Christian Living/Values Education 11 PDF

Christian Living/Values Education 11 LESSON 1: I am a Filipino Catholic Five predominant Filipino characteristics, together with five essential traits of Jesus Christ, are assumed to be within the typical “Filipino way” of Jesus. CFC 34-51 Pre-dominant characteristic of a Filipino Catholic...

Christian Living/Values Education 11 LESSON 1: I am a Filipino Catholic Five predominant Filipino characteristics, together with five essential traits of Jesus Christ, are assumed to be within the typical “Filipino way” of Jesus. CFC 34-51 Pre-dominant characteristic of a Filipino Catholic 1. Family Oriented - “Filial attachment.” - Our self-identity is deeply rooted in our family. - Jesus Christ offering Himself to us as our brother. - Jesus Christ as both the Son of God (Anak ng Amang Diyos) and the Son of Man (Anak ng Tao), endears himself naturally to us family-oriented Filipinos. - He leads us to his Mother Mary (Ina ng Diyos) - we call Mary Inang Maria. He offers himself as our brother (kapatid), and draws us into the family life of his heavenly Father. 2. Meal Oriented - Offering our best even to unexpected guests. - We try our best to offer something even to unexpected guests with a traditional greeting - Tuloy po kayo at kumain muna tayo. - Jesus is not just the food, the bread of life, but even the guest in every gathering. Eating together in table fellowship with the presence of the Risen Christ (communion) constitutes the core witness of the early Church as a Eucharistic community. - Filipinos feel naturally “at home” in breaking bread together with Jesus. 3. Bayani Oriented - Leadership - We tend instinctively to always personalize any good cause in terms of a leader, especially when its object is to defend the weak and the oppressed. - As bayani-oriented, we Filipino enthrone our image of Cristo Rey. He assures us that everything will be alright in the end. Christ the King has won the ultimate victory over evil. 4. Kundiman Oriented - Suffering and sacrifices - Filipinos are naturally attracted to heroes sacrificing everything about love. - Jesus as the Suffering Servant is portrayed through the image of Padre Hesus Nazareno, the Santo Entierro or the Sacred Heart. Through these images, Jesus appears as one of “the least of our brethren”. 5. Spirit Oriented - Our belief in the supernatural is overcome by our Christian belief. - Jesus, the miracle worker who promised to send His Spirit to his disciples to give them a new life, is thus very appealing to us Filipinos. The Holy Spirit sent by the Father and the Risen Christ draws us Filipinos into a community wherein superstition and enslaving magic are overcome by authentic Christian worship of the Father “in spirit and truth”. The Filipino Way The Philippines is known as Pueblo Amante de Maria (People in love with Mary.) Devotion with Mary has always been intimately intertwined with Christ. The mystery of Incarnation (celebrated during Christmas) and Redemption (Holy Week) of Christ are deeply marked by the veneration of Mary - Panunuluyan during Christmas time and Salubong during Easter Sunday morning. The family altar in Filipino homes witnesses Mary as the mother of Jesus and our spiritual mother. Mary’s month of May is noted for the fiestas in honor and pilgrimages to her shrines. Mary is venerated as the Mother Dolorosa, the Sorrowful Mother whose “Perpetual Mother”, compassion and love is sought through popular novenas and devotions. We have Mary as our Queen, the loving mother of Christ our King. Mary is venerated precisely as the woman upon whom the Holy Spirit came, that her offspring would be called Son of God Devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ang Mahal na Birhen, has greatly helped many simple Filipinos to remain Catholics. The Filipino Catholic We are family oriented Filipinos who can easily talk to God the Father through His only begotten Son-made-man, our Lord Jesus Christ. We find meaning in our lives and learn to face the hunger and poverty around us in encountering Jesus as Eucharist in our parish community. We have met Christ the Suffering Servant in his Passion, we can pray about sin and forgiveness, about justice and reconciliation, about the suffering and Passion of our own Filipino people today. We, Filipino Catholics, resilient as the bamboo and sturdy as narra, commit ourselves to Christ, our hero-king in deep gratitude for the gift of faith and for being Filipino. Our world vision as Catholic Filipinos is gradually transformed by Christ’s Spirit- in-the-world in our Church community. LESSON 2: God’s Revelation Revelation is God’s personal loving communication to us of who He is and His plan to save us all in His love. It is God reaching out to us in friendship, so we get to know and love Him. CFC 101 Revelation came from the word “revelare” which means “to unveil” or to “uncover.” There are four avenues of revelation: 1. CREATION - The first way God reveals Himself to us. - In creation, man holds a special place - “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” - Genesis 1:26 - The world and everything in it are natural signs of God - the initial way God makes Himself known to us. 2. SCRIPTURES - The Bible records God’s entering into a special covenant relationship with his chosen people, the race of Abraham, the people of Israel. - He performed great works for His Chosen people and proclaimed their saving power and truth through prophets’ words. - He liberated and corrected His people through chosen men and women - kings, judges, prophets. - Through God’s inspired word in the Old Testament, God still reveals Himself to us and inspires us to respond to His covenant. - The scripture grew from Living Tradition. 