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1ST QUARTERLY REVIEWER Christian Life Education Lesson 1: Meaning and Object of Hope Hope is— The defining mark of a Christian Anchored on the Passion, Death, and Resurrection o...

1ST QUARTERLY REVIEWER Christian Life Education Lesson 1: Meaning and Object of Hope Hope is— The defining mark of a Christian Anchored on the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus It is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. (CCC 1817) The virtue of hope stirs the Christian to desire eternal life as his/her happiness. The virtue that responds to the aspiration of happiness — it keeps us from discouragement and despair. It sustains us in times of abandonment and great trials. When the Holy Spirit is richly poured out on the Christian through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, they might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Lesson 2: The Three Theological Virtues: Faith, Hope & Love Virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do good. It allows us to do good deeds and to bring out the best in ourselves. The Cardinal Virtues— All other virtues arise from them. First encountered from the work of Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle. These are prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Prudence is the capacity to judge and distinguish correctly what is right and what is wrong. Justice moves us to give what is rightfully due to everyone. Fortitude fires us up to overcome fear and to be reasonably steady when facing hardships. Temperance moderates our attraction to pleasures, desires, and passions. It keeps us away from excesses. The Theological Virtues— are the foundation of our moral activity. make us capable of acting as God’s children and meriting eternal life. the three greatest Christian virtues that activate our Catholic Christian living. are called “theological” since they arise from God’s free gift and are directed immediately toward God. What is the connection between human virtues and theological virtues? The human virtues are rooted in the theological virtues, They dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity: FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT our One and Triune God for their origin, motive, and object. By faith, we believe in God and all that he has revealed to us and that the Church proposes for our belief. By hope, we desire and with steadfast trust await eternal life and graces to merit from God. Christian Hope is our passionate longing for a more complete way of living our lives in the here and now — where all seek peace, love, and justice that should reign. (CFC 1813) Love is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. Lesson 3: Hope: Prophetic and Eschatological ★ Read and reflect on Romans 5: 12-21 ○ Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned— To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man, the many will be made righteous. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. ★ Prophetic Hope ○ It is grounded on the Hope of our salvation to God Himself based on the memory of Yahweh’s saving acts, but always looking towards the future new life that, through God’s creative power, drives out all resignation and despair. (CFC 461) ○ It is a hope that tells about/proclaims the goodness of God. ○ The virtue of Hope is so strong and goes beyond our day to day experiences. It leads us to the fulfillment of God’s promise from the Old Testament until His final coming since the prophecy of old is on the last day when God returns in Glory. ○ It is important to look at the virtue of HOPE, which will not only strengthen our FAITH in GOD and His works, but as a virtue that will lead us to ETERNAL LIFE. That when all else ends, it is the virtue of HOPE that will help us remember that there is always a PLACE that GOD will bring us to. ○ The searching Christian learns that the HOPE of salvation is found through the Lord and begins by obeying His commandments (Psalm 119:166). The HOPE that the Christian seeks in Heaven is written in the Word of God. ○ This HOPE teaches that there is one Body and one Holy Spirit. Due to this HOPE, the Christian is led toward salvation in Jesus Christ through faith and the Sacrament of Baptism. Baptism is the Sacrament that makes a person reborn, and receive the new heart and spirit and the indwelling Holy Spirit that God promised to His people in the day of the Old Testament. ○ Salvation is the end result that the Christian aims for. It is his/her assurance of eternal life in the Kingdom of God. ★ Read and reflect Mark 1: 14-15 ○ Jesus Announces the Good News After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” ★ Eschatological Hope ○ It is a HOPE based on the longing for the fulfillment of God’s Kingdom and life everlasting. The perpetual longing for God and His Kingdom is not something that we invented. God has mysteriously planted in our hearts a deep longing for Him and the desire to reach heaven. ○ It came from the Greek word “eskhaton” which means “last.” ○ It is something already present but not yet fully as was mentioned in the Gospel of Mark. Without ever defining precisely what the kingdom of God is, Jesus uses to embrace all the blessings of salvation, a salvation of God’s active presence within people’s daily life, liberating them from slavery (CFC 481). ○ Jesus declared that His Kingdom finally arrived in His Person, and His mighty deeds were signs of that KINGDOM. Yet He clearly spoke about its FUTURE CONSUMMATION which is at the END OF THE WORLD (Matthew 24). We have to pray “thy Kingdom come” (in Lord’s Prayer) like the disciples who preached this Kingdom and became a WITNESS to this (Matthew 24: 14). The setting of this KINGDOM will be in the Future – as expressed in our Mystery of Faith – CHRIST HAS DIED, CHRIST IS RISEN, CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN. ★ The New Testament ○ It has two focal points — the first and the second advent (coming) of Christ. The first is related to faith: the Incarnation of God, and the second is related to Hope: Jesus coming as King and Judge of the Living and of the Dead. ○ The HOPE for the coming of Jesus Christ is experienced in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist or the Mass. The Eucharist is not merely a remembering and making present of Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross. For us Christians, the Eucharistic banquet is a real foretaste of the final banquet foretold by the prophets (Isaiah 25:6-9) and described in the New Testament as the “marriage-feast of the Lamb” (Revelations 19:7-9), to be celebrated in the joy of the communion of saints. ○ The Church must live in the times between the Two Tensions: THE NOW and THE NOT YET. There must be both faith and hope among Christians who live between such tensions.