Category: Christianity

New Testament Study Guides

Yes, these files are free to download and use for your Bible study. These are provided as a supplement to the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament.

Faith Shared at School, Home, and Parish

Judith Dunlap, When You Teach in a Catholic School(2004) states that yes, religion is taught but faith is caught by being around people who are confident and willing to share their faith. We can touch the heart through rituals, by creating an influential environment and again, by being a personal witness. Rituals bring people together; they teach us there are certain ways to do things, they make us feel good as well as give vitality to the people involved. We can grow as faith community by starting (and maintaining) a ritual; it can include words, actions, symbols and/or music. The environment in any room, not just the religion class, can also influence faith by creating a feeling of peace and welcome through the use of lights, pictures, music, rugs, and/or plants by tapping into our senses. Last, personal witness isn’t just limited to staff in the school. We must remember to include and invite other witnesses like parents, community members, elders, priests, etc. to help our youth grow by sharing their story.

John 15:15

I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.

Think of events that will happen in your school this month. Are there people that can be invited in to help celebrate these events and share their story?

Faith is Relational

Faith is relational; people influence us all the time. It is our baptismal duty to pass on the faith in how we car for one another.

Judith Dunlap, When You Teach in a Catholic School(2004) writes, that we need to affirm our youth that they are loved no matter what; God’s love is always steady. All people in a child’s life have the responsibility to help them grow in their faith and become anchored in God’s steadfast love. Students also need to be taught that they, in turn, have a responsibility to share love with others by living a life of peace, justice and respect.

Archbishop Miller for The Holy See’s Teaching on Catholic Schools(2006) emphasizes that the purpose of a Catholic school is to be a vital witness that reveals the love of Christ by word, gesture, and behaviour.

God Reveal’s His Plan:

Matthew 25:40
And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

In Evangel Gaudium, the Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis wrote that a catechist must be strong and clear with the most important proclamation of: “Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and now he is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen, and free you.” How do these words resonate with you? What are your feelings or reactions after watching the video?

Challenge yourself that when you encourage or console someone this week, you verbally, out loud, ask God to bless then so they can hear holy words of affirmation.

But I Don’t Teach Religion

Judith Dunlap, When You Teach in a Catholic School(2004) writes,

“Whether you teach science or math, music or gym, you are responsible for supporting the religion teacher by helping shape the faith and value system of the young people in your classes. Religion isn’t just about learning the facts of history and how to read a bible, it’s about growing in relationship with Jesus and that job belongs to everyone.”

1 Cor 12:12-14

One Body with Many Members

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.

Reflection:
Think of someone in your past that has passed on the faith to you. Ask God to bless them for the goodness they have done by being a witness to the love of Christ and bringing you closer in relationship with him.

Hedonism Kant Be The Way, Can It?

In a universe increasing less black and white and enjoying more grey, I pause to reflect on the concept of Christian Hedonism.

I have always appreciated the more rigorously fashioned ethics of Kant, an action is either right or wrong, all times all places in the universe. One does not do the right thing out of hope for a reward, only of the duty that knowing the right thing to do compels one to do the right thing. The difficulty is discerning or revealing an actions’ inherent evil or righteousness. But there is no room in his logic for an ambiguous action – only the certainty of judging an act objectively as right or wrong. Straightforward, an action either is or is not right. Our appetite for a reward or aversion to punishment is irrelevant. Period.

Now I read about CS Lewis and he shakes me up a little bit about something I was certain – hedonism is a bad thing. Lewis reflects on an objection to Kant’s matter of fact denial of hedonism:

British writer C. S. Lewis, in an oft-quoted passage in his short piece “The Weight of Glory,” likewise objects to Kantian ethics:
If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and to earnestly hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I suggest that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.[2]

So, ought we do the right thing because there is a reward, or not? Can it be both ways, do it because it is right AND do it because a reward is there?

Why ought we do the right thing?

Pregame Prayer

Strong and faithful God,
as we come together for this contest,
we ask you to bless these athletes.
Keep them safe from injury and harm,
instil in them respect for each other,
and reward them for their perseverance.
Lead us all to the rewards of your kingdom
where you live and reign for ever and ever.
Amen.

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/revealed-the-churchs-official-prayer-for-sports-events#ixzz2iJAGCJmE

BLESSING OF AN ATHLETIC EVENT

All make the sign of the cross as the minister says: Blessed be the name of the Lord.
All reply: Now and for ever.

