christ” (i.e., holiness)

  14. “In the Beginning” — Application • What preternatural gifts did Adam and Eve possess that aided them in holiness? • Physical • Moral • What supernatural gifts did Adam and Eve possess that aided them in holiness? • Review: Look up “Original holiness and justice”

  15. Beginning to live holiness in the world

  16. Thought Experiment • Read Matthew 19.16-30 • What is the question? • What is the answer? • Where does the rich young man show pride? • What does Jesus tell the man to do? • Doing this one thing will teach the man faith, humility and love. • All of these are necessary for holiness.

  17. Thought Experiment • Why is it hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven? • What is “eye of a needle” • Think about the question by the disciples. Does holiness seem impossible? • What does God give us to make the impossible possible? • Does Peter show pride? • Can the poor, the saint, the self-sacrificing be proud? • What is the last thing Jesus says that teaches holiness (faith, humility, love)?

  18. Assignment • Read 204-207 • Workbook 1-11

  19. Grace • Grace of Christ given by the Father in and through the Holy Spirit transforms the world. • How? • HINT: Jesus told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.” (Mt 13.33) • Who does the Blessed Trinity use to transform the world with His grace? • When we live and exhibit God’s grace in the world, we are being another Christ. • How do we prevent evil and work toward good? • Always live for another, not for yourself. It’s not all about you. • Grace gives us the strength and ability to do this. • Doing this means we are being another Christ. • Why are the world, the flesh, and the Devil obstacles to grace?

  20. Grace • What is grace? • Gift; God’s help • Christ Himself (“The grace of God has appeared to all men”—St Paul) • Why does God give us grace? • To be another Christ • To fulfill the call to holiness • To strengthen our faith and love • There are two types of grace. What are they? • What is sanctifying grace? • Received in Baptism; stable disposition; gives us share in divine life • What is actual grace? • Particular help; given in all circumstances of life; helps us conform to God’s will

  21. Three Offices • Christ, on earth and in heaven, exercised three offices. These offices are the ways in which He exercised holiness. • What are the three offices? • How is Christ the Prophet? • HINT: Prophets foresee and proclaim/preach • How is Christ the Priest? • HINT: Priests offer sacrifices • Christ is both the One who offers and the One who is offered • How is Christ the King? • In which of these offices can most Catholics participate?

  22. Three Offices • How do some Catholic men participate in Christ’s priestly office? • Holy Orders • In persona Christi • How do all Catholics participate in Christ’s priestly office? • Common priesthood of all believers

  23. Laity • What is the name for the group of humans in the Mystical Body from which all priests come? • Laos = Greek for “people” • What is the laity? • What is the essential mission of the laity? • To be Christ to the world in everything you do

  24. Imitatio Christi • What does it mean to imitate Christ? • Can we imitate every action that He did? • St Paul helps: “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus…” • Why should we seek to imitate Christ? • “Perfect” in what way? • Who helps us imitate Christ? • By example, prayers and merits • What are the three elements that are necessary to be another Christ (i.e., to imitate Christ) • Call from God • Response in faith • Living as Christ lived • What is another word for “imitation of Christ”? • Morality

  25. Conversion • To imitate Christ, to be another Christ, requires a conversion—a change of heart. • How does your heart convert? • What is the hardest part of converting the heart? • HINT: The opposite of love is indifference, not hatred • Loving neighbor • Loving enemy • Explain the conversion of heart by Rose Hawthorne

  26. The laws of morality

  27. Assignment • Study Questions 17-21 • Read 216-219 • Workbook 20-25

  28. Thought Experiment • Why do we need stop signs and traffic lights and speed limits? • HINT: “[P]eople often distort [the natural law] to accommodate sinful behavior” • The government makes laws to prevent a bad thing from happening again; or because it sees that a bad thing may happen in the future. • Why do people do bad things? • Selfishness (crustaceanness; S. Sabo) leads to lack of self control • Fear leads to selfishness

  29. Thought Experiment • Is it always wrong to kill? • Can you name some instances where killing is necessary? • Even when necessary, is taking another life still a bad thing? • Who told you that it was wrong to kill? • Do the commandments tell you something that no one could figure out; or do the commandments say clearly what is always true? • Read the first two sentences on p. 212. What is natural law? • Where was the natural law first “written”? • Christian morality can be known by every person through reason because it was first written on the heart (natural law).

  30. Decalogue • Why did God give the Decalogue? • Say the 10 Commandments • Write all 10 of the commandments in a positive way • Don’t use the negative words • Choose one commandment. Write how it is an expression of the natural law. • Why do Christians have to follow the 10 Commandments?

  31. The Law of Christ • Read Matthew 5.17-20 • What does Jesus mean when He says that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it? • How can your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees? • By following the Spirit in the Law, and not just the letter • By being in Christ • Read Mt 5.21-27 • How does Jesus “extend” the Law? • St Augustine: Evil ends in the hands. It begins in the heart (will, intent), then moves to the mouth, and then to the hands.

  32. The Law of Christ • Read Mt 5.27-32 • How does Jesus “extend” the 6th commandment? • What does 31-32 mean? • Read 5.33-35 • How does Jesus “extend” the 8th commandment? • Andy? • Read 5.38-48 • Why must we turn the other cheek? • Who showed us how to do this? • In addition to Jesus? • Why must we love our enemies? • How can we be perfect (“another Christ”)?

  33. The Beatitudes • Read Matthew 5.1-12 • What is a beatitude? • What does the word “blessed” mean? • What is one beatitude that makes sense to you? • What is one beatitude that seems really odd or strange? • What is paradoxical about the Beatitudes? • Who fulfills the Beatitudes perfectly? • Jesus • Mary • Saints • Are we called to fulfill the Beatitudes? Can we?

  34. Precepts of the Church • List the five precepts of the Church given on p. 215. • Choose one precept. How does it help you fulfill one (or more) of the 10 Commandments?

  35. Faith & Hope

  36. Assignment • Study Questions 22-29 • Read 220-225 • Workbook 26-31

  37. Virtuous Living • What is the goal (end) of life? • Share in God’s divine life • Beatific vision • What is the goal (end) of virtuous living? • CCC 1803 • What is a virtue? • Habit • Disposition (mindset, intent) to do the good • What is a natural virtue? • What is a supernatural virtue? • “Infused” = Supernatural, placed into you by God’s grace • Which is most important? • Both are necessary for virtuous living

  38. Faith • What are the three theological virtues? • Describe each theological virtue: • Faith • Hope • Charity (caritas, agape) • What is faith? (see CCC1814) • When are we given the virtue of faith? • What is the relationship between faith and reason? • Tertullian: I believe whatever is absurd (against reason) • Augustine: Faith seeks understanding • Can what you believe contradict reason? • Faith exceeds or goes beyond what we understand (mystery), but does not contradict it.

  39. Faith • How can reason “get in the way” of faith? • Example • How can immoral behavior affect faith? • Who is the standard for Christian morality? • What is an example of bad morality? • How can faith be properly formed? • What is the danger in explaining the faith without being properly formed? • Can people distort the truth?

  40. Sins Against Faith

  41. Sins Against Faith

  42. Hope • What is hope? • What do we hope for? • God’s grace • Attaining the kingdom of heaven • Why does God give us hope? • How can we nurture (grow, strengthen) hope? • What are the sins against hope? • Despair • Presumption • Notice that they are extremes

  43. Sins against Hope

  44. Sins against Hope

  45. Suicide & Despair

  46. Charity & Gifts

  47. Charity • What is charity? • From “caritas” and “agape” • Related to, but not broader than, helping the poor • Two parts • Why should we love God? • Two reasons • HINT: In what ways are you a child of God? • Why should we love others? • Two reasons • HINT 1: Related to loving God • HINT 2: New commandment by Christ • What is the essence of charity? • “All love is…”

  48. Sins against Charity

  49. Sins against Charity

  50. Gifts of the Holy Spirit • Define the gifts of the Holy Spirit. • Supernatural habits • Describe each gift. • Which ones act on the intellect? • Which ones act on the will? • Define the fruits of the Holy Spirit • Supernatural acts • Describe each gift

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