3. CHURCH - God’s revelation did not stop with Jesus’ ascending to heaven. God continues to manifest Himself today through the Holy Spirit. - God’s revelation continues through the Church. In the Church, Jesus Christ would be proclaimed and spread to the ends of the earth by the power of the Holy Spirit, sent down upon the apostles at Pentecost. - Liturgical/Ecclesial signs - God continues to manifest Himself today through the Holy Spirit in the Church. Christ’s revelation in the Church is the new and definitive covenant that will never pass away. 4. OTHER RELIGION - Even non-Christians “who do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and moved by grace, try in their actions to do His will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience, may achieve eternal salvation (LG 16). JESUS CHRIST is the Goal, Content, and Agent of Revelation. - GOAL: The key center and purpose of the whole man’s history.  - CONTENT: He is the Revealed One. - AGENT: He is the mediator through His part in creation, becoming man, through His hidden and public life, and through His Paschal Mystery. LESSON 3: Faith – Our Response to God’s Revelation Faith is a confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see. Hebrew 11:1 FAITH CHRISTIAN FAITH CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN FAITH Believing in God. Believing in God revealed Believing that Christ revealed God by Jesus Christ. to us in and through the Catholic Church, united in the Holy Spirit. Faith is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Through him, with the Father, through the Holy Spirit, a decision to commit oneself to Christ, follow him, strive to know and accept the truths he continues to teach through his Church. (PCP II 64- 65) Faith in Human Relations Faith in its broadest sense is a central reality in Filipino life. It is an everyday “natural” factor in all our human relationships and daily actions. CHARACTERISTICS OF CHRISTIAN FAITH Total and Absolute - Our faith calls for total and absolute adherence. Christ demonstrates the best example of this commitment to God through His Paschal Mystery. TRINITARIAN - Our Faith as Catholics, then, consists in our personal conviction and belief in God our Father, revealed by Jesus Christ, His own divine Son-made-man, and their presence to us through the Holy Spirit, in the Church LOVING, MATURING AND MISSIONARY - Love must be inseparably love for God and love for neighbor. - It impels us to a mission of evangelizing and spreading the good news to other people. INFORMED AND COMMUNITARIAN - Informed – accepting Jesus’ teaching. - Communitarian – the CHURCH transmits Christ’s revelation through the scriptures and its living tradition. INCULTURATED - Our faith is always deeply rooted in our culture and context as Filipinos.  3 DIMENSIONS OF FAITH Doctrine Morals Worship “What do I know?” “What should I do?” ”What should I hope for?” - Knowledge - Demonstrating - Prayer and - Believing - Doing Sacraments - Creed - Commandments In religious terms, faith is necessary for salvation - it is the beginning of our salvation. For without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6). PARADOXICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FAITH The statements exhibit an apparently contradicting nature. There is something we call paradox just like our Christian faith. Our faith presents us with a number of paradoxes that help us grasp its complex reality. Certain yet Obscure - We are certain about our faith, but it does not mean we know everything. God is more than what we can fully comprehend. - In life, we are certain of the future we want to have, but we know these plans may or may not change. Free yet Morally Obliging - Our faith is never forced. We often experience this paradoxical combination of freedom and responsibility in our family and friendship. Reasonable, yet beyond natural reason - Christian faith does not conflict with our reason. However, only rational creatures believe. An act yet a Process - Our faith is not a one-time big act, but an enduring way of life within the community. - Our life is a continuous process and so, we develop habits and lifestyles that will bring us good results. Personal yet Ecclesial - Our faith is personal, but it becomes more meaningful when shared with someone.