One of those present or the minister reads a text of sacred Scripture, for example:

Brothers and sisters, listen to the words of the second letter of Paul to Timothy:
4:6-8

I have fought the good fight

2 Timothy 4:6-8
As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=249312013

Or:
Brothers and sisters, listen to the words of the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians:
9:24-27

We win a crown that is imperishable

1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable garland, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.
http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=249312349

A minister who is a priest or deacon says the prayer of blessing with hands outstretched; a lay minister says the prayer with hands joined.

Strong and faithful God,
as we come together for this contest,
we ask you to bless these athletes.
Keep them safe from injury and harm,
instill in them respect for each other,
and reward them for their perseverance.
Lead us all to the rewards of your kingdom
Where you live and reign for ever and ever. R. Amen.

http://www.oldenburgacademy.org/files/content/PLC_Sport_Prayers.pdf
http://www.catholiccompany.com/st-jerome-c2145/
http://www.catholiccompany.com/st-sebastian-c664/

Spirituality

Catholicism is not simply a system of beliefs; it is also a life to be lived: a life of worship, shaped by the Eucharist and the other sacraments, and a life of moral commitment and behaviour, shaped by moral values rooted in the teaching and example of Jesus Christ. Catholic schools foster this way of life grounded in the love of God and values of the Reign of God proclaimed in the gospels.

Spirituality in Catholic schools consists in letting God be present in each moment of the day, becoming attuned to God”s presence in the ups and downs of the life journey of the school community. Prayer and a commitment to the moral and ethical values of the gospel provide the opening to God’s presence. The Catholic school, therefore, is a place of prayer, a place where the principals of Christian morality find expression in the interactions that take place there.

Catholic schools invite all members of the learning community into that place of prayer and moral living by modelling a prayer life in the school and by providing a learning environment characterized by relationships that are caring and nurturing.

Strategies for nurturing Spirituality in Catholic Schools:

  • Make resources for spirituality available to all members of the community
  • Provide opportunities for retreat and reflection days
  • Participate in faith development activities
  • Structure prayer into the life of the school on a daily basis
  • Celebrate Catholic identity through prayer, liturgy, and worship
  • Celebrate school events, the various passages and seasons of the year with religious rituals
  • Celebrate school patron saints, school feasts

How do Catholic schools integrate spirituality into the learning environment?

Rationality

The real subjects in Catholic education are the learners in the sense that wisdom requires that the learners be the primary agents of their own learning. Learners are invited to see for themselves: to be active agents of their learning rather than passive recipients of knowledge.

Learners are encouraged to use their whole minds in the pursuit of learning – their reason, memory, and imagination. And because learning proceeds from what is known to the unknown, learner’s own lefe experiences become the building blocks to new learning. An attitude of openess to the truth requires that practices of exclusion – such as racism and sexism – be absent from the learning environment. Wisdom is the antithesis of injustice. Such openness also welcomes everyone into the learning process. Everyone’s voice can be heard in the learning environment just as everyone has the opportunity to learn.

Strategies to engage Reason and Rationality in Catholic Schools:

  • Encourage social analysis: the context of learnings gives meaning to the content; cultural contexts and worldviews are open to question; other perspectives can be viewed
  • Promote responsibility and commitment: take learners beyond their own knowledge; discover how knowledge can be life-giving
  • Sensitize learning: investigate whose interests are served by what we learn; relate learning to the Reign of God
  • Encourage relational learning: allow for different styles of learning; collaborative; cooperative learning
  • Foster the professional development of teachers in the study of theology and religious education
  • Assess student learning in the religious dimension based on the cognitive understanding of faith integration into all subject areas
  • Celebrate academic achievement

How can Catholic educators educate for wisdom?

The Basics of the Christian faith

220px-Alpha_logo

  • Is there more to life than this? (previously Christianity: Boring, Untrue and Irrelevant?)
  • Who is Jesus?
  • Why did Jesus die?
  • How can we have faith?
  • Why and how do I pray?
  • Why and how should I read the Bible?
  • How does God guide us?
  • Who is the Holy Spirit?
  • What does the Holy Spirit do?
  • How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit?
  • How can I resist evil?
  • Why and how should I tell others?
  • Does God heal today?
  • What about the church?
  • How can I make the most of the rest of my Life?

Read more about the Alpha Course.

Baptism

In the 1970s, the United Church reached an ecumenical agreement with the Presbyterian, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and Anglican churches in Canada that baptisms within these churches are mutually recognized as valid. Further to that, the United Church recognizes the validity of any baptism by another denomination that was performed with water and in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.[